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October :21, 1854.] THE LEADER. 993
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PEOTESSOR MASSON'S INAUGURAL LECTURE. Ox...
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THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES. The most recent...
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NEW ZEAL AN" I). Tina Niiw r-Am.iAniisN-...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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October :21, 1854.] The Leader. 993
October : 21 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 993
Peotessor Masson's Inaugural Lecture. Ox...
PEOTESSOR MASSON'S INAUGURAL LECTURE . Ox Tuesday the session of the Faculty of Arts of University College was inaugurated by an introductory lecture on college education and self-education , by Professor Masson , A . M . In addition to the students present , the theatie was graced by the attendance of a large number of ladies and gentlemen . Professor Masson ( whose eloquent discourse was listened to with marked attention ) commenced by observing that education , in the truest and widest signification of the term , was co-extensive with our life ; and involved not only the acquisition of knowledge or ideas , but the formation of habits . On the present occasion ,
however , lie proposed to consider it in a somewhat more restricted sense , namely , as comprising only the processes of acquiring knowledge during the early period of our life—a period ceasing at the age of 20 or 25 years of age . Supposing , then , that he had before him 300 students , he should see in them 300 young men , all exhibiting more or less strongly marked constitutional differences of physical conformation , and of mental powers ; , and he . should also see in each case the separate results of those different forms of schooling which they had all undergone , and which , working upon that substratum of constitutional differences , had made them each what they were . The first school to which we were subjected was the school of family ; and happy were
they to w-Tiom it had been a school of kindly influences . But there might also be a home education of revolt impar ting no small degree of culture — albeit a culture of strength at the expense of symmetry . The next school which we entered was that of local circumstance—the school of neighbourhood or parish—a school which our political system would do well to Tespect , to use , and to consecrate . Although it was right that a man ' s connexion with parish or neighbourhood should merge into the larger one of district or countrv , yet that iris closest relations should be with his " parish or neighbourhood , and that the apparatus for supplying all the elementary wants of life should be provided there , seemed to him ( the lecturer ) to he sound
doctrine . It might be quite true that persons often quitted a , t an early period of their life the scene of their birth , hut , generally speaking , there was always some locality which every one learned to regard as his native place ; and there was no patch of habitable earth but furnished the materials for a very considerable natural education . There was no spot of earth in which there might not be found a general epitome of everything in life . Every British parish had its mineralogy , Its geology , its botany , its zoology , its meteorology , and hydrology . Every British parish had its wonders of nature or art ; and , at all events , when ni ght set in , every British parish had a splendid image of our common origin in its sapphire concave studded with stars .
There was no British parish which did not possess its gossip , its customs , its oracular individual , its oddities , and its whimsicalities . Finally , every British parish possessed its traditions and its local histories ; and there rould be no doubt that every man acquired a vast deal of all th
alone or in . company , po-ing into places where they were allowed , and where they were forbidden , an < l illustrating in the most literal sense of the phrase , * ' the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties . " Although every place possessed , as ho liad said , a gener al epitome of everything in life ; yot no two wore exactly uliJte ; find this diversity of local circumstance was one of the causes of the different stylos and habits of thought which prevailed amongst men . Adam Smith drew the illustrations wlieroby ho proved hia theories first to liis own mind , and afterwards to tho world , from the petty circumstances of n Rjmnll fishing and weaving community close by . Even Shakspcuro himself would bo found to have inade a large uso of lria early recollections of Inn woody Warwiclwhiro . There wove throe other schools in which
wo acquired knowledge—tho . school of travel , tho . school of boolca , and the school of friendship . By change of residence , wo enlarged tho field of obsorvwl cironinatancoH ; And in books wo rovorsod the case , for avo hart tho circumstances of other localities mid of othnr timim brought to our very doors . Tho wchool of frlondship exorcinod < i very powerful influence upon a youn # man ' s modcis of thought . Tho young wore often told to think for tliomsoIvoh , and no doubt thoro was good senHO in that ; but llio most fortunate thing that ooulrt hnppcm to a young
man , and that -which would iu th « oml tend moat to hia » ndopen < lenco () f thought , would l >« his vohiiitm-y mib ~ joetion for a tinui to hoiihi powerful intellectual tyranny , rho greatest of all thorns oclwola wuh no doubt . " that of books , Touch a man t <» road porlwlly and with oiiho in the vernacular , and you pluoo nllothorknowlurtgu within hit ) pow-or . Ho wan no longer a Ilolof , or a wUvo—you had juit , him in ponaoHnlon of tho rrnnchino of bookn . 1 orfooi , and cany rending in ono ' n own langmi tfo really mado tlio ditjtluotion between tho educated and tho
