Washington telegraph., 1855-08-08
ESUc2tiHn.

is seen and heard in the efforts which the
present age is making. to perfect and cs-
tablish sound and salutary system of pub
lie Instruction. system embracing in its
ample provisions the entire youth Of the
country. and adapted. in its organization.
to secure the best results of intellectual
moral training Enlightened public SEN
timent now fully assents to the PROPOSE
ton. that the peEpetuity of our civil and
religious institutions. rests altogether up
on the rightly balanced character of the
rising generation.
There are two principles which are fun
damental in ali democratic governments.
They who govern must know hoto to gov
ern.-and they who govern rightly must
themselves be right Intelligence and vir-
tue. therefore. are presupposed, by the
very organization of our Government. If.
then. we would preserve this great Temple
of Freedom unaefled the people must be
capacitated to exercise justly the sover-
eighty with which they are invested
The possession Of Civil power requiring
the highest exercise of reason, is incom
patible with ignorance. 1t is antagonistic
to the principles of national liberty, and
must, consequently. involve the inevitable
destruction of that liberty, unless the peo-
pie happily rise to a voluntary correction
Of the evil, aud attain a successful refor-
nation. 1t will be readily granted that
the primary and secondary institutions of
every Government must harmonize. If
they do not, there will arise internal con-
flic.s and antagonisms subversive of all Or
der On this point history is not silent.
Legislative assemblies are inconsistent with
absolute monarchies for as the Legislative
power increases the Monarchical power d.
minshes. By Legislative aggressions in
England, the power of the Monarch has
become merely nominal. In France it has
been twice destroyed, On The other hand,
in the Commonwealth of England and in
France after her revolutions, the people
lost their power, in consequence Of placing
Monarcbical powers in the hands of the
first Magistrate: We conclude then. that
the capacity Of the people must be equal
to the power with which they are invest
ed. To secure this capacity. properly or
ganizcd Seminaries of Learning must be
regarded as the most efficient means
With the view of presenting their claims
to the fostering care Of an enlightened
community, we begin series of articles,
which will be continued from time TO time,
as circumstances may seem to warrant :
and in noticing their claims. we shall take
the ground that it is the duty of every
Patriot. Philanthropist aud Christian, to
extend liberal patronage to literary in
stitutions.
In support of this sentiment. we offer,
to-day. few general reflections on Edu-
cation. knowledge is power-the most
powerful agent that can be entrusted to
man- The leading object of seminaries is
20 invest the mind with this power, and
to give it the right direction for unless
it be properly directed. it becomes an en-
gine of universal evil, but. when control
! Ted by enlightened moral sentiments, of
universal good The condition of the
world. at the present time, illustrates its
ascendant and modifying force It shows
the enjoyments and pleasures Of cultivated
minds adorning every relation in life, as
contrasted with the uncultivatsd, sunk in
degradation and misery. The uncultivated
man has a set Of social instincts, and a
susceptibility to certain grade of gross
pleasures. but they all play in narrow
round of animalisn. His chief source of
happiness is the qualification of his sensu-
al appetites. which can hardly be said TO
enter into any just notions of human hap
pinesss. The arcana of nature may be
stored with the purest luxuries of intel
lect. but mental power must reach their
depths. and develop their treasures. Mind
may be the appropriate scene of mental
revel, but it reveals its mysteries, and Of
fers its riches 10 none but cultivated minds
The uneducated man is an entire stranger to
the refined and elevated pleasures. which flow
from the exercise of the intellectual faculties
To him the book of nature is a sealed volume
Of the ten thousand beautiful and wonder
full processes which are going on through
out the animal. mineral. and vegetable king
doms he knows nothing Every blade of
grass and every drop of water shuts up
within itself world of wonders, but ma
ture makes no revelations to him. The
earth beneath bis feet is enamelled with
divine workmanship, and stars rise and set
over his head,-stiIl be stands amidst it all