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of Cheltenham , thought " the present partial disinclination towards schools was a ttributable to the badness of the schools ; wherever a good schoolmaster establishes himself , he will get a school about him , whether he is < British , ' ' Foreign / Denominational , or Voluntary " Lord John Russell ( who , as usual , occupied the chair ) gave his opinion on the best way of promoting the education of the people , first blaming sectarian teaching , but returning to his theory of mixing all secular education with religious training . He said : — "In some instances the mode in which religious education has been g iven , has given some advantages to the arc uraents and some plausibility to the scheme , of those who nromote merely secular education . If all those who unite cnuci
religion with education would consider that the nas body and mind as well as soul , and if all would act according to that theory , there is no doubt but that a union oi religious with secular education would be the sole education thought fit to bring up men and women for this Christian community . But when part of that lesson is forgotten , when the body and the mind are very much neglected , and that which is taught of religion is so conducted into the paths of theological difference , and ot theoretical opinion which divide Christian sects from one another , then , the man who is for secular education steps in and says , ' These children are entirel y occupied with religious differences , and with niceties which they do not comprehend , we bad better put aside religious points , and let education be given at different times , and by different that two in
persons . ' There are those who say on days the week half a day each , and on Sunday for the whole day , there shall be religious teaching and instruction . They thus , as it were , give up two days for that which is religious instruction—in fact , the education of the soul ; while they have four days in the week for that which is secular education solely . I say that is a most unhappy and a most unwise division , and that neither in respect of time nor subject is it the education which the future people of the future nation of England ought to receive . ( Loud cheers . ) I say , then , that these questions of secular and religious education ought to be mixed together—that instruction should bo imparted so as to educate at once body , mind , and soul ; and when that is accomplished , you may be proud of your work . " This closed the interesting meeting of the great Whig school society .
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A PRACTICAL TRIUMPH IN IRELAND . The Irish Exhibition was opened in Dublin , on Thursday . It attracts attention from the singularity of its origin and circumstances , as much as from the intrinsic interest of the collection of works of art and useful industry . Its originators have in many ways applied the experience which all the world learned in Hyde-park . They have felt none of the fears of pecuniary failure which preceded the building of the Palace in the Park ; nnd they have never dreamed of asking Government aid to carry it on . In the construction of the building , also , they borrowed ideas , and have improved them . The airy appearance of the Hyde Park building is lost , for the walls are wood and iron ;
but , like the Pantheon , at Rome , the lig ht all comes from above , giving an equable illumination , very suitable for works of art , and very pleasing to the eye . Three halls , placed Hide by . side , and with . semi-cylindrical roofs and rounded gables , constitute the building . The central hall is larger than the others , its splendid proportions harmonized by happy colouring , and unspoiled by those rectangular pilasters which offended us ia the Crystal Palace . It is twice the size of Westminster-hall , and offers a grand range of room for a lino perspective . 11 will contain the statues , fountains , and chief articles of manufacture . The hall to the right is filled with machinery in motion ; and the hall to the left is devoted to the fine arts . Modern painters
and ancient masters are represented there ; among the first , Dauby , Etty , Cooper , Creswick , Grant , Sir Edwin Landseer , Sir Thomas Lawrence , Herbert , Wilkio , Turner , Calrot , Collins , and Winterhaller ; among the latter , Claude , Ctiyp , Vnndyk , Titian , Ciumletti , Doineniohino , Hogarth , and several less known French and German painters . A . statue , supposed to be by Rap hael , is among the curiosities of art ; and a noble colossal statue of William Dargan . He deserves to be thuH honoured , for the Exhibition itself is but one incident in his singularly honourable career . He began lift : i" « very humble condition . AVo lmv . e heiiHonwho 2 day
hoard of Step , on getting . v . a , exclaimed , "I ' m a made man for life . " There was a time when a similar success xviw progress to William Dargan . By the . simple force of a quick and ready mind , and a " patient oonlinuiinco in well-doin ^ , " lie roue from being a railway labourer to situations of tniHt , in which great buHimws ubilily mid peculiar tact wore required . JIo " contracted" good habits in undertaking to execute engineering works of singular difficulty . The first railway in Ireland , that between Dublin and Kingstown , n lino which at the present < l » y pays a highur dividend than any railway in the United Kingdom , and whose career has been an unehequcroil progress , was his work ; he lmving pronounced on its utility nnd accented the contract , whilo other men
doubted its success . For the last ten years William Daigan has been known in Ireland as a great captain of industry ; every year he added to his undertakings ; and in the year of the famine he materially aided the exertions of the Government , and alleviated the miseries of the times by keeping in steady employment 52 , 000 men . It was not unnatural that such a man should think of originating a world ' s Exhibition without asking aid from any one . What required in England a
wide appeal to the public and an agitation among the aristocracy , was done by him on his own account . He obtained a committee , and commenced to organize the Exhibition , paying all the expenses out of his own pocket . When his first advance of 20 , 000 Z . was becoming spent , a public subscription in aid was mooted , but he refused all assistance , and advanced 30 , 000 £ . additional . He has since liberally supplied the funds , having given , up to this time , over 80 , 000 / .
