Chapter M (1)

Reverend Jedidiah Morse, _Charlestown_.
William Moseley, Esq. Attorney, _Hartford_.
Samuel Marsh, Esq. Attorney, _Litchfield_.
Mr. John Morgan, Merchant, _Hartford_.
Mr. William Marsh, do.
Eneas Munson, jun. Physician, _New Haven_.
Ashur Miller, Esq. Attorney, _Middleton_.
George R. Minot, Esq. Attorney, _Boston_.

N.
Hon. Roger Newberry, Esq. Judge of the County Court, _Windsor_.

O.
Mr. Jacob Ogden, Merchant, _Hartford_.
Harrison Gray Otis, Esq. Attorney, _Boston_.

P.
Ralph Pomeroy, Esq. Controller of the Treasury, _Hartford_.
Enoch Perkins, Esq. Attorney, _Hartford_.
Mr. Nathaniel Patten, Merchant, _Hartford_, 3 copies.
Colonel Joshua Porter, Judge of the County Court, _Salisbury_.
Jonas Prentice, jun. Esq. _New Haven_.
Colonel Noah Phelps, _Symsbury_.
Giles Pettibone, Esq. _Norfolk_.

R.
Hon. Jesse Root, Esq. Judge of the Superior Court, _Hartford_.
Nathaniel Rosseter, Esq. _Guilford_.
Ephraim Root, Esq. Attorney, _Hartford_.
Tapping Reeve, Esq. Attorney, _Litchfield_.

S.
Reverend Nathan Strong, _Hartford_.
Thomas Y. Seymour, Esq. Attorney, do.
Mr. Isaac Sanford, Goldsmith, do.
Reuben Smith, Esq. _Litchfield_.
Daniel Sherman, Esq. Chief Judge of County Court, _Woodbury_.
General Heman Swift, _Cornwall_.
Lewis B. Sturgis, Esq. Attorney, _Fairfield_.
Mr. James Smedley, do.
Zephaniah Swift, Esq. _Windham_.

T.
John Trumbull, Esq. State Attorney for Hartford County.
Uriah Tracy, Esq. Attorney, _Litchfield_.
Nathaniel Terry, jun. Esq. Attorney, _Enfield_.
Mr. Thomas Tisdale, Merchant, _Hartford_.

W.
The Hon. Oliver Walcott, Esq. Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut,
_Litchfield_.
John Williams, Esq. Attorney, _Wethersfield_.
William Williston, Esq. Attorney, _Symsbury_.
Mr. Joseph Williams, _Norwich_.
Mr. Ashbel Wells, Merchant, _Hartford_.
Alexander Wolcott, Esq. Attorney, _Windsor_.
Mr. Thomas Walley, Merchant, _Boston_.
Thomas Welsh, Physician, _Boston_.

TO
The PRESIDENT,
The VICE PRESIDENT,
The SENATORS, and
The REPRESENTATIVS
OF THE
UNITED STATES of AMERICA,
The following PUBLICATION,
Designed to
Aid the PRINCIPLES of the REVOLUTION,
TO
Suppress POLITICAL DISCORD,
AND TO
Diffuse a SPIRIT of ENQUIRY,
Favorable to MORALS, to SCIENCE, and TRUTH,
Is most humbly inscribed,
As a TRIBUTE of RESPECT for their KARACTERS,
Of GRATITUDE for their PUBLIC SERVICES,
And a PLEDGE of ATTACHMENT
TO THE
Present CONSTITUTION
OF THE
AMERICAN REPUBLIC,
BY THEIR MOST OBEDIENT,
AND MOST HUMBLE SERVANT,

_The Author_.

HARTFORD, _June, 1790_.

_As the author was absent from the press, and the copy, in some places, obscure or not correct, some errors have unavoidably escaped the notice of the printers. The following are the most material._

Page 47, line 7, after _corporate_ add _body_.
49, line 4 from bottom, for _cognized_ reed _organized_.
54, line 6 of note, for _would_ reed _could_.
58, line 7, for _contrary_ reed _contracting_.
146, last line, for _thousand_ reed _hundred_.
151, line 2 from bottom, for _jurisdiction_ reed _usurpation_.
263, line 13, for _do_ reed _did_.
275, line 5, for _Archorites_ reed _Archontes_.
283, line 14, for _leriquæ_ reed _linguæ_, and for _dacodeni_
_duodeni_.
323, last line of text, for _godfather_ reed _grandfather_.
327, line 7 from bottom, for _change_ reed _chance_.
332, line 7 from bottom, for _masks_ reed _marks_.
334, line 22, place the full point after _equity_.
349, line 1, for _district_ reed _distinct_.
350, line 2, for _mass_ reed _map_.
355, line 5, for _ilans_ reed _clans_.
365, line 9, for _the manners_ reed _this manner_.
375, line 3 and 4 from bottom, for _ilans_ reed _ilands_.
377, line 4, for _Koman_ reed _Roman_.
382, line 4 from bottom, for _necessarily_ reed _necessary_.
401, line 28, for _normous_ reed _enormous_.

_PREFACE._

The following Collection consists of Essays and Fugitiv Peeces, ritten at various times, and on different occasions, az wil appeer by their dates and subjects. Many of them were dictated at the moment, by the impulse of impressions made by important political events, and abound with a correspondent warmth of expression. This freedom of language wil be excused by the frends of the revolution and of good guvernment, who wil recollect the sensations they hav experienced, amidst the anarky and distraction which succeeded the cloze of the war. On such occasions a riter wil naturally giv himself up to hiz feelings, and hiz manner of _riting_ wil flow from hiz manner of _thinking_.

