The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1825-07-06

town schools in this Commonwealth, and that
they request of him copy ofthat part Of his
charge, that it may be published.
A Copy:
REJOICE NEWTON,
Clerk ofths Bar.
To the Gentlemen ConaDalttes Of ihe Bar Of
the County of Forester
In compliance with your request to me in
March last, submit to your disposal an ex-
tract from my charge at that term to the
Grand Jury of your County.
am, Gentlemen, with great respect for
you and the members of your association,
Yours, &c.
SAMUEL HOWE.
.Messrs GOOdsca1, BigelOV, and DaVis::
The great object of criminal jurisprudence
is, to secure the safety and tranquility Of the
community, by the repression of crime. To
reform The offender, or by his punishment to
deter others from the commission of crimes,
are the only objects for which human punish
1nent ought ever to be inflicted. Every other
means by which the prevention of crimes can
be effected, are worthy the attention oil the
legislature and the magistrate.
Ignorance and vice are inseparable COM
panions, and the degree of virtue prevailing
in communities, will, generally, be found TO
be in direct proportion to the diffusion of
knowledge among the lower classes of socie-
ty.
Our ancestors perceived too clearly the adj
vantages of good education, not 10 be desr-
Gus Of securing them to their posterity and
within twenty years after the settlement of
the country, provision was made for the estab-
lishment of public schools, by laws which
have been continued, with few alterations, to
the present time.
Those who are converssNt with the admin
istration of justice, cannot fail TO have OBJ
served, how rare it is, to see an individual
arraigned for an infamous crime, who has ell
joyed the advantages of a good education.
The records of the State prison, too, will
shew, that very large proportion Of those,
whose crimes have made them the tenants Of
this abode of misery, are unable to read and
write, and still larger portion incapable by
ignorance, of deriving any benefit from the
use of books, though they may not he entirely
destitute of the ability to read. The calen-
der Of your gaols will exhibit the same facts.
Much the larger portion of those, who are
called to the bar to answer for their offences,
are from that class Of unfortunate beings,
whose complexion has been considered SUI
fcient reason for excluding them from the
enjoyment of the common rights of humanity,
or they are foreigners, who have never enjoyed
those means of education which our ancestors
have so wisely provided for this happy land.
An examination Of the poor houses will lead
you to the same result, and if you exclude
from the number, the victims OF intemperance
against which reason and religion seem to lift
their voices in vain) you will find, the poverty
and distress of the larger portion of their ten
ants, had its origin in the ignorance and idle
ness naturally resulting from defective early
education.
If to prevent crime be wiser than to punish
it, and, If to furnish the means of avoiding pow
crty be more humane than to relieve its dis
tress, no one can hesitate, as to the policy of
afFording the means of knowledge, to every
rising member of the community. This can
only be done by the establishment of public
schools ; for many parents are too poor to af-
Cord this privilege to their children, and many
who have the means, are deficient in the dis
position to apply them. 1t was in this coun-
try, and while it was yet wilderness, and
while the lives of its inhabitants were daily
exposed to savage and ferocious foe, that
the experiment was first made, of providing
at the public expense for the common educa-
tion Of all the inhabitants. The plan adopted
was so excellent, that it has stood little in
need of alteration to the present time; and,
we have recently heard the highest eulogium
bestowed by the friends Of humanity, upon
the philanthropic individual, who attempted
to introduce into the country from which our
ancestors fed, an imperfect imitation Of those
institutions which have been in operation
here for near two hundred years.
1t is not merely on account Of IFS tendency
to prevent crime, that the establishment Of
public schools is entitled to admiration. No
plan could be devised, more directly calcu-
lated to perpetuate the republican institutions
Of our country, and to preserve spirit of
equality amo,g all classes of the community.
The children Of the rich and poor, are placed
under the care of common instructor, and
the wealth OF the one, and the poverty of the
other, are not thought Of in the distribution
Of the public honors of the school. spirit Of
equality is here imbibed, which is never lost