1829.]

METEOROLOGICAL REGISTER.

Great profits are to be derived from this branch of industry, and when it shall have arisen to a certain degree of strength and prosperity, manufactures will gradually and successively follow in its train. Every attempt to force them into existence before the proper time shall have arrived, will prove ruinous and unsuccessful.

It is by this slow and gradual course of proceeding that the cotton business has risen in the United States to the degree of prosperity that it has attained. For more than twenty years cotton was prepared and sold as a raw material, without any attempt to convert it into manufactured stuffs. All the labour that was bestowed upon it was that of drying, ginning, picking, cleaning, packing, compressing, in short, of preparing it for exportation, under the name of raw cotton. While the country was following that course, American genius displayed itself by the invention of the invaluable machine called Whitney's saw-gin, of which an American writer has said, "that the difference between its operation and the ordinary manual operation, is as one thousand to one."* During that period of twenty years the exportation of raw cotton produced immense profits to this country. The business at last was overdone, the profits diminished, and manufactures were recurred to. This was the natural order of things, yet those manufactures have had, and still have, to encounter, many hard struggles. Their trials are not yet at an end.

Thus instructed by experience, as well as convinced by the reason of the thing, I would recommend the same course to be pursued with regard to silk. Nothing should be attempted at first beyond preparing it in the form of raw material for exportation. I shall by and by endeavor to show the profits that will arise and the results that will follow this mode of proceeding.

the

I have said nothing as yet (except a few words, incidentally,) respecting the planting of the mulberry tree, or the raising of the silk worm for the production of cocoons; neither is it my intention to expatiate upon subject. Although, undoubtedly, nothing can be done, in the way of silk, without a sufficient quantity of cocoons, I do not see any necessity, at present, for bestowing much attention upon this agricultural topic. I have observed with astonishment, during my short resi dence in this country, that although there is not the least encouragement for the farmers and planters to attend to this production, nevertheless the mulberry tree is cultivated, and silk worms are raised in all parts of this country, from the north to the south, and from the east to the west; I have examined the cocoons produced in this State, and have extracted silk from them, which I have found superior in quantity and quality to any that I have ever seen; I think, therefore, that this part of the business may be in a great measure left to itself. The main object is to find employment for the silk produced by the American citizens, and to establish, in some cenTheir tral place, a regular market for their cocoons. industry, stimulated by their interest, will do the rest. The planting of the mulberry tree and raising of the silk worm are not mechanical arts, like the other branches of the silk business. Many excellent books have been published, and I find are disseminated in translations and abridgments through this country, containing directions which need only be attended to, to be successful. Experience and observation will soon make the American farmers perfect in that business. When they find that their bad or imperfect cocoons do not sell for so high a price as the good ones, they will naturally inquire into the causes of the deficiency; it will be the interest of the purchaser to give them the necessary information, and in the course of a few years the best cocoons will be every where produced in the United States, without the necessity of erecting dandolieres, as they are called in Europe, or pattern nurseries: these are the playthings

*Tench Coxe on the Manufactures of the United States, p. 9.

111

of theoretical men-the practical man takes a shorter
road; he knows how long a time it would take to con-
vey instruction in that slow manner from Maine to Flo-
rida, and from Philadelphia to Cincinnati or St. Louis;
he trusts to the intelligence, the industry, the observa-
tion, and, above all, to the interest of those who are to
supply him with the material that he is in need of, and
in such a country as the United States none of these
grounds of reliance will ever prove vain.
The plan, therefore, that I propose, is, that the silk
produced in the United States be, in the first instance,
and for some years at least, employed exclusively in the
form of raw silk, properly prepared, as an article of
foreign commerce, until out of the profits which must
necessarily arise from that trade, the means be provided
to proceed to the application of that material to other
and still more profitable branches of industry, which, t
am free to say, will take place gradually, and, as it were,
of itself, provided no forcing or hot-bed schemes are
allowed to interfere and nip these fair prospects in the
bud. I maintain, that a regular market being once esta-
blished in this country for the purchase of cocoons, the
production of that article will soon be brought, without
any effort, to its highest degree of perfection, and this
country will reach an hitherto unexampled degree of
wealth and prosperity.

I shall, in the sequel, explain myself further upon these subjects.

Before 6 o'clock-1782 is the number of degrees of Comparative Import from New Orleans, from 1st October, the Thermometer during the month.

THE

REGISTER OF PENNSYLVANIA.

DEVOTED TO THE PRESERVATION OF EVERY KIND OF USEFUL INFORMATION RESPECTING THE STATE.

