New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-05-31
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. May

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. May
The number OPENS with a Modern SYM
,osnm A, (which seems TO he growing into a fayorte
orin OF discussion with of tie British perouV"s''
treating OF the question: Is the popular Ju"s'ion ~
politics more lust than that OF 'he higher ORDERS III
which Iord Arthur Russell takes the negative sdc MI
Frederic Harrison the affirmative. ana MI H. H. iu.
ron the same m a modified sense. while Mr. Grant Dun
endeayors TO separate the true from tbe lasc III TIC
,totements Of the other writer's The discussion is con-
ducted In the spirit of concession without
the bitterness blindness Of passionate controversy
Mr. Harrison suns up his own argument as follows;
political intelligence Is not the brthrig OF any caSs
political training If even now very aIg'N un'uSc"
amongst working masses and even siateSmahhke
genius l. occasionally found IN the heart OF the peoPe
Those who know the skin and sagacty with when inc
great cooperative societies the great trades unions ana
the many industrial organizations of our people nave
been founded and worked. Will not deny tlal po'ci
qualities are widely dfIsed amongst hc ana 'ha' inc
genius Of command IL occasionally hidden uhder the
blouse or the freze. Abraham Lincoln, bred umperer
and called a railsphtcr. proved great statesman.
Sergeant Hoche n born general And CromWeh
stcpped from farm TO throne. rcpudiatc as much
as any man The Democratic theory the direct govern
ment of masses. the meddlng in affairs by ignorance
But then ] repudate the theory even when see IL III
yestry or In a learned society, or in the House OF Com
mons. | say that all government must be the work OF
special personal capacity in harmony with an enGht-
cpcd public opinion. But deny that this onlghten-
mcnt is at all peculiar to the privileged orders cr that
this capacity Ia always monopoly OF the Ich
Mr. Dale's third paper on his Impressions OF America
is devoted 10 the subject OF Popular Education" in
which he presents Interesting details OF the "Orb
Ing Of the common school system in different states
His experience on u visit to Of the schools In this
city, which he does not designate is thus described;
"when IN New-YOrk visited primary school IN
which one Of the assistant superintendent had made an
experiment III order TO discover whether was not pos
sibe secure far greater prOmptnes and accuracy III
the intellectual activity OF the children than Is common
In schools OF the kind. The principal teacher,
lady who gave the Impression that she possessed
unusual ability and vigor entered heartily INTO HIS
scheme; her assistants were equally Jealous Inc re-
suits whatever their merit were certainly astonishing
dI OF the children absolutely per
feet. There something almost preternatura in the
readiness with which they answered every question that
put TO them. They exploded as soon as tey were
touched; and tue answers were always as definite ana
exact as If they had been revised by committee OF
lawyers mathemacians l watched several classes
at work in different suhjectsreading, spelling arith-
metic and geography-and what struck me as most ex-
traordnary the fact that child in every class
equally keen, equally clear equally exact, equally
alert Ny friend the assistant superintendent, who went
through the school with me, was LITTLE disappointed
when expressed the fear that in the long run the chill
dren might safer from the extreme tension TO which
their minds were subjected The mistress, who was
naturally very proud OF the results she had achieved
was equally disappointed. argued that the atmos-
phere Of the school electric and stimulating
that the children seemed TO me TO have lost the charac
terstics OF childhood. The lady replied: They are
New-York children; this is the way we live in New
York reOined that had seen nothing like Ii in Chi
eago and that supposed that Chicago was as alive as
SewYork 1t happened be the first school had seen
IN NeN-York, or l might have told her that III the
schools of NewYOIk itself had such eXtraOr
binary activity elsewhere To make my peace and get
of with moderate degree of credit. was obliged TO
plead that, being Enslshman, was necessarily con
servalive and phegmatic. spent an hour or an hour
half this school. but aStonshed and con
founded by what saw that l was unable TO form any
conception OF the peculartcs Of method by which these
very remarkable results produced arranged TO
visit the school again. and to spend several hours there
in order find the secret This visit was reserved
Us kind OF bonnie Jouche for my last day in America.
and it great disappointment to me to discover
when rang the bell, that as the city elections were
voin on al dav school closed"