everything he is associated with through the senses. He beholds every natural 

 agent actively employed for his good. 



This knowledge of the few is rapidly becoming more diffused, and now insti- 

 tutions are being established, having in view the promotion of a ''liberal and 

 practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and profes- 

 sions of life." How, then, shall they be successfully established ? This is the 

 question to which now the States accepting the donation of Congress are to 

 give a practical answer. Such answer involves two questions for remark -first, 

 what sciences shall be taught ? and second, shall they alone, or in connexion 

 with the languages and mathematics, constitute the course of study? 



1. What sciences skouldbe taught? I purpose to give here a general answer 

 only to this question. Under the second and third general divisions of my sub- 

 ject the different sciences will be particularized. 



The answer to this question is determined by the objects intended to be ac- 

 complished by the instruction of the industrial classes. And herein lies the 

 great differences which exist in Europe among the agricultural schools, and in 

 the United States among the opinions on industrial education. These agricul- 

 tural schools have in view but one object, and that is to make the student a 

 good farmer, because in Europe those having political authority do not purpose 

 to make universal the right of suffrage or of holding office. But recently in 

 England, where reform measures point to a more general right of suffrage, able 

 men and members of Parliament demand that the education of the industrial 

 classes shall be commensurate with their duties as citizens. Here there should be 

 but one opinion, and that should demand for every American citizen an education 

 as unlimited as is his sphere of influence. He should be thoroughly imbued 

 with that knowledge which is essential to his occupation. He should be 

 made an influential member in social intercourse, and, therefore, should possess 

 all those accomplishments, such as refinement and strength in conversation, by 

 which caste, both for the individual and his pursuit, are upheld in society. He 

 should wield a ready pen, for the press moulds public opinion ; he should be a 

 ready debater, for the " stump" is an instrument of vast political power. He must 

 be made competent, so far as early education is essential, to the holding of every 

 office. In Europe the laborer exercises no direct power in political affairs, 

 but here he governs through representatives directly chosen by himself. The- 

 oretically, the highest offices are open to the poorest citizen : shall he not be 

 fitted for an actual discharge of their duties? Shall he think and act for him- 

 self, or shall he be but a mere recorder at the ballot-box of the edicts of parties 

 and of the dictation of politicians'? Does this wide-spread government need no 

 steadying influences from the industrial class, whose interests are all identified 

 with peace and stability 1 



In what I have to say, then, in reply to the question, What should be the 

 extent of the instruction in the industrial colleges about to be established, I 

 shall not for a moment look upon the industrial man as a mere machine for the 

 doing of certain labor, but shall regard him as an American citizen, and one, 

 too, upon whom, more than on the professional man, must the country rely fur 

 that conservative influence over public affairs, which stands opposed to those 

 radical changes which leaders of parties are eternally seeking as a means of 

 their own advancement or occasioned by the mere antagonism of party warfare. 

 If the ordeal through which the land is now passing does not inculcate a lesson 

 of this sort, I confess my inability to understand it. Ambition to rule, or, failing 

 in that, to ruin, led Mr. Jefferson to assert that political heresy, the suprem- 

 acy of the States, which makes them the final judge of what is constitutional; 

 of what is the rightful remedy for an unconstitutional exercise of power, and 

 claims the allegiance of the citizen as due to the State, and not to the na- 

 tional government. Modern politicians of the south but remodeled his party 

 machinery for the same purpose that led to its original invention. Against 



