M Author Title Class Book *JJ9f9 Imprint fi&6Z \ lfi — 383W-1 SPO REMARKS ON EUROPE, RELATING TO EDUCATION/PEACE AND LABOR; AND THEIR REFERENCE TO THE UNITED STATES. NEW YORK: C. S. FRANCIS AND COMPANY. 1846. ■ REMARKS ON EUROPE, RELATING TO EDUCATION, PEACE AND LABOR; AND THEIR REFERENCE TO THE UNITED STATES t~$Jto-v{ NEW YORK: C. S. FRANCIS AND COMPANY. 1846. New York, February 1, 184G. Note. — At the solicitation of friends, we reprint the following Remarks, which first appeared in the Knickerbocker of New York, in 1843, and which were writ- ten by the Rev. Charles Brooks, of Boston, then in Rome. It is believed that time has not taken away any of their applicability to the present state of Europe ; and it is hoped they may help to lessen in some minds the feelings of transatlantic hos- tility, and to strengthen in others the sentiment of hope for the nations. I I vs REMARKS ON EUROPE. Lettrcs sur L'inauguration du Chcmin de Fer de Strasbourg a. Bale. Par Michel Chevalier, pp. 124. Paris. Librarie de Charles GOSSELIN. The ingenious author of the daguerreotype thinks he shall succeed in rendering his plates sufficiently sensitive to arrest the exact features of moving bodies. Some power like this is needed now by the political and moral historian, if he would give the true form and impress of the times in which he lives. In Europe there seems nothing constant but change. The pamphlet named at the head of this article, written by one well known for his minute descriptions of the internal im- provements in the United States, performs for the re- gion of the Upper and Lower Rhine the office of the daguerreotype in relation to facts growing out of the inauguration of the rail-road between Strasbourg and Basle. After giving a brief history of the province of Alsace and its neighbors, it describes the public works already finished and those now in progress. In rela- ting the particulars of the opening of the rail-road, our author takes occasion to allude to the spirit of the age in other countries, and pays a tribute to American en- terprise. Next come descriptions of the fetes at Mul- house and Strasbourg ; and of the speeches and toasts at the two banquets. The religious services, always performed on such occasions in Europe, give our author ■MManaHMHHi^HngMH 4 the opportunity of speaking of the extended influence of Christianity. He has written so well on some of the great topics now before the cabinets of Europe, that we wish he had on this occasion given us some- thing more than a thin pamphlet. It is not our inten- tion to make an abstract of this work ; but, as a speci- men of its tone and aim, we quote a few of its closing lines : ' Par les chemins de fer, la sphere des relations s'agrandit. Par les che- mins de fer line immense fusion des interets, des idees, et des mccurs se prepare. C'est que les chemins de fer offrent a la civilisation un instrument superieur de concert et d'unite ; c'est qu'ils viennent a propos pour aider le genre humain a accomplir ses plus sublimes destinees. La sainte alliance des peuples se constituera, et l'humanite s'acheminera vers le sanctuaire de la fraternity universelle ; reve des philosophes, promesse des revelateurs.' * After an abstract of what was said by the various orators at the dinner-table, our author remarks : 'Dans tous les discours ont eclate le devouement a 1'ordre comme a la liberte, le vceu d'une union sincere et cordiale entre les gouvernements et entre les peuples de l'Europe, l'amour de la paix, la necessite d'ouvrir aux nations a deux battants, la carricre de l'industrie, et le desir de voir le gouvernement Francais prendre enfin un parti a l'egard des grandes lignes de chemin de fer. Sous tous ces rapports, les orateurs du banquet de Mul- house ont ete les organes de la France et de l'Europe entiere ' t Speaking of the importance of religion to the labor- ing classes, he says : ' Unless there be an intervention of religion, there will spring up from the manufacturing * ' By rail-roads, the sphere of relations is enlarged. By means of rail-roads an immense fusion of interests, of ideas, and of manners, takes place. Rail-roads offer to civilization a superior means of concert and union. They serve to aid the hu- man race in fulfilling their most sublime destinies. The sacred alliance of nations will by them be made closer, and humanity will march onward toward the sanctuary of a universal brotherhood: the dream of philosophers, the prediction of prophets.' Free Translation : Editor. t ' In all these discourses, there flashed forth a devotion to order as well as to liberty ; a desire for a sincere and cordial union between the governments and the people of Europe; the necessity of laying open to the nations, by two united efforts, a career of industry ; and the wish of at last seeing the French government take an active part in extensive lines of rail-roads. In all these respects, the orators of the banquet of Mulhouse have been the organs of France, and of the whole of Europe.' population a reign of brutal anarchy and degrading oppression. Under the protection of religious faith, labor will, on the contrary, give birth to that practical liberty for which the people hunger. The law of Christ was always a law of deliverance as well as of discipline.' France is now in the transition state. Having, as a nation, thrown off the Roman Catholic religion and taken none other in its place, it has lost one of the elements of national thought and the best cement of social virtue. Divided, moreover, by a thou- sand conflicting theories, it has lost its unity of view in respect to moral objects. Having tried infidelity and found it to be nothing, many of the best minds in the kingdom, urged by the impulses of our common nature, are now beginning with anxiety to ask, ' Who will show us any good ? ' Would that the enterprises on which they enter with so much enthusiasm might help to bring them the elevated Christian faith of their neighbors : and that as their rail-roads make them approach so near to others, truth might make them ap- proach nearer to Heaven, and induce them to run with new speed the divine course of piety and holiness. The little pamphlet before us has one of the charac- teristics of genius ; it suggests much more than it re- cords. As a proof of this, we must say that its perusal led us into the following meditations on the present state of Europe ; meditations which we hope our rea- ders may not find uninstructive, while we assure them that our conclusions are drawn from official documents, and from facts within our personal knowledge. Society will not consent to come to a stand-still on any of the great topics of individual right or social im- provement. Progress is the evidence which a nation 6 gives of life. Government, in order to answer its loftiest aims, should be paternal ; with a heart that can feel, a head that can legislate, and a hand that can execute. Where sentiment, intelligence and power are not combined, there will be compulsion either in the moral, mental, or physical efforts of a people. To develope all the affections of the heart, all the faculties of the mind, and all the energies of the body, should be the sacred duty of government. Where this natural equilibrium exists, there the machine of government works with the least possible friction. Tried by these common maxims, the different states of Europe may be compared together, with some hope of arriving at just conceptions of their relative prosperity. To insti- tute extended comparisons is, however, not our present purpose ; but we would merely signalize as examples a few particulars which have come under our notice during a long sojourn in the midst of these States. I. Among the new movements now observed in Europe, we may record the efforts of the various sover- eigns to introduce elementary instruction among the people ; and also the extraordinary efforts of learned men to extend science and literature. Heretofore, kings considered the education of the people as a secondary object; taking rank below that of military tactics. Each class of citizens exhibited ideas and habits which had come to them by a sort of hereditary descent ; as some minerals are always found in certain strata. This movement of kings for the in- struction of their subjects is eminently politic. Since war has ceased to call for soldiers, it has become ne- cessary to provide for the safety of the state by enlight- ening the public mind and fortifying public morals. Hence the attention which the celebrated school sys- Mrf terns of Holland and Prussia have recently received. In 1806, M. Vanden-Ende, of Holland, completed his plan for popular instruction ; and by the establishment of Normal Schools commenced a course of means which spread good learning through the country He was a celestial pattern of a school-master, and by his own superintendence rendered his success so signal as to attract the attention of Frederick William the Third of Prussia, who sent delegates