MOOEE’S EUEAl NEW-YORKEE: AN AGRICULTUEAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL 
may be taken without bis consent and ap¬ 
propriated to the private use of another, 
without any conceivable benefit to the one 
from whom it is taken. It needs no micro¬ 
scopic discernment to discover the germ of 
unlimited oppression in such legislation. It 
is in direct violation of every principle of 
justice. 
We all know that taxation without rep¬ 
resentation was the professed cause of the 
war of the revolution; but the real unvar¬ 
nished truth is this, that taxation without 
benefit to the tax payer, was the cause of 
that war. It was against this that the 
Fathers of our country fought. It is 
against this that we now protest; and it is 
against this same principle that we call on 
all the friends of civil liberty to unite.— 
Tell us not of philanthropy—philanthropy 
was satisfied with the provisions of the for¬ 
mer law. The children of the indigent 
were then taught with no cost to the pa¬ 
rents ; can they now be taught with less ? 
Tell us not of majorities,—majorities must 
be governed and limited by the sacred con¬ 
ditions of a social compact, otherwise their 
requirements are oppressive. The minori¬ 
ty rnust be admitted to have certain in¬ 
alienable rights which no majorities have 
any right to meddle with, under any pre¬ 
text whatever; otherwise majorities are 
nothing less than mighty tyrants, unholy 
alliances against the true liberties of man. 
Every man in the social state has a right 
to protection for person and property; such 
protection he contributes to give, and such 
he has a right to receive. When this is 
denied him or withheld, the ends of gov¬ 
ernment in regard to him have ceaseU, and 
he has a right to protect himself as best he 
can. 
The free population of this State are 
now presented to the world in the revolting 
attitude of suppliants, petitioning, for what ? 
Is it to be invested with some doubtful 
right? Is it to have some special privi¬ 
leges conferred? No; far from it. It is 
to be protested from having their property 
transferred to others without their consent. 
It is to be protected from having their 
' pockets picked according to law. In this 
connection we quote the following appropri¬ 
ate remarks from a late speech of Daniel 
Webster: 
‘Two things are to be guarded. One 
great truth is, that men in a conservative 
age are capable of self-government—that 
the enjoyment of equal rights is a practica¬ 
ble thing, and that freedom is not a danger- 
us thing for a body p olitic. And the oth¬ 
er is that freedom from restraint is not/r<?e- 
dom ,—that licentiousness—the discharge 
from moral duties, and that general scram¬ 
ble which leads the idle to hope for a time 
when they may put their hands in their 
neighbor’s pockets—call it what you will, 
is tyranny. Il L __ 
CHRISTIANITY AIDED BY ART. r 
In his eloquent address before the Alum- { 
ni of Yale College, the Rev. Dr. Adams, of I 
New York, introduced the ‘following beau- ' 
tiful and striking illustration of the inven- 
tion of printing and its influence on the ^ 
progress of Christianity : ) 
“While Christianity exerts so powerful ' 
an influence on the secular affairs of men, I 
it does by no means refuse to acknowledge ^ 
its own relations to secular occupations, irr- ^ 
ventions and discoveries. < 
“ In the city of Strasbug, on the eastern 
frontier of France, there stands in the prin- ^ 
cipal square a large bronze statue of Gut- < 
temburg, the inventor of *the art of print- ( 
ing with moveable types. It is a full- 
length figure of that fortunate individual, 
with a printing press at his side, and an i 
open scroll in his hand — “ And there was ^ 
I light” Upon the several sides of the high 
BY L. WETHERELL 
STRICTURES ON “PLOWMAN-” 
Mb. Editor: —In No. 40 of the Rural 
appears an article entitled “ Free Schools, 
Again,” over the signature of “ Plowman.” 
