and in applying the principles thence deduced to of him from whom it first emanated may be lost purposes which have wrought such beneficial to his own times, much more to posterity. But changes in the condition of society,-still its in- the thought itself survives. It is kept alive, like fluences on man himself, on his moral nature, on vestal fire, in the temple of human hearts. It is his political destinies and prospects, have been yet a contribution to the great mass of human knowmore important and ennobling. In connexion with ledge, and becomes the property of nations. It Christianity, it has given him the inappreciable may, indeed, be repressed for a time. Political power of self-control. It has enabled him to sound power may seek to immolate it on the scaffold; to the depths of his own soul with the plummet of confine it in dungeons; to drive it into exile; to self-knowledge; to troll among the treasures there compel it to seek shelter in caves and in mountain imbedded, and draw them to the surface from their fastnesses. But it cannot be expelled from the most secret recesses. It has ennabled him to hearts and understandings of men. It is unquenchaawaken its dormant energies; to restrain its va-ble, inextinguishable, immortal. In its own good grant propensities; to disabuse it of its pernicious time it reappears, with new accessions of brilfallacies. It has endued him with power to bear, with liancy, and lights the nations in their progress toequanimity, the vicissitudes of pain and pleasure, wards social regeneration. the alternations of joy and sorrow, to which his earthly condition is liable: to endure contumely, persecution, suffering, death itself, in a righteous cause. These are some of the influences which the mind exercises on the world and the things therein. And yet, notwithstanding that they transcend, in quality and extent of operation, the agencies of The intellect has been the prime agent in ele-government, the depositories of political power vating man from barbarism to civilization-in rais-occupy, in general estimation, the vantage ground ing him from a condition only a little higher than of the comparatively obscure and solitary student. the brutes, to a station but a little lower than the Upon the former are fixed the regards of the world. angels. It has enabled him to substitute mental Rumor reports of his deeds with her thousand enjoyments for sensual gratifications; the regula- tongues. His whereabouts is chronicled by the ted labors of husbandry for the fitful and feverish newspaper press throughout the land. His talents excitements of the chase; the comforts of perma- are lauded, and his services magnified, by intenent habitation for the manifold privations and rested partizans. His magnificence attracts the exposures of a wandering existence; the blessings gaze, and his largesses call forth the acclamations, of law and order, of regularly organized govern- of the unlettered multitude. The dispenser of ment, for the roving, plundering, homicidal life of patronage, his levees are crowded by the mercethe predatory bandit. The seminal principles of nary and the ambitious, anxious for pensions, offices those great improvements which have taken place and honors. The power which he wields, and the in political institutions have almost universally influence for good or for evil which he exercises proceeded from literary men,-from men whose on human affairs, cause him to be regarded, even minds have been unremittingly devoted to the ac-by the patriotism and intelligence of the land, with quisition of knowledge,-who, by an earnest in- a watchfulness and interest extrinsic of his persoterrogation of the past, and a vigilant observation nal claims and qualities. of the present, are enabled to anticipate and pro- The man of letters, on the contrary, has no facvide for the future,-whose passions are unenga-titious claims on public notice. With no appointged in pending controversies, and whose interests, ments of honor or profit to bestow; with no means except in so far as country or humanity is concern- at command to win the epicure through his palate, ed, are unaffected by their issues,-whose posi- or the venal through their cupidity; with no party, tions, in short, placing them beyond the pale of those strifes and contests, between infliction on the one hand, and endurance on the other, enable them, from the loop-holes of retreat, to look on calmly, to scrutinize closely, to decide impartially, between the contending parties. or party press, interested in diffusing his fame, or extending his popularity; with no official insignia nor outward decoration, to blazon forth his rank or his importance to the masses, with whom the visible is ever more imposing than the intellectual, his prospects of renown are dependent on himself It is thus that improvements in the theory of alone-on the opinion which his countrymen or human rights have originated in the closet of the the world at large may, from a perusal of his student. A thought, elicited by the shock of op- writings, entertain of his merits. These writings, posing interests, is caught up by the solitary re- unless ushered into the world under circumstances cluse, watchful for the discovery of truth. It is peculiarly auspicious, or deemed to have an imcommunicated to congenial minds. Each new re-portant bearing on party politics, generally make cipient becomes, in his turn, an agent in its propa-their way slowly into the channels of