Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1855-07-17
EDUCATION IN yIRGINIA-HER ORA
TORS, EDITORS, sCHOOLMAsTERs,
AND INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING.

AND INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING.
Certain Purtanic Pharisees occasionally aided
and abette by disappointed southern politicians)
are in the habit of reading homilies which have.
Tor their burden The io,c state Of education in Yi-
ginia-THE Rock OF Democracy.
When one reflects that the moral weight Of
Virginia in the Councils Of the Nation is fully
equal to what is due 10 her representation in
Congress, il, indeed, il does not equal that of any
one OF the most populous States of the Union-a
phenomenon is presented, II il be hrs that her
state Of education is below that Of her sister
States The phenomenon consists in that pnedu-
Gated numbers equal, not TO say exceed, in infiu-
ence equal educated numbers. Or, if it be admit
ted that the moral weight and influence of Vr-
GINA equals that of New York or Pennsy lvania,
then the phenomenon is presented Of unedu-
Gated Jtr equalng in moral weight and influence
an educsied many.
This certainly would be reversal Of all pre-
conceived notions and clear yielding OF all
claim of value in education
When the PRarisees TO whom we have alluded
their case, they will have established startling
phenomenon
One Of the modes by which they have attempt
ed to establish their position is in this wise
They triumphantly parade the number of news
papers published in northern Massa-
chusetts, for example-as compared with the
number published in Virginia; and because in the
claimed that this indicates a greater demand
among the people Of Massachusetts, for mental
pabuum, and, ergo, that they are more advanced
intellectually or sdaca,ionaliy
While il is clear that cateris paib,s, greater de-
mand for mental pabulum indicates greater adj
vancement Ill mental culture, il is likewise true
that no advantage can be justly claimed from the
general proposition without il is first shown that
other things are equal or, in other words, until
it is frs. shown that the mental pabulum served
out by the editors Of Ma achusetts is of as good
quality as that served out by the Virginia edi-
tors. So far from its being true that quantity ir-
respective OF quality, is advantageous, the reverse
is the case. If the quality of food of any kind
(tor the body the mind) be deieterious, 1t is
certain that the less Of il tIlat is fed 0ut the
better
There is authority which will not be disputed,
Except, perhaps, ny the infdel newspaper pub
shed in Boston, for saying that ''the tree is
known by its fruit. I"
The only true source Of merit in the conductors
Of the public press is educators of the public
mind-directors Of the public opinion. As an
noincers Of current news, newspapers are mere
rivals OF the public crier with his bell-an i'm
tI,,. a.
the same line with him
Cotton Mather has 10 town or gone
again; i'll 1913 the charge of witchcraft was
brought against Margaret Jones, of Charlestown,
and she was executed; Ann Hibbins, of Boston,
next executed for the same cause; for witch
craft two hundred were accused-one hundred
and fifty imprisoned, twenty eight condemned,
nineteen hanged, and ONE PRESSED TO DEATH;
al early day the title to Indian lands was set
tied upon solid basis, by acting on the Puritan
principles of-Rssoired, That the earth and the
fruits thereof belong 10 the Lord, and are an in
heritance for his saints I'd. Resolved, That ace
are the saints; in 1856 the General Court of
Massachusetts, passed law to prevent the com
ing of Quakers into the province, fixing the pen
atty Of bringing one into it at fine of one hun
bred pounds sterling, and the Quaker himself to
be whipped twenty lashes and sentenced to hard
labor; in 1867 it was decreed that Quakers com
ing into the province should have their tongues
bored lcilh hoi iron and banshed; in lS3 :, the
convent at Charlestown was attacked by Mas
sachusetts mob, and its terrified inmates, refined
unofending, and unprotected ladies', driven from
their peaceful dwellings 10 take shsker where
they might; up 10 1855, no compensation has
been made by the authorities Of Massachusetts,
for this wanton, fanatical, and ferocious destruc-
ton Of property, since the sacking and burning
Of the convent, its ruins have stood monument
of shame to the people and silent reproach 70
pensatonfor loss Of property; afterwards, in order
to rid their eyes Of this monument Of shame and
reproach, the people Of Charlestown compassed
the removal said ruins by condemnng the site for
public use street or thoroughfare; in 1850, the
doors Of Faneuil Hall were closed against Daniel
Webster; in that same year Webster appealed
to the people Of Massachusetts TO conquer their
preudices, and they would not; in 1850, mob Of
thousands collected in Boston TO prevent the rem
N,
thony Burns, fugitive from labor, TO his owner
and MASTER in 1855, in pursuance Of the fanati-
cism which rules Massachusetts, an American
born boy was transported across the Atlantic be-
cause his smigrani mother ,cas poor; in 1854, the
people Of Massachusetts, elected Gtiy-siT pdrson
porer Legislature which KNEW NOTHING; in
1855, this legislature appointed Joseph Hiss and
Others a committee to inspect the Female Semi
nary, including private apartments, Of unofiend-
ing ladies, and then expelled Hiss from the Legs-
lature because he performed the duty in 1856,
the Legislature Of Massachusetts, petitioned the
Governor Of that State TO remove from Office
Judge Loring because he had performed his arOrn
constitutional duty; in 1855, the STATE or MAS
sAcnUsETTs, by an overwhelming majority Of its
foy-siA Pnrson power legislature, nullied, as Far
as she was concerned, law Of Congress, passed
in pursuance Of provision Of the Constitution,
which made obligatory upon Massachusetts the
performance Of duty TO her sister States; these,
and such like items, though now history, were