330 AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF chap. XF. 



rise to affluence, to honour, and to power. But 

 how can any man avail himself of this constitu- 

 tional advantage, if he is arrested at his outset 

 by a regulation excluding him from the very 

 first principles of literature ? 



I would ask, likewise, whether the dignity, 

 strength, and general prosperity of any nation 

 or state are net greatest, when genius, talents, 

 and abilities, in whatever class or order of men 

 in the community they may exist, are encoura- 

 ged and permitted to exert themselves without 

 check or controul ? And as these qualities do 

 not belong exclusively to any particular rank, 

 nor descend by inheritance iri any particular 

 line, is it not incumbent on those, who consult 

 for the public interest, to adopt the most proper 

 measures for the .discovery and improvement of 

 them ? But can any scheme be devised, that will 

 answer this end more effectually, than the esta- 

 blishment of parochial schools, suitably endow- 

 ed, and under proper regulations ? In these lit- 

 tle seminaries of education, while the children 

 are instructed in the first principles of morals 

 and literature, their y6ung minds are opened ; 

 scope is given to their several powers and capa- 

 cities to unfold themselves, and the strength 

 and bent of every particular genius is, in some 

 .measure, discovered ; by which means a right 

 judgment may, in most cases, be formed of the 

 particular department in life in which they will 

 act with the greatest advantage; and consequently 

 the subsequent plan of education most proper to 

 be followed with that view, can with greater cer- 

 tainty be determined. The advantages, in this re- 

 spect, of extending the means of education teevery 



