PaOPEETT OF THE 
 HBliRY OF C0(m}12SS 
 
 AN ADDRESS 
 
 POPULAR EDUCATION, 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PENNINGTON MALE SEMINARY, 
 
 PENNINGTON, NEW-JERSEY, 
 
 JULY 21sT, 184L 
 
 BY WILLIAM H. ALLEN, A.M. 
 
 PROFESSOR OP CHEMISTRY AND NATURAL PHILOSOPHY ISf 
 DICKINSON COLLEGE. 
 
 TRENTON. 
 
 JUSTICE & MILLS, 
 Printers. 
 
 184L 
 
Resolved, unanimously, That the thanks of the Visiting Committee and 
 Board of Trustees, of the Pennington Male Seminary, be given to Professor 
 Allen, for the able and eloquent Address delivered by him, on the 21st of 
 July; and that he be lequested to furnish a copy for publication. 
 
 The Committee tender to Professor Allen their profound respect 
 
 ABSALOM BLACHLY, ( rnmmJH«» 
 HENRY P. WELLING, { Committee. 
 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 The Address, which you have been pleased to notice in so partial and 
 friendly a manner, is at your disposal. 
 
 Be pleased, gentlemen, to accept for yourselves and for those whom yoia 
 represent, assurances of the cordial esteem and respect of 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 W. H. ALLEN 
 

 cc 
 
 
 'QlNTLBMHN OF THE BOARD OP TRUSTEES 
 
 AND Visiting Committee — 
 
 At this first anniversary of the Pennington Male Seminary, it 
 is fit that you and the friends and teachers of the Institution, here pre- 
 sent, should feel an honest exultation in witnessing the auspicious re- 
 sults of your efforts and labors. Nothing great or useful has ever been 
 accomplished without toil and sacrifice; and the establishment and 
 organization of a Seminary of learning, even in the most favorable 
 circumstances, are no exception to this general remark. Its pro- 
 jectors must possess the wisdom to devise, and the energy to exe- 
 /*! cute — the sagacity to foi^feee dificulties, the courage to meet them, 
 and the perseverance to overcome them —the tact to remove preju- 
 dice and conciliate friendship, and the skill to baffle opposition, and 
 disarm hostility. Money must be had; and in the midst of public 
 bankruptcy and private distress, the collection of funds requisite to 
 place an Institution of learning on a secure basis, and in an efficient 
 state, is not among the least of the embarrassments which attend the 
 enterprise. Teachers must be had ; and when so many employments 
 more congenial to most minds, and offering more ample pecimiary 
 rewards, are inviting the talents of the country, it is not always easy 
 to command the services of enterprising, active and competent men. 
 All these difficulties you have encountered, these obstacles you have 
 overcome; and here, with the fruits of your labors before you and 
 around you ; a substantial edifice in which to conduct your opera- 
 tions; able instructors who know their duties, and delight to per- 
 form them; a goodly number of youthful students who have given, 
 in an interesting and well-sustained examination, convincing proofs 
 of their own ability and industry, and of the zeal and faithfulness 
 of their preceptors; — in the midst of these evidences of your suc- 
 cess, allow me to congratulate you, that through your instlCimen- 
 tality, a Seminary of learning has been established heref which 
 is destined to become an ornament to your State, and a blessing to 
 the community. 
 
 I know not how I could discharge my duty to you, and to the 
 
audience assembled on this occasion, in a more appropriate manner, 
 than by offering some thoughts on the diffusive tendency of educa- 
 tion in our country, and on the social and political advantages of 
 an elevated standard of popular instruction. 
 
 By education, I do not mean that knowledge exclusively which 
 is acquired at school, but that training of the intellectual and moral 
 powers, wheresoever and howsoever obtained, which refines a 
 man's tastes, enlarges his views, elevates his ideas, and enables him 
 to think consecutively, reason correctly, and act properly, in the 
 affairs and conduct of life. In this sense of the word, a man may 
 have an excellent education, though he may never have been at 
 school; and a very defective education, though he may have gradu- 
 ated at college. By study, and by study alone, can a good educa- 
 tion be acquired. It would be absurd, however, to infer that schools 
 are useless, because it is possible for a man to educate himself 
 without them. As well might you destroy your rail roads, because 
 men can travel without them. Schools are facilities for travelling 
 on the highway of knowledge, and the more rapid, cheap, and easy 
 the conveyance, the more numerous will be the passengers. 
 
