MECHANICS' INSTITUTES. [From the Times, November 5.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 500, 18 May 1850, Page 4

MECHANICS' INSTITUTES. [From the Times, November 5.]

The annual f&e of the Mechanics' Institute at Leeds has elicited speeches from two very dissimilar men, — Lord Mahon and Mr. Roebuck. One almost wonders how they could find themselves together, except on the open and comprehensive arena of the House of Commons. Their remarks on this occasion are eminently characteristic. His Lordship wanders through the field of historical anecdote, and shows by example how much may be picked up with very little trouble in that region of real romatfce. His younger hearers will soon be deep in the shelves of biography and history, and will find, to their disappointment, how few the prizes and how many the blanks in the lottery of historical research. Mr. Roebuck, on the other hand, after criticising the previous speakers, just as he would do an Irish debate, proceeds to grapple with the fundamental question of mechanics' institutes and popular education. This he does with his usual success. Striking off as so much surplusage and useless diversion all that may be said on the subject, he goes straight to the question, what is the use of knowledge to the mere working man'i Of course, we can all understand how a working man here and there may happen to be a genius, and by the help of reading may become a great man ; we can understand how any one who can read may derive a little occasional amusement from a library, and how a mecha-nics-hall may be a more innocent place than some which might be mentioned : but the question is serious, for it applies to the working man generally — the man of genius, the man of plain common sense, and^he man of scarecely average capacity ; tbe steady and the unsteady ; the man who is fond of his home, and the man who likes " company." Is it proper to urge the, pursuit of knowledge as a universal duty ? Mr. Roebuck begins by opening the widest possible sense for the term " working man." "lam a plain working man." This, in fact, is the key-note of his address. We are all working men, except a few dilettante, of whom it is unnecessary to talk. We all have our peculiar occupations, and all, happily, have some little leisure. We are, therefore, all in the same case. Unless some reason can be shown to the contrary, knowledge is a boon of equal value to all classes of men ; and the arguments which a tutor would em-

ploy to a young nobleman preparing to take his seat in the Legislature may be used with equal force to a mechanic, or even to a labourer. . There is, then, no occasion to discriminate between the several advantages of learning to different classes. We need not recommend it as helping a poor man to rise in the world ; or as enabling him to pass an evening now and then in harmless amusement. Nor, on the other hand, need we address special warnings to the poor man against the peril of literature. We need not dwell on his peculiar danger of being pnt out of humour with his lot and occupations, being rendered desultory, idle, irreligious, or conceited. The fact is that we have all our duties, and all our temptations. Literature produces the same crop everywhere in a shallow soil. There are dilettante lords, smattering mechanics, and conceited labourers. Can it be shown that the difference between the rich and the poor, the men who work with their pens, and the men who work with their tools, is such and so great as to render literature an unmixed, undeniable boon, to the one class, and a dangerous trial, or rather a certain stumbling-block, to the latter ? Unless such a difference can be shown, then the inaugural address of a Professor at Oxford, or a Chancellor of Glasgow, may be spoken, mutatis mutandis, to a mechanics' institute. There is a primary and universal use in knowledge, irrespective of all differences of talent or condition. Every man, by the aid of his natural senses and reasoning powers, assisted by the society of his own immediate sphere, acquires a greater or less degree of that knowledge which, to use Mr. Roebuck's words, gives to life its salt and savour, and makes a man a worthy associate and a means of beneficence to his fellow-beings. Every man, whatever his talent or his opportunities, knows something of this natural and this moral creation, and the laws by which both are directed to the good of man and the glory of his Maker. Could all the knowledge of the humblest village labourers be faithfully written down, it would make a volume which the wisest might read with use and delight. Now, there can he no doubt that this natural and spontaneous knowledge can be assisted, developed, increased, and refined by conversation and by books. Education only adds to that which exists, and, unless that education be vicious, it is liable to no more danger and obnoxious to no more reproach than the original stock of the uneducated mind. T.hercis no reason whatever why a bumble man, already knowing much by the use of his natural senses, and yet not puffed up, should not learn more and more continually, without the loss of modesty or usefulness. Knowledge is a law of our condition, just as food, clothing, labour, natural affections, and other things common to all men. Yet all these things are capable of regulation and improvement by art. So also is knowledge. We are not denying for a moment that popular education is liable to abuses, and that many a working man is made idle and desultory by reading what he cannot understand, or what is intrinsically bad. Very well. It is the same with his betters. Lords and labourers are in much the same danger oflosing their morals or their heads in the sloughs of a profligate literature or au impracticable speculation. The circulating library conveys as much poison to young gentlemen and ladies as the mechanics' institute to hard-handed mechanics. It is high time to dispense with warnings addressed to one class only. Useful knowledge is common to all classes, and so is that which is useless. The uoble instincts of knowledge, its lofty aspirations, its genial affections, its comprehensive ties, its tender consolations, its fund of cheerfulness, its boundless curiosity, ever urging the soul towards the Infinite, are common to all men, and are fostered as easily in the Institute as in the University. . The corruptions and abuses of knowledge are equally patent. If any one for a moment doubts their universality without distinction of class, let him revisit the place of his education, and there like the poet Gray, review the various fortunes of those who started with him in the great race of life. He will soon prove for himself the manifold dangers of intellectual cultivation under what are commonly believed to be the most favourable circumstances. As yet there is no reason to think that the few spare hours which the mechanic can give to the study of history or science are more dangerous to his sense 01 efficiency than the more ample leisure of the literary peer.