MR. GLADSTONE ON MUNICIPAL INSTITUTIONS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 221, 18 September 1877, Page 4

MR. GLADSTONE ON MUNICIPAL INSTITUTIONS.

In a speech recently delivered in Birmingham, the Hon. W. E. Gladstone thus referred to Municipal Institutions: — Than a municipal life there is nothing to which I, for one, attach a greater importance. Municipal life tests, and besides testing, also forms the public virtue of citizens, and the labors that are bestowed by many earnest and energetic men in municipal spheres bring with them for the most part only a municipal renown, and the limited nature of the fame which they in the first instance secure, is the proof of the high principles and virtue, and patriotism out of which tbey spring. . . . In my opinion the man who, seeking to tread the road to eminence, commences with municipal labors, chooses the path which is beet for himself, best for his neighbors, and best for his country. He lays the foundation for celebrity — slowly it may be, but solidly. He undertakes them with a limitation of reward as a test of his sincerity ia the performance of his duties. When we hear, as we sometimes do hear in various places, of tbe difficulty of inducing the most eminent citizens of towns to undertake the civic offices in their respective communities, never do I hear a statement of that kind without deep regret. But I do not hear it in Birmingham. I rejoice to find that the ablest and most energetic men — the men who. may well pretend to aspire to taking part in the councils of the country at large — • are not ashamed to begin — aye, and do more than begin — by holding tbe local offices which Birmingham offers to her citizens. . .. I do not believe, sir, that America could ever have fulfilled the destinies which she thus far has fulfilled had she drawn the first elements, the first inspirations of ber progress from any source except one, in which the people have been accustomed from their youth upwards, and each in their respective neighbourhoods, to undertake the responsibility, and to perform the duties of local self-govern-ment with that comparatively humble but yet valuable reward which is found in the respect and gratitude of friends and neighbors. I, therefore, Mr Mayor, am glad of the opportunity which this visit affords me to bear my testimony to the service which is rendered by any town which makes itaelf conspicuous before the country by the energy and efficiency of ita municipal institutions, and by the ability and high character of the men who are contented and more than contented to fulfil the duties of ita specific offices. It is within these circles, comparatively restricted, though great in themselves, that the manly qualities are formed that are capable of exhibition upon wider theatres. There are some who seek to attain to eminence throngh the power of mere wealth; there are others who seek to attain it through the exercise of mere talent. There is no more legitimate road to that eminence tban the road which is paved by services of this kind, rendered first under the personal observation of those by whom you are koown, tested by their approval, and gradually creating in the men who render them those habits of mind which combine energetic action and the free service of opinion with regard for order, and with a desire to see the fruits of those services in solid and enduring institutions. __ In I ■i, ■ .