INAUGURAL LECTURE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 764, 30 May 1864, Page 6

INAUGURAL LECTURE.

Th following lecture was delivered by Richardson, at the opening of the Me^ha-'cs Institute, Port Chalmers :- V, , ctque^t of the i,.WJ»u ot *.j town, « U rv as I was pnssing through to one of the Serous Council Committees which are now S-and they presented a solid phalanx to any SerfuSer progress until I Lai complied with £ requests I *pn*nted to them » the most fo-cible terms, that involved as I Hwas in the consideration of subj cts which occupied all my thoughts, and coined to he CYuncil Chamber for some six or seven hours dX it was impossible for xne to prepare an ?d&» Urth the paj.-er it was written on in the "hort "time which fallowed me; this, it struck Se, was a conclusive argument, but it ™* met b> awinuing smile, and the assurance that a IdithcultiTs would at once vanish if I would only endeavor t<> m^et their wishes. I then represented that the Council sat daiy, and that therefore it was out of my power to leave town ; but hero Tgain I was filed, for well verged in the Standing Orders of the House they assured me that Baturday was a spare day, which I could not deny., and which day they at once appropriated as BeinTsomewhst of a timorous disposition I was apprehensive, in case of a refusal, that 1 might like an unfortunate jury, be confined until! agreed, and considering the solid appearance ot mv opponents, and calculating th ir powers ot endurance ar.d the uninviting aspect of the Treasury chest whic-h gaped lieiore me, I whypered a lentle acquiescence the more esprdally urged thereto by a grateful recognition of the claims which Port Chalmers has on me for any personal sacrifh-e. T Kejoieiri" in my liberation f'om distraint, i went my way; but soon the appalling fact presented itself that I had given a promise to make bricks without straw-to present an address without the materials for forming it. I at once thought of that individual who was invited to deliver a lecture on " Chinese Metaphysics, and who having, like me, 1o read up the subject, opened out the " Encyclopedia Britannica, and vigorously read every article ircm L to W. Acnte and impartial observers have remarked that the lecture embraced a vait number of subjects, and evidenced an extensive acquaintance with literature, both ancient and moiern ; and what was somewhat remarkable, that the style appeared to change with the subject; other critics, tess observant and less discerning, inaptly designated the co called lecture a literary hodge-podge—and the lecturer a clumsy manipulator. I very much fear that I shall not attain the eminence to which the Chinese roe taphjsician attained even in the estimation of the less favorable, bat I am sure that your kindness will readily supply any lack of material, and any unskilfulness in presenting the subject before you. It was a happy day for old England when she awoke to the conviction that intellectual cultivation and the charms of literature were not to be confined to a chosen few. In olden times, the prie<ts alone were masters of the art of reading, and the Saxon chief, and the Norman lord ? considered it beneath their high dimity to be known as possessing: any clerical skill. The spores of the fields, the excitement of the chase, and the fascinations of war amply occupied their time anil their attention, and they left to their priests ths care of their souls, and to chance the care of their iotelieetual fieu!ti?s. But there, are innate cravings in man which sooner or later will demand to be satisfied ; and it was not lor.ff ere an English king instilled an active principle among his subjects, which gave a great stimulus to the dormant energies of the mind. Nearly a thousand years ago the first great impulse was given to the cause of education by that illustrious princs whose ambition it was that his subjects "should for ever remain free as their own thoughts." King Alfred justly considered that morality and knowledge should be united in a nation's existence, and that such an union was necessary to its welheing. Not only did he provide that every landei proprietor should send his children to school, but he established schools everywhere for ths instruction of the ignorant, and by his own example exhibited the fruits an i benefits of knowledge. Anvd the multiplicity of civil matters that engaged his attention, the numerous actions by sea and land in which he was personally engage % amounting to more than fifty, he managed, by continuous assiduity to amass more knowledge than falls ti the lot of «yen the most learned, and to communicate more by his poems, translations, anl essays than many, even in our own day, can boast of. The character, attainments, and conduct of Alfred are a treasury of no mean value, and have mire permanently affected the English mind thin we have any conception of. In the 11th and 12th centuries education received that, impress which has never left it. The care of it was taken from a superstition? clergy, desirous of usurping a decaying civil power, and who were averse to the extension of enlightenment, and placed in the hands of laymen, who were enthusiastic in the cause of !earn ing, ami who, discarding the ancient mole of tuition, which niiuistered only to speculations and perplexing reasonings, adopted that more rational form which seeks to implant in tin human mind thoße germs of truth and science which have aa inherent tendency to develope themselves in an ever-increasing knowledge.

