LETTERS TO THE HON. WILLIAM PRESCOTT, LL. D. ON THE FREE SCHOOLS OF NEW ENGLAND, WITH REMARKS UPON THE PRINCIPLES OF INSTRUCTION. BY JAMES G. CARTER. Would you have a man reason well, you must use him to it betimes, LOCKE. BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY CUMMINGS, HILLIARD & CO. HILLIARD AND METCALF PRINTERS. 1824. BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the thirteenth day of August, A. D. 1824, an ninth year of the Independence of the United States of America, Cummings, H of the said district, have deposited in this office the title of a book, the right claim as proprietors, in the words following, to wit: Letters to the Hon. William Prescott, LL. D. on the Free Schools of New E Remarks upon the Principles of Instruction. By James G. Carter. Would you have a man reason well, you must use him to it betimes. In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled " encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, t and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned ;" and also titled "An act supplementary to an act, entitled An act for the encouragemen by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and propri copies, during the times therein mentioned;' and extending the benefits there of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." JOHN W. DAVI Clerk of the District of Mas TO THE SIR, HON. WILLIAM PRESCOTT, LL. D. THE deep interest you have ever evinced in whatever affects the political and moral condition of our country, has induced me to believe, you would not look with indifference upon any effort, however humble, to improve an institution of such vital importance to our happiness, dignity, and prosperity, as the system of free schools. The important relation you sustain to the first literary institution in our country, seems, moreover, to warrant in some degree my presumption, in inviting your attention to the consideration of a few general principles of instruction. It is upon these, that much of the success of all schools and seminaries of learning, however they may be conducted in other respects, must ultimately depend. The principles, I have endeavoured to illustrate, seem to me never to have been carried into effect in our country. Though my illustrations are all drawn from so humble a department as that of elementary instruction, the application will be easily made to the more advanced pursuits of literature and science. Some of the leading thoughts in the following Letters were prepared for the press a few months since in the form of a Review; and it was not till within a few weeks, that I yielded to the advice of friends, on whose judgment I am accustomed |