 The United States have not, like France, Holland, and Prussia, 
 a national system of instruction ; and the State governments have 
 done little more than establish and support primary schools. Liberal 
 appropriations have indeed occasionally been made for the endow- 
 ment of Academies and Colleges ; but those institutions are not 
 usually under the direction of the State authorities, but are controlled 
 by boards possessing corporate powers. No State has a uniform 
 and well-arranged system of public instruction, controlled in all its 
 departments by the public authority; This, which at first view 
 appears so defective in our State policy, is doubtless more in accor- 
 dance with our ideas of liberty, and with the genius of our institu- 
 tions, than the systems which prevail in Europe. In Prussia, every 
 child from seven to fourteen years of age, is compelled by law to 
 attend the public schools. In this country men are so jealous of 
 their freedom, they do not like to be driven to promote even their 
 own interests. Many a citizen of this Republic would deem it a 
 serious invasion of his inalienable rights, were he obliged to send 
 his children to a certain school, or, indeed, to any school. In Prus- 
 sia, the schools are a part of the government, and the teachers, of 
 every '*grade, from the heads of the Universities downward, are 
 officers'^ of the government, appointed by the public authority, 
 responsible to it, removable by it, and paid from the public treasury. 
 It is obvious that such a system, wielded with energy by a stable 
 aad despotic monarchy, and constantly directed to the support of 
 
the government, and the maintenance of the existing order of things, 
 would lose its efficiency in the conflicts of opinion and the triumph 
 and defeat of parties, which incessantly agitate our country. Who 
 among us would desire to see our schools the engines of political 
 strife, and our teachers the brawlers of a dominant faction, to be 
 rewarded while it holds the power, and displaced at its fall. In 
 Prussia, the government directs, through the censors of the press, 
 xvhat works shall be published; and through the ministers of pub- 
 lic instruction, what books shall be used in the schools, ft is need- 
 less to say that in this country, the minority would never submit to 
 have doctrines, which they abhor, as injurious, false and wicked, 
 instilled into the minds of their children by the power of an unscru- 
 pulous and transient majority. 
 
 Where then are we to look for that active, diffusive principle, 
 under whose operation Seminaries, and Colleges, and Universities 
 are springing into life in every section of our country ? How comes 
 it that here, unsustained by the patronage find power of govern- 
 ment, the means of acquiring a better education than the elementary 
 schools can furnish, are placed within the reach of almost every 
 youth of the Republic who desires to use them? The solution of 
 this question is to be found in that spirit of combination, to which 
 various and adverse religious opinions here give birth. I am aware 
 that the word, sectarianism, is alarming to some, odious to others. 
 In the minds of many, it is synonymous with all that is selfish in 
 purpose, malignant in spirit, vindictive in action. Such men take 
 narrow views. Blind to the great good, they grow pale and shud- 
 der at the little evil, which their diseased optics have magnified. 
 They forget, that in the present order of the Divine government, 
 good and evil are always associated; that it is often impossible to 
 distinguish the true from the apparent; and that, in the progress of 
 human society, the greatest good has often sprung from seeming ill. 
 The truth is, the sects are doing that to instruct and elevate the 
 popular mind in this country, which government has never effected 
 elsewhere, and which no other cause could have eflfected here. 
 What possible combinations of men, on other than religious 
 interests, could have shown such firmness of purpose, such union 
 of effort, such economy of expense, and such energy of action, as 
 have characterized those sects which have been foremost in the 
 cause of education in this country? 
 
 When learning revived in Europe after the dark ages, the human 
 mind, like a giant roused from slumber, conscious of its strength, 
 and indignant at its long subjugation, exhibited the energy of a con- 
 queror, though something of the ferocity of a savage. Time passed; 
 
