Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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DEVOTED TO SOUTHERN RIGHTS, JJEMOCRACY, NATURE, AGRICU W.TJ.FRANCIS, PROPRIETOR. ... . .4.. VOL. VIm. SUMTERVILLE, S. c., B RUARY 8, 185.4.-1. THE SUMTER BANNER, IS PtUBLISHED Every Wednesday iIorniug .. BY W. J. FRANCIS. TERMS, TWO DOLLARS in advance, Two Dollars and Fifty Cents at the expiration of six months or Three Dollars at the' end of the year. No paper discontinued until all arrearages ie PAID, unless at the option of the Proprietor. gW Advertisements inserted at SEVENTY TIVE~ Cents per square, (12 lines or less,) for the first, and half that sum for each subsequent .insertion, (Official advertisements the s tme - each time). t;F The number of insertions to be marked -on a l Advertisements or they will be published -until ordered to be discontinued, and charged accordingly. |P' ON E DOLLAR per square for a single Insertion. Quarterly and Monthly Advertise menta will be charged the same as a single in tsortion, and semi-monthly the same as new ones To the Public. In conformity with my Card of the 28th, I now lay my Add ress before the public. In so doing I feel that an apology is due. The Address was not written to publish, nor did I ever im agine that circumstances couild occur, which would render its publication ne. cessary. It was my expectation sim ply to discharge a duty which had been assigned me by my class-mates. deliver the Address, and therc let it. rest. But I have not been permitted thus to act. The fierce and unrelent ing measures which have been pursued against me, leave mc no alternative, but to obtrude my vi"ws upon the public, painful as the duty is. As to the views contained, I desire to be fully and distinctly understood. I assert positively that the Add ess ai now published, contains precisel the same and all the positions and princi pIles, which I advanced at its delivery. that the language of the manuscript itself has been accurately fallowed, ex cept in such slight verbal alterations as were necessary to accuracy, and that hetyond this the only changes in it,are in those sho t passages which t hra kets to which Lcall ._?tx sim . , uttae'ed no )sentiment 'inconsistent with.' or more extreme than these. This is my emphatic and truthful declaration. With it I give the Address to the public with cheerful confidence. I doubt not but that to many the views will seem unsound, impracticable and vis sionary. but I feel safe in believing that the candid and impnrtial reader will fail to discover a particle of that arrogant and intolerant spirit, or a syrptom of those aristocratic and ty rannical sentiments which are so ab horrent to true lbpublieanism, but which have been ascribed to me. I feel sure that when the Ad'lre-s is soberly and impartially perused, the communi ty will be at a loss to discover any just cause in it, lir all the clamor and bliterness against the author ; and that it will be as ready to meet out warm justice, as it has been to p ejudge and denounce. To all who have spoken timely words in my behalf; I return my most heartfelt thanks. And to those who have misapprehended, I can oniPy say, here is the Address, judge for yourselves. Respectfully, W. R. T.tBEa, Jr. Essentials of a RiepublIc. When Thomas Carlyle declared that . " after age~s of constitutional geive, n. .ment, manskind knew but imnperfuctly yet what liberty anid slaver, is," lie uttered a sentiment, as Issortifying to the vanity of the evangelists of mod ern demoucracy, as it is badly and cer. .tainly true. 4ndeed, the assertion that !.wonderfuj and permanent advances h~ave been made towards the absolute prfectility of' human government., has a all times, and in ntone morie than our onn, been exulantly made by those whom a calm philosophy brands as po litical outlaws 'and high way men. We need not tax history further than the last half century, to furnish ample coil ination of this. It'any thinsg can add bitterness to the woes of the French Revolution ; if it were possible to ag gravate the ho~rroir~with which fienmdit~h and bloody doctrines widowed that beautiful land, it is the reflection that the miserable victims wer'e at <aeb step deluded by chimneras of liberty aned happiniess, porItrasyed in goldesn hsues, by the very workers of their (Ie etruetion. - And in our own day, have wve not seen thes people of llinngary, Italy, Gersmany and .Fratnce too again, isnci ted by the declamation of political uioonslmgs, launch inito revolutions, frou ,itch, after perilling all the ac qmsiion offormer toil ansd exper'i encee, they have sunik back into i mipo. lent exhnaustion, into abhysses of' msise sy and oppression, snore i..tulerauble thani besfore 'I '1'he political rev'olustions in Europe .darimig thes last, hluleentusry, have vtery * e"te'ally assumed the Democratie Ly pe. 