156 



the reading in the first stage, where they will receive 

 their whole education, is proposed, as lias been said, to 

 be chiefly historical. History by ap})rising them of the 

 past will enable iheni to judge of the future; it will 

 avail them of the experience of other times and other 

 nations; it will qualify them as judges of the actions 

 end designs of men ; it will enable lliem to know am- 

 bition under every disguise it may assume ; and know- 

 ing it, to defeat its views. In every government on 

 earth is some trace of human weakness, some germ of 

 corrui)rion and degeneracy, which cunning will discov- 

 er, and wickedness insensibly open, cultivate and im- 

 prove. Every government degenerates when trusted 

 to the riders of the ]jeo[)le alone. The people them- 

 selves therefore are its only safe depositories. And to 

 render even them safe, their minds must be improved 

 to a certain degree. — This indeed is not all that is ne- 

 cessary, though it be essentially necessary. An amend- 

 ment of our constitution must here come in aid of the 

 public education. The influence over government must 

 be shared among all the peojjle. if every individual 

 which composes their mass participates of the ultimate 

 authority, the government will be safe ; because the 

 corrupting the whole mass will exceed any private re- 

 sources of wealth : and public ones cannot be provided 

 but by levies on the people. In this case every man 

 would have to pay his own price. The government of 

 Great Britain has been corrupted, because but one man 

 in ten has a right to vote for members of parliament. 

 The sellers of tlie government theref)re get nine-tenths 

 of their price clear. It has been thought that corrup- 

 tion is restrained by confining the right of suff*rage to a 

 few of tbe wealthier of the people : but it would be 

 more effectually restrained by an extension of that right 

 to such numbers as would bid defiatice to the means of 

 corruption. 



Lastly, it is proposed, by a bill in this revisal, to be- 

 gin a public library and gallery, by laying out a certain 

 sum annually in books, paintings, and statues. 