and the governments of Europe, observing that armed men wers 
 springing up to overthrow them, from the seeds which daring philo- 
 sophers had scattered in the intellectual soil, prudently resolved to 
 cultivate that soil for themselves; and if dragon's teeth must be 
 sown, to enlist the earth-born warriors on their own side. Hence 
 originated that alliance between government and learning, which is 
 so close and strong in Germany ; that union of school and state, 
 which is a firmer bulwark to their institutions than all the cannon 
 ever cast, than all the bayonets ever burnished. Just such an alli- 
 ance, but for higher and nobler purposes, religion and learning are 
 forming in the United States; and while every church looks to its 
 schools as the nurseries of champions to step forth in its defence on 
 the arena of controversy, the schools owe to the churches their 
 power to disseminate knowledge, and make it accessible to the 
 masses of the population. Each sect has had the sagacity to dis- 
 cover, that its influence on the next age will depend on the educa- 
 tion of its youth in the present; and while each has its own schools, 
 and manages them with a view to its own interests, no single sys- 
 tem of doctrines in philosophy, politics, or religion, can so far gain 
 ascendency over all others, as to put in jeopardy the public good. 
 A healthy activity of mind is kept alive by this clashing of rival 
 opinions and interests; the spirit of investigation is developed, 
 which, once awakened, extends itself ^ . ward and . Qn . w»rd < to every 
 subject within the grasp of intellect; new combinations of beauty 
 and utility spring from the effervescence and fermentation of discor- 
 dant elements; and the national mind, quickened into motion by the 
 force of a pervading and resistless attraction, leaps forward with 
 strong impulse in the career of improvement. 
 
 Another advantage resulting from the union of schools and 
 churches, and which tends to the diffusion of knowledge, is the ces- 
 sation of hostilities between religion and philosophy. There was a 
 time when the churchman regarded every philosopher as an infidel; 
 and the philosopher, every churchman as a bigot. The church took 
 alarm at the discoveries of science, lest they should overthrow its 
 dogmas; and philosophy assailed the church as the most formidable 
 enemy to the progress of truth. The sympathies of men being 
 arrayed on the side of the church, science was retarded by the 
 policy of the learned, and the prejudices of the ignorant. Mr. 
 Whewell, in his History of the Inductive Sciences, relates that 
 Augustin denied there are inhabitants on the opposite side of the 
 earth, ''because no such race is recorded in scripture among the 
 descendants of Adam!" "When a certain philosopher was reported 
 to Boniface, Archbishop of MentZ;. as holding the existence of Anti- 
 
podes, the Prelate was shocked by the assumption, as it seemed to 
 bim, of a world of human beings, out of the reach of the conditions 
 of salvation ; and application was made to the Pope for a censure of 
 the holder of this dangerous doctrine."* Through dread of the 
 denunciations of the Hierarchy, Copernicus did not publish his sys- 
 tem of Astronomy till he came to his death-bed; and Gallileo was 
 imprisoned in the Inquisition for believing that the earth moves 
 round the sun, and not (he sun round the earth. But men have now 
 learned that "the same God who made the Bible made the world;" 
 and that the truths of nature confirm those of revelation, with 
 proofs too convincing to be resisted. Religion and knowledge, foes 
 no longer, but confederated in an alliance, which mutual assistance 
 continually strengthens, now work together for the same end — the 
 welfare of mankind. Prejudice no longer drives men away from 
 the open gates of science, but religion stands at her portals, and 
 invites them to enter. 
 
 We may further observe the diffusive tendency of education in 
 our Republic, by contrasting it with the exclusive systems of the 
 ancients. Among the Egyptians, learning was confined to the 
 priests and high functionaries of state, and the mysteries of science 
 were shrouded from the people with scrupulous care, and an im- 
 penetrable veil. In Persia, only the sons of the best families were 
 admitted to the public institutions. Among the Athenians, the most 
 wise and acute people of antiquity, the philosophers kept the learn- 
 ing which they esteernn^most valuable, imprisoned in the schools 
 which they established, a profound secret to the uninitiated. And 
 while Poetry, Eloquence, Philosophy, and Art shed a glory over the 
 ^Athenian name, and kindled a light which has shone upon the path 
 of man even to our times, multitudes of the Athenian populace 
 could neither read nor write. The reproof of Alexander of Mace- 
 don to his Tutor, is a good illustration of the exclusive spirit which 
 prevailed among the learned of Greece. While the hero was pur- 
 suing his conquests in the east, Aristotle published his Physical 
 Lectures. " You have not done well," thus writes to him Alexan- 
 der, "You have not done well in publishing these lectures ; for how 
 shall we, your pupils, excel other men, if you make that public to all, 
 which we have learned from you." No less characteristic of the 
 age is the reply of the great preceptor: " My lectures are published 
 and not published ~ they will be intelligible to those who heard them, 
 and to none beside." Juvenal satirized the Roman populace for 
 desiring only two things — " bread and games ;" and perhaps the 
 justice of the invective is a sufficient proof how low were the tastes, 
 
 *See History of the Indactive Sciences, vol. 1. p. 256. 
 