to him with the view of transplanting his excellent modes into the Prussian soil. This consequence followed ; and in 1319 a system much resembling that of Holland was introduced, with the Baron Von Alteinstein at its head. As it came from the sovereign it was carried into that unquestioning execution so common in mili- tary despotisms, so uncommon among us. One of its features will show the temper of the system ; it com- pels the attendance at school of every child from four years old to fourteen. These schools are kept by purposely-prepared teachers ; and the result is, that in the whole kingdom of Prussia there is not an adult who has not education, intellectual and moral, sufficient for all the wants of the laboring classes. A maxim among them seems to be this ; whatever we would have in the State we must first introduce into the school-room. Thus, by providing self-government for every mind, they hope to save the expenses of an armed police, while they render the people in- dustrious, peaceful and happy. Germany entire has come into this system, modified in each State by peculiarities. Even Austria has made such improve- ment in her modes of instruction as to introduce Nor- mal seminaries through the empire, and her sovereign has issued a decree in these words : After such a time, IHMH*?,' 8 1 no male or female shall be married who cannot read, write, cypher, make out and cast up a common ac- count.' In France there is a great interest on the subject of primary instruction ; and recently schools for the people have been attached to some colleges. Normal schools furnish good teachers, and generous appropriations begin to be made. In England they are doing much in a different way. The fast-anchored isle does not like to become copyist ; and the Bo- rough Road School of London, though the best, is not so good as the best preparatory schools on the conti- nent. They are trying more experiments in education than all Europe put together, and we therefore have the greatest hopes, knowing the sound common sense of our father-land. In most of the smaller northern kingdoms there is a general excitation of the public mind on this great topic of elementary culture, and the good leaven of Holland will ere long leaven the whole lump. It would be strange if defects could not be discov- ered in the operations of systems so vast and so varied. That these exist, all the friends of general education acknowledge. Among those which have particularly arrested our attention are the following : Take France as an example, and we find that popular instruction is not based on morality. Religion and morality, as inculcated in the schools, only ' play round the head, they come not near the heart.' The absence of this fundamental sanction in such a country is seen in the mournful fact, that falsehood is almost a fashionable appendage to a human being. Violation of truth is found in the streets, heard in the parlor, seen on the stage, and proclaimed by the press. The social ills of which this is the cause have become national calamities. A sensible author, who has lately published more severe things on this subject than we dare to copy, says : ' Our systems of education are theoretic, not practical.' They do not meet the wants of the soul, and therefore they can never meet the wants of society. Another defect is a sort of consequence of the fore- going ; namely, the stimulus of emulation is applied to its utmost extent. Examinations for prizes are con- sidered of the first moment. The exhortations of the teacher to his pupils, from the simplest elementary schools to the highest university, are all based upon this spirit of rivalry ; and the images drawn from the battle-field are those most employed, the best literary combatant being crowned with the richest laurel and compared to Napoleon at Austerlitz. This begets among some students the liveliest feelings of envy, and among others the rankest spirit of hatred. We have seen one of the first scholars in Europe distribute his official kisses and oaken garland-crowns to the young victors in the University of France, the immense crowd of privileged spectators violently applauding meanwhile ; and we have watched with inexpressible sympathy the tear as it fell from the eye of one who for the last year had been struggling with all his force to gain the honor which he now saw bestowed on his rival. This diamond-cut-diamond system costs morally too much. We have said that there are new movements among men of science. Never was the desire of extending scientific research so strong as at this time. Every new fact is immediately put into the fiery alembic, and Nature is all but tortured to extract her secrets. Congresses of scientific men, gathered from different kingdoms, meet each year, and by invitation of some 9, ■■HHUHH 10 sovereign generally occupy a portion of the royal palace. The only rivalry among these philosophers is, to see who shall do most for the common cause of science. In agriculture, new modes of examining soils reveal new treasures in the earth; in mechanics, new laws of motion present points of support in the air, which may at length wholly change the face of com- mercial life ; in astronomy, extended applications of known laws lead to new inferences of the most aston- ishing magnitude ; in chemistry, new agents under improved modes ascertain the exact combinations of the atmosphere, and correct numberless mistakes in the theory of colors, and the action of electricity. In one word, Curiosity with its eagle eye and strong- hand, hungering and thirsting after knowledge, goes forth into creation, now ascending in its balloon above the mountains and the clouds to measure the increas- ing cold, and now boring its tube into the centre of the solid ground to measure the increasing heat ; now taking wing with exploring expeditions to the secret corners of the earth, casting its net for every differ- ent fish in the sea, and springing its snare upon every new bird in the sky, and now sitting down to toil day and night in the application of a true alphabet to the hieroglyphics of antiquity. II. Another new movement in European States is that for the maintenance of international peace. So- ciety, as a whole, gravitates toward peace. There are two reasons for this. First, they who formerly pursued war as their proper trade and lawful calling have, during the long vacation of twenty-five years, become engaged in commerce, manufactures, arts and agriculture. They have amassed wealth, and have educated their sons in these habits of peaceful enter- —^mm—m — n 11 prise and labor. This large and comparatively new class in Europe see that war will not only deprive them of their influence and shorten their incomes, but may also take from them their children. This substi- tution of the spirit of trade for the spirit of war, this conversion of swords into ploughshares, and spears into pruning-hooks, tends every where toward pacific policy. It has had the effect of drawing together nations heretofore alienated. To carry on the com- merce and arts of peace, rail-roads, canals, and steam- boats have been introduced, thus bringing distant kindoms so near together, that their several markets seem not unlike the different shops of the same great city. These circumstances again modify in their turn the current principles of exchange, and compel govern- ments to adopt a general scale of duties, which be- comes an additional guaranty for peace. This fusion of interests is peculiarly a bond of union between those states whose juxta-position was anciently the chief cause of rupture. To mention one example ; the German confederation and their new system of custom-houses. This is a social movement entirely novel in Europe, and it promises to have imitators, for already the question of removing the custom-houses of France to the outer borders of Belgium has been dis- cussed in both kingdoms, and the confirmation it would give to the principles of peace is one of the great arguments urged for its adoption. This measure, it is said, originated with the King of the French, whose efforts to secure tranquillity to Europe has ob- tained for him the title of the Napoleon of Peace. Europe, as a whole, wishes peace ; wishes to adopt common principles, and march at the head of modern civilization. Leaving each state its proper individu- 12 ality, it would encourage between them all a free interchange of moral sentiments, of scientific discov- eries, and industrial products. Thus extended, wars become every day less probable, as the interests of the people become more and more an element in the cal- culations of kings. The ancient baron had not to ask his serfs if he should go to battle with his neighbor ; but modern kings, before they enter on this perilous work, must ask permission of the bankers, merchants, manufacturers, and agriculturists. The people begin to apprehend that in this game of war, at which kings play, the blood and treasure come eventually out of