DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1311#0230
OF THE "WORLD'S INDUSTRY. 195
want of harmony in their arrangement. In earthenware we were masters, as of old ;
but in china and in porcelain onr general excellence was stoutly denied; although indi-
vidual excellencies were very apparent. In hardware we maintained our superiority,
but were manifestly surprised at the rapid advances making by many other nations. Do
not let us nourish our national vanity by fondly congratulating ourselves that, as we
were successful we had little to fear. I believe this is not the opinion of most candid
and intelligent observers. It is a grave matter for reflection, whether the Exhibition did
not show very clearly and distinctly that the rate of industrial advance of many Euro-
pean nations, even of those who were obviously in our rear, was greater than
our own; and if it were so, as I believe it to have been, it does not require much
acumen to perceive that in a long race the fastest-sailing ships will win, even though
they are for a time behind. The Exhibition will have produced infinite good, if we are
compelled as a nation to acknowledge this truth. The Roman empire fell rapidly, be-
cause, nourishing its national vanity, it refused the lessons of defeat, and construed
them into victories. All the visitors, both foreign and British, were agreed upon one
point, that, whichever might be the first of the exhibiting nations, regarding which there
were many opinions, that certainly our great rival, France, was the second. Let us hope
that in this there is no historical parallel. After the battle of Salamis, the generals,
though claiming for each other the first consideration as to generalship, unanimously
admitted that Themistocles deserved the second; and the world, ever since, as Smith
remarks, has accepted this as a proof that Themistocles was, beyond all question, the
first general. Let us acknowledge our defeats when they are real, and our English
character and energy will make them victories on another occasion. But our great
danger is, that, in our national vanity, we should exult in our conquests, forgetting our
defeats; though I have much confidence that the truthfulness of our nation will save
us from this peril. A competition in industry must, in an advanced state of civilisation,
be a competition of intellect. The influence of capital may purchase you for a time
foreign talent. Our Manchester calico-printers may, and do, keep foreign designers in
France at liberal salaries. Our glass-works may, and do, buy foreign science to aid
them in their management. Our potteries may, and do, use foreign talent both in
management and design. Our silversmiths and diamond setters may, and do, depend
much upon foreign talent in art and foreign skill in execution; but is all this not a
suicidal policy, which must have a termination, not for the individual manufacturer,
who wisely buys the talent wherever he can get it, but for the nation, which, careless of
the education of her sons, sends our capital abroad as a premium to that intellectual pro-
gress which, in our present apathy is our greatest danger ?
"It is well to inquire in what we are so deficient, and what is the reason of this
deficiency. Assuredly it does not consist in the absence of public philanthropy or want
of private zeal for education, but chiefly rests in that education being utterly unsuited
to the wants of the age. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, classical learning
was, after its revival, highly esteemed; and its language became the common medium
for expression in all nations. A thorough acquaintance with it was an absolute necessity
to any one with pretensions to learning. It had a glorious literature, one as fresh as
when it grew on the rich soils of Home and Greece. Its truths were eternal, and were
received by us in their traditional mythology, as Bacon beautifully says, like " the
breath and purer spirit of the earliest knowledge floating to us in tones made musical by
Grecian flutes." And why was that bewitching literature made the groundwork of our
educational systems ? Does it not show that literature, like art, may have a standard
excellence; and that we are content to imitate where we cannot surpass. If the main
object of life were to fabricate literati, I would not dispute the wisdom of making classics
want of harmony in their arrangement. In earthenware we were masters, as of old ;
but in china and in porcelain onr general excellence was stoutly denied; although indi-
vidual excellencies were very apparent. In hardware we maintained our superiority,
but were manifestly surprised at the rapid advances making by many other nations. Do
not let us nourish our national vanity by fondly congratulating ourselves that, as we
were successful we had little to fear. I believe this is not the opinion of most candid
and intelligent observers. It is a grave matter for reflection, whether the Exhibition did
not show very clearly and distinctly that the rate of industrial advance of many Euro-
pean nations, even of those who were obviously in our rear, was greater than
our own; and if it were so, as I believe it to have been, it does not require much
acumen to perceive that in a long race the fastest-sailing ships will win, even though
they are for a time behind. The Exhibition will have produced infinite good, if we are
compelled as a nation to acknowledge this truth. The Roman empire fell rapidly, be-
cause, nourishing its national vanity, it refused the lessons of defeat, and construed
them into victories. All the visitors, both foreign and British, were agreed upon one
point, that, whichever might be the first of the exhibiting nations, regarding which there
were many opinions, that certainly our great rival, France, was the second. Let us hope
that in this there is no historical parallel. After the battle of Salamis, the generals,
though claiming for each other the first consideration as to generalship, unanimously
admitted that Themistocles deserved the second; and the world, ever since, as Smith
remarks, has accepted this as a proof that Themistocles was, beyond all question, the
first general. Let us acknowledge our defeats when they are real, and our English
character and energy will make them victories on another occasion. But our great
danger is, that, in our national vanity, we should exult in our conquests, forgetting our
defeats; though I have much confidence that the truthfulness of our nation will save
us from this peril. A competition in industry must, in an advanced state of civilisation,
be a competition of intellect. The influence of capital may purchase you for a time
foreign talent. Our Manchester calico-printers may, and do, keep foreign designers in
France at liberal salaries. Our glass-works may, and do, buy foreign science to aid
them in their management. Our potteries may, and do, use foreign talent both in
management and design. Our silversmiths and diamond setters may, and do, depend
much upon foreign talent in art and foreign skill in execution; but is all this not a
suicidal policy, which must have a termination, not for the individual manufacturer,
who wisely buys the talent wherever he can get it, but for the nation, which, careless of
the education of her sons, sends our capital abroad as a premium to that intellectual pro-
gress which, in our present apathy is our greatest danger ?
"It is well to inquire in what we are so deficient, and what is the reason of this
deficiency. Assuredly it does not consist in the absence of public philanthropy or want
of private zeal for education, but chiefly rests in that education being utterly unsuited
to the wants of the age. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, classical learning
was, after its revival, highly esteemed; and its language became the common medium
for expression in all nations. A thorough acquaintance with it was an absolute necessity
to any one with pretensions to learning. It had a glorious literature, one as fresh as
when it grew on the rich soils of Home and Greece. Its truths were eternal, and were
received by us in their traditional mythology, as Bacon beautifully says, like " the
breath and purer spirit of the earliest knowledge floating to us in tones made musical by
Grecian flutes." And why was that bewitching literature made the groundwork of our
educational systems ? Does it not show that literature, like art, may have a standard
excellence; and that we are content to imitate where we cannot surpass. If the main
object of life were to fabricate literati, I would not dispute the wisdom of making classics