8 
 
 how degrading the pleasures, and how defective t!ie education of 
 the masses of society at Ron:ie Yet these were the countrymen 
 of Cicero, and Virgil, and Pliny, and Tacitus. During the middle 
 ages, the cloister of the monk retained within its recesses the learn- 
 ing of antiquity; and while the secluded devotee guarded well the 
 sacred flame which was one day to illumine the world, he took good 
 heed that no ray of its light should escape beyond the walls of its 
 prison. 
 
 With us, on the contrary, all that is known is published, and 
 all who are willing to read, may learn and profit by it. Secrets are 
 unpopular. The misers of knowledge are no longer permitted to 
 lock up their treasures and brood over them, selfishly and alone. 
 Our maxim is, he that hath aught to saj'- or do, which can benefit 
 man, let him say and do it; rewarded or unrewarded, let him not 
 withhold; for what is one man's interest or ease, compared with 
 the interests of the human race] 
 
 Again : let us mark the diff"usive tendency of education in 
 America, in contrast with what may be called the centralizing sys- 
 tems of modern Europe. In Russia, all art, and refinement, and 
 wealth, and science are concentrated at St. Petersburg; and while 
 the families of rank in that city enjoy every facility for instruction 
 and improvement, the vast territories of the empire grope in Cim- 
 merian darkness. The University of Berlin is the focus of light 
 and intelligence in Prussia; and though other bright points scatter 
 their rays over the kingdom, their light is obscured by the superior 
 splendor of the great central luminary. In France, every thing 
 gravitates towards Paris. Annihilate the capital, and if any France 
 remained, it would be no such France as that which now excite^^ 
 the admiration of the world. In England, the Universities of Ox- 
 ford and Cambridge are regarded as the great repositories of learn- 
 ing, the fountains of philosophy, the arbiters of letters, without 
 whose seal and sanction new discoveries have no passport to 
 notice, and merit no herald to fame. 
 
 The eflfect of all this, is to establish an aristocracy of learning, 
 whose members guard the entrenchments which surround them 
 with Argus vigilance, against the access of every intruder; and 
 who lord it over the empire of mind with despotic sway. 
 
 But here, every section of the country has its own literary insti- 
 tution, which acknowledges no supremacy in others, no inferiority 
 in itself Here no great University claims to be the autocrat of the 
 national mind ; nor arrogates to itself the sole dispensation of lite- 
 rary honors ; nor gathers around itself all the eminent scholars of 
 the country. No central luminary eclipses all others by its over- 
 
powering brightness; but a hundred radiant points, less intense 
 indeed, but more genial and salutary, throw a uniform and cheer- 
 ful light over every part of the land. The European system makes 
 more profound scholars ; ours, a greater number. The one elevates 
 the few far above the heads of the many ; the other exalts the many 
 by raising all to a higker level. The one places the highest acade- 
 mical honors beyond the reach of the poor ; the other, not only 
 offers the prize to all who will make an effort to attain it, but also 
 invites and encourages them to come up and take it. In Europe, 
 who has ever heard of a penniless youth, without friends and with- 
 out assistance, carving his own way to the honors of a University T 
 In America, the thing is so common as hardly to attract attention. 
 Need I tell you how, under our diffusive, economical, democratic 
 system, the New England boy, without money, but with a fearless 
 heart and a busy brain, works his way through college to stations 
 of honor and influence? At the age of eighteen, he has received a 
 good English education in the free schools. He desires more. Per- 
 haps the undefined aspirations of conscious genius struggle in his 
 soul. Having toiled during the summer at some manual labor, in 
 autumn he repairs to an academy and qualifies himself to teach a 
 common school during the winter. With the fifty dollars earned 
 by his three months services, he returns to the academy, pays the 
 expenses incurred in the fall, and resumes his studies. In the sum- 
 mer he goes to work again to pay for his spring quarter at the aca- 
 demy. Thus he continues alternately studying, and teaching, and 
 working, till at the age of twenty-one, with fifty dollars in his 
 pocket, he enters college. He can now teach schools of a higher 
 grade, -four months in each year, and keeping pace with his class by 
 extra study, at the age of twenty-five he graduates with honor, two 
 or three hundred dollars in debt. With ample experience in teach- 
 ing, acquired by a long apprenticeship in the common schools, he is 
 now employed as a tutor in the academy which seven years before 
 he entered as a pupil. At the end of another year he is free from 
 debt, and prepared to study any profession, or enter upon any 
 career of life to which inclination or duty may lead. With a hardi- 
 hood of frame, which youthful toil has produced; habits of economy, 
 which poverty has made necessary; a self-reliance, which a series 
 of successful efforts, originating with himself and directed by him- 
 self, has nourished ; a spirit of enterprise, innate and indomitable, 
 whose field is the world ; a courage, that no obstacles can daunt ; 
 a fertility of resources, that no emergency can surprise; and a per- 
 severance, that no labor can appal, he goes forth into the world *'/a 
 find, or to make a way^ Can such a man faill No — he cannot 
 