'lepressure oif Ploplution, wiith other causes, has hanced the hard. ships of poverty, a arrayed in fear. ful antagonism-the despised and grim suns of labor, and the bloated posses. sors of wealth. From this anta.onism, our country has hitherto enjoyed con. parative immunity ; and the spectacle which she has exhibitediof precocious growth in wealth and power, of plenty and individual liberty, has excited among the masses of Europe a thirst for democratic institutions, in the fool ish hope that their establishment would be the d.yspring of realizations, long dreamed of and panted after. They have been told by their leade.is, that property was a crime against the equality of nature-that royalty and kingly institutions were 'monstrous usurpations-that government, was a puppet to be put up, or east down, as it favored or opposed their rampant ideas-that all governments were des potismus, wh--rein any limitations were imposed upon the will of the nmob ; in a word, that the only lawful and just govertnmcnt was the mlajority of titum bers; aid that, upon the graves of kings, and the ruins of antcietit systems, a secure freedom would bloom forth. to bless with peace and abundance. Need we tell how in every case these fair hopes have been wrecked ? Hlow in Germany.* " when her freely chosen representatives n setbled in atncient 'ranikfort, in the Ruoer Saal, the Hall consecrated by so many gi,) ries of the past, where Frede'rie i0arba rossa, the Othus, and the Henrys, the IIohenstaulken and the Ilapshurger re ceived the silver crown of Ciarleim agne ; how they marched thence, amid the shouts of the people, the thunder of artilery, and the waving of national flags of black and gold, to commence their solemn deliberations in the Churcb of St. Pau:," and how, as the fruit of this bright promise, true free dom went down beneath the orgies of red repuhlicaiisi ! Or shall we tell of Hungary, that bulwark of European civilization, ainst which the D% s1enm .host was enthusiast, dashed like caged birds against their bars, longing fur the frce air without, whih had they reached, their weak pinions would have essayed in vain. Arid of Itality, torn and bleeding now, her families decimated by execution :ad exile-the terrible retribution of the lessons of her demo cratic leaders. Such is briefly a sketch of Democra ey in Europe during th.- last halfeen tury, and full indeed of warning to us -the sains and citizetis of this great Republie. Is lation from the iuilu enee (if other nlati.'I is impossible ntow, when steam, the press, and free emi. gration are cmmringliig the race of men, and levelling stational peculiari ties. Our rich arg sies are frighten ed with more that the production of distant skies. They bring to us the opintinis and influences (if every schlia and people-the noxious as well as the good. To analize and discriminate so as to adopt or reje t, is a nece'ssity demanded by our hose- and our ex istence , fo'r nothing catn ho clearer thanti that the seeds of death are a ready fruetifying among us, and that princi pIes fatal to republicanism are gaining rapid raast erv. I w uitld then, gentlenton, address you, the youing soldiers ofi p riniph-ils sanctiflied wit ii atrit'iic bloo~d and w is' dotm, ye u t he haopes oft a belo vedl State(, seconid to none1 iti the excllence of' her' inlstitut ons yout, lastly thle foster soans of' thtis Cil lege, utpotn a few of' those proinent princi ples. whieb conistituite the essentials of a true and enidur'iina republic. The two greatest datiger's which lbe' set all humani goverinmlentsv are thte eXtremes of Radicalism orn the the (one hiatnd, and stagnant iniacti vity on the oithier. JBothI are equtally host ile to liberty and civilization, just as the un fettered violence of the madmiani, anid the stupor of the opium eater, a like canniot consist with individual well. being. The tendencies to eithar var'ies greatly with the character of thle pieo. ph', aitd thle polJi tical system under which they live. With absolitte atid despotic govcrntments, the tenideticv is most, intense to the latter; buiit wvith thte free and Iliber'al, the proeli vity is eqgnallhy str'ong towards the oIjposite extt'eme oft radicalismt. In this, as ini all thinigs else, the path of soutnd wis dom lies, in that htappy mrediumt which we call Conservatism A nd bienee it is. that, a peoiple which t etmpers its pro gi'ess by thle experienice of' thu past. exhibits the first elemrent (if a great and lasting prosperty. TIhat policy which ignores the past arid its sober lessonis, which rejects as adequated aind iinbesile, whatever is wounitding to vatity', oir un welcomie to gr'aspinig