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    trade which , to use an . American phrase , you are now * driving / you must persevere in the applications of your minds and your intelligence , and , hy the assistance of your sons , do something towards promoting those arts ' by which alone successful rivalry can be maintained . " He thought he might , like his predecessors , congratulate his audience on the retrospect held , out by the report . The assistance of the Government , and individual liberality , were all matters of congratulation . But his satisfaction was not entirely unalloyed .

    The rooms devoted to the school excited his astonishment . His first impression on visiting the geometrical school was , " Is this the place in which to educate the rising Newtons of Sheffield ? " In the figure room the sun was streaming through the windows ! They wanted better rooms . But that was not all . Government subscribed 600 ? . ; and the town only added 200 ^ . They ought to have a fund for increasing the library ; and a museum of art accessible not only to the « tudents , but to the whole imputation . " When I talk , " he exclaimed , " of building a school in the town of Sheffield , do consider how small the sacrifice is compared with the gain I" ( Cheers . ) The great firms could easily contribute 1001 . for the purpose . He hoped the prejudices felt by manufacturers had been removed , and he cited the case of a former lukewarm supporter of the schools , who had since the Great Exhibition taken

    the liveliest interest in them . He put it to them as a matter of business : subscribe your money for these objects as you pay for the insurance of your goods . " If you mean to insure the success and continuance of your trade , you must adopt those means by which you will be enabled to secure yourselves from the success of other countries , and even other towns in this country . And you must bear in mind that , if you lag behind , they will speedily pass you . Look across the water . It is not long since , in this town , there were great apprehensions that your trade was about to be transplanted to America . Not your trade , but the produce of your trade does , indeed , flow into America . ( Hear , hear . ) The noble duke then

    alluded to the increasing appreciation for artistic excellence in America . If ( he said ) you go into any great establishment for the manufacture of silver goods in America , it is ten to one that you will find one of the most elegant pieces of workmanship was an English order . ( Hear , hear . ) JTow , gentlemen , you may applaud when you hear it read that the sum of 600 ? - yearly has been contributed by Government to *" school . Do not rely too much on this . Depe ^ upon it , there is a feeling in the Legislature hf this /«» untry , and throughout the country itself , that AM-ae" contributions ought not to be extended towards these institutions generally . "

    Having adverted to the partial non-success of the scholarships lately introduced , he endeavoured to explain why . " One question that has been asked with regard to schools of design is this : —Why , you are educating some 200 or 300 pupils in drawing and in a knowledge of tho fine arts ; what is to become of them , hereafter ? Gentlomen , we propose here to instruct in art , but we do not profess to make artists . But the objection has something in it ; and I believe the establishment of scholarships is one of tho most effectual means of rectifying- that defect , namely , that you are educating up to a certain point a number of young men , and not enabling them to go much

    beyond that point . Why not ? Eecause almost the whole of those pupils arc engaged for ten hours a day in their usual avocations , and they go to school for one or two hours in tho ovening , harassed and worn out in their physical condition , and with their minds but little in that fltnt o which enables them to appreciate tho beautiful or to embrace the lessons there given thorn ; and ao it must bo . But if your institution had scholarHhips which , b y a contribution of a sufficient amount to those who had proved their excellence and their superiority over their fellows in a luir competition , would enable ) thorn to devote more timo to tlioso studies , and to divest themselves of a portion of h

    ( at labour which stands in tho way of tho attainment oi excellence—in that case you would bo olevating those few ? o becomo designers and artists . ( Cheers . ) While in that w ay you aro producing , for tho promotion of high art and artistic ; excellence in tho various fabrics of the country , your KngliRh Rafuello or your Odliiii , you will be at the Hiuno timo training up a raco of men , who will bo enabled to make hereafter tho fabrics of thin country as dislin-RiUHhod an thoHo who , working under the auspices of tho fjroat men to whom 1 have referred , have left to this day works , though greatly inferior to theirs , yet , L am afraid , Niiperior to many which are frequently produced an good Works in the present day . "

