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Alexander Campbell
Letters from Europe--No. XXIII (1847-1848)

 

FROM

THE

MILLENNIAL HARBINGER.

SERIES III.

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VOL. V. B E T H A N Y, MARCH, 1848. NO. III.
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LETTERS FROM EUROPE--No. XXIII.

      My dear Clarinda--I CANNOT pass into Scotland till I give you from my memoranda a few notes on Huddersfield and York. I have already said some things of my visit to this great seat of woollen manufactories; but it was with reference to my labors there and at Halifax. In my notes on the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford I promised to notice the College of Huddersfield. This infant institution, compared with the centuries of the two great Universities, is but of yesterday. It was established in 1838, and was incorporated with the London University in 1844. The College edifice is, indeed, very handsomely located in almost the environs of this very flourishing town--a town wholly chiseled out of the rock; being constructed of a very beautiful sandstone, without so much as a single brick building, so far as I remember, within its precincts.--The College, as a matter of course, is a substantial building--neat and chaste, without any effort at magnificence.

      Our excellent brother Shaw, one of the Council of the College, [150] was kind enough to accompany me through it and to introduce me to its President and Faculty. These I found to be exceedingly courteous and well accomplished gentlemen, and very prompt to answer all my questions and to give me any information solicited upon their modus operandi, and the present condition and prospects of the institution. As this is one of the most recent colleges in the empire, and as it may be presumed to be an improvement more in unison with the spirit and genius of this age of improvement and of almost universal reformation, it may be both pleasing and profitable, if not to yourself, at least to many of my readers, to have a synopsis of its Constitution, of its general course of study, terms, &c. Its Patrons, Council, and Faculty, are as follows:--

      Patrons.--The most noble the Marquis of Normanby. The right honorable the Earl of Carlisle. The right honorable Lord Viscount Morpeth. Sir George Strickland, Bart. M.P. Sir Francis Lindley Wood, Bart. W.R.C. Stansfield, Esq., M. P. E. Ellice, Jun. Esq. M. President, John Sutcliffe, Esq. Vice-President, William Willans, Esq. Treasurer, Frederic Schwann, Esq. Hon. Secretary, Thomas Pitt, Esq.

      Council.--G. Crosland, Esq.; H. Edwards, Esq.; W. Greenwood, Esq; E.L. Hesp, Esq; Rev. G. Highfield; R.G. Jackson, Esq.; S. Makin, Esq.; T. Mallinson, Esq.; B. Robinson, Esq.; B. Shaw, Esq.; F. Shaw, Esq.; H. Shaw, Esq.; J. Shaw, Esq.; J. Sykes, Esq.; J. Webb, Esq.; J. Wrigley, Esq.

      Faculty.--Principal, Rev. John Milne, M.A. Masters. Upper School. Classical and Mathematical Masters, Mr. T. K. Faulls; Rev. J. Morgan, M.A. Commercial Master, Mr. R.D. Gooch. French Master, Mons. Roy, B.L. Lower School--Mr. Meaby. Assistant, Mr. J. Bates. Extra Masters--Mr. L. Sulau, German; Mr. G.D. Tomlinson, Drawing; Mr. J. Harry, Gymnastics; Mr. E. Marriott, Chemistry. Assistant Secretary, Mr. E. Battye.

Its general course of Study, Terms, Rewards, &c.

      Its general course of study, in the Upper School, comprises that of the Holy Scriptures; the Greek, Latin, English, and French languages; arithmetic, pure and commercial; writing; the principles of bookkeeping; algebra; geometry; trigonometry; the elements of natural and experimental philosophy; ancient and modern history; geography, physical, descriptive, and political; composition, and elocution.

      The Lower School course of instruction comprises the scriptures; reading; spelling; the elements of arithmetic; writing; the properties of natural and artificial objects; and the outlines of history and geography.

      A monthly report of the conduct and progress of each pupil is sent to his parent or guardian. The daily course of study is preceded and closed by prayer. [151]

      The discipline of the school is maintained without corporal punishment.

      The terms for the general course, in the Upper School, are ten pounds per annum; for the Lower School, five pounds, ten shillings per annum; to nominees of proprietors nine pounds, and five pounds per annum respectively; to be paid half-yearly in advance. An entrance fee of half a guinea is also charged for the purpose of raising a fund for procuring philosophical apparatus, and a library for the use of the pupils.

      Extras--German, two guineas; drawing, two guineas; chemistry, two guineas per annum.

      The following Masters receive pupils of the college as boarders, on moderate terms:--Rev. J. Milne, Belgrave Terrace; Mr. Faulls, College; Reverend J. Morgan, Brunswick Place; Mr. Meaby, York Place.

      A quarter's notice, in writing, is required to be sent to the Secretary, previously to the removal of a pupil from the college; a similar notice must also be sent to a Master, prior to the removal of a boarder from his house. In default of either notice, a quarter's terms will be charged.