am-t bit ion--m., a word, that, policy whtich suibstitutes the ideal for' the teal, the *See Garnett' Address before theo Virginia tinmversity, to which 1 take thme pteasure of ae knoawledgrmg grent enklbtelaems in the pre.pa lieul of' this n -irea= mushroom for the oak. blights every thing it touches with distemper and death. "Government," as has been well said, "is a contrivance of human wis dom to provide for human warts ; }" and the greatest of all wants, at least in a Republic, is se/f control. That Government which limits and restrains least, depends for permanency upon the stable and harmonious character of the people. And if it be true, that "that is the best government which governs I ast ; it is so only where its action is suppressed by the wholesome self controll of the governed. The Autocrat of Russia can well be indiflerent to the opinions which ferment and threaten in the bo. sots of his subjects; fur the dread Knoot is his ready minister, and bayo nets bristle at his beck. IUere is a government of force, and not of opin ion. The wildest and most heretical doctrines may agitate the hearts of the masses; but they move not the deep planted rock, against which, they fret. Conservatism, in such a system, in any, where force compels obedience, is the certain policy of the government. It wants no change which may loosen the erasp, conservatism is the safeguard of the people. They constitute tie governent, and they have nothing to tear from it, but what they should fear from themselves. Conservatism, there fore, protect them against themselves. I is a great public conscience which re bakes the sacrilegious 'thought and unnerves the reckless arm. It is that hearty and steadfast discrimination between the stable and transient which is noit ebarmed with the fancies, nor led blind by fair promises, but which while it gropes through the night of political crisis, ever and anon casts its eye upwards to those unchanging stars of truth and wisdom that have in all generations gladdened the lHarts of faithful men. We are told that conservatism is an antiprogressive principle, .and that the The answer is si:nple and direct. True conservatism, is the highest and only sure clement of advancement. And certain it is, 'that all this country has achieved, wortlhy of a great people or of history' all that will command the admiration of fut ure ages, or abide ihe shock of time, is the honest fruit of this policy. And so it must be in the future. The tree of a prosperous State is no ii fspriig of a day. It. demands a (rtful and elaborate culture. Its growr h is of the past. Far down and wide its roots extend, drawing thence life and beauty. In the eloquent language of Cole ridge, "with blood was it. planted, it was rocked in tempests, the goat, the ass, and tihe stag gnawed it ; the wild boar whetted his tasks on its bark. ''he deep scars are still on its trunk, and the path of lightning may be traced amo its higher brarches. And even after its fuIl growth in the season of its strength, when its height reached heaven, and the sight thereof' to all the earth, the whirlwind has more than once forced its statelv top to touch the ground; it has bent like a bow, antd sprang back like a shaft." In arms and in arts, in laws and gotvernrnent, in science and morals, we would see this abnost magic nId de veloape and expan~d, unrtilI it overflow' ed in pro~sperity3. We wou~lld see our' Repubhlic like some tree (If' thre pimteval fore'st, spread inrg over thle farce of natunre its stailwatrt amrs, defiant of'the stormn, crowned with Itfu'itage and shootinrg alt'ft perentiial green. But it cannot at tain or atpproiximiate to this, under the lead of i rreveret protpagartdists. Corn. parem' thle conduclti oIf ]England int 1688, atnd Fi'ance in 17900, and mark the con trast. Sec how, amid allI the confo %iont, blood andit farnaticismi of' that day, the people of' Etnglanid still chieri-hed lie maxims arid inistitlutionis of thte ptast; how they clunrg to the old atrk arid covenatti of Ii berfy, arnd law, and at least, remrodeled a freer and more enlig htented system,upfoni triied founda titons. Shte came forthI fromr th t cri 5is vigot'outs and frill of' hope-the heal thy blood b'oundinig thlrough hrer veims--her head erect, anrd hter eye cleatr, anid onward she .-trode, conquer-. itng and to conqtuer. Not so with FtInetn in her trial, a century later witht this example by her side. In lihe conifidencee of self-vaunnted wisdom shte despised ever'ything which wore the saniction (If' time, save crime atnd irrpiety, and the world knows how bittetr was the fruitioti, niot yet com-' plete I H~ere were two nteightbors, the one c'onservativye, the other radical. Eiiglaitd's progress was thtat, of the sun steadily cuhlninttting in thte heavens, each step br'ighiter than the last. TIhte progress of France, was the mneeor swaullowved up in gloom. WVell may we say with burke, "wej have cornsecra ted the State, that no ma~n shotuld ap. 