Most of thoze peeces, which hav appeered before in periodical papers and Magazeens, were published with fictitious signatures; for I very erly discuvered, that altho the name of an old and respectable karacter givs credit and consequence to hiz ritings, yet the name of a yung man iz often prejudicial to hiz performances. By conceeling my name, the opinions of men hav been prezerved from an undu bias arizing from personal prejudices, the faults of the ritings hav been detected, and their merit in public estimation ascertained.

The favorable reception given to a number of theze Essays by an indulgent public, induced me to publish them in a volum, with such alterations and emendations, az I had heerd suggested by frends or indifferent reeders, together with some manuscripts, that my own wishes led me to hope might be useful.

During the course of ten or twelv yeers, I hav been laboring to correct popular errors, and to assist my yung brethren in the road to truth and virtue; my publications for theze purposes hav been numerous; much time haz been spent, which I do not regret, and much censure incurred, which my hart tells me I do not dezerv. The influence of a yung writer cannot be so powerful or extensiv az that of an established karacter; but I hav ever thot a man's usefulness depends more on _exertion_ than on _talents_. I am attached to America by berth, education and habit; but abuv all, by a philosophical view of her situation, and the superior advantages she enjoys, for augmenting the sum of social happiness.

I should hav added another volum, had not recent experience convinced me, that few large publications in this country wil pay a printer, much less an author. Should the Essays here presented to the public, proov undezerving of notice, I shal, with cheerfulness, resign my other papers to oblivion.

The reeder wil obzerv that the orthography of the volum iz not uniform. The reezon iz, that many of the essays hav been published before, in the common orthography, and it would hav been a laborious task to copy the whole, for the sake of changing the spelling.

In the essays, ritten within the last year, a considerable change of spelling iz introduced by way of experiment. This liberty waz taken by the writers before the age of queen Elizabeth, and to this we are indeted for the preference of modern spelling over that of Gower and Chaucer. The man who admits that the change of _housbonde_, _mynde_, _ygone_, _moneth_ into _husband_, _mind_, _gone_, _month_, iz an improovment, must acknowlege also the riting of _helth_, _breth_, _rong_, _tung_, _munth_, to be an improovment. There iz no alternativ. Every possible reezon that could ever be offered for altering the spelling of wurds, stil exists in full force; and if a gradual reform should not be made in our language, it wil proov that we are less under the influence of reezon than our ancestors.

_Hartford, June, 1790._

CONTENTS.

No. I.
On the Education of Youth in America.
Page
_General Remarks._ 1
_Division of the Subject. Attention to the Dead Languages._ 3
_Study of the English Language necessary._ 7
_Use of the Bible in Skools._ 8
_Study of Mathematics._ 9
_Diversity of Studies in the same Skool._ 10
_Local Situation of Colleges and Academies._ 11
_On classing Students._ 13
_Of good Instructors._ 15
_Fatal Effects of employing Men of low Karacters in Skools._ 18
_What Books should be read in Skools._ 23
_On public Skools--their Importance in a free Guvernment._ 24
_On the Education of Females._ 27
_On a foreign Education._ 30
_The Tour of America, a necessary Part of a liberal Education._ 35

No. II.
Principles of Guvernment and Commerce.

_Origin of Guvernment._ 38
_Of Representation._ _ibid._
_Of the Executiv and Judicial Powers._ 39
_Distinction between Laws and legislativ Grants and Contracts._ 40
_Of collecting Debts by Law, and of Money._ 42
_Of Public Justice._ 43

No. III.
On Bills or Declarations of Rights.

_Necessity and Advantages of such Declarations in England._ 45
_Bills of Rights not necessary in America._ 46

No. IV.
On Guvernment.

_Of the Distinction between a Convention and Legislature._ 49

No. V.

_The Subject continued, with a Consideration of Mr. Jefferson's
Arguments in Favor of an unalterable Constitution._ 59

No. VI.

_The Subject continued. That the Freemen of a State hav no Right
to bind their Representativs in Legisture by their own
Instructions._ 72

No. VII.
Remarks on the Manners, Guvernment and Debt of the United States.

_State of America after the War._ 81
_Causes of Public Unhappiness._ 84
_Pernicious Effects of Introducing foreign Manners._ 85
-------------------------------- _False Taste._ 94
_Force of Habit in Guvernment._ 97
_Fatal Effects of a Sudden Influx and fluctuating Value of Money._ 105
_Instability of Laws._ 112

No. VIII.

_On Paper Money._ 119

No. IX.

_On Redress of Grievances._ 125

No. X.

_The Influence of the Devil._ 127

No. XI.

_Desultory Thoughts on the Tranquillity of the Guvernment of
Connecticut, Emissions of Paper Currency, Union of the States,
and Popular Complaints respecting Lawyers._ 132

No. XII.

_Advice to Connecticut Folks._ 137

No. XIII.

_An Address to the Dissenting Members of the late Convention in
Pensylvania._ 142

No. XIV.

_On Test Laws, Oaths of Allegiance, Abjuration and partial
Exclusions from Office._ 151

No. XV.
Sketches of the Rise, Progress and Consequences of the late
Revolution.

_Ground of European Claims to North America._ 154
_Origin and Progress of the Controversies respecting America._ 155
_Causes of the late War, between Great Britain and America._ 158
_Massacre at Boston in 1770._ 161
_First Congress in 1774._ 164
_Battle of Lexington, and Progress of the War._ 167
_Appointment of General Washington to the Command of the American
Armies._ 169
_Letter from General Washington, explaining the Circumstances
which led to the Capture of Lord Cornwallis._ 180
_Treaty of Peace._ 182
_Consequences of the War. Defects of the Confederation._ 183
_Popular Tumults on Account of Half Pay to the Officers of the
Army._ 184
-------------- _on Account of the Cincinnati._ 186
_Failure of Public Credit._ 187
_Insurrection in Massachusetts._ 189
_Regulation of Prices._ 192
_History of Paper Money._ 194
_State of Commerce._ 198
_Origin of the Convention in 1786._ 199
_Convention and new Form of Federal Guvernment._ 200
_Processions in Honor of the Constitution._ 203
_First Congress under the Constitution._ _ibid._

No. XVI.

