may soon become, as a depository of the
treasures of literature and science, what the city possessing it is
rapidly becoming in commerce and wealth."

The second witness examined by the committee was M. Guizot. In the
distinguished positions which he has filled as minister of public
instruction and prime minister in France, his attention has been turned
to the public libraries of that country. While in office he ordered an
inspection of those institutions, and the French government now has
complete and exact documents relative to the number of public libraries,
and the number of books in each. These institutions are accessible to
the public in every way for reading, and to a great extent for borrowing
books. Some of them receive direct grants from the government towards
their support; while others, in the provincial towns, are supported by
municipal funds; and to the latter the government distributes copies of
costly works, for the publication of which it in general subscribes
liberally. M. Guizot attributes the happiest results to this system. He
says--"There are two good results: the first is, a general regard in the
mind of the public for learning, for literature, and for books. That
complete accessibility to the libraries gives to every one, learned or
unlearned, a general feeling of good-will for learning and for
knowledge; and then the second result is, that the means for acquiring
knowledge are given to those persons who are able to employ them."

His Excellency M. Van de Weyer, the Belgian ambassador, was next
examined. He testified that the public libraries in his own country were
numerous, large, and easily accessible to all who desire to make use of
them. He attributes the best results to the literary character of his
country from this privilege of free access to their large collections of
books. He thinks the people are better prepared than is generally
supposed to appreciate works of a high character. He seems to think it
unwise to attempt to popularize science and literature by printing
inferior books, written expressly for common and uneducated people. The
government subscribe for a number of copies of nearly every valuable
work published, by which means they encourage the progress of
literature, and are enabled to enrich many of the public collections.
"The government have sometimes, within a space of twenty years, spent
some L10,000 or L12,000 in favor of libraries. I take this opportunity
of stating