't Burka's Euay on hlt8 Ravolu.,,oan proach to look into It ets, inr cor ruptions, but 'with' 4 cautiop; that he should dream of I 'nrnatlon by its subversion; that' : lppronch to the faults of tli?9 wounds of a .fatb l and .te blung o fi therefore," says Baoon out braie ry or scandal of forme ti ies and per sons; yet, set it down, to thyself as well as to create a good'precedent as to follow them." Conservatism then, as we under stand it, is the highesb type of progress. I feel, gentlemen, in thus urging upon you conservatism, as the bulwark of republicanism, I speak to those in whom education, habits of life, and political position. dictate a ready &s sent. I shall again recur to it., in a practical manner. - - It is now universally pdmitted that the education of the people is essential to the permanency of Republican insti. tutions. To oppose this'doctrine is to incur the charge of hostilitg to enlight. enment, and a leaning to aristocracy. The question, theref.seof the proprie ty and policy of public education, may be considered as passed upon. The State, is the party to whom this duty is very properly assigned, as corpris ing the people in their; organic body, and as demanding dutid and services of the citizen, of the. nature of which she should inform him. Republics, more than all other political systems, require ahigher sta4 of moral and mental training in the' whole mass of citizens. This, then, being the admit ted object, the question remains as to the best means to attain to it-a prob lem far, very far from being successful ly solved. Above all ancient options, the sys. ter of education 'tmon the Athenians is most worthy of.:notice. A State, whose territory was 1 than many of our districts with a p jlation of but 20,000 voting citizen Iut which has left models in politicspotry, history, philocophy,.and thea 4t,whicicafter 1w9 h tidred ' ose mU.1, eme em dire over tha iindir'bearts of men, must have pursued a system of educa tion as sublineand wie, as its achieve ments are triuimphant and enduring. In the language of another*, 'a people who could bear to have their follies lashed by an Aristophanes, who fully appreciated the lofty attic tragedy. who corrected the language (t' Demos. thenes, must have had an intellectual refinement never since equalled." What then was the training which bore such fruits? The education of the Athenian was chiefly oral rad public, though not in the miiudein sense. oetry, like mus ic, was then, given toqhe world not in cold type, but the eoent, the voice, the play ofcountenan -and the enthu siasn of t he comp jr accompanied his verse to th. hea . and i magiia tions of his hearers. I (philosophy, elo uiience, laws or mora s were taugi t the Imllster of each sat albf in the orches tra, his own instrumnt iri hand, per. .rm1ing his part in thegrand harmony. W ith each lesson was impressed the veneratle mien, or the genius lit eye of the speaker. There was no annoy ance to tempt the pen of calumny or scurility, to sc.reen the anarchist and the poisonier, while it scattered the I reaUsoi of the one, ofj thme hen bane of the other. And iff they reaped the evils of' the oral system, they certainly escaped the equal if not greater of the wfittell, Itf the former made them the fitting audience of the seductive orator, it saved them from the noiseless and tire. side polutioh of the latter. If vice and dishonor hiad their eloquent advocate, so alko had virtue and patriotism, and if the A thenian chose Wrongly, lie at least did not ignorantly. If' his. jud.e ment wvas exercised hiastity ini the crowdedl Agora, rather than'ealmly in his closet, so neither did it fester over incendiary -pam phlets and' chilling li entiousness ! If' he was captivated by brilliant sophiistries from the mouths of deimagouges, lie was spared their deep infusion into him from the press. Bot the imost striking feature of the ediiention oif thme younmg Athenian, was its anmatinig and- .Jnspiring character. See huim as liebends his lithe form in mute attention to ithe disoussio'n, of Plato and Anaxagoras-as he drinks. ini at the Ecclesia a love of libei ty and honor, fresh from the lips ofrdolon and Decmosthenes-hear him as he joins in the chaunt of' Iomerle songs-see him as at the Theatre, his vivid nature hangs entranced by the chorus of Eu ripides-aIs at tha testivals and olymp-. ics, the deeds of' heroes and sages nov. er forgotten, are sung in ly rio num bers,' tiring his young mind with dreams of fame, as his love of. the beautiful is steeped in admiration