uneducated classes . If we would not have national schools in -which all the young members of the community might be instructed in these accomplishments alone other things being reserved—but if we insisted on their being instructed in certain other things , then -we might be engaged in a very noble labour , but it would be a very long one . On the other hand , if we pitched our ideal lower , if we would be content with a national school system provided with an apparatus for thoroug-hly accomplishing one object—the object , namely , of teaching all the boys and girls in the community to read and write with , ease , then he saw hope . But we debated and wrangled ; we would have this and they would have that , and we would have so many things , that we did
nothing . It was our disgrace as a nation again , and again , and again to have done this ; but if only twelve of our leading men would but give themselves up , as to the -work of their lives , to the object of establishing in all our parishes such an apparatus as would render it impossible fox any child born on British soil to grow up untaught to read and write , the thing would be done before twelve years had passed . Oh , had it come to this ? That a nation which by cash and courage expoxted to the other end of the earth could blow up a colossal citadel or re-organise a foreign peninsula , should not be able to educate its own little ones 1 Mr . Masson then proceeded to discuss the tendency which had recently manifested itself to depreciate the
college system . No doubt many very able and distinguished men had been what was called self-taught —• that was to say , had not had any academic education . Even the unapproachable king of our literature himself was one that had been taught " small Latin and less Greek , " and , perhaps , no mathematics at all . Bui regarding the proper function of the school to do the drudgery of simply teaching to read and write , very many private seminaries were really and truly colleges . Shakspeare was taught at a grammar-school , where the boys at this day wore the square academic cap . But still there were many persons of eminence who had received absolutely nothing from pedagogy ; hut who , starting from reading and writing ( if that ) had carried on their education themselves . Such persons , however ,
generally manifested too great a propensity to dwell upon the labours they had gone through , and too much of the spirit of the private soldier , whose recollections of the battle-field were recollections only of his own movements . They were , likewise , generally speaking , too much disposed to remain contented with mere proximate knowledge , and to shrink from the exact , the elaborate , and the profound . Colleges had a valuable effect in marshalling young men before the mass of learning , in directing their efforts , against it , and in preventing them from shrinking from the attack from mere love of the pleasant in preference to the lofty and difficult . After all , however , education must be self-education in tho strictest sense of the word , but he trusted that while admitting that truth , they would , nevertheless , have reason to acknowledge that colleges were of some use .
The Australian Colonies. The Most Recent...
THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES . The most recent accounts fro m . Australia are full of interest . The condition of the colony is very singular , a sort of Midas starving- on a pile of gold . Die Session of the Legislative Council of New South Wales wns opened on the Gth July . Its attention was directed to the defence of tho colony by fortifyiog Sydney IJai-bour and raising volunteer corps . The finances of tho colony are very prosperous , there being a large increase of revenue . A number of social measures were contemplated , sucli as facilitating immigration , at ) d the transit by railway , providing for the public health and education , and amending tbo law of marriage , which is on a most unsatisfactory footing . All this sounds well , but when ono looks a little deeper that practically tho condition of tho colony is most deplorable . \ Vo
lcurn" 1 hat all regular industry is suspended . On a moderate computation , half tho sheep in the province aro infoetcd with a disease which spoils both tho dlo . ih and tho wool , and , though an effectual cure ban boon discovered , there are not hands to apply it , and no ono known how far tho peat will go . Hay in sold by weight at tSie price of lump sugar . Vegetables of all kinds aro a hixury confined to tho rich . Wlicut in very dear . Thoro i .-i no milk to bo got . Tlio rtaing generation aro . sickening ami pining on a diet of beof and brundy-and-water . Tlio ho . spltwla aro an ill off as tho nurnorioH , and appeals aro made to tho uharitublo public to send a few vafrotabloa for tlio pationttt vino most , rmiuiru tliuin . A
milway , of which only ](> miles have boon attempted , can Bcarcly bo nntahod ho far from tho difliculty ( if obtaining auflloiont funds in tho present , high price of labour . Tliu carriage of goods 1 U () mllo . i to tlio diggings cohIu « lfrht timed as much an their freight from London to Sydney . Thoro am found in tho country , nt ovory aeooHHiblo distances , coal , iron , and < : op , p « r , nnd vinon and olivou will llourlsh tlicro ; but corIh are from 7 / . to 81 . 10 s . a ton—u l > rico that , putrt Htmunniivigullou from Sydney to ICnglaiul out , of tlxujuoation ; nnd nil tho oilier AiMtrnlian product * miuittionml oxiHt . only \ n naino . They aro not actually oxlructud from tho soil , or grown upon It , for want of Jiandti . Tlio garden vugotabloa t \ n < X fru . it consumed , in