Now I do not wish to declare war with 
Plowman, but simply review his army of 
arguments as they are drawn up in battle 
array. His front being composed of syllo¬ 
gisms, or rather what logicians sometimes 
resort to—that is, fox and geese playing; 
after one or two skirmishes with the light 
troops, or rather goose playing arrange¬ 
ments, he brings his entire force to the cri¬ 
sis at the critical time to baffle all opposi¬ 
tion, and probably would, had not the fly¬ 
ing artillery (or logic without foundation) 
given away, when the entire army was 
routed and fled in utter consternation, and 
would all have perished had it not been 
for a certain Mr. Selfishness, who^ rushed to 
the rescue of the scattering army, and him¬ 
self more particularly, and saved them the 
tremendous duty of bringing up their own 
children. 
Now this Mr. Selfishness is a great Cap¬ 
tain, always taking great care of his troops, 
and himself more particularly—harrassing 
the enemy every convenient opportunity— 
cutting off their supplies—plundering and 
ransacking them in a most unmerciful man¬ 
ner-giving large shares of the booty to 
his constituents, and himself especially, in 
order to create a fund, a general fund, all 
to be apportioned out to himself and his 
followers. 
Now Mr. Selfishness, in order to prove 
conclusively to the enemy that it is right 
for him to appropriate their money to the 
iise of his army, in supporting their children 
and his own more particularly, reasons 
thus:—Children do not belong to their pa¬ 
rents; parents comprise the inhabitants of 
the State; consequently a direct tax upon 
the people should be laid in order to sup¬ 
port the children. Again, *!Mr. Selfishness 
reasons thus:—Some men are free and 
equal—some men are poor and needy— 
consequently all should be made rich, and 
himself more particularly. And again he 
reasons thus:—Some men are capable of 
supporting their children — all children 
should be supported—consequently there 
should be a direct tax upon the people to 
support the State’s children, and his own 
more particul^’ly. Thus we see how Mr. 
Selfishness reasons—first, that the children 
-second, that they 
progress of the world. In one, stands the ^ 
names of the distinguished scholars, phil- ( 
osophers and poets of all times; in another, ^ 
the names of those who havS been most > 
eminent for their achievements in the cause s 
of freedom; conspicuous among which is ? 
an allusion to our declaration of Indepen- \ 
dence, with the names of Washington, ^ 
Franklin, Hancock and Adams. On the ^ 
third side, is a representation of Philan- / 
thropy knocking oft' the fetters of the slave, 
and instructing the tawny children of op- ^ 
pression in useful knowledge; and on the ( 
fourth is Christianity, surrounded by the / 
representatives of all the nations, and tribes, ; 
and people, receiving from her own hand, { 
•„ il- _ A_ il_ _ YTT_1 Tlx_1 \ 
our State Fair in 1849. Prof. J. ranks first 
among the agricultural chemists of the age, 
as his various and oft-quoted works testify. 
He is a native of Kilmarnock, in the east of 
Scotland, and was educated, we believe, 
at the University of Glasgow. He pursued 
the study of chemistry with Berzelius, a 
distinguished Swedish chemist, and traveled 
very extensively at an early period of his 
life, in the northern regions of Europe—in 
Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia— 
traversing the whole breadth of European 
Russia to the Wolga. Subsequently he 
made hirhself familiar with the agriculture 
of other portions .of Europe by personal 
examination. Of his various labors in later 
years, as a Professor and Author, and of 
his more recent visit to and lectures in this* 
country, it is unnecessary to speak as with 
these it is presumed our readers are some¬ 
what familiar. Prof J. is yet in the merid¬ 
ian of life, and from his acknowledged in¬ 
dustry, habits of thorough investigation, 
and ardent desire to contribute to the ad¬ 
vancement of science, we doubt not his fu¬ 
ture labors will redound greatly to his own 
fame and- tJie promotion of the cause to 
which he devotes the entire energies of a 
vigorous intellect 
RE-FUBLICATION OF PROF. JOHNSTON’S 
LECTURES. 