them, and they therefore hold their hand on the sword to keep it in its scabbard. There has arisen within the last twenty-five years a powerful aristocracy of merchants, under such a new form as to change mate- rially the order of things. Formerly politics decided trade, now trade decides politics. The time is not far distant, when the Premier may lose office by oppos- ing the merchant princes. The spindles of the cotton factory have vanquished the army. In one word ; it is evident that the higher interests of human life are superseding the claims of royal ambition and party politics, and that henceforth the commercial relations and general welfare of different communities will give to a war between them the appearance of a duel between brothers. The second reason why European states will maintain international peace is, that each sovereign has now as much as he can do to keep his own people from engaging in parliamentary reforms and political revolutions. We speak from knowledge when we say, that in every kingdom of Europe there are numbers of intelligent and patriotic citizens, who, 13 though opposed to collision with foreign nations, are ready for a struggle with their own government. Their rallying word is not revolution but reform. They have come to the apprehension of their inalien- able rights, and they mean to assert them, ' peacefully if they can, forcibly if they must.' The kings see that war lifts this whole class of citizens into perilous consequence, and opens to them the very best occa- sions for presenting their claims. This is the true state of things ; and it constantly reminds us of those earlier times when the feeble remains of Roman civili- zation went out from the communal liberties of the middle ages. A few sparks, preserved under the ashes of revolution, sufficed then to rekindle the flame of progress, giving it a force heretofore unknown. The cities and villages which, fatigued with feudal domination, rose to resist oppression, obeyed a natural impulse, and gave emphasis to the social tendencies of the epoch. They waited long and patiently for the signal of regeneration, and when it sounded, all were girt and road-ready for the movement. Republics were formed in Italy and meridian Gaul, commercial leagues in Germany, and communes in France. So also, Parma and Plaisance, Toulouse and Marseilles, Hamburg and Lubec, Cam bray and LeMons, Laon and Amiens, declared themselves ready for emancipation ; the electric commotion seized the multitude at once, and the insurrectional idea propagated itself through every part of Europe. A process not unlike this, having political reform for its object, is at this hour travelling over the same route; and from what we often read and know of its aims, we should suppose that its patrons considered the noble efforts of the mass in throwing off feudal tyranny but as an eloquent 14 preface to the epic they would prepare for the nine- teenth century. In proof of all this, mark the restlessness of the peo- ple in every kingdom of Europe ! How this restless- ness showed itself even during the troubles in the Ottoman empire ; an empire which is for a moment secure only because so many stand ready to devour it ; and which is rent with religious divisions and popular commotions ! In Italy the same fact meets us every where. Crumbled into little dominions, which are kept at variance to prevent amalgamation, she has exiles in every quarter of the globe, who sympathize with the many friends of reform they have left at home. Their common saying we have often heard : ' We like our French conquerors better than our Austrian pro- tectors.' Passing over the Alps, even republican Switzerland has recently shown the spirit of her neigh- bors in suppressing the convents of Argovie. The light of her example, set on a hill, cannot be hid. If Russia and Austria bring their iron laws to bear with a well adjusted pressure, and preserve with few inter- ruptions their internal quiet, this is not so true of their friend Prussia, whose last king had a quarrel with the Pope, in which five millions of his subjects took part against him ; and whose present sovereign finds it extremely difficult to evade the urgent petitions of his subjects for new constitutions, and for an extension of municipal privileges. An important concession lately made is in an order given by him to his Minister of State, commanding him to allow the censors of the press ' all the liberty of free publication which can in any manner be wise or right.' Most of the small states of Germany have obtained so nearly what they want, that their rulers have become the servants of the 15 people. To show exactly what this last remark means, we need only look at Hanover, whose rash and obsti- nate king is preparing for himself every form of suffer- ing by his senseless opposition to the will of his people. They speak the language of the masses in Europe, when, in their address to His Majesty, they tell him they ' will not surrender those natural rights which the nineteenth century guaranties to citizens.' In their sister-realm, England, the people have freedom, but want bread ; and the peculiar legislation of that coun- try has armed Ireland and the poor with a terrible hostility to the existing institutions. The frequent meetings of reformers alarm the civil authorities, and the principles of the Chartists have made such progress, as encourages reformers to hope that by new alliances they shall be able, before many years, to control the elections. It is well known that this sad condition of things constituted one of the strongest objections to a war with the United States. Any signal failure of the crops in Great Britain, or any wide war in Europe, must have the immediate effect either to modify or abolish their corn laws; and when this is done it will be a step of half a century. The manufacturing cities will one day speak with emphasis. France is always in a state of political inflammation ; always dreaming of something better ; always gazing at an unreached paradise. Uneasiness there is reduced to a science ; and the secret societies which exist through the whole length and breadth of the land, give it embodiment and form in their murderous attacks on the life of the king and his sons, whenever favoring opportunities occur. It is very evident that the revolutionary lava, which was thrown up from the Parisian volcano in 1 830, is not yet wholly cooled. There are many standing topics of 16 complaint. Out of thirty-four millions of inhabitants, there are but two hundred thousand electors, and hall of these are in some manner connected with the go- vernment. The resolution of the people to extend the electoral franchise cannot be frustrated after the death of the present king. Spain at this moment presents a moving example of the state of things above alluded to ; and is of itself sufficient to prove the position we have taken. With no wish to break the peace with other nations, Spaniards seem to have none to keep it among themselves. Civil revolutions succeed by a kind of fixed scale, or geometrical series. Reform is their watch-word, a word stereotyped ten years ago by them. The people act responsive to the great European pulsation ; and to show, in concluding these remarks, what that is, we will give a few facts as ex- amples. The Cortes of Madrid, a few months since, voted to report the following bill for the sale of the property of the Catholic clergy in Spain. ' Article I. All the property of the secular clergy shall be national. Article II. The annual revenues of the Catholic church derived from seats, etc. shall be national. Article III. All church property shall be sold. Article IV. All said revenues shall be placed in the hands of the govern- ment.' In November last, we found the following account in a Madrid paper : ' Last week the Grand Staff of the garrison of Madrid offered a splendid ban- quet to the Grand Staff of the National Guards of the city. In this meeting were united the elite of both of these most respectable corps. At the dessert, a lieu- tenant of the National Guards offered the following toast : ' The happy day when we shall drink the blood of tyrants, as we drink the liquor from this cup.' Another gentleman gave this : ' Should the Pope ex- 17 communicate the Duke de la Victoire, let Spain in- stantly shake off the yoke of the court of Rome.' Another gave this: 'The speedy advent of pure de- mocracy.' Another pertained to the King of the French, who was supposed to have favored Queen Christine's cause : « May the Supreme Being soon glorify the King of the Barricades.' There were many more in like strain. After this we ask if the case be not made out, that international wars in Eu- rope are not at present improbable, from the fact that kings have their hands more than full in keeping their people quiet? They need all their armies for the repose of their capitals and large cities. To these reasons for the maintenance of interna- tional peace in the old