I have certainly no desire to lessen the high repute, in which they seem to be held. On the contrary, I wish they were in higher estimation than they really are. And,

what is more, I wish they were more worthy of that estimation. But they should be appreciated for the character which they possess, and never for that which they do not possess. And they are not establishments for the instruction of the poor. Neither can they be relied upon as efficient means for the education of the mass or even a majority of the people; because as has been before intimated, their conditions exclude nineteen twentieths of the whole population of the State from a participation of their advantages. If they are sustained, therefore, it must be upon some other ground. What that ground is, it is not my purpose now to inquire. But what has been their influence upon the free or town schools?

One influence, which they undoubtedly have had, has been to prepare young instructers some better than they could be prepared in the town schools themselves. This is a good influence. And if the same object could not be attained much better by other means, it would deserve great consideration in estimating the utility, which we are to expect from those establishments for the future. But the preparation of instructers for the free schools, never formed a part of the original design of the academies. They were intended to afford instruction in other and higher branches of education, than those usually taught in the free schools; and not merely to give better instruction in the same branches. Much less did it come within the wide scope of their purposes to give instruction in the science of teaching generally. So that the little good derived from them in this respect is only incidental.

The preparation of instructers for free schools is a subject of such moment to this community, that it will hardly be thought expedient, on reflection, to trust it to chance or to incidents. Experience and observation have convinced those, who have attended to the subject, that adequate instructers for the free schools are not prepared by these incidental means. In order to be efficient and effectual in attaining that desirable object, means must be applied directly to it. But of the education of instructers, more by and by. I wish merely now to say, and I trust Í have shown, that the academies cannot be relied upon for

accomplishing that object, so as in any good degree to meet the demands and answer the reasonable expectations of the community.

But the academies have had another influence upon the public town schools, which has much impaired their usefulness, and, if not soon checked, it will ultimately destroy them. This influence, operating for a series of years, has led, already, to the abandonment of a part of the free school system, and to a depreciation in the character and prospects of the remaining part. And it is working, not slowly, the destruction of the vital principle of the institution, more valuable to us than any other, for the preservation of enlightened freedom. The pernicious influence, to which I allude, will be better understood, by taking an example of its operation on a small scale; and then extending the same principle of examination to the whole State, or to New England.

Take any ten contiguous towns in the interiour of this Commonwealth, and suppose an academy to be placed in the centre of them. An academy, as I have before observed, commonly means a corporation, with a township of land in Maine, given them by the State, and a pretty convenient house, built generally by the patriotic subscriptions of those who expect to use it; the instructer being supported, chiefly or altogether, by a separate tax on the scholars. In each of these ten towns, select the six individuals, who have families to educate, who set the highest value on early education, and who are able to defray the expenses of the best which can be had, either in a private school among themselves, or at the academy, which, by the supposition, is in their neighbourhood. Now of what immediate consequence can it be to the six families of each town, or to the sixty families of the ten towns, whether there be such a thing as a free school in the Commonwealth or not! They have a general interest in them, to be sure, because they have themselves been there instructed, and the early associations of childhood and youth are strong; and they have a sort of speculative belief, if it be not rather an innate sentiment, that free schools make a free people. But how are their own particular, personal, and immediate interests affected? Without any libel upon good nature, these are the main springs to human actions. These are the motives, which find their way soonest to the human heart, and influ

ence most powerfully and steadily the opinions of men, and the conduct founded upon and resulting from them.

As soon as difficulties and disagreements, in regard to the free schools, arise, as they necessarily must, upon various topics; such as, the amount of money to be raised, the distribution of it among the several districts, the manner of appropriation, whether it be to the "summer schools" or to the "winter schools," to pay an instructer from this family or from that family, of higher qualifications or of lower qualifications, of this or that political or religious creed, or a thousand other questions which are constantly occurring; if any of our six families happen to be dissatisfied or disgusted with any course which may be adopted, they will, immediately, abandon the free schools, and provide for the education of their children in their own way. They may organize a private school, for their own convenience, upon such principles as they most approve. Or, they may send their scholars, at an expense trifling to them, to the academy in their neighbourhood. Well, what if they do? The free schools remain, all taxes are paid, cheerfully, for their support, and the number of scholars is lessened. What is the evil of their sending their children somewhere else to be educated? We should, at first, suppose that it would be an advantage; inasmuch as the amount of money to be expended would be left the same, and the number of pupils to receive the benefit of it would be considerably diminished.

