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village library, tlic cheap free press, arc the supports, the guarantees, tlie 

 champions of liberty. We shall never be found pleading for anything 

 that interferes with these or abridges their usefulness. It is rather in thoir 

 interest that we ask for the means of the highest literary acquisitions. Tlie 

 stream cannot rise higher than the fountain; if the source be not well sup- 

 plied, the river fails. Teachers must have the facilities for learning; and 

 as the standard of education is raised, higher attainments are demanded 

 from teachers — attainments v/hich cannot at present be made in this coun- 

 try by the aid of our public institutions. I use the word "teachers" in 

 its widest acceptation, including all who attempt to instruct the public. It 

 is in the appliances for thorough study, for original research, for inde- 

 pendent investigation, that we are deficient. If a studious and reflecting 

 American desires to review the history of the world, or some portion of 

 it, from his American position, unless he be able to expend thousands of 

 dollars in the purchase of books, he must abandon his design, for he can- 

 not procure them from our public collections. 



There has recently appeared from ihe American press, written by an 

 American scholar, one of the most comprehensive, profound, and elegant 

 "works which has ever been published in the department of literary ius- 

 tory. We receive it with patriotic pride. But this work could be written, 

 in this country, only by one who was able to procure for himself the ne- 

 cessary literary apparatus. The library of the author contains some 13,000 

 volumes, and in th.e department of Spanish literature is one of the ricliest 

 in the world. Our object is to provide that every man in America, though 

 he be poor, whose mind kindles with a great theme, may be able to par- 

 sue it and enrich our national literature with the results of original inves- 

 tigations. It is sometimes said, in reply, that if any one desires books not 

 already to be found, he may order them from Europe, and receive them 

 in six weeks or two months. But the scholar may be, and generally is, 

 poor. If not, he cannot, from the outset, foresee the extent of the field 

 over which he must range, the side-paths wliich he must trace out in or- 

 der to settle the true route; he will thus be subjected to great delay in as- 

 certaining and collecting his materials. But the ordering of books is a 

 very different matter from what is generally supposed. If the book be a 

 new one, still in the market, it may be received within a few weeks; but 

 if, as is the case with tv/o-thirds, or perhaps nine-tenths of the books 

 which may be needed, it be an old work, and only to be found at long in- 

 tervals and by diligent search, the case is very different. His order will 

 be answered only by tlie phrase, "out of print." He may order again, 

 and receive for reply, •''^cannot be obtained." This will be his experience 

 till he devotes years to gathering his materials, or till, discouraged by h s 

 ill success, he abandons his design and sinks down to be a mere copyist 

 and compiler; to take his opinions at second-hand, from perhaps superfi- 

 cial and prejudiced writers — the only ones to whom he can gain access. 

 We are thus, as a nation, condemned to literary dependence, if not imbe- 

 cility. 



The government, and the educated men of eveiy State in Europe, have 

 felt the importance of having at least one library in each country, where 

 the materials for thorough scholarship should be garnered, and opened to 

 the studious; yet no nation in Europe is in a situation so much demand- 

 ing such a collection as ourselves. If Roscoe could not obtain, as has 

 rbeen stated, insEngland, the books which he v.^anted for writing the his- 