It affords us pleasure to announce that 
Mr. C. M. Saxton, 12§ Fulton street New 
Yotk, has just published in a neat volume 
of 220 pages. Prof Johnston’s “Lectures 
on the General Relations which Science 
bears to Practical Agriculture, delivered 
before the N. Y. State Agricultural Soci¬ 
ety.” Of the ability of Prof J., and the 
great value of these Lectures, we need not 
speak to those who have read them as pub¬ 
lished in the pages of the New Yorker.— 
But we may be permitted to congratulate 
the agricultural public upon the issuing of 
the Lectures in a form so enduring and con¬ 
venient for reference and preservation. — 
The work should find a place in every 
farmer’s book-case, and also on the shelves 
of every school district library in the coun¬ 
try. It can be obtained at the Agricultu¬ 
ral Book Depot of D. M. Dewey, Arcade 
Hall, Rochester. Price in cloth, cts.— 
mail edition, 50 cts. 
For the above portrait of Prof Johnston, 
we are indebted to Mr. S'axton. We con¬ 
sider the likeness striking and life-like, judg¬ 
ing from an interview with the original at 
in their own tongues,, the Word of Eternal 
Truth. Christianity! heaven-born Chris¬ 
tianity! Divine Philosophy! Look down 
with indifference or disdain on that bearded 
man,, at work with tools in his smutty shop 
away on the Rhine! Affect to overlook 
and undervalue him as a mechanic! A 
mechanic! why, out of those bars of wood 
and pounds of metal, and ounces of ink, he 
is constructing a machine to make nations 
think. The inventive skill and manual 
thought of that workman of tools, convert 
him into a great preacher; greater than 
was Paul, or Ambrose, or Chrysostom. He 
is constructing wings for Christianity her¬ 
self, which shall bear her with the music 
of her silver trumpet to all the abodes of 
men. The secular is transmitted into the 
religious; for the press gives power and 
progress to religion, and Christianity re¬ 
wards with grateful smiles all art which 
aids her advancement” 
rHE SCHOOL QUESTION. 
Mr. Moore: —As you have shown a 
laudable willingness to let both sides of the 
question in regard to Free Schools be heard 
through your columns, I take the liberty to 
offer the following appropriate thoughts on 
that exciting subject^ hoping you will not 
fail to give them an insertion in your wide¬ 
ly circulated journal: 
“ When an intelligent people, instigated 
by fear of enemies from without, or dis¬ 
tractions within,—in view of anarchy or in¬ 
dividual security, would unite in their social 
capacity and form a government, it is al¬ 
ways with the view of securing benefits re¬ 
sulting from the maintenance of certain 
fundamental moral principles, on which the 
safety and success of indviduals depend. — 
Protection of the person against violence, 
and of property against rapacity, are among 
the first of those desirable benefits. Such 
protection springs legitimately from the 
mainteniince of those principles; and when 
laws are enacted in direct violation, or in 
wanton disregard of those principles, such 
laws cease to be morally binding. The ce¬ 
ment that united individuals, each with 
each, so as to form one social body, has, 
been broken, the connecting principle has 
been neutralized, and society is in danger 
of relapsing into its original elements.— 
True, force may compel the submission of 
a reluctant and tardy, though abused and 
indignant minority; but no phifanthropist, 
no friend to civil liberty, no honest man, 
can ever desire a resort to the law of force. 
Laws which cannot effect their objects by 
the benignity of their influence, can never 
recommend themselves to the approbation 
of the wise. 
We think the law for the support of 
free schools based on the principles directly 
antagonistical to those which are fundamen¬ 
tal in the construction of society, and which 
form the basis of all just legislation. In 
order that direct taxation be just, the result¬ 
ing benefits must be general, they must ef¬ 
fect for good the contributor himself. On 
no other principle can direct taxation be for 
a moment justified. We pay for the sup¬ 
port of government, and we all receive the 
protection of law in return. Each one 
may follow his vocation unmolested, or if 
molested, he has his remedy in law. But 
in the law in question we have the principle 
implied and acted upon, that one class may 
be taxed solely and exclusively for the ben¬ 
efit of another class; or in other words, 
that the private property of one individual 
It is no matter whether the 
Emperor of Turkey robs his subject of his 
preperty, or whether, under thcjiotion of 
equal rights, the property earned by anoth- ^ 
er shall be taken from him by a majority. 
