The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1854-01-19

AAl.h&iiD CONNECTION BETWEEN
EDUCATION AND CRIME.

Pi"rcc. Esq, read an Essay, which, al.
though admitted to BIZ Il well written
and rlahoratc performance, was re-
rrivcd wilhvcry general dissatisfaction.
he purport OF, the essay was 10 make
out some connection between the alleged
Increase OF crime and the increase of
educational institutions and facilities,
IN this and other countries. Mr. p. en-.
dravofed To establish by statistical re.
turns that crimes had recently been
much more abundant than formerly,
b"th IN this country and some of the
more civilized Of European nations.--
at the same time there has been Il great
increase of education, great advance.
ncnt in the system of common school
instruction and in tho supply ofrcading
and other means and facilities for the
advancement of intellectual culture
among the people ut large. The cs.
sayist inclined TO the belief that there
Yas Il cuunection--thc connection of
sseffect and cause between these two
1acts; and his arguments were intended
to establish the probability of the in
crease of crime being owing to the in
crease of educational facilities and in.
stitutions Of various kinds.
~ similar supposition has been very
strcnuously urged by Sir n. Alison,
the volmminous Essayist aud lIislori-
an, and by the scclarian enemies o.
our system Of public schools in vari-
rlous States i'll this hemisphere. These
latter urge this alleged connection be.
tween the increase OF education in re-
ent times with II purpose very differ
cnt from that of Mr.. Pierce. They ar
Gcuc that there is such connection fo
The purpose OF tovcrthrowing, discrcdit-
ing and destroying our American cdu.
calional and republican institutions
Mr. /. advocates The theory for the
purpose of urging improvement in our
schools and sGminarics, by the intro
duction of a greater amount Of moral
instruction and training.
The theory that crime has increased
most in those countries, as America.
Scotland, England, Prussia. and the
States OF Germany, in which education
has been most aSSiduousIy cherished.
has been favored by many, beside MIR.
Fierce. Such statements rs the fol-
lowing have been alleged in attcs,a-
ton OF the correctness Of this theory.
Inc progress of crime has been more
rapid III Scotland than in any other
count, Of Europe. In Gla$goN, more
especIaliy. OF late years, it has been
beyond all precedent alarming, serious
crime having incLcascd nearly tcntold
more than population. OF upwards OF
three thousand individuals tried in one
year, less than onc-lourlh were uncdu.
Gated, aud the renancr. or more than
threc-tourihs, were educated. in Lon
don, it has also been found that in one
particular Year, that Of the number
committed for various onenccs, UP
wards OF two thirds were persons who
had received more or less cducaliun.-
IN FRANCE, also, it appears, from stat
lstIcai returns that crime is nowhere
SO prevalent rs in those towns and dis
trctS where secular education and pro
SrrSs in the physical arts and sciences
have been advance to the highest de
S'e'. without amy corresponding atten
ton To religious culture. Facts have
also been brought forward from the
criminal courts Of our own country
which show rapid increase of crime:
many classes OF which, rs frauds. for
Scrlcs and comterfciting, are not such
rs can be committed by the uneducat,
cd.
Such, facts, Of which we question
neither the correctness nor the abund-
ancc, do indeed lend degree of ylous-
.0tltty to the theory to which they have
been advanced to support. But still
they do not prorc that education is the
cause of Increase Of crime We think
it might he ascribcd, wiM ntucA better
reason. to the increased prevalence of
Intempcrance, TO the increased love Of
gain, and the conscqumt ingenuity, en-
tcrprSc and rccklcsSncss which charac-
tcrize the population OF America and
other civilized countries within the last
fifty or seventy-Gve years.
We think the wide prevalence of
intempcrance, and the highly stimulat-
cd love of gain which are marked fea-
OF the last qnater Of n century or more,
are much more probably causes of the
alleged increase Of crimes within that
period, than any increase of education
al institutions. or facilities among the
people. In regard to one Of these causes
this much at least is certain, that crime
Is very much decreased in the city of
Portland and elsewhere in the State of
Maine, since the cnactm, nj Of that
most righteous and bcncficcnt law,
which, for ages to come, will render
sthat State famous. a law, similar to
the one we nave just referred to in
Maino, has been adopted and enforced,
but for short period, in the State of