20 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
The hall of science has been reared, and every effort directed, even 
with despotic energy, in the region of the Goth and the Vandal, to 
improve the intellectual power of man. The sole business of life 
is no longer the cultivation of fearlessness of death, in prosecuting 
the most highly esteemed occupation of that age ; spreading ruin 
and desolation through the land. The descendant of the ancient 
Scandinavian warrior is not now what his ancestor was. 1 he vo¬ 
tary of Odin and Thor, revelling in blood, exultingly fighting and 
dying in confident expectation of the joys of Valhalla, is gone, and 
hts place is supplied by his descendant, cultivating with equal ardor 
all the arts of peace. With all the disadvantages founded on prin¬ 
ciples which we have always thought, and been taught to think, 
opposed to the diffusion of information, the enlightened policy of 
the Prussian government, has introduced into that country, a gen¬ 
eral system of instruction, calculated to improve every class in 
that community. The children of all, even the poorest peasant in 
the kingdom, receive more full and thorough instruction than is 
given in most of the higher schools in other countries, and more 
particularly in our own country. The government of Bavaria is 
now following its example, forming and establishing similar insti¬ 
tutions. Hitherto we have regarded kings and nobles, as deep¬ 
ly interested in restraining the diffusion of intellectual instruction 
among their subjects. Formerly on the continent of Europe, part 
of the kingdom of Great Britian, the small district of country com¬ 
prising the united provinces of the Netherlands, a few of the can¬ 
tons of Switzerland, and some cities enjoying immunities and pri- 
veleges by sufferance from their more powerful neighbors, in con¬ 
sequence of their commercial enterprize and usefulness, have been 
regarded as the only people desirous to cultivate and diffuse gene¬ 
ral literary instruction. The prevalence and support of this feel¬ 
ing has always been attributed to the enjoyment of more liberal 
political institutions, and among the inhabitants of the Alps, also, 
to the comparative security of their mountain residence, and their 
equality in wealth and station. 
I might here profitably digress, and trace this beneficial effect to 
a further probable cause; for our purpose sueh examination is not 
now necessary, nor have we time to trace cause and effect. The 
philosophy of history cannot now be examined. It is suffic ent to 
say, that the dawn of another day is break ng upon all the nations: 
its light has penetrateJ into the cabinets of princes; it has warmed 
the breast of the philanthropist, and is burning with its concentrated 
rays the constricting prejudices of ancient times. The voice of 
the people is now regarded every where. Public opinion in some 
shape govern? all the world; even the despot, though supported 
by armed legions, cannot wholly disregard it. He perceives the 
importance of imparting information and wisdom to an influence no 
longer to be suppressed, and judiciously uses his power to instruct 
it. If this necessity is seen and acknowledged even there, how 
much more requisite is it for us to extend and enlarge our efforts. 
The institutions of our country, and their preservation rest upon 
this foundation only. The fundamental principle of our govern¬ 
ment is equality of political rights. An equal participation in the 
rights and priveleges of government; an equal liability to the pe¬ 
nal sanctions of society for violating its order; and an equal voice 
in adopting rules required for the preservation of that order, and 
the selection of agents to enforce them, are considered necessary 
accompaniments of American freedom. These have been extend¬ 
ed by the constitutions of most of the states, to all the male citi¬ 
zens who shall have arrived at the age fitting them for the exercise 
of those rights, and who are not under the acknowledged and legal 
government of an other. We have however, unhappily adopted, 
and permitted ourselves to be fettered by the maxims and thoughts 
of an age possessing no advantage equal to ours for the introduc¬ 
tion of diffusive plans of instruction. In our academies and colle¬ 
ges we have copied the o'd European system. The result is such 
as might have been an'icipated. No permanent distinctions in so¬ 
ciety existing here, all classes mingling with perfect equality, ex¬ 
cept such as the adventitious circumstances of wealth may produce, 
in a country where the means of living may be easily procured, in 
which what are termed professional pursuits—that is, the study 
and practice of law and physic, and the clerical profession, are al¬ 
most the only engagements deemed compatible with the first stand¬ 
ing in society, it is not at all surprising that preparation for them 
should be desirable to all young men. 