Gradually and almost imperceptibly the mental darkness which had obscured tbe whole realm of England glided away, and there arose colleges, which are now known as the chosen abodes of learning, and scholastic institutions in the chief towns of the country which, each in its measure, casts an illurninatiou around. Still even then, and until lately, it was not deemed desirable that the working clas3: s should devote their attention to intellectual .pursuits. The men composing these classes were looked upon, as a kind of human machinery, which it was required to keep well oiled and greased, to that the profit of the employer might not he lost by an excess of friction, and we shall not 1 c deemed detractors when we say that this state of things was complacently acquiesced in; there wa< whole?ome food in abundnuce —no scant of geodly a'e and the soothing influences of the evening pipe; the animal sensibilities were satisfied, but the soul and mind were asleep. Happily there were those who considered that man was r.ot all arimiil—that there was a soui to save, a mind to cn't vsM. and tlipy. bent all their energies to kindle the tote t powers and develope the germs of ment 1 and moral progression. There were again not wanting those who deemed that such exertions ware not only unnecessary but baneful, wh.> scornfully derided the effort to raise mau from the low a-d debasing state of degradation in viitiich he rested, and who clvi not he-iata to affirm that, if SU3"cessful, the i-esu!t would be an increased power to do evil. True philanthropy and true benevolence are not easily thwarted* in the pursuit of their objects; and amid the vast machinery which was bh.-u.2ht to bear upon the almost impenetrable ('arkness arose institutions similar to the one you are this day met lo inaugurate. I corgratulate you upon the name 3 on have chosen. I confess that there is something more classical in the name given lo a similar institution in a neighboring ci'y. The word Alhenaaum conveys somewlm of grace and beauty to the mind, but, to my ear, the oki-fa hioned name of Mechanics' Institute is far more acceptable. There is a lionseliness, an absence of pretension about it, which I admire; it appears to me to express, in Its very name, the cla«s for whose wants it is designe'l to provide; and should lat any future time visit your town ami be invited to enter \our institute by a gleam of light from within, I shall hope to find airing its visitors a goodly number of the mechanics of Port Chalmers, and I shall cease to believe that the institution answers its purpose when such cease to a-semb'e there. Mosr. cordially do I wish prospsitty to ;hD Mechanics' Institute of Port (Jhalmers, and may the day be very di>tant whtn it shall be proposed to substitute for its natie the more euphonious desianation of Athenaeum.

The sturdy independence -which will induce you to use every exe/tion to mate this 3 selfsupporting instimtion, will doubtless do much ; but it wuld not bs wise t3 tru<t solely to thsse m^ans. You have a claim upon the Provincial estate, which the Government will not be slow to Tecognise. The uiinistuis of religion will assurediy advocate a causa which, by the cultivation of the iuteilect, adds a virtue and a charm to the devotion of the heart. fn t!ie mothers of families, you are sure of tbat persuasive eloquence which is the peculiar property of that endearing relationship; and in the warm sympathy, the pleading; eye, the dimpled cheek, and the telling «nile of the lassies of the day, you have an ally before whom c?en Troy would have fallen, in a,

day and provincial statesmen wqulG become <$i~ i escent an.* compilable. Those woo have te&m ' the eolikS harvest of the hour, afafl who reside aiuoi!" you, will hasten to foster an institution which will be a credit to the town j and the captains of the noble vessels which frequent your harbour, with the liberality which is the characteristic of the sailor, will evince their appreciation of the ready invitation to the use or your rooms by aiding you to the utmost of their power. With such an amount of guaranteed assistance, your success is certain, There is an interval between the time when the youth leaves school and that in which he starts in life for himself which is of vast influence over his future career. The parent, duly estimating the difference between paying 10a a quarter for his child's education, and receiving some Li or Lo as the product of his child's labor, generally decides before the lad has reached the aa,e ot twelve years that, if his education is not finished, it is at least sufficiently advanced, and the inevitable result is, that from that hour theie is a backward tendency unless the benevoltntly minded step forward to arrest the fat»l retrogression by inducing the youth to attend Sunday and night schools, and to unite himself, as ha advances in years, to some such institution as you are now inaugurating- It would be well, therefore, that those who are interesting thenuelves id the rising generation should seize the opportunity which Mechanics' Institutes afford of introducing a system of night schools in connection witb them, as also a plan of (systematic lectures^ as well as of lectures of an instructive and amusing nature, each complete in itself. Unless some such method be adopted, it is to be faared thai your institute, instead of bting the resort of mechanics, and of those who have imbibed the first elements of education, and are atiiirst for more, will be a gathering place chiefly for those of more independent means and more advanced know ledge. Nearly 40 years experience testifies to ! the fact ttat such a termination is inevitable, uni less some such counteracting influences as we l aye suggested are adopted. The principle of association is one of those intuitive tendencies which have prevailed among men from the earliest periods, and it ha 3 been the fruitful source of great and successful enterprises in every age, and under, every clime. _ That "knowledge is power," and that "union is strength," are truisms which scarcely need illus tration; the9imple mention of them issufficient to their acceptance, but it is when there is an union of exertion, jn the pursuit of knowledge that we may expect the mo: t decided results. . . , Great and powerful as these principles are, whether acting independently or in combination, tiie forces they exert may be directed to the advancement of en or or tha propagation of truth That gigantic combination which scripture reco.ds, when the sons of men united to defy the majesty of heaven, and were scattered as chaff before "the wind over the face of the earth, is a satisfactory indication to us, that such associatijns are under the control of One whj doeth all' things well; and who, though "He move in a mysterious way his wonders to perform,'1 justifies us in usiDg the language ,of the poet regarding his , cperat'ons—