_Remarks on the Method of Burying the Dead among the Nativs of
this Country, compared with that among the Ancient Britons._ 205

No. XVII.

_On the Regularity of the City of Philadelphia._ 217

No. XVIII.

_A Dissertation concerning the Influence of Language on Opinions,
and of Opinions on Language._ 222

No. XIX.

_Effect of Music on Society._ 229

No. XX.

_On the Morality of Savage Nations._ 233

No. XXI.

_A Letter from Constantia, with the Answer._ 239

No. XXII.

_Letter on the Education of a Young Man, with an Answer._ 245

No. XXIII.
An Enquiry into the Origin of the Words Domesday, Parish,
Parliament, Peer, Baron, with Remarks, new and interesting.

_Etymology of Domesday._ 250
_Probable Etymology of Parish._ 252
_Etymology of Parliament._ 258
-------- _of Peer_. 261
-------- _of Baron_. 268
_Extract from Camden's Britannia._ 291
------ _from Sir William Temple's Works._ 297
_Postscript, with Remarks on Juries after the Conquest._ 299

No. XXIV.

_The Injustice, Absurdity, and Bad Policy of Laws against Usury._ 304

No. XXV.

_The Grounds and Extent of Allegiance, Natural and Local._ 317

No. XXVI.

_Explanation of the Reezons, why Marriage iz prohibited between
Natural Relations, designed to determin the Propriety of marrying
a Wife's Sister._ 322

No. XXVII.
Miscellaneous Remarks on Divisions of Property, Guvernment,
Education, Religion, Agriculture, Slavery, Commerce, Climate and
Diseezes in the United States.

_Connection between Property and Power._ 326
_Tenure of Lands in Europe._ _ibid._
-------------- _in New England--its Effects._ 328
_Causes which may in Future change our Governments._ 332
_Karacter of the First Settlers of New England--their
Institutions--Support of Clergymen, Skools, Newspapers,
Parish Libraries, &c._ 332 to 339
_Constitution of Connecticut--Origin--Excellencies and
Defects._ 340, 347
_Remarks on the State of New York._ 347
---------------------- _New Jersey--Territorial Controversy
between East and West Jersey._ 348
_Pensylvania-Territorial Controversy between that State and
Connecticut._ 355
_Maryland._ 360
_Virginia._ 361
_Carolinas and Georgia._ 364
_Agriculture--Influence of Slavery on this._ 365
_Climate of America._ 368
_Comparativ Temperature of the Wether in the Northern and Suthern
States._ 372

No. XXVIII.

_On a Discrimination between the Original and Purchasing
Creditors of the United States._ 378

No. XXIX.

_An Address to Yung Gentlemen._ 387

No. XXX.

_An Address to Yung Ladies._ 406

A

COLLECTION OF ESSAYS.

No. I.

NEW YORK, 1788.

_On the_ EDUCATION _of_ YOUTH _in_ AMERICA.

The Education of youth is, in all governments, an object of the first consequence. The impressions received in early life, usually form the characters of individuals; a union of which forms the general character of a nation.

The mode of Education and the arts taught to youth, have, in every nation, been adapted to its particular stage of society or local circumstances.

In the martial ages of Greece, the principal study of its Legislators was, to acquaint the young men with the use of arms, to inspire them with an undaunted courage, and to form in the hearts of both sexes, an invincible attachment to their country. Such was the effect of their regulations for these purposes, that the very women of Sparta and Athens, would reproach their own sons, for surviving their companions who fell in the field of battle.

Among the warlike Scythians, every male was not only taught to use arms for attack and defence; but was obliged to sleep in the field, to carry heavy burthens, and to climb rocks and precipices, in order to habituate himself to hardships, fatigue and danger.

In Persia, during the flourishing reign of the great Cyrus, the Education of youth, according to Xenophon, formed a principal branch of the regulations of the empire. The young men were divided into classes, each of which had some particular duties to perform, for which they were qualified by previous instructions and exercise.

While nations are in a barbarous state, they have few wants, and consequently few arts. Their principal objects are, defence and subsistence; the Education of a savage therefore extends little farther, than to enable him to use, with dexterity, a bow and a tomahawk.

But in the progress of manners and of arts, war ceases to be the employment of whole nations; it becomes the business of a few, who are paid for defending their country. Artificial wants multiply the number of occupations; and these require a great diversity in the mode of Education. Every youth must be instructed in the business by which he is to procure subsistence. Even the civilities of behavior, in polished society, become a science; a bow and a curtesy are taught with as much care and precision, as the elements of Mathematics. Education proceeds therefore, by gradual advances, from simplicity to corruption. Its first object, among rude nations, is safety; its next, utility; it afterwards extends to convenience; and among the opulent part of civilized nations, it is directed principally to show and amusement.

In despotic states, Education, like religion, is made subservient to government. In some of the vast empires of Asia, children are always instructed in the occupation of their parents; thus the same arts are always continued in the same families. Such an institution cramps genius, and limits the progress of national improvement; at the same time it is an almost immoveable barrier against the introduction of vice, luxury, faction and changes in government. This is one of the principal causes, which have operated in combining numerous millions of the human race under one form of government, and preserving national tranquillity for incredible periods of time. The empire of China, whose government was founded on the patriarchical discipline, has not suffered a revolution in laws, manners or language, for many thousand years.

