129 



tioDj but, if able, to pay for the expense of it; and if either 

 unable or unwilUng to do so, to permit the community to pro- 

 vide for his education at the public expense. This involves, 

 in the cases supposed, a reciprocal obligation on the part of the 

 State, or the community, to make such provision. In case of 

 inability, this duty on the part of the public is universally ac- 

 knowledged. When individuals are found unwilling to meet 

 the necessary expenses of instruction, the like duty is actually 

 practiced, though it is not so apt to be confessed; while the 

 just benefit which ought to flow from it is generally defeated 

 by a policy, which begins with caution but ends in parsimony. 

 To estimate truly the force and spirit of this obligation, it 

 should be recollected that the class of unwilling citizens, by 

 the very distinction we make, does not include the unable, 

 but is made up of persons of some substance, which may al- 

 ways be reached by a proper system of taxation. The chief 

 resource of that great corporation which we call the State, is 

 in the individual property of the citizens, who are the corpo- 

 rators; and of itself it can possess no property but each corpo- 

 rator has an interest in it. When, therefore, the State under- 

 takes to prepare a foundation for popular education, and to fur- 

 nish the means for its support, it can apply nothing to this ob- 

 ject which is not the property of the pubMc — a property to 

 which every man of substance directly contributes, or in which 

 he has an interest without direct contribution. It is easy to 

 see, from this view, that the class of the unwilUng, though 

 they may refuse voluntarily to make any sufficient provision 

 for their own or their children's education, cannot wholly re- 

 lieve themselves of this primary obligation. The State, or the 

 community, is permitted to meet the exigency in its own way 

 but in doing so it takes care to coerce the unwiUing. as far as 

 practicable, into a just contribution. 



The detail of administration with us is provided for, by the 

 division and subdivision of the people into distinct and, in 

 many respects, independent communities. We have counties, 



and towns within counties, and cities and villages all being 



distinct political communities, and exercising, within them- 

 selves, larger or more limited powers of administration. It is 