" His purposes wi'l ripen fast, {Infolding every hour j The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower." If we seek an illustration of the success which attends organization and association in the advancement of truth, we have merely to pass by the lapse- of centuries, and witaess those scattered nations recruiting under the banner of Him who is styled the " Captain of our salvation." of all the miracles which the world hfs witnessed thi3 stands preeminent and unapproachable. It is an undeniable testimony to all future ages of the simplest machinery t footing the most stupendous results, when if his, received The impress and attestation of the Most Hijrh. The bwly and the unlettered were associate-.i together under the divine sanction to effect a ce1 tain work ; and Recording to the testimony of tha greatest historian of his age, himself a heathen, the magnificent and triumphant march of ChrUian truth t'avaugb the camps of heathenism, the hamlets of the cottager, and the courts of piincea, was mainly to be ascribed to the unswerving constancy and uudiminished character of that simple band'who went forth to conquer error, indifferent alike to the sneer of the infidel, the dungeon of the persecutor, and the fiery ordeals of martyrdom. Such efforts as these are ever sure to receive 3 divine recognition; they bear within them a fertilising principle which will nurture them to perfection, for the object is the noblest which can engage the energies o£ man, that of rescuing the human race, and restoring it to its priiDteval innocence and happinsss. Scarcely less astoundiag ti the success waich attends the efforts of associated benevolence. Witness the marvellous successes of that noble hanr. whiak associated to strike the chains from cfi the slave—to tear frpm off the human form divine "the livery'of disgrace." Though opposed to all the power and wealth of England, that small-but well knit phalanx, of which Wilberforce and Clarkson, and Sharpe, were the leaders, forced their way _to victory, sometimes faint but ever pursuing, until there sounded from the Isle of the Sea, the echo of which reverberated to <;he Poles, that inspiriting declaration, that the touch of the soil of Uritain dissolves the manacles of slavery, and the human chattel becomes, *s by mggic, transformed into the human being, endowed wit" all the inherent right* and privileges of humanity if we turn to the advancement of science and art, and gaze on its victorious march, weshill I'erive additional testimony to the value of the associative principle. When Socrates gave utterance to the noble sentiments which have embalmed his memory, he was baguj.led to degrade liimself by sanctioning the puerile woi-ship of imaginary deities; wh?n Galileo was on the threshold of the temple of science and was nbouc to sbi'z^ the key whie'i was to unlock the gates of knowledge, he was obliged, being alone and unstipporte'd, to recall his published declaration, that the earth revolved round the sun, and to content himself with a rautterel whisper that it was nevertheless true. Happily these days are gone, and men of science are now arrayed in too powerful an organization to feav the frowns of princes, or the dark and dismal cells of the Inquisition. The literary associations of Britain, Europe, and America, throw their mantles over the humblest disciples of truth, and the medals of these societies are as earnestly longed for and as eagerly competed for, as the Legion of Honor and the YictO'ian Cross of the soldier, the promis-3 of which brightens the eye and irra Hates the countenance of the warrior as he crosses that bourne from whence no traveller returneth. Great and influential as are the benefits which arise from judici us associations, there are othes of a less direct, though scarcely less valuable nature ; we refer to those which we insensibly imbibe from tie associations themselves; results as certain ad as beneficial as the fertiI:js; .ii 2 properties of ihe gentle rivulet as it spreads over the adjacent meadow. We cannolf better describe these bgi» fits than by appropriating the lauguage of the po:t Montgomery: —"It is the prerogative or ge. ius to confer "a njeasjjre -f itself upon inferior intelligences." In reading the work 3of Miiton, Bacon, and Newton, thoughts greater than the growth of our m'nds are transplanted into them, and feelings more profound, Gublime. or comprehensive, are insinuated amidst our ordinary train ; while, in the eloquence with wbieh.they arc slothed, we learn a new language worthy of the new ideas that are created in us Of how much pure and exalted enjoyment is he knorant, who never entertained, as angels, the 'bright emanations of loftier intellects thin his own. By habitual communion witb superior spirits we not only are enabled to think their thoughts, speak thtir dialects, feel f heir emotions ; but our own thoughts are refined, our scanty language is enriched, our common feelings are elevated; and though we may never attain their standard, yet, by keeping company with them, we shall rise above our own, a 1? trees growing in the society of a forest, are said to draw each other up into shapely and stately proportion, while field and hedge-row stragglers, exposed to all weathers, never reach their full stature, luxuriance, or beauty."

If it be true, as the poet saith, which doubtless it is, that

" The lives of great men all remind us We nuy make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of Time." L?tus take a stroll along the ocean beach of truth and examine the footprints which it discloses, and let us see whether we cannot gather from their indications something to foster our hopa that the institution which we are this day inaugurating may be productive, of future benefits by giving facilities for the growth of knowledge among those who, from their position and circumstances, are debarred from a full participation in the aids and advantages which others enjoy.

iiather more than 80 years since there was born in a humble labourer's cottage, not fir from Newcastle upan Tyne, one who was destined to be the instrument of working out to a successful result the most wondrous revolution of mr age.