In the complicated systems of government which are established among the civilized nations of Europe, Education has less influence in forming a national character; but there is no state, in which it has not an inseparable connection with morals, and a consequential influence upon the peace and happiness of society.

Education is a subject which has been exhausted by the ablest writers, both among the ancients and moderns. I am not vain enough to suppose I can suggest any new ideas upon so trite a theme as Education in general; but perhaps the manner of conducting the youth in America may be capable of some improvement. Our constitutions of civil government are not yet firmly established; our national character is not yet formed; and it is an object of vast magnitude that systems of Education should be adopted and pursued, which may not only diffuse a knowlege of the sciences, but may implant, in the minds of the American youth, the principles of virtue and of liberty; and inspire them with just and liberal ideas of government, and with an inviolable attachment to their own country. It now becomes every American to examin the modes of Education in Europe, to see how far they are applicable in this country, and whether it is not possible to make some valuable alterations, adapted to our local and political circumstances. Let us examin the subject in two views. First, as it respects arts and sciences. Secondly, as it is connected with morals and government. In each of these articles, let us see what errors may be found, and what improvements suggested, in our present practice.

The first error that I would mention, is, a too general attention to the dead languages, with a neglect of our own.

This practice proceeds probably from the common use of the Greek and Roman tongues, before the English was brought to perfection. There was a long period of time, when these languages were almost the only repositories of science in Europe. Men, who had a taste for learning, were under a necessity of recurring to the sources, the Greek and Roman authors. These will ever be held in the highest estimation both for stile and sentiment; but the most valuable of them have English translations, which, if they do not contain all the elegance, communicate all the ideas of the originals. The English language, perhaps, at this moment, is the repository of as much learning, as one half the languages of Europe. In copiousness it exceeds all modern tongues; and though inferior to the Greek and French in softness and harmony, yet it exceeds the French in variety; it almost equals the Greek and Roman in energy, and falls very little short of any language in the regularity of its construction.[1]

[1] This remark is confined solely to _its construction_; in
point of orthography, our language is intolerably irregular.

In deliberating upon any plan of instruction, we should be attentive to its future influence and probable advantages. What advantage does a merchant, a mechanic, a farmer, derive from an acquaintance with the Greek and Roman tongues? It is true, the etymology of words cannot be well understood, without a knowlege of the original languages of which ours is composed. But a very accurate knowlege of the meaning of words and of the true construction of sentences, may be obtained by the help of Dictionaries and good English writers; and this is all that is necessary in the common occupations of life. But suppose there is some advantage to be derived from an acquaintance with the dead languages, will this compensate for the loss of five or perhaps seven years of valuable time? Life is short, and every hour should be employed to good purposes. If there are no studies of more consequence to boys, than those of Latin and Greek, let these languages employ their time; for idleness is the bane of youth. But when we have an elegant and copious language of our own, with innumerable writers upon ethics, geography, history, commerce and government; subjects immediately interesting to every man; how can a parent be justified in keeping his son several years over rules of Syntax, which he forgets when he shuts his book; or which, if remembered, can be of little or no use in any branch of business? This absurdity is the subject of common complaint; men see and feel the impropriety of the usual practice; and yet no arguments that have hitherto been used, have been sufficient to change the system; or to place an English school on a footing with a Latin one, in point of reputation.

It is not my wish to discountenance totally the study of the dead languages. On the other hand I should urge a more close attention to them, among young men who are designed for the learned professions. The poets, the orators, the philosophers and the historians of Greece and Rome, furnish the most excellent models of Stile, and the richest treasures of Science. The slight attention given to a few of these authors, in our usual course of Education, is rather calculated to make pedants than scholars; and the time employed in gaining superficial knowlege is really wasted.[2]

[2] In our colleges and universities, students read some of
the ancient Poets and Orators; but the Historians, which are
perhaps more valuable, are generally neglected. The student
just begins to read Latin and Greek to advantage, then quits
the study. Where is the seminary, in which the students read
Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Polybius, Dionysius
Halicarnasseus, Livy, Velleius, Paterculus and Tacitus? How
superficial must be that learning, which is acquired in four
years! Severe experience has taught me the errors and defects
of what is called a liberal education. I could not read the
best Greek and Roman authors while in college, without
neglecting the established classical studies; and after I
left college, I found time only to dip into books, that every
scholar should be master of; a circumstance that often fills
me with the deepest regret. "Quis enim ignorat et eloquentiam
et cæteras artes descivisse ab ista vetere gloria, non inopia
hominum, sed desidia juventutis, et negligentia parentum, et
inscientia præcipientium, et oblivione moris antiqui?--Nec in
auctoribus cognoscendis, nec in evolvenda antiquitate, nec in
notitia vel rerum, vel hominum, vel temporum satis operæ
insumitur."--_Tacitus, de Orat. Dial. 28. 29._

"A little learning is a dangerous thing,
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring."

But my meaning is, that the dead languages are not necessary for men of business, merchants, mechanics, planters, &c. nor of utility sufficient to indemnify them for the expense of time and money which is requisite to acquire a tolerable acquaintance with the Greek and Roman authors. Merchants often have occasion for a knowlege of some foreign living language, as, the French, the Italian, the Spanish, or the German; but men, whose business is wholly domestic, have little or no use for any language but their own; much less, for languages known only in books.

There is one very necessary use of the Latin language, which will always prevent it from falling into neglect; which is, that it serves as a common interpreter among the learned of all nations and ages. Epitaphs, inscriptions on monuments and medals, treaties, &c. designed for perpetuity, are written in Latin, which is every where understood by the learned, and being a dead language is liable to no change.