    ' ¦ hoy could not ex ]> ocl , the hcIiooIh to he perfected in ft y < ' « r , or ton yearH . Excellence ) in art . was a thing of sow growth . TherowiiH no royal road to art either in tbw or , y ot , i , er ( . o Untry . had hinted just- now the difficult ie . s which these , schools I'iiv" had to contend with , in tho firnt place , I believe k » " < thoy } mi \ i wj [ i not Hav opposition , hut that which is < liir " ' ' ) llHH ' resistance , from l-lio old designers in the ^ ' "rent trades men who were thetiiHolven incompetent to \ vl ' " ' ' l ' P'wi' -i oM , and were afraid of Hie competition . " ' » these school were about to raise up against them . themf 1 ° ' ° < ll () (> m > r ° * "" ' '' ' . > ' »>< l bavo adopted lid ' ' - * J llH the means of improving themselves . That j ¦ . ! '" lv > therefore , in being removed . Hut the manuluw I M Ul' lShofn ( lltl wil 1 forgive mo if I say that there « ni » r " . '' ll 0 r difficult y in the way , viz ., tho want of an Hurl iwi 1 (> n of llrt » an ( 1 < 'f proper encouragement on tho * •»«• <« ti , mimufaeturorn . ( Cheers . ) 1 boliovo tlioro has

    been some mistake in the course which had been followed in this country with regard to schools of design . If we have not begun at the wrong end , we have begun at one end when we ought to have begun at two ; for I believe that you gentlemen manufacturers , as well as all others who stand on this platform , or are sitting among you below , all equally want educating in art . ( Cheers . ) I wish to deal with this subject , addressing a Sheffield audience , not in high-flown language , but as a matter of business ; and I say that in this as well as other , trades the laws of supply and . demand equally apply ; and you have been creating a supply * and have not been fostering a demand , because you have not been educating the manufacturers to understand , to appreciate , and to employ the clever , ablo , and cultivated workmen . I £ O further , and say that there has been a defect in the education of those classes which are the purchasers of those articles , and that those in the highest walks of life want tlat amount of education in art which shall

    enable them to appreciate that which is excellent , and to purchase that which is good and beautiful ins < cad of that which is vicious and ugly . ( Cheers . ) I do not mean by this that they are all to become pupils in these different schools of design , although I do think that there are many who live within the circuit of these schools who would do well to enlist themselves and their children in them . There are plenty of lours in the day for such , classes ; but I say my noble friend on my right , and I , and everybody elsethough , perhaps , some of us may be a little too old now , but at any rate our sons—ought to be sufficiently educated in art to appreciate that which the skilled workman shall produce . ( Hear , hear . ) Those who cannot attend schools of design ought to be educated in art at those places of

    instruction to which they resort . In all those elements of instruction which are given in our public schools , I should be glad to see some means of education in art which shall give that full appreciation of what is beautiful—some means of art education which should accomplish the object in those scliools—ay , and in the universities themselves —which we are attempting to give the artisans in the schools in the support of which we are this day assembled . I have heard an objection raised io this . Do not believe that I am raising up giants for the purpose of slaying them ; for , although you may be astonished at the objection , yet I assure you I have gravely heard it objected to the extending of art education , that wherever you perceive the arts greatly extended , studied , and appreciated by all classes , there you will , in that very fact , invariably

    perceive the signs of the decline and fall of empires . Now , I utterly di s believe this statement . I believe that anything more fallacious never was produced . It arises from a little inaccuracy in clironology—a superficial and insufficient reading of history . I say that , on the contrary , you will find that empires have thriven and have stood upon their greatest eminences when the arts have been the highestwhen all have appreciated them . You will find that the arts have declined , and a vicious taste and style of meretricious ornament and faulty construction have been introduced , in all instances , in the gradual decay and demoralization of kingdoms . ( Cheers . ) I need not carry you back to the early Assyrian and Egyptian empires ; but if you study the records of those kingdoms you will find the