circulation. gation; till, kindling as it goes, it imparts its Shakspeare and Milton even, those minds capable cheering light and vivifying warmth to the eyes of comprehending the universe, and from which, and bosoms of a whole people. The humble name figuratively speaking, a universe might be fashioned, VOL. VIII-15 lived to enjoy but a small portion of that immeasurable renown, which after times have so liberally, but not less justly than liberally, accorded them. TO EMILY. Oh! ask not verse or song of one And voice of woe. Fitlier far were gayer themes- Behest like thine, few years ago, Like sparkling springs. My heart has ceased to own a chord Then, lady, ask no verse of one WINTON. It must be confessed, however, that a new era is dawning upon the world. The increased and increasing taste for reading, the rapid multiplica-| tion of literary productions, and the great facilities recently introduced for their transmission to the remotest bounds of civilization, are operating with great power on social and individual man. We live in the midst of what may be emphatically styled the age of free inquiry. Thought has roused itself from the lethargy and slumber of centuries. It is fast shaking off the trammels which had been imposed upon it by kingcraft in conjunction with priestcraft. From the lowly and bending posture in which it formerly crouched, it has sprung to its natural upright attitude, and, without embarrassment, nay, with a proud confidence, confronts the majesty of kings. It has taken rank by the side of the great powers of the earth. It will, ere long, rise above them, and put them beneath its feet. Already are the corrupt and timeworn institutions of despotism mouldering and crumbling at its touch. Already are new institutions, leavened more or less with the spirit of freedom, springing into existence, under its influence. It no longer speaks, as of yore, in timid underSome years since we announced our determitones, fearful of calling down upon itself the ava-nation to discontinue the publication of Lectures lanches of political power; but, swelling with the and Addresses in the Messenger. To this resoluamplitude, and deepening with the profundity, of tion we were driven by numerous complaints from its vast conceptions, it emulates the blast of the our readers, elicited by the great number of papers trumpet, startling its thousands from repose, on of this description, the least attractive form of the dawn of a world-winning battle! Let us trust literary contributions,—which had crowded our pathat it is the pioneer of a more enlightened civili-ges, and by the fact that our table was then loaded zation than has yet been foreshadowed in the with many others, of a like character. We have dreams of mere philosophy, that it is destined since uniformly rejected them, although in doing so by Providence to be the harbinger of a state of we have excluded many articles of signal ability, things as yet unprecedented upon earth-the and in some instances incurred the displeasure of morning star, burning in pensile beauty on the our earliest and staunchest friends. brow of the millennium,-that in the fulness of We have been reluctantly persuaded to depart time, it will usher in the commencement of that from that rule, however; and we hope that the era, when the war-announcing trumpet shall be theme and the occasion will be an ample justificaheard no more, when Peace shall gather the en- tion in the eyes of our readers. The Address of tire family of man under the shadow of her wing,- James M. Garnett, Esq., delivered before the Edwhen, with individuals and communities, Recti-ucation Convention assembled in this place, on the tude, in thought and deed, shall not only be an aim, 9th of December last, which we have consented to but an attainment-not only an abstract Reality, publish, discusses a subject,―Popular Education,but an universal Presence. Williamson County, Tenn. POPULAR EDUCATION. to which, at this moment, the attention of the PeoMAURIPEAR. ple as well as of the Legislature of Virginia is directed, with unwonted and intense solicitude; and nothing can more forcibly illustrate this assertion than the fact that this Address was delivered before the members of a numerous and enlightened body of citizens, convened at the Metropolis, from almost every quarter of the Commonwealth,-leav FLATTERY OF A POET LAUREATA. The poet Waller, in the profusion of poetical decoration, makes Queen Henrietta, the consort of Charles I, so beautiful, that her beauty would affect every lover "more than his private loves." She was "the whole worlds mistress."ing the quiet and the comfort of their firesides, to contribute their mite in this holy and patriotic efA portrait, in crayon, of Henrietta, at Hampton court, however, sadly reduces all his poetry; for the miraculous fort to diffuse knowledge among the people, and was only in the fancy of the court poct. thereby to make them happier men as well as better citizens. A copy of this Address was, by an unani- newspapers could prove, a few isolated individuals had mous vote of that Convention, solicited of its vene-most earnestly invited the friends of popular education to rable and distinguished author for publication, and hold a convention for the same purpose that the present by the same vote the Messenger was specially selected as the medium of communicating it to the public. We could not resist such an application, proceeding from such a body of men, convened for such a purpose,—and more especially when we saw the ability with which the sound views and just opinions of the orator are illustrated and enforced. We may add, in conclusion, that we do not intend hereafter to relax a rule, which was originally approved by our most deliberate judgment, and the necessity of which subsequent experience has most satisfactorily demonstrated.