world, may be added the debts, and we may almost say, the bankruptcy of the leading powers. They cannot pay, and the debts hang as millstones round the productive industry of the coun- try. These debts remaining undiminished through a quarter of a century of peace and prosperity have therefore become a new element in casting the horo- scope of nations. With some it brings matters to this unexpected issue, namely, to ask if the debts can be paid, or must they be washed out ivith a sponge ? Eng- land may be the last to repudiate by such an alterna- tive ; for she is marching with Atlean strength to bolder heights of physical and moral power than she has ever known ; yet, to show her utter inability of paying her debt we only need say, that if it were a debt owed by the whole world it would require every human being on the face of the earth to pay four dol- lars and fifty-four cents before it could be liquidated ! Truth and history require us here to add, that how- ever much the straightened condition of European 3 mm* 18 nations may be a source of complaint in time of peace, it seems all forgotten in a moment, so soon as a real cause of war is thought to present itself. Touch but the magazine of national pride, and immediately, as by ex- plosion, streams of gold issue forth from every opening. There may be adduced yet another reason for the maintenance of international peace in Europe; namely, the greater infusion of Christian sentiments into diplo- matic affairs. There are several among the most distinguished philosophers in the old world, who are penetrated with the great moral argument against war, and who strongly advocate the system of arbitra- tion. The King of the French is among this number. Ardent philanthropists already see the rainbow of peace spanning the skirts of the departing storm. Would that it were so. The advance of moral science and Christian ideas, added to the efforts of Peace So- cieties, have done much with several German states. Christianity has produced an era of light which may lead to the higher era of love. The maxim, that war is repugnant to the spirit of the gospel, is beginning to be received ; and before our children shall have grown old, the Peace Question will be the one most eagerly discussed in Christendom. We divine that it is through this question that Christianity will find admit- tance to India, China, and even to Mahomedan coun- tries. It will aim to fuse all nations into one great brotherhood of love ; allowing each to retain its dis- tinctive political forms. But the time is not yet ; and we fear that the plain truth on this head, as applied to Europe, may be illustrated by a fact which took place near where we once lived. A straight Quaker, of choleric temperament, was insulted by a market-man near his door. He rushed with fury on his enemy. 19 His good wife, hearing the noise of the conflict, has- tened to the spot, threw herself between the comba- tants, exclaiming : 'John, stop! stop! remember your religion.' ' What's that to me when I 'm mad ? ' was John's reply. III. The last new movement that we would mention pertains to labor. We do not mean the labor bestowed on rail-roads, canals and public buildings; but we see in Europe a question touching the laboring classes, which grows every day of deeper import. The in- crease of population in comparison with the extent of territory is so great, that some begin to calculate how long it will be before the last acre of land will become indispensable to human subsistence. In many places the population is already so dense, and the markets so high, that the poor are forced to live on potatoes, bread, and the coarsest food. The merchants and landholders have become the successors of the ancient barons, and with this difference, that the barons took care of their laborers ; they cherished the young, shielded the old, and nursed the sick ; while the modern landholder does none of these things to his hired laborer. He employs a man or woman while they are in sound health and in full strength ; and at the end of the day, month or year, dismisses them for ever to the bleak mercy of the world. The accumulation of the truly indigent in the old world is frightful. The houses of relief are thronged, and thousands must be rejected. The funds of charitable associations are not half suffi- cient for the demand, and the consequence is extreme suffering and oftentimes death. The poorer the labor- ing classes become, the poorer they may become ; for they grow less independent, and less able to resist the oppressions they meet in their employers. It is now 20 an established fact, that in proportion as the merchants, manufacturers, and landholders have become rich, their laborers have become poor. What then must be the actual state and social tendency of a country where this fact exists ? Looking at the matter narrowly, we find it to be this ; that a new relationship has grown up between the poorer classes among themselves, and also between the rich among themselves. They have both, so to speak, become clannish ; and what is the nature of these alliances ? They are, on the one hand, alliances of the rich to sustain each other against the poor; and on the other hand, alliances of the poor against the extortions of the rich. The natural conse- quence of this state of things is a well-settled hostility between the parties. Thus situated at this hour, the poor becoming more poor and the rich more rich, the new question has been started, where shall a radical change of relationships between the parties begin ? This is one of the deepest questions of domestic policy now before the statesmen and philanthropists of Europe; and it somewhat resembles that concerning the in- crease of slaves in the United States. No solution has yet been fixed upon ; although many learned commis- sioners have had the subject under examination ; and to any plan it will be easy to oppose serious objections, for this simple reason, that any reforms, which justice and humanity may ask, will be opposed to the legal statutes and hereditary logic which an artificial state of society has created and sanctioned. We feel ourselves among the last who should decide where so many are in doubt; but as foreigners, we hope to be pardoned in bringing without pretension our modest stone, while we leave to others the plan and erection of the edifice. If the following hints 21 provoke discussion, their whole aim will be answered. It will be neither advisable nor just to divide the pro- perty of the community in order to feed the poor. This would be nothing more nor less than universal plunder, ending in universal ruin. Equally impolitic would it be to impose an income tax on the rich in order to erect asylums where the poor could be sustained. What then can be done ? We answer, employ the poor. But who shall employ them ? Shall we compel you or your neighbor to employ laborers, when you have no work to be done ? Such a tax you would object to ; but we must tax you in another way ; and here we would make our suggestions. First. We would have the governments of Europe undertake great works of internal improvement, such as the erection of public edifices, the digging of canals, and the opening of rail-roads ; and for all these the rich must pay. Second. The governments may institute agricul- tural establishments in different parts of the country, where all may labor who cannot find employment elsewhere. There is not a kingdom in Europe where such uncultivated lands do not exist. This plan would bring these lands into productiveness, and lessen the prices of provisions; for it is not the richest soils which now sustain the greatest population, but rather those which have had their natural resources most fully developed. Third. Where landholders own the soil in per- petuity they must be obliged to submit it to cultiva- tion at prices established by law. This extreme case will not, we presume, soon happen ; but when the time comes that human beings are suffering for want of food, no statutes must continue to exist which say that they shall starve. This is that last necessity which knows no law. A government has no right to legislate death to its innocent citizens. Fourth. There must be new bonds of union be- tween masters and laborers. The infinite distance at which laborers are kept from their employers, in these countries, is productive of two evils to the master. First, to his interest, because the laborer will do as little as he can for his wages, and feel no interest to do that little well. Secondly, to his security ; for when the strikes and lawless tumults break out, they always endanger his peace and often his life. The need of the application of the Christian standard to this relationship of master and servant cannot be over- stated. We see it existing in some places, and it is productive of almost an entire change in the character and condition of the poor. Fifth. The standing armies of Europe should be employed in labor. These armies, in