The National Register.
London, England, 1816-07-29 00:00:00

Dt

No. 442.—V0L. IX.

POLITICAL DISQUISITION.

ON GENERAL EDUCATION.
Wlett constitutes a state?
Not 4cd battlerinnt, or labouid-mound,
tho tte.p trench profound :
But Man, high-minded Man."
A AUBJECT so important and interesting as National
rduc.ltion, cannot be an improper one for the remarks of
a Politititl Disvisitor. We feel, too, that there is some-
thing in it that. excites in us sensations the most plea-
surable ; and, if the delightful views which our minds
have tisrmed to themselves on this question should never
be fully realised, yet we shall never regret the enjoyment
we have experienced. Not long ago, " wars anti rumours
of wars" were the dreadful subjects of our contemplation ;
and, though " our cause was just, and our quarrel ho..
nourable,"—yea, though our country has be.m honoured
by a most perfect triumph, and has received back her
colours from the same valiant hands into which they were
delivered, yet there is something of dread anti terror
-connected with such seasons, which even these pleasing
considerations cannot wholly efface from our minds.—
Thank God, an honouruble peace has at last been pro-
.eured for us ; and these pages, which not long ago were
stained with blood, shall resound with the sweet warh-
lings of the communication of that instruction -to every
British youth, which Cicero beautifully describes as " the
ornament of preiperity, the refuge and solace of adversity,
the best nourishment of youth, and the noblest pleasure
of age."
Whether this knowledge should be communicated or
not ; whether our young people should pine away their
joyless seasons like brutes, or lire honourable and useful
lives like men—like free men ; whether they should be
furnished in early fife with the principles of virtue to do-
fend them from the seducing artifices of a wicked world,
or be left to suck down the seeds of vice with their mo-
ther's milk—to live the plagues and pestilences of society,
and, finally, to end their lives in a jail, or on a gibbet ?
These are qwstions, on which, we believe, there is now
no dispute. The high authorities of our pure and holy
church, together with the great ministers of the Crown,
and almost cve:-v member of our well organised Govern-
ment, are agreed that there is no means so likely to check
the progress of crime—to induce subordination among
the lower ranks of society—and, consequently, to pro-
mote public peace anti prosperity, as a general diffusion
of the blessings of education. With such sentiments on
our minds, it is impossible that we should refuse our mite
of applause to the wisdom of the legislature, in instituting
an enquiry on this subject ; and, especially, to that en-
lightened individual who first su-estei the investi-
gation.

If, however, any among our readers should doubt of
the wisdom of educating the poor, let them take a view
of the state of Scotland, and this view shall decide the
question. There the poor can read, and yet are honest :
they can write, and yet are loyal : they can calculate,
and yet arc virtuous. By the wise and salutary diffusion
of education, even in parts which appear to he impenetra-
ble to civilization, upon the sides of frightful mountains,
or in dismal glens seldom visited by the rays of Heaven,
the astonished and admiring traveller behelds a sight, at
once gratifying and affecting, "In a hut of brunches
and sods," (says Sir John Carr), " When the hour of la-
bour is over, the young, enlightened by those institu-
tions which do honour to human nature, arc seen instruct-
ing those who are younger, or consoling the last hours
of venerable and sightless age, by reading aloud the Scrip-
tures, or some pious book printed in their own language ;
yet, in this sorry dwelling, the benighted traveller nuty
rest in safety, amid howling storm and roaring thunder ;
not a hand will be extended to him, but in kindness; not
a voice will be raised, but to charm his ear with the song
of other times; or, if he understands the language, to
store his mind with the wild, romantic, and beautiful
effusions of the Gaelic muse." Such are the happy effects
of the general difinsion of the blessings of education in
this country, that while in England one commitment
takes place in 52000 souls, and in Wales one in 800, our
more month countrymen north of the Tweed afford an
example of only one in '2 0,0 0 .
But it i 4 I not in Scotland only that we may look
for the advantages of education. The history of every
country :fiords the same example ; Europe, in parti-
cular, teaches the same truth in a manner more fiircible.
what, but to the influence of education, are we in-
&Med for our boasted superiority and civilization ? Why
do we no longer behold around us the horrors of ferocious
'barbarians. or degrading superstitions ; the impious scones
ofidulatry, and the afflicting tuiscrius of unntitlgated sla-
t