of all vice — idleness. At the first French exhibition, held in 1798, there were only 110 exhibitors, but in 1844, there were no fewer than 4,490. True was the saying of the poet
- “Emulation hath a thousand sons,
- That one by one pursue.”
In a similar strain Mr. Cole continued at still great a length, after which Mr. F Smith (a banking partner of the chairman) moved the first resolution, and in a brief but appropriate speech, remarked that England would now be brought into competition with all the world, and it would be for Englishmen to see what they could do. Their own borough might not possess anything of great importance; still, they hardly knew what is did possess, for they had never had the inducement to develop its resources. — The Rev. W. W. Hume, in seconding Mr. Smith’s motion, said it might be urged — What have ministers of religion to do with such meeting? Would they not be better employed in attending to the duties of their own profession? He, however, believed he was not out of his place in coming there. His opinion was that ministers of religion had the power of performing for the objects of the meeting that which no our class could be found to do. They could infuse into the movement that lever of Godliness and that recognition of the God of Nature, without which the exhibition of England’s wealth — which was England's idol — would prove a source of evil rather than of good. He did not claim that on the ground of their education or their profession, but on account of the deep religious feeling in the hearts of Englishmen which could be brought into activity by a word spoken in season. Some might ask — Why should we have religion thrust into everything? Others might exclaim “It’s only the old story over again; every man to his trade; the merchant says there is nothing like commerce, and the minister says there is nothing like religion. But he would enquire, was it right to have an exhibition of the products of Nature and the works of Art without recognising the God of Nature? He remembered reading a speech of one of Gurneys at a large meeting of mechanics, when he endeavoured to point out to them the exercise of a Divine Providence over all the works of nature. He led their minds to a consideration of a vast machine in one of their workshops which consisted of a great number of component parts, combining to produce one definite result. The question arose, where and what was the moving power? The speaker reminded his hearers is that there was concealed in an upper room a vast wheel, appropriately styled “the governor” which by its movement set all the other wheels in motion, and when it stopped all the others ceased. [Applause.] So it was in nature, one wheel governed all. Man might sometimes think that he was the power, but the real mover -
