The Sun.
London, England, 1844-10-07 00:00:00

that unanimity of feeling pervaded all around.—
(Cheers.) The time of evening was come when length-
ened orations would not be appropriate ; and it was diffi-
cult to enter upon that large question of general
education and the diffusion of knowledge without dwel-
ling longer upon their attention than he was entitled to
do, and rendering himself liable to the charge of re-
peating what had been already better said than he could
say it by speakers that had preceded him. There was
one point, however, upon which he would touch, viz.,
the effect which the public taste for literature had upon
authors. The author now rested, not upon the patron-
age of the great, but on the solid rock of public
opinion. It was now no longer necessary to court
the great by servile dedications, as in the days of
Dryden —literary works were launched upon the world
depending on nought but their own merits. They
were addressed to that best of tribunals—public opinion ;
whose permanent approval would only fall on those
works which deserved to be enduring.—(Cheers.) The
Athenaeum, whose interest they were met to support,
- was an institution eminently calculated to diffuse a taste
for literature and science amongst its members. Its in-
fluence must be beneficial.—(Cheers.) Many of their
educational institutions bad not succeeded to the extent
which could be wished.—(Hear.) Some did not much
serve the class for whom they were intended, though
otherwise beneficial—as the mechanics' institutes—to
which few mechanics belonged.—(hear.) Others had
allowed themselves to be diverted from the object for
which they were established. The Manchester Athe-
'swum was secure from most of the dangers which had
visited many kindred institutions.—(Hear.) It had
sprung from the spontaneous exertions of its first sup-
_ porters. It leaned not on the frail reed of patronage—
(Cheers)—but on the independent spirit, the energies of
. its own members.—(Cheers.) That was the solid foun-
dation which would render its structure permanent.
The constitution of the Athenaeum, to use the words of
. the excellent report which had been read, was demo-
- cratic.—(Hear.) The members had the government of
the society to which they belonged—the library was
open to works of varied kinds, science and literature, the
gravest and the lighteeet. Some other institutions were
managed by strangers ; their libraries were restricted to
particular WCIAS to suit the taste or caprice of persons
an authority ; the subscribers had not the free choice of
.theheoks they might desire to peruse. All these re-
strictions were adverse to the full benefit which society
would derive from better and more liberal organiza-
tions. How many of our charitable endowments had
been permitted to be misapplied—(Loud cheers)—and
classes had the benefit of endowments they were never
intended to enjoy.--(Cheers.) It was, however, a happy
reflection that the prejudice against education and the
diffusion of knowledge amongst the humblest classes
was passing away. If we search the records of the past
what strange jealousies have existed upon the subject of
the spread of. learning ! those jealousies have found place
in minds of the most exalted as well as the most humble.
—(Hear, hear.) We find men of high degree despising
knowledge, bece.ase it might be accessible to all—(Hear,
hear)—and 'ine humble. fromsome indefinable dread re-
jecting. *s'ne teaching of the schoolmaster. Shakspeare
we, described these feelings when he makes Jack Cade—
(A laugh)—say to Lord Say, " Thou hest most trai-
torously corrupted the youth of the realm in creating a
grammar-school ;—(Laughter)—and, whereas, before,
our forefathers had no other books but the score and the
tally, thou has caused printing to be used ; and, contrary
to the King, his crown, and dignity, thou hest built a
paper-mill."—(Laughter.) Those days have passed
away.—(Cheers.) The men of all political and religious
creeds now argued the refining influence of intellectual
pursuits, and with education we shall become a better
and a happier people.—(Cheers.) lie cordially wished
prosperity to the Manchester Athenaeum. Might similar
institutions spring up over the length and breadth of the
land, extending their benefits to the remotest districts.
Let us hope that with the progress of education there will
be aroused a desire to acquire knowledge amongst all
classes, and that the humblest artisan and the rudest
peasant may be brought under the humanizing influence
of intellectual and moral culture. Then will the sacred
maxim e honour all men" be a living reality—(Hear)—
and England will become as remarkable for the mutual
teepee; gentle mancers, and social happiness pervading
her families, from the exalted to the lowly, as she is now
eminent for that manufacturing skill and commercial en-
terprise which has placed her in the elevated position
which she now-holds amongst-the nations of the earth.
Mr. D'IsRAELI then reserailid said—My Hon. Friend
who last, addressed you leasltlitated very justly upon the
advantageous position whreiV•inodern authors occupy in
contradistinction to those iiltb'flourished a century back.