VOL. IV. NO. 8.

EDITED BY SAMUEL HAZARD.

PHILADELPHIA, AUGUST 22, 1829.

NO. 86.

SERGEANT'S DISCOURSE ON EDUCATION. | cipal, and however ignorant was the argument of the

[Continued from page 110.]

"student of arithmetic," yet, for him, it was not in a wrong spirit. Arithmetic was his pursuit, and it was fit of Latin! What could be expected from his labours in that he should think well of it.-But the poor student a Seminary where the study was systematically depreciated; and the head of it, from whom he was to look tiously, no doubt,) in having nearly expelled it from for encouragement and assistance, gloried (conscienhis school? The teacher might, and probably did, endeaand heartlessly done. Instead of breathing warmth and vour to perform his duty; but it must have been coldly animation into the atmosphere, to invigorate the tender plants entrusted to his care, they must have been in imminent danger of being stunted in their growth, by

Are the

Of the opinions which have been mentioned, the one proposing entirely to exclude the ancient languages from a course of liberal instruction-and the other, to reduce the time and attention devoted to them, it would be difficult to say, that as applied to this country, the one is more to be deprecated than the other. languages overtaught now? Will they bear a reduction? The reverse is known to be the fact. Compared with the teaching in the German schools, where the design is to make scholars, compared with the teaching in the schools of England, where the design, in addition to this, is to qualify men for all the higher employments of life, as well as for a life without particular employment, it can scarcely be said that here they are taught at all. Excepting in the profession of divinity, is it too strong to affirm that there is scarcely such a thing as scholarship? And even in that profession, how many are there, in proportion to the whole number engaged in its sacred duties, who would be able to encounter a learned Infidel with the weapons of ancient learning? We have eminent lawyers-we have distinguished physicians-enterprising and intelligent merchants-and a fund of general talent, capable of the highest elevation in every employment or pursuit of life. Occasionally we meet with one among them, commonly of the old stock, in whom are discerned the elegant influences of Classical literature.

That part of a course of liberal education, however, which has been most frequently assailed, is the study of the Greek and Roman Classics-what is emphatically called Classical learning. Some have insisted that it ought to be altogether excluded; and others, that it does not deserve to occupy so much of the time and attention of youth. Mr. Locke, who himself enjoyed the full benefit of the treasures of ancient learning, seems to make a compromise of the matter; for while he admits that the languages may be useful to those who are designed for the learned professions, or for the life of a gentleman without a profession, he seems to consider that they, as well as philosophy, are calculated rather to have an injurious effect upon the general charac-chilling and withering indifference. ter, than otherwise. The broader ground of entire exclusion, however, as has already been said, has had its advocates Many years ago, a distinguished citizen of the United States, whose memory, let it be said, is entitled to great veneration, among other things for the example he gave of untiring industry and youthful vigor in his varied pursuits, continued to almost the last day of a long life, published an Essay, in which, with his usual ingenuity and force, he contested the value of Classical learning as a branch of education. It appears from a subsequent publication, by the same author, that this Essay produced many replies, and that it also produced a complimentary letter (now published with the Essay,) from a gentleman who is stated to have been at that time the Principal of an academy. In this letter, after complimenting the author, the writer proceeds as follows-"There is little taste for them (the learned languages,) in this place. In our academy, where there are near ninety students, not above nineteen are poring over Latin and Greek. One of these nineteen was lately addressed by a student of Arithmetic in the following language-Pray, sir, can you resolve me, by your Latin, this question! If one bushel of corn cost four shillings, what cost fifty bushels? A demand of this kind, from a youth, is to me a proof of the taste of Americans in the present day, who prefer the useful to the ornamental!" This was surely an extraordinary triumph over the poor Latinist, and a very singular evidence of But where are our eminent scholars? Where are the what the good Principal was pleased to call "American greater lights, ruling with a steady and diffusive splentaste!" Who ever imagined that the study of the Greek dour, and vindicating their claim to a place among the and Latin would teach a boy the first rules of Arithmet- constellations which shine in the firmament of learning? ic? Or who was ever absurd enough to contend that Nay, how few are there among us, of our best educated Greek and Latin were to be taught to the exclusion of men, who, if called upon to bring forth their stores, the simplest elements of pure Mathematics? They have would be able to say with Queen Elizabeth, that they their appropriate uses and advantages; but they do not had "brushed up their Latin," or would have any Latin profess to be themselves the whole of education, nor to brush up? The truth is that this branch of study is to accomplish every thing that is desirable. They do already at the very minimum, if not below it. It will not give sight to the blind, nor hearing to the deaf, nor not bear the least reduction. It positively requires to speech to the dumb; but when these faculties exist in be increased in teaching, and raised in public esteem. their usual perfection-as is happily the case with the Classical learning neither falls in showers, nor flows in far greater part of mankind-and there is the ordinary streams. Here and there a solitary drop appears, sparkportion of talent, they furnish an occupation, which is ling and beautiful to be sure, like the last dew on a both useful and ornamental, which is not inconsistent leaf, but too feeble, without the support of its kindred with the necessary attainments in mathematics, and element, even to preserve itself, and utterly powerless which may not only well go along with the acquisition to enrich or fructify the neighbouring soil. To propose of our own language, but is deemed to be indispensa- a reduction, is therefore equivalent, at least, to an enble to its accurate knowledge, and highest enjoyment. tire exclusion, if it be not worse. Less taught than it But however feeble was the commentary of the Prin- now is, or less esteemed, the teaching would be almost VOL. IV.