The first of these professions more particularly requiring s 
knowledge of the constitution and laws of the country, and an in¬ 
timate acquaintance with almost a 1 the machinery of its govern^ 
meat; also a sedulous attention to the principles of its commercial 
and social relations being necessary, to an advantageous and suc¬ 
cessful pursuit of that profession; the prominent men in it have’ 
been generally better qualified to fill the public stations of life than 
others ; and from the nature and publicity of their engagements, 
also attract more attention. The consequence has been, that the 
young have not been taught properly to'estimate the useful pur¬ 
suits of life, but rather considered the necessity of confinement to 
them as a misfortune; that the profession of the law has been 
viewed as more particularly fitting for engagement in public duties 
and the gratification of ambition; that the other professions have 
been followed with some anxiety, because they have been held in 
an equally respectable estimation as private pursuits; that in the 
business and associations of life, the commercial class has ranked 
next, or equally with the profession, and the laboring classes of all 
deseripti ns have been lasf» 
I do not wish to draw invidious distinctions, but to present a 
scale of gradation required by truth, for a more easy perception of 
the probable consequences of such a state of society if not correct¬ 
ed. The democratic institutions of the country, and their preser¬ 
vation require every judicious effort to destroy a preference of 
pursuit ar sing from sueh eauses. As a means of doing this I do 
not advocate measures that shall impair the high regard in which 
those professions are now held; but am desirous that we shall 
adopt a course of instruction, which may tend to raise the other 
pursuits to a higher standard of moral and intellectual improve¬ 
rs nt, thus forming a general state of society, in which all will be 
better fitted to exercise the requisite judgment in the performance 
of all the duties of citizens of a democratic representative re¬ 
public. 
Unless this can be done, we may prediet a rapid progress to the 
complete overthrow 7 of our democratic institutions, in the ratio of 
increase of an ignorant and tumultuous population, as certainly as 
that effect must follow cause. I advert with painful sensations to 
recent events, as abundant proof already furnished in our country of 
the truth of this assertion, and sufficient ground for serious appre¬ 
hension. If the moral condition of any community be such, that 
the laws imposing penal sanctions upon the commission of particu¬ 
lar offences cannot be enforced, and from whatsoever cause it may 
arise, still the fact must be acknowledged, that the influence of the 
perpetrators of crimes, or the prevailing public opinions and feel¬ 
ings, will shield them from punishments; one of two results must 
follow : either that the laws were unwisely enacted, or the public 
moral sense is entirely degraded. In the eases to which I have in 
general terms alluded, the latter was in the aggregate true, at least 
in its moral aspect, and while I am free to acknowledge that a state 
of things may exist, in which a violent and sanguinary aet may be 
palliated, by many peculiar circumstances, yet the necessity for re¬ 
peated successive acts of so lamentable a description, gives the evi¬ 
dence of a state of society in some parts of our country, that I 
could not heretofore believe, existed any where, within the boun¬ 
dary of the United States. But it is true, portions of our country 
have been agitated by convulsive and irregular efforts to extermi¬ 
nate the destroyers of public morals, charged with having formed 
associations for indulgence in the most gross sensuality and profli¬ 
gacy, and seducing the young and unwary, so formidable in their 
influence as to bid open defiance to ordinary legal restraints, and so 
extensive in their ruinous effects, as to threaten the most alarming 
consequences. This being the acknowledged fact, a moments atten¬ 
tion to the cause in connection with our subject may be profitable. 
The questions occur: What was the state of this society ? How 
was it originally formed ? What were its pursuits? What was 
and is now the condition of its laboring population ? In what esti¬ 
mation is industry, and attention to useful employment held ? And 
what provision exists in it for the diffusion of education ? These are 
important inquiries, but without attempting to occupy your attention 
or exhausting my strength by a particular examination and answer 
to each, it will be sufficient to say: The first is answered by the 
outrageous violation of its order, and the necessity for such a tre¬ 
mendous remedy. The second by the known fertility of the soil, and 
the enterprize of the first settlers. The third is more difficult, they 