But the high estimation in which the learned languages have been held, has discouraged a due attention to our own. People find themselves able without much study to write and speak the English intelligibly, and thus have been led to think rules of no utility. This opinion has produced various and arbitrary practices, in the use of the language, even among men of the most information and accuracy; and this diversity has produced another opinion, both false and injurious to the language, that there are no rules or principles on which the pronunciation and construction can be settled.

This neglect is so general, that there is scarcely an institution to be found in the country, where the English tongue is taught regularly, from its elements to its true and elegant construction, in prose and verse. Perhaps in most schools, boys are taught the definition of the parts of speech, and a few hard names which they do not understand, and which the teacher seldom attempts to explain; this is called _learning grammar_. This practice of learning questions and answers without acquiring any ideas, has given rise to a common remark, _that grammar is a dry study_; and so is every other study which is prosecuted without improving the head or the heart. The study of geography is equally dry, when the subject is not understood. But when grammar is taught by the help of visible objects; when children perceive that differences of words arise from differences in things, which they may learn at a very early period of life, the study becomes entertaining, as well as improving. In general, when a study of any kind is tiresome to a person, it is a presumptive evidence that he does not make any proficiency in knowlege, and this is almost always the fault of the instructor.

In a few instances perhaps the study of English is thought an object of consequence; but here also there is a great error in the common practice; for the study of English is preceded by several years attention to Latin and Greek. Nay, there are men, who contend that the best way to become acquainted with English, is to learn Latin first. Common sense may justly smile at such an opinion; but experience proves it to be false.

If language is to be taught mechanically, or by rote, it is a matter of little consequence whether the rules are in English, Latin or Greek: But if children are to acquire _ideas_, it is certainly easier to obtain them in a language which they understand, than in a foreign tongue. The distinctions between the principal parts of speech are founded in nature, and are within the capacity of a school boy. These distinctions should be explained in English, and when well understood, will facilitate the acquisition of other languages. Without some preparation of this kind, boys will often find a foreign language extremely difficult, and sometimes be discouraged. We often see young persons of both sexes, puzzling their heads with French, when they can hardly write two sentences of good English. They plod on for some months with much fatigue, little improvement, and less pleasure, and then relinquish the attempt.

The principles of any science afford pleasure to the student who comprehends them. In order to render the study of language agreeable, the distinctions between words should be illustrated by the differences in visible objects. Examples should be presented to the senses, which are the inlets of all our knowlege. That _nouns are the names of things, and that adjectives express their qualities_, are abstract definitions, which a boy may repeat five years without comprehending the meaning. But that _table_ is the name of an article, and _hard_ or _square_ is its property, is a distinction obvious to the senses, and consequently within a child's capacity.

There is one general practice in schools, which I censure with diffidence; not because I doubt the propriety of the censure, but because it is opposed to deep rooted prejudices: This practice is the use of the Bible as a school book. There are two reasons why this practice has so generally prevailed: The first is, that families in the country are not generally supplied with any other book: The second, an opinion that the reading of the scriptures will impress, upon the minds of youth, the important truths of religion and morality. The first may be easily removed; and the purpose of the last is counteracted by the practice itself.

If people design the doctrines of the Bible as a system of religion, ought they to appropriate the book to purposes foreign to this design? Will not a familiarity, contracted by a careless disrespectful reading of the sacred volume, weaken the influence of its precepts upon the heart?

Let us attend to the effect of familiarity in other things.

The rigid Puritans, who first settled the New England States, often chose their burying ground in the center of their settlements. Convenience might have been a motive for the choice; but it is probable that a stronger reason was, the influence which they supposed the frequent burials and constant sight of the tombs would have upon the lives of men. The choice, however, for the latter purpose, was extremely injudicious; for it may be laid down as a general rule, that those who live in a constant view of death, will become hardened to its terrors.

No person has less sensibility than the Surgeon, who has been accustomed to the amputation of limbs. No person thinks less of death, than the Soldier, who has frequently walked over the carcasses of his slain comrades; or the Sexton, who lives among the tombs.

Objects that affect the mind strongly, whether the sensations they excite are painful or pleasureable, always lose their effect by a frequent repetition of their impressions.[3] Those parts of the scripture, therefore, which are calculated to strike terror to the mind, lose their influence by being too frequently brought into view. The same objection will not apply to the history and morality of the Bible; select passages of which may be read in schools to great advantage. In some countries, the common people are not permitted to read the Bible at all: In ours, it is as common as a newspaper, and in schools, is read with nearly the same degree of respect. Both these practices appear to be extremes. My wish is not to see the Bible excluded from schools, but to see it used as a system of religion and morality.

[3] The veneration we have for a great character, ceases with
an intimate acquaintance with the man. The same principle is
observable in the body. High seasoned food, without frequent
intervals of abstinence, loses its relish. On the other hand,
objects that make slight impressions at first, acquire
strength by repetition. An elegant simplicity in a building
may not affect the mind with great pleasure at first light;
but the pleasure will always increase with repeated
examinations of the structure. Thus by habit, we become
excessively fond of food which does not relish at first
tasting; and strong attachments between the sexes often take
place from indifference, and even from aversion.

