110W AllE TI1E, PEOPLE '1'0 11E i\IADE HAPPIER AND
BErr Eli is
'PO TI1E EDITOR 01' THE SPECTATOR.
'Amami, 28111 .1uguit 1840. SIR—Allow me to take the liberty- of asking you to say, what course you think should lat pursued in order that the masses of Ibis country may become More happy. and more respected members of society P.
At tilt present time, the majority of this nation are OS a flock without a shepherd ; they stantl in need of' " a leader."
Bmtes. sit° NI: laid it down, mul the Judges of the land front his time to the present have administered the doctrine, that it is incumbent upon every man to he acquainted. with those laws midi which Ile is immediately coneerlicd, lest he should incur the censure, as well as inconvenience, of living in mriety without knowing the obligations vii it'll it lays him under ; and that, without sitch knowledge, the duties to society vaimot be prol■erly discharged. Many are the instances in 'licit pleas of error through ignorance have been scouted as not issitable, aial ittliointl for the want of knowledge. Now, Sir, as a great deal of education must neeessarily precede an acquire -
meta. of Only a •-,eileral outline oflaw, I thilik with you, that however sensible
anst just the r may I,e in his argnments for ignorance, the soundness of i, views are quesi It .would, I think, be no answer to BLACKSTONE for hi la to repeat, that rinatis and Scots are sustaining an injury by too much education. Admitting the evil complained only him, it is more than counter- balanced hy the good resulting therefrons : if it were net so, tile peasantry of those countries would not Pp! si, is they do to the most ordinary utiA.i.ver, as superior beings to the tun ducat ed pour of other countries: and, besides, l',,,glishitien (for WileM edMaIll,11 a4ICID possess a character the medium of the German and Scot, neither rartaking of the lethargy of the fernier, nor the wary anxicty of the latter to travel from that sphere most fitted for thein—them is in Um,- lishmen none of that elbowing to get through society to the head of all. 1.1:m11,ln:ten r.re more shin in their ti•elings to Americans; ani. education in America is sul,servieot to the real interest of the people, by enabling themmi Iii obtain through Inhour Pilot lioneSt perseverance, a greater quantity and latter quality of the neres.,:iries of' life. There are, I know, rasinhcrs who wish Ame- rica sot to exist aS a nation with its present institutions, and who believe that calor:ohm will be one of the causes of revolutioniziag her. The moderns are as prone to be dtibions as those or olsi. it Can ally thing good come out of" a deinceracy ? is it question the mere surfitce rot/sutlers are too proud in putting. I think, " seeing ignorance is the curse or God, Knowledge the wing wherewith we thy to heaven," that all good must result from the moral and intellectual training of the r cork, if accomplished in trne Catholic spirit. As an instance of the education of the people making a monarchical govern- ment the admiration of surrounding nations, 1 have ottlj: to point to Prussia. 1 have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient servant,
JAMES STRIDE.
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