10 
 
 iail. He knows himseK; and trusting in Crod, and in tiie powers 
 which God has given him, "he dares to do all that may become a 
 man." 
 
 Let us now proceed to the second part of the proposed subject-. 
 the social and political advantages of an elevated standard of popu- 
 lar education. By popular education is meant, the education of 
 those who toil with their hands, in distinction from that of those 
 who toil with their heads. The latter is frequently called a liberal 
 education, and perhaps the term is not misapplied, if we mean only 
 to contrast it with the former, which, in truth, is illiberal enough. 
 That will be a glorious day for our Republic, when the education of 
 every man, whatever is to be his occupation, shall be liberal. The 
 opinion extensively prevails, that the elements taught in the pri- 
 mary schools, are all that can be necessary or useful to the farmer 
 and mechanic. The father who destines his son to succeed him on 
 his farm or in his shop, fears to give him a thorough scientific edu- 
 cation, lest the boy's head should be turned ; lest he should become 
 too lazy to work, and too proud for his business. But all observa- 
 tion teaches, that the more learned a man becomes, the less proud 
 he is; and that the toil required to gain knowledge, is a poor nurse 
 of indolence. It is the pretenders to learning, who are proud; and 
 tlie ignorant, who are lazy. Besides, the respectability of an occu- 
 pation depends not so much on itself, as on the character and intel- 
 ligence of those who pursue it. There is no nobler employment 
 than his, who tills the soil for the sustenance of the human race; 
 no man is more useful than he who fabricates those articles, and 
 executes those works, which conduce to the security, the conve- 
 nience, and the comfort of his species. Let these classes of our 
 citizens have but a good education, and they would instantly take 
 their rightful position, in the highest ranks of influence, honor, and 
 power. 
 
 But even admitting, what is by no means certain, that it is impos- 
 sible for the laboring classes to be as well instructed as the profes- 
 sional, it by no means follows that their education should be 
 neglected ; and that no efforts should be made to improve it. Tiiere 
 is more point than truth in the oft quoted couplet of Pope, 
 " A little learning is a dangerous thing-, 
 Drink deep or taste not the Pierian spring." 
 
 If a little learning is dangerous, it is dangerous not because it isr 
 learning, but because it is so little. How much more dangerous 
 then is no learning at all ! Who would refuse a good thing, because 
 he could not have as much of it as he desired? The wise man 
 would say, if I cannot have all I would, I will take what I can. 
 
11 
 
 Every step of advancement in l<^arning is so much gain. Though 
 a man may not hope to reach the summit of the hill of science, 
 where the beauty of a vast region delights his extended vision, 
 shall he remain forever at the bottom of the deep valley of igno- 
 rance, his view circumscribed on all sides, and the light of day shut 
 out by impervious barriers'! Let him rather ascend as high as he 
 can, and gain all the light he can, and look forth as far as he can, 
 over the boundless universe of God. ^ 
 
 In a report recently made to the British Parliament, containing 
 details of the testimony given before a committee by the propri- 
 etor of a manufacturing establishment on the continent, in which 
 are employed from six to nine hundred workmen from the different 
 nations of Europe, are found some interesting and instructive state- 
 ' ments relating to the beneficial effects of popular education. As an 
 abstract of this report is before the public, I will only state, in the 
 briefest manner, the conclusions which may be drawn from it. It 
 appears — 
 
 1st. That the operatives who are well educated, are more econo- 
 mical in their expenditures than the uneducated. While the former 
 live well and save money, the latter live poorly, and spend all their 
 wages. 
 
