The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-11-26 00:00:00

BRITISH AND. tOREIGN INSTITUTE.

At a meeting of the Committee of the British and Fo-
reign Institute, held on Thursday, the 14th instant, Lord
Dudley Coutts Stuart in the noir, it was resolved to give
publicity to such portions of the proceedings of its first
anni‘ereary meeting as have hitherto been communicated
to the members only. The Right lion. the Earl of Devon
took the chair at three o'clock precisely, and was sup-
ported by the Earl. Grosvenor, Lord Claud Hamilton,
M.P., Sir George Staunton, Bait., M.P., E. W
N's W. Pen-
darves, M.P., illiam EvaLs, M.P., Lord William Len-
nox, Col. the Hon. Leicester Stanhope, Brigadier-Gen.
Sir Henry Pynn, and others of the vice-presidents and
committee, with a full attendance of members.
In opening the proceedings, Lord Devon observed, that
according to the usual custom of societies of this nature,
they had met to hear a report of the progress and present
state of our affairs, on which—considering the very short.
time that had elapsed since a few gentlemen had met to-
gether at his house to Lear Mr. Buckingham's prospectus
of the institute, and to confer together on the best means
of assisting him to complete his original design—he
thought there would be found much reason for congratu-
lation. . .

A short preliminary conveisation ensued, as to certain
abridgements made in the report, and the feeling of the
meeting being in favour of its being now read, in the
shortest form, this was accordingly done by the secretary,
and the balance sheet signed by the auditors was also read
and explained.
Mr. Baylis, who moved the first resolution, said that be
had heard so many unfavourable rumours of one hind or
another, that his mind had been strongly impressed with
apprehension for the result ; but after the satisfactory
statements of the report and balance sheet just read,
these impressions were entirely removed, and he had the
greatest pleasure in moving that the report be received,
adopted, and entered in the minutes of the society.
Mr. Tite said he felt very reluctant to incur any unne-
cessary expense, but he deemed it to be so important to
the interests of the institute that this report should be
widely circulated, that he begged to submit a motion for
its being printed and distributed among the members, as
he was quite sure that wherever it was read it would re-
move many erroneous complaints, and be of the greatest
benefit to the society.
Mr. Simpson, in moving the third resolution, said that
be too, like others, bad heard all manner of evil bodings.
But when on his first coming to town from Edinburgh be
came to see the institute for himself, and investigate the
mode and manner in which its affairs were conducted, he
could not but be filled with admiration at the beauty, ap-
propriateness, good taste, elegance, and comfort of the
one, and the ability and completeness of the other. It
seemed to him a matter of wonder, as well as gratification,
that so much should have been done, and so well done
too, in so short a time, and therefore he had great pleasure
in submitting his motion of entire satisfaction with the
management.
Mr. Tite, in moving a vote of thanks to Lord Devon,
passed a high encomium on the noble president, for the
application of so much of his attention to the affairs of
the institute, considering the multiplicity and importance
of his engagements: and be felt sure that his lordship's
continued approbation and patronage of the society would
be regarded by the public as the beat proof of its being
founded on sound principles, and conducted with honour
and integrity.
Dr. Camps drew the attention of the meeting to the
zeal, ability, and unremitting devotion of all his time and
talents, which Mr. Buckingham bestowed on the institute,
and regarded his able management of its affairs as the
best guarantee for its continued success. Having wit-
nessed all this for himself, from the earliest beginning of
the undertaking, and seen no abatement of it to the pre-
sent time, he had great pleasure in moving a vote of
thanks to Mr. Buckingham and the committee, for their
valuable services and exertions during the past year. All
these resolutions were carried unanimously.
The Earl of Devon. in returning thanks for the compli:
ment paid to him, said that the whole merit of the idea
and conception of the plan of the institute belonged to
Mr. Buckingham : and all that he (Lord Devon) had
done, was to co-operate, which he did most cordially with
others, to carry this plan out. He believed, from the
valuable one, and might be reduced to practice, though
first, that the idea, though a new and a bold, was yet a

Nov, 26, 18-14.

result,manyf
however,-excellent
hadfriendsow sho
his at
not well-founded. With Mr. Buckingham be had act!
maintained a pretty close and constant intercourse on la_a,
subject for nearly a year and a half, and he must say, tio_:
he could not but acknowledge and admire the zeal, Pet
severance, and ability, with which he had achieved !
thoughttheir
apprehensions
p ortethi eeinvsiisoen. s
much in so short a space of time. Indeed, the only faaal;
he had to find with him was that he was too zealous : n
the most frequent duty which he (Lord Devon) had
to
perform, was to exercise the office of " ardour-checkel,
and prevent Mr. Buckingham from doing too much. -1511:.
for this zeal, however, the end could not have been 8'
complished : and be was glad to find that it was felt and
acknowledged in all quarters : and that the friends o,aau,
supporters of the institute were daily on the increa,:',
while its evening parties were more and more brilliant at,
satisfactory. He had himself attended several of the..e_
and was much pleased at the evident gratification tier
afforded to all : while he understood that the last, wlaue,
occurred on the preceding evening, and which he was Pro
vented from attending by an engagement elsewhere, a,
one of the fullest and most attractive of the season•
all that was stated in the report on this subject, andsa
deed in every other part of it, he entirely concurred— of
he had no doubt that as the advantages and pleasures °d
the institute became more known they would be more
more sought after and appreciated.
the value of whose labours was admitted by
Mr. Jessel begged to ask Lord Devon, whether Ora
plan might not be devised, by which Mr. Bucking4a:
seemed a more competent remuneration than that wiitfas
the present mode of payment afforded him : as he'ttet
sure the members generally would support the comm
nut
in awarding him a fixed salary, of a mucli larger ma°"l,,,
than the small surplus now left for all his exeftiona,"4
which the institute has been brought to its present sts'
of efficiency. tie-
Lord Devon said he agreed with the honourable flea-4
man as to the desirability of securing an adequate as
certain compensation to Mr. Buckingham for his WALD ,4
but the difficulty lay in this: that as the members wf',
exempt from all legal liabilities beyond their resPeatge
subscriptions, the question would be, in the event of ;
income being insufficient to allow of such compensatilin;
who was to make it up to. him—the committee, or
members, or both ?—The most certain method of seearli!
a proper return to Mr. Buckingham would be to iliac!"
the general income of the institute, by an addition to o_6,
he bena
number of its members, as in that case all would
fitted, and there would he an ample surplus for remurl;
tion, without the necessity of calling upon any Pita t
make up a deficiency. It should be remembered,'":,A he
institute was yet in its infancy, and there was evenir—°,as
all, could b
to hope that it would go on improving in its resc.utcei -
well as its attractions.