154 THE MEANS OF IMPROVING THE PEOPLE. 



process. But Lord Brougham aud Dr. Birkbeck, by reflecting them- 

 selves in the many-mirrored multitude, multiply themselves most 

 odiously. Mechanics' institutes ! and what are they ? Ginglemerations 

 of intelligence ; in which, by a process of mental chemistry, the popular 

 intellect is purged of its dross, and the understanding is emancipated 

 from its darkness — and who wants this ? — Not a Tory. This is at least 

 no torious. 



THE PROOF LIBERAL. 



Mechanics' institutes, without being ostensibly political, may be 

 termed the Conservative associations of the middle classes. They con- 

 tain, within themselves, the seeds of future improvement, and not only 

 the seeds, but the germs of perpetual reproduction ; originally framed by 

 men of the most comprehensive mmds and the soundest judgment, they 

 have gone on " into the bowels of the land without impediment," and 

 have called into action, from the most obscure depths, spirits who have 

 materially aided in changing the moral and political atmosphere that 

 surrounds them ; and adapted in degree to their common wants, their 

 common sympathies, and their common nature. From mechanics' in- 

 stitutes, not only have individuals arisen, but what is of more importance 

 to mankind, as having that eternity of undying truth about them, which 

 will extend aud multiply itself while mind shall last, are the principles 

 which have been evolved by their transactions. Dead and dormant flesh 

 has been called by the voice of a Birkbeck, a Brougham, or a Stacy, 

 to the resurrection of life, to the enjoyment of a new and more delight- 

 ful existence. The gross husk of the animal nature has been stripped 

 ofi", and the pure mind has begun to mount, as on eagles' wings, towards 

 that sun of knowledge, whose focus is truth, and there it has not failed 

 to catch a glimpse of its own likeness. Mechanics' institutes ought to be 

 looked upon, by the people, as fortresses of their intellectual power — as 

 the rock of their mental strength. Here, without the deceit of politics, 

 or without being made the tools of party, the people may firmly en- 

 trench themselves, and stand at bay against their oppressors, armed 

 with a panoply of living light, which, like the fabled shield of Minerva, 

 would paralize all who dared to molest. Science and Philosophy be- 

 come in them co-operators in the great work of human improvement, 

 and in the intellectual emancipation of man, and adjuncts in the sacred 

 cause of civil and religious liberty all over the world. 



But other societies, modifications of the great leading ones, the me- 

 chanics' institutes, are striking their brachia into the ramifications of 

 society. There are the Mutual Instruction Societies — associations of 

 young men, who meet together not only to imbibe truth and receive 

 opinions, but to subject all knowledge to rigorous examination, and the 

 test oi public discussion and investigation. Here the mind is not only a 

 passive recipient of knowledge, but an active disseminator of its own 

 acquired stores, for the benefit of others. No fallacious theory can 

 withstand the grasp of their rigorous and impartial analysis ; and no 

 quack systems can be foisted upon the amount of vigorous intelligence 

 which the Mutual Instruction Societies comprise. Every man in 

 England, who loves his country better than himself, who values freedom 

 of speech and opinion — who would have that portion of society, of 



