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October 23, 1852.] THE LEADER. 1007
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DYING GLOOMS OF PROTECTION. As Castle He...
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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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" Since The Last Annual Report Of The Co...
i ip which to use an American phrase , you are now A ' v ' ms' YO « must Persevere in the applications of your ds and your "itelligence , and , by the assistance of mn - sons do something towards promoting those arts fwhich ' alone successful rivalry can he maintained . " He thoug ht he might , like his predecessors , congra-, his audience on the retrospect held out by the tu , rpj ie assistance of the Government , and indivi-^ liberality , were all matters of congratulation . But ^ sa tisfaction was not entirely unalloyed . The rooms devoted to the school excited his astonishit His first impression on visiting the geometrical ^ f A was " Is this the place in which to educate the s sinfT 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 6001 . ; and the town only added 2001 . They ought to have a fund for increasing the library ; da museum of art accessible not only to the students , Ibut to the whole population . " When I talk , " he exhimecl , " of building a school in the town of Sheffield , do consider how small the sacrifice is compared with the gain ! " ( Cheers . ) The great firms could easily con tribute 100 / . for the purpose . He hoped the preiudices 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 tout 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 . ) Now , gentlemen , you may applaud when you hear it read that the sum of 6001 . yearly has been contributed by Government to this school . Do not rely too much on this . Depend upon it , there is a feeling in the Legislature of this country , and throughout the country itself , that these contributions oug ht 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 3 ( K ) pupils in drawing and in a knowledge of the line arts ; what is to become of thorn hereafterr Gentlomen , we propose here to instruct in art , but wo do not profess to make- artists . But , the objection has something in it ; and I believe the establishment of scholarships is one of the most effectual means of rectifying that defect , namely , that you aro educating up to a certain point a
number of young men , and not enabling them to go much beyond that point . Why not ? Because almost the whole ; of those pupils are engaged for ( on hours n day in thenusual avocations , and they go to school for one or two hours in the ( -veiling , harassed imd worn out in their physical condition , arid with their minds but lit tie in tlmt stale which enables thorn to appreciate the beautiful or to < 'inl ) nicc ( he lessons there givon them ; and so it must bo . Hut if your institution had scholarships which , by » i contribution of a suflieient amount to those who luul proved their excellence and their superiority over their fellows in
a hur competition , would unable them to devote more tune t <> those studies , and to divest themselves of a portion of ? hat labour which stands in the way of the attainment ol excellence ; ,, that case you would be elevating those low ?<> become designers nnd ' urt ists . ( Cheers . ) While in that w 'iy you are producing , for the promotion of high art and urtisl . i <« excellence in the various fabrics of the country , . Your Niifriish Kufaollo or your Cellini , you will be at the H'iiiH ! time training up a race of men , who will be enabled ?<> "nuke hereafter the fabrics of this country as distinguished as those who . work inir under the auspices of the
K'vat men to whom 1 have referred , have left to this day work . s , though greatly inferior to theirs , yet , I am afraid , "" pcrior to many which are frequently produced as good W " HiN in the present day . " '''hey could Dot expect the schools to be perfected in : i your , or ten years . Excellence in art ; was a thing ol nlow growth . There was no royal road to nrl either in U'w <> r any other country . . " ' had hinted just now the diflieulties which these school ,- ! " << had lo contend with . In the lirnt place , I believe '"»• they hud , | will not say opposition , but that which is ( j , ' " " « passive resistance ^ from the old designers in "'<> I ' '' 'rent trades men who were themselves incompetent , lo l
"' 'I 1 their nnMilimi on . I ..,.,-,, ,. 1 ' ,-nl . l Vil" I he commit ition '' ' •; l > their position , and wore afraid ' of I he compel ition " i these schools were about to raise up against them . u . y have wen the error of their ways , and have adopted ¦ »<>*•> school ,, as tho means of improving themselves That '" "' " Uy , therefore , is being removed . Hut the miinii'"¦ liuvrs of Hheflield will forgive me if I say that there J hl ' . '" . 'mother diliiculty in the way , viz ., the want of an Da i 7 "'' ° " ° ' '' ' llllu ° '" P'"oper encouragement , on 'ho 1 Ul " 1 tlu , inunufuetiu-era . ( Chcoru . ) 1 beliovo thoro luia
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 aro 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 , able , and cultivated workmen . I eo 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 that amount of education in art which shall enable them to appreciate that which is excellent , and to purchase that which is good and beautiful instead 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 arc 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 hours 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 whjph 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 schools—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 to this . Do not believe that I am raising up giants for the purpose of slaying them ; foralthough you may be astonished at the
objec-, tion , 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 disbelieve this statement . I believe that anything more fallacious never was produced . It arises from a little inaccuracy in chronology—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 tho 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 tho facts I state to be true ; and if you visit the remains of those kingdoms you will see with your own eyes the truth of tho assertion , and that everything that is vicious and bad was erected in those times when the governments were fading , and their kingdoms vanishing from the face of the earth . The same will apply with regard to Athens and liome . 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 nil tho other magnificent buildings which even now astonish the eyes and excite the envy and admiration of those who cannot imitate them—Avill any one tell me that that was what led to the end of At hens P (( . 'beers . ) Far from it . lint it was soon after that time that increased licentiousness and the thirst for unjust war and undue aggrandisement led lo the downfall of Athens . And I believe but . for the attention which wus devoted to the arls in that city that its ( lest ruction would have come before . ( Cheers . ) And if the fame of thai , empire , anil the fame of nil individual is of any value , let me compare the state at Ibis moment of Athens and the pinnacle of repute on which she still stands , although denuded of those who