ofthe Parthenon, and the decorations of the Propy lea mark his breast swelling with pride of eount ry, as ho beholds the bronze statue Marathon, or enters th Odeon. whose * tateama's Manual. of Athena, 'made -from then '1ls of roofs are timbers from the 'eptured Persian ships, and that awning canopied great Xerxes,.on the. morning of Sa i misl--hear his plaudits, as they leap -[gtIa thr*llgn soul, when the con esttweet Eoles and oii Eschy. lusis over, an youth has-pluoked- the. tragic crown from the brow of age !f See liini in all this, and answer, wheth er the noble and generous, the beauti. ful and the great, the chivalric and the dignified, were notilall cultivated in consummate harmony. No smattering pedagogue was there to drill his ziind in forms and phrases, or strew his heart with vanity and mean ambitions. But statesmen, orators and poets were his schoolmasters, and a splendid history his horn book. There was no hum-drum, no belaboring of stupidity with unwelcome tasks. All the qualities of mind and heart were called into nctive.life. The glory and elevation of Athens was bequeathed to sons from the dying lips of sires. It was the dream which stirred the boy in his sleep, and danced before his steps as he trod the streets in mid-day. It made the heroic love of woman more heroic, and filled the mother's heart with great thoughts for her of~spring, Hence that public spirit which delight. ed in sacrifices, when honor or coun try called. - 'Their bodies, too," savs Thucydides "they employ for the State, as if they were any one else's but their own, but with minds completely their own, they are ever ready to render it service." Hence, in a word, the immortality of Athens,. and Athenian civilization. here was education indeed, proven by sublime tests ! It is no reply to this, to point to acts of ingratitude, of cruelty, of short sightedness or more than all. o tell us of the final decay and fall of that noble little State. The first will find their apology in the frailties uhich beset hu manity everywhere. And the causes of her downfall must be sought in a concurrence of. Orars and disasters, Be it remet ra -w Star of Bethldhem inith skyffnr her: whose benign light might inspire her philosophers and statesmen with truths unknown before, and lead their gro pihg steps to Faith and God. Yet lacking this, she need not shrik from bold comparison, in all that constitutes a people truly great, with some nations at least who boast their Christianity. These remarks upon the e ucation of the Athenians, are intended as in troductory to a brief comment upon the modern system. Assuming th.t a Republic de pends for permanency upon the mor ality of the people, and that intellectual cultivation is a means to that end, there has been established. ;n some of the States of this Union, what is term ed a Common School system, the range of which is reading and writing, with a few rudiments. Now, the tiist and fundamental er ror in this system appears to be, in the implied assumption that reading and writimg either in themselves constitute an eduention, or that, the majority of those thus taught avail themselves of it, as a startirig point for future culti vation. I need not enter into an ela borate argument to show that the bare knowledge of reading and wri ting constitutes in no true sense an education, It certainly cannot of it self' make a better mnan or a better cit izen. (They are simply mans which, to produce the end for w hich they were intended, must be properly used. Like the tooks of the artisaun, they may be used to hew and destroy, as well as to build and beautifv.) And as to the second a wor-d w'ill suflice. By far the larger portion of those who attend the common school, come fr-om the lap ofpovert-y anid toil. They be long to that class to be ibund in ev ery condition of society, bumt especially in the more wealthy and civilized, who(se livelihood is scantily had by the hardest drudgery. Frotn this scene they go to the common school, and after receiving thetmodicum .of knowl edge there given, they rettrn hene they came, tg toil and struigle. TIhe tast es, the occupations-t he o ppor tu. niies of these, cannot be intellectual. WVith the first light of morning they go forth to thoir honest labor, and at early eve sink exhausted to their couches, y\Vhat trme is spared to them for bhpks? - We know that thoere are b)right exceptions, and we partici pate in the pride of their names; men whose mind's thirst was slacked in lonely hours stolen froem sleep and health. But they were of that stamp born to triumph.-Their genima was inspired at a higher fountain than the common school.