Under the head of "Educat...
The Times, 1824-01-10T00:00:00

17nder the head of " Educationl ni Russia," wye have in- s crtwd a statement woithy of serious notice. Leg7timacy, t!c monarchical principle, the Holy Alliance-the two for- nmer conveying one and the same abstr.ct notion, a%d the last, viz. the alliance called. Holy, pa siing for its oatward aud visible rt-presenlative,-weli deserve the panegyric be- stowed by BUONAPARTE upon an eininent member o' that sacr.d league-" Honest, as a Greek of the Loiycr Empire." Give, initeed, these.prir.ciules, anm the parties wlho espoiise them, tbir play, and( aluhoub, their honesty may not be unquestionably proved, their waant of it will at lcsst be so far innuxious, that the world can no longer be deceived. by it. Not an hour passes over us in wvhich some fragment of that moral drapery, assumedI at its first formation by the lHo'y Allianice, is not siripped off his own personz by the ha ds of ore member or another of the confeederacy. From an expedientfor confirming the repose of nations, the Holy Alliance now-stands confessed an engine -for making despotism universal and immortal-for forcing the' ,human mind Otto those depths or-slavery and barbarism, where it lay motionless, while ancient-learning was ex- tinguislied, and modeerni science had not yet emerged.; and tbus to exact a terrible restitution fromn niankind of what- ever encroachments had been made on tyranny and super- stition, by the press, the compass, and the gospel. Russia wvas the author of the Holy Alliance, and is the soul of it. Let us see how the professions of the Russian Government, in behalf of the g,eneral happiness of the world, are illustrated by those principles and practices whereon has been framed it domestic system towards its own 'Russian subjects. Plans of national improvement un- der a despotic sovereign are always liable to a fair suspi- cion that their career must be short,' and their ground-work narrow. Such schemes may, undoubtedly, proceed so far as to make barbarians wear powder, shave their beards, and cover their heads with hats of a certain form. The experiment, under a (Iespotj may succeed in substituting among his slaves a frightened anm servile, for a fierce and audlacious carriage. Bnit any undertaking which pretends to have education for its object, must, where the character of the Government is despotic, be a farce or a chi- mera on the face of it. There are, as is well known, things called Univers;ties in Russia, and our readess may see, in the article previously referred to, the part which in tbat centre of legitimacy th, se learned instruments are destined to perform. At a public examination the displea- sure of the Government Inspector-anglice Visiter-was severely and pertinaciously expressed at theprogrcss wdtich the ?1?uthls had 17rade in science a'id philosopky ! A wretched servile Frenchman pronounced a discourse in which he i crhninated all the learned of the West of Europe, for labouriing these forty years past to overturn every " wise principle of religion and government !"-threat- ened European " order and civilization" with ruin, if such torrents of blasphemy and anarchy (meaning free- (1o0l) of religious and political discussion) wvere suffered any longer to flow out upon socic:y; and then fi:ished in cha- racter, by daubing 'witli his encomiums the Czar and his "loly Alliance." The regulations of the Universities are nlow sufficiently instructive; the lectureship on the rights of nations is abolished throughout the Russian Empire; and yet these people talk of liberality and civilization, and the growtll of knowlcdge, as if any one of the three could 1 be safely permitted to exist under a despotism. WVhy, Iit is a contradiction in terms, that a Government resolved to be absolute, should dare to educate its people. Knowledge would teach them their indefeasible rights, and those rights are destructive of despotic power. 'here was some naivete, but indisputable truth, in the speech of FRA, CIS of Austria to the Italians-." N7o learn- 'ed mren for me-give me loyal subjects." Right, please your Majesty; for, in common sense, no learned Italian, nor German neither, could be a loyal subject to a divine-right Emperor. The two principles are opposite as life and death: to preserve a despotism, all moral force in the sub- j.ct natioi:s must be extinguished; andi the example we havenow .upplied from Rus,ii will do for the wlhole legi- timate race of empires, principahties, and kingdoms.