small class of inhabitants in this State, and they not citize can be more equitable, and yet scarcely one in ten thous will ever derive any benefit from it, or, perhaps, even, ev

Such laws, viz., those which are sometimes invidiousl as special legislation, are necessarily passed, every yea legislature in America, by common consent; and if all erased from the statute book, we should find we had taken backward in the path of civilization. The true limita particular, is not that a law should benefit all equally, fo general rule, is impossible, but that it should do no wr that it should injure no one without compensation. It fit somebody, but to require it to benefit every body require an impossibility.

Laws for the promotion of education, will, undoubted made, be of great, of incalculable benefit to the whole through their direct action, and of still greater advantage which is indirect; and I now propose to suggest what, it s would be a true and complete system of education for the by the means and resources of the Commonwealth, and to arguments to show the importance of the object, and the devolves on the government of the Commonwealth to carry tion such scheme of general education as shall appear to prehensive and useful.

The present educational plans of Massachusetts embr more than the Common School for children, and the No for the teachers. Nothing is taught, under the auspices monwealth, but the absolute necessities of intellectual elements which may enable the child of a poor man, if en an ardent genius, to educate himself imperfectly in after son of a rich man to move on more rapidly, under the such instructors as may be procured for him by a liberal

The acquisition of knowledge, the discipline of the min the best result of the best education, is not a task so soon finished. The road is steep, difficult, abounding with obs minable. And shall the State, the common mother, com with standing at its very entrance, just holding the gat saying, "Enter, my children, this is the road to eminence. these first hills, and you will have a splendid view of moun mountains beyond, which you may ascend if you like, and must climb if you mean to reach a really lofty position."

It was a great thing two centuries ago that New Engl have done so much more, in the days of her poverty and weakness, than the rest of the world, to promote the genera by public authority; but it is nothing to boast of that she made no progress since, in the same way, and that the Com has become now, the sole object of her care. In Massac vision was made, more than two centuries ago, for a mor course of education, to be sustained by all the resources of and if we had retained the noble ambition of our fathers an such a purpose would never have slipped out of view, or h unpopular. A college was talked of, and an appropriation

for it by the colonial authority, within a year after grammar schools were established, and our ancestors were right in thinking the one altogether inadequate, as the means of public instruction, without the other. The common school is the cradle, and the intellectual food furnished there is fit for the infant occupant; but to claim that the State has done its whole duty in providing those only for its children, is establishing a very limited sphere of duty indeed. It would be as wise to contend that the parent was absolved from all responsibility for the child as soon as it was able to stand alone, and that thenceforward the poor thing should provide for itself. No. If it be the duty of the parent to provide at all for his child, it is his duty to do so till the child is able to provide for himself; and if it be the duty, or if it be wise for the State to provide any education for the community, it is its duty, and it is wise for it to furnish as much as is needed for the preparation of that community for all the duties and occupations of life. The true limit is the benefit to be derived to the whole of society by providing means of improvement which cannot be so well obtained otherwise. The resources of the State are so much more vast than those of individuals, that what is impossible for the latter would scarce produce a perceptible financial effect on the former.

It has long been the practice here, and a very wise one too, to leave individuals to provide for themselves, without aid from the State, so long as they can do it; but it has also been the practice for the State to patronize the projects of individuals, and give them countenance and material aid, when it is needed, and when those projects tend to promote the general welfare. One branch of this policy has been as wise as the other, and our most valuable physical improvements have been effected in this way. Sometimes a charter with temporary privileges has been granted, like the patents of the general government, and sometimes the State itself has become copartner in its own corporations, and has reaped, directly and indirectly too, a rich harvest of gain on the speculation. In the great business of education the "let alone policy has been, in my judgment, pursued to far too great an extent.

Since the establishment of our present constitution, in 1780, very little has been done by the Commonwealth in aid of any establishment for education, excepting the common schools. The colleges owe very nearly all the resources provided since 1780, to individual contributions, while the academies and professional schools derive from the same source every dollar they possess. The consequence is that there is in every institution of the sort a great display of individual preferences for this or that branch of education, professorships established, not as a part of a general plan, but merely because some well-disposed gentleman thought it desirable; collections containing, not the books, the instruments, the specimens which were exactly needed in the college course, but such as happened to be in the possession of the donors; and when all is brought together there is seen many a yawning gap, many a "hiatus valde deflendus,' which, to the eye of the wellinformed observer, really constitutes the most striking peculiarity of our academic institutions. Nothing is complete, nothing systematic; and it requires the greatest ingenuity and effort on the part of those who have the management of these institutions, to draw together the various

fragments of the miscellaneous donations, in order to decent show of preparation for the true purpose of a frequent and wearisome appeals to the generosity of supply the want which happens to press most severely a though it may in fact be no more important than any of t though the temporary supply which may be obtained wil the recurrence of the same necessity within a brief per not be understood as uttering a syllable of reproach aga benefactors of our colleges. It is not their fault that th are imperfectly arranged and imperfectly supplied with instruction. It is their great glory that our colleges have so much, that so valuable an education can be obtained actually given; and the gratitude of all future generatio cans will be forever due to those generous men who ha successfully to prevent the decline and fall of the repu among us. It was not their privilege, nor their duty, t plete and well-organized colleges. They had no power tunity to do so; and of all men it would least become m in disparagement of those whom the richest and noblest might well emulate, and whom all must honor. But m both as a pupil and an officer of a college, has led me t deplore the existence of imperfections so great and man quite beyond the probable reach of the means which hav fore applied to remove them, but which yet may be easil ally remedied, if the public mind can be brought to take me the right view of the case.