 2d. Though skill in anyparticular department of work, depends 
 on experience and practical dexterity, the ability to conform to cir- 
 cumstances, and adapt themselves to new methods and new work, 
 depends on the cultivation of the mind. In other words, the igno- 
 rant man can move without mistake only in the beaten track in 
 which he has always walked; the educated can follow successfully 
 any direction given him, and often is able to strike out a new path 
 for himself. The former is a machine; the latter a thinking being. 
 3d. The educated have a self-respect, which induces them to 
 avoid the vulgar habits and debasing pleasures of the ignorant, and 
 seek to secure the esteem of the higher classes, and to elevate 
 themselves in society. They have a sense of honor — a love of 
 character — a regard for their reputation, which make them wor- 
 thier citizens and better men. 
 
 4th. While the ignorant bring up their children in filth, idleness, 
 vulgarity and profanity, a pest to themselves, and a nuisance to the 
 neighborhood; the domestic establishments of the educated are 
 cleanly, and their children neatly clothed, decent in their deport- 
 ment, and well instructed. 
 
 Each of these statements might have been put into the form of 
 a proposition, and demonstrated by reasoning. But/acts are worth 
 
1^ 
 
 more than arguments ; and for that reason, I have presented tlie 
 subject in this manner. 
 
 It may appear superfluous to say more in proof of the advan- 
 tages which society derives from the liberal education of laboring 
 men; but I beg your indulgence to the remark, that nearly all the 
 inventions which have proved eminently useful, were made by men 
 who combined studious habits with practical skill. James Watt, to 
 whom the world is indebted for nearly all that is valuable and 
 efficient in the steam-engine, though brought up in the occupation 
 of mathematical instrument maker, devoted himself assiduously to 
 the study of Natural Philosophy and the kindred sciences. Robert 
 Fulton, who first applied the power of steam to navigation, while 
 actively employed as machin^ist and civil engineer, became deeply 
 learned in physics, chemistry, and the higher mathematics. — 
 There is another example no less in point: In the year 1784' 
 the son of a Massachusetts farmer, partly by the profits of his 
 manual labor, and partly by teaching a village school, prepares 
 himself for Yale College, in opposition to the wishes of his 
 parents. With a resolution which neither poverty nor paterna^ 
 resentment can shake, he falters not till he has accomplished the 
 regular course of study. After graduating, he engages himself as a 
 private tutor with a family in Georgia; but, on arriving in that 
 state, he finds the place for which he had contracted, occupied by 
 another. Destitute and without resources, he is kindly received 
 into the mansion of a lady with whom he had become acquainted 
 on the voyage. There, one day he hears a party of gentlemen 
 remark, that "till ingenuity should devise some method to facilitate 
 the separation of cotton from its seed, it was vain to think of rais- 
 ing the article for market." The young man conceives an idea. 
 Silently and alor.e, by day and by night, he broods over that 
 thought, till by patient mental incubation, it assumes form and con- 
 sistency. But the unsubstantial thought must now be wrought out 
 into a material shape. The idea must become a thing. Month after 
 month, with such tools as he had learned to use in boyhood, and 
 others which his genius supplies to his wants, concealed from the 
 gaze of men, he toils on. An intellect, matured by culture, pre- 
 sides in that cluttered and dusty apartment. The busy head and 
 the busy hand work together. Awhile, and it is whispered in the 
 community, that a machine is there with which one man can per- 
 form the labor of a hundred. The excited populace rush together, 
 break open the mysterious room, and before the inventor has 
 secured his patent, carry off the cotton gin. A hundred millions of 
 dollars are at once added to the value of property in the south ; 
 
13 
 
 ootton becomes the great staple of the country; tlic price of clo- 
 thing for the human race is every where diminished; the world is 
 benefitted; and Eli Whitney, though unrewarded, is immortal. 
 
 Such are a few examples from the many which migiit be 
 adduced, showmg the advantage of combining study with labor- 
 And it may be ^safely asserted, furthermore, that, if a man looks 
 only to his pecuniary interests; if his object is "not to live, but to 
 g-et a living-;'" there is no occupation or business whatever, in 
 which the well educated will not, as a general remark, be more suc_ 
 cessful than the poorly educated. The laborious classes are not 
 sufficiently impressed with this fact, and hence they are reluctant to 
 avail themselves of the means of instruction which are placed 
 within their reach. With good schools at their very doors, many 
 rear their children in comparative ignorance. The young appren- 
 tice or journeyman, instead of devoting his pocket money and his 
 leisure to books, too often squanders both in idle amusements, or 
 vicious indulgences. The individual who is educated at all, in 
 school or out, f^ducates himself; and I hesitate not to say, that if 
 every young farmer and mechanic would acquire a taste for read- 
 ing, and a habit of thinking, and would employ his hours of leisure 
 in the cultivation of his mind, he might become an intelligent man, 
 even without an instructor. 
 
