n improving the
social and moral habits of a community, and in banishing pauperism and
crime from among those who become the happy subjects of its uplifting
power, let us, for the purpose of becoming more alive to its importance,
consider the condition of a people where the masses are not brought
under its benign influence.

Spain, which has been already referred to in illustration of the evils
of ignorance, affords a striking illustration for our present purpose.
Until after the lapse of one third of the present century, there was but
ONE newspaper published in this country! "Yes, one miserable government
gazette was the sole channel through which twelve or fourteen millions
of people, spread over a vast territory, were to be supplied with
information on the momentous affairs of their own country, and of the
whole external world."--_National Education_, vol. ii., p. 136.

"The most authentic return of the number of children receiving education
in Spain was made in the year 1803, and it is believed that but little
change has taken place since that time. According to the returns, the
number of children receiving education, exclusive of those brought up in
convents and monasteries, was only one in every three hundred and
forty-six of the population! M. Jonnes estimates the population at about
fourteen millions and a half, and assuming, as he does, that about the
same fraction of the population is receiving education as in 1803, he
estimates the present number of children in school in the whole of Spain
at not more than about forty-three thousand; and, pursuing his
calculations, he shows that, if his data be correct, not more than one
child in thirty-five ever goes to school. He further states that the
children thus favored are exclusively from the middle and upper
classes."[46]--_National Education_, vol. ii., p. 130-1.

[46] The writer would here remark, in reference to extracts made from
various authors, that, for the sake of abridging, he has often, as in
this case, left out parts of a paragraph, but never so as to modify the
meaning. Some ideas, not connected with the subject in hand, are
omitted, but none are changed.

How far the education given to the favored few is of a practical and
useful kind, may be conjectured from the following extract from M.
Jonnes's work. After speaking of the many libraries, schools, colleges,
and universities, the creation of past times, but which still exist, he
remar