But the evils of this course, and of the general policy of the State government, which has led to it, are very serious ones. When the six individuals of any country town, who are, by the supposition, first in point of wealth and interest in the subject, and who will generally be also first in point of intelligence and influence in town affairs, withdraw their children from the common schools; there are, at the same time, withdrawn a portion of intelligence from their direction and heartfelt interest from their support. This intelligence is needed, to manage the delicate and important concerns of the schools. And this heartfelt interest is needed, to lead the way to improvements, to stimulate and encourage larger and larger appropriations, and to ensure vigilance in their expenditure. Patriotism and philanthropy are dull motives to exertions for the improvement of common schools compared with parental

affection. And this quickening power has gone off to the academies or somewhere else with the children, who are the objects of it.

Look at the operation of this influence of the academies upon the free schools, on a still smaller scale. Examine the condition of the latter in the very towns, where academies are placed; and where, if their influence be a happy one, we should expect to find the common schools in the best condition. What is the fact? From observation and from information collected from authentic sources, the assertion may be hazarded that the condition of the free schools will be found, on examination, to be worse, far worse, in those towns than in any others. And it is for this plain reason: because those, who can barely afford the expense of tuition, will send their children to the academy, which the state or benevolent individuals have built up for their accommodation, and give themselves no farther trouble about the free schools, but to pay the tax-bill for their support when it is presented.

Thus the men, who would have the most interest in the subject, the most intelligence and the most leisure to conduct the concerns of the town schools, secede from them, and join themselves to other institutions. Abolish the academy and leave these six families of each town to the free schools alone, and you would find all their powers assiduously employed to put them in the best condition possible. Or rather put the free schools in a state to afford as good instruction as the academies now do, and you would supersede in a great degree the necessity of them. And it is apprehended, that it would be quite easy to place them upon a footing to give even better instruction, at least, in all the elementary branches of a common education, than the academies now give or ever have given. If the principles suggested above for the examination of our means of popular education be correct, and if the influence of the private establishments upon the academies, and of the academies upon the free schools be really such as it has been described to be, my readers, by following out the inquiries which those principles lead to, in all their relations and bearings, cannot fail to convince themselves, that something may be done, as well as much said upon this subject.

ESSAY V.

FAULTS OF THE FREE SCHOOLS.

TOWARDS the close of my third essay, a comparison was instituted between the academies and those private establishments, which begin and will continue to grow up, while the former do not afford as good instruction, as can be procured in this or in any country. The conclusion was, that as a means of public instruction, the academies are, decidedly, the most to be relied upon; because their conditions do not exclude more than nineteen twentieths of the people, from the free enjoyment of their advantages; whereas, the private establishments of high character, are beyond the reach of at least ninety-nine hundredths. In my last essay, a comparison, upon the same principles, was drawn between the academies and the free schools. And the conclusion was, that we cannot safely rely upon the former, either for directly instructing the mass of the people, who are found only in the free schools, or for preparing instructers for them, and thus, indirectly, accomplishing the same object. Our only reliance, therefore, is upon the town schools; because access to them is open to all. Whereas, certainly not more than one twentieth, and probably not more than one fiftieth of the whole population can gain admittance to the academies at all. Hence, if any measures are to be taken, or any appropriations to be made by the legislature for the diffusion of knowledge generally, it should seem that the free schools demand their first attention. They are the foundation not only of our whole system of public instruction, but of all our free institutions. Let our rulers take care, then, that this basis be not allowed to crumble away on any pretence. If it do so, there will be wrenching in the political fabric, when it will be too late to apply a