founded that city ---lot me compare that state and that , city with Hie more rigid and stern people of Sparta , whoso town at this moment , emi scarcely be discerned in fact , there aro disputes us lo the position in which it stood . ( Cheers . ) I have been led into t hese observations with a view of enforcing upon you the important results of art education for all classes . It would be most valuable um 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 fashion and
novelty which is now injuring the trade of this and ninny other towns . ( Hear , hear ) It is thin vicious taste tor novelty which leads manufacturers illwayn to be running after something new which makes them , instead of looking for what is heirfitiful and good , only seek that which is inn-el , and , discarding Unit which in really of good and sound construction , look only lo some luwilry ornament or to some form , or adaptation of n form , which has hitherto been unappropriated to any purpose to which either nature or art , or anything , except the morbid liruin of such men , ever intended such article to be applied . "
He conjured l . liem no / , to borrow Iroin the J ' reneh artists , and strongly urged them to |> : iy more attention to working in silver ; and he wound up 1 IH follows t" Let mo ask you not lo go homo thinking no lnoro about , the school or about its results till the next meeting shall recall you to thin hull , but , let me ask you , and especially those members of the fair sex who have assembled hero in Much iiumhent to-day , and proved by their attendance tho interest they take lot , me call upon them at their fireside to enforce tho merita of hiu nchool upon those who
may be absent to-day , whether husbands , brothers , or fathers , and so to exercise that influence on behalf of thia institution—if , indeed , they are persuaded of its excellence —that when you next 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 , have 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 the best and wisest members of the great faruilv of man . "
Loud applause greeted the conclusion of this truly great speech . Formal resolutions wore spoken to by Viscount Milton , the vicar of Sheffield , the Mayor , the Reverend Dr . Jacob , Mr . T . It . Barker , the master cutler , Mr . H . E . Hoole , Mr . Solly , Mr . E . Hadnelil , Mr . Leader , jun ., the Reverend S . 1 ) . Waddv , Mr . S . Mitchell , Mr . N . Philipps , Dr . Hall , Mr . Ridge , ami Mr . Young Mitchell ; the prizes were distributed , and the proceedings closed .
October 23, 1852.] The Leader. 1007
October 23 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER . 1007
Dying Glooms Of Protection. As Castle He...
DYING GLOOMS OF PROTECTION . As Castle Hedingham was compelled to content itself with Major Beresford , so Waltluun , whore formerly Granby most did perorate , was obliged to put up with Lord Berners and Mr . Chowler . 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 , almost 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 18-iO . 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 Protect ion , 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 age to tax the ; food of the poor man , he should always believe , that it was a fallacious opinion that taking off protection from corn was doing the poor man a benefit . ; he believed , in his conscience , 1 lint what wus called Free-trade meant nothing but cheap labour . Only a few days ago , he saw in one of the leading organs of the press , that ; the Manchester men began to be afraid—that they had carried out Free-trade respecting corn and cattle , but there teas now it freedom in labour com i n // on , and labour was leaviui / the country . There was an enormous and still increasing importation of cattle and sheep into this country , and yet the price of mutton had risen considerably within these twelve months . lie did not believe this could be attributed to the general prosperity of the nation ; he
attributed it ( o lh « short suppl y of sheep at , / his moment in I he country . He found m several parishes the farmers had been selling their lambs , and the suppl y of good old mutton wax falling short , and the price rising . The importation of oxen and cows rose from . M !> , N 0 O in lHl ' . t , to 4 . ( ! , ()()() in 18 f ><) , and (> l , 000 in lttf > l ; of calves , the numbers were 1 ;» , (>()() , li ) , 7 OO , 2 i , H 0 (>; of sheep , lambs , and hogs , . 1 . " 11 , 000 , 1 f > 0 , ( H ) O , ' 217 , . Vast , ouantilies of corn also were still imported , and we had had this year an immense amount of blig 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 , by putting on a little too much guano . It was not like tho case ol the manufacturer , who could calculate how
much he could p roduce b y a certain amount , of extra steam . Therefore the agriculturists , burdened with rales beyond anyother class , fell , that , they ought , to have justice done them . They could depend upon ( lie Premier , that , his principles of ' Protection' were ( he hfime as they ever had been , hut be knew well that , there were other great interests at slake as well as those of agriculture , jind that at , the present moment t he quest ion was not whether there should be I'Yee-t mile or I ' roteel ion , but Dial , from the stale of parlies and the democratic influence pervading certain parties , ( ho stability of 1 be Throne , our Protestant institutions , and the laws of our country , were at slake . Happy an he mig ht be lo render relief in tint way that he declared to be the most easy and convenient , lie imd most properly said that he would yield lo the opinion of the people of this great nation , as it might lie . evidenced by the Into
elections . He wound up n dull speech by proposing < o transfer certain burdens on land to tins consolidated fund . The next , speaker was the notable ( , 'howler , much improved since he made the famous civil war speech at thtj Crown and Anchor meeting , two or three yearn
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 23, 1852, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_23101852/page/3/
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