The Litchfield County post., 1827-05-10

or our republican institutions. The appropr-
 alton by the constitution of the School Fund,
 for the perpetual support and encouragement of public or cOmmOn schools, was the result of enlightened benevolence, and profound wis dom.
 The fund amounts to more than one million seven hundred thousand dollars. The income of the fund, it is believed, under the manage ment of the Commissioner, may, by its judi cous investment. be considerably augmented. The proper and faithful application of the in- terest of this fund fo the encouragement of education, will materially affect the character and happiness of all successive generations. The system of Common Schools established by our ancestors, widely dift,se the inteilectn- al attainments and moral principles, indispen- sable to the perpetuity of republican govern ment The division of the State into school societies and districts, affords peculiar facilities for extending the benefits of education, while the distribution ofthe interest of the School Fund, among the several school districts ac- cOrding to the number of persons in each, be- tween the ages of four and sixteen years, un' der the existing laws, secures to every youth ln the State, the priviledge of acquiring com mon education. fthe results of our system, improvedas it has been, by the lights of ex- perience, are not such as entirely to fulfil the anticipatiOns or it's founders, and the wishes of the phlanthropist, it is not perceived IS to
 be attributed as much to any radical defect in the system, as to remissness in its execution, on the part of those who have the immediate superintendeDce of the primary schools. Ev- cry effort should be made to impress upon their minds deep sense of the responsibility resting upon them, and of the blessings resuI- ting from literary and moral instruction.
 To elevate the character of our common schools, and to cause the utility to correspond with the munifcent means which are pledged for their support, instructors distinguished for learning. sobrety and virtue, must be employ ed, and the schools, as we'll as the instructors, subjected to a rigid examination and inspec- ton.
 The duties of the visitors of schools, as pre- scribed by law, are highly important; and on their faithful and thorough performance. the
 intellectual and moral improvement of our
 youth greatly depends. Your information
 and experience will enable you to determine,
 whether any further legal provision be neces- sary to insure such performance. The i'm proyement of system which has been admi- red and initiated in other States, is worthy of your deliberate and careful attention. To neg lect it would be contempt of those from W pOsterity.
 The emigration ofour citizens has arrested the progress of the population ofthls state, and diminished our political power in the Union. To retain our youthful, intelligent and enter prisng citizens within the State, their attach ment to theirnative soil, always strong, must be l by offering them combineda ad- which they will not easily find else where. They must see our colleges, and other seminaries of learning patronised; the public 1 burthens made equal and light; rigid econO- my practised in the various departments of the government justice speedily and impar- tially administered |: agriculture, manufac- lures, commerce and the arts encouraged and the condition of the State generally inn proved.
 ? Our large manufacturing establishments, and the various mechanic arts, by furnishing lucrative employmen have kept in the state many valuable citizens and stimulated agri- culture, navigation, and commerce. But the of woollen cloths needs encour- agement.
 The large importation of wool and wool len goods have injured both the grower and the manufacturer of wool and by depressing those interests, may reduce us to depen- dence on a foreign supply, for an article of prime necessity.
 These evils can only effectuay be removed by the National Government, in which is de- posted the power to le, duties Oh imports; and it is to be regretted, that a measure tho roughly matured for that purpose, and intend ed to protect and sustain the agricultural and | interests, after having been l passed by the immediate representatives of the people, was finally defeated in the other branch of Congress. Correct information, however, regarding the true interests and pol icy of our country, and steadiness of purpose, and an effort in maintaining them, may, at a future day, produce a different result.
 The object ofpunishment is to prevent the commission of crimes, either by destroying the power, or removing the disposition to | commit them. The former can only be ac- complshed by capital punishment, or the per- petual seclusion of the criminal from society 1; l and the latter, by his reformation. ~ In effecting the reformation of the criminal, | Ian object of high moment, and uniformly sought by the benevolent and good, his con 6nement to hard labour, with strict silence, while engaged in work, and absolute seclusion from the society of man. in solitary cells, du- ring the hours ofrest, has powerful influence. Such confinement has strong tendency to destroy the habits of idleness, intemperance, and dissOluteness. which are the most fruitful sources ofcrimes. By removing the criminal from all vicious associations, and from the