56        Sketches of an    xcurssion to Soulhern Alaska.
We are bound, therefore, to leave no portion of our Country in ignorance. This life-giving power must circulate to the extremities to prevent paralysis. The law of self-preservation dictates the extension of our enlightening policy to Alaska. Our' nation, tolerating all creeds and adopting none, should foster the spirit of piety among the people, as giving sanction to Oaths and promoting in general a conscientious regard for duty. Without this no free nation could continue to exist : for self-government is the first law of a free people. No man is self-governed who is not regulated by a law'higher than the State. That higher law is God's, and it brings us before Him. These ideas are accepted substantially by the great bulk of our people. They determine the educational policy of our land, which aims at the training of every child in intelligence and virtue. If the preservation of our institutions rests upon these, we cannot afford to neglect any portion of the rising generation.
Modern civilization is a very comprehensive term. It means the benefits of invention, the improvement of arts and sciences, the cheapening of productions. It means diffusion of knowledge, respect for humanity, and benevolent eflorts for the exposed and neglected classes. It brings, in short, the means of a higher and better life to every man's door. But the diffusion of these blessings is not inproportion to their freeness and abundance. They are barred out by Sloth and Ignorance, and the troop of vices which always lurk in their shadows. They create the dens of infamy. They hatch the serpents that sting the body politic, and the vultures that hasten to the prey. The welfare of a nation is made up of the welfare of the individuals that compose it. And if we would promote the welfare of our Country, we must carry these blessings to the hearts and homes of the outcast and neglected classes.
They will not seek the good, because they are like children, they cannot appreciate it. The uplifting of a people starts from no inward promptings. It always comes from extraneous sources. There is no authentic example of a tribe or nation which has risen from primitive ignorance or barbarism into civilization by an indigenous inclination. Examples occur in history of individuals who have struggled to rise above their environment of earthlinesslike Milton's account of the creation of the king of beasts: Now half appears
The tawny lion, pawing to get free
His hinder parts: then springs, as broke from bonds,
And rampant shakes his brinded mane.
These are kings of men who have imparted the magnetism of their own inspiration to a few contemporaries, whose united exertions have propelled their people along the ascent. But these instances of success are very few in comparison with the hosts that fill the ranks of stupidity and barbarism, destitute of any aims or aspirations.
The notion seems to be widely diffused that the people who do not avail themselves of opportunities of progress and culture, are not worth saving. It is the voice ot might against weakness, often thoughtlessly uttered, and often with secret congratulations on one's own success in the struggle for life and distinction. The current flows resistlessly onward : let him swim who can, the