that the man will achieve any thing, or attempt any thing, or conceive any thing useful to the world, or honorable to himself. Nothing can counteract the strong tendency of the mind to repose and indolence, but the energy of the feelings of conscience and benevolence, of patriotism, of domestic love and the love of God. And it is hardly too much to say, that under the constant impulse of these sentiments, intellect can never sleep, ingenuity, knowledge, argument, power of mind and eloquence of manner can never be wanting. Industry, enterprise, skill, every thing great in mind, every thing noble in achievement, every thing ample and splendid in attainment, is the creation of the spirit, the moral energy of the man. For such reasons as these, and they might be multiplied, the clerical office seems to be naturally associated with the office of instruction.

Still we do not insist, that none but clergymen should be employed in our institutions of learning. There should be pains taken to prevent the formation of peculiar, partial, narrow views. It is of importance to the young to come into connection with a variety of minds, to be taught to look at subjects under the different lights, which men accustomed to different pursuits and different studies, throw upon them. The several professions have each peculiar modes of thought and points of view in the contemplation of life; and it is useful and even necessary to a liberal education, that the pupil be allowed to enjoy the superintendence and example of minds somewhat various in their habits of thinking. He should not always herd with one class of men. It is, therefore, not without reason, that our seminaries of learning have in them a considerable proportion of laymen. If it be thought, that this proportion is still too small; that there is too much uniformity of character in the officers of our colleges and other institutions, or that clergymen may be more usefully employed in their more appropriate duties- let it be so. There is certainly no more grateful field of labor for men of any profession than the instruction of the young.

But to the separation of instruction from religion itself we decidedly and earnestly object. Every friend of learning, every patriot should strenuously contend against all attempts to educate young men without moral and christian principle. If the objection to the clergy, as guardians and teachers of colleges and universities, be an objection only to the clerical habit, and title, or to professional peculiarities, the question is of little consequence. If the prejudice, however, be deeper, if the hostility

to clerical influence be, as there is reason to suspect, in many instances, nothing less than hostility to religion itself; let not an inch of ground be yielded so long as it can be maintained. The interests of liberty, of truth, of the soul are concerned in the issue. That the remarks already made on the disposition evinced among us to disconnect religion from education, are not groundless, is proved by a comparison of the facts to which allusion has been made, with another equally well known and equally unequivocal in its import the fact, that ministers of the gospel are, by law, in some of the States, excluded from certain civil offices, and that, where no such disability exists, editors of public journals and multitudes of the community, regard the acceptance of office, or the exercise of any political influence, as inconsistent with the character and relations of the clergy, as transcending the limits of their rights and privileges. Were it a mere question of policy, of utility, of expediency, there would be, generally, but one opinion. But when any class of men are, as such, excluded from the common rights and privileges of citizens, when any office in the country is, by legislation, placed beyond their reach, it is no longer a free country, a republic, a land of equal laws. It is the tone and manner in which this subject is treated, the ground on which the objection is placed, that gives it any importance. These show the tendency of the public mind, and for this purpose alone are here referred to. If, because a man is a clergyman, he may not sit in a legislative assembly, nor discuss a political question, nor touch a subject, that has, or may be imagined to have, a political bearing; it is important to ascertain the foundation of the objection. Before the genius of our government was seen in practice, and its consequences developed in the various relations of life, it is not strange, that men acquainted with English history were jealous of church power, and anxious to guard against the repetition of the scenes enacted by clerical ambition, in the mother country. But, certainly, he has little claim to the name of politician, he has observed the course of things, in this country, to little purpose, who, after half a century has shown the tendency of the government, is still troubled with apprehensions of danger from the priesthood. So far from aspiring to rule and authority, they have rather occasion to grieve, that they are scarcely permitted to whisper, in the ear of power, of" righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come."

