CHAP. XII.] POPULAR INSTRUCTION. 177 



before in any country in the world. This consists not so much 

 in the absence of pauperism, or in the individual liberty enjoyed 

 by every one in civil and religious rights, but in the absence of 

 the influence of family and fortune the fair field of competition, 

 freely open to all who aspire, however humble, to rise one day 

 to high employments, especially to official or professional posts, 

 whether lay or ecclesiastical, civil or military, requiring early 

 cultivation. Few will realize their ambitious longings ; but 

 every parent feels it a duty to provide that his child should not 

 be shut out from all chance of winning some one of the numerous 

 prizes, which are awarded solely on the ground of personal quali 

 fications, not always to the most worthy, but at least without 

 any regard to birth or hereditary wealth. It seems difficult to 

 foresee the limit of taxation which a population, usually very in 

 tolerant of direct taxes, will not impose on themselves to secure 

 an object in which they have all so great a stake, nor does any 

 serious obstacle or influence seem likely to oppose their will. 

 There is in no state, for example, any dominant ecclesiastical 

 body sufficiently powerful to thwart the maxims of those states 

 men who maintain that, as the people are determined to govern 

 themselves, they must be carefully taught and fitted for self- 

 government, and receive secular instruction in common schools 

 open to all. The Roman Catholic priests, it is true, in the state 

 of New York, where there are now 11,000 schools in a popula 

 tion of two millions and a half, have made some vigorous efforts 

 to get the exclusive management of a portion of the school funds 

 into their own hands, and one, at least, of the Protestant sects 

 has openly avowed its sympathy in the movement. But they 

 have failed from the extreme difficulty of organizing a combined 

 effort, where the leaders of a great variety of rival denominations 

 are jealous of one another ; and, fortunately, the clergy are be 

 coming more and more convinced that, where the education of 

 the million has been carried farthest, the people are most regular 

 in their attendance on public worship, most zealous in the de 

 fense of their theological opinions, and most liberal in contribut 

 ing funds for the support of their pastors and the building of 

 churches. 



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