Gieorga Stepheason commenced hi* early career by accepting the office of a cow boy on the substantial wage ot twopence per day, whi h rose in due time to sixpence, and, at length, to the stun of twelve stiiiliigs a week; so wondrous n ■wage that it extracted from the warm h-.-art i<f our youth of 17 summers, the joyous exc'atnaUon "That he was ama :eman for life." George's early education had been much negle'ted, as well it might have been when hi 3 father's house was the aoode of poverty, but he resolved that the fiuure should nake amends for the past (>nd when diJ the firm will miss its mark?), and accordingly he entered himself ;is a scholar at a night-school, paying for his tuition, which embraced " figuring,'" the sum of 4d per week. Satisfactory anti rapid as his progress wa<, he msnaged t> steal many an hour from other works to increase, bis livelihood by making shoe lasts, and repairing clocks, snatching a leisure moment here and there for modelling engines in clay, thus prefiguring his luture eminence, Passing by the vseisjiudes of his early lite, anl the domestic e/.joymeiits which a judicious early marriage afforded, alas, but too short lived, we find him at the age of thirty, after caring a wheezy engine, at which it issaii, that "all the engineers of the neishborhood were vied, as well as Crowther of Ouseburn, but they were all clean bet," appointed aa enginewright, at £lUO a-jear. A careful observer of the various pha?es which the tramway experiments had assumed, and ot the travelling locomotive or his cotemporary Trevethick of Cornwall, which the Devon toll-keeper allowed to pass free, as he had " conscientious .•cruplesof the propriety of taking 1.11 of the devil" George Stej.hensm devised, or at least practically applied, what is now the type of the present locomotive, and more than doubled the power of the engine by turning the steam-blast into the chimney, by which mean^ the cost of steam-power was considerably reduced, and was placed below that of the horse. It was about this time that he exhibited an amount of personal intrepidity which may well vie with the most daring feat of arms. Deeply sympathising with the colliery pitmen, who, in the performance of their dangerous duties, may be said to carry their lives in their hands, he devised and had manufactured a safety lamp, before that of Sir Humphrey D.ivy was known, ami personally tested its efficiency at the great h z-ad of his o;vn life. Fortune smiled on him, as she always does on the brave, and Geordy's lamp is used to the present hour, and is preferred in many collieries to that of his illustrious and scientific competitor. In 1823, Stephenson recommended. agatDst his own interest as an iron manufacturer, the iutroduGtion of wrought iron instead of oas • iron rails, and originated the passenger traffic, now so remunerative, by mounting an oiu stage coach, which, in his b?oad Northumbrian dialect, he termed the " Experiment," on a wooden frame, to which every one who had an arm disengaged attached himself, until inside and outside, like a swarm of ants, the adventurous travellers are borne along safely to their destination.

Assisted by the noble present of £1000 from the coal owner-*, in acknowledgment of his discovery of a safety lamp, and aided by ofehar monied friends, he established a manufactory for locomotive engines, wh.icb became a school where the skilled artisan, and the celebrated engineers of the day, obtained their practical knowledge. It is impossible to' read without a, sniils, and still more' without a feeling of admiration, of the indomitable pluck of the plain unsophisticated Northumbrian in. defence of his locomotive pit 3. Difficulties only norved him to fresh encounters-he contemptuously smiled at the visionaries who declared that his locomotives would prevent the cows from grazing, the hens from laying, the birds from flying; who prophesied that the breed of horses would be extinguished, and Oits and hay become a dm* on the market—indeed, that desolation in its most rueful aspect would follow in the locomotive's train. He sioo 1 undaunted before the awful presence of Committee of the House of Commons, ecure in the convbtion that he was in the right; and though exposed to a cross fire of the most per-pl-xin* examination from accomplished, subtle, and bewfeged counsel, and the furious opposition of engineers of note and worth, he firmly heu his ground. It is said that one of a select Committee of the House of Caramons-anxious to show l+i3 wit gt {be expense of the witness - and we may say the i-aGS is no'c e?tinQt, agked Steplienson the following clinching question:— "Suppose, now, one of these engines to be going along a railroad at the rate of nine or ten miles an hour, and that a cow were to stray upon the Una and get in the way of the engine—would not that, thiakyou, be a very awkward circumstance," to which our Northumbrian, with a malicious twinkle of the pyp, replied," \es, it would be varrd awkard—especially to the coo.

