The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1847-12-04
For The Cecil Uhig.
EFF .ts of Education.

effects of education-what are they!
And yet, what does it not efecte Di.
rected in its legitimate and appropriate
channel education assimilates the charac-
ter and capacities of man to those of the
higher order Of beings that range the
elysian fields, or roam through the I'M
bounded wilds Of ether. But wo to that
man, who, regardless of the high claims
which liberal education imposes, wields
the scepter of its power in qualification
of a perverted ambition and the promo
of the scandal of his animal nature. The
highest mission that such a character can
justly claim, is that of being a successful
recruiting-oficer of purgatory and the
banc of the moral universe.
! I know of no country or cline where
the fruits ofeducation are so wildly con-
spicuous as on the shores of our own be-
loved land. Mans intellectual efforts
here are untrammeled with the shackels
which the antiquated notions and the
palsying influence of old established and
uncontested tenets, which the policy and
archives of most other nations impose.
There are here no bonds to toW1s and
precedents. Education here is allowed
to exert its original, native influence, di-
We ted of all restraint. Well may we
expect unusual manifestations in a land
where that moral 1ncubus-the atmos-
pherc pres 'ure Of public opinion, is so
much lghtened and improved as to al
low the noblest energies of the human
mind to expand with IMMUNITY. Man
here is beginning to prove himself indeed
the child Of Notwithstanding,
contrary to the theory Of past ages, that
man has no preScience and little intui-
ton; and therefore, rejecting the prcml-
ture and unsupported theories originat-
ing from the pretended powers of pre-
science, which have hitherto bound and
torpltied the energies of society. He is
beginning to learn that the true light
that falls upon his path shines not from
his oriental but from his occidental sky.
But the effects Of education are not
manifest alone in the freedom of mental
action. What is it that has occasioned
such an amazing change in the aspect of
this country within the short space of
two centuries! To what does the Saxon
race owe that indomitable genius and unit
ring industry that proves their superiority
over the American Indian--that unso-
phisticatcd child of nature, and that has
enabled them to triumph over his des-
ponding hopes. That has converted the
wild bowers ofnature where the Indian
YVES wont to watch at the dcer-lick, into
haunts Of agricultural That has turned
his forests into thriving cities and made
void the environs Of nature for those of
a mongrel material generatrdhy the mind
of art-that has converted the smoothly
gliding rivers into mill-streans, and
made the water that bore only the birch
bark canoe and the anglers hook, to roll
the immense mass Of machinery whose
rumbling, echoing, confused clatter re-
wives the scene of Babel and reissues
chaos into being, stamped with the Wis
age of "contusion worse confounded!"
They owe it, doubtless, TO their educa-
ton. 1t can be ascribed to nothing else
In the cradle of infancy, what is the diff
ference between the Indian and the En-
glisnman! Who will assert that the lat
ter, in the embryo stage of his existence,
is moro highly endowed than the former
in the vigorous stamina Of a mental con-
stitution, and with elements of intelli-
gence which render him so prc-eminent-
| ly conspicuous in after life! Who dare
affirm that education is inadequate to cl-
evate the American Indian to an equal
footing with the Anglo-SaXon on the
scale of intelligence? The same ehigh
capacious powers' of mind sslie folded
up' in both; and the superiority of the
one over the other is the result OF men,
tai culture. The ground that yields
lnought save briars, thorns and mush-
Y rooms, may possess the elements ola Wig
orous and eXuberent vegetation, demand
ing only the faithful pruning hand to
5 manifest its energy and vitality.
But the effects of education, as evnced
, by the Saxon race, in Transforming the
aspect of the country we inhabt are tru-
ly wonderful. Stand npon the Catskill
Mountains and draw the comparison
c gaze upon the valley of the Hudson as
: it's scenery presents itself to the vision
and contrast it with the aspect it wore
q. two centuries ago. Instead Of here anc
, there solitary canoe winding its way
silently up and down the noble Hudson
: OBJ ?rve scores of steamboats, rapidly
/. curling the waters before them, advanc'
= ing with majestic mien, seemingly en-
y dowed with intelligence to choose theil
5 course, exchange complimentary saluta
: tons with their sister boats as they pass
and with energy to defy the northern
- blast, yielding to old boreas nought save
their own breath as they hurl forth il