1796.] 
THE ENQUIRER, No, II. 
Question: Is it defirable that the 
State fhould interfere in the Education 
of Youth ? 
WERE THERE NO PUBLIC INSTITU- 
TIONS FOR EDUCATION, A GEN- 
TLEMAN,AFTER GOING THROUGH, 
WITH APPLICATION AND ABILI- 
TY, THE MOST COMPLETE COURSE 
OF EDUCATION, WHICH THE CIR- 
CUMSTANCES OF THE TIMES ARE 
SUPPOSED TOAFFORD,COULDNOT 
COME INTO THE WORLD Com- 
PLETELY IGNORANT OF EVERY 
THING, WHICH IS THE COMMON 
‘SUBJECT OF CONVERSATION, A- 
MONG GENTLEMEN AND MEN OF 
THE WORLD. Adam Smith. 
PPE grand error of governments has 
hitherto been, that they have at- 
tempted too much. Not having cor- 
rectly afcertained the cbject of govern- 
ment, or finding it convenient to com- 
mand a large field of aétion, governors 
have every where taken under their di- 
rection, things with which they have had 
no concern. Under the pretence, or, to 
make the more candid fuppofition, with 
the defign of benefiting the community, 
they have taken upon them to regulate 
affairs, which, from their nature, could 
only fucceed in proportion as they were 
free. Inftead of adhering to the fingle 
point of the falus populi, inthe moft re- 
ridted fenfe of the phrafe, and content- 
ing themfelves with employing. their 
power in defending the community from 
foreign affaults, or protecting its mem- 
bers from internal violence or fraud, 
they have affumed the office of general 
agents for the public good. From the - 
eagernefs with which goverments have 
{cized the management of every perfonal 
intereft, and employed their authority in 
the regulation of mechanical labour, in- 
tellectual ingenuity, commercial enter- 
prize, {peculative refearch, and even re- 
ligious belief and worfhip, it might feem 
not unreafonable to infer, that they have 
conceived all the wifdom and power of 
the nation to be transferred from the 
people to their rulers, and have looked 
Upen individuals in private life in no 
other light, than as puppets, to be 
moved at pleafure by the grand machi- 
nery of legiflation. 
This fundamental miftake is, how- 
ever, at length difcovered, and begin- 
ning to be correéted. On the fubjeét. of 
“sommerce, particularly, the penetration 
/ 
The Enquirer. No. II, 
93° 
of Adam Smith has deteéted the errors 
of former fpeculators, and his ingenious 
Difquifition on the Caufes of the Wealth 
of. Nations, has almoft convinced even 
ftatefmen themfelves, that the lefs inter- 
ference there is on the part of govern- 
Ments, in the affairs of commerce, the 
better. It is only requifite that fimilar 
modes of reafoning be applied to other 
fubjeéts, in order to produce an equak 
conviction of the impolicy of legiflative 
interference on other perfonal tranfac- 
tions, and to eftablith a general convic- 
tion, that governments have properly no 
other duty than that which. was pre= 
{cribed by the Roman people to. their 
dictator, to take care that the commons 
wealth fuffer no detriment. 
Whether the education of youth is 
one of thofe concerns in which it is not 
dsfirable that the ftate thould interfere, 
is a queftion of moment, and, in fome 
points of view, not without its difficule 
ties. 
Towards the folution of this queftion, 
we may advance one ftep with confi- 
dence. The authoritative interference 
of the ftate to eftablith, exclufively, ani 
uniform mode of education, is an in« 
fringement of perfonal: liberty, which no 
plea of expediency can juftify—The 
early charge of education is evidently 
thrown by nature upon parents. The 
mother, whether fhe intends it or not, 
muft be the child’s firft preceptor; and 
the leffons fhe teaches are, perhaps, of 
greater importance in forming the fu- 
ture man, than all the fubfequent in« 
ftructions of pedagogues. ‘The father, 
too, as the plant of reafon unfolds, na- 
turally takes his fhare in the «€ delight- 
ful tafk’’ of “rearing the tender mind, 
and teaching the young idea how to 
fhoot.’’ Imperious indeed muft be that 
ftate-neceffity, which shall require the 
facrifice of thefe parental rights and 
pleafures. It is a poor compenfation 
which is made to individuals, when the 
ftate. in order to accomplith its ambit 
tious or romantic defigns, compels its 
members to accept the dazzling promile 
of public glory, or public utility, inftead 
of the fubftantial poffeffion o domeftic 
liberty. When the Spartan was de- 
prived of the power of educating his 
children, and youths at feven years. old 
were enrolled in companies, put under 
a courfe of public difcipline, and obliged 
to eat at a public table; the pian might 
well enough ferve the purpoie of form- 
ing a race of hardy warriors, whole life 
was to be devoted ‘to their country; but 
4 Violence 
