MR GLADSTONE ON CULTURE.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 445, 17 November 1875, Page 3

MR GLADSTONE ON CULTURE.

At the meeting of the Hawarden Literary Institution, held on September 14th, Mr Gladstone delivered an address, in which he said -—ln the course of his pilgrimage upon earth man has three forms of life—his spiritual life, his intellectual life, and his bodily life. It is in relation to God, and upon his relation to God, upon the knowledge of God, and upon all that concerns that knowledge, that his destiny and his happiness really depends on these matters. OJ that bodily or material life the wants are perfectly imperative and indispensable. It is in his choice to a great degree whether he will cultivate his intellectual faculties. It can hardly be in his choice whether he will labour for the supply of bis bodily wants, and the supply of the wants of those who are

immediately dependent upon him. It often happens in the mixed and imperfect condition in which we live that the exigencies of the bodily and material life are such, and the means of supplying them so limited, that they actually pressout—squeeze out, if I may say so—the opportunity of attending to the wants of our intellectual life ; and that, perhaps, is the great excuse that men would make for passing by the calls of an institution of this kind. They say, “It is all very well for people with plenty of money to spend, but I am not in their position ; I am a labouring man, dependent upon my hands, dependent upon my health, and I have got a wife and children to support. It is not for me, and I won’t be bothered with it.” Well, now, is that an excuse tha* ought to be made by the labouring population generally as they now stand ? There is no circumstances more gratifying, in my view, in the condition of the country than the great change which has taken place, especially in our labouring population, as to the means which they possess both for self-support and selfimprovement. Ido not enter upon the question whether in their case they have all that is to be desired in this world. It will have to undergo a great many changes before those who inhabit it can have all that is to be desired, but they have now what they h d not in other times. There is not only an improvement upoa their condition in other times, but there is a contrast with their condition in other times—a contrast of a most highly favourable character a contrast which mu-’t carry joy and satisfaction to the heart of every intelligent man not belonging to the labouring classes who knows that in the labouring classes is the basis and foundation of the institutions of the country, and of all that constitutes the nation. Now you hear people sometimes say that the time of merry England is gone by. Well, it may not be as merry now in all cases as we should wish it to be, but I suspect it is quite as merry as it was in the times of your fathers and grandfathers, and many generations before them, and a good deal merrier too. [Applause,] I think, as equally-minded men you will admit that in this parish there is not a general pressure of poverty among the labouring classes to induce men to say “ We will give everything to our bodily wants and to the support of our families, and we will reserve nothing whatever for the cultivation of our minds.” Employment of the mind—relief to the mind by useful employment and recreation, does not in the slightest degree add to the fatigue which the body undergoes and which promotes that equitable and general development of the faculties as between body and mind which - is most conducive to the health as well as to the happiness of mankind. In this respect it must be admitted that we as a people and I am speaking not of the labouring classes, but of all classes we do not come up to the proper standard. We do not do enough for the cultivation of our minds; we are, unless under the pressure of absolute necessity, a rather indolent .people as regards mental cultivation, not in the lowest class but in all classes. After a long experience of life I can say it is in all classes from the highest to the lowest. We should all protest against it in our separate spheres, endeavour to show we are not examples of it, and not allow ourselves to slide into that reprehensible practice. What shall I say of other nations ? There are other nations much before us in this respect. You will find in Germany, France, and in many parts of Italy that there is a much greater disposition among the people of the country to avail themselves of opportunities of knowledge and mental culture than in England. In Scotland there is a great disposition. But why? Because of the improved educa tion which the Scotch have now enjoyed for a good many generations. For a good many generations they have had a really efficient popular education. The mass of the English people are only just coming into possession of this blessing.