6ZS 
Mrs. WiighVs Travel, 
oppression. Violence is positively for¬ 
bidden in the schools, in the prisons, 
on ship-board, in the army ;—every 
where, in short, where authority is 
exercised, it must be exercised without 
appeal to the argument of a blow. 
Not long since a master was dismiss¬ 
ed from a public school, in a neigh¬ 
bouring state, for having struck a boy. 
The little fellow was transformed in a 
moment from a culprit to an accuser. 
44 Do you dare to strike me ? you are 
my teacher, but not my tyrant.’’ The 
school-room made common cause in a 
moment: the fact was enquired into, 
and the master dismissed. No apology 
for the punishment was sought in the 
nature of the offence which might have 
provoked it. As my informer observed, 
44 it was thought, that tire man who 
could not master his own passions was 
unfit to controul the passions of others ; 
besides, that he had infringed the rules 
of the school, and forfeited the respect 
of his scholars.” By this early exemp¬ 
tion from arbitrary power, the boy ac¬ 
quires feelings and habits which abide 
with him through life. 
In the education of women, New 
England seems hitherto to have been 
peculiarly liberal. The ladies of the 
eastern states are frequently possessed 
of the most solid acquirements, the mo¬ 
dern, and even the dead languages, and 
a wide scope of reading; the conse¬ 
quence is, that their manners have the 
character of being more composed than 
those of my gay young friends in this 
quarter. I have already stated, in one 
of my earlier letters, that the public 
attention is now eA r ery where turned 
to the improvement of female education. 
In some slates, colleges for girls are es¬ 
tablished under the eye of the legisla¬ 
ture, in which are taught all important 
branches of knowledge. 
I must remark, that in no particular 
is the liberal philosophy of the Ameri¬ 
cans more honourably evinced than in 
the place which is awarded to women. 
The prejudices still to be found in Eu¬ 
rope, though now, indeed, somewhat 
antiquated, which would confine the 
female library to romances, poetry, and 
belles lettres, and female conversation 
to the last new publication, new bon¬ 
net, and pas seul , are entirely unknown 
here The women are assuming their 
place as thinking beings, not in despite 
of the men, but chiefly in consequence 
of their enlarged views and exertions as 
fathers and legislators. 
s in the United States „ 
RELIGION. 
It is impossible to apply any general 
rule to so wide spread a community as 
this. Perhaps Selden’s were the 
best: 41 Religion is like the fashion. 
One man wears his doublet slashed, 
another laced, another plain, bat every 
man has a doublet. every man has 
his religion. They differ about trim¬ 
ming.” But we cannot subjoin another 
axiom of the same philosopher: 44 Every 
religion is a getting religion.” It gets 
nothing; and so, whatever it be, it is 
sincere and harmless. 
Some contend that liberality is only 
indifference; perhaps, as a general 
rule, it may be so. Persecution un¬ 
doubtedly fans zeal, but such zeal as it 
is usually better to be without. I do 
not perceive any want of religion in 
America. There are sections of the 
country where some might think there 
is too much, at least that its temper is 
too stern and dogmatical. This has 
long been said of New England, and, 
undoubtedly, the Puritan ancestry of 
her citizens is still discernible, as well 
in the coldness of their manners, as in 
the rigidity of their creed. But it rs 
wonderful how fast these distinctions 
are disappearing. An officer of the 
American navy, a native of New Eng¬ 
land, told me, that when a boy he had 
sooner dared to pick a neighbour’s 
pocket on a Saturday, than to have 
smiled on a Sunday. 44 I have since 
travelled through all parts of the Union, 
and over a great part of the world, and 
have learned, consequently, that there 
are all ways of thinking; and I find 
now that my fellow-countrymen are 
learning the same.” 
You will conceive how great is the 
change wrought in the religious tem¬ 
per of the Eastern States, when I men¬ 
tion, that the Unitarian faith has been 
latterly introduced, and, in some parts, 
has made such rapid progress as pro¬ 
mises, ere long, to supersede the doc¬ 
trines of Calvin. There were, of course, 
some vehement pulpit fulminations in 
Massachussets when these mild teachers 
of morals and simple Christianity first 
made their appearance. 
Philadelphia, and even New York, 
had their zealots as well as Boston. In 
the latter city they were few, but per¬ 
haps more noisy on that very account. 
It is some years since, a Calvin istic 
preacher here exclaimed to the non¬ 
elect of his congregation, 44 Ha! ha! 
you think to get through the gates of 
heaven 