the country are in cases marked ' Pavement , FinsT > ur \ -. ' Meanwhile the difficulties created by gold reach the diggers themselves . The majority are unsuccessful , and starve under the dearth produced by the abundance of the metal . Hence there is actually pauperism at the diggings , and a poor-rate will soon have to be collected from the very mouths of the pits . In the midst of fabulous wealth there is the direst destitution , and Bendigo and Ballarafc contain as much misery as our own union workhouses . There is to be a grand display of Australian produce at the forthcoming Palis Exhibition ; but the Parisians arer warned against concluding that Australia actually does what it can do . It can do everything , but the only thing it does is finding gold , and that in a manner so clumsy and rough that the Chinese immigrants , of whom there is an immense number , make their fortunes out of the refuse thrown aside by British discers . "
This in Sydney ! a city that has claimed to rank with the capitals of the Old World . In Melbourne things are of course-worse . Trade is depressed , the markets over-stocked , the rates of discounts high , goods are sold by auction at ruinous prices . Socially things are not much better . Asa , specimen take the instance of the marriage state : " I fully believe , " writes a correspondent of the Morning Chronicle at Sydney— " half the marriages here are contracted on the spur of the moment , or that all that is sacred in the matrimonial tic has been armullpil
before the ceremony takes place . It is useless to mince the matter—the marriage law in this colony is a mere farce . A digger rich with gold , which be does not know what to do with , comes down the country ; he meets a girl who suits his fancy—not his judgment or liis taste ; he takes her into a public-house—acquaintanceship is formed . The account of his possessions inflates the vanity of the girl , and without any preliminary courtship ¦—that great protection to morality which English etiquette has provided—the parties are married after a day ' s intercourse , and again , probably , after a month ' s society , are parted for ever . "
It is a relief to turn from such a , picture to an account of a meeting of the operati-ves of Sydney held for the purposes of establishing a weekly journal to be called the Operative , and to fee devoted exclusively to the interests of the working-classes . The proceedings were characterised by great good sense and practical knowledge of what it was . about . It was stated that" The operatives required a popular organ , whosa teaching should direct , lead , and elevate the minds of the labouring classes . There was anotlher great reason
for the establishment of such a paper , and that was the absence in this country of anything like a national literature . He had been very much surprised to find that nothing but tho knowledge of trade vas inculcated in the minds of tho people of this colony- There were no intellectual works published , and the newspapers , seemed to have no higher object than to encourage competition among the claasos , —to teach them to cheat , to juggle , and to carry out the principles of gain . The Operative would supply this intellectual want , by publishing in its columns a cheap and wholesome literature for the people . "
One of the speakers said : " Tf here , in Australia , they should bo so fortunate as to start the Operative , he would liko to see it become such a paper as the London Leader . It ( the Leader ) was tho great exponent of tlio British democracy , and there was not in the whole range of the press a paper that stood higher in the esteem of mon for its high manly tone , its profound philosophy , and its stem lovo of justice for all . Tho mon who wrote for it aro thoso noble spirits whose names have made Europo shake to its centre , whoso names make tho hearts of oppressed Italians and Hungarians throb with hope—mon who have # ivon expression to their Hontiiucntn in ' words that burn , in thoughts that breathe' Ho hoped tho Australian Leadv . r woidd , ero long , eomo into active operation , and become tho organ of democracy here . "
A plan was arranged for starting tho paper by means of sliarea , tho number of shares being 2000 ut 11 . each . As regards tho gold-harvest , t » o winning accounts jiro favourable ; gold is increasing ; very much in privute hands ; tho prico is 4 / . por ounce , mid tho market has not boon alTccted by tlio news from Europe .
New Zeal An" I). Tina Niiw R-Am.Ianiisn-...
NEW ZEAL AN" I ) . Tina Niiw r-Am . iAniisN-r . The loiitf-BUHiHiiidod constitution of thin colony had been called into operation . Tho wvtmt took place on the 2-1 th of May . Tho ( . Jouural Aarmtnltly whs convened ut Auckland by Colonol Wynjyard , tho officer administering tho ( Jovcinrmuit , tlirco days after tho departure of Kir ( j « ow Oroy , the late Governor , who had declined to put the Con » tltution in force . Great complaiiitn wuro nnulu of tho i neon veniunce of tho locality t ' t > r jricyiiiijrj tho di . itauco from tho other provinces boing no groat , and mc-ninH of transit ho difllcult ; tho reproHi'iitutivi . 'H of Otago were nine weeks ) un thojr mujdugo , Tho Qo'vernoic'tt spcedi
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 21, 1854, page 9, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21101854/page/9/
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