the beginning of 1840, amounted to two and a half millions; now, in the beginning of 1842, they are nearly double that number. Most of the soldiers have trades ; let each one be obliged to work when not on military duty. Take the best example in Europe, the French army. There are three hundred thousand men now under arms daily, and all doing nothing. They are able and willing to work, and could be employed in agriculture, either in France or Algiers. Let the government but strike this rock of national industry, and it would pour forth streams to gladden the whole land. The law now requires each young man to spend in the stand- ing army eight years, entering at the age of twenty- one. Thus the best eight years of his life are spent in utter listlessness and inanity ; and when he returns to 23 private life he finds himself unfitted by habits and tastes for proper and severe duty. Let these three hundred thousand consumers be turned into producers, and a change would go over the face of society which would make the poor man leap for joy, since it would reduce prices so as to make him able to support him- self. The King of Prussia has let the horses of his army to the farmers for labor, on the condition that they be ready to return them at a moment's warning. We hope this small beginning may lead to farther ap- plications of the principle. That something must be done, every provident man admits. M. Thiers, on the fourth of March, 1840, then at the head of the French cabinet, said from the tribune : 'Gentlemen, it will not suffice at this day to be content with an order purely material ; we must have a moral order ; that is, a union of minds tending to a common end. To unite all minds in the promo- tion of this common end is the great mission now imposed on government. The hour has come to com- prehend it. Let us give our hands to this demanded renovation.' These words contain truths which many in Europe are slow to understand. But proofs gather in fearful crowds. Pauperism is a deep plague-spot on the surface of the body, and ignorance a deeper plague-spot in the depths of the mind, and both are growing into causes of revolution and crime. Hunger when fierce is eagle-eyed ; and Ignorance when it gets an idea, acts upon it in terrible obstinacy. Poverty among the poor, increasing as wealth does among the rich, has given rise to a popular logic which masters that of the forum. What said the workmen at Man- chester, in England, in their recent call for higher wages? 'How happens it that we, who produce every 24 thing, have nothing ? ' And what was the motto on the flag of the same class of persons at Lyons, in France, on a similar and recent occasion ? ' To live workings or die fighting ! ' Workmen in Europe are willing to brave iron, fire and fatigue, but they must have bread ! It is not in England and France alone that pauper- ism exists. A recent statement says, that in Belgium one sixth of the population are poor, and most of these in extreme want. In Holland there are twelve paupers to every hundred inhabitants. In Prussia, since 1815, the number of the poor has quadrupled. In Austria the numbers are rapidly increasing. In the Lombardo- Venetian kingdom the official statements are appall- ing, it being said of Venice that half its inhabitants are destitute. In Germany the advance of pauperism is the motive which drives so many of its citizens to our country. At Copenhagen the poor tax has just doubled within the last ten years. At Stockholm the increase of paupers, taking the last hundred years, is one to fifteen. In some of the cantons of Switzerland the peasants have renounced their rights of citizenship, in order to escape the payment of the enormous poor- rates. The same facts are officially stated of Pied- mont, Italy, Spain, and Portugal ; and are corrobora- ted by the bandits who levy contributions on travellers, and sometimes on villages. Take individual cities, and the same inference follows. Paris, for example, has eighty thousand paupers registered at its Bureau of Beneficence ; and sixty thousand more are said to live on the products of crime. The city of Lisle has twenty-five thousand poor among seventy thousand inhabitants. Mentz, Strasbourg, Lyons, Bordeaux, are almost devoured by this lamentable evil. Russia 25 alone seems to be exempt, and this is owing to the peculiar relation in which the servant stands to his master. We could cite pages more of official docu- ments ; but these are sufficient to justify our remark that something must be done ; and though the people are willing to wait with angel patience, jet they cannot wait for ever ; and and if governments ulti- mately refuse to give to the great humanity a free and equal chance of action and enjoyment, they may be assured that sinister complots, organized in darkness under ground, will be ready at the signal to explode in earthquake convulsions. Although the sovereigns of Europe see all this, yet we fear they will do, as timid men are apt to do, resort to temporary expe- dients. This will be a misfortune to the world ; for when a machine is old and worn, and works badly, it is not sufficient to put here and there a screw, a pivot, or a wheel ; these partial repairs do not remedy the general imperfection of the thing ; it is still an old machine, and the smallest matter throws it into its former confusion. After enumerating the new movements now observed in Europe on the subjects of education, peace, and labor, it may be asked how these movements affect a population so heterogeneous ? That the effects are very various is most true ; and we think they may be described by dividing society into three classes : First ; they who represent The Past. This class is composed of the tories of England, the legitimists of France, the barons of Germany, the nobles of Spain, and the clergy of all these countries. They keep their eye on the summit of the social pyramid, a sum- mit which the lightnings have struck and blackened. They sincerely believe that the ills which now afflict 4 26 society arise mainly from neglect of the ancient ideas. They are therefore particularly opposed to modern innovations. They point to former prosperity, when the possessions of the rich were not assailed by vulgar cupidity, and when noble prerogatives were not rashly questioned by parliamentary reformers. They love to frequent the ancient castles, and count their her- aldic armory, and muse on the good old days of tilts and tournaments. We half pardon this mistake of theirs, when we remember that the past was the sea- son of their joy, their action and their glory. That season has gone by. Their souvenirs are those belonging to age. The sun has passed its meridian, the shades of declining day begin to gather in the forests, and soon they will be called to watch the last lingering rays. Shall we blame them that they are not young ? Shall we even blame them that they have so little sympathy with the rising generation ? The old man must have great vitality to keep up with the athletic steps of youth. Second ; they who represent The Present. These are the stationary adults of the social order. They covet not change. They are the conservatives in all these states ; the rich citizens of France, the Chris- tinos of Spain, the whigs of England, the ministers of all cabinets, and the rich of every country. These are the men whose points are made, whose wealth is gained, whose rank is acknowledged ; and who, per- suaded that they have marched long and far enough, wish now to sit down in the calm enjoyment of the results of their toil. To them the sun is in its zenith, and shielded from its burning rays, they sit in the cool bowers of their prosperity, tasting the sweet fruits which hang on the branches within reach, listening to 27 the mingled music of birds and the murmur of foun- tains, gazing on extended landscapes, made doubly beautiful by the union of nature and art ; and thus, with every sense regaled, they add still to these out- ward charms the refinements of taste, the society of the fashionable, and the flattery of dependents. Very difficult is it to persuade them, thus environed by all that they love, to quit these luxurious retreats, and go forth to new labors. They are satisfied with the present, and are deaf to all appeals for radical altera- tion. They feel secure, and therefore care the less for those who do not. They shut their door against all poetic schemers, and leave the young soldiers in life's campaign to bivouac without, on the sands of the desert, exposed to the burning simoom, or the more burning sun. Third ; They who represent The Future. These are the vigorous youth of the nations, whose patri- mony is in the rich Hereafter. They are by far the most numerous, and have ' thoughts that breathe, and words that burn.' This party is very differently con- stituted from the two preceding. While they com- prehend themselves, know what they prefer, and know how to sustain their pretensions, this third class is by no