The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-04-14

OF its studies and In the width of the
field for selection among those studies,
as we'll as in the absence of ecc1esiastf-
cal control and even of coercive disci-
pline. those principles OF liberty which
he held so dear.
Il was fine and fertile conception.
It does all the more credit to Jefferson
because most of the colleges of the
United States were in those days clas-
steal or mathematical academies, at
tached to particular denominations and
with a narrow range of subjects, drill
ing their pupils thoroughly, but drill
ing them on old-fashoned methods.
Ardcntly interested in all sorts of stud
les, natural as we'll as civil or hui
nanistic, Jefferson desired univer-
sity which should take, as Bacon said.
all knowledge to be It's province, and
should provide instruction In every
subject that men sought to study. This
view of a university-the Old true
view of those early Middle Ages, when
universities first arose--had been for
gotten. We are SO familiar with 1t nov
that we scarcely realize how novel It
was when propoundcd by jefferson,
and how much it transcribed the COM
mon notions of those times. when IN
England Oxford and Cambridge were
just beginning to awake from their
II long torpor-days during which IT had
been left to the Universities of GAS
gov and Edinburgh to keep ablaze the
sacred torch in Britain. Jefferson III
the torch afresh in the South. In
/ 1779 he tried to secure a scheme for
establishing popular education. IN
17o4 he sought to transfer bodily 70
! Virginia the whole faculty Of the Uni
| yersity of Geneva. Never thereafter
did he dcsist from his efforts. til IN
j. 1910 the Legislature passed an ~
which, while providing primary scnoois'
crowned the edifce by making an al, np-
nronriation for the University OF var
| rinia Won remember his own words:
9Our university, the last OF my mortar
cares and the last service ! can rehuet
to my country.
i His Love OF Liberty.
jefferson carried further than any
i other man of equal ability and equally
barge practical experience has done d
Hath in the political perfectlbil1tS OF
i n,ankind He believed, or at least ne
i frequently declared, because we can, ,
mot be sure that all he said Represented
Ibis permanent convictions, that me
i greatest evil from Which men sutleren
y was the control Of other men. lie llKed
TO call that control tyranny, but the
Language he sometimes used was ap-
pllcablc not merely to despotlc ana
irresponsible power, but to many other
kinds OF authority. He would appear
to have thought that liberty was SO
{ much the best thing in the world tha'
:. with enough OF 1t all human affairs
would so we'll.
!, When one reads Jefferson and exam !
:. ines his conduct, considering, on the
i one hand, his faith in the people, anu
I on the other hand, his high sense u
! tho value of knowledge and the efforts
H. made to spread university lnstruc-
., ton, three questions are presented to
! our minds--questions of permanent IN
: terest Cor all students of politics.
K me first of these Is. How far Is Y
a true that the people are sure to &c
tlsht! AS YOU would express it here IT
:. familiar terms Is the average man
!. lhe FARMER or the lrtisan--tit to run
democracy with success: If freedom
: alone is enough. If the impulses of mar
d are preponderatingly good, the averag
man ought 10 be able to do so. Vet
r jefferson evidently had his misgiyings
y Ihoush he refrained from the con-
domination BE- ought to have passed or
. Tue eScesses committed by some of his
i flencl' revolutionary friends, he knew
e wen enough that more than the aboll
q lion OF MOI archy ana aristocracy was
iiNeded 10 secure good government, ans
- ms own experience In office was amply
y sufnclett to'show him how many knots
unite, & I7''
;yd TINS QUESTION is so large that i mus
I. ~ = = kHeHpt tod iscuss ~ here, II an