Mechanics' imprisoned the needy and hard-working for offences against itself; and thus a new stimulus was given to the appetite for libel against Christianity. The courts of law, thus employed, were doing more for the dishonor of religion than was ever done by the contempt of the ignorant, and the invectives of the discontented, who had no knowledge of Christianity but in its abuses, and could not, therefore, influence any who had. Mr. Cobbett had reckoned on a greater prevalence of admiration for Thomas Paine that he found in England. He imported the bones of his favorite writer, in the expectation that they would be run after by sight-seers and purchasers who regarded Christianity as Paine did, and would receive his bones as saintly relics. But nothing came of it. The public laughed, and a niece of Paine's was naturally very angry; but Cobbett was made a bankrupt about that time; the bones were not exhibited, nor heard of again. The London Mechanics' Institute was founded in 1823; and in the next year was laid the first stone of the lecturetheatre. In 1825, the number of regular subscribers was 1185. In this year there was a meeting of 120 gentlemen, London Uni- who desired the formation of a university in London, versity. to meet the wants of students who were precluded, either by religious opinion or mediocrity of fortune, from attending the existing universities. "The object of the institution is," said the prospectus, “to bring the means of a complete scientific and literary education home to the doors of the inhabitants of the metropolis, so that they may be enabled to educate their sons at a very moderate expense, and under their own immediate and constant superintendence." There are no incidents of the period under notice more cheering than these. It is true, neither of these institutions meets the great want of all, the education of the absolutely ignorant, who form the largest proportion of society in England; but both aid in preparing the way to this all-important object. The London University educates a host of young men of the middle class, who, from generation to generation, must exalt the standard of education among the great body of Dissenters, hitherto but half educated at the best; and who become the moving spirits of large classes which had hitherto lain below the surface of the prevalent learning of the time. And the value of mechanics' institutes in exciting and training the intellects of the fathers of the next generation of artisans and operatives can hardly be over-estimated. It is impossible but that the members of these institutes must be more anxious to procure education for their children, than if the advantages and charms of museums, libraries, lectures, and reading-rooms had not been opened to themselves. At the time of the establishment of these institutes the chief advantage contemplated was the most obvious one, CHAP. XII.] ENCOURAGEMENT OF EMIGRATION. 481 of opening means of knowledge to working men who desired it, but we, of a somewhat later time, see a yet more important result accruing, in the exaltation of the idea of education in the popular mind, and the quickening of parental as well as personal desires for knowledge. The honor of originating these institutions belongs to Dr. Birkbeck more than to any other man ; and to Mr. Brougham also great gratitude was throughout felt to be due. Dr. Birkbeck had been preparing for the great event of 1823 from the beginning of the century, by bringing together classes and audiences of working men, for instruction by lectures and mutual communication. His influence, and that of his coadjutors, always went to rouse the people to do the work for themselves, and not to wait for patronage or aid from the state. The response he met was hearty. Men of influence and high character presented themselves as leaders; and master mechanics and operatives flocked to the movement. Two thirds of the committee of the London Mechanics' Institute were working men; and a continually larger proportion of that class became directors, till, in eleven years from its formation,1 the directors were chosen altogether by and from the general body, with no other restriction than certain conditions of membership. In a short time, many large towns- Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Coventry, &c. opened mechanics' institutes; and then they spread into the central settlements of rural districts, where, by the establishment of branches, the circulation of books could be carried on. At Chichester, an institute numbered 400 members and had two branches - at Bognor and Selsey; and at Lewes there were 200 subscribers. The men of the present generation may well distinguish the year 1823 with a mark of honor in the catalogue of their years. Emigration. After the close of the war, and two deficient harvests in succes sion, government had taken alarm at the number of unemployed laborers who burdened the country, and made a feeble attempt to relieve society at home by encouraging emigration. They conveyed a small number of settlers to South Africa, and established them there." By the custom-house returns, which are not very reliable, but the only data we have relative to that time, it appears that the sufferers took the matter very much into their own hands the number of emigrants to South Africa falling very short of that to our North American colonies, and soon appearing far below that to Australia. In 1820, according to these returns, nearly 18,000 persons emigrated to our North American colonies, while 1063 were conveyed to the Cape. As for the Australian settlements, the number of emigrants to them 1 Central Society of Education, 1837, p. 222. 2 Progress of the Nation, sec. i. c. 5, p. 128. increased nearly threefold between 1821 and 1826. The total amount of emigration is seen to correspond with the state of affairs at home. In the sad years of 1820 and 1821, it was leaving out the odd numbers 19,000 and 13,000; in the prosperous years of 1824 and 1825, it sank to 8000 and 9000; and in the disastrous year 1826, it suddenly rose to nearly 14,000, of whom nearly 13,000 went to our North American settlements. These are facts which clearly point out the duty of the state. There is evidently no question about whether emigration shall proceed; no use in arguing now about whether it is a good thing or not. It proceeds; and its rate of procedure corresponds with the state of affairs at home. The question is, whether it shall go on well or ill; under kindly or cruel circumstances. In those days it was common, we might say usual, in the bad years, for the laborer to land on the distant shore with nothing but his empty hands, and his tribe of hungry children at his heels. We shall see hereafter what has been done in regard to the question whether such shall continue to be the method of British emigration, or whether every one who goes out shall set forth with an assurance of finding, at the end of his voyage, wherewithal to