You who may be so powerful in society, why should you remain powerless? Why not do what you can to slay this Demon Ignorance in St. Marylebone? Why should Central Africa and other far off Missions engross your FIRST attention? I exhort you to attend this Library Meeting, and take your part in this good work.
Yes, vote for an Act which will bring silent, yet most interesting companions, BOOKS to your Homes! But do not too curiously and haughtily enquire, as is the wont of some, “Who is the chief Promoter of this movement?” “NON QUO, SED QUO MODO, Not who, but how,” must be your battle cry. Be swayed by arguments, rather than by authority. Consider what is said, not who says it; never mind whether he has, or has not a bank account.
“O what a world of vile ill-favour’d faults
Looks handsome in six hundred pounds a year!”
Yes, hold up your hands for the adoption of the Libraries Act, and in the hour of death, when the world and its allurements are receding from your view, when alone and deserted by your so-called friends, how it will console you in that solemn moment to be sensible that you have obeyed the voice of HIM who spake as never man spoke, that you gladly took the advice of your ASCENDED LORD to “make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness.” Ah! think of eyes so young, obscured, and darkened by tears, that you will thus make clear and glad! On your vote the question may be determined, and the hour has struck when you should be leaders, and not the slaves, of opinion.
It is meet and right that you should LEAD in a cause which promotes EARLY CLOSING, and which would confer in other ways a real and enduring benefit on your Parish. Hear the fine thoughts of Festus and treasure them in your memories.
“Grant this we pray Thee, and that all who read,
Or utter noble thoughts may make them theirs,
And thank God for them, to the betterment
Of their succeeding life;—that all who lead
The general sense and taste, too apt, perchance,
To be led, keep in mind the mighty good
They may achieve, and are in conscience, bound,
And duty, to attempt unceasingly,
To compass. Grant us, all-maintaining Sire!
That all the great mechanic aids to toil
Man’s skill hath formed, found, rendered,—whether used
In multiplying works of mind, or aught
To obviate the thousand wants of life,
May much avail the human welfare now,
And in all ages henceforth, and for ever.
Let their effect be, Lord! to LIGHTEN LABOUR,
And give more room to mind, and leave the Poor
Some time for SELF-IMPROVEMENT. Let them not
Be forced to grind the bones out of their arms
For bread, but have some space to think and feel
Like moral and immortal creatures.
Look Thou with pity on all lesser crimes,
Thrust on men almost when devoured by want,
Wretchedness, ignorance and outcast life!
Have mercy on the rich, too, who pass by
The means they have at hand to fill their minds
With serviceable knowledge for themselves,
And fellows, and support not the good cause
Of the world’s better future!
May Peace, and Industry, and Commerce weld
Into one Land all Nations of the World,
Rewedding those the Deluge once divorced.
Oh! may all help each other in good things,
Mentally, morally, and bodily.
Vouchsafe, kind God! Thy blessing to this Isle,
Specially. May England ever lead
The World, for She is worthiest; and may all
Profit by her example, and adopt
Her course, wherever great, or free, or just.”
My Lords and Gentlemen, I contend that it is a discredit, that, in the largest and richest Parish in the Metropolis, and in the United Kingdom, there is not only not a vestige of a free public News Room, but that St. Marylebone lags behind the poor Parish of St. John’s Westminster, where for upwards of three years, the News Room has been a source of great attraction. Should you visit this News Room, in Great Smith Street, the silence, order, and evident interest of some two hundred readers, must strike you. The conduct of the frequenters of this Reading Room is very praiseworthy. I was told of one who came from Highgate, and open as it is to all comers, in all grades of life, it is pleasant to notice the influence of the judicious instruction to the librarian, which Mr. Stuart Dalton first introduced at Liverpool, viz., “That all persons, however ill-dressed or poor, who are cleanly, shall be treated as gentlemen.” Yet the good ship “Westminster,” is in danger of being cast away, of splitting on the dangerous rock, parsimony; she is on a lea-shore with breakers ahead; signals of distress are flying, and St. Marylebone will come to the rescue. Yes! this great and important parish will make an effort to preserve so admirable a vessel. Let her not founder, when you could save, let her not go down when you could prevent. I drop the figure and tell you plainly, that the force of your example in adopting Mr. Ewart’s Act, is much needed by the Smith Street Institution, which looks to you for encouragement and sympathy. And not only St. Margaret, but other Metropolitan Parishes will follow the lead of St. Marylebone. London, too, will wake from its long lethargic slumber, and, undismayed by the defeat of 1855, will anxiously watch how you deal with this question. Lord Mayor Carter will not imitate his predecessors in frustrating the intentions of the Legislature; [11] and although an enthusiast in Rifle Brigades will find time to summon a meeting as to the policy of firing a shot at Ignorance, directly St. Marylebone carries the Act, and affirms that
Knowledge should be the Portion of All!
The working of the Libraries Act in Manchester, has given great satisfaction. Artists, authors, surgeons, chemists, lawyers, clerks in, and out of orders, and artizans frequent the Reading Room. So in Marylebone the Public Library would benefit not one alone, but ALL classes. Such an Institution would do something to diminish that ISOLATION of class, which the dying Talfourd rightly said was the bane of England.
Gentlemen, it is miserable policy in this free country to allow a dangerous class, utterly uninformed, to grow up in your very midst: