Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1817-02-18
FOR THE ENQUIRER.
pyJRIJC EDUCATION.

10 ,l.e House Of Delegates, which seems to
lave excited very little attention., hut a. yet,
A iay opinion ihe most important OF any,
whether weregdrd is objects OF probable CON
sequences. that has come under legislative
consideration tor many wears. This bui has
Tor us object the appropriation of AN i'm
n'ch>e sum ri money To TIE purposes of pub
iic nstruction--it proposes, or rather the sub
St.iute offered bv gentleman from Inudcuh,
which is now before me, proposes to " estab-
iish and locate an University and a number
OF Colleges q Academies throughout the
state. subject to certain iiDii;ationS-it set
lies the principles on which these Colleges AMI
Academies are TO be founded-It locates
them In certain sections of the Statelt orga-
nlzes "board of public instruction." aud
cloathes that board with powers the most de-
tcate and impor,ant-it provides in fact
vast aud most expensive engine for forming
and taslioning the opinions, principles and
habits OF every future generation, aud places
that 'engine in the hands of particular in.
divduals to be called Board Of Public In
struction."
That measure of such ineXpreSshle magni-
tude, involving so many interesting considera.
uons-attended with so many peculiar diff
hcultes, and pregnant with the fate Of our
remotest postcrity, should have been brought
before the Legislature at so late q period Of its
session, when both houses are thin, and the
members jiaded with more than months ap H.
cation TO business, is matter OF some sur
prize and of very serious regret-'ro meet Il
subject like this and To- do il justice, the LeCis-
OF every fact, which experience can furnish
and al all the reaSonIBgS * opinions or the
w;sest MEM o anxiety to close Il long session
siiohld disturb its calm enquiries-NO impa,i-
cnce TO listen to discussion should prevent il
from receiving all the information, which the
anxious, unremitting researches of its members
could furnish. In short, it should bring to the
decision of so monentous question. intciiects
unCiOuded. energies uuimpa. ed and a patient
spirit ofinvestigatiJu which no delays could
battle and no difficulties overcome. The very
commencement OF a session is the time 10 con-
slider aud decide. such questions rs this substi-
tute ralScS-and not even then could thew be
fairly considered, unless the members and
thcir constituents too. had had some opportunity
be fo'-ehand, ofmaking mp their opinions about
them.
In ii,e iirst place, the bill and its substitute
assumes principle which to say tllcleastm merits
some coRsid Grafton before ii is hastily adopted
1t dssalaestiu Srrcra'pCd ought Ia tate the bu-
sineSS 81 educstiaa INTO a. orR hands, not only as
ii respects the Establishment of primary pa
rochial schools, f.. ic instruction OF the poor:
but of acadanieS colleges and universities for
the instruction OF ~ clusscS. Is il So rery clear
that soverumeH, oTcht - 10 thiS' Is govern
meDt likely 10 have this busines. better per
formed than il Il we're left 20 private indivi
duas? Are the,e no titnscgs tobe apprehend-
ed from this uniOs Where similar establish
ments have existed. fare their practical effects
been beneticial.
These are questions which this bill has
decided with one dash Of the pen, notwith-
standing some of the wiSest men in every age
of the world, have decided them ditterently
by their practice as well as in their writings or
else have suggested such doubts as might we'll
induce us to pause before we gave them def
nitive answer.
The general reasonings upon the subject do
notmean to state, for the sole object Of these
hastiywritten remarks is TO prove that there
are doubts and difficulties in this graat quest-
on, which ought for the present to deter the
Legislature from meddling with il.
al fyyO |ucfS fhtrt,
cular attenten.-1he firstis that the colleges
and universities OF Europe, have always been
behind private establishments in following tile
march Of science and the progress of discovery
They have been the last retreats of error
the strong holds ofebsolete doctrines and pre-
Judiccs-the firm supporters of preroeative *
power-the violent opponents of liberal princi-
pies and the rights of man. Adam Smith in
the chapter where he treats cot the cxpence of
the Institutions for the Education of Youth"
remarks that - Universities have frequently
chosen TO remain for long time the sane tina
ries IN which exploded systems and obsolete
preiudices found aheter and protection, after
they had been hunted ont of every other cor
ner of the world" The other fact is, that the
most eminent men III Europe, particularly in
Grt at Britain, have received their education
and training at private schools. In the sod
NO. OF the Edinburgh Review, entitled - Re
marks on the system of Public Schools" the
names or the celebrated Englishmen given,
who although they might have been shorI time
AT The University, received their education at
private schools; and after many judicious OBJ
servations these ablejournalistS come to thel OIL
lowing conclusiOEs-"That education seems to
us to be the best which mingles a domes
tic with school life; and which gives to a
youth the advantage which is to be derived
from the learning of a master, and the emulate
on which results from the society of other
boys, together with the aiiectonate vigilance
which he mustexperience in the house of his
parents. But wh,~c this species of education
from peculiarly of ci' cumstanceS or situation
is not attainable, we are disposed TO think
society of twenty or thirty boys. under the
guidance OF learned man, and, above all, Of
man OF good sense, to be seminary the best
adapted for the education of YOUTH
If these facts alone considered, we ought
not 10 he surprized, that Smith and macy other
enlightened men should maintain the opinion
that government ought to provide for the liz
struction OF the poor in the elements of litera-
tuTe, utshould leave the rest to individual en-,
terprze and exerton, and that if il attempts
to do more, il iuterferes in matter not proper-
ly within its sphere, aud as in the case Of every
other departure from its Legitimate ends mars
WHIT ID intends TO make.
II is evident, however, that none of the con-
Siderations which induce this conclusions ought
To prevent the government from building the
coliegeor academy, furnishing the library and
apparatus, aud appointing trustees, under the
contr0ulo of the Legislature. To manage the IN
stitution-FuTtheT than this, most firmly be
ieve thought nottogo.
But II am wrong in this opinion if many
men, " the latchet Of whose shoes I am not
thy to unloose," are wrong in it too, still
there are features in this substitute. aboat
statcd,) think no unprecedented minds can en-
nj mir