New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-08-12


who find in il whatever they wish to find,
whether they are bent upon internal improve
mrnts in their own particular districts, or the
rearrangemcnt of the national finances with
view 70 the Improvement of their own. lie
has found how dangerous as well as con-
temntible is that hand-to-m0uth bill-passnS
which is only intended 10 serve The Immediate
wants Of party, and which gives us laws
good for nothing except repeal. in brct, he
has found out the things which ought to be done,
and ccrally the things which ought not to I've
done; and there is in him the help Of expert
ence, of observation, and Ofreliancc upon his
own mind to say nothing of his own con-
science.
we fear that the kind of teaching which
young men frequently get in the colleges Is
hardly fitted TO make them valuable and Wig
orous public characters so far rs morality
and hich purpose are involved, the eff
feet of liberal education IL undonbt-
edly excellent in itself A weH-trained
man is less likely TO do anything mean
or corrupt than one of vulgar habits ana
coarse Pursuits whose Alma Mater has been
the tutclary goddess of the corner groceries,
whatever her name and lineage. The well IN
formed will remember the time when the am
billions of the cleysrest undergraduates were
mainly political the exceptions beng among
those who were destined to preach or to prac-
tee medicine. There has been great change
and, as a rule, the thoroughly educated are
not fond of our politics. Nor is there usually
what may be. called general political inter
est TO be observed in the universities. The
Young gentlemen expect to look into these
matters by and by. Frequently, it is true,
they have political notions and preju-
dices, and a good deal OF zeal without
knowledge But their real acquaintance
with public affairs begins after their lust OF
Office has been excited by an apparent oppor-
tunity, and even then they know more OF pn-
mary meetings and of the virtues OF "a good
"cryn than of the history Of the United States
or of the science of legislation. IL frequently
happens that public opinion is not the best
opinion. This too often is entertained by Il
small and quiet minority. Already we begin
to see that there is great danger IN the rciuc-
lance with which cultivated men engage in
politics; but this sensiveneSs only increases the
evil which produces 1t. Of itself 1t can secure
no desirable reform. A professor IN college,
fond of his desk and his duties, of his quiet
opportunities, his literary leisure and his
library, might hear with unaffected horror
that his fellow citizens intended to make him
Member of Congress, and might say No "
with all the emphasis consistent with polite
ness. Yet he might also be in the habit of
talking by the hour, in mixed company and to
his classes, of the necessity of selecting choice
men for Office, if we would not experience the
evils depicted by Tacltus, and furnish
Fail and Decline for the re-
searches of some future Gibbon. There
have been examples of Members of Congress,
after stormy career, retiring to the safe ancnor-
age of a college presidency or professorship,
as Presidents Quincy and Everett did in their
advanced years but generally such men, when
they pnt on the academic gown and seek the
academic grove, leave politics altogether be-
hind them. President Seelyc is hardly OF this
monastic turn, and we shall not be surprised to
find Amherst College, under his government,
sending out a considerable number of gradu-
ates who, after a little honest experience Of
the world will be found amply qualified for
the business of legislation.