Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-02-21

U
on the one hand, an emphatic denial OF the
utility OF what is known ''liberal educa-
| uon, and, on the other hand there il q re-
variable multiplication OF the institutions
wnicn profess to give it-s multiplication. I'M
fortunately, in itself an element OF weakness.
since II IL diffusion of strength when success
depends greatly on concentration of effort
and yet an indication of the necessity Of Q
higher mental cultivation.
Liberal means free in the language
from which the word is derived. and a Liberal
education Is the education Of freemen-the ed
ucation that frees the mind alike from the
slavery OF ignorance and the tyranny Of the
passions without such an education there
can De no intelligent participation in the func-
tions OF government that are devolved alike
| upon all citizens Of the republic
But such an education, il NAV be said IL not
open to all; and notbeing open 30 all it can not
be regarded as essential 70 the welfare ~ tba
community as a whole
When 1.-The hewers OF wood and the drawers
OF water" learn to read the pages of Homer and
Demosthenes, and to hold high converse with
the highest on the abtruse questions of science
and philosophy, there will be no longer ..hev-
ers OF wood and drawers of water" and the
millennium will have come. Yet il NAV be
that, in the ages which are vet 10 be unfolded.
our increasing knowledge Of the secrets of ma
ture may enable us to escape much Of the
drudgery that is now the daily fate of the vast
majority of mankind. and place the whole race
on higher plane Of intelligence. But il is too
much to hope, until the millennium is ushered
in, liberal education will be within the
! reach Of
MORE THAN A SMALL MINORITY.
II Is this small minority that 10 to heaven the
mass. All free government, however demo-
cratic in theory, is necessarily aristocratic in
fact. The few must always administer it The
few must always guide and control it. The
guaranty Of freedom is that these few are not
permanently entrenched behind the frownlng
ramparts Of privilege, but are subject to
change; that the men Of to-day are not the men
OF Yesterday; and that it is always in the power
of the majority to discard the old and appoint
new administrators Of the powers Of govern
ment.
1t is a singular fact that, notwithstanding the
extension Of constitutional government in Eu-
rope, and apparently in pursuance Of it. both
education and religion have been made con-
Germs OF state by nearly all the nations Of that
continent and every cabinet has q minister OF
public worship and Of public instruction.
Usually the two subjects are combined under
the supervision Of one ministerial department.
In the very beginning of our federal Union we
separated the domain Of religion from that of
politics, and il is one Of the cardinal principles
OF our republican institutions that every man
should be free TO worship God as he pleases, or
not to worship Him at al IL he SO prefers. pro-
vided he does not offend against public de-
corum. But our views in regard to the control
OF the state over education are not by any
means as well defined as with regard to the
freedom Of religious worship, and by many per-
sons it has been deemed wise statesmansbip,
not only that the state should encourage edn-
cation-about which there is no reasonable
room for controversy-but even that il should
assume to itself the direct and immediate man.
agement of it-that il should have its own
schools and universities, appoint its own teach
ers, and prescribe
ITS OWN COURSE OF STUDY
Now ~ tbara is anvtbino eli da6nad ;r o,,r
theories of government, it is that the principle
Of paternalism is radically vicious, and that
the state should not attempt to do for us
what we can as well do for ourselves. Govern
ment is merely a policeman, and its sole duty
as to keep the peace between us. while we work
out our destinies, each Of us in our way. Its
commandments are exclusively negative; posi-
tive duties it should leave to our consciences
and the laws that govern conscience. When
ever 1t goes beyond this limit the tendency of
its action is always in the direction of social
ism and communism, and every such departure
from its normal sphere is a confession OF weak
ness on the part of individual man that de-
tracts from the native dignity of our manhood.
1t is return to the monarchical principle
which we repudiated by our Declaration of In
dependence.
II this be the true theory Of government the
management of the education of the people is
as far beyond its proper sphere as is the con-
troll OF religion. Indeed, system Of education
controlled and managed by politicians is such
an incongruity that when the proposition is
stated in all its holiness we are disposed to
wonder how we could ever think of receiving
our mental and moral training from the poli-
tlcians, any more than we would at this day
think OF accepting our religious creed from the
privy council Of an English sovereign. The
eontrci which the cabinets Of Europe attempt
to exercise over the subjects Of education and
religion is but the last desperate attempt of the
enemies OF freedom to convert both into en-
glnes OF despotism. By indirection. il is true,
the state can and should foster the cause of
education, as it can and should foster the cause
OF religion and morality; but il is not the
province Of the state to build schools for us
that could compete with the great universities
Of the past in their influence, or that could
worthily develop the spirit of
INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM AND TRUE MANHOOD.
1t is not to be forgotten that the altered con-
ditions Of society have superinduced the neces-
sity for great changes in the methods hereto
fore prevalent in various branches of education.
Formerly the student Of law or medicine had
no other school than the Office Of some member
OF the profession in the active practice of it,
and his education was only such as he could
''pick up" The medical man was compelled
to go to the schools Of Continental Europe for
his higher education, if he desired any, and
the lawyer had to do without it, because in the
common law there was no higher educa-
tempt to establish a school of the COM
mon law at Oxford before the middle of
the last century, the first outcome OF which was
the immortal work of Blackstone But it never
did ANYTHING else, and it finally died of inani-
ton, although the study Of law has been re-
stored in that ancient university during the
present century, and with better success.
The apprentice system. in fact. for a long time
afforded the only access to these two learned
professions as il did in a somewhat different
way to the various trades and mechanical in
dustries. The trades unions destroyed the
system in the latter case, and the advancement
OF civilization had the same result with respect
to law and medicine, necessitating the substi-
ton Of the law school and the medical college
for the private preceptor.
So the university had become the sole dispen-
satory Of all liberal education, and upon il
consequently has devolved a more profound
responsibility than in England or the United
States ever rested upon it before. 1t
has become the guardian of our municipal free
dom because it is the foster mother of our in
tellectual and sentimental nature
1t is the province Of the university while not
descending in the slightest degree from the
high plane in which she has placed those
studies that have been peculiarly her own for
generations, to prosecute with enlarged wis.,
dom the material sciences that have come in
our age 30 greatly to widen the sphere of hu-
man knowledge and to increase the sum of
human happiness. All beauty and duty and
truth 1t is hers to develop. Hers it is by all
the roads of human knowledge to lead us into
the appreciation Of all that 10 best and highest
within the