--Their lofty pumrptise made themn independent of its meagre charities, arnd would have achieved success had they never,- entered its portals. A systemi( then, which pro poses to promote the mnental growth of~ this class by such mea'ns is j n the t Garnett as above. outset met by natural obstacles. But again. Does this system. well. nigh barren as it is of intellectual fruit, cherish morals and instil virtue? If it does not, the very objects for which it is instituted, the promotion of public virtue, as essential to republic. anism, are defeated. This. is the test, and the common school system must stand or fall by it. Now, let us admit, for the sake of argument, that this system does edu cate intellectually, it may well be doubted whether it even then pro. motes morals. Indeed. although at the first glance there would seem to be direct connection between intellec tral enlightenment and virtue, that the light which kindles the mind should -also penetrate the heart; yet history is full of examples of the highest illumin. ation of the one, linked with the deepest depravity of the other. The last generation in France, and the pres ent in Germany, are both melanchly instances in point. "And the most learned eras in modern Italy were precisely those which brought the vices into the most ghastly refine ment." Mere intellectuality is de (iant of God and man. It knows no law, no impulses, no checks, save the dictates of its daring ambitions. Its type has been admirably drawn by the great noveliest of England, in the char acter of Randal Leslie-the man in intellect--the demoun in heart. But what is the state of morals where this system prevails? In Prus. sia, whose boast is the enlightenment of her people, crime and vice are great ly on the increae. lIn France, where the Prussian syste.rn has been adopted, they exhibit io diminution. - In the United States there is, still a sadder tale.* In New England, where, we are told, this system has been eminent ly successful, where reading and wri ting are taught to all, crime, vice, and infidolity are progressing in a fearful ratio. It is attempted to explain this, by the influence of emigration. But, the statistics show the increase to be and cstal is't this- mreager, insufficient and unsatisfactory system of public education, enjoys comparative and un exampled immunity from all. But this reading and writing sys. tem, is not only not productive of pub lic virtue, but tends directly to a men tal de-moralization, no less fatal to Re publicanism than licentiousness, and vice. Place the young mind under a tuition like this where no fixed prin. ciples in morals or psAitics are taught, where knowledge is circurnscribed within a few dogmas, and where ev en this narrow training ceases at the very moment when the mind is awake with inquiry and, speculation--then turn it out to pasture in the "unweed. ed garden," which a licentious Press has planted, ar.d what is the result? -Can it surprise us that such a mind. vain because of its meager learning, not yet subdued into that beautiful humili ty which, according to Bacinr, true knowledge fist. rs, should at once launch into wild speculation? Need we wonder that the instrument thus en trusted to -unskiful hands, should be used, not to prune, but to destroy? Or that a mind so prepared, should at once fill a victim to specious fallacies, arnd mad theories; that, it should greedily absorb the light and seduc tive, and r eject the th >ughtful and so ber? Here is (lie great clue to the radicalism of the Nott. Hero 'is the lihuntain of that torrent of ism s, which is swallowinrg uip liter-ature, morals and polities, and has east upon sooie ty again, the buried offal of exploded falsehood. The youth who leaves the commiron seh..ol at the North feels the pains of auathor-ship within him. Or ig inality is Iris sole thought, and the more extreme and radical he is, the stronger uad better- his claim. Eager publishers calculate the success of the new work, by its congeniality to popular ideas and passions, and fomrth it goes in blue and gilt to minds as anchirless and weak a-s his own. En ter the cities of the North, embark on her steamers, ride on her railroads, go into the counitry, and every'where yout will find the appetite cf her so ealled Reading Pubhlic, dieted on lite rary gar-bage. Cheap inifid elity.