We are honoured to-nightbfthe presence of the youngest
and not the least successful of the authors of the new
generation.—(Cheers.) -116 is the last literary Knight
that has entered into' the tilt. lam sufficiently ac-
quainted with his opinions to know that he prefers very
much the modern practice to the old one. Ile has almost
this moment arrived among us, and quitted the Continent
for the pleasure of making your acquaintance. I have
now the pleasure of introducing to you
Mr. Seirreee, M.P., who said—lt is with no ordinary
diffidenee that I venture to address you upon this occa-
sion. It would be at all times a difficult matter to speak
to an assembly thus attended by distinguished men, thus
presided over by genius, and thus superintended by
beauty.—(Cheers.) But I am less unnerved by the ex-
ternal splendour of this fair pageant than by the thought,
the idea, the elevated principle of which it is the ex-
pression. You represent a great necessity. It seems to
me that you, the men of Manchester, have determined
to do honour to literature, in a land where literature
has too long been neglected. It seems to me that with
a spirit worthy of a younger
.and freer age, you have
resolved to proffer to the author and the man of letters
is reward of a simpler and less sordid character than the
pay of this newspaper or the hire of that review. Or
with yet more profound and far-sighted intentions you
may haye resolved to redress the anomalies of a
country, which is governed by its journals, but where
the names of its journalists are never mentioned ; of a
country where by the most unhappy of conversions it
is the inventions which make the fortune, and it is
the inventors who starve.—(Great cheering.) Of a
country where, if a man of science aspires to its highest
honours—the suffrages of his fellow-citizens--that man
of science will poll by units, where the mere politician
polls by hundreds.—(Cheers.) And it seems especially
meet, and right, and fitting, that you, the men of Man-
chester, should correct these evils, because there is an
old, an intimate, and natural alliance between literature
and commerce.—(Cheers.) it is in virtue of this, alli-
ance that you cannot but regard with sympathy the ho-
visage which you see done by foreigners to letters. Why,
the very Ambassadors whom they send to this Court are
adi many reproaches to our neglect of them. Who is the
Ambassador from Russia ? A man who has risen by
his pen. Who from Sweden ? The historian of Bri-
tish India.—(Cheers.) Who from Prussia ? A pro-
fessor. Who from Belgium ? A man who has risen by
literature. Who from France ? An author and an his-
torian.—(Cheers.) Who • from America ? An author
and professor.—(Cheers.) But it requires no extraor-
dinary spell of divination to prophecy to the literature
which shall derive its impulse from such a meeting as
the Present—which shall result from such incentives—.
which shall be fostered an encouraged by such sympathy
as yours, a destiny yet more lasting and auspicious, be-
cause as it will not be patronised by monarchs, nor
fashioned by nobles, nor confined by prejudice, so it will
be free, independent, universal, and tolerant commerce.
--(Loud cheers.) It is, therefore, only natural,
that with this idea of this meeting, I should
feel a diffidence, and, when I find myself, as it
were, face' to face with a great thought, which carries
me down among future generations into the very pre-
sence of immortality, that with that there mingles
something of astonishment. My feelings, to compare
small things to great, are those which David Hume
deicribes in his remarkabyeletter to Gibbon, on reading
his history :---" Forgive me," he says, " if I have read
your work with as much surprise as admiration; because
at has appeared to me that, while we in Scotland have
done great things for literature, you in England have
surrendered yourselves to absurd and barbarous factions."
—(Cheers.) This meeting is an earnest and a guarantee
that these absurdities shall cease, and these barbarities
have an end.—(Loud cheers.) But here, even in this
pleasant hour of convivial intercourse, when men of all
parties and all shades of opinion are met to interchange
the amenities, and courtesitss;and fair civilities of life, it
is impossible not to remember how many and how illus-
trious have been the victims of these absurdities,
these barbarities,—or, what is worse, these vulgarities
of our party warfare. Remember the fate of our last
great men. Remember how he was proscribed as an
adventurer, because he was born to no hereditary fortune;
and then, when the gentle judging and the generous—
when men with large thoughts and fine feelings—when
the few rallied round him against the many—he was
again branded and proscribed, because they were a few,
as et caballer and intriguer. Remember hew in high
life his views were thwarted, his spirit cowed, his
heart broken—how he halted to his grave—
and then you will understand how, through
calumny and misconstruction—through such men's envy,
and the insults of men yet smaller—lie must often have
pined for some such neutral ground as this, to which his
harassed spirit might have flown away, and been at rest.
And how, in the prospect of a happier hour, of advanc-
ing toleration, such as this meeting affords—even with
such eloquence as we have heard to-day—there are few
among us, noiv that fifteen' years have passed over his
grave, who will hesitate to exclaim with me—" Oh, for
one hour of George Canning l"—(Loud cheers.) But
oven among those who hear me there may be some who
think that I am stating results too grave and too im-
portant.-to this meetitbne in thus speaking of advancing
toleration ; , there may be some who argue it a mere
communication, and nothing more. Such I think no
thoughtful opinion ; because it is impossible to study
our history for the, last half-century, and not perceive
that Manchester has always been foremost in the great
work of national advancement. It is not because you
did as much, perhaps, as all our subsidies, or all our arms,
in our long war with Napoleon—it is not because, since
the peace, you have donis far more than all our Mi-
nisters to promote the common wealth—but it seems
to me that you who have carried your national tri-
umphs to the remotest corners of the earth, have yet
remembered that there was another world to conquer.
Nor will your triumphs in the spiritual world be less
remarkable. Because, that same creative power which
in the world of action is called invention, and minis-
ters to man, this same creative power in the world of
thought is called genius, and governs and provides for man.
But in either sphere, whether of thought or action, it is
your- high and holy mission to benefit mankind.—
(Cheers.) There is nothing small, nothing selfish,
nothing partial, nothing exclusive in the temper of
British commerce.—(Cheers.) It was out of a spirit as
Catholic that the humanities first sprang. Itwill be out
of a temper no less Catholic that here, in
the
he
eedtrnonpeolis
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-,g„tiF,,be,nt.p_rprise, great things will again
76;764_ !FVn at the risk of fatiguing you I
will
illtistrate nay meaning. There is a city which is the
common birthplace of free commerce and free Bura-
tto*. It was at lifoyence, is a time of darktiess and op-

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