make a homeland or employment, food, and a place in society. As we have seen, a committee of parliament was inquiring on this great question, at the expiration of the period under review. A foreigner might point to the state of the chief insurance Fire and life office in England at this time, as a curious illustrainsurance. tion of the prudential character of the English mind. The Equitable Insurance Office, though the chief, is only one among many in London; and the number in the country has been perpetually on the increase. In 1825,1 the vested capital of the Equitable was upwards of eleven millions; and of this amount, nearly nine millions had accumulated in twenty-one years. In 1821,2 the sums insured against fire, in the United Kingdom, amounted to more than 400,000,000l. There are no means of knowing precisely the amount of money on life insurance in the hands of the offices of the kingdom; but it is believed to amount to forty millions. In looking at these facts as an indication of national character, we must bear in mind that the amount of insurance of life and from fire would undoubtedly have been much larger throughout, but for the indefensible tax which has ever acted as a discouragement to this wise method of saving. The progress of the arts of life during this period was such as to answer to all reasonable expectation. In May, 1820,3 a young lady under age received by her trustees a sum of between 26,000%. and 27,000l., as compensation for the loss of custom at Bangor CHAP. XII.] BRIDGES. — GAS. THAMES TUNNEL. 483 Ferry; which ferry had, up to this time, yielded the young lady This was in preparation for the erection Menai 9007. a year. of the Menai Bridge, which was opened on the 30th of Bridge. January, 1826, at half-past one in the morning. The resident engineer undertook to conduct the mail across; and he had for his staff as many persons as could hang upon the coach. "Amidst the blaze of lamps,1 the cheers of those assembled, and the roaring of a heavy gale of wind, the gates were thrown open, and the mail passed triumphantly across." There was a throng on the bridge throughout the next day; and truly it was a work worthy of admiration. The height from the high-water line was 100 feet; and the length of the chains was 1600 feet. The first chain bridge in Great Britain, however, had been completed nearly six years before. It was the work First chain of Captain S. Brown, R. N., and was thrown across bridge. the Tweed where the width of the river was 437 feet from bank to bank. In 1822, the Caledonian Canal was opened, Caledonian after the labor of twenty years, and the sum of Canal. 900,000%. had been spent upon it. The canal might or might not turn out a good speculation; but there could be no doubt of the character of the population of the wastes along its course having changed remarkably in the progress of the work. Regular and well-paid employment, and intercourse with able workmen brought from a distance, had roused them from a state of torpor and ignorance, and given them habits of industry and pleasures of intelligence never dreamed of before. On the 12th of September, 1823, the Bridge-house committee, in contemplation of a new London Bridge, met at New London Guildhall to consult, and adjourned to the top of Fish- Bridge. mongers' Hall, to look about them, and determine where they would put their new bridge. It was to be as near to the old one as possible; and the old bridge was to stand till the new one was completed. The first stone was laid in June, 1825, by the Lord Mayor, in the presence of the Duke of York. Mr. Rennie, the architect, was the true hero of the day. At the close of our period the works were in great forwardness, and the first stone on the Southwark side had been laid at the beginning of January, 1826. In 1823,2 we find that the length of streets lighted with gas in the metropolis was 215 miles; and that nearly 40,000 public gas-lamps were lighted by the three principal companies. Gas Thames Tun In 1826, the Thames Tunnel was fairly begun the first shaft having been actually united with the nel. commencement of the tunnel. 1 Annual Register, 1826. Chron. p. 14. 2 Ibid. 1823. Chron. p. 59. Cambridge University was henceforth to have an observatory ; Cambridge the Senate having decreed, in 1820, that one should Observatory. be built, and furnished with instruments - voting on the spot 5000l. towards the cost. brary. The Faculty of Advocates at Edinburgh purchased, in 1825, a fine Danish library from Copenhagen; and in the next year, Astorga li- the Astorga library, the finest collection of Spanish books of law, chronicles, and romance, existing out of Spain. This library, founded by the Marquis Astorga, Viceroy of Portugal under the administration of Õlivarez, consisted of 8000 volumes, and was purchased for 30007.1 from Egypt. In 1821 arrived the first Egyptian obelisk seen in this country. First obelisk It was one of the pair standing at the entrance of the avenue to the temple at Philæ, the Holy Island of the Nile, on the borders of Nubia. It is of great value, from the curious matter contained in its inscriptions, which could not be read in London at the time it was brought over; and the privilege of possessing it seems to be enhanced by its having been. very nearly lost in the act of removal. A pier on the river-bank gave way under its weight, and it slipped into the Nile; but Belzoni, the traveller, recovered it very skilfully; and we next hear of it lying at Deptford,2 surrounded by artists who were eagerly making drawings from it, for engraving_purposes. The old priests of the Holy Island, whose petition to Ptolemy it bears engraved, would have been astonished and dismayed if they could have foreseen how far it was destined to travel. The art of lithographic printing was beginning to spread at Lithographic this period; so that we read of patents being taken out printing. for lithographic presses. The importance of the invention may have been exaggerated in the enthusiasm of its first introduction; but there can be no question of its having wrought well in presenting to the popular eye works of art, of a quality, and in a multitude, which could never have been enjoyed without the discovery of such a method of cheap engraving. The utility of the art in other ways — in multiplying copies of manuscript, &c. is so great as to entitle the first popular use of the art of lithography to notice in a history of the time. ment. In 1824, the most eminent men in London and Edinburgh Watt's monu- including the members of the government — met to 3 do honor to the memory of James Watt, as the benefactor of his country and his kind. The Prime Minister, who opened the business at the London meeting, declared himself charged with a message from the King, that if it should be determined on to erect a monument to James Watt, His Majesty 1 Annual Register, 1826. Chron. p. 11. 2 Ibid. 1821. Chron. Chron. p. 148. 3 Ibid. 1824. Chron. pp. 76–84. |