ired the establishment of monarchical and
aristocratical institutions among us, who had not a mental reservation
that, in such case, he and his family should belong to the privileged
orders.

"Still, if asked the broad question whether man is capable of
self-government, I must answer it conditionally. If by man, in the
inquiry, is meant the Fejee Islanders; or the convicts at Botany Bay; or
the people of Mexico and of some of the South American Republics, so
called; or those as a class, in our own country, who can neither read
nor write; or those who can read and write, and who possess talents and
an education by force of which they get treasury, or post-office, or
bank appointments, and then abscond with all the money they can steal, I
answer unhesitatingly that _man_, or rather _such men_, are not fit for
self-government.

"But if, on the other hand, the inquiry be whether mankind are not
endowed with those germs of intelligence and those susceptibilities of
goodness by which, under a perfectly practicable system of cultivation
and training, they are able to avoid the evils of despotism and anarchy,
and also of those frequent changes in national policy which are but one
remove from anarchy, and to hold steadfastly on their way in an endless
career of improvement, then, in the full rapture of that joy and triumph
which springs from a belief in the goodness of God and the progressive
happiness of man, I answer, THEY ARE ABLE."

* * * * *

PRACTICABILITY OF NATIONAL EDUCATION.

The first duty of government, and the surest evidence of good
government, is the encouragement of education. A general diffusion
of knowledge is the precursor and protector of republican
institutions; and in it we must confide, as the conservative power
that will watch our liberties, and guard against fraud, intrigue,
corruption, and violence.--DE WITT CLINTON's _Message to the New
York Legislature_, 1826.

If good is to be done, we must bring our minds, as soon as possible,
to the confession of the truth, that the education of the people, to
be effectual, must here, as elsewhere, to a great extent, be the
work of the state; and that an expense, of which all should feel the
necessity, and all will share the benefit, must, in a just
proportion, be borne by all.--JOHN DUER.

The _desirableness_ of national or universal education is now generally