CHAP. twenty was unable to read and write; while in Virginia, of LXVI. 1876. the same class there was one in fifteen. Of the illiterates in New England about fifteen-sixteenths were foreigners; in Virginia they were about one-twenty-fifth. Of the entire population of the free States of the Old Thirteen, one in one hundred and forty one was unable to read and write; of the whites in the corresponding slave States, there was one in twenty-one. Of the illiterates of the same free States, elevenfourteenths were foreigners, and in the corresponding slave States they were only one-twenty-second part. In the free States admitted after the Revolution, there was found one illiterate in forty-nine of the population; in the corre sponding slave States one in twenty; in the former one-third of this class were foreigners, in the latter, one-fourteenth. Of these two impediments to a universal education, one has disappeared; and the other is diminishing rapidly, as the numerous immigrants, especially from Northern Europe and Germany, are superior in respect to their education to those of former times. If no young man, when becoming of age, was permitted to vote unless he could read and write, we should have in less than a score of years a nation in which there would scarcely be an illiterate voter. In these days of free schools, the young man who has not sufficient mental power to learn to read and write should be set aside on the score of imbecility; and if he has the power and not the will much more is he derelict of duty, and unworthy to exercise the privilege. In no respect has the mental energy of the nation manifested itself so much as in the encouragement given to the public press. The common schools taught the youth to read; the innate desire of acquiring knowledge was fostered, and the fascinating newspaper, as it statedly enters the domestic circle, reflects the world and records the progress of the age. By this means the most retired can be brought into sympathy with the world, in its yearnings after excellence, peace, and happiness. At the commencement of the Revolution there were but NEWSPAPERS-LIBRARIES. LXVI. 1876. 987 thirty-five newspapers, and they of a very limited circula- CHAP. tion; now, of all classes, there are about seven thousand. The population since that time has increased twelve-fold, while the newspapers have increased two hundred-fold. Educated and accomplished minds discuss in their columns the important questions of the time, and upon these ques-tions the nation acts; thence they pass into history. If the issues of the press are kept pure, the blessing in all its greatness far transcends mortal ken. Public opinion has been termed a tyrant; but it is a tyrant that, if vicious, can be made virtuous-can be reformed if not dethroned. Let the virtue and the intelligence of the nation see to it that it is a righteous tyrant, and submission to its iron rule will become a blessing. In intimate connection with this intellectual progress is the increase of public libraries, found in so many of our cities. There are now more than ten thousand, and they contain about eight million volumes. These storehouses of knowledge are as diversified as the wants of the people. Among them are found the Sunday-school libraries, each with its few hundred volumes; the social or circulating libraries, in almost every village or large town, and the numerous private as well as public libraries, containing much of the current literature of the day. An important feature was introduced at the formation of the public library in New York City bearing the name of its founder, John Jacob Astor, and since increased by his son. It is designed to furnish standard works on the varied subjects of useful human knowledge-an armory for the practical student, through whom the influence is to reach those who cannot personally avail themselves of its treasures. In the departments of human knowledge and literature we have names that are held in honor wherever the English language is read: in History, Prescott, Bancroft, Hildreth, and Motley; in Systematic Theology, Dr. Timothy Dwight, whose works have had a great influence in this country and in England, and Professor Charles Hodge; in Mental Phi LXVI. 1876. CHAP. losophy, Jonathan Edwards; in Biblical Literature, Edward Robinson; in Poetry, Bryant, Longfellow, and Whittier; in Light Literature, Irving, Cooper, and Hawthorne; in Lexicography, Noah Webster; in Mathematics, Bowditchmany other eminent names might be added. In art we have those who have exhibited evidence of genius that may yet give the nation a name honored among those eminent in painting and sculpture. Her sons have not been surrounded by models from great masters to awaken in early life the slumbering genius, nor have they been encouraged by a traditionary reverence among the people for such manifestations of talent. It has been in the face of these disadvantages that they have reached their present high position, not by passing through a training laborious and preparatory, but almost at a bound. We rejoice to see the great body of the people associating themselves for purposes of doing good or for self-improvement. There are in the land many religious and benevolent associations. Of the latter class is the Temperance movement, promoted greatly by the eloquence of Dr. Lyman Beecher, and which has had an immense influence for good upon the nation. The moral phase of the subject has taken deep hold of the minds and conscience of the people, and in the end the cause must prevail. There is also no more cheering sign of the times than the people themselves becoming more and more acquainted with their civil rights and duties, and in their demanding virtue and political integrity in those who serve them in a public capacity, and, when there is a dereliction of duty, their promptly appealing to the ballot-box. Governments had hitherto interfered more or less with the liberty of conscience. They assumed that in some way-though indefinable-they were responsible for the salvation of the souls of their subjects. Free inquiry and a knowledge of the truths of the Bible, and the separation of Church and State, shifted that responsibility to the individual himself, and in consequence it became his recog INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY—BENEVOLENT BEQUESTS. 989 LXVI. 1735. nized duty to support schools of learning and sustain relig- CHAP. ious institutions. This change in the minds of the people commenced in the great awakening' under Jonathan Edwards, and its influence had full effect in the separation of Church and State after the Revolution. To this principle of individual responsibility may be traced the voluntary support and the existence of the various benevolent operations of our own day, in which all the religious denominations participate. These in their efforts are not limited to the destitute portions of our own country, but in many foreign lands may be found the American missionary, a devoted teacher of Christianity and its humanizing civilization, supported and encouraged by the enlightened benevolence of his own countrymen. The same principle produces fruits in founding asylums for the purpose of relieving human suffering and distress, or smoothing the pathway of the unfortunate. The men of wealth in our day more fully appreciate their responsibility, and the mental energy exercised in its accumulation has more than in former times been consecrated to doing good. Millions have thus been given by individuals to found or aid institutions of learning, that the youth may be secured to virtue and intelligence-a blessed influence that will increase in power from age to age. to us. We inherit the English language and its glorious associations the language of a free Gospel, free speech, and a free press. Its literature, imbued with the principles of liberty, civil and religious, and of correct morals, belongs We claim the worthies of the mother country whose writings have done so much to promote sound morality with no less gratitude and pride than we do those of our own land. The commerce of the world is virtually in the hands of those speaking the English language. On the coasts of Asia, of Africa, in Australia, in the isles of the Pacific it has taken foothold-may it be the means of disseminating LXVI. CHAP. truth and carrying to the ends of the earth the blessings of Christianity. 1876. The ultimate success of this Government and the stability of its institutions, its progress in all that can make a nation honored, depend upon its adherence to the principles of truth and righteousness. Let the part we are to perform in the world be not the subjugation of others to our sway by physical force, but the noble destiny to subdue by the influence and the diffusion of a Christianized civilization. THE END. |