a 'National Education Establishment. 693 



inform themselves, as we have done, with regard to the plan and result of the 

 pubh'c education in Wurtemberg, Bavaria, Baden, Silesia, and Sweden. 



I. The Degree of Education to be imparted. — The kind and degree of edu- 

 cation that we think ought to be given to every human being in this and in 

 every countr}', and in every state of civilisation, may be thus defined : — All 

 the knoivledge and accomplishments that a child's body or mind, and the state 

 of knowledge and the art of teaching at the time, ivill admit, previously to the 

 age of puberty ; giving preference to those branches of knoivledge considered 

 the most usefid, and those accomplishments and manners considered the most 

 humanising, by the wise and good of the age. 



We consider this degree of cultivation to be as much the birthright of a 

 child in a community where there is a high degree of civilisation, as food, 

 and clothes are its birthright in the rudest states of society ; because, with- 

 out it, a man or woman is ushered into society without a fair chance of be- 

 mg able to procure the means of subsistence and of happiness which belong 

 to human nature, under the given degree of civilisation ; in short, withoufc 

 a fair chance of making the most of life. To introduce an ignorant youth 

 into a highly civilised country, under the supposition that he could obtain' 

 the requisite degree of prosperity and happiness, would be more absurd 

 than to turn an educated child into a country of savages. This is one view 

 of the subject, and it is a view on which all who can afford the expense act 

 with respect to their own children. 



If we regard the subject in the light of humanity, and the sympathy of 

 one part of society with another, this principle will equally dictate the duty 

 of bestowing, as far as practicable, that good on others which we feel to be 

 a good in ourselves, and which we are convinced would add to the general 

 happiness. 



Viewed as a matter of public policy, and considering that the grand ob- 

 ject of every government ought to be, with reference to its subjects, their 

 happiness and prosperity ; and, with reference to other governments, its own 

 stability; reason dictates the use of the most important means for gaining 

 these ends ; and that it would be prudent, no less than just, in government, 

 so to legislate, as that every individual subject should have the degree of 

 education above defined. 



Let none, therefore, exist in society who have not their minds ma- 

 tured by the care and- culture of public teachers, as their bodies are by the 

 nourishment and clothing of their parents. The religious and humane owe 

 this to the poor as a part of human nature; the benevolent, as sympathising 

 with the miseries they suffer ; the enlightened, in order to raise them to- 

 their rank in the scale of creation ; the rich man, to give them a greater 

 chance of possessing property, in order that they may respect the property 

 of others ; the prudent man, that they also may become prudent ; and go- 

 vernment, that they may not be made the tools of faction, foreign or 

 domestic. 



Knowledge gives power; and if one part of society has the degree of 

 cultivation defined, and the other has it not, it is evident that there can 

 be very little sympathy between them. The experience of ages shows the 

 continual tendency of the powerful in wealth or in skill to oppress the 

 weak ; and the continual tendency of the weak to react by personal force, 

 by cunning, or by numbers, on the strong. Materials so discordant can 

 never form the basis of a sound, healthy, and permanent state of society. 

 The poor and ignorant, becoming, under such circumstances, little better 

 than slaves to the rich and enlightened, regard them as their enemies, and 

 often finding them to be such, must and will rebel ; and the result is, sooner 

 or later, a subversion of society. It would evidently contribute to the 

 stability and harmony of society to moderate this action and reaction, 

 by a more equal distribution of power ; and, as knowledge gives power, 

 the most obvious and effectual way of attaining the end. proposed is, by 



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