The Masonic Mirror.

stone has been deposited , and I think it a most fortunate circumstance that this stone of the Mechanics' Institution should have been laid by the fraternity of Freemasons . AVhen tfio committee requested the great Provincial Lodge of AVest Yorkshire to officiate on this occasion , I think they took a step which was consistent with that course which I trust will ever guide the conduct of Englishmen ; because , by so doing , we have been enabled to combine ancient

principles and time-honoured institutions with the last outgrowth of modem intellect , and because tbe foundation stone of this building has been laid upon the same principles on which have been built , and long I trust will stand , the constitution and the prosperity of this country . On the other hand , as a Freemason . I rejoice that we have taken this part to-day , because it is entirely consistent with tho principles of our Court . Those principles , rightly applied , lead to the promotion of virtue and of brotherly affection ; and this building is raised for the purpose of

promoting the . education of the most numerous class of the population—of that class which , as Jlr . Shaw has truly said , is the foundation , and the only sure ancl safe foundation of the social fabric . If that be so , then surely it is a goocl work—a Christian work , a work of public spirit , that we should endeavour to make that foundation as firm and sound as we can . But while we have laid this stone with this rejoicing , and with the sun thus smiling upon us , let us never forget that the ceremony has been hallowed by the presence and prayers of the ministers of religion , and that without that sauctificatioii wo have no right to look for success iii this or any other work . I feel that you will pardon me if ,

before I conclude this congratulatory address , which is to bring to a termination the ceremony of this day , I venture to return iny warmest thanks to you on my own behalf , ancl on that of my dear wife , for the manner in which you havo received our performance of a duty which wc most gladly undertook at the request of the committee . AA ' c should indeed lie ungrateful if we had not been happy to have assisted on this occasion after the debt of gratitude which we shall always owe to the people of Huddersfield . I feel no small emotion iu addressing you , for

it is tho first occasion on wliich I have hacl the honour of appearing before a Yorkshire assembly since that close tie , which for sonic years bound us , was finally severed , and you . will pardon me if I avail myself of this opportunity to assure you that the grateful recollection of your past confidence will never fade from my memory—ancl that if ifc ever be in my poiver to contribute in any degree to the advantage or the good either of Huddersfield or the AA'est Riding , yon have only to command iny services . I believe that no act which could have

been performed is more calculated to benefit this district than that which we have discharged to-day—and I trust that for . many years yet to come , within the walls of the building now commenced , there may be educated a generation of men worthy of the fame of Huddersfield and of the n . anm of Englishmen . I believe that the principles upon which this institution is conducted are calculated to promote that great end , and from tho bottom of my heart I pray God that ifc may please Him to bless this work , to grant that it may lead to tho intellectual development of your town , and to tho mutual union and combined action of al ! classes within it .

The National jintheiu was then sung , and cheers were given for the success of tho institution , for tho ladies , for the Earl ancl Countess of Ripon , and for the trade of Huddersfield . Iu the evening a soiree was held in the Gymnasium Hall , under the presidency of tho Right Hon . the Earl of Ripon . Tho noble chairman on rising to address the meeting was received with loud cheering . He remarked that the occasion which had brought them together not

was a common one . They had often met year after year to learn what hacl been the progress of the HuddersfieUl Mechanics' Institution , and to express their continued approbation of the work in wliich its members were engaged , - ' but that clay they were met for a further object , and they had witnessed the interesting- ceremony of laying the foundation stone of a new building in which , in the future , were to be held the meetings ofthe classes , and in which the daily work of the institution to be carried

was on . He congratulated them upon the step which had just been taken ; and having watched for some years tho progress of that institution , lie was convinced they had done well iu coming forward so nobly , and subscribing the munificent sum of £ 4000 for the purpose of providing a more fitting locality for conducting the business of the institution . He believed he might say without any hesitation that the Huddersfield Mechanics' Institution was a model institution of its kind . did not think that in this

He opinion he was carried away by feelings of partiality ; ancl ho believed also thai the gentlemen upon the platform , ivho had hitherto been strangers to them , had visited that towii because tho fame of the Huddersfield Mechanics' Institution had spread ^ far and wide amongst tluso who felt an interest in public education , ft would be easy for him to prove his position , and to show that , in many respects , that institution ivas entitled to be model

regarded as a one . In the first place , it ivas really a Mechanics ' Institution . They were often told , "Oh , these institutions are all very well ; they do a certain amount of good in the way of educating then members , but thosemembers arc not drawn from the working classes , and the title which lias been given to these Jlechanics' Institutions is one which they have no right to assume . " Now , whatever might be the case elsewhere—and ho did not deny that this criticism was sometimes applicable—it certainly was not applicable there ; for Jlr . Ciirzon had just told them that nine-tenths of the fortnightly members