      In addition to the distribution of prize books and certificates, the following medals are offered for annual competition:--

      A gold medal, of the value of five pounds, by the Rt. Hon. Viscount Morpeth, for the best English essay;

      Silver medals, to the amount of four pounds, for the promotion of classical literature, by W.R.C. Stansfield, Esq., M.P.;

      Silver medals, to the amount of five pounds, for proficiency in mathematical and commercial knowledge, by John Sutcliffe, Esq., President;

      A silver pen, for the beet specimen of writing by W. Willans, Esq., Vice-President.

      Certificates are granted to those pupils who, up to the period of their leaving college, have distinguished themselves by exemplary conduct and general proficiency.

      Certificates of honor are presented to those pupils of the senior class, whose conduct has been uniformly good, and who have attained the highest proficiency in classical or mathematical learning.

      The college, which is intended to give, without distinction of religious party; a sound classical, mathematical, and commercial education, is most eligibly and healthily situated; and is furnished, according to the most improved principles, with every convenience for the purposes of instruction."

      As respects the style of the boarding-houses, if I may judge of them all by that of Mr. Faulls, which occupies a portion of the college buildings, I must say, having passed through its chambers, parlors, dining hall, &c., that, for good taste, neatness, and convenience, without extravagance, I have never seen so large a number of chambers in any one scholastic edifice, called by any name, Academy, College, or University, that would compare with them. [152] It was kept with all the neatness and taste of a lady's toilet--a place for every thing, and every thing in its place; and although, as I was assured, in its general or common style, had a visit from Prince Albert been expected, we could not imagine how it could have been improved or exhibited to greater advantage. It needed no living witness to depose that no Yankee had ever been a boarder within its walls, as there was no index that any penknife or wad of Indian tobacco had ever been within its clean, neat and beautiful apartments.

      I have not seen any college in which more pains appeared to be taken philologically to induct the youth into the ancient languages, or to give them a more thorough knowledge of the construction of the Greek and Latin tongues.

      It does not appear, from any thing I learned when at this institution, that it has the power of conferring literary degrees. This authority seems to be peculiar to the English Universities. But as it did not occur to me to make this inquiry, I cannot speak with historical certainty. At all events, I have no hesitation in affirming the conviction that in few, very few of our American institutions, is a more radical acquaintance with the languages and some of the sciences communicated that was indicated to me in the programme of its course of teaching and examinations, presented to me by its Principal.

      This town and its vicinity abounds with very extensive woollen manufactures--one of the best of which, owned by the Messrs. Shaws, I particularly visited and very minutely surveyed. Much German wool, of the finest qualities, is manufactured here; and also much of other fine wool, if I might judge by passing through a circular arcade of shops,--in the whole extent, I presume, some three quarters of a mile,--in which were displayed, from the country mills around, an immense quantity of finished and unfinished cloths--sold on stated days every week, to retailers or to manufacturers who finish cloths already in a certain state of forwardness.

      I was pleased to see a much better state of things amongst the woollen manufactories of Huddersfield, as respects the remuneration and condition of the operatives, than I have noted in the cotton mills of Manchester. One thing is very evident--the manufacture of wool is much more favorable to health than that of cotton. This, together with the better wages given, imparts to this class of operatives a more cheerful appearance than the general contour of things in Manchester. Still it is to be regretted that in those manufactories, as in the cotton, there are too many employed at a period of life when they ought to be at school. [153]

      During my visit to Huddersfield, it happened; as before intimated, that the election of members of Parliament was in progress. Having a leisure hour one evening during my stay, I was induced to attend the speech of one of the candidates for that office. I listened with attention to a calm, intelligent, and discreet expose of the policy espoused by the orator as an advocate of reform, in which there were many pointed and lucid intimations of an intention liberally to entrench upon the vested rights of a portion of the English aristocracy. Ever since the passage of the Reform Bill in Parliament, there has been a gradual advance of the claims of the English people. They are seeking, and will seek, and will ultimately obtain, a redress of many of the grievances and oppressions under which, with the exception of the privileged orders political and hierarchal, the whole nation more or less groans and agonizes. There is a spirit abroad in Britain which cannot be extinguished, and which the progress of free institutions in America, despite of all the disrespect which is occasionally shown by some of their popular writers for our Yankeeisms, continually grows and struggles for reformation. The freedom of opinion and of debate in many popular English journals, and as appears at the hustings, seems to be but little behind that which animates our own people, and which has given to us a vigor and an elevation of mind--a grandeur of enterprize and a national character, which, to say the least, stand in no disadvantageous comparison with those of any other nation or people extant on the rolls of time. But of the political condition and prospects of Britain we may speak more opportunely hereafter.--Meantime, we shall proceed to the ancient and venerable capital of Yorkshire, so celebrated both as the seat of one of the two Archbishops of the Realm, and as having been the theatre of many a political struggle and many a bloody deed recorded in the annals of England. But this I shall make the subject of another letter.

  Affectionately, your father,
A. CAMPBELL.      

 

[The Millennial Harbinger, Third Series, 5 (March 1848): 150-154.]


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