Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1881-06-10

the most wonderful OF all created babies
but l have an appointment att"eNe =
TIaslty's -Udgd-inc.
New England.
WHAT JOHN BRIGHT THINKS OF 1T.
from a Recent speech.l
| will ask vou for moment to go with
me to a portion Of the United States OF
America which was peopled from tins
country some two hundred nnd tofty
wears aso-to the States winch are called
New England States. As y"u look upon
the map of the United States You VIII
find cluster OF small States to the north
east of the State of New York, and those
six States which go by the name OF New
England are those which were, more tlah
any others, originally settled by furitah
emigrants from England. Thlsd district to
which | am contining your attention, Tor
am not asking you to look over the
whole of the United States, though IN all
the free States the same system has eX-
tended to great degree, and Is gradual
" promising to produce similar 1rnlts-
the New England States contain popu-
lation of about three and hall mliilohs.
When the Puritans landed III tlat c"ui-
try they had some idea OF what was nee
essary for the prosperity OF the people,
and they, amongst other things, miide
this ,ieclaration-I take 1t from Mr Ban
croft's History of the Colonization OF the
United States they say that none OF
the brethren shall suffer SO much barba-
rism in their families mark the word
barbansm- ''as not to teach their child
rem and apprentices SO much learning as
may enable them perfectly to read the
English tongue" And further they say:
'.To the end that learning may not he
buried in the graves of our forelathers,
it was ordered in all the Puritan colonies
''that every township when the Lord mas
increased them to the number OF tfty
householders, shall appoint one to teach
all children to write and read and when
any town shall increase to the number OF
one hundred families they shall set up
grammar school, the masters thereof be-
ing able to instruct youth so far as they
may be fitted for the university. Bear
in mind that this was done by your own
countrymen- -comtrymcn that were driven
out from this country by the tyrannous
supremacy of the church OF that day and
by the folly and the despotlsm Of the
dynasty of the StGarts. They were driven
ont, forced cmiGrants, outcastS as 1t were
from their native country, lande4 on
shores that then promised little Tor the
future, and, two hundred and twenty
years ago, they passed these resolutions
or laws which l have Just explained to
Won, and established system OF cduca-
ton which, from that time to this, has
gone on with ever gathering force, rals-
ing the population Of those States to
condition which is not equallcd amongst
any other people on the globe. As to the
results. / might give you the statements
of travellers. give You the statement
of one friend of nine, who Is now no
longer liyinG-I refer TO very eminent
member of the House of Commons, the
late Mr.. Ellicc, the memberfor Coventry.
Mr.. Ellie, travelled i'll America, rs he had
done two or three times before, very near
the close of his life. Some years ago he
visited Canada and the United States. In
n conversation with me after his return,
he said that, in the New England States,
there was ''the most perfect government
in the world" there was ''thc most equal
| condition and the most universal comfort
among the people, and he said the whole
population, he believed, were "more IN
structed, more moral. and more happy,
truly, than any other equal population
had been in any other country or III any
other age of the world.
And the whole of this is to be traced,
not to the soil, not TO the climate, but,
| believe, to the extraordinary care which
the population, from the Pilgrim Fathers
unto this day have taken that every child,
boy or girl, should be thoroughly i'll
structed at least i'll the common branches
of learning. | met Il man once who told
me that until he was about twenty years
of age he had never seen a man who
could not read and write, and when lie
saw him, and believe he had come from
Europe, he looked at Inn with amaze
mcnt as Won look some times rather with
astonishment, and also with great sympa-
thy, to persons who have some eXtraordi-
nary natural defect. And the census
shows that. speaking generally, there Is
scarcely to be found one pcrson-that Is,
one native American certainly you could
not find one ont of many hundreds, III
the New England States, who cannot read
and write. The influence of these States
is cnormous They send teachers all
through the American Union, and the
opinion and the Influence of those small
States, containing not mere than about
one tenth Of the whole population Of the
American Union, are felt TO the remotest
corners of that vast territory. Now, III
New England they consider that their
plan is the only plan. They have tired 1t
for 200 years Its success is beyond all
contest, and absolutely complete; and
there has been nothing like ii that has
been equally successful i'll the world.
And what their Puritan ancestors-for
aught | know they were our ancestors,
some of them, as well rs thelrs-what
their Puritan forcfathers Ill the New Eng
land States did, if The people Of England
had the sense to comprehend their true
interests, they might compel to be done
in this country rs well. Who Is there,
except the unhappy children who are lett
in Darkness who are so interested III TINS
question as you, the Sunday schoolteach-
ers that | see before me? If these child
rem were taught reading and writing, the
ordinary branches Of what Is called secu-
lar instruction, i'll the week, how much
lass laborous would be your work Ill the
Sunday school, and how much more pro-
life of great and blessed results ! When
the government ,of this country III more
"of the people" and ''hy the people.
then it will also he more ''forthe people.
| And l believe now, II IL We're possible W
poll all the men and women i'll Great
Britain, that there would be Il prodigious
majority i'll favor of establishing some
great system which should bring the
blessings OF common school education
down to the very hmmblest people IN the
realm | know nothing, believe there
is nothing, that can 50 contribute to the
freedom and the happiness and the true
greatness of nation as thorough, com
prehensiyc and complete system of III