Mr. Chamberlain made an amusing speech this day week at
the dinner of the Birmingham Silversmiths' Association. On the part which concerns the love of ornament, we have said enough in another column ; but may add here that he made some remarks on the rapid progress of Birmingham in wealth and population, and its even greater progress in wealth than in population. In 1854, he said, the population of Birmingham was 240,000, and the rateable value was 2650,000. Now, the population within the municipal boundaries of the borough has risen to 440,000, and the rateable value to nearly two millions. Mr. Chamberlain, however, felt that he had not time to dilate on this subject. He felt like the pupil of the American professor who set his class an essay, saying, "Gentlemen, I expect you to write me an essay. Your time is five minutes, and your subject the immortality of the soul." The duties of citizenship in Birmingham were so great that he had been told that when babies are born in the city, they come into the world with a grave and serious expression due to the fact that they are overwhelmed with the responsibility involved in assuming their position as citizens in the best- governed city in the world. Perhaps it is because a Birming- ham baby discounts its cares in the cradle, that it develops into a man who confronts his difficulties with a light heart.
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