I would not choose the latter. On the con¬ 
trary, give me Turkey. For I would pre¬ 
fer one despot to ten thousand. Who 
would labor, if there was not a security that 
what he earned should be his own, for his 
own enjoyment, for the education of his 
children, the support of his age, and the 
gratification of his reasonable desires ?’ 
All the legislation that ever was necessa¬ 
ry in regard to schools, was aglaw appro¬ 
priating faithfully the funds of the State to 
the education of the poor. Beyond this, 
all was the mere exercise of usurped, un¬ 
delegated power. The right to interfere 
with parental authority and the promptings 
of natural affection in the education of their 
children, was never delegated to govern¬ 
ment by the parents, and should never for 
a moment be tolerated. It is preposterous 
to think of such rights being transferable. 
Let mental or moral influences be brought 
•to bear on the ignorance or delusion of my 
neighbor, but let me never for a moment 
I think of wresting from him his natural and 
unalienable rights, under the arrogant pre¬ 
text of superior intelligence. 
A Subscriber.” 
THE BIBLE. } 
The Bible contains (3,666,480 lettem) ^ 
three million, five hundred and sixty-six ^ 
thousand, four hundred and eighty let- f 
ters. Seven hundred and seventy-three S 
thousand, six-hundred and ninety-two s 
WORDS, ('773,692 words.) Thirty-one thou- } 
sand, one hundred and seventy-three ver- > 
SES, (31,173 verses.) One thousand, one s 
hundred and eighty-nine chapters, (1,189 ( 
chapters,) and sixty-six books, (U6 books.) ) 
The word “and” occurs forty-six thou- \ 
sand, two hundred and twenty seven times, < 
(46,227 times.) The word Lord one thou- 7 
sand, eight hundred and fifty-five times; ^ 
(1,855 times.) The word Aewmic? occurs ( 
only once in the bible, which is in the 9th ( 
verse of the 111 th Psalm. The middle and ) 
least chapter is the ll7th Psalm. The > 
middle verse, is the 8th verse of the 118th ( 
Psalm. \ 
The 21st verse of the 7th Chant^'r of ) 
Ezra contains the Alphabet. The finest S 
Chapter to read is the 26th Chapter of ( 
Acts. The 19 th chapter of the 2d Kings, ) 
and the 37th Chapter of Isaiah are alike. > 
The longest verse is the 9 th verse of the < 
belong to the State- 
should be supported by the people. 
Here we will leave Mr. S. for the present 
and see what friend Plowman says. “ No 
lie is of the truth.” Again—“ Protection 
is a high governmental duty.” The pro¬ 
tection meant probably is individual and 
collective—that is, to protect both individu¬ 
als and government in property. Then we 
understand it to be a protection of proper¬ 
ty. Now he takes the ground, and labors 
hard to maintain it, that Education pro¬ 
tects government and property. Here he 
labored for his pains, for probably no one 
will be so unwise as to think otherwise.— 
He also skillfully evaded the point at issue, 
that is, the manner of educating, unless I 
understand him to say that the only right 
way is for the State to educate the people’s 
children; and from this I understand also 
that a direct tax should be levied upon the 
people. This is the ground taken by all 
Free School advocates. 
How-.can Plowman prove that by a di¬ 
rect tax upon the people the State has any¬ 
thing to do with that tax ?—that the chil¬ 
dren residing in the State are the property 
of the State? Mr. Selfishness, and he 
alone probably, can answer ii satisfactorily- 
We hold that every person should be edu¬ 
cated—that all who are unable or unwilling 
to edheate their children should have them 
educated by the State, and no others. Not 
a direct tax upon individuals, but a State 
tax ariring from property belonging to the 
State. J. L. 8. 
Litchfield, N. ¥., Oct., 1850. 
Sth Chapter of Esther. The shortest 
verse is the 35th of the 11th Chapter of St. 