His succ3ss from this time was ripil -his famous road over Ghatmos3, on the Liverpool and Manchester line, is a matter of history. The most eminent engineers declared that "no man in his senses would undertake it." The yawning bos swallowed insatiate the successive load-; which vere cast into it, until, at length, though nearly deserted' by the fain&UeartQi v/qrkmeu, he succeeded in forming, what is now termed, the best, part of the line of railroad, at an expense of L2B 009, instead of L 270,000, which tlie competing engineer calculated as the cost, and this through a quaking- bogofs-im? 25 fed; deep, on which the surveyor could not find a firm footing fur his theodolite; and the ploughman wus oh'iged to double tne wl.lth of his horse's feet by attaching ijo them broad soles when plonghing even the borders. Though eame&My entreated to tend his name, as consulting engineer, to many projected railways, and exposed to great temptations, he steadily and sturdily refused to Comply. He was persuaded that in order to secure the practical success of railways, they must be so laid oat as not only to be proved to be of decided public utility, but also to be worked economically and to the advantage of the proprietors. Th.'y were not "to be oonsjdepd Government roads, but private venfu-as, in faofc commercial speculation; ant he repeatedly declared tha*-, if he did not believe they could be made to pay, he would have nothing to do with them ; indeed, he frequently refused to act as engineer fJr lines which he thought would not prove remunerative, or when he consi lerel the estimates too low. Time will npt per2s.it me to follow the pitman further in bis career of triumph courted alike by the great and scientific, nor refer to those extensive works in which. 1m engaged ia connexion with his son, who to the inheritance of geniu* added the gifts and graces of education; but I cannot conclude this sketch without remarking that the simplicity of his early clays never forsook him even while engaged in those works which chilleiigsd the admiration of the age in which he lived. Though repeatedly pressed by Sir .Robert Peel, a name never to be mentioned wi'h.iiit* reverence, fo aceppt a baronetcy, he steadily refused. He was content with that nobility which it should ba the ambition of every man to attain to, the nobility of miud, and which is within the reach of men of all ranks and classes, giving to its possessor a passport to the society of the ancestral nobility of the lanl The peerage of England is recruited from such as these, and the Commons House of Parliament is glad to recognise them amongst the representatives of th« people. Stephenson was proud of his rise in life; he evinced the same ggauhie nobility which characterised oth^s who had men by their own perseverance and abilities. " When thelata Joseph Brotherton, in tin course of the discussion on the Ten Hours' Bill, detailed witu true pathos the hardships and fatigues to which he had been subjected when working as a factory boy in a cotton mill, and describsd the resolution he had formed, that if ever ij; was in hjs power lie would endeavour to ameliorata the oonditioa of tint class, Sir James Graharne rose immediately after him, and declared, amid the cheers of the House, that he did not before know his origin had been so humble, but that it rendered him more proud than he had ever before been sf the House of Commons to think that a person risen from that condition should be able to sit side by side, on equal terms, with the hereditary gentry of the land." We know not which to admire most, the' outspoken U-uthfulaess of Brotherton, or the genuine frankness of tfrahame, Smiles in lite " Self-culture"—a work which I cordially recommend to you, and to which I am much indebted—relates a similar incident, of the famous law lord, Tenterden. On one occasion he took his son to a little shed, then standing opposite the western front of Canterbury Cathedral, and, pointing it out to him, saji, "Charles, you see this little shop. I have brought you liqre on purpose to show it to you. In that shop your grandfather used to shave for a penny. 'Ihit is the proudest reflation of ray life." For such men tae dist.incti ;ns of title were but empty honors; for they had already attained to the first rank in nature's peerage. As an illustration of the effect of wealth without self-culture w-s addace the case of the rich grocer, who, seeing the famous Dr. Aheruethy enter his shop at a time when he was canvassing for the offioa of Surgeon to St. Bartholomew's' Hospital, assumed an iasufferably patronising air, and said, " I presume, Sir, you w.int my vote and interest at this momentous eposh. qf your life." Abernethy, who hated humbugs as we all do, and felt nettled at the tons, replM, ".Vo I don't; I yrant a pea*