The great question is, What is the duty of the State in matter? There exists no doubt, in the mind of any one, State Government ought to do in relation to all other ought to develop all its resources, increase its attractions power to induce the active and intelligent to seek it for th and to promote in every way, the comfort, health, securi ness of its population. These are its unquestioned dut are the professed objects of the laws, and of the administr Now in what way can those purposes be effected so th advantageously, as by increasing knowledge and the me tion? Look at the effect of the small amount of educati thus far been given, by public authority and by private in New England. What else has given us the not undes tion for ingenuity and sagacity which distinguishes us amo of this Union? Is there any doubt that it is education w tributed largely to that development of mind which we be at least one of our characteristics? And is there no discernible in the progress even of the several New En in favor of those where the education has been the best extended? I think it may be doubted if, without its a population as now enjoys the institutions of Massachuset upon its soil. Certainly they could not have found the n intellectual enjoyments they possess without the cultiva minds. If such are the results of a meagre and insuf tematic and incomplete education, what beneficent conseq

not be expected to flow from a full, free, fertilizing stream of knowledge which, like the overflow of the Nile, should reach every sequestered, thirsty spot in the whole land!

We have, ourselves, set the noble example to the world, of the universal diffusion of some knowledge among all classes. It has been followed by other States, and we are no longer the only nation whose whole population is taught something. Nay, there are many countries which we are accustomed to regard as very benighted, where much more is taught, and well taught too, than in our schools. But if they have surpassed us in our own department, if those old despotic governments have learned that knowledge is power, in nations as well as individuals, it is time we gave them something else to imitate, it is time that we looked after our own sources of power in comparison with theirs; and that we should not suffer ourselves to be outstripped by them in the career of improvement. We must follow our own example, or rather the example of our forefathers, and perfect, in proportion to our means and opportunities, what they began in spite of want, embarrassment, and adversity. How shall we do this? In answer to this question, I say that we must provide sufficient means for educating the entire people in every variety of way in which they desire to be educated, in conformity with the wants of the age, and the peculiar circumstances in which they are placed. The time has gone by when reading and writing were considered accomplishments, and great mysteries, or in Indian language great" medicines." They are necessities to every body; and in the progress of events, much more is wanted by thousands among us who can, by no means, obtain that which they seek. In every profession and every department of human employment, new knowledge has been gained, of which every new laborer in each department must be possessed, or he can make no advance. And not merely so if he is not possessed of the most recent discoveries, he falls behind his class, and is deprived of the satisfactions of various kinds, which he sees some of his companions enjoying. The government of the Commonwealth is bound to see this state of things; and seeing it, is bound to strive to meet the circumstances of the times. It has the resources, and no one else has what is requisite. It has the power of adapting itself to the wants of all, and supplying the wants of all. Let it see to it, then, that the duty which has fallen upon it be discharged, that the means of progress and improvement in its hands be not wasted, nor suffered to lie unemployed. The intellect of its people is the richest field it can till, the richest mine it can explore. Let it no longer be satisfied with furnishing the most elementary of all elementary education; but let it believe that its children can profitably use something more than the alphabet and the numeration table.

It is enough to make the most sanguine person despond of the progress of education among us, to consider the immense wants of our colleges, the irregularity and want of system in the means which are furnished for the cultivation of the young, and the small portion of the community to whom any appeal can be made to relieve their constantly pressing wants. In looking over the donations which have been made by subscription for a vast variety of purposes, including education, within the period of this generation, one finds the same names of a

limited number of persons recurring on almost every pap one is painfully impressed with the inequality with which th incident to the promotion of the public good are borne. way to remedy this injustice is to provide by law for the m of all those establishments which the public good really req

It seems to be commonly imagined that a college educatio thing very magnificent, and much beyond the wants of th and they have been unwisely taught to be very jealous something very aristocratic in its tendency, and deserving o rather than encouragement. But what is it, after all? I speak with the most entire respect of the education given leges, and of those who give it. It is indispensable, both pline of the mind, and as the means of furnishing a certain positive and necessary knowledge. But still it is only prep something else. It is a stepping stone, and not a resting poi do not let us imagine that a young man who has merely gor college must therefore know a great deal. I can affirm, experience and observation, that his knowledge amounts t little. But that little some of us must have, or we can learned professions among us; and I cannot believe it would able for a State to have no well-instructed clergy, physicians, Of course the entire population does not require a college but the State requires some men educated in that particular certain proportion, which will necessarily be an increasing nu the growth of the State; and for its own sake, as a matter advantage, and the general welfare, it ought to provide the giving such education to all who need it. It would be easy those to whom it was not suitable from wasting their time i obtain it, by keeping the standard of attainment so high, but those who could profit by it should remain in such instit the door were thus opened to all who wished to enter, t would be somewhat larger, no doubt, than heretofore; bu whom it is desirable to remove would leave their places for ising pupils, and thus the actual addition would not prob cessive. By providing for collegiate education throughout I mean that the government should furnish not merely the of colleges, which it has heretofore so carefully preserved, should actually provide all necessary means and applianc buildings, books, instruments, salaries, scholarships, coll all the thousand etcetera of college studies, so that it m have something of its own to look after, instead of seizing has been established by private bounty, and calling it a St tion, merely because it is designed or adapted to benefi Commonwealth.

Doubtless politicians of all parties, as at present advise with great contempt and indignation at a proposition invol vast expense as the proper endowment of the three existi in Massachusetts; and so they would have done at the mere proposition, but the positive action of their fathers, been alive in 1686. "What!" they would have said, £400 sterling for a college, when we have but little mor