means homogeneous. It is much divided, and therefore leaves the conservatives to seize power. They are all agreed upon one point, and that is progress. But though all wish to march, they are in complete discord about the way they should take. They wish to reform old abuses, remodel ancient institutions, and erect a system which shall meet the wants of the age ; but so soon as they descend to the details of operation, they separate into manifold par- ties, and then use against each other the force which 28 should be reserved for a common cause. One party, as in Prussia, wants a constitution ; another, as in Hungary, asks a complete disbanding of the army ; another, as in Hanover, demands the restoration of all lost privileges ; another, as in Italy, wants the introduction of newspapers ; another, as in France, calls loudly for universal suffrage ; another, as in Eng- land, claims the admission of dissenters to the two national universities ; and another, as in Spain, would establish a republic. In every country they call for a melioration of imposts, extended commercial facili- ties, protection against monopoly, and the right of being heard. This is the party which makes the stir in Europe ; the party that does so many good and so many bad things ; and it is its existence and action which constitute one of the new phases of the old world on which we have remarked. It is this party which is growing with uncounted force, and will at some future day shape the destinies of that continent. Their great central idea of progress strengthens and expands in the common mind every time it is attack- ed. It will at length bring them together and give them a leader, who, like James Otis or Patrick Henry, will know how to strike for them the grand key- note, and anon they will be ready to join all voices in harmony. Divided now into many sects and opposing schools, little can be inferred with certainty of their immediate action. They would have us be- lieve that society is very near its next climacteric ; but we venture to say they must wait awhile before they begin to chant their hallelujahs. Some insects must creep a long time before they get wings. It is true that in every legislature they have their repre- sentatives, like the great Arago and Odilon Barrot ; 29 and the journals which speak their sentiments have the widest circulation, and have scattered to the right and left ideas so penetrating and so just, that cabinet councils have advised a severer censorship of the press. But it is also true that some journals, claim- ing to belong to the class of which we speak, do any thing but favor the cause of good. Unfortunately for freedom and virtue, there exists in Europe a swarm of empty and hungry journalists and pamphleteers, crea- tures as ravenous as the beasts of the desert, and en- dowed with just about as much reason as Heaven gives an ape. They seem the very impersonation of evil — civil, social, and religious. Without principle, without faith, and without fear, they deluge some places with their infamous publications, advocating a partition of goods, universal suffrage, a great social communion, and all the kindred topics. Their tongues would set on fire the course of nature, and seem themselves set on fire of hell. They are despised by all sound thinkers and genuine patriots. The best journals which advo- cate progress are of a very different character. They seem anxious to find the causes of existing evils, and then to apply with wise caution the true remedies. With their principles and temper we should generally accord, though some of their views we deem unsound. For example, they sum up their complaints thus : ' The people suffer — they are in want ; bread is dear — work fails; let us have our political rights.' We apprehend that the remedy here demanded would not work the miracle here assigned to it. If the people should be clothed with these political rights to-day, and should be called to exercise them by dropping a ball into the electoral or legislative urn, and by taking their seats on the bench of grand 30 jurors, there would not, we think, be a shower of two-penny loaves to-morrow morning. Some good and intelligent men, disciples of the generous Lafayette, maintain in private that the establishment of republics would be a cure for all political evils. We cannot but think they also would be disappointed in this expedient. Look at the differ- ences between our country and the old world. A republican is an intelligent, virtuous, self-governing man, who has learned the art of choosing rulers and making laws. This trade of politics was commenced by him when ten or twelve years of age, and when arrived at twenty-one, he had gone through a quiet but powerful system of training, which, while it had inspired him with the love of liberty, had also taught him the supreme value of order and justice. He therefore came prepared for the exercise of his civil rights. There is no such education for the masses in Europe. They who have resided there will feel the force of this statement. The only fit way of making genuine republicans in any country is, to begin their training in the school-house and end it in the church. To develope all the powers of man in their natural order, proper time and due proportion is the shortest direction for creating Christian freeman. Now look at Europe. An almanac for 1841 lies before us, on whose outside cover are quoted the words of a cabinet minister : ' Fifteen millions of Frenchmen do not learn except from almanacs the destinies of Europe, the laws of their country, the progress of science, arts, and industry.' The late official report in that country states that ' about one half of all the inhabitants of France can neither read nor write.' An edict sent forth by the King of the French in November last 31 begins thus : * Seeing that in many of the chief places of the departments where there are six thousand inha- bitants, there exists no school for primary instruction ; therefore ordered, etc' As that country has once been a republic, and is now jealously watched by all the kings of Europe on account of its political aber- rations, it may be interesting to state, that official documents place France, in respect to its patronage of elementary instruction, the eighteenth on the list of forty-seven states. Our country is placed first in this regard ; then come Prussia, Holland, Austria, the states of the German confederation, Norway, Scotland, Belgium and England. In France there is one pupil to every fifteen inhabitants ; in the Canton of Zurich one to every five ; and in the last census it was ascer- tained that our Connecticut contained but one adult who could neither read nor write ! A jury of twelve men was collected last summer in a country village in England on some emergency, and when called upon to sign their names, the Leeds paper says, ' there was but one who could write ! ' Few of our countrymen who reside in Europe will say that the people there are prepared for a republican form of government ; and therefore we must think that this third class, of whom we are speaking, by mistaking their wishes for principles and experience, have been led to a violence of action which has put off the day of those political reforms and social ameliorations which they so ear- nestly and so honestly desire. In closing this article, it may be timely to draw a few inferences from the state of Europe as above described. What we have to say in this regard may be included in answers to these two questions : First ; What have the United States taught Europe ? 32 Secondly ; What have the United States to fear from Europe ? First : What have the United States taught Eu- rope ? One of the first scholars in France recently said to us : ' The success of your government frightens our King, and your Puritanism frightens our Pope.' This is the briefest answer to the above question. The ideas of association and organization against hereditary privileges have made rapid strides within the last ten years ; and the times hang out signals at which kings have reason to be frightened. The capacity of man for self-government had been doubted, had been positively denied, and is still denied by vast numbers. Men of distinguished ability have been sent, by consent of European governments, to explore our institutions, in order to write books against our republican theories. These books have had some in- fluence with the conservatives, but have failed of their aim with the masses ; for the people have held them up in one hand, while with the other they have point- ed to our unparalleled success in commerce, arts, manufactures, agriculture, etc. It is common to hear official men say that ' the example of the United States has no influence in Europe ; ' this very mention of the subject proving of itself the refutation of the state- ment. The truth is, that our country is having an immense influence in Europe (always bating one social parenthesis) ; and if we had conducted