56 Sketches of an Exctlrsion io Southern Alaska. 



We are bound, therefore, to leave no portion of our Country in ignorance. 

 This life-giving power must circulate to the extremities to prevent paralysis. 

 The law of self-preservation dictates the extension of our enlightening policy to 

 Alaska. Our nation, tolerating all creeds and adopting none, should foster the 

 spirit of piety among the people, as giving sanction to Oaths and promoting in 

 general a conscientious regard for duty. Without this no free nation could 

 continue to exist : for self-government is the first law of a free people. No man 

 is self-governed who is not regulated by a law higher than the State. That higher 

 law is God's, and it brings us before Him. These ideas are accepted substan- 

 tially by the great bulk of our people. They determine the educational policy 

 of our land, which aims at the training of every child in intelligence and 

 virtue. If the preservation of our institutions rests upon these, we cannot 

 afford to neglect any portion of the rising generation. 



Modern civilization is a very comprehensive term. It means the benefits of 

 invention, the improvement of arts and sciences, the cheapening of productions. 

 It means diffusion of knowledge, respect for humanity, and benevolent efforts 

 for the exposed and neglected classes. It brings, in short, the means of a 

 higher and better life to every man's door. But the diffusion of these blessings 

 is not in proportion to their freeness and abundance. They are barred out by 

 Sloth and Ignorance, and the troop of vices which always lurk in their shadows. 

 They create the dens of infamy. They hatch the serpents that sting the body 

 politic, and the vultures that hasten to the prey. The welfare of a nation is 

 made up of the welfare of the individuals that compose it. And if we would 

 promote the welfare of our Country, we must carry these blessings to the hearts 

 and homes of the outcast and neglected classes. 



They will not seek the good, because they are like children, they cannot 

 appreciate it. The uplifting of a people starts from no inward promptings. 

 It always comes from extraneous sources. There is no authentic example of 

 a tribe or nation which has risen from primitive ignorance or barbarism into 

 civilization by an indigenous inclination. Examples occur in history of indi- 

 viduals who have struggled to rise above their environment of earthliness — 

 like Milton's account of the creation of the king of beasts : 



Now half appears 

 The tawny lion, pawing to get free 

 His hinder parts : then springs, as broke from bonds, 

 And rampant shakes his brinded mane. 



These are kings of men who have imparted the magnetism of their own inspi- 

 ration to a few contemporaries, whose united exertions have propelled their 

 people along the ascent. But these instances of success are very few in com- 

 parison with the hosts that fill the ranks of stupidity and barbarism, destitute 

 of any aims or aspirattons. 



The notion seems to be widely diffused that the people who do not avail 

 themselves of opportunities of progress and culture, are not worth saving. It 

 is the voice ot might against weakness, often thoughtlessly uttered, and often 

 with secret congratulations on one's own success in the struggle for life and 

 distinction. The current flows resistlessly onward : let him swim who can, the 



