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sources. But that was not all: we were, to a certain extent, interfering with and restricting
the liberty of parents in the treatment of their children. We were depriving a number of
parents of the labour of their children for a certain period, which, under the circumstances in
which they were placed, was a very serious matter. He had not the smallest doubt, however,
that it was worth while to give all this inconvenience which we were incurring- in extending
the education of the people, if we could only be satisfied that the education we gave was an
education of the right sort. (Hear, hear.) We had to remember that the vast majority of those
for whom this popular education was provided were children who would be dependent for their
subsistence upon the labour of their hands, and the object of the education which we were
giving them ought not, in his opinion, to be to take them out of the class of manual labour ; it
ought not to be to induce them to rise, as it is called, into some other class which was supposed,
but erroneously, to be a higher class than that of manual labour. Our object ought not to be to
take them out of the ranks of manual labour, but to endeavour to make them better, more
intelligent, and more useful labourers and citizens to their country. Our object ought to be, in
fact, to raise the material condition of the working classes as a whole. (Cheers.) There was
another and still higher object of our national education. It was one great object that a sound
system of education would tend to improve the material condition of the people ; but a further
object, and perhaps a higher one, was to endeavour to get the people to make the best use of that
material improvement in their condition. They hoped that education would have the effect of
raising, widening, civilising, and brightening the lives of those who were now receiving it.
(Cheers.) He did not suppose it could be said that, at the present, there was any large proportion
of the working classes who took much pleasure in reading or in the pursuit of literature ; but
if this could not be said of the working classes, it certainly could not be said universally of any
class. If dull, hard labour was an obstacle, as no doubt it was, to reading and study, idleness
was certainly 110 passport to study (hear, hear) ; and he ventured to think that if the larger proportion
of those who lived by the labour of their hands were in the habit of finding their highest
relaxation and pleasure in literature and study, it was more on account of the facilities which
they possessed of access to books and literature than in any difference in the condition of their
lives. (Hear, hear.) One of the characteristics of books was that they created to their students
a new world and a new life which was not limited by their own surroundings, but which was as
wide as human knowledge was extended. The problem which lay before those who had the
direction of our popular education was how this new world was to be opened to the masses of
the people. However it might be done, it could not be done by cramming unwilling minds with
information and knowledge which they did not appreciate. (Hear, hear.) It could better be
done by creating a taste for after study, which alone was of value. (Cheers.) That would be
the best test of our system of education, and, in his opinion, public libraries had a double
function to discharge. They would be in themselves most powerful instruments for aiding and
assisting after education, which alone could be of value, and they would also furnish the test by
which we should be able to ascertain whether our system of education was proceeding on right
or wrong lines, and whether it was doing for the people the work which it was intended to do.
(Cheers.) He concluded by formally declaring the Library open. (Applause.)
Me. W. H. Barralet said he regretted a larger audience was not possible to carry the
resolution he was about to move with the acclamation it deserved. Thousands would have
been glad to be present at the public opening of that library to thank Mr. Passmore Edwards for his
generous assistance. (Cheers.) But if the gathering was not so numerous as they could have
desired, they had not failed in making it thoroughly representative. (Hear, hear.) He moved
with great pleasure, " That this meeting of representatives of the inhabitants of Shorediteh
hereby tender their thanks to Mr. Passmore Edwards for his magnificent gift of £4,250 and 1,000
books to the Haggerston Branch of the Shorediteh Public Library." (Cheers.) It seemed to him
that the Education and Public Libraries Acts were working together and would ultimately blend
together, so that the Free Libraries would be a continuation of the education the children
received at school. He hoped Bethnal Green and other districts would be stimulated to follow
the example of Shorediteh in providing a free library. (Cheers.)