15

a false pretence, and the learning a waste of time. It would be as well at once to blot it from the course, and, as far as in our power lies, to let the Greek and Latin languages sink into oblivion, and be lost in profound darkness, like that from which, by their single power, they have once recovered the world.

This would be a parricidal work for civilization and science. But if it is to be accomplished, the mode is not what is to characterize it as unnatural. Before we advance to a conclusion of such incalculable importance, let us first consider what it is, and then endeavour to be fully assured that it is right. If it be once decided that the study of the ancient languages can be dispensed with in a Collegiate education, and the honours of a College obtained without it, there is no difficulty in perceiving it must also be dropped in the preparatory schools. Why begin it, if it is not to be pursued? Why take up time in acquiring what is afterwards to be thrown aside as rubbish, and forgotten? Forgotten it inevitably will be, if it be entirely discontinued at the time of entering College. By what motives or arguments will a boy be persuaded to apply himself to learning in a Grammar School, what is not necessary to obtain for him the honours of a College, and what he is distinctly told will be of no use to him in life? It is absurd to think of it. The youngest child has sagacity enough to understand an argument, which coincides with his own inclination, and to apply it to the indulgence of his own natural love of ease. Tell him that he might as well be unemployed, and, without having ever studied logic, he will be very apt to jump at once to the seductive conclusion of idlenesss.

more signally exhibited by the old Romans, when Hannibal, triumphant, & seemingly irresistible, from the slaughter at Cannæ, was thundering at the gates of Rome, than they have been by that nation, which Mr. Locke's genius has contributed to illustrate and adorn. This same study has gone hand in hand with every profession and pursuit, refining, exalting and dignifying them all. Theologians, statesmen, lawyers, physicians, poets, orators, philosophers, the votaries of science and of letters,have been disciplined and nourished by it, and under the influence of its culture have attained the highest excellence. The arts of life have, at the same time, kept on with steady pace, so that the people whom Cæsar spoke of as, in his Britannos toto orbe divisos," now, if not in all respects at the very head of the European family, are certainly not inferior to any of its members. Let those who cavil at a liberal education, and those especially who question the value of the Greek and Latin languages, answer this fact. The tree cannot be bad which produces such fruit. It is unphilosophical to doubt the adequacy of a cause to produce a given effect, when we see that the effect is constantly produced by that cause; and it is unphilosophical to search for another cause, when we have found one that is sufficient. If the study of the ancient languages has been found, by long experience, to discipline and nourish the intellectual faculties, why should we doubt that it is efficacious for that purpose? Why should we go about to seek for something else, that if it succeed will but answer the same purpose-and if it fail, leaves us entirely destitute? One will flippantly tell us that it is spending too much time about words, which could be better employed about things. The great Brinance to this notion in the Preface to his Dictionary. A man, who had accomplished such a labour, might be permitted, at its close, to feel the departure of the spirit which had sustained him in its progress, and in the pathetic melancholy of taking leave, so eloquently expressed as almost to draw tears from the reader, he might be allowed even to depreciate his own work, by admitting that "words are the daughters of earth, and that things are the sons of heaven." But even the authority of Dr. Johnson cannot be permitted thus to degrade the pedigree of words, or diminish their importance. Articulate sound is from heaven. Its origin is divine. The faculty of speech is the immediate gift of Him who made us, and its destitution (which his good Providence sometimes allows to occur) is felt to be a great calamity. Language-words-are the exercise of this faculty, as thought is the exercise of the faculty of thinking. The one is worthy of improvement as well as the other-nay, we can scarcely conceive of their separate existence, or their separate cultivation-and hence the first step in the instruction of the dumb is to teach them the use of language. Words without thought are idle and vain. Thought, without the power of expres sing it, is barren and unproductive. "Proper words in proper places, is the point we all strive to attain; and this is what constitutes the perfection of the power of communicating with each other. It is true, therefore, that words are things;" and there is no better proof of it than this, that the most extraordinary, may I not say the most vulgar error sometimes obtains currency, by "What can we reason from, but what we know?” means of an epigrammatick sentence, by the mere charm of the collocation of words. The fact is, that they occuThis proof is manifest, in respect to nations, as it is in py our attention throughout our lives, and a greater or respect to individuals. It is astonishing, that Mr. Locke less command of them is one of the chief visible discould have entertained the suggestion for a moment,that tinctions that mark the different orders of intelligence. the study of the languages and philosophy was unfriend- | The child is taught to speak, to spell and to read-the ly to the formation of prudent and strong character, when youth to declaim and to compose-and the man strives he looked around upon his countrymen, and perceived, perpetually to improve and perfect himself in the use of as he must have done, that they are not less distinguish-language, by frequent exercise, and the study of the ed for their attachment to these studies, than for what Burke has called "the family of grave and masculine virtues." Constancy, resolution, unconquerable spirit, a lofty determination never under any circumstances of adversity to admit the betraying counsels of fear, were not

