Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1856-01-17


We do not know, as Marylandors, in what
terms, sufficiently expressive, we can word
our sense of shame. We who were fore
most among the States to project and carry
!. out gigantic works of internal improvements,
involving the expenditure of millions of pub
lie money, have been the last to acknow-
ledge the truth of the simple axiom that the
real material progress Of a State must de-
pend upon the intellectual condition of its
citizens, and that though we may intersect
the whole of our territory with railways and
canals, and build up by State and eleemosy-
nary aid, noble structures for reformary and
philanthropic purposes, all our efforts will
fail to embrace the full scope of our intent,
unless based upon that most solid of all
foundations, the diffusion of education a.
mong the people.
| How stands the case at present? Aswe
have no data upon which to base our calcu-.
latlons for the past five years, let the census
of 1850 answer. Imperfect as-all statistical
tables arc upon this head, from the repue-
nance Of individuals to acknowledge their
gross ignorance, we yet learn, even from
these, that in an aggregate white population
of four hundred and seventeen thousand nine
hundred and forty-three, there were twenty
thousand eight hundred and fifteen adults
who could neither road nor write-which,
according to the customary computation of
six members to each household-would give
us one head Of q family IN eeesy third house.
hold a0hohy uneAucated! Startling as this
may appear the evidence is not only clear
and irrefragable, but we apprchend that
more accurate investigation would make the
statement far less favorable still
The recent message Of Governor Ligon
discloses another fact, which we ourselves
forbore to mention in our previous articles
on this subject, and that is-that during the
ten years previous to the census Of 1850,
'Fthe number Of qczite adults acho could nei-
tier read nor aohite, aros doubled, avhizst the
increase Of OR population aeittin the same
period had not crceeded one,ftth.
What bitterer sarcasm upon plan of
public education, of thirty years standing,
could possibly be promulgated than that one
'humiliating truth as it is justly termed
by the Governor? Rightfully indeed does
he say
"The intelligence of the people constitutes one
of the main pillars of our fabric of Government.
and upon an enlightened morality and public vir-
tue, must rest the hope of the patriot for its safety
and perpetuity. Education is the handmade of
religion, and it is the dictate of wisdom, that the
public school like the sanctuary of the living God,
should be made accessible to the humblest and
poorest in our midst, that thereby the seeds of
knowledge and religion may be sown together,
broadcast over the land, and their manifold in
crease made to swell beyond calculation the har
vests of future prosperity"
1t is gratifying to know that the ablest
portion Of Governor Ligon's message, is
| that which urges a thorough reform in the
educational system Of the State. He says
! it is "a burning shame" that Maryland
should have done so little to rescue from
perpetual ignorance the poor within-her-
limits, and we say so too. It is blot upon
her glorious cscutcheon which we hope the
| Legislature now in session will promptly
wipe out. There can be no subject coming
before it fraught with more important con-
sequences.
Look at our sister Massachusetts,,
Connecticut, New York, Ohio, Indiana and
many others-all with their busy hives Of
youthful scholars, training under the eyes
of faithful monitors, to become fitted for any
oesttiou LII liz, elliu VI SpCdhllS
acting Understandings on the great quos-
tons which may hereafter arise whether as
regards the moral, social, or religious con-
dition Of the people, Or our national policy.
New York herself has eleven thousand dis
trict school libraries scattered over the sur
face Of that noble State, an example worthy
of all imitation
1t has become necessary to look this mat
ter fully in the face The time is propitious,
our finances are in condition prosperous
beyond example in the history Of the State,
the public mind is fully awakened to the de-:
basing ignorance which now prevails among
the poorer Inhabitants Of the State, and
State pride, State honor, sound policy, the
public interest, and the dictates of morality
and religion, alike call upon our Legislature
to adopt public plan of intellectual culture
which shall be worthy Of the people they re-
present, and which shall hand them down
to future generations as the men who first
laid the foundations of the State upon the
only secure basis, that of a thoroughly con-
sidered and well digested system Of popular
education. Who will be the first to begin
this work?