Ny worth of flga; come, look sharp and wrap than uj>. I want to be oil." Time warns me to part with our hone=t exemplar- tbe bluff, unsophisticated Northumbrian. O vex worked as he was, lie dearly loved a bit of quiet fun ; and at timess, when the business was shiek, lie would invite h:s partner to have n wr stling match on the green. He was indeed, us bas been &aid of him, one of nature's gentlemeu; and seldom has nature turned out a nobler .-.peciuien. When old a«;e overtook him, he returned quietly to the homely occupations of his youth, ai it he had never known power; and thus parsed away, at the age of 67, one who, springing from a clay"fljo:ed cottage, raised himself by his sterling qualities, his unblemished honesty and his practical genius, to be the shosen asociate 01 persons whose names stand in the foreground of the celebrities of the day. Jf we uesire to ascertain to what cause trie sons of Britain owe the proud position which they have attained in the scale of nations, we shn.l rio well 10 rtfer to the opinions of those eminent anri philosophic foreigners who have examined the subject- Montalembert, in bearing testimony to the conduct of the European population of India during the mutiny, says—" Surprised in the midst of peace and prosperity by the most frightful and most unforeseen of catastrophes, nut one of this handful of Englishmen shrank or trembled ; all military and civilians, young and old, generals and soldiers, resisted, fought, and perished with a coolness and intrepidity which never faltered. It is in this circumstance that shines out the immense value of piblie education which imites the Englishman from his youth to make use of liis strength and his liberty ; to associate, resist, fear nothing, be astonished at nothing, and to save himself by his own sole exertions from every sore strait of life." Another eminent writer speaking of the English system of education, asserts that it is well adapted " to reveal tJ the world those two virtues of a lordly race—perseverance in purpose, and a spirit of Conduct, which never fails." A still more eminent German writer sajs :—" The superiority of Englishmen does not lie in their being cleverer, better educated, and better treated than the young men of Germany, neither does ie lie in their birth and fortune—it lies precisely in their having the courage to be what nature made them. There is no halfuess about them. They are complete men. Sometimes complete fools alsD, that I heartily admit," he says, •' hut even that is something and has its weight." Now we have no hesitation in affirming that the estimate thus formed of us is a correct one, even though it embraces the unpleasant fact that we are not devoid of our compliment of complete foots. It is to ouv self-relianoe, united to perseverance, indomitable pluck, and a sense of duty to old England, that Englishmen have become what they are. On the death-bearing plains of Cawnpore, in the dreary trenches of cebastopol, on the soldier's battle ground of Inkerman, and the ride through the gates of death at B-ilaclava-there rings.in.the ear of the soldier of every grade—the signal of England's greatest admiral, " England expects every man to do his duty," and every clime and every age record the fact in deeds of daring, and still more forcibly in acts of uncomplaining suffering, that her expectation has not been and never will be in vain. So fully possessed is the native Indian mind with tbjs belief and the inevitable consequences of its influence, th^t in on? of the darkest hours of the Indun mutiny a chief whose adhesion wai of paramount impb.tance to the British interests, consulting his astrologer as to the course he should pursue, received tbjs reply. " If all the Europeans save one are slam, that one will remain to fight, and reconquer." So universal is the homeward look in the breasts of those whose lot is cast beyond the British shores, that ia their public undertakings we are not seldom reminded of the belief that the eyes of England, nay sometimes of Europe, are upon them—a pardonable, illusion, if it only lends to increased exertion and self-reliance in a good cause. It has been Observed by these who hwe deeply studied nature that there is a kind of compel sating principle at work in the human machinery which restores the equilibrium between one man and another. Suppose for instance that_ a man were born blind, the chances are that his other senses would be keener, the hearing more acute, the touch more discriminating, and so on. The converse may perhaps be also true, that where undue activity is given to one organ, there w|!l be a du'ness in 'the others. "This "principle may_ be (jomidertd as extending ibeyond mere organisation; it may develope itself in the moral and mental. It is seldom that we see the faculties of the mind equally developed, but we do not design noticing this at present, it is to the moral faculties that we would direct attention. If the phrenological organ of acquisitiveness be unduly excited—that is, that disposition of making money that the envious give us oyer-CFedit for, and which is sometimes the case; in young communities, we may expect a ffant of acute moral perception, a lesser degree of sensitiveness in other moral organs. As regards ourselves, the day was, and I am old fashioned enough to wish it were still, when we jogg-id along quietly, not in too great a hurry to become rich; when cash went out nearly as iast as it came in, but not fester; when the'ijiU presented' no , ityerwhelmiug allurements to gentlemen across the water who had forgotten to obtain tickets -of-leave from a Commissioner of Police: we were then, perhaps, too slow, it may be n,->w that we are too fast. With the overpowering energy of .acquisitiveness there may be just a little less of delicacy in tin touch, it is said, though with what truth we know not, that ttie names and labels of importers of established repiUatiqu arp kindly borrowed ?>nd freely used BfithouJ any distressing qualms of- conscience. That unpoi'ted goods undergo, in their passage to the eonsui&ei-, some little siejglit of jaiid. opei^ don, and that even spirits ot welt known and thoroughly appreciated brand and strength, lose somewhat of their virtue when m^ade to fill two casks instead of one, while they obtain a pungency they did not before possess, sttributable, as the malicious say, to some blue stone preparation This n;ay 1)3 the n;§ce ggsoip of sqrne euvious neighbour, but It, nevertheless, obtains a certain amount of credit,' it is better to err on the safe side with the biewer who established his character and bis fortune at one stroke, when, on examining and tasting his vat, he wouuld say— " otiil rather poor, my lads, give it; another cast of ths malt.' Perhaps, s.ome of these who deal in artic'.es'nb't remarkable for being excessively over weight, would find it to their advantage, at least to the quieting of their conscience, should they have one", if they were to try the experiment of " another oast of ins malt."

The secret of England's commercial greatness lies in the fact that the word of her merchant is as good as his bonl; that, the sample accurately represents the quality, and the invoice the quantity of her exports. She has fairly earned this character, and it yields a good per centag-e of respeqt and profit. "If ever," saya an eminent Fienchniiri, "in the Brifcis'a Islands the useful piiiigSQS should lose th,e.ir viitues, we mßy be sure that Jor "-'ngland, as for every other country, the vessels of a degenerate commerce, repulsed from every shore, would speedily disappear from those seas whose surface they now cover with the treasures of ths universe, bartered for the treasurers of the industry of the three kingdoms."