John. The Sth, 15th, 21st and 3l8t verses 
of the 107th Psalm are-alike. Each verse 
of the 136th Psalm ends alike. 
There are no words or names in the Bi¬ 
ble of more than six syllables. 
An Old Man’s Advice. — Never at¬ 
tempt to strike the guilty, where, by a mis¬ 
directed or too hasty blow, the innocent, 
tile gallant, and the good may suffer.— 
Never attempt to expose a villain, if your 
eftbrts in doing so are likely to injure those 
who have been the unsuspecting dupes of 
his artifice. Never wager a larger sum 
than you carry in your pocket. Never 
shake hands with a man if you are not glad 
i to see him. Never forget when you meet, 
I to recognize your friend, and be even more 
careful to offer your salutation to thc«o that 
are poor. Never quarrel without a suffi¬ 
cient cause, but if it^be^ necessary to take 
up a quarrel, then see that quarrel firmly 
put to an end. Never betray confidence 
of any kind, but ipore particularly tliat of a 
woman. 
. - . — “ 
Without sorrow, life would be no better 
than a dream. Grief is reality, and though 
bitter as worm-wood, mortals love it, for it 
makes them feel themselves, and know the 
value of each other. 
self-respect, in hopes to insult others. 
In the second paragraph he exhibits his 
waspishness because ten thousand copies of 
the Review were published, but why should 
he or any one be nettled, even if there had 
been one hundred thousand of it circulated ? 
The expense did not come out of his pocket, 
nor was it taken by arbitrary taxation from 
any one. A review of the school law is 
well worthy of the serious consideration of 
every member of community, and no hon¬ 
est man who is a lover of truth, would bo 
displeased at having it generally inves¬ 
tigated. 
But the truth is, that the investigation 
may touch Mr. Wheatland in rather a ten¬ 
der spot; if those principles should be well 
understood, it might not be so easy for him 
to fill his pockets with the earnings of his 
fellow. The whole of the article exhibits 
the wonderful skill of the author to pro¬ 
duce a long communication. Truth. 
NEW PUBLICATIONS 
Thk Monuments ok Egypt; or, Egypt a witness 
for the Bible. By Frances L. Hawks, D. D., 
LL. D. With Illustrations. Second Edition, re¬ 
vised and enlarged. New York; Geo. P. Put¬ 
nam. 1850. 12 inci. PP- ^98- 
A Second Edition of this highly enter¬ 
taining and instructive work has been de¬ 
manded and is published. This edition is 
sold low and should be found in all our 
school and parish libraries. For sale at 
Dewey’s. • 
■A thorough Practical 
The Mechanic’s Assistant- ^ 
Treatise on Mensuration and the Sliding Ride:— 
Teaching the manner of Drawing all Regular Su¬ 
perficies, and the most concise methods of finding 
the areas of all Regular Superficies, and the con¬ 
tents of all Regular Solids, both by Numbers and 
the Sliding Rule. Treatise also of Motion—the 
Descent of Falling Bodies—the Strength of Ma¬ 
terials—the Meclianical Powers—the Elasticity 
and Force of Steam—Specific Gravitie.s—Level¬ 
ing—the Pendulum, etc. Adapted for the use of 
Carpenters, Wheel-wrights, Sawyers, Lurnbt-r- 
men, Students, and Artisans generally. ByD. 
M. Knapkn, a. M. New York: D. Appleton &. 
Co. 12 mo.—pp. 276. 
The Mechanic will find this book a com¬ 
panion as well as an assistant 
Health, Disease and Remedy, familiarly and 
piactically considered, in a few of their Relations 
to the Blood. By George Moore, M. D., Mem¬ 
ber of the Royal College of Physicians, London, 
etc., etc. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1850. 
A good book, because it teaches how to 
preserve Health. Let such as believe that 
“ prevention is better than cure,” pro-curs 
and read this treatise and be made wise. 
Ignorance is content to stand still with 
her back to the truth; but error is more 
presumptuous, and proceeds in the same di¬ 
rection. 
