State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1831-1836, 1836-07-12

to ape the rules of languages entirely I'M
adapted TO the propa CATION of modern sci
euce, or to repeat few technical Jaw
breakers. as irreduceable 10 any common
purposes of utility, ms the theory of per-
petllal motion or statistical lunar geogra-
ply.
The only conmcndable object of edu
cation must be the improvement OF those
circumstances upon which human happ-
ness inevitably depends; otherwise its
introduction is IL base fraud upon commu-
nity; and while il is found that unsophisti
Gated common sense is more than equiva-
lent, in all useful enterprise, TO the frlppe-
RIGS oftcchnicaity those who are conscious
of possessing it, will not be anxious to OBJ
tain the futile substitution of unmeanlng
phraseology. The grand dessideratum,
therefore, is to modify the mode of instruc-
ton so that utility may he commensurate
with its progress, and the diploma of the
classical or professional graduate become
ample security for public patronage, and
sufficient guarantee that it is not unworthlly
appropriated.
A difficulty, however, exists in the con-
sideration that memory and genius are not
unlrequently intellectual antipodcs, so tina:
scholarship being computed by the facility
of recitation, the bockhcad too frequently
approprates the available resources of the
doating guardian, which are finally eXha's-
ted in rendering more conspicuous consti-
tutiona imbecility.
Whilst we indulge the gratifying reilec-
ton that our country has produced, within
the short period of its political existence,
many specimens of enviabe literary &c
| 81 lI
be somewhat abatcd, from an obtrusion OF
the unweIcome suggestion that some OF the
fi,irest of those specimens were the produce
of unschooled genius or of foreign semlna'
ries leaving, at best, but a moderate bal
ancc TO the credit of our domestic lnstltu
tons.
However Justly commendatory OF toreigr
advantages the foregoing acknowledgement
may appear, yet it involves no admission o
the comparative superiority of their prlncl
pies of instruction, they having been ilth
erto no less censurable than our own.
That their literary institutions possess
character, and offer advantages superior t.
ours is a proposition which may not b'
controverted. These however depend eX
clusively upon extrinsic circumstances.
The prodigality with which government
and individuals have supplied the physict
means of instruction, in connection wit
the indispensable requirement of protracte
application, has given to foreign academic
an equitable claim to superiority over col
responding ones of our country.
Although years and perhaps centlrle
may elapse before the state of one countr
shall afford an opportunity for fair com
petition with European public or pnvat
munificence, yet with the characteristic
enterprise of our citizens occasional in
: stances of successful accumulation mus
inevitably occur, and, with the seductlv
, example of the founder of Girard Colleg
, reckoning to n participation Of scmldlvin
honnrs, we may reasonably hope that Ell
ulation will keep its vigils until the warn
est wishes of the friends of literature sha
, be fully realized.
An ability exists in the government
. the United States equivalent TO the accom-
o plislment of the most magnificent object
. and being administered in consonance wit
g the highest good of its citizens, II speeds
. an eminence Of political and literary cha
:, acter, equally, the envy and reproach
! monarchy.
1t is time, Il ereforc, that resources amp
!, rs ours should he more efficiently approPi
:, nted in the production of that ntclectuaIa'
=, vanccment which alone promises secuIlt
i happiness, and honor 10 the nation.
u CINCINNATUS.