These remarks suggest another error which is often committed in our inferior schools: I mean that of putting boys into difficult sciences, while they are too young to exercise their reason upon abstract subjects. For example; boys are often put to the study of mathematics, at the age of eight or ten years; and before they can either read or write. In order to show the impropriety of such a practice, it is necessary to repeat what was just now observed, that our senses are the avenues of knowlege. This fact proves that the most natural course of Education is that which employs, first the senses or powers of the body, or those faculties of the mind which first acquire strength; and then proceeds to those studies which depend on the power of comparing and combining ideas. The art of writing is mechanical and imitative; this may therefore employ boys, as soon as their fingers have strength sufficient to command a pen. A knowledge of letters requires the exercise of a mental power, memory; but this is coeval almost with the first operations of the human mind; and with respect to objects of sense, is almost perfect even in childhood. Children may therefore be taught reading, as soon as their organs of speech have acquired strength sufficient to articulate the sounds of words.[4]

[4] Great caution should be observed in teaching children to
pronounce the letters of the alphabet. The labials are easily
pronounced; thus the first words a child can speak are _papa_
and _mama_. But there are some letters, particularly _l_ and
_r_, which are of difficult pronunciation, and children
should not be pressed to speak words in which they occur. The
difficulty may produce a habit of stammering.

But those sciences, a knowlege of which is acquired principally by the reasoning faculties, should be postponed to a more advanced period of life. In the course of an English Education, mathematics should be perhaps the last study of youth in schools. Years of valuable time are sometimes thrown away, in a fruitless application to sciences, the principles of which are above the comprehension of the students.

There is no particular age, at which every boy is qualified to enter upon mathematics to advantage. The proper time can be best determined by the instructors, who are acquainted with the different capacities of their pupils.

Another error, which is frequent in America, is that a master undertakes to teach many different branches in the same school. In new settlements, where people are poor, and live in scattered situations, the practice is often unavoidable: But in populous towns, it must be considered as a defective plan of Education. For suppose the teacher to be equally master of all the branches which he attempts to teach, which seldom happens, yet his attention must be distracted with a multiplicity of objects, and consequently painful to himself and not useful to the pupils. Add to this the continual interruptions which the students of one branch suffer from those of another, which must retard the progress of the whole school. It is a much more eligible plan to appropriate an apartment to each branch of Education, with a teacher who makes that branch his sole employment. The principal academies in Europe and America are on this plan, which both reason and experience prove to be the most useful.

With respect to literary institutions of the first rank, it appears to me that their local situations are an object of importance. It is a subject of controversy, whether a large city or a country village is the most eligible situation for a college or university. But the arguments in favor of the latter, appear to me decisive. Large cities are always scenes of dissipation and amusement, which have a tendency to corrupt the hearts of youth and divert their minds from their literary pursuits. Reason teaches this doctrine, and experience has uniformly confirmed the truth of it.

Strict discipline is essential to the prosperity of a public seminary of science; and this is established with more facility, and supported with more uniformity, in a small village, where there are no great objects of curiosity to interrupt the studies of youth or to call their attention from the orders of the society.

That the morals of young men, as well as their application to science, depend much on retirement, will be generally acknowleged; but it will be said also, that the company in large towns will improve their manners. The question then is, which shall be sacrificed; the advantage of an _uncorrupted heart_ and an _improved head_; or of polished manners. But this question supposes that the virtues of the heart and the polish of the gentleman are incompatible with each other; which is by no means true. The gentleman and the scholar are often united in the same person. But both are not formed by the same means. The improvement of the head requires close application to books; the refinement of manners rather attends some degree of dissipation, or at least a relaxation of the mind. To preserve the purity of the heart, it is sometimes necessary, and always useful, to place a youth beyond the reach of bad examples; whereas a general knowlege of the world, of all kinds of company, is requisite to teach a universal propriety of behavior.

But youth is the time to form both the head and the heart. The understanding is indeed ever enlarging; but the seeds of knowlege should be planted in the mind, while it is young and susceptible; and if the mind is not kept untainted in _youth_, there is little probability that the moral character of the _man_ will be unblemished. A genteel address, on the other hand, _may_ be acquired at any time of life, and _must_ be acquired, if ever, by mingling with good company. But were the cultivation of the understanding and of the heart, inconsistent with genteel manners, still no rational person could hesitate which to prefer. The goodness of a heart is of infinitely more consequence to society, than an elegance of manners; nor will any superficial accomplishments repair the want of principle in the mind. It is always better to be _vulgarly right_, than _politely wrong_.

But if the amusements, dissipation and vicious examples in populous cities render them improper places for seats of learning; the monkish mode of sequestering boys from other society, and confining them to the apartments of a college, appears to me another fault. The human mind is like a rich field, which, without constant care, will ever be covered with a luxuriant growth of weeds. It is extremely dangerous to suffer young men to pass the most critical period of life, when the passions are strong, the judgement weak, and the heart susceptible and unsuspecting, in a situation where there is not the least restraint upon their inclinations. My own observations lead me to draw the veil of silence over the ill effects of this practice. But it is to be wished that youth might always be kept under the inspection of age and superior wisdom; that literary institutions might be so situated, that the students might live in decent families, be subject, in some measure, to their discipline, and ever under the control of those whom they respect.

Perhaps it may also be numbered among the errors in our systems of Education, that, in all our universities and colleges, the students are all restricted to the same course of study, and by being classed, limited to the same progress. Classing is necessary, but whether students should not be removeable from the lower to the higher classes, as a reward for their superior industry and improvements, is submitted to those who know the effect of emulation upon the human mind.

But young gentlemen are not all designed for the same line of business, and why should they pursue the same studies? Why should a merchant trouble himself with the rules of Greek and Roman syntax, or a planter puzzle his head with conic sections? Life is too short to acquire, and the mind of man too feeble to contain, the whole circle of sciences. The greatest genius on earth, not even a Bacon, can be a perfect master of _every_ branch; but any moderate genius may, by suitable application, be perfect in any _one_ branch. By attempting therefore to teach young gentlemen every thing, we make the most of them mere smatterers in science. In order to qualify persons to figure in any profession, it is necessary that they should attend closely to those branches of learning which lead to it.