    facts I stato to l ) e true ; and if you visit the remains of those kingdoms you will see with your own eyes the truth of the assertion , and that everything that is vicious and bad was erected in those times whcii the governments were fading , and their kingdoms vanishing 1 from tho face of the earth . Tho same will apply with regard to Athens and llome . Will any one tell me that the works of Pericles led to the downfall of Athens—I mean his artistic works ? Will anybody tell me that the glorious beauties of the Parthenon , and all tho other magnificent buildings which even now astonish tho eyes and excite the envy and admiration of those who cannot imitate , them—will any one toll me that that was wliat led to the end of Athens ? ( Cheers . ) Far from it- Hut it was rooii after that time that increased

    licentiousness and the thirst for unjust war arid undue aggrandisement led to the downfall of Athens . And 1 believe but for the attention which was devoted to the arts in that city that its destruction would have- come before . ( Cheers . ) And if the fame of that empire , and the fame of an individual is of any value , let me compare the . state at this moment of Athens and the pinnacle of repute ; on which she . still stands , although denuded of" those who founded that cil y let me compare that state and that city with the more rigid and stern people of Sparta , who . se town at . this moment can scarcely be discerned---in fact , there are disputes as to 1 . 1 m position in which it stood . ( Cheers . ) 1 have been led intothe . se observations with a view of enforcing upon you the important results of art cdiicnrion for nil classes . It would be most valuable us

    enabling you , the manufacturers , and the workmen , to exercise such knowledge as you may possess , and such taste as you may possess , in the production of good articles . It will enable you to discard that odious taste for lash ion and novelty which is now injuring the trade of this and ninny other towns . ( II cur , hear ) It in this vicious taste for novelty which leads manufacturers always to be running after something now which makes them , instead of looking for what , is beautiful and good , only seek that , which is novel , and , discarding that which is really of good and sound construction , look only to some tawdry ornament or to Nome form , or adaptation of a . form , which has hitherto been unappropriated to any purpose to which either nature or art , or anything , except , the morbid brain of Mich , men , ever intended sucli urt . icle Io be applied . "

    lie conjured t . lieni not Io borrow from the I < Youeli artists , and strongly urged them ( o pay more attention to working in silver ; mid he wound up us follows : " lid , ino iisk you not . to go home thinking no more about the school or about , its results till the next , meeting shall recall you to Iliin hall , but let me ask you , and espe - cially those incinhtirH of the fair sex who have assembled hero in such iiumlini-H to-day , and proved by their attendance the interest tliey take hit me call upon them at their iircaide to onlbrvo tho merita of hiu school upon I , 1 ioho who

    may be absent to-day , whether husbands , brothers , or fathers , and so to exercise that iufluence on behalf of this institution—if , indeed , they are persuaded of its excellence —that when you nest meet its funds may be in a different position , and that we may be enabled to boast that one of the great objects for which the liberality of the Government is given , is in a fair course of being realized . In these arts , education is no longer one of the luxuries . of life , but one of the greatest necessities for all classes . I do not wish to place this particular branch of education

    higher than it deserves , but it occupies a high position , apart from financial and commercial considerations . It is one important clement in that great structure of moral and intellectual discipline of which religion must indeed be the basis , but of which the ornamental arts are the apex . I believe , if you will examine this subject , you will find that those who , in whatever walk of life , lnivo devoted themselves to the studies of the fine arts , have been among not only the best fathers , the best brothers , and the best sons in the community , but also among tho best and wisest members of the great family of man . "

    Loud applause greeted the conclusion of this truly great speech . Formal resolutions were spoken to Ly Viscount Milton , the vicar of Sheffield , the Mayor , the Reverend Dr . Jacob , Mr . T . H . Barker , the master cutler , Mr . H . E . Hoole , Mr . Solly , Mr . E . Hadfield , Mr . Leader , jnn ., the Reverend S . I ) . Waddy , Mr . S . Mitchell , Mr . N . Philipps , Dr . Hall , Mr . Ridge , and Mr . Young Mitchell ; the prizes were distributed , and the proceedings closed .