A fitting incident in the life of a man so singularly self-reliant is his refusal to receive " the honour of knighthood , " offered to him on Thursday . There is nothing incomplete in this wanted example for his countrymen of successful industry and self-respect . The fine weather on Thursday admitted the full and pleasant success of the inauguration . Among the English visitors were Lord and Lady Granville , Sir Joseph Paxton , and Dr . Lyon Playfair . They arrived on Wednesday night , having travelled express from Euston-square to Kingstown in ten hours and fiftyfour minutes . The honour of knighthood was hetowed on the architect of the building—now Sir John Benson . At the Mayoral banquet in the evening , the chief fact wasDargan ' s speech : after an unaffected avoidance of his own share of the work , and a brief allusion
to the royal patronage , he said : — " It has received assistance from a class of people whom I can never fail to bring before any assembly that I may be permitted to address—I mean ~ the Operatives—both artisans and labouring poor , who have used the most zealous exertions , and have displayed the most generous feelings in carrying it out that ever I saw exhibited by men . ( Loud cheers-. ) During the last three months ,
often as I visited the building , very few agreed with me that the undertaking would be finished by the 12 th of May ; and there was not a single one of from 1000 to 1500 working men who did not well know that he had it in hia power to embarrass us if he chose , either by irregularity or by combination , or some other impropriety of the kind , bo prevent the Exhibition from being opened on that day . Yet , with that knowledge , they never did a single act during that time to embarrass us in the slightest degree . ( Loud cheers . )"
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ROYAL LITERARY FUND DINNER . The literary men have had their day in this season oi commemorations . The annual dinner of the Royal Literary Fund on Wednesday brought together a small but select number of those who patronize and those who practise literature . Mr . Disraeli presided , and his aristocratic supporters of the evening were mostly of his own political party—the Marquis of Salisbury , Lord John Manners , Lord Adolphus Vane , and Lord Stanley . Mr . Monckton Milnea , Dr . Latham , Professor Creasy , Mr . C . Croker , and Douglas Jerrold , were among the English literary men in the room . Of remarkable foreigners there were Dr . M'llvaino , Bishop of Ohio , Judge Haliburton ( Sam Slick ) , and the Chevalier d'Azeglio .
Mr . Dibkaeli made an extensivo speech . He traced the history of the institution from the day when tho first idea was considered impracticable by Dr . Franklin , when Pitt , Fox , and Burke— " the austere and absorbed Minister , the genial orator of opposition , nnd the profound political sage "—all three agreed that it was a beautiful speculation that could never bo realized—down to the present day when sovereign * nro its patrons , and princes preside over its festivals :. In analyzing the principle on which tho society was founded , he stated tin ; circumstances of" the author" : —
" It was not impossible to suppose—because they had too many proofs—it whh riot impoHsiblo to supposo thai , a writer might produce a great work which fell stillborn from tho press . It was not impossible to suppose that ono who hud Miitisfiod the public taslo might advance- ngain with nil those alluring qualities which had fascinated the public mind , and yet on the second occasion might appeal to a dititnstoful or inHensible public It was pot impossible to HuppoHo — because snd experience furnished thorn with too ninny instances Unit when tho charmed public was agiiin to receive a repetition of the spell which bad
fuscinuled i ! . n feeling , nature might whisper to the author that the bmin , which wiih overworked , should lio fallow , und that tho frame , which was trembling with agitation , required for its restoration quiet and roposo . Theao wero occasions when it wna delightful to believe that Mutt , society hud boon tho agonfc , as it wore , that soothed tho disappointed author , und uustuiued tho exhausted mind of fjwihiH What was an author ' t Jluwiwamn who oboyod the irrcxistiblo impulse of organic laws , nevotcd himself totbooxteiimon or tho domain of knowledgo anil tin' cultivation of tho hiinmn mind . To do iliiw such
a man gnve hnriHclf up to tho utudy of Home special , probably HOJiiu ubulriuiu subject-- to u subject that demanded infinite ) research , continuous labour , intonao thought—the
dedication of an existence . It was possible that the life of such a man was the life in general of scholars . Itvysa possible that he might love that frugality of habits which was not difficult to be practised by those whose greateatptoasures arose from intellectual excitement ; but let it be remembered that a single one of those commonplace . casualties which were the inevitable incidents of the life of man under ordinary circumstances was to such a being an overwhelming and crushing incident . Ill-health , unexpected needs and requirements , domestic sorrow—and such a being was utterly overwhelmed . Men of this class and character , who were the ministers of civilization , should not be the victims of exigencies . It was under these circumstances that a society like the present proclaimed that tho time had
gone by when scholars should walk the streets or . London without finding a roof under which they could rest then heads , and when the books of authors—the implements and tools of their craft—could be taken from their grasp for the liquidation of some small debt . The time was gone by -when it was necessary for authors to sacrifice the labours they had accomplished for a small return in order to satisfy the requirements of the hour ; and , above all , when , for the exigencies of the moment , they were required to mortgage the future essays of their genius . " recordof
Referring to the popular opinion of the s the Literary Fund , he said —• " It was supposed that they were records of ill-calculating and dissolute individuals—of morbid vanity and ill-regulated susceptibility ; and it was supposed that the feelings of men had been engaged to contribute to the aid and assistance of those who were , at the very best , beautiful but eccentric examples of humanity . But no mistake was greater than that . The conditions upon which the aid of the society was granted were severe but admirable .
