The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1854-04-08
miscellaneous.
For The Cc:il Whis.l
Popular Education.

A system or custom gathers strength with
use. and becomes venerable with age. This
will hold true whether the custom be right OF
wrong, whether it be established upon correct
principles, or have no other sanction than the
usage Of timc-honorcd antiquity. Should q
system, however imperfect; or custom, how
ever erroneous; be handed down from gencr-
alton to generation, until it becomes baptized
by the dust of ages; it acquires such Il hold
upon the human mind, that it becomes diff
cult to divcst ourselves Of its iron grasp. II
may have tyrranizcd over our race for ccntu-
less as patiently to wear their chains, we
think it may not be dishonoraLlc for us to be
slaves also.
The indomtablc energy of the Anglo Sax
on race has led to their liberation from many
antiquated abuses to which the preceding re-
marks might apply; but without particuariz-
ing the several steps Of their progress from
vassalagc TO freedom, we may point to one
r.mainin. evil, which sits like an incubus
upon the genius Of our pcoplc.-Our absurd
method Of spelling wrong. In attacking Il
tAing like this, u system that is interviewer
with the literature of our language through Il
period of 800 years; a system that now guards
the portals of knowledge to the millions OF
rccr;--a system in whose garb the words Of
Divine inspiration have been spread before Il
large part Of the inhabitants Of our globe; we
feel that our task is no tribe. But conscious
of the immense benefits that would accrue to
the human family, if our present fuse orthog-
raphy were superseded by hue one, the
venerable position it occupies, cannot save
its prctcnsions from being called in question.
1t may serve Il little to weaken the hold of
our present orthography, to inquire into its
history and its claims upon our support. From
the little light that has dawned upon the OBJ
security OF its origin the following appears.
Whatever may have been the former char
actcr of the ancient Britons, the Romans,
sion upon ti!cm-partcular in respect to
letters. The Latin tongue became the Ian
guage Of literature, not only in England, b"t
throughout Europe. Upon the suhjuglton
of England by civilian the Conqucror'' he
introduced the French language, which was
the tongue spoken at the court Of that Prince
and by the new nobility throughout the king
dom. But Latin, nurturcd in the monastcrcs,
remained the language OF books. The Anglo
Saxon, the basis Of our present highly refined
vcrnacU'ar, was used only by the conquered
pcasantry. and shared in the degradation I'M
der which they laborcd. 1t was in this soil
ofignorance and barbarism that our orthog-
raphy was planted, ard its growth and dcvcl-
opmcnts arc only worthy Of such an origin.
Notwithstanding the rusticity of the people
who first placed our words upon paper, if
some master nlind had come forward to study
the matter and systematic the spclling;-in
other words, ifa hne instead of tulse orthog-
raphy had then been devised, its benefits to
the millions who would have come under its
influence as it rolled down the stream of time.
would have been beyond all calculation. But
to return. No Cadmus made his appearance
to form an alphabet suited to the English
tongue, and the work of spelling WAS left for
a combination of accidents.
(Io Je Coniinu:l.)