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    DYING GLOOMS OF PROTECTION . As Castle Hedingham was compelled to content itself with Major Beresford , so Waltham , where formerly Granby most did perorate , was obliged to pat up with Lord Berners and Mr . Chowlcr . The annual meeting , ploughing match , and dinner took place on Friday week Some sixty farmers sat at three tables , ranged down an " agricultural hall" three times too large for them , while the Chairman , Lord Berners , sat at a cross-table , aJmost in solitary sublimity , there being near him only three laymen and one parson . In the speeches which the noble lord addressed to the meeting , he admitted the prosperity of the country . They had met together with brighter prospects .

    " One reason why he thought , so was , that the discovery of gold was counteracting to a great extent the mischief of the Bank restriction legislation of 1844-, and also the miscalled free-trade system of 1810 . They had now , too , a Government composed of men whom they knew to act upon principle , and on whom they might rely that they would do as much as men in their situation could to render that justice which had been withheld from the agricultural interest , not promoting class measures , however , nor actuated by any selfish feeling , but carrying out . to the utmost of their power a system of justice to all classes . This was not the time for them to force upon a

    Government their opinions with regard to Protection , but they might rely upon it that justice would be done ; to them . If , as had been stated , it was contrary to the spirit of the ago to tax the food of the poor man , be should always believe that it was a fallacious opinion that taking oil" protection from com was doing the poor man a benefit ; lie believed , in his conscience , that what was called Free-trade meant nothing- but cheap labour . Only a few days ago , ho saw in one of the leading organs of the press , that the Manchester men began to be afraid—( hat they had carried out Free-trade respecting corn ami cattle , but there u-at ; now a freedom in labour com hit / oil , and labour was Icavina the countrt / . There was an enormous and still

    increasing importation ol cattle and sheep into this country , and yet the price ol" mutton had risen coiisiderablv within these twelve months . lie did not believe this could be at - tribulcd ( o the general prosperity of ( he nation ; he attributed it to lh <> short suppl y of sheep at this moment , in the country . Jfe found in several parishes ( he farmers had been . selling ( heir lambs , and the supply of good old mutton was falling short , and the price rising . The importation of oxen and cows rose from , ' {!) , H <)<) in 1 KH > , to 4 <> , 000 in 1 H 5 O , and ( 11 . O 00 in 18 f > l ; of calves , tho numbers were 1 : $ , ( UK ) , 19 , 700 , IM . , 800 : of sheep , lambs , and hogs , i : n , 0 () , i r , () , ( K )() , ' 217 , < HIO . Vast , uimiitilic * ol" corn also were still imported , and we had had this year an immense

    amount of bli g ht , and mildew ; we were dependent upon the seasons , and could not force crops , but , mig ht , ruin them by " putting on too much steam , " as he found to his cost b y putting on a little too much guano . It was not like the case of the manufacturer , who could calculate how much he could produce , by a cerlain amount of extra steam . Therefore the . agriculturists , burdened wil . h rates beyond any other class , felt , that ( hey ought to have justice done them . They could depend upon the I ' remic ' r , Unit his principles of 'Protection' were I he same an they ever bad been , but be knew well that there were other m-eat

    interests at slake as well as ( hose of agriculture , and thai at the present moment the question was not wliel her I hero should be l'Yee-1 rade or I ' roleel ion , but I hut from I he stale of piirlicAand the democrat ie inllncncc pervading certain parties , the stability of the Throne , our I ' roleslanl institutions , and the laws of our country , were al- stake ; ( flippy as he mi ght be Io render relief in ( he way I hat he declared to lie the most easy and convenient , he bud most properly said that ho would yield Io Hie opinion of ( he people of ( his great nation , iim it ini ^ hl , be evidenced by ( hit laic elections . " He wound up a dull speech by proposing fo transf ' tr certain burdens on hind Io the consolidated fund . Tho next , speaker whs the notable < 'howler , much improved since he made the famous civil war speech at tho Crown and Anchor meeting , Lwo or three yeura

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    October 23 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER . 1007 —¦ —— —— _^ _—— - ^———^——^^— " ^ - ^™ ^——^^^^—^—^—^—^^^^* "M ^^^^^^^

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 23, 1852, page 1007, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1957/page/3/