Jenks' Portland gazette. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1803-1805, 1804-12-24

LET'S fabric ofa vifon"
Ihsie have been fucoeedcd bya military def
potllm, at the head of which, Bonapar,e, for
elgher, Cor6can by birth, manages, with u{ur-
ped authority the deitinies of the /" Great Ma
tlon. ---Or, if we call beas our attention, dear
bought experience has taught our own nation,
that opr republican govern nent has no ftrcngth,
any tnrther than the people have correct infor-
nation ard xirtuc The iniurgent counties Of
Peuniylvania exhibit miniature portrait cf the
certain effects OF general ignorance and vice. in
deltroying a free government, Stimulated by
foreign influence, and led BY vianous dema-
gooueS, thofe deluded, faGtious people were
prepared 70 fly, not $50 theitandard of the law"
but IN the face of law, and to the fubyeyfon of
order and if the fame ignorance and tirbu-
lence had pervadcd the whole union, which
were manifei}ed in that lepross branch of it,
lone modern Calar or Catalina might have
triumphed over the proitrarcd liberties of this
country.
AS water will rife as high and no higher than
its fountain head. 70 free government rites
or 6nks precifely according to the ftandard Of
public intelligence and virtue. When g the
whole head becomes fcs, and the whole heart
| faint, or general corruption of manners per-
vades the body polite bills Of Rights, and free
Contributions OF Government, famped on paper
or parchment, would be of no avai-Such a
peo9e could not, for any length OF time, contin-
ue free.-When a republican nation, inhead of
cultiyating republican virtues, repofes in the lap
of fenfuaty, of luxury and vice, its government
becomes weak, as did the frong man Of old,
after leeping in the lap Of the harlot and being
lhorn of his locks. In { very lis1ited or qusiii
ed ienie, it IS, however, true, " that the repub-
lican government is the itrongen government
on earth" -While people are generally well in
formed and well dipoied, or while they are in
telligent and sirtuous, they will fupport and
defend the free government of their own choice,
with invinciDle energy, and, indeed, they cam
not fc their privileges, unleiS they frlt lofe
their virtue.
knowledge and virtue are " joachim and Boaz,"
the great pillars upon which free government
rcits. And from hence reiults the unfpeakabe
importance Of general difuiion of vrtucus
education, in free States The diftnguifhed
Sages and Legislators among the ancients, care
fully attended to this cardinal point, THE e1uca-
ton Ct youtb
! Moles, the lawgiver of The Hebrews, having,
BY the guidance of the Divine Hand, marked
cut tucha form of government for his people,
as was bef fuited to preferve them from the
defpotilm and idolatry CT the surrounding ma
tons, mott earncftiy urged upon them the ne
GETTY Of inftru&tn5 their children III the prin-
| ciplcs Of knowledge and virtue.
| Scion and Lcurgps, the Legislators Of Athens
| and Of Sparta, were deeply lentible, that the
| freedom of the people depended chemically upon
their education; and upon this object they be-
| flowed unceaGng attention.
The following fenrments of Plato ihould be
! written upon the tablet Of our memory, as "with
| the point Of diamond. ALL Gays that admi-
| rable philofopher) who have meditated on the
! art Of governing mankind, have been convin-
ced, that the Elfe # empires depend5 on The edra-
| ti7n eiveu to yout5. What are the fold founda-
tons of the tranquility and happiness of States
/ Not the laws, which regulate their conttltu-
ton, OF increalc power, but Tie nitnti0ns, qoicb
firm The citizens, and give acti0iy 10 their minds
Not the laws, which diipenfe rewards and pun
fhment, but The pubc Uoife, 7Obsn 1t makes on e-
alf digr;b .ti5n Of t0memtt and eHfem When rhe
nature, advantages and defects Of the different
| forms of government are carefully lnvcttiGa-
ted, zoe nal ind that the difference in the manners
ora be2bie IS litis7t 10 defroy The 65f Of co9Hftu-
fisi5, o. TO rel7i1fy he msf dstsf7ivs."
! |. cannot be expected, that the Banner of
Freedom will be fpread over theie United States,
for long time to come, unleis great care be u
| fed (much more than has yet been) to ettect
general difulion of coed inttruction among
youth. There ihould be free icnools at the
| public expenie, for the education of the children
of the poor Public pro1iion ihoud be made,
f! and vigilant care fhould be uied, that no chill
dren be fufered to grow up in ignorance, id'e-
nefs and vice Its pot A07Uy, but H(Sfa! cd
ucation that is needcd-af education, that
while it informs the bead, direefs IT'S influence
chiefly 10 the heart A veneration OF the deity,