There are some arts and sciences which are necessary for every man. Every man should be able to speak and write his native tongue with correctness; and have some knowlege of mathematics. The rules of arithmetic are indispensably requisite. But besides the learning which is of common utility, lads should be directed to pursue those branches which are connected more immediately with the business for which they are destined.

It would be very useful for the farming part of the community, to furnish country schools with some easy system of practical husbandry. By repeatedly reading some book of this kind, the mind would be stored with ideas, which might not indeed be understood in youth, but which would be called into practice in some subsequent period of life. This would lead the mind to the subject of agriculture, and pave the way for improvements.

Young gentlemen, designed for the mercantile line, after having learned to write and speak English correctly, might attend to French, Italian, or such other living language, as they will probably want in the course of business. These languages should be learned early in youth, while the organs are yet pliable; otherwise the pronunciation will probably be imperfect. These studies might be succeeded by some attention to chronology, and a regular application to geography, mathematics, history, the general regulations of commercial nations, principles of advance in trade, of insurance, and to the general principles of government.

It appears to me that such a course of Education, which might be completed by the age of fifteen or sixteen, would have a tendency to make better merchants than the usual practice which confines boys to Lucian, Ovid and Tully, till they are fourteen, and then turns them into a store, without an idea of their business, or one article of Education necessary for them, except perhaps a knowlege of writing and figures.

Such a system of English Education is also much preferable to a university Education, even with the usual honors; for it might be finished so early as to leave young persons time to serve a regular apprenticeship, without which no person should enter upon business. But by the time a university Education is completed, young men commonly commence _gentlemen_; their age and their pride will not suffer them to go thro the drudgery of a compting house, and they enter upon business without the requisite accomplishments. Indeed it appears to me that what is now called a _liberal Education_, disqualifies a man for business. Habits are formed in youth and by practice; and as business is, in some measure, mechanical, every person should be exercised in his employment, in an early period of life, that his habits may be formed by the time his apprenticeship expires. An Education in a university interferes with the forming of these habits; and perhaps forms opposite habits; the mind may contract a fondness for ease, for pleasure or for books, which no efforts can overcome. An academic Education, which should furnish the youth with some ideas of men and things, and leave time for an apprenticeship, before the age of twenty one years, would in my opinion, be the most eligible for young men who are designed for activ employments.

The method pursued in our colleges is better calculated to fit youth for the learned professions than for business. But perhaps the period of study, required as the condition of receiving the usual degrees, is too short. Four years, with the most assiduous application, are a short time to furnish the mind with the necessary knowlege of the languages and of the several sciences. It might perhaps have been a period sufficiently long for an infant settlement, as America was, at the time when most of our colleges were founded. But as the country becomes populous, wealthy and respectable, it may be worthy of consideration, whether the period of academic life should not be extended to six or seven years.

But the principal defect in our plan of Education in America, is, the want of good teachers in the academies and common schools. By good teachers I mean, men of unblemished reputation, and possessed of abilities, competent to their stations. That a man should be master of what he undertakes to teach, is a point that will not be disputed; and yet it is certain that abilities are often dispensed with, either thro inattention or fear of expense.

To those who employ ignorant men to instruct their children, permit me to suggest one important idea: That it is better for youth to have _no_ Education, than to have a bad one; for it is more difficult to eradicate habits, than to impress new ideas. The tender shrub is easily bent to any figure; but the tree, which has acquired its full growth, resists all impressions.

Yet abilities are not the sole requisites. The instructors of youth ought, of all men, to be the most prudent, accomplished, agreeable and respectable. What avail a man's parts, if, while he is the "wisest and brightest," he is the "meanest of mankind?" The pernicious effects of bad example on the _minds_ of youth will probably be acknowleged; but with a view to _improvement_, it is indispensably necessary that the teachers should possess good breeding and agreeable manners. In order to give full effect to instructions, it is requisite that they should proceed from a man who is loved and respected. But a low bred clown, or morose tyrant, can command neither love nor respect; and that pupil who has no motive for application to books, but the fear of a rod, will not make a scholar.

The rod is often necessary in school; especially after the children have been accustomed to disobedience and a licentious behavior at home. All government originates in families, and if neglected there, it will hardly exist in society; but the want of it must be supplied by the rod in school, the penal laws of the state, and the terrors of divine wrath from the pulpit. The government both of families and schools should be absolute. There should, in families, be no appeal from one parent to another, with the prospect of pardon for offences. The one should always vindicate, at least apparently, the conduct of the other. In schools the master should be absolute in command; for it is utterly impossible for any man to support order and discipline among children, who are indulged with an appeal to their parents. A proper subordination in families would generally supersede the necessity of severity in schools; and a strict discipline in both is the best foundation of good order in political society.

If parents should say, "we cannot give the instructors of our children unlimited authority over them, for it may be abused and our children injured;" I would answer, they must not place them under the direction of any man, in whose temper, judgement and abilities, they do not repose perfect confidence. The teacher should be, if such can be found, as judicious and reasonable a man as the parent.

There can be little improvement in schools, without strict subordination; there can be no subordination, without principles of esteem and respect in the pupils; and the pupils cannot esteem and respect a man who is not in himself respectable, and who is not treated with respect by their parents. It may be laid down as an invariable maxim, that a person is not fit to superintend the Education of children, who has not the qualifications which will command the esteem and respect of his pupils. This maxim is founded on a truth which every person may have observed; that children always _love_ an _amiable_ man, and always _esteem_ a _respectable_ one. Men and women have their passions, which often rule their judgement and their conduct. They have their caprices, their interests and their prejudices, which at times incline them to treat the most meritorious characters with disrespect. But children, artless and unsuspecting, resign their hearts to any person whose manners are agreeable, and whose conduct is respectable. Whenever, therefore, pupils cease to respect their teacher, he should be instantly dismissed.