-[Ed. Mess. one has been formed to promote. But these efforts, few and far between, fell still-born from the press, and, if my recollection fail me not, obtained no friendly response from any quarter whatever. This, I verily believe, would still be the case, had it not been for the startling fact, disclosed by our late census, that there are nearly sixty thousand of our white population, over twenty years of age, who can neither read nor write. The publication of such a fact throughout the United States-a fact so replete with reproach, degradation and disgrace to Virginia-has effectually shamed and alarmed us all. It is, in truth, the primary cause of this convention. And since it is among the wise and beneficent dispensations of Providence that some good should grow out of all evil, we have much cause to rejoice at it, however humiliating it may be to our State pride. This besetting sin, 1 most earnestly hope, has been punished enough of late years, to awaken us all to such a Friends and Brother Members of the Education thorough and abiding sense of our real moral and political Convention: condition, as will rouse every member of this community to It is with feelings such as I have no language to express, do his uttermost towards its improvement and exaltation, that I am about to address you on that most deeply interest- so far as that can possibly be done by a wise and efficient ing of all subjects-Popular Education. And although I system of popular education. Let us all do our parts, as have been most kindly invited to do so by yourselves, it parents, as guardians, as private citizens; and never cease, requires a bolder heart than I can boast of, not to feel until we succeed in urging our legislators to do theirs, tosome fears of failing to do what may be expected of me. wards the accomplishment of this vital work. Not only These fears are not a little augmented by seeing before the present generation, but thousands upon thousands yet me many of the sons of Virginia, who are most distin- unborn would bless us for the heavenly deed; while we guished for their talents, their literary attainments, and ourselves should partake, in full measure, of that most detheir great moral worth-men, whose minds must be quite lightful of all mental enjoyments-the consciousness of as deeply impressed as my own, with the vast importance having contributed to the happiness of our fellow-creatures. of the object which has drawn us together; and, who are Education, as it should be, not only increases in a great demuch more capable than I am of advocating the great, the gree the desire of those who have obtained it, to find opvital cause which we are here assembled to promote. But portunities of enjoying this highest of all intellectual gratiI have been taught to believe, that there is often more of fications, but it augments their power of exciting a similar false pride than true modesty in such apprehensions; and desire in others, and thereby multiplies the means of doing that it is every man's sacred duty to contribute, to the ut-good in every direction. most of his power, towards the advancement of every good The excitement which has resulted in producing the preword and work in which he may be called on to assist. sent convention, has given rise to many suggestions in our The moral courage requisite to enable us to make such ef-public journals, which evince how sincerely and deeply forts by public addresses, 1 believe, might always be com- their authors feel the political, as well as moral evils, that manded, if we would only keep our thoughts intently fixed are the necessary consequences of the totally unlettered upon the cause which we are about to maintain, rather state in which so large a portion of our people have been than on the praise or dispraise that may be bestowed on found. But few of these writers, if any, seem to me to ourselves for our exertions in its behalf. This shall be my strike at the true cause of the evil. This-if I may be perearnest endeavor on the present occasion; and relying, as mitted to offer an opinion, without being thought too preI confidently hope that I may, on your goodness to excuse sumptuous-consists of certain radical defects and errors all my short-comings in this labor of love for the rising in our whole system of education, which may be traced generation, I will proceed to offer such opinions on the through all its ramifications, from the humblest of our prisubject of education as I have entertained, for the last mary schools, up to our academies, colleges, and universithirty or forty years of my life. ties. In all these, with scarcely an exception, so far as I It is a circumstance, much to the discredit of the citizens know and believe, the great end of education is the adof Virginia, and deeply to be deplored, that we have so long vancement of the worldly interests of the students. Riches, neglected to regard the subject of popular education as re-literary fame, political honore, or general celebrity; in quiring, in a far greater degree than all others, that sedu-other words, the gratification of avarice, pride or ambilous care and constant