The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1853-10-08
NUMBER 4.

tray an intimate knowledge of the science of
Chemistry and Natural Philosophy. The infu-
ence of popular education is also to increase tho
number of inventions and thus simplify and
Sdre labor. ln proportion to the outlay OF o
State upon her sons, do they repay in the con-
struction OF instruments, and the discovery Of
new processes which increase the wealth of the
country. An invention like the cotton gin, en-
ables one man to do the work of twenty, aud
thus increases the pccuniary resources OF 4
State. Enter the Patent Office at Washington,
and you will find that the greatest number of
Inventions are from those States that have eX-
pended the most on public instruction. In the
year, eighteen hundred and fifty-One the Pat
ent Office issued three hundred and fifty-six pa
tents to citizens of Massachusetts and New
York, States that have expended more than any
other two for Public Instruction. While less
than forty patents were issued to the citizens of
Delaware, Maryland. Virginia. North and South
Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and
Arkansas.
Thirdly Public Instruction is important be-
cause it creates national sentiment. At all
periods America has been land of refuge to
those oppressed by political or religious tyran-
ny. Here Penn, wei ished down by the forlnali-
ty hypocrisy and extravaganza Of a licentious
court, and tired of the wranglings concerning
the eXtcrnals of religion, found quiet home by
the banks of the wide and shady Delaware,
where with none to molcst or make him afraid,
he could dress as he saw fit, and speak as the
spirit and when the spirit moved him. Here
the cultivated and polished Lord Baltimore
cramped by the eXactiOns of the British Gov
crnment found place on the shore of the broad
and beautiful Chesapeake. where he could say
his Ave Maria and Pater Nostcr. with all the
freedom and tervor Of any devout Papist at
Rome. And here on the rocky coast of Ply
mouth, those wearied of the tyranny of Arch
l.
formed English Church, sang praises to the
Most High, and read the sublime Psalms of Da-
vid. and eypOuudcd the sacred writings and
trained up their children in the nurture and adj
mouition of the Lord: and formed a New Eng
land after their own model which in time has
become renowned as old England.
Since the political agitation in Enrope cngen-
dercd by the French Revolution of the last cen-
tury commenced, and the confederation of the
Colonies under a written Constitution. the tide
if emigration in steadily increasing volume
has rolled over our land. II is no intrequent
occurrence in towns that have sprung mp with.
on q few months in the valley of the Upper Mis-
sissipp that are wholly unknown to the Gcog.
rapher and citizen Of the older States, to see
grouped together men from every nation under
Heaven, and to hear languages as diverse as
were heard in Jerusalem Oh L lcstal day, when
the streets of that city were thronged with Par
thians. and Mcdcs. and E!amitcS. and the dwell
lcrs in Mcsapotamia. and in Judea, and Cappa-
docia. in Pontus. and Asia, Phrygia. and PAM
phylia. in Egypt. and the parts Of Libya, about
Cyrcnc and strangers Of Rome, Jews, and pros
clytes Cretcs and Arabians."
The dark-eycd Italian. the bluc-cyed Hiberni-
an, the mcrcural Frcnchman and the hieh-spir-
tied Hungarian the contemplative German, and
the hardy Norwegian. the lrawny Highlander,
and the reserved Englshman. are all found liv-
ing together upon the praircs of the far West.
who, only few months, were dwellers in Eu-
ropean capitals and accustomed to the sight Of
royalty and its many appcndages.
These new comcrs are people of strong pref
udices. Many yet love their fatherland and
when they think of their old homes beyond the
seas, hcavc sigh and wish there could have
been bread enough there TO have afforded q sub
sstence. Others. while hating the governments
that have driven them away by their oppression.
or cXied them for the free thoughts to which
they have given expression. have no real love
for the form of government, to obtain which our
torefathcrs sacrificed their lives and fortunes
Without system Of public instruction, the Off
spring of the cmigrant, would grow up, with all
of the peculiar preiudiccs their parents had i'm
bibed in European countries. Our people would
have no hOmOgeneOlsness, there would be no
national sentiment, and in many places, not cv-
en- instruction in the English language. The
State by planting common school in the midst
of such community as we have portrayed
works wonders, and those in the twinkling of
an eye. By taxing all the property of a COM
munity, it easily supports school, when the
Norwegian or German, or Irish, or French por-
tion of the community would be wholly unable
1t supplies a teacher that is competent to in
struct the children of the neighborhood in the
elements of good citizenship. The pupil learns
to read the history of the United States; his
youthful and comparatively ingenious heart
burns within him as he reads the tales Of our
cOuntry's wrong; he is almost brcathlcss with
interest as he learns of the scenes that occurred
at the time of the Declaration of Independence.
With the character of Washington he is perfect
ly enchanted and thinks that he is the best man
that ever lived When he is out of school he
still thinks on. about those things he has read
in school or heard from those classmates whose
fathers or grandiathers perhaps had fought those
very battles when lie is around the fircs;dc he
tells these things to his parents, and the young
cr brothers and sisters, and during the night his
sleep is broken by dreams about the sutferings
of the soldiers at Valley Forge or some similar
tale of woe. When he plays with his school
mates he learns the songs of the Republic, fill
ed with the spirit of freedom, and though his
parents may now and then love to sing God
save the King he knows nothing better than
:" Hail Columbia happy land: Under these
influences. it is not wonderful that a strong ma
JlOudl SentImeHt SuOuIu ne lOStereU, ana tnal all
the children of the school should love that COM
mon country, which had afforded equal shelter
and equal rights to their parents when they
landed upon our shores, frendless, homeless,
and without pecuniary resources.
FOurthly. Public instruction is es lential to
the preservation Of our civil and gious liber-
ties. The Republic Of the United States is the
only government in the world that has been
able to tolerate universal suffrage, and to main
tain religious faith, without any established
form of religion. To plant such Republic in
France, or in Spain, or in Brazil, would be i'm
possible. 1t would not flourish any more than
an orange tree in the Arctic regions, for there
is no adaptedness in the people of those coun-
tries for such form of government The rea
son that it has continued to exist in the United
States is that the masses have been sufficiently
instructed to understand its operations. and to
desire to apply its healthful checks. At the
time OF the formation of the Constitution, the
citizens of the Colonies, as has been intmated
nnSSngSph a htYh a., q