Respect for an instructor will often supply the place of a rod of correction. The pupil's attachment will lead him to close attention to his studies; he fears not the _rod_ so much as the _displeasure_ of his teacher; he waits for a smile, or dreads a frown; he receives his instructions and copies his manners. This generous principle, the fear of offending, will prompt youth to exertions; and instead of severity on the one hand, and of slavish fear, with reluctant obedience on the other, mutual esteem, respect and confidence strew flowers in the road to knowlege.

With respect to morals and civil society, the other view in which I proposed to treat this subject, the effects of Education are so certain and extensiv, that it behooves every parent and guardian to be particularly attentiv to the characters of the men, whose province it is to form the minds of youth.

From a strange inversion of the order of nature, the cause of which it is not necessary to unfold, the most important business in civil society, is, in many parts of America, committed to the most worthless characters. The Education of youth, an employment of more consequence than making laws and preaching the gospel, because it lays the foundation on which both law and gospel rest for success; this Education is sunk to a level with the most menial services. In most instances we find the higher seminaries of learning intrusted to men of good characters, and possessed of the moral virtues and social affections. But many of our inferior schools, which, so far as the heart is concerned, are as important as colleges, are kept by men of no breeding, and many of them, by men infamous for the most detestable vices.[5] Will this be denied? will it be denied, that before the war, it was a frequent practice for gentlemen to purchase convicts, who had been transported for their crimes, and employ them as private tutors in their families?

[5] How different this practice from the manner of educating
youth in Rome, during the flourishing ages of the republic!
There the attention to children commenced with their birth;
an infant was not educated in the cottage of a hireling
nurse, but in the very bosom of its mother, whose principal
praise was, that she superintended her family. Parents were
careful to choose some aged matron to take care of their
children; to form their first habits of speaking and acting;
to watch their growing passions, and direct them to their
proper objects; to guard them from all immodest sports,
preserve their minds innocent, and direct their attention to
liberal pursuits.

"--Filius--non in cella emptæ nutricis sed gremio ac sinu
matris educabatur, cujus præcipua laus, tueri domum, et
inservire liberis. Eligebatur autem aliqua major natu
propinqua, cujus probatis spectatisque moribus, omnis
cujuspiam familiæ soboles committeretur, coram qua neque
dicere fas erat quod turpe dictu, neque facere quod
inhonestum factu videretur. Ac non studia modo curasque, sed
remissiones etiam lusus que puerorum, sanctitate quadam ac
verecundia temperabat." In this manner were educated the
Gracchi, Cæsar, and other celebrated Romans. "Quæ disciplina
ac severitas eo pertinebat, ut sincera et interga et nullis
pravitatibus detorta unius cujusque natura, toto statem
pectore, arriperet artes honestas."---- _Tacitus de Orat.
Dial. 28._

The historian then proceeds to mention the corruption of
manners, and the vicious mode of Education, in the later ages
of Rome. He says, children were committed to some maid, with
the vilest slaves; with whom they were initiated in their low
conversation and manners. "Horum fabulis et erroribus teneri
slatim et rudes animi imbuuntur; nec quis quam in toto domo
pensi habet, quid coram infante domino aut dicat aut
faciat."---- _Ibid. 29._

Gracious Heavens! Must the wretches, who have forfeited their lives, and been pronounced unworthy to be inhabitants of a _foreign_ country, be entrusted with the Education, the morals, the character of _American_ youth?

Will it be denied that many of the instructors of youth, whose examples and precepts should form their minds for good men and useful citizens, are often found to sleep away, in school, the fumes of a debauch, and to stun the ears of their pupils with frequent blasphemy? It is idle to suppress such truths; nay more, it is wicked. The practice of employing low and vicious characters to direct the studies of youth, is, in a high degree, criminal; it is destructive of the order and peace of society; it is treason against morals, and of course, against government; it ought to be arraigned before the tribunal of reason, and condemned by all intelligent beings. The practice is so exceedingly absurd, that it is surprising it could ever have prevailed among rational people. Parents wish their children to be _well bred_, yet place them under the care of _clowns_. They wish to secure their hearts from _vicious principles_ and _habits_, yet commit them to the care of men of the most _profligate lives_. They wish to have their children taught _obedience_ and _respect_ for superiors, yet give them a master that both parents and children _despise_. A practice so glaringly absurd and irrational has no name in any language! Parents themselves will not associate with the men, whose company they _oblige_ their children to keep, even in that most important period, when habits are forming for life.[6]

[6] The practice of employing low characters in schools is
not novel--Ascham, preceptor to Queen Elizabeth, gives us the
following account of the practice in his time. "Pity it is
that commonly more care is had; yea and that among very wise
men, to find out rather a cunning man for their horse, than a
cunning man for their children. They say, nay, in word; but
they do so, in deed. For to one they will give a stipend of
two hundred crowns, and loth to offer the other two hundred
shillings. God, that sitteth in the Heaven, laugheth their
choice to scorn and rewardeth their liberality as it should:
for he suffereth them to have _tame_ and _well ordered
horses_; but _wild_ and _unfortunate children_: and therefore
in the end they find more pleasure in their horse, than
comfort in their child."

This is _old language_, but the facts stated are _modern
truths_. The barbarous Gothic practice has survived all the
attacks of common sense, and in many parts of America, a
gentleman's groom is on a level with his schoolmaster, in
point of reputation. But hear another authority for the
practice in England.