There is a virtue too much derided in our day, but a virtue it is,, nevertheless. We mean that of Hying within our mean 9, and not unr^asqnably'tra/lirig qn credit. We know that'we shall be exposed to the contemptuous smile of those whose cpitat consists in' their power to trade without money;—whose sole occupation is to deal with bills receivable and bills payable, and who will engage ia any speculation—bank, gas, water supply, or what not, so thatca h is not demanded,. It will not ha difficult to f}nd a dignified name for such'a'system "j but in reality, it is nothing less than gambling, if you have no reasonable expectation of meeting your liabilities. Such spsculitions have no solid substratum on which to rest. The bubble bursts when there is mere than an ordinary disturbance ; the 7.j millions of the North British Bank deposits under such a system leave not a fragment behind to satisfy the cravings of the widow and the orphan. The words of Dr. Johnson were mighty words, —" Do not accustom yourself to consider deb,t only as, an inconvenience; you will §nd it a calamity- Resolve not to be poor; whatever you have, spend less." Wellington, talking ol debt, says, "It makes a slave of a man. I have often known what it is to be in want of money, but I never got into debt." We believe that in communities where the system of drawing and backing bills is almost the sole system under which trade is oinducted, t4e/e exists a state of th.ings fraught with the greatest uangerjand that the hour is not far distant when, through some European disturbance or monetary panic, there will be a fatal collapse. We have heard that in one of the British colonies a state of bankruptcy came to be considered a wholesome normal condition of humanity; and that after each gazetting the insolvent rose, like a giant refreshed with wine, and shone as a star of greater magnitude. We can well spare such giants, and such stars. _ Thsra is another phase of this temptation to which sudden unchecked prosperity leads us—a temptation to which nations as well as individuals are subject-that of living too fast;. We forget that the very elements whioh combined to give the impetus which haa placed as ia a mar© ele

v-,^,1 uo-ition than we formerly held, are still in oJ^tKaS. I*6 all forcing -fl^^ cre>t- a greater susceptibility to be injuriously tSed by the changes going oa aroundus 1 is from trees crown in ordinary soil that vie cut he W tfiber. The harvest decs not continue WghouUhe year. We should be careful >at our means improved, until we wtre able at lengJi to dine off' a 1 bit of roast meat an d some times a boilt chuckie; but, as for our Jock he began where we had left off, he began with the duke fiist " It may not be on unprofitable mquny it *c occasionally ask ourselves in this our infancy of prosperity, both as individuals and as a PioviJe, whether we are not eating our chuckie flrst-and whether, in our haste, we are not e-t----injhim feathers and all ? The homely rhyme i* not without its worth —

