Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1815-10-07
RICHMOND, (vA.l October Z.
L.VTERN:aL LMPROVE.uE.N'T
To the Citizens Of Richnlond.

the same rs yours, whose greatest treasure
Is garner'd up" among you, and who ex-
poets to lay his bones within your soil, begs
leave to address you-not upon light or
temporary theme. but upon one in which the
n onor K Prosperity ofyour city, all the dear
est charities of our nature, are deeply con-
cerned. He does not ask for much-not for
thousands of dollars, but for few hun
dreds-not to embei6sh your city with
magnificent structures, not to raise the
plcndid column to empty Pride but to
save the genius that withers, the morals
that are corrupting, to plead the cause of
the young, the innocent, and the poor.
He, that comes to plead this cause, does
not do it lightly. He begs leave to say of
himself, that he has taken some little pains
to understand it; that he has read the cpl
tome which Lancaster has written, has
seen school established upon his princi-
Piles, and has reflected sufficiently upon it
to give him some claim to speak. In fine,
he has given public promise to address
you upon this subjects and he comes for
ward to redeem it. Though he addresses
himself particularly to you, yet what he
presses on general principles is equally ap-
plicable to every other city, which is not
blessed with a LanCastrian Institution. For
the same reasons that he would wish to see
it here, he would desire to see it spread
ing into every town il the Union
II an enlightened stranger were to come
amongst you, and to observe the crowd of
children. that are loungng and idling in
your streets, noisy & tumultuous, contract
ing habits of idleness and dissipation, the
first questions he would ask, would be,
"Why is this Is there no school amongst
you Has Lancaster taught in England
or has Ould taught in Georgetown, to no
purpose Are there no men of enterprise
and wealth among you, to initiate their
example Are your citizens so poor, that
they cannot, or so penurious, that they will
not promote such institutions ?"
On the most moderate calculation there
are not less than 900 children of both sex
es who are strpt of the means of educa-
ton. We include in this estna ate, not on
ly those "poor orphan free white chill
dren belonging to the city, who have not
money or estate of their own to procure
and pay the expences of instruct n"
| but lin the further words of our City Or
| dinance,) "such other free white children,
VIII sc parents shall be at the time citizens
and inhabitants of this G ty, and shall not
| have money or estate to procure and pay
! the expense of such instruction for them"
What becomes of them Most of them
| are forever stript of the means of" read
ing and writing the English Language"
| and of learning little 4" Common Arth-
metic." Hard indeed is their fate The
mind which God has given them, withers.
| A sense of degradation continually haunts
| them. When they are called upon to write
| their names, they are forcedto hang their
| heads and make their-mark Without
| some strong incentives, these persons will
| be disposed to give themselves up to gross
and debasing sensualities. In Germany,
| Muscis a sort of national amusement /;
and many man has been saved by the
| charms of his violin or guitar from the
seductions of the bottle and gaming-table.
| Should we be surprised at the number of
the poor, who are ruined in this country
by drinking, when most of them are with
| out the least taste for reading-and many
| Of them are even unable to read But, il
| there be any country in the world, in
| which the morals of the people ought to
be preserved pure, and their minds tolera-
bly, enlightened, it is in a Republic, the
basis of which must be public virtue, and
where they are the fountain of power.
Surely | shall not be told, that the
A" Or1ihan- Children" of this City are taught
the elements of learning by the Masters,
who take them as Apprentices.--The fact
is directly otherwise. There are few
masters who comply with their Indentures
and one reason is, that they are not
under sufficient responsibility. True, it is
the duty Of the County and City Courts to
see that they are so taught but our coun
ty courts are invested with such various
and anomalous powers, (they are such
complete scape goats, upon whose backs
you put every thing when you know not
how else to dispose of IT'D that it is not SUR
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