These languages, let it be remembered, have hither-tish lexicographer has unintentially given some counteto not merely formed a part, they have been the very basis of a liberal education. I might almost say they have been education itself. From the revival of letters to the present time, they have held this station, through a period of five hundred years, not in one country only, but in all the civilized world. They gained it by their own merits, and they have kept it by their unquestionable success. Would it be wise or prudent to cast them off, unless we were fully prepared to supply the large space they have occupied, by something equal, at least, if not superior? This is no metaphysical question; nor does the answer to it require the peculiar powers of Mr. Locke, mighty as they confessedly were. It is eminently a practical question, which common sense is fully able to decide. It may be stated thus; Education, having a given end, and a certain plan of education, having approved itself during some hundreds of years, and still continuing daily to approve itself to be well suited to attain that end, is it wise or rational to require that it shall be vindicated upon original grounds, and be rejected like a novelty, unless it can be justified to our complete satisfaction, by arguments a priori? That is a good timekeeper which keeps good time, no matter how constructed. That is good food which is found to nourish the body, whatever peptic precepts may say to the contrary. And that is good exercise, which gives vigour and grace to the limbs, even though a Chinese lady might not be allowed to use it. Against such a fact, once well established, argumentative objection ought to be unavailing, or there is an end to ail just reasoning.

best models. Demosthenes is said to have copied the history of Thucydides eight times with his own hand, and to have committed the greater part of it to memory, merely to improve his style. His orations were composed with the utmost care; and they were

retouched, improved, and corrected with the minuteness of a Flemish painter-even to the alteration of parts of words. He was never satisfied till he had given the highest possible finish to his work. Was this an idle labour? More than two thousand years have since rolled by; and the language of Athens, in the days of Demosthenes, cannot be said to be now spoken in the world. Yet is he confessed to be the undisputed master in his noble art. His orations, said by a strong figure to have been as an earthquake in ancient Grecce, still agitate the bosom which is sensible of the powers of eloquence, and offer the best model to its votaries.Like the fine remains of the Grecian chisel, they stand in severe, but beautiful and commanding simplicity, as if conscious that their title to respect, being founded in nature and in truth, though perfected by consummate skill, was equally available in every age."

If it therefore be conceded that the study of the ancient languages is calculated to assist us in what is disparagingly termed the learning of words, or, as it ought to be expressed, in acquiring a good style-that it inproves the taste, and corrects the judgment-this, tho' but a part of its merits, would go far to vindicate its right to a place in every system of liberal education.

