The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1843-10-05

. ---1--n----,--~-----.-=.-sa1
oelosseiuhi is superb word which the German
language possesses TO describe the sense of one,.
own moral dignity as man but the feeling or SEN
uneI' - Expresses is wanting IN a remarkable degree
SheIe you expect TO find II strongest-among the
herman youtN TIE naturally educated youth Did
IL ever happen TO a traveller taking a walk in the
neighborhood of Oxford, Cambridge. Dublin Fdjn.
burgb, Glasgow, Aberdeen Saint Andrews ar anv of
the Universities IN The United States to be accosted
by stout, able bodied, well enough dressed student
begging with cap in hand, for money from the pa,,
sengers on the high road? Ten thousand to one no
man alive ever witnessed such debasement OF mind
among the youth OF those countries educated or not
educated. The lad would sell his clothes work Gu
Inst, starve, drown, hang, but beg he would not.
In Germany, within half mile Of the unyer-
sly OF Bonn, on Sunday evening when all the town
was abroad walking, | have student in toe-
rabiy good clothes, his tobacco-pipe in his mouth,
begging with his hat off the public road, running
att passengers and carriages soliciting charity and
looking very sulky when refused; and the young
man III iul health and with clothes his back that
would sell for enough TO keep him for week.
ms is no uncommon occurrence on the German roads
Every traveller on the roads around Heidelberg
Bonn, and the other university towns of Germany,
must have frequently and dafly witnessed this de-
basement OF mind amoung the youth.
This want Of sensibllity to shame or public opi.
nioD or to personal moral dignity, is defect of cha
racter produced entirely by the system of govern
ment interference in all education and all human ac-
| %
ciey. II is not from moral worth, character or
conduct in their private relations, but from govern
tnent, from educational, military or civil function
aries, that the studying class have in every stage Of
NE, 10 seek advancement 1 he generous feelings,
impulses, and motives OF youth, smothered under
the serve institutions of the governments BY which
the means of living in any of the liberal professions
or even IN the ordinary branches of industry are To
be obtained only by government license appointment,
and favor, not by moral worth, merit and exerlion,
gaining the public estimation Morally thew are
slaves Of ensaved minds
The great proof of the deterioraling working OF
the Prussian educational system upon the public mind
Is that the public mind lay pid and unmoved when
The religious establishments Of the Protestant Church
the Lutheran and Calvanistc Churches, were abolish
ed by royal edict and third thing-a new Prussian
church, neither Lutheran nor Cayanist-was set up,
and imposed by the edict Of civil power upon the
Protestant population. The abolition Of the religious
ooservances and NOES of public worship in which
they had been bred, was quietly submitted TO by an
educated population of eight millions Of Proesants;
as matter OF policy, not of conscience, as matter
quite as much within the legitimate right and power
OF their government, as change in their custom
house laWs-so low has this educational system re-
dced the religious and moral in Prussia, and
the feeling of Individual right 10 freedom of conyic-
iion-and except from few villages in Silesia, which
refused to aband,n the Lutheran liturgy and obsery-
ances, scarcely muTmur heard from this educa-
ted population at measure not only destructive to
the Protestant religion, but the mcst arbitrary and
insulting to freedom of mind and conscience that has
occurred IN modern history
IL eight millions OF people, people with arms in
TIER hands are brought by this educational system
TO regard with indifference the interference r Govern
ment with all that free men deem sacred in life with
fanlly education religion, conscience free agency
and opinions IN religious belief TO be the passive
slaves oil government in which they are not repre-
sented-to be nothing but machines TO be MANAGED
by the hands OF host Of public iunctonaries-lhen
let us educate our own families in our own way in
britain, or not educate them at all, rather than adopt
system of national education for teaching reading
and writing, deeroratng to the higher objects Of
cultivation of moral and religious
sentiment, and independence of mind among the peo
pie.
The social value or importance of the Pru. sian
arrangements Tor diifusing national scholastic edu-
eaton has been evidently overrated for now that
the whole system has been in the fullest operation
IN society upon whole generation, we see morals
ana religion IN more unsatisfactory state in this
very country than IN almost any other in the north
oil Europe; we see nowhere a people in more all
Ject political and civil condition, or with less free
agency III ther social economy national educa-
'ion, which gives nation neither religion nor morali
" nor civil hoerty, nor political liberty is educa-
ton not worth having.
Who could suppose while reading pamphlets re-
views and literary articles Gu, OF numoer on nation
al education, and ON the beautiful system means and
arrangements adopted by Prussia for educating The
people and while lost in admiration in the education
ii labyrinth OF country schools and town schools
common schools and high schools-rea schools and
'assicaI schools-gymnasia- progymnasia-normai
cbools-s emnariums-univcrses- who would sun
ose lhat WIN all tins education, education is al
owed-that while reading and writing are enforced
Pon all, thinking and the communication ofthoughts
re prevented by an arbitrary censorship of the press
omeumes STREET sometimes lax W no could sup
ose mat me only visible TO the people OF Prussia
all tins national education is m reality to write
VI ohcal, CIVIL or military reports from interiors TO
iperlors-that IT enters in no other way into their
'caI anairs' who could suppose at the very period
lc Iiuht rgI, Rev.
other eminent literary men Of all countries were
Atolling the national education and general acquire
tent OF reading in Prussia and kindlng around them
molly and virtuous enthusiasm among the moral and
,llgious, for the diffusion of knowledge ia all coun-
ies-.hat the exercise Of worship nywhere but in
hurch was prohibited and made criminal in Prussia
y an edictal law dated oh March, 1884 and that
'any persons suffering Imprisonment, civil disahili-
es, or other punshments for this Prussian crime Of
'orshipping God in their own houses were only bc-
ited aud pardoned by the amnesty OF August, 1910.
IL TO read, write, cipher, and SING be educated, the
russian subject Is an educated man. II to reason,
idge, and act as independent free agent, in the
sligious, moral, and social relations of man TO his
reator, and to his fellow men, be that exercise OF
re mental powers which alone deserves the name Of
ducaton, then is the Prussian subject mere drum
ol IN education, IN the cultivation and use OF all that
egards the moral and intellectual endowmeuts Of
man, compared to one Of the unleered population Of
free country.
The dormant state Of the public mind on all affairs
PuDbc interest, the acqulesCencc IN total want q
olitical influence or existence, the intellectual de-
Evidence upon the Government or its finctionary ia
u the affairs o. the community, the AFFECT subms.
ion 10 the want of freedom or free agency in thoughts
'ords or acts, the religious thradom Of the people TO
'rms which they despise, tie want Of influence of
'hgous and social principle in society justify the
oncuson that the moral, religious and social cond-
on OF the people never looked at or estimated
J those writers who were enthusiastic in their
raises of the national education Of Prussia.
ID RANDES ENCYCLOPEDIA Of Science
D Literature aud Art, completcd.--fhe concur
ing number Of this work is this day received by f.
'AYLOR, and the book is now offered in a complete
nd perfect form for 50 Among those who
ponsibe for the principal departments of this book
lie lllInAI ~ q