attention, both of the government tion, in some one or more of their infinite variety of forms, and the people themselves, without which it never can is made to be, either by direct or indirect means, the reach that degree of improvement to which it may be sole aim of all the pupils; and the methods adopted brought, when it is made the constant object of national as to urge them on in these ever-restless, insatiate purwell as individual concern. This is of the utmost impor-suits, are such as to cherish some of the worst passions tance in all governments. But it is indispensable in ours, of the human heart-envy, jealousy, hatred, and unalloyed where all political power emanates immediately from the selfishness. Do any of you doubt it? Then examine for people, who must be themselves both intelligent and vir-yourselves, the whole of what is called (but falsely, as I tuous, or it will rarely happen that their public functiona-think,) the well educated portion of our fellow-citizens; and ries will be any better than themselves. Indeed, the pro- what will you find a very great portion of them to be? bability will always be, that they will have among their rulers a much greater proportion of cunning, unprincipled demagogues, than of wise, capable and honest men. Long before the present year, as some files of our old Why, as an admirable writer well observes of the effects of the system of education in another country-"a restless, anxious generation; tortured by the cravings of inordinate ambition; maddened by rare examples of individual, occa sional success; panting, wrestling, elbowing each other with a wrathful emulation;—most apt, no doubt, to give the whole social order a rapid, onward impulse, but no less tending to drive contentment from the face of the civilized world." fact, that no system of education ever yet tried, unless religion were the foundation, has done more than to change the form of crime, without lessening, even in the smallest degree, its amount. person, and 5,282 against property; that is as 1 : 3, nearly. In England, out of 121,888, a total number of crimes reported from 1810 to 1826, 2,539 were crimes against the person, and 119,349 against property. In Norway, the per centum in 1826, is 10 crimes against the person, and 90 against property; as 1 : 9. "In France," according to the celebrated statistical tables This is, undeniably, the effect (with far too few ex-of M. Guerry, "out of 7,147 crimes, 1,865 were against the ceptions) of education as it is, and long has been, in our own country. In this respect, indeed, it seems to be no better than it was in the days of that witty satirist, Horace; although we live in a christian country, and his was one of idolatry. For in one of his celebrated satires, addressed to his friend Maecenas, he complains that nobody lived content with his situation, whether it was one of choice or chance; but that every one coveted some other than that which he himself occupied. This melancholy fact, which Horace, with all his learning and sagacity, was incapable of explaining, every christian can make clear to the commonest understanding. It is neither more nor less than because our systems of education are not founded on religion; but primarily, on merely knowing how to read, write and cypher; and, as you ascend higher up the ladder of worldly In Spain in 1826, the per centum is 37 crimes against ambition, on scientific and literary acquirements, together the person, and 63 against property; as 1:2, nearly. with a knowledge of ancient and modern languages. Against In Massachusetts, the per centum is 635 crimes against the superstructure I have no complaints whatever to utter; the person, and 9,364 against property; as 1: 16, nearly. on the contrary, I would be for giving it a greater diversity From this statement we see that crime changes its form of embellishment than it has yet had in our country. But with the advance of civilization, and the general diffusion I must again and again repeat, that unless the basis be reli- of knowledge; crimes against the person decreasing, and gion, there cannot possibly be (according to my understand-crimes against property increasing, with the increase of the ing of the term) any such thing as true education. "Its means of education. This fact-the simple change of the main object should be," as the same writer already quoted most justly remarks, "to fit man for life. It ought to instil into the youthful mind that there is a society already in existence, in which he is to fill a place-in which he will have duties to perform, and hardships and storms to endure. It ought to teach man to know himself-to resign and reconcile him to his lot-to recognize and adore the hand of Providence, even in those social arrangements which might perhaps strike him as unjust and arbitrary, and to lift him above the petty miseries of life, not only by a firm, but by an active belief in another and a better world." Education should do all this and more, or it will be little better than "sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal." form of vice, as the effect of civilization-has had not a little influence in leading many to the erroneous conclusion, that the mere diffusion of human knowledge, unaided by christianity, is sufficient for the promotion of a sound morality. According to these statements we see that the form of crime changes with the advance of knowledge and civilization. I now proceed to show that education, unaided by