The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1859-08-10
From TIE. Hdzos Dem
Southern Education.


While our public men and journals are daily
discussing, with furious vehemence and I'm
firing assiduity, theoretical views Of national
tendencies and political bearings, ID is not
strange that this important subject receives so
little thought and so little action Isit not
the. climaxof folly, the Ultima Thule of stu
pidity, for men, who are eternaily abusing the
Yankees, and seem fully alive to theirampu-
dent encroachmenas, tosbe, without complaint
or an effort TO remedy the evil, continually
patzonizing their institutions and sending
their children 10 be educated from Southern
orthodoxy and gentlity into that fankee sell
flshness and sordidness which they profess so
PERFECTLY to abominate Yankee fanaticism,
Yankee manners, Yankee encroachments, and
Yankee views of slavery, they sufficiently
hate, and most zealously curse, but at the same
time ne see them, by deliberate choice, appar-
emily ambitious of having the facile minds of
theyswar with. They buy the'tadpoles, bat
denounce the frog.
1t is high time that Southern men were
abandoning this shameful Inconsistency and
combining their practice within the bounds
prescribed by their earnest and very creditable
preaching. Ifthey detest the Yankees on ac-
count Of their nefarious deeds and meditated
hostility, they should certainly have pride
enough to hold themselves equal to the Yam
KEGS It is certainly humilating to acknowl-
edge that the sons and daughters Of the South
cannot be accomplished, courteous and inteli-
gent ladies and gentlemen, withonta residence
Of three or four years in New England, and
q diploma from Northern College. But it is
objected that Southern institutions of learning
cannot give that full and complete fnish that
those Of the North can. This idea is enron
eous and arises merely from the fact that col
leges North are older than ourOwn, combined
with the fact that they are at distance, furn-
ishng an application of the saying, "a prophet
is never without honor except in his own
country" Proper examination and reflection
will convince any man that our institutions of
learning are fully equal TO those of Brother
Jonathan. Why should they not be 2 Are
they mot as well endowed Have not their
Faculties been selected with as correct judg-
ment as those of the North, and are they not
as competent and learned :? Where then are
they inferior ? In no point. On the contrary
there is one point of superiority, and that is,
the sons of the South in Southern colleges
are taught confidence in and love for the in
stitution of slavery.
It IS true that the North excels us in the
number of her colleges and seminaries. This
disparity ought to be obviated, but will be, as
Gov. A. 6. Brown correctly remarked in bis
able speech at Sharon, on the 21st, 'fonly
when the Southern mind is fully aroused to a
proper conception of its Importance" Every
State should have its University, and every
citizen, who is able, should patronize the in
stitution Of his own State Because college
is thousand miles distant, constitutes no
reason for believing it superior to college ten
miles from your door, Look at the course Of
our own University, at Oxford, for instance.
It is as thorough as that of any North of Ma
son & Dickson's line. Her professors are
equally able and equally learned, and boy
who viii take an education anywhere, will
take one as complete and perfect under their
supervisor and instruction, as under the direc-
ton of the first scholar in.the proudest insti-
tuition in the world
There is no subject of more Importance to
the South than Southern education We hope
at some future time, to recur to the topic
again, and examine it more freely than space
will at present allow Meantime, we should
be pleased to see the address of Gov. Brown
at Madison College, broadcast through the
coutry, in phamphlet form. 1t covers the
whole question, and fully demonstrates the vi
tai interest the South has in educating her
own limits