They imposed no conditions of civil opinions or religious creed ; of country or clime . On the contrary , the poet of Iceland and the grammarian of Arabia had both claimed its aid , and been relieved ; and an individual , "who was amongst the most distinguished authors of the 19 th century , as well as the minister of regal France , bad also , when an obscure editor , received assistance . The only condition the society imposed was that the claim ot all applicants should be deserved ; and in looking- over the list of names , they would find none that wero unworthy , many that were distinguished , and some that were illustrious . " ' , . But those who managed the funds had something else to do besides receiving subscriptions and drawing cheques : — ........ . . „ . the utmost de
" The claims must be investigated with - licacy , and the resources they might place at the disposal of those to whom they confided them must be administered with a tenderness which only gentlemen—and gentlemen , too , of refined taste and habits—could exercise towards recipients of peculiar sensibility . They had not to deal out alms . They had to offer tribute , and an imperfect tribute , to the suffering from society which the sufferers had endeavoured to improve . They must visit the suffering author in his abode ; they muBt do more than assist him . in his pressing need—they must endeavour that his future should be cared for , and that he should be restored to that career of usefulness which had been arrested . They had still other duties to perform , for sometimes they must interfere to smooth the pillow of departing genius , and then it was that they might tell tho man who had devoted his life to enlighten his fellow-creatures that sympathy
would still linger over his tomb . Then they imght tell the expiring author that his genius would remain behind , and excite the sympathies and affections of the community which ho had benefited , nnd that those whoen be had loved , even when in life , would feel the . effects of their recollection , and the gratitude of society . " This eloquent exposition was the chief speech of tho evening . It occupies the daily papers to the exclusion of several other shorter speeches made at a later hour .
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MRS . STOWE AT STAFFORD HOUSE . A rEKSONAt wekouio was given to Mrs . Stowc , on Saturday , at Stafford House , the Duchess of , Sutherland ' s town residence . A goodly number of high-born ladies assembled , and a few of our foremost public men , the most noticeable- being Lord l'ahnerston , Lord John Russell , Lord Carlisle , the Dnko of Argyll , Lord Lansdowne , the Archbishop of Dublin , the Bishop of Oxford , Mr . Gladstone , and Mr . Mncaulay . The only English literary lady present was Mary llowitt . The proceedings , for the most part , were informal . After Lord Shaftesbury had read an address , all present partook of
refroihments , and then formed a group , in one of tho richly-furnished mid Npncioiis saloons , and there ensued a general conversation on slavery and Uncle Tom ' s Cabin . The scene was somewhat striking . Tho ladies present—some of the fairest and best-horn of tho English aristocracy—were dressed in varied nnd lively styles oi" carriage cosfvunc , while Mrs . Stowe—tun nil , uliiii , and dark-complexioned—wns very simply arid plainly attired . Her expressive gestures and r-ouvcrimtional vivacity , also contrasted with the simple repose
of English manners . She spoke fully und freely of her book . She remarked that the ladies of England seem not to he at nil aware of the deep feeling of sympathy with which Unclt ; TonCs Cabin was received in America long before it wjik known in Knghtud . Tho firsf ; word that ever appeared in print iigainst Uncle Tom ' s Cabin , waH the article in the Times , which wus reprinted und reechoed in the American papers , and widely circulated in the form of u trnol . Tho ladies of America cannot , becauHo of their husbands' porwmal and political feel-
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464 T H E LEADER . [ Satpkpay ,
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Leader (1850-1860), May 14, 1853, page 464, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1986/page/8/
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