- social ism, and v-ice, ar-c served up in ev ery form to suit the palatesof the mnil lion.. I yield to none In suppnrt of a toell regulated free press. I know that, it is the .tongue of liberly, and the sword t9 ty rants; that it has disenthral led and developed opinion. But the conclusion cannot 1)e av'oided, that among a people educated uip to the point of' the Northern syistem, the ab solutely Free Press will become a stire demoralizer, hy ministering vici ous food to van rndustab'e min-ds. * At a Convention of thre Ip-n tendentm of the Common Schools in New Rtjlad, held this fall in New Hqven- thaaet .e p.. The chief defect Is, tha' it diee ?ot go . far enough. ,Jt should be carried' be yond the point of merely. ,saplr1ng'. means. The State should see t, it - as far as practicable, that the means are nit abused. This is the basis of all legislation against !the publication of obscure and cortupt works. -And theState when she as uines. he edu. cation of the citizen, should 'zealou's ly strive to protect him from pollution, just as a wise parent watches ever the, mind and heart of his offspring. (With such safeguards, reading and' writing would become the most benefi. cent instruments in a people's progress, and haippiness.) If. then, this system fails; to elevate. the people intellectually-if it does not. diminish vice and crime; ifaided by a licentious Press it fosters mental van ity, wild speculation and immorality -if, in a word, it falls short .of its object, the welflre of the Republio, what is the-systemn really conducive to; that end? The first. object of public education should (and by public, I me.an State) be to inform the people of the nature of their government, the rights and duties of the citizen. Prof. Lieber in his ad inirable essay upon Anglican and Gal lican liberty, onutherates tAis among the duties of all free systems. We be. lieve that, as iegards the larger portion of the eitizens, government will fail when it attempts more; and it em.cts results grand and beneficient indeed,, when it doesthis much. And here we again recur with con fidence to the Athenian system. It was in the Ecclesia, in the public courts, and t!h3 debates of statesmen that the Athenian imbibed the princi ples ofhis governm' nt, and learend his rights which he so well defended',. and the duties he so nobly performed' We too have our Ecclesia in our public assemblies,'our open Courts. and our Legislatures, where the na ture of our institutions are discussed. and defined, and where a high publio spirit can be fostered. To these sour, with their grivernthuenr, arid the pat, I otic spirit which distinguishes them.. From the lips of Calhoua and Mcd.uif.. fie they have been wisely taught the rights and duties that befit and adorn a free people. Tho lives and teach. ings of such men are the best books hf political wisdom, and they will be remembered not because read, but because they have been seen and heard and will descend as heir looms from. .ather to Jon. .But there is a requisite higher than this in the education of the citizens of a Republic. It is an elevated tone of honor and morals. And what schobl so fitting as the home fur these? Home education, enforced by the sweet in-. fluence of the paront, and the, gentle dependency of the child, can alone. engraft upon the nature those quali ties needful to the man-and the citizen. No system, however comprehensive can dispense with its blessings and, benefits. A people whose homes are the altars of principles and honor, have the best of common schools at their own hearths, to prepare them for their career. Here indeed has 0o4 blessed the South. Around our homes grow alike the hopes of y out arnd the recollections of age; and ini that social intercourse so fairly our pride, generosity -and honor, purity and intelligence find a genial soil, These are the essentials of the edu tions of tlie citizens of a Republic. do not say that further education is not highly advantageous to the oiti zen of alepublic, nor do I deny that in propotion to their progress In a knowledge of all the arts and sciences, will they prosper and develope. Bt my subject is the "Essentials of a4 Republic," and I am seeking to define accurately the limits of such an edL. cation, without disputing the certaiun blessings to flow from greater culture.] But when~ State educetion goes fur ther, whenu in keeping with the spirit of' the age, it seeks a broader basis let her rear institu'.iorns like this (the 8. C. College.) Let her concentrete Ilight upon the hill-top whence Ats rays will p'ierce tilie dark valles a aril, mfinI)Ghe path .of' the elimber, rathew - than scatter feeble egrtdles, ~~ uncertain lights decoy ,the gn.war~ into pits and quagtnir.es. Let' pupils of this and siilpr .inatltthti~ step forth into life deeply .irpbue$ ,4 with the spirit of our institutions en 'worthy principles. Mett whose prea ence andl example shalil radiate patri otisny apd .hnor, .and who in dthe doubt and .fury of political orisis, will command the game and and guide '~ the steps of the eriing. When ehe -~'~ does edgeoatse,'let iher.educate pilolii Let, her build .spon the basis ot'-i -home .and fimily, an tide it~ serstrtare, grand an t ph~t with 8tete nrjde,mk phr6 of the Btate a4t~ 00OtIntslUbO ~oit t ' #