were drawn from the working classes—so that , whatever good work the institution was doing in that great hive of industry was applied really to the mechanics and arfcizans who were engaged in daily labour iu connexion with the trade of the town . Not only , therefore , had the Huddersfield Institution a right to vindicate its name as a Jlechanics ' Institution , but also the mode iu which it had conducted its affairs was such as really to come up to the idea , which the friends of such

institutions were apt to set before them . They heard it constantly stated , at meetings of that kind , that the Jlechanics' Institution was the college or university of the working classes , and that it should stand to them in something of the same relation which the universities and colleges stood to other classes of society . It was , ho feared , but too true that in very many instances these high aspirations were not fulfilled , but the course of study which had been steadily pursued in that institute from its very foundation was such as really to justify them in claiming for it

tho position which was so often attributed to such institutions—for the work which went on in the Huddersfield Jlechanics' Institution was really the work of teaching and of mental development . Ifc was not only that they hacl a reading room , a news room , ancl a library—all of which were established for objects byno means to bo despised , hut over and above them all they had in that institution —( and it had been made from the beginning the main aim of its managers)—a large machinery for the especial purpose of guiding , and teaching , aud training the minds of its members .

Now , if mechanics' institutions were afc all to do the work which they professed to do , it must be done in this way ; and if what he had stated of this institution was true , as he believed it was , then he thought they had a right to say that ifc deserved the title of a model mechanics'institution . It had attained to that position , not from any peculiar privileges which ifc possessed , but because its friends did not rely upon walls , because they did not look to a fine building , but carried on their work on sound principlesand laboured with the single object of benefiting their

fellow-, townsmen—the working classes of Jtluddersiield . Success had not made them forget that the real objects of a mechanics' institution was not that they might hear distinguished men make speeches , but the daily work of affording the means of intellectual development and training to its members . ( Applause ) . The institution hacl now entered upon a new phase of its existence . It ivould no longer be housed in obscurity ,

but be ever before the eyes ot the public m a building of its own , provided by the generosity of the inhabitants ; and he hoped that in its new abode it would continue to be animated by the same spirit which hacl hitherto characterised it . The time hacl passed when these institutions were under the cloud ; and now that thoy were bursting into the full sunshine of popular favour , he hoped they would occupy a still wider field of utility . Their object was not to teach their members a little of everything—which ivas a very bad thing—but to unfold aud strengthen

the intellects of their members by calling into exercise those mental faculties with which God hacl blessed them . Believing that the educa- ' tional machinery of the Huddersfield Institution was specially suited for such an object , he hacl great plea-sure in being present on that occasion . After regretting the absence of Air . Brooke and Jliss Laycock , the noble earl continued by remarking that an opinion prevailed iu some quarters that the development of the intellect deteriorated those other qualities which peculiarly distinguished Englishmen . He believed that to bo an

immense error . Ho believed that the more intelligent they could make a man , the better he would discharge any duty which might devolve upon him . A forcible illustration of this had recently come under his notice . Several gentlemen connected with volunteer rifle corps were sent to the school of musketry at Hythe , and so rapidly clid they master their rifle practice , that they soon surpassed all competitors , whether iu the regular army or not , anclGeneral Hay assured him that it was entirely owing to their superior intelligence . He had himself found , in the management of a- department of the public business , tho great advantage of an intelligent , , educated clerk . No routine nor experience would

supply tho want of intellectual development ; ancl they might rely upon it that a man of education would always beat an uneducated man , no matter in what position he was placed . The ivorking classes might rely upon it that the shortest and surest route to political and social elevation was to be found in the development of their intellects ; and the community at large might rely upon it that the greatest safeguard for that elevation was in the education of the working classes . AA'ith an empire , the extent of which excited tho rivalry , if not the envy , of surrounding

nations , it behoved them , in that sea-girt isle , not to waste any portion of that material , political , and intellectual advantage which they possessed . It was only by a determination tu maintain and develop that English spirit to which they owed their proud position , that their power could be kept intact . Ho was not one who despised those magnificent / qualities displayed in the hour of danger by Englishmen in every clime , but it was not upon their strength , or even their courage , that they could safely rely . Other nations had entered into the race of competition

with them , and it was only by the development of those intellectual qualities to which he had referred , not in any particular class , but in all classes of the community , that they could hope to maintain their preeminence . If they did this , he had the utmost confidence in their maintaining the proud position which their ancestors had won . It might be asked what had mechanics' institutions to do with this ? He replied that , as the character of a town depended upon the character of its individual members , so would the character of the nation be influenced by those institutions which were planted in the various localities of the empire . The work of mechanics institutions might seem small , but it