THE SEBASTOPOL GUNS.
To the Editor of the Dudley Weekly Times.
Sir,—Our last Castle Fetes were heralded forth to the pleasure-seeking public with more than ordinary pomp and significance, by the prominently announced fact, that those mighty engines of death and destruction (the Sebastopol Trophy Guns), were to be ushered into the far-famed Castle Court-yard, amid the din of arms, the plaudits of the people, the beating of the heart-stirring drum, and the merry peals of our excellent parish church bells. Being one of the admirers of that march of pomp and day of local exultation, and heartily concurring in the sentiments uttered by our public functionary (the Mayor), I naturally anticipated that some suitable site would ere this have been found, whereon to permanently fix those trophies of our sanguinary struggle with the great Power of the North; but no! Dudley like! the famed Sebastopol guns, like the crumbling walls with which they are surrounded, seemed destined to be left alone in their glory. Anon the hobby-horses whereon the juvenile warriors are daily wont to practice the art of cannon riding, and the more matured admirers of naval glory, are accustomed to ruminate upon the mighty events of their departed lustre, under the consoling influence of that soother of the “ills and woes that flesh is heir to” a pipe of the genial Virginian weed. Such being the humiliating fact, I maintain, Mr. Editor, on the ground of public sympathy alone, that these precious relics of the famed Sebastopol should immediately be taken under the protecting wings of the Mayor, on behalf of the liege burgesses of this ancient city of the renowned Dodo, or consigned to the fostering care of the popular president of the Mechanics’ Institute. Surely £50 would suffice to provide proper gun carriages, and fix them on solid masonry in front of the magnificent Keep, protected by a suitable chevaux-de-frise, with an adequate elevated covering to protect them from the inclemency of the weather! Did not the Committee of the last Castle Fetes derive more additional “grist to the mill” by the fact that the guns were to be seen under their auspices alone? Hence the reasonableness of that Committee taking proper care of those trophies, as showing more decent acknowledgement to the sightseeing public for the additional proceeds received to their funds by the opportune presence of those national trophies. If it was worth the trouble to depart from the ordinary routine of official propriety to receive the guns at the hands of Government, surely it is but reasonable to hope that the sanguinary admirers of national prowess should provide (like other towns) a suitable place to deposit them on. Such being the public belief, let the Committee of the Mechanics’ Institute perform their duty, by endeavouring to convince that public that they are not insensible to the very exclusive and liberal support they have from time to time received at the hands of an hitherto silent but observant public, but at once make a suitable provision for those interesting objects of public curiosity, which are properly intended to be the enduring evidences of a nation’s triumphal prowess and valour, under difficulties and privations unsurpassed in the annals of warfare.
I am, your obedient servant,
ONE WHO LIKES TO SEE EVERYTHING IN ITS PROPER PLACE.
Dudley.
DUDLEY MECHANICS’ INSTITUTION.
To the Editor of the Dudley Weekly Times.
Sir,—Permit me a small space in the Times, in reply to the letters of Mr. Sluter, “A Schoolmaster,” and “One who likes to see everything in its proper place,” which appeared in your last. I feel the more pleasure in noticing them, from the courteous spirit in which they appear to be written, contrasted with that of a leading article in the columns of your contemporary, upon (in some respects) a somewhat similar subject. Right glad am I to find an interest taken in the matters to which they refer, sufficiently strong to develop itself by directing public attention to them through the pages of your paper. The offer of affording gratuitous adult instruction to a class or classes in connection with the Mechanics’ Institution, so kindly made by Mr. Sluter and his coadjutors, was the subject of many conversations, and occupied much attention of myself and its committee; the great obstacle, however, appeared to us to be the want of proper accommodation, the Old Town Hall being occupied for so many purposes, and at such varied hours, that we feared it could hardly be rendered properly available for such a purpose. Again too, we entertained the hope that long ere this we should have been in possession of rooms and building of our own, in which, suitable accommodation, not only for this but every other purpose connected with the Mechanics’ Institution or the public, would have been provided—the exertions to obtain which, notwithstanding the sneers of the writer in the Express, are pretty well known to most. The effort to establish adult evening schools may, perhaps, unhappily not be supported, either by those requiring them on the one hand, or by public countenance on the other, but it is worth a trial, and the offer of Mr. Sluter, and others of the Schoolmasters’ Association connected with him, is a noble one, evincing a feeling on their parts which ought to be thankfully and heartily responded to. What, Mr. Editor, even the most enlightened, is the education of our youth, compared to that more mature knowledge we acquire in after years? It is but, as it were, the outlines of the map then laid down, to be filled in by ourselves at leisure at a future time. I trust, therefore, now the matter is again mooted, the subject will not be allowed to drop without a trial being made regarding it. To argue as to the necessity or propriety of the establishment of such classes or schools, were but to insult the understanding of those most likely to render them efficient support.