 Some years ago, in the town of Worcester, Mass. an appren- 
 tice was toiling from morning till night at the bellows and anvil. 
 Yet in the eye that looked out from that dingy brow, an observer 
 might have seen, that the fires of genius had been kindled in his 
 soul. That boy reads. The money which others would have spent 
 in folly, he expends in books. The hours which others waste in 
 idleness or sleep, he devotes to study. A latin grammar falls into 
 his hands. What can a blacksmith's boy, without a teacher, do 
 with a latin grammar 1 Will he throw aside his hammer and study 
 itl No; he studies it, and still wields his hammer. He becomes of 
 age and begins bnsiness for himself; and still he studies. His pro- 
 gress is silent and unobserved, for he is unknown and poor. At 
 length the rumor reaches the ears of a man of influence, that the 
 blacksmith loves books. He sends him a key to the public library, 
 and bids him go in and out at will. That key is more precious to 
 him than gold; for it unlocks treasures which he deems far more 
 valuable than shining dust. Year after year might he be seen in 
 that library, poJfring at night over the pages of ancient and modern 
 learning. Still, by day, the sound of his hammer is heard in his 
 shop. He is none the worse blacksmith, because he is versed in 
 fifty languages, and comprehends the profound analy&R of La. 
 
14 
 
 Place. About the close ot ihe year 1840, a man is seen holding a 
 crowded audience wrapt in attention, as with modest air and plea- 
 sing eloquence, he pours forth in faultless language, the intellectual 
 wealth, which, by years of patient study, he has accumulated. He 
 stands before the learned, the rich, the polished of the land, and 
 instructs them. The name of the blacksmith has reached the Gover- 
 nor of the commonwealth ; the Governor has mentioned him in a 
 public address; and men and women are desirous to see and hear 
 him. Is he elated and vain] Can he descend from that desk, 
 amid plaudits of approbation, and resume the sledge 1 Fear not for 
 him. True merit is modest. With cheerful content he retires 
 from the gaze of men, to his anvil and his books. 
 
 But there is another and still stronger reason, why the educa- 
 tion of the masses of our people should be brought up to a more 
 liberal and elevated standard. The masses are the sovereigns. They 
 are the fountain of all authority; the lawful possessors of the power 
 of which the public officers are but the depositories. Our govern- 
 ment is not only the exponent of the public will, but by its very 
 nature, it also becomes the instrument of that will whose creature 
 it is. But the public will is the resultant of individual wills; and its 
 direction and force are determined by the character and intelligence 
 of the majority. It may be expected, then, that whatever the great, 
 leading characteristics of our people may be, tlie government, like a 
 faithful mirror, will reflect them, in their beauty or deformity, to an 
 admiring or disgusted world. 
 
 In despotic states, much care is taken that the young Princes 
 be properly instructed, to prepare them to discharge the duty of 
 jnonarchs. In like manner, it would be wise in us to take heed that 
 they, whose suffrages elect our rulers, whose will gives character to 
 the administration of affairs, and who are themselves eligible to the 
 highest places in the Republic, be qualified by mental discipline, to 
 assume the responsibilities and discharge the duties of American 
 citizens. 
 
 There is a class of men, found in evei'y section of our country, 
 but more numerous in large towns and cities, and among the rude 
 population of the frontier states, who, impelled by headlong passion, 
 are ever ready to break over the restraints of law. Forgetting that 
 the will of the people is the supreme law only when that will is 
 legally expressed and legally executed, they hold the atrocious doc- 
 trine, that those who make the law are above the law; and that a 
 large number may exercise, rashly and violently, the functions 
 which a majority, acting deliberately through its constituted organs, 
 can alone lawfully exercise. Y^y them, law is shorn of its moral 
 