Sometimes it is objected, as it was by the Principal of an academy, already quoted, that an acquaintance with these languages is 'ornamental' but not 'useful.' The meaning of this objection depends upon two words, which, appearing to be exact, are notwithstanding, as ambiguous, perhaps, as any in our vocabulary. They are often used without a definite sense in the mind of the speaker, and very seldom with any certainty of the same understanding on the part of the hearer. If it were necessary to endeavour to be precise on this subject, we might be permitted to say, that in the opinion of many very intelligent people, nothing is properly ornamental that is not in some way useful. But when we have thus disentangled ourselves of one perplexing word, we are obliged to encounter another. What is useful, and what is not useful? Are mankind agreed about it? By no means. How then are we to determine what is useful? The answer seems to be this-we are to arrive at a conclusion by considering man in his various relations, and thence inferring, as we justly may, that every thing is useful which contributes to the improvement or the innocent gratification of himself or of others, or qualifies him more effectually or acceptably to perform his duties. Does any one object to those exercises of youth, which give a graceful carriage to the body? Are good manners, the external graces, worthy to be cultivated, because they give pleasure to others? And are the graces of the intellect to be entirely neglected? Is the generous youth to be told that nothing is necessary but to be able to compute the cost of fifty bushels of corn? The proprieties, and even the elegancies of life, when they do not run away with the heart, nor interfere with the performance of serious duties, are well deserving our attention. But let it not be imagined, that in thus insisting upon the general argument of experience the greatest of all teachers-in favour of Classical learning, or in answering one or two particular objections, it is meant to be conceded, that it cannot be vindicated upon original grounds. It can be, and it has been, repeatedly and triumphantly shown, that these unequalled languages, which, as was long ago said of them, "have put off flesh and blood, and become immutable," are precisely calculated to perform the most important general offices of a liberal education, in a man

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ner that no other known study will accomplish. They awaken attention, they develope and employ the reasoning faculty, they cultivate the taste, they nourish the seeds of the imagination, give employment to the memory, and, in a word, they discipline and invigorate, in due proportion, all the intellectual powers, and prepare them for orderly and effective exertion in all the varied exigencies which may require their action. Nor is this all. They lay the foundation of that learning which will abide with us, and increase our enjoyments in all the vi cissitudes of life.

But the limits of a discourse would be unreasonably transcended, by an attempt to enter into a more particular examination of this part of the subject. Nor is it necessary that I should thus trespass upon your patience, already so largely taxed. Abler heads, and stronger hands-strong in good learning -have been repeatedly employed upon the work; and I should only enfeeble their demonstration, by attempting to restate the process. As a witness, however, stating the result of his observations, confirmed by the observations of others, I may be allowed to say, that to a young man, entering upon the study of a liberal profession,a thorough groundwork of Classical education is like a power gained in mechanics, or rather it is the foundation wanted by Archimedes for his fulcrum! It gives him a mastery of his studies which nothing else can supply. Of its other influences, allow me to quote to you the testimony of a distinguished female, who, to uncommon opportunities united extraordinary genius and power of observation, and is entirely free from all suspicion of partiality. "The English Universities, (says Madame de Stael, in her 'Germany,') have singularly contributed to diffuse among the people of England that knowledge of ancient languages and literature, which give to their orators and statesmen an information so liberal and brilliant. It is a mark of good taste to be acquainted with other things besides matters of business, when one is thoroughly acquainted with them; and, besides, the eloquence of free nations attaches itself to the history of Greeks and Romans, as to that of ancient fellow countrymen. The study of languages, which forms the basis of instruction in Germany, is much more favorable to the progress of the faculties in infancy, than that of the Mathematics and Physical science." For this she quotes the admission of Pascal.

Some part of the doubt, which, in this country, has been insinuating itself into the public mind, is owing to the imperfect and insufficient manner in which the languages have been taught; or rather it should be said, in which they have been learned; for there has probably been at all times a disposition to teach them. Enough has not been acquired to fix a permanent taste in the student himself, or to demonstrate its value to others. The consequence is, that the graduate suffers his little stock to decay from neglect, and his parents and friends exclaim that learning is of no use. Another consequence is, that there is no scholar-like mind, to exert its influence upon the community, and operate upon the mass of public opinion. The corrective is in more thorough teaching. It will require more time and more labour from the student. But time thus employed, will be well employed. And as to labour--if he desire to arrive at excellence of any sort, he can learn nothing better than how to apply himself with diligence to the work that is before him. There is a great deal of affectation in the world, of facility and expedition in the performance of intellectual tasks-of doing things quickly, and without preparation or exertion, as if by an in*Cicero not only studied the Greek language, but to spiration of genius, and differently from those, who, by such an extent as to be able to declaim in it, and to ex-way of derision, are called plodders! It is a poor affeccite the strong but melancholy admiration of Appoloni- tation. Sometimes it is maintained at the expense of "As for you, Cicero," he said, after hearing him sincerity, by concealing the pains that are really taken. declaim in Greek, "I praise and admire you: but I am Oftener it is only the blustering of conscious weakness concerned for the fate of Greece. She had nothing left and indolence. The highest and surest talent-that her but the glory of eloquence and education, and you which will hold out longest, and often reach the greatare carrying that too to Rome." est elevation-the only talent, I might almost say, which

us.