THE Central Literary Magazine. It must be borne in mind that this Magazine is neutral in Politics and Religion; its pages are open to a free expression of all shades of opinion without leaning to any. No. I. JANUARY, 1881. VOL. V. BIRMINGHAM IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.* I CONFESS that I have not found the choice of a subject for the address which forms almost the last act of my official life, a task altogether devoid of difficulty. It would have been easy to have selected a literary subject which might, after all, have failed to interest some. It would have been still easier to have chosen a political question, on which the interest might indeed have been universal, but not uniform; and a clear expression of opinion upon which could not have failed to excite dissent, and might even, perhaps, have given rise to pain. But after a term of office which has been rendered happy, as well as honourable, by the unfailing courtesy and consideration of my fellow-members, I have been anxious to discover a subject which could be regarded with no indifference, and which could give rise to no bitterness-a common ground, indeed, on which powers already sharpened by the habit of debate might add to their keenness the invincible armour of unity. The subject then which after some careful thought I have adopted, is "Birmingham in the Twentieth Century." The future of the vast town in which we live, and with which our strongest associations--of pleasure or of sorrow, of realisation or of disappointment are indissolubly connected; the changes which may take place, where nothing can be regarded as certain, except that during the next quarter of a century change, great and material, must have * Being the Presidential Address, delivered to the Members on Friday, Oct. 8th, 1880. |