18 16.] Necessili/ of a general Ethical and PoUlical Education. 



peal. But neither their wisdom spoke, 

 nor their spirit rose; and carnaf^c and 

 plunder issued forth n>iOi) a whole peo- 

 ple struggliiijf in maintenance of t!ie 

 riglits of nations. Attribute this to tiie 

 default of ediication. Letters liave 

 been cultivated ; but moral principles 

 He^lectod: science has advanced ; but 

 the human eli:iracter lias been suf- 

 fered to remain stationary. Man, with 

 all his accumulated intelligence, is still 

 a being- of mean condition ; stiil insen- 

 sible to tlie value of morals; stiil igno- 

 rant of his political importance ; still 

 deficient in personal digiiity and reso- 

 lution ; still equally willing to bribe, and 

 be bribed; still the dupe of whom his 

 voice elects, and at the mercy of whom 

 Lis labours feed: and, by his nmlti/a- 

 rioHs illumination, rendered hut a more 

 splendid slave. Tlie very science, in- 

 dispensiblc to all, is neglected by all; 

 the spirit that should animate, and the 

 intelligence that should direct, have 

 been pusilanimously abandoned, or 

 basely stifled. Hence, even in t/iis age 

 — this enlightened age — one territory 

 exhibits a people contented under an 

 absolute autocrat, a secoml displays the 

 unbridled tyranny of an effeminate bi- 

 got, another 8he^^'s us a race rt:-embra- 

 cing their bnrsted fetters, and a third 

 oilers the spectacle of a people who, 

 amid the vauntings of freedom, quies- 

 cently submit their rights and proj)ertics 

 to tlie disposal of an unequally-chosen 

 and corrupt representation ! They 

 know that they are imposed upon, but 

 do not know that it is their duty to cor- 

 rect the abuse; are sensible of their in- 

 juries, but lost to tiic virtuous determi- 

 nation, to no longer endure them. 



Why, Sir, are any jieopic deficient in 

 the knowledge of their public duties? 

 AVIiy dead to the feeling, that, as often 

 as they were injured, would move them 

 to self-redress? JJecause tliat knowledge 

 bas never been taught, that feeling 

 iK'Vcr inspired, by a scheme of tuition 

 including the inculcation of those moral 

 truths, those political maxims, and that 

 public spirit, which alone can emanci- 

 pate enslaved nations, or preserve hu- 

 man liberty where it rojilly exists. 



So sensible were the ancient Greeks 

 of the jndispei'-.iiibility of an universal 

 education, that it formed the prinie and 

 constant objcc^t of their solicifiule. 

 As early as the age of the rcnofliied 

 and immortal patriots, Harmodius and 

 AriHlogilon, the Athenians set up iVtr- 

 eurits iu all tlie hij^Iiway;^, wit|i tnvi<tl 

 2 



199 



sentences inscribed n])on them, for the 

 instruction of the lowest vulgar; insti- 

 tuted public schools, and d<-;cmed it 

 their greatest gloiy, that their city was 

 the abode of manly virtue,' and polit» 

 learning. When the wives ofthcsaiu* 

 people, constrained by the invasion of 

 Xerxes, ficd to Salaniis, the first car* 

 of tlie hospilabie inhabi(ants vvas, to 

 provide instructors for tliu children of 

 tiieir new visitors: and, wiien Lurydino, 

 of Mucedon, resigned riiiiij), in ih« 

 tenth 3 ear of his age, an hostage to 

 Thebes, her principal request was, that 

 her son might recei\o an education wor- 

 thy of that citi/, 



'iiu- general state of Grecian niorali 

 would, iudetd, be sufficiently manifested 

 by one fact alone; the rejection bj 

 Aristides the just, of the important pro- 

 jjosal made by 'I'hemistocles : I'he in- 

 corruptible Athenian refused his consent 

 to the clandestine destruction of th« 

 Spartan fleet, because " though no- 

 thing could be more advantageous to 

 Athens, nothing could be more unjust." 

 Upon how noble a system of ethics wa« 

 such a principle founded! How grand 

 the policy with which the illustrious 

 moralist acted ! All Athens, all Greece, 

 applauded his resolution : \\ hat, then, 

 must have been the Grecian education! 



If we consider that, generally, im- 

 probity and licentiousness, derolictiou 

 of duty, public and private, are tiace- 

 able to the defects of our didactia 

 system; that apian of tuition, ha%ing 

 for its bases the controul of the passions, 

 and the pronicfion of our true <lignity as 

 intellectual, moral, and jinlitical beings, 

 would improve the high and the low, the 

 cabinet and the commonalty; shed con-- 

 tent upon every station, and teach respect 

 for every duty, we shall at once peiccivfe 

 the advantage to be derived from th» 

 example of a scholastic institutiim li- 

 berally modelled, and to what extent 

 posterity would bo benefitted by its im- 

 mediate and universal imitation. lg~ 

 uorancp, the parent and the imrse of 

 profligiicy and disorder, banished froia 

 every rank, would leave to religion, 

 reason, and patriotism, a clear and ex- 

 tensive field; and the church, the state, 

 heads of cities, and latlicrs of laniilies, 

 would qtrickly behold the glorious seen* 

 of a rising generation enriched with use- 

 ful intelligence, elevated by a masculir.« 

 virtue, and exhibiting the felicitoua 

 promise of an improved aera. 



Impressed, Sir, with the conviction, 

 ■that the J'atilc jnetliod»eftuitio'ii adopted 



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