The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-02-23
THE LECTURE SEASON.
Mechanics Institute Lectures.


Mechanics Institute Lectures.
ALEXANDER JONES ON FREE EDUCATION, AND INDUS
TRIAL FREE SCHOOLS, ETC.
That knowledge ia power" ia true as it Ia
trte. There is as much arstocracy in the exclusive
ness of knowledge as there is in the exclusiveness
of property and like wealth, those who possess it
may employ it in the oppression and debasement of
those who are inferior to them in poverty or igno
rance. Like wealth, it may be directed to the ex
tinction of liberty among the Masses and to the
binding of them in the chains of superstition and
slavery. The value of knowledge is inestimable
We have never seen man who was willing to part
with what he had acquired, however crcumscribed
However limited may be an individuals knowledge,
he usually consoles himself with the belief that there
are others who his interiors in that respect There
can be no permanent republican or free form Of
government, without the education of the people,
Error must be left free to be combatted by reason"
or we must stand by the ancient British motto-7
" Truth against the world" The soil Of ignorance
Is the tyrants garden wherein he cutivates rods to
scourge the people. Without the diffusion OF know
ledge among the people they cannot be brought to
understand and to appreciate their political
rights. All history proves that there is no safe
depository Of power, except in the hands of the
people, and which they can only hold SO long as they
are educated and honest Emperors, kings, and
nebles have been trusted with the reins Of govern
ment and have failed Aristocraces, olgarchies and
political theocracies have been again and again
tried and have again and again failed If the people
cannot conde in themselves, who are they to trust!
The only security for the exercise Of government in
their own hands, and its administration in such form
as to maintain liberty and progress is to be found in
81 Alo:-G 1..k-. T.
ing the functions Of free government is to provide
free education; not only for primary instruction,
but for useful education in all the higher branches OF
knowledge; not confined to the contracted and dead
walls, and dead languages Of feudal colleges; not
limited to the precincts Of West Point foundations
Tor the fortunate few; not bound up in the rooms of
free academies, nor confined to the undiGusive
knowledge spreading influence of the corridors and
library shelves of Smithsonian institutes but we
wish to see the gates Of knowledge thrown wide
open. We wish to see its streams gushing pure and
free from the mountains side spreading, widening,
and fertilizing the whole land they flow forward,
unrsssted by locks, dams, or other distractions,
and at which all can slake their thirst,
without money and without price. Time would
fail us to contrast the progress Of a free
and educated people with that Of an ignorant and
enslaved race. The slightest comparison of the
United States with other less favored countries will
show this. But among ourselves, the work Of edu-
cation is only commenced We have not performed
ene-half Of what it is our duty to undertake. We
stil have great task before us-many errors to
combat, and many prejudices to overcome. Had
the mass Of the people, or citizens, of the Roman
State prior to the fall of julius Caesar, possessed
Jxvx6 n oIr 30
schools, and free press, the republic might have
endured another seven hundred years. The surest
signs Of the existence of ignorance and corruption
among people are to be found in the election Of
ignorant and corrupt rulers. When the people are
not educated taught the importance Of political
honesty and integrity they are subject to the delu
sions OF demagOgues, being incapable of voting cor
fectly, or, in other words, disqualified for selfgo
vernment. The surest means OF guarding against
fraudulent legislation is to educate the people, and
to encourage habits of industry, temperance, econo
my, and probty Children suffered to prowl
n vagrancy about the wharves and streets Of
city by day, and to spend their nights in idle
dissipation, make bad soveregns and worse
voters at ward elections. Next to the evils
inflicted by rum, the influence produced by the dis
semination and reading of trashy novels, whether
published in newspapers in books, is the most per-
ncious And what is worse for the want of an nterna
tOnal copyright treaty the most deleterous and wide
spread cheap been foreign
DOCKS. Inc American mlnQ IL IcQ Dy the WORKS OF
foreign wrters-many of whom rank tories lovers
Of monarchy, and haters Of republican institutions.
Even the works of authors who have INDUCED in the
grossest defamation Of the United States have found
American works of real merit. By an international
copyright treaty, we should shut out foreign trash,
encourage American authorship, and supply the
public with better class of books, and with a
sounder literature We consider that the main objects
Of education for this life, consist in teaching boy
those things by which he can best earn his bread,
advance his own interest and happiness, and at the
same time promote the interest and happiness of those
country, by the honest discharge of his duties as
citizen. Life is too short and valuable to be wasted
upon the undue study of the dead languages, or on
other obsolete subjects, to the exclusion Of those
sciences and arts which practically apply to the
daily pursuits of life We wish to see the time
rive when the State shall pay teachers in all the high
branches of kn0wledge-as it now does in the pri
mary Departments shall deliver their instruc-
ton free to the people. Let us have regular free lee
lures on natural philosophy, chemistry, and me-
chanical philosophy, and mathematics, in all their
branches, and demonstrated by the use of proper in
struments and experiments We would have teach
ers Of mechanical and civil engineering; of drafting
modelling surveying, &c. We would also secure
free lectures all branches Of medicine and of law
Suppose all these departments of useful knowledge
were publicly taught in this city, free Of
what would be the result Thousands who now
waste their time in dleness and dissipation at grog
shops or lounge in the boxes Of theatres to witness
senseess scenes, from which earthly advantage
permanent happiness be gained, would gather at
these high free schools, where both rational amuse
ment and knowledge could be obtained. Peo-
pie often frequent places Of idleness and diss-
patton because they have no where else to
go. Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul Of France,
mot the nephew) threw wide open the doors of
knowledge in Paris. Lectures on all branches Of
medicine, with many other sciences, were made free.
The consequence was, that students abandoned the
old exclusive feudal schools of Europe, Cncludng
the medical universities Of Leyden and EdinburgO
and 1ocked to Paris. There we're found 1000
foreign students in that capital chiefly in the med
cal departments brought together from every part OF
the civilized world, embracing a large number from
the United States. Science thus rendered Free not
only drew students by thousands, but attracted
great number Of learned to this brilliant focus of
free light. The policy was wise one, even in pc
cuniary point of view; because the great concoursc
If students drawn tn Franco from other conn