. Liverpool public libraries. A history of fifty years. rinces of the highest integrity, and the represen-tative of the town in Parliament from June, 1830to 1841, it is natural that the people of Liverpoolgenerally, should have held him in the greatestesteem. There are cases when the exigenciesof party politics are to be deeply regretted, andthose which severed his connection with hisnative town was one of them. Mr. Ewart had in the large towns—particularlyin Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester—numerous sympathisers and supporters of thecause in which he felt so deep an interest, andwhich ha
. Liverpool public libraries. A history of fifty years. rinces of the highest integrity, and the represen-tative of the town in Parliament from June, 1830to 1841, it is natural that the people of Liverpoolgenerally, should have held him in the greatestesteem. There are cases when the exigenciesof party politics are to be deeply regretted, andthose which severed his connection with hisnative town was one of them. Mr. Ewart had in the large towns—particularlyin Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester—numerous sympathisers and supporters of thecause in which he felt so deep an interest, andwhich had begun to engross so much of his timeand attention. As early as February, 1848,Dr. Hume, at a meeting of the Roscoe Club inLiverpool, gave expression to the feelings ofmany persons besides himself, when he said thathe wished for something that Liverpool hadnever yet seen, but which he hoped to live to seein Liverpool—a large public library. There wereplenty of private libraries, but no public one, asthere was in almost every other large town in. William Ewart, History of the Liverpool Public Libraries. 3 England; no library to which a sailor could goand ask, with the certainty of being accommodated,to look at a Nautical Almanac—where a clergymanmight go and refer to a Clergy List—or where amerchant or other person might go and be able tosee Pigots Directory. On March 15th, 1849, Mr. Ewart presentedto the House of Commons two petitions fromthe inhabitants of Birmingham, complaining ofthe want of public libraries. In bringing thesebefore the House, he stated in the courseof his speech, that he believed that thewant of such institutions had been a seriousdamage to our literature. While for a hundredyears the writers of the Continent had theconsultation of public libraries at their command,those of England had wanted them. Gibbon, inhis correspondence, had complained that thegreatest metropolis in the world was destitute ofthat useful institution—a public library.
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