Let me glance for a moment at the Requisition to the Overseers, signed by His Serene Highness Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar, by the Minister of St. Mark’s, by Lord Radstock, four Ladies, the Editors of the Athenæum, and Lancet, a Rabbi, or Professor, Doctors of Medicine, and Surgeons; also by Mr. Churchwarden Carr, Vestrymen, and other respectable Ratepayers, including Ernest de Bunsen, Abbey Lodge, Joseph Grote Esq., Gloucester Place, S. H. Harlowe Esq., North Bank, and R. H. Collyer, M.D., Alpha Road. Strange meeting of names exemplifying as it does, that UNITY of design, on which the Chaplain of Lincoln’s Inn so delights to dwell; it is a paper of no ordinary interest. Let me gladly acknowledge subscriptions towards defraying the expenses of promoting this great social measure. Mr. Nicholay, 10s. Edwin, James Esq., M.P. £1 1s., Ernest Hart Esq., F.R.C.S. 10s. Sir Francis H. Goldsmid Bart, M.P. £1 1s., Mr. Michell, 5s., Dakin & Co., 10s., W. J. Fox Esq., M.P. 5s., J. Grote Esq., 10s., and S. H. Harlowe Esq. 5s.
Gentlemen, As friends of Progress, of more Intellectual Light, and knowing the bitter fruits of Ignorance, I trust you will endeavour to be EARLY at the Meeting. Bis dat qui cito dat. I entreat you to bear in mind that a small rate for Libraries or Museums, or News Rooms, if tax it can fairly be termed, is like the quality of mercy,
“it is twice bless’d;
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes.”
“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” Let those memorable words, “She hath done what she could,” be applied to you, and what ought to be done for St. Marylebone, do at once. “The night cometh, when no man can work,” and there is no knowledge, or wisdom, or project in the grave.
Allow me to offer a few suggestions as to the conduct of the Meeting. No person can take the chair as a right. A Churchwarden, ex-officio claiming the chair to the prejudice of the Rector, is indeed an anomaly. You must elect a Chairman, uninfluenced by Party spirit, for on your choice of the right man very much will depend. I have known Churchwardens, chairmen of Library Meetings who had never read the Act, and knew or cared nothing of its scope and tendency, and yet in the shallow guise of “friends of the Poor,” and to gain a little fleeting applause, have not scrupled, to get out of the difficulty to misrepresent or abuse it, or condemn it with faint praise.
Gentlemen, I have much pleasure in stating that the Resolution will probably be moved by that earnest friend of the working classes W. J. Fox Esq., and that it will be seconded or supported by the Rev. J. M. Bellew. To hear two such advocates of Libraries for the People is of itself a treat of no ordinary kind. The great anti-corn law speeches of Mr. Fox are not forgotten, and I am sure the honourable member for Oldham on so congenial a topic as the Instruction of All, will not fail to please. The crowded Church of St. Mark attests Mr. Bellew’s well deserved popularity, and that neglected art among clergymen—the art of READING, the reverend gentleman has attained to perfection. I could not but think as Mr. Bellew read the twelfth chapter of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, that it would be well for the Church if there were more such splendid Readers, and eloquent Preachers, and if in the Ordering of Deacons, the Bishop put the question to every Candidate for Orders, “Can you read?” or “Have you passed your examination in the Art of Reading?”
To opponents I would say are you content to be taxed £70,000 a year for Expenditure at the Workhouse? At the utmost a £2000 Library Rate would be required from the large body of ratepayers, which is not worth consideration, and which would be saved over and over again in the improved habits of the people. Exercise then a little commercial foresight, and you will perceive that it is a good investment and will prove an economical Institution.
I should like to see the Proposal to open to the people the portals to enter into communion with the good, the witty, and the wise, carried by a unanimous vote. At the recent Birmingham Meeting, Mr. Gameson opposed, but could scarcely obtain a hearing, for the 1500 Burgesses were in no humour to listen to his worn out, used up fallacies; and to Mr. Dawson was left the not difficult task of reply, who in the course of an amusing speech said that
“whenever he could hear of a rate that was to be spent for a good purpose, he took as much pleasure in advocating it as in tickling up a lazy ox with a goad.”
The Mayor, Thomas Lloyd Esq., said that nothing could possibly be more gratifying to him during his term of office than to have presided over a Meeting at which the Public Libraries’ Act had been adopted. [34]