our moneyed institutions so as to have kept our engage- ments with foreign creditors, there would have been within twenty years an emphasis in our national cha- racter and position, which would have astonished even ourselves. We have now long to wait for the renewal of this era. Nevertheless we still preach to 33 the nations from that grand, majestic text of human- ity, All men are born free and equal ; > and our coun- try says to every citizen of a monarchy, whether high or low, what the immortal Dante said so well • ?I repulse as odious the privileges of birth ; there is but one nobility, and that comes from talents and virtue ■ ' and to kings it says what the great Thomas Aquinas said : litles of nobility originate in human pride and injustice. A government ceases to be legitimate when it becomes despotic ; that is, when it prefers the personal satisfaction of the prince to the happiness of the people > The steady assertion of any great prin- ciple finally recommends it to the world. This is verified m the concessions so unwillingly made to our national character by most of the foreign journals. lake a very recent example. The Journal des Uebats, the ablest newspaper in Europe, speaking of our astonishing growth and indomitable perseverance said that in a moment of national danger our different States would unite as one man; and then adds: < it is true beyond any doubt that the American Union centralized would become the first maritime power of the world ; and that old England will ere long be obliged to strike her flag before her children on the other side of the Atlantic' We wish no collision with our mother country; we only say that the seeds of peace and freedom which our republic is sowing broad-cast among the nations of Europe will not be lost The plants may be regarded as exotics for a while, and be cherished only by the intelligent as curiosities ; yet at last, their virtues will be discover- ed, and then all men will be anxious to have them in their fields. Another truth which Europe is receiving from our f 34 country, regards the institution of labor. Our nation belongs emphatically to the working-men's party. Labor is with us, the lever that moves the world. Ours was the mission of labor from the first. No one by birth or riches is excluded from this category. Every thing is put in requisition ; head and hands, beast and earth, wood and mineral. But it is the labor of freedom, as well as the freedom of labor. Every one has his natural chance, without let or hindrance. In Europe how different ! Look at Russia with the body of a lion and the head of a man, her feet yet having for their base the thirteenth century, while her head is in the nineteenth ; her people are part and parcel of her soil, and are taught only one lesson, and that is, to work, not for them- selves, but for their masters. The process there re- minds us of that pursued by the peasant of our Western States with regard to wild bees. When these busy insects have toiled away the whole summer in storing a hollow tree with their winter's food, he goes and quietly ' relieves ' them of most of their treasure, granting them only wherewith to starve through the season. But take a milder case ; say in Austria, or even in England. A boy born in poverty can seldom choose his trade or profession. His taste is not the first thing to be consulted ; because this taste might fix on pursuits already secured to privileged children, or bound down by hereditary prescription. The field of labor in head or hand which a boy might prefer, is enclosed, and has a guarded door, and no one can enter but under the secret countersign. The poor boy is not admitted, unless he has some extraordinary talent which his masters can turn to their profit. We have heard of boys who have watched for years with- 35 out being able to catch even a stray glance of power- ful patronage. Our countrymen have no idea of this state of things. To live in a certain street, to work with certain tools, to converse with certain men, is a fortune in Europe ; and they who can command these advantages will be vigilant to keep out all intruders. The golden gift of opportunity therefore does not come to all ; and consequently the whole talent of a country is not ordered out. He who should be prefect is only constable, and he who should make tele- scopes is kept cleaning horses. A captain in the standing army has recently published in France a work in which he says : < The average wages of a day-laborer in France is twenty-five cents, and in the United States sixty-two cents. In France the tax on each person is six dollars and eighty cents ; while the same tax in the United States is three dollars and twelve cents.' Michael Chevalier, now professor of political economy in the University of France, says in his journal of travels in the United States, that < nothing surprises a stranger more, or lowers his national pride, if a European, than to see the general comfort pervading all classes.' And speaking of workmen, he has these words: 'Work,' says Ameri- can society to the poor man, < work, and in eighteen years you will gain more, you a simple day-laborer, than a captain does in Europe. You will live in plenty, you will be well clothed, comfortably lodged, and you will have many stores. Be assiduous in work, sober and religious, and you will find a wife devoted and respectful ; you will have a domestic hearth better furnished with comforts than that of the bourgeois of Europe. From being laborer you will become mas- ter ; you will have apprentices and servants ; in your 36 turn you will be manufacturer, or great farmer, and will end with becoming rich.' But it is not these high wages or agricultural pros- pects which make the most interesting fact on the subject before us ; it is the peculiar connection be- tween the laborer and the employer. In Europe the distance between these two persons is all but infinite ; while with us they are all but familiar companions. In Europe it is a connection of pure selfishness on both sides ; with us it is a union of kind feelings and gene- rous sentiments ; in the one case, of oppression and distrust ; in the other, of justice and confidence. The different effects upon a country which these different conditions produce, are great beyond computation. The loss is on the side of Europe ; the gain is on ours. The kingdoms of the old world have yet one foot in the middle ages ; we stand both feet in the new. It is the province of our country to set forth, in regard to labor, a bright example of Christian equity. Our pre- sent is the hoped future of semi-feudal Europe. We have not had, like them, to struggle through centuries of war and persecution in order to gain the two prizes of industry and peace. We began two hundred years ago in politics, about where they are now. We have nothing to undo ; they have almost every thing to reform. When they shall have adopted the highest Christian philosophy, which teaches us to regard all men as brethren, and introduced an improved organ- ization of labor, then they will establish schools to educate all their children ; thus giving to all both the ability and inclination to turn into the peaceful chan- nels of industry those energies, which for want of wise instruction and timely encouragement, are now wasted in profitless experiments or desperate crime. We are 37 aware that many object to providing instruction for the lower classes, from the fear of elevating them to an equality with their employers. To this objection Prus- sia, as we know, offers a conclusive refutation, it being there found that education, instead of rendering the poor either proud or disobedient, is the surest guaranty of their fidelity and submission. The fruits of the genuine tree of knowledge have often been analyzed, and no one yet has discovered poison in them. Happy will it be for the old world when it adopts the Ame- rican maxims on the subject of labor. It will put an end to that senseless logic by which some predict a fearful crisis between masters and servants. That time will never come if such maxims be adopted. Always will there be the rich and the poor, as inevit- ably as there will be the intelligent and the simple, the strong and the weak. The more the laboring classes are elevated, the more, some suppose, they will contend against the rich. We apprehend the exact reverse of this is the truth. The more they are pro- perly educated, the more will they respect themselves, and thus be led to respect others. They come to be veritable human beings, and cease to be circumstan- ces. Instead of declaring for social war, they would be foremost for peace. When all the poor are fitly educated, we shall see a yet more vigorous adhesion to the rights of property, for it will be the kind of right which one has to his own nerves and muscles. Let this fact be well weighed by those who predict social revolutions from the growing power of the laboring classes. Let these prophets be prepared for disap- pointment ; for be assured, the long labors and sacrifi- ces through which these classes must go to arrive at the proper revolutionary power, will have thoroughly 38 convinced them that they have nothing to gain, but every thing to lose, by a system of violent subversion. If society, either in America or Europe, promises in this respect any changes at present, we think they will be those of peace, health and enlargement, resembling that beautiful process in the animal kingdom, where some cast off their old skin only to grow larger in a new one. We have but a word to say on the other question we proposed to consider ; namely : What have the United States to fear from the kingdoms of Europe ? Little from their navies ; less from their armies ; little from their commercial competition ; less from their political creeds. But we must fear, watchfully and profoundly fear, their moral and political corruptions. To take but one example ; what Christian patriot would not mourn to see repeated in his own country the infamous proceedings of the last elections in Eng- land ? Bribery and crime were carried to their last limit by both parties, and even human life was wan- tonly sacrificed in the brutal conflict. It is the utter absence of all moral restraints and high religious prin- ciple in this transaction, which shows the real charac- ter of the electors. For two months the leading newspapers of the realm teemed with disclosures of treachery, venality and fraud. What must be the effect on the lower classes, who are not voters, when they see those above them giving themselves with an unquestioning abandonment to all the schemes of craft and ambition ? Sad will it be for the liberties of our republic when it goes across the Atlantic for political maxims on elections. The giving of a vote is a sacred act ; and if there be among men one individual who is, above all others, bound to make his vote expressive 39 of his own deep convictions of truth and patriotism, that individual is the citizen of a republic. We have also to fear the European vices of social life ; especially those prevailing in the great capitals. American parents send their sons to Germany or Paris to continue or complete their professional studies. There, unattended by any protector, they are exposed to temptations of the most fatal kind ; and though we have known many examples of assiduous study and exemplary moral conduct, yet we grieve to say there have been examples of a far different character. Un- less parents accompany their son, or are sure that his character is definitely formed, we advise them to keep him from the great cities of Europe. He treads on slippery rocks, while fiery billows roll below. We have much also to fear from the second-rate writers of Europe, who seem in the absence of greater luminaries to shine with captivating splendor. These legislators in the republic of letters, or rather these sub- marshals in the intellectual empire, are the authors of dramas and vaudevilles, poems and romances, often exhibiting great ingenuity, and occasionally some learning, and often also displaying the boldest defen- ces of immorality and revolution. Many of these find their way to our country, where they perform the part which the serpent did in Paradise. These are the writers who separate knowledge from virtue ; and in- stead of the sublime and heavenly principles of evan- gelical truth, they give you the cold syllogisms of skepticism ; instead of planting your foot on the Rock of Ages, they push you into that open sea of infidelity, whose winds are chance, whose waves are accident, and whose shores are annihilation. We wish our countrymen knew the private character of these 40 authors, and they would cease praising the beauties of their writings ; for their beauty is the rouge on a harlot's cheek. We have something to fear, also, in the possibility that our countrymen may separate science from re- ligion, and thus run headlong into the wildest dream- ings. Nothing gives such palpable definiteness to true religion as the results of science. He indeed sees God, who looks through nature up to Him. Every ray from the great luminary of science sheds light upon the neighboring provinces of religion ; and it gladdens the heart of the Christian philanthropist to read what the first astronomer in the world has lately said. The words of Sir John Herschel are these : ' The mo- ment seems to have arrived, the admirable moment of which our children gather the fruits, and which our fathers only foresaw, when Science and Religion, eternal sisters, join hands ; and when these noble sis- ters, instead of engaging in a deadly and dishonorable warfare, conclude together a sublime alliance. The more the field of true philosophy enlarges, the more its results favor religious belief; and the demonstra- tions of an eternal creative intelligence become numer- ous and irresistible. Geology, mathematics, astronomy, all have brought their contributions to the grand tem- ple of science, a temple elevated by Jehovah himself. All their discoveries coincide ; each new conquest of science is a new proof of the existence of God. We have come in our day to an all but perfect certitude on those great truths which Rome and Greece did not suspect, or could not foresee.' To borrow an illustra- tion from Sir John's favorite study, we would say, that science is bound to God as firmly as the systems to their centre. Every particle of matter is governed by 41 a fixed and immutable law ; and this law originates in God, and is science to man. To separate the law from its source, is to separate creation from its Creator, and to leave the universe an orphan. Gravitation says to every stellar system, to every rolling planet, and to every earthly atom, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy strength." Thou shalt be bound to him by an irresistible attrac- tion, thou shalt circle round his throne by a centre- seeking power, and shalt wait for him alone to change thy destiny. So every truth of science, circling the great universe, finds itself fastened at the footstool of Omni- potence. We devoutly hope that there may never be found in our country the mind that shall separate God and science ; but if, among intellectual motions, some centrifugal tendency may have propelled any original mind from the great central idea of God in science, may that mind soon discover its fatal mistake, and be convinced that it cannot find in the whole universe another perihelion ; for, we know, that mind, like matter, moves in the direction of its impelling force, and if the first impulse be given to it at the wrong point, unless its momentum be resisted and overcome by some opposing power, it will move onward in the path of error, and drive along its downward way with accelerated velocity, aided by the gravity of accumulated error, till it finally passes and is lost in dreary space beyond the affinity of centripetal forces. Let us then rest in the conclusion, that true science is unchanging and immortal; that it grows out of the relations which God himself has created, and that it stands forever as his own language, as his first revelation ; and let us moreover rejoice, that the grand majestic text of di- vine truth, which it utters, is written in characters into 6 42 which time cannot eat, and which are preserved from age to age from all corrupt interpolations. Let us accordingly open our hearts to receive the sublime sentiment of Herschel ; let us believe that the laws of God extend with omnipresent power through the moral as through the physical world, and that Love is the great principle of gravitation in the spiritual universe which binds every devout mind to the central Source of life, wisdom and bliss. While, therefore, we are grateful to the philosophers and poets, the historians and divines of Europe, for their invaluable works in science, literature, and reli- gion, let us distinguish between things that differ, and henceforth not only borrow from all, but improve what- ever we appropriate. Our country must make its own character ; and if it would draw others within the sphere of its attraction, it must, free of all foreign dis- turbing influence, majestically decree its own orbit in time and space. While, therefore, we cordially pro- sent the right hand of fellowship to all true scholars and true patriots in both hemispheres, and hope the only rivalry or question among them all will be, which shall study most deeply the great problems of human nature and human government, of physical science and revealed religion, we may be allowed to hope for our own country that she may fulfil her mission to the world ; that she may be faithful to her great political creed, and faithful to her pious forefathers : then we cannot doubt her glorious future. We are sure that with the four stars of knowledge and virtue, liberty and peace, in her diadem, she will go on triumphantly, and settle down at last among the nations in the col- lected majesty of her power. !