" If everyone would see To his own reformation, How very easily You might reform a nation. Th-re are two elements which are the necessary ingredients ia the formation of every great character-pluck and perseverance-where these are wanting, success is seldom found; where they are present, it is never absent. "If what shone a'ar so Rrand Turn to nothing in thy hand, On again, the virtue lies _ n In the struggle, not the prize. Arkwright, the founder of the modern factory system, the prince of cotton spinners, was the child of very poor parents, and entirely depute of education till a very late period of life, for a the age of 50 he set himself to learn the English irramraar. Commencing business as a barber in an underground cellar, he allured his customers by the invitation " cou.e to the subterraneous barber, he shaves for a penny"-and when his competitors reduced their charges to his scale, he pertinaciously and successfully returned to the contest by the irresistible invitation of a clean shave for a halfpenny." It was this indomitable spirit which carried him through the persecutions and unabated opposition of the manatee turers of the day, and succeeded after Rigautie labours in placing his discovery on a well estan--ISThe life'qf Qeorge Stephenaon was one continuous illustration of the advice he gave when addressing young men-"JDo as i have donspeThrreeader of ancient history will find in the records of the pafet many a scene of untiagaing perseverance under the most disneavtening circumstances, and of undaunted courage agaiust the most overwhelming hosts; but there is not a single page in that history which can exhibit a bravlry more brilliant, and a peretverance more staunch, than that which was shown on the heights of the Crimea and on the plains ot India. The limits of this address do not admit of more than a passing allusion to the latter, and 1 select it as an illustration, in preference to the former, because I have had some personal knowledge of, "ome of the actors, and of the scene of their ieT°heseiffSof Delhi will ever be the brightest page in the narrative *f British valor. 4incamped in the midst ot a hostile population, on an open plain, assailable on all sides surrounded by ever increasing battalions of insurgent soldiery, and exposed to the devastations and depression influences of an Indian cime, a handful of British troops deliberately sat down to invest, a fortress, garrisoned by trained battalions, in possession of marines which afforded an inexhaustible supply, of v ,I.the munitions of war. For month after month they continued thesifege. J^one time detaching troops ?o prefect their conyoys, at another to repmse the repeated assaults of tho enemy on the flank and in the rear: while, at the same time time, they were unremittingly engaged in an unalterable resolution to tear from the grasp ot the peijured rebels the capital of Upper India. There was cot a faltering heart nor a trembling arm amid that small but united band ; they spurned to count the odds ; they contemptuously rejected all doubts of success: they resolved to conquer, &nd the wall« of I>elhi #sll before their resolute wills, and %c preside of the British arms wa3 gloriously restored on the chosen nald of insurgent arrogance. Simultaneously there emerged, as it were from the ocean, those fiery bands which, umler the warlike Weale, rushsd impetuously to the rescue, disdaining to count the costs, and "which, under the heroic Havelock, with increased battalions, pursued their, victorious maroh, sweeping the rebel sofdiery from their path'; until, a'fto/ a vapid suoeessioa of matchless victories, they stood triumphant on the very ground where)he demoniac Nana Sahib had consummated the hideous ambition of a heart capacious of the mo3t revolting atrocities. The aruiei legions of the arch deceiver were hurled b fore the impetuous Havelock as the leaves of th.c forest are swept away b. v the a.utu.mna! bjasts; and the gentle m,oth,er an.~d the tender infant, who had' been ruthlessly m.urdered in the face of the most solemn engagements, were amply avenged ere the blooJ which stained the entrenched camp of Wheeler's feeble force at Cawnpore had scarcely time to dry. But as if two such triumphs were not sufficient for British glory, there was enacting at the same i moment, within the walls of the intrenched residency of Lucknow, a scene before which ths brishtest achievements Qi chivalry shine with a fade,d lusfte'- 'i'n£ ®$te Hon hearted Lawrence was' successfully holding his ' ground against hundreds of thousands of infuriated soldiery and rabid fanatics, hoping against hope, presenting with his heoric band, under Inglis, a dauntless front to the ceaseless attacks of a sleepless foe, until the reddened bayonets of Clyde forced their way through the loop-holed streets to the sacred spot where, fearless though feeble, ths immortal garrison stood, a,b bay. And vvh^ro are these chieftains now ?--An untimely grave has ' claimed them as its own. Scorched by tbe fiery blast? of India, and with constitutions wrecked by its devastating climatic hurricanes, each has sunk to his rest;, with his laurels unfaded on lv's broiy ; f\ few tvlone veinaju to eher{3h $he recQlloction of th,ose days of trial— those days of glory. Beneath the sacred I encampment of Lucknow lies all that ! remains of that noblest of nature's works —the heroic Heary Lawrence, who, united to the valour of th.c soldier, the sagacity of the statesman, the benevolence of the philanthropist, and the tenderness of the woman. True to his noble nature to the last, wifh his expiring breath he asks, " Let there be no fuss abnut me ; bury me with the men." And there lie his mortal remains; but his soul is emlvUmed in the affection of the living, and dtsaih—ruthless tyrant that it is—cannot quench its fibres, Close following fell the captain whom victory ever loved to crown—Havelock —that household name in every British cottage and palace. His work being1 donei he gathered hi? cloak around him and laid him down to die j he saw the glowing tints of returning triumphs warming the eastern horizon, and he asked no more. True to a life of sterling Christian activity anl selfdenial he calls his son to his side and bids, b,im mark how calmly tUo Christian c^ies. Qutram, that eastern. Bayayd, without fear as without reprcach, who generously declined to touch the laurels which were encircling fiavelock's brow, except to bind them the firmer, and who served where he might have commanded, has gone to his long rest. Inglis, whose plain unvarnished tale of th.c haleagured foroe of Lucknow is fujl of more thrilling interest than th,e mo3t telling page of fiction, has also gone, and as if death shrunk frini separating those who ■were allied in glory, the foremost captain of the age, on whose movements it may be truly said the eye of England and of Europe was fixed as by a spjll—he, the gallant chieftain, of a gallant race, passed silently away, a3 if satiated with glory, to join his comrades in ths world beyond. When Canning died, a lofty spirit which had stemmed, unmoved, the desolating tempest of disloyalty, was offered asj another sacrifice to, duty— lip, tog, passei away as a spirit of the night, leaving an enduring £rle:ira of glory as he passed. On the vice-regal throne of India there now sits one—spared yet awhile to consolidate by the gentle arts of peace, the bloody triumphs of war ; that seat which has hitherto been reserved for the peerage, is now filled by a brother of Mr Henry Laurence. It was he, who, with his "true hearted associates, Montgomery, Edwards, Nioholsqn, and others, when in the lowering olquds portended the direst results, evoked from out the oanip of the soldiery of the lunjaub, so lately pitted with us in a death struggle for empire, those fiery hosts which sprang, ready armed, to the rescue, and which associated with the dauntless squadrons of the daring Hodson,—alas, now no more,—turned the scale of victory, and gave our breathless and decimated battalions a moment's respite on the road to gory. In the hands of Sir John Laurence the sceptre of the Viceroy will loss none of its splendour, none of its virtues; the rebel will be scared from his lairg, and the loyal qemented to tiie throne. Oh, these were days of triumph, days of pride ' "Vfbea Britain ia future years dejires to remind

. glorious inlieiitauco they possess, she can point to no brisiiiter page than that which the history of the suppression of the Indian mutiny unfolds. Ciesy, and Agincaurt, and Waterloo, and Jnkerman, and Balaclava, may each tell their tale of heroism, unparalleled iv the history of the world; but the sum of iSiigland's gloo will hi fahort reckoned if ths brilliaut Leeds of arms of her soldiers, the heroism of her civilians, the unfaltering fortitude and uncomplaining sufferings of her daughters in the hour of trial on the plains of India are not unfolded to the nation's gaze aud the nation's reverence. When the sculptor of iuture years seeks to em body in the almost imperishable marble all that is daring ia deed, unwavering m purpose, unquenchable in fortitude, he will find in the records ot British Inoia the most fitting materials for the loftiest conceptions. Monuments of marble may recall the glories of the past, but the undyiug memorial is to be found indelibly impre«sed ou the hearts of a grateful nation which treasures, as a sacred deposit, the \Ltues of the dead.

Human Judgment.—We out not to judge of men as a picture or statue- at the first or a mere casual view. The;e ie a mind ana heart to be searched. The veil of modesty rovers merit, and the mask of hypocrisy disguises malignity ; and there are but few judges who can discern, and have a right to pass sentence. It is but by little and little that complete virtue and peifect vies come at last to show themseive?.