Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1811-05-02

love, severely censures, if 4 recollect
right, the endeavours of parents and
tutoseto. kindle and feed in the youth
tul 6relS4 the flame of emulation.
Not having at hand Studies of Ma
fure, l am compelled to state from
memory the substance of his ob;ecti-
ons to the use of that stimulant.--
+" why create SO violent thirst after
Pre-eminence and superiority Does
not the blood of youth naturally eff
fervesce with sufficient ardour Must
the ferment of ambition be superad-
ded /! of ambition, that pestiferous
source OF so many antisosial and malip-
nant feelings Are not virtue and SCI
ence sufficiently recommended by their
intrinsic charms, and by the advanta.
ges Hinseparable from them ? You
seeEfo benefit mankind beware lest
you injure them. Sometimes, indeed.
emulation communicates virtue us and
sublime impulses, but it more fire.
quently gives birth to ungenerous and
base affections. The youth, bent on
surprising others, necessarily becomes
their rival, and perhaps their enemy.
Hence, thousand corroding anxieties
torture his heart, and thousand pitt
tul arts degrade his understanding
Tor, ne must, on any terms, occupy
the first rank. This is not the inten-
ton OF nature. She made man TO he
neither below, nor above, his fellow
G,eafRres, but to walk their equal.
From the germs of ambition thus
planted IN the Juvenile mind result the
petty Jeaiousies, the jarring views, the
ciashIng interests, the qua rels and in
tolerance, by which society is inces-
sanity torn nor is this all, national
ambition originates in the same cause
and most of the evils which aflict
the world, may be ascribed to the as
Plrine pmper infused into man bv an
erronSpus education"
Doubtless, like every other moral
influence, emulation is liable to abu.
ses. Enthusiasts may be formrd Cor
crime, as well as for virtue. Decibi-
nrur specie recti. The old man of the
mountain sent his young fanatics, inc
oriated with delusive hopes, inAamed
with volcanic passions, on murderf,uo
errands.--And, in country LIE
France, the fears of ST. Pierre migbt
be be; JUST and his reasoning correct.
mere, men were not only numerous
out In close contact with one apo,her'
society, besides, was divided iDtotw
CASTS, mobiles and plebeians, and these
ca IS again subdivided into severaIbo-
dles whose interests seldom harmon;z.
ed 7pd by which an incessant and ac.
tive struggle was maintained, for dis
tinctIen and pre- eminence. or course.
emulation naturally assumed a rest
less and often malignant character.
1t resembled torrent, whose imnetu.
osity is increased by multiplied obs,a.
cies; Tor, the value of public applause
IS always enhanced by the difficuItv
OF obtaining it, and that difficultv
augments IN proportion to the number
or candidates for fame, and to the num-
Der OF those on whose decision the nalno
OF victory depends. Hence. part;cn-
iariy IN the putrid focus of populous
cities, that friction Of ideas. that coll
iis'on oI sentiments, that ferment of
liberated passions, and Unsuitable de-
sIrssywhich induced the amiabIe wr;-
ter abSee mentioned to consider emu.
lation IS a principle fertile in mis-
cnievous results.--But let its impulss
be directed towards objects in them
selves noble and useful; let its arden.
cy not consume, like fever, but. like
the glow of health, animate and VI.
witty the moral faculties of youth, wbat
can be apPrehcnded, in country lie
ours from the aspiring temper which
It has a tendency to infuse into the
juvenile mind +! We may allow a Gill
zen to be hrstin virtue, first in intellec-
tual excellence, first in social useful
ness. but should the rank weeds 4 no.
l&lcal ambition spring ND together
With the fair blossoms of merit. we
wVald Noon extirpate them. Indeed
'supPosiag emulation necessarily ~
produce some excrescences Of eootisn,
and inordinate vanity, l would, for NV
part, still prefer it to the wfe,ched s,c-
r'iIty OF that lsngour and ineuoess tn
which our injustiGable Indifference sny1
renders the rising generation W.