15 i 
 
 power, and becomes the sport of violence; force, designed to sus- \ 
 
 tain law, becomes the instrument of its overthrovv; obedience, tiie 
 
 only guaranty of freedom, is scouted as slavish and cowardly; and | 
 
 the courts of justice besieged, to wrest judgment by threats and j 
 
 clamor. Such men are the bone and sinew of mobs, the judges j 
 
 and executioners of lynch-law. Glorious sovereigns these, to 
 
 wield the destinies of a mighty nation, and to impress upon its acts i 
 
 their hue and likeness ! , 
 
 There is another class, less brutal, but more dangerous. They 
 
 are not stolidly ignorant, nor boastfully vulgar. They put on an 
 
 air of pretension, lounge at places of public resort, and talk politics 
 
 with as much assurance as statesmen. Eager to live without work, ^ 
 
 yet too poor to do so ; clamorous for offices, yet incompetent to fill ' 
 
 them; too lazy to study, too well dressed to beg, too proud to toil, ] 
 
 they stand ever ready to become the corrupt instruments of cor- 1 
 
 rupt men, " fit foT treasons, stratagems and spoils." Keen to know ' 
 
 when to crouch and when to insult, — they are devoted worshippers 
 
 of " the star that rules the ascendant," and brave " to kick the dead 
 
 lion." Patriotic as interest prompts, it is surprising how willing 
 
 they are to serve the public. 
 
 They love their country, and like lovers linger ' 
 
 So long as she has cash for them to finger; > 
 
 They serve their country, and, themselves to pay, 
 Purloin her gold, pack up, and run away. 
 
 There is still another class, less numerous than the last, but 
 more violent and bold. A celebrated Jacobin of the French Revo- i 
 
 lution declared : " It is necessary to form the country anew, to , 
 
 change its ideas, its laws, and its manners ; to change men and 
 things, words and names; in a word, to destroy every thing, since 
 every thing ought to be r^reated." But the propensities of these ! 
 
 men are still more destructive. They would destroy all, and r^reate 
 nothing. Not satisfied with demolishing the framework of society, \ 
 
 they would tear up its foundations. They would have no law, no j 
 
 property, no families, no rights, no wrongs ; but in the ferocious ] 
 
 spirit of radical agrarianism, return to 
 
 " The {jood old rule, the simple plan, 
 
 That he may take who has the power, ! 
 
 That he may keep who can." i 
 
 All these classes of men flourish where ignorance prevails, but 
 
 languish in the light of popular intelligence. If liberty is in danger 
 
 i M from either or all of them, education alone can avert the danger. i 
 
 ffiC^^ They are diseases in thc^politic, which no homcspathy, with its l^/ 
 
 7 ''similia similibus curantur,'' can eradicate. McrraT and political / , 
 
 hydrophobia can never be cured by the virus that caused tbs mad- j 
 
16 
 
 ness. Popular ignorance and popular vice go hand in hand, leading' 
 on to licentiousness and degradation, imbecility and slavery. Both 
 must be expelled together, by the combined power of science and 
 religion, working to the same end, and producing that elevation of 
 the national intellect and morals, in which a good popular education 
 consists. 
 
 If we enquire for the cause of the decline and fall of the ancient 
 republics, we shall find it in that corruption of public and private 
 morals, which is the necessary consequence of popular ignorance. 
 Poverty, indeed, may keep even an uninstructed people virtuous, 
 hardy, and brave ; but when wealth and luxury increase, the only 
 conservative element against corruption, with its attendant effemi- 
 nacy and consequent subjugation, is to be sought in the elevation 
 of the popular mind. Lycurgus attempted to protect the stern, rude 
 virtues of the Lacedemonians, by banishing riches from the State, 
 and barring every avenue to luxury. Be ours the nobler task so to 
 strengthen the moral and intellectual power of the people — that 
 while they enjoy the blessings of wealth, they may escape its 
 seductions. In this alone may we hope to secure the permanency 
 of our institutions, and find the true dignity and glory of the 
 Republic. 
 
 Two paths then are before us as a nation .-—Ignorance and vice, 
 intelligence and virtue. If we enter the one, we may run a violent 
 and tumultuous career, attract for a while the gaze of an astonished 
 world, and terrify mankind at last by the noise of our ruin, and the 
 shock of our fall. If we take the other, we shall not win a momen- 
 tary, but a lasting admiration ; the foundations of national prosperity 
 and individual happiness will be durable as time, strong as truth ; 
 our political system will have no insidious venom preying upon the 
 springs of life,— no gangrene to be separated by the mutilation of 
 the living parts,— no convulsions to distort,— no paralysis to pros- 
 trate ; but ail the organs animated by a healthy vitality, moving and 
 acting together without jar or discord, like the movements and 
 music of the spheres, till our nation shall become " a name and a 
 praise in the whole earth." 
 
HiS!^.'},^^ O"" CONGRESS 
 
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