Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1836-01-21

publican, an AMERICAN Education. All
these considerations force themselves up
on me here with more power than ever,
because ! see, or think ! see, that much
OF the sufcriDgs oi The poorer classes
here, arise from the inequality of educa-
Gon-lrom Ignorance l may say-and
hence, perhaps, the inequality Of proper
~, for educate man well, and you put
him upon as good footing as his neigh
Dor. The more man hnows The more he
can earn. The more he knows the bet
ter can he ill the soil, for educate him
well, and not sod is turned up, nor a
stone rolled over, nor blade Of grass
touched, that he does not have an IDEA
from its sight, and the power of turning
that idea to his profit. From this ine-
quality too of educ alton arises the very
divisions of parties here.-1he Tories,
including almost all the nobility here,
and very large share of the wealth,
have under their control the most ignO'
rant of the population here-the tenants
who hire of them lands-and the servants
who do their monial Offices, and when
it is necessary are made voters Of while
the Wings with the Radicals have the
great iniddling interest the merchants
in general, the farmers who own their
lands, the mass in short, Of the sell-act-
ing population. Think you, if educa-
tion is here equal, that cunning and
worldly wisdom could thus lead igno-
rance to inllict injuries upon ITSELF
Thus it is that it is so difficult here to el-
feet Reform, and to keep up with the
spirit Of the age, for landed Wealth here
uses Ignorance TO sustain its power
Ignorance sings hosannas to Rank
Rank uses Ignorance, pays it IN feeding
and burying ,-ieeding it generously y when
alive, and giving it six feet OF earth when
dead. Think you, if there was an c.
qualhy OF education, if the book and the
newspaper entered every house, if the
Free School was every where--if to the
power Of bones and muscles, there was
added the power Of knowledge, a king
would cost two and half millions of dol
lars year, when there are some whole
families that cannot earn, with the labor
Of IA pence a dav, ore dollar and fifty
cents k,--that whole Provinces
would be starving, us they now are in
Ireland, when even the OLD CLOTHES Of
George the Fourth could be sold for
ST., 900 after his death!
Excuse .He for thus wandering home
ward with my thoughts when millions Of
my countrymen a: home are rejoicing o.
yer day, the value Of which they can
not fully know till they test what 1t won
for them, or see the people Of the old
world, who have no such glorious day in
their History. Permit me to tell them
one honest truth, that they are all better
off as a mass-and educated as a mass
better than the mass here; but alas, not
much better educated as ! believed them
TO be before ] came hcre-as they now
believe themselves 10 be, and as hundreds
will tell them they are, on the days Of e.
lection. Truths will do them more good
than flattery. God knows, that n have one
all-absorblng wish, it is for my own land,
and to preserve it from contact with eve
ry thing European, but It's Intellects aud
intellectual taste. The fashions, the pre-
JUDGES, the principles, the condition Of
those here are all unsuted for us. To
be an American in heart and deed is al
! wish to be. Excuse, beg once more
this obtrusion Of my feelings upon you.
If ever al American wandering abroad,
has seen in some foreign port, as have
seen in this, the flag Of his country un-
furled in honor ofthe day, proudly hut-
tering over some American ship, then he
will share with me those feelings which
are better )eH than described B.