christianity, may give a new phasis to crime; it has 10 power to expel it. 1. France, in the north and the south, is widely distin The statements I am about to present, though collated from the most authentic sources with great care, can claim to be only an approximation to the exact result. But still With us, however, it has done scarcely any thing, in- they are so uniform, so broad and palpable, that they appear deed, I believe I might say nothing of the kind, so far as to my mind as satisfactory for the purpose for which I now inthe laws of the land have undertaken to direct or control it.troduce them, as the most complete data could make them. For the modicum of good which has been accomplished, so- First then let us compare, in different countries, the prociety is indebted almost solely to early parental instruc-portion of crimes committed, to the means of education ention; although this, in thousands of instances, has been joyed: either criminally neglected, or so miserably perverted as to administer mental poison to the poor unfortunate chil-guished in civilization and the means of education. In the dren, rather than the true bread of life. In our primary public schools, they very rarely acquire any thing more than I have already stated; whilst in schools of a higher grade, a youth is said to be well educated who has gone through a certain college course, with which neither religion nor morality has had any thing to do, unless it be that sort of worldly morality which substitutes a fair, showy, but often variable exterior, for real, internal, incorruptible religious principle. Without this indestructible foundation for every thing that bears the name of education, there can be no lasting peace, no security, no happiness, either for indivi-] diduals, states or nations. But with it, there is nothing within the power of human agency to effect, which our beloved country might not rationally hope to accomplish: for every man in it would feel it to be his indispensable and most sacred duty to cultivate, to the full extent of his ability, every faculty of his soul-every power of his intel-south. From the tables he has so carefully prepared, extellect. This is only my own opinion. Permit me here to sustain it by proofs, taken from a very able writer on this subject, which most conclusively, as I think, establish the north of France, there is one male pupil to about fourteen inhabitants. In the south, there is one to about forty-five. And allowing an equal provision for an equal number of females, it would make the proportion one pupil to about seven inhabitants in the north, and one to about twentythree in the south: and this would make, of the whole population, not more than one in three who could read and write, and one in fourteen of the inhabitants receiving education. Now if education has a tendency to expel crime, we shall see a difference in the criminal statistics of the north and south of France, favorable to the latter. Is it so? Exactly the reverse, according to Mr. Guerry. For though he makes it appear, as was before shown, that there were more crimes against the person in the south and west of France than in the north and east, yet the total amount of crime shows a greater proportion in the north than in the hibiting the precise amount of instruction and crime in each department of France, I should think the average would be about one hundred crimes in the north to eighty in the south. In the whole of France the number of ac cused were in the proportion of one in 4,195 of the popula-] tion. allied to religion." "The principal aim of primary schools should be to form men, sound both in body and mind, and to imbue the pu2. Let us now compare England and Wales with France. pils with the sentiment of religion, and with that zeal and In England and Wales, out of a population of about four-love for the duties of a schoolmaster which is so closely teen millions, it is supposed that about seven millions can read and write; that is, about one in two, and one in seven, in the whole population, are supposed to be receiving education. The total number of crimes brought before courts of justice in England in 1828, was 16,564; in the proportion of one to 721 inhabitants. 3. Let us now compare Spain with England. I have no means of ascertaining the proportion of those who can read and write, to the whole number of inhabitants in Spain; but we are very safe in supposing it to be far less than in England or France. In the ordinance regulating the appointment of teachers it is declared-" As a general rule, any man of mature age, of irreproachable morals and sincere piety, who understands the duties of the office he aspires to fill, and gives satisfactory proofs that he does, is fit for the post of public teacher." Without fatiguing your attention with a detail of the statistics given by our author, I will merely add that fourteen years after the establishment of this system of educa tion in Prussia, the total amount of crime in the kingdom had decreased thirty-eight per cent. In 1826, according to official reports, the number of criminals in Spain amounted to 12,937; which, if the population be 11,447,629, would give one crime, not accusation, for 885 persons--a proportion much less than the ac-ing impiety of decreeing that there was no God? Was she cused even in England." Do any here present want the proofs of what, and how, a people can do without religion? Then ask yourselves what was France, when the whole nation committed the shock The author gives references to other countries to establish the same facts, but the foregoing are deemed sufficient. Let us examine his references to prove that education, founded on religion, changes not only the form of crime, but greatly lessens the aggregate amount: "Scotland, compared with England, gives a different result. Of convicted criminals there were in Scotland in 1823, one to 9,649 inhabitants; in England in 1826, there was one to 1,082. not a scene of such universal bloodshed, misery and horror, as the world had never before witnessed? Were not all the laws of both God and man openly violated-deeds and crimes of unparalleled atrocity publicly perpetrated, and even gloried in; while the whole country, throughout all its borders, was convulsed and torn to pieces, as if all justice, virtue and humanity had been banished forever from the face of the earth? All Europe still feels some of the effects of this truly dreadful moral earthquake; and even the land of France itself has hardly ceased to reek with the blood of the countless multitudes who fell victims to this most appalling destitution of all morals and religion in a whole nation. Scotland is distinguished from all the countries named in this article, for its having the christian religion as the basis of its whole system of national eductation: and this it is that gives it such a disparity, in its criminal statistics, with other countries." The writer goes on to cite various acts of the govern-ter: "Such men as Voltaire, Mirabeau, Diderot, Helvement, to show that, by the laws establishing the schools in Scotland, religion was made the basis; and that the means of education provided were far more ample than in any of the countries heretofore mentioned: The preliminary steps which led to this most awful catastrophe, are thus described by a late truly eloquent wri "The tius, d'Alambert, Condorcet and Rosseau entered into the grand scheme of mental disenthralment, with all the ardor of Frenchmen, united with great learning, genius and wit. The press was subsidized, and speedily the whole literapower to read and write and an acquaintance with ture of the nation was steeped in the philosophy that was the elements of arithmetic were placed within the reach of to prove a panacea for all their social and political disoralmost every individual, while all classes of the people ders. The schools, the books, the weekly gazettes, and were enabled to read the Bible from their earliest years, heavier reviews,―all, all were laid under tribute, and conand, with the assistance of the catechism, (which was regu-verted into vehicles of truth and light for heralding the larly taught in every school,) have received the rudiments dawn of this new millennium. It came. of a religious education, such as they could not have had the same means of attaining in any other country of Europe." It is suposed that about one-ninth part of the population are in the process of education. Let us now look at Prussia, and inquire into the effects of the school system upon the morals of that community. I shall take occasion hereafter to speak more fully of the Prussian system of education, and shall content myself now with simply presenting, in a few words, the deep religious sentiment that pervades it, and the effect of it in diminishing crime. 'Another morn, Risen on mid-noon;' But not like but 'cloud instead and ever-during night,' it came on them. It rose-a little cloud at first, the gathered exhalations of a few noxious hearts: but it spread, and possessed an attractive power, that drew up those dark materials to its bosom, which, when it broke, was as if an avenging Deity, in one awful cataract of woe, had poured upon them all the vials of the apocalypse. The living God they had voted out of existence ;-his written code they had burned in saIn the first place, the teachers in their schools are re-crifice to the gods of their own creation;-his temples they quired to be religious men, and their examination, previous had converted into scenic exhibitions of licentious enticeto their admission to office, is as particular in regard to ment: and prostitution personified became the god of their their religious character, as it is in regard to their intellec-idolatry.' They had written upon their gravestones that tual. 'death was an eternal sleep;' which was at once the record In the examination of Dr. Julius before the education of their blasphemy, and the epitaph of their wisdom. Thus committee of the British House of Commons, July, 1834, he was asked whether the teachers in the Prussian schools were persons of a religious turn of mind? Answer: "The whole teaching of the seminaries is directed to instil into them a deep feeling of religion." they 'cursed all human, and insulted all divine;' until righteous Heaven, wearied out with their impiety, drew the avenging sword; and the Divine Nemesis, thundering the maledictions of an incensed God, swept them to the grave they had mocked, and to the retributions they had In the law of 1819, relating to the "training of primary defied." The miseries," says President Dwight, "which teachers," we find it declared-"A schoolmaster, to be were suffered by that single nation in the course of a few worthy of his vocation, should be pious, discreet, and deeply years, have changed all the histories of the preceding sufimpressed with the dignity and sacredness of his calling." ferings of mankind into idle tales. They were enhanced |