We are accustomed to congratulate ourselves on the perfec

tion of our common schools and the general diffusion of the advantages of elementary education. It is one of the forms of our national vanity. And yet it is a remarkable fact, that we are far, very far behind some of the monarchies of the old world, not more in the perfection of education among the privileged few, than in the diffusion of it through the mass of society. We are struck with astonishment, that such speculations in literary criticism, and philosophy, as are contained in the Lectures of the Schlegels, should have found audiences in Vienna capable of listening to them, with intelligence even, much less with enthusiasm. But who was prepared to hear, who can hear without mortification, that, in the kingdom of Prussia, there is, in actual operation, a system of primary instruction altogether more perfect, than exists in any portion of New England; a system, whose advantages are absolutely universal, bringing very thorough moral and religious, as well as literary, instruction within the reach of every child in the kingdom; and, in fact, compelling every family to be educated. The feeling which is beginning to pervade France, also, may be inferred from the following remarks of Victor Cousin, in his Report to the national authorities, on "the State of Public Instruction in Prussia”. a work, by the way, which we are extremely glad to see presented to the American reader; it is full of interest to the friends of education. The reputation of Mr. Cousin, as a philosopher, and his standing in his own country, give peculiar importance to his views of moral instruction.

Without neglecting physical science, and the knowledge applicable to the arts of life, we must make moral science, which is of far higher importance, our main object. The mind and character are what a true master ought, above all, to fashion. We must lay the foundations of moral life in the souls of our young masters, and therefore we must place religious instruction, that is, to speak distinctly, christian instruction, in the first rank in the education of our normal schools. Leaving to the curé, or to the pastor of the place, the care of instilling the doctrines peculiar to each communion, we must constitute religion a special object of instruction, which must have its place in each year of the normal course; so that at the end of the entire course, the young masters, without being theologians, may have a clear and precise knowledge of the history, doctrines, and, above all, the moral precepts of Christianity. Without this, the pupils, when they become masters, would be incapable of giving any other religious instruction than the mechanical repetition of the catechism, which would be quite insufficient.

I would particularly urge this point, which is the most important and most delicate of all. Before we can decide on what should constitute a true primary normal school, we must determine what ought to be the character of a simple elementary school, that is, a humble village school. The popular schools of a nation ought to be imbued with the religious spirit of that nation. Now without going into the question of diversities of doctrine, is Christianity, or is it not, the religion of the people of France? It cannot be denied that it is. I ask then, is our object to respect the religion of the people, or to destroy it? If we mean to set about destroying it, then, I allow, we ought by no means to have it taught in the people's schools. But if the object we propose to ourselves is totally different, we must teach our children that religion which civilized our fathers; that religion whose liberal spirit prepared, and can alone sustain, all the great institutions of modern times. We must also permit the clergy to fulfil their first duty, the superintendence of religious instruction. But in order to stand the test of this superintendence with honor, the schoolmaster must be enabled to give adequate religious instruction; otherwise parents, in order to be sure that their children receive a good religious education, will require us to appoint ecclesiastics as schoolmasters, which, though assuredly better than having irreligious schoolmasters, would be liable to very serious objections of various kinds. The less we desire our schools to be ecclesiastical, the more ought they to be Christian. It necessarily follows, that there must be a course of special religious instruction in our normal schools. Religion is, in my eyes, the best-perhaps the only basis of popular education. I know something of Europe, and never have I seen good schools where the spirit of christian charity was wanting. Primary instruction flourishes in three countries, Holland, Scotland and Germany; in all it is profoundly religious. It is said to be so in America. The little popular instruction I ever found in Italy came from the priests. In France, with few exceptions, our best schools for the poor are those of the Frères de la Doctrine Chrétienne (Brothers of the Christian Doctrine.) These are facts which it is necessary to be incessantly repeating to certain persons. Let them go into the schools of the poor, let them learn what patience, what resignation are required to induce a man to persevere in so toilsome an employment. Have better nurses ever been found than those benevolent nuns who bestow on poverty all those attentions we pay to wealth? There are things in human society, which can neither be conceived nor accomplished without virtue, that is to say, when speaking of the mass, without religion. The schools for the middle classes may be an object of speculation; but the country schools, the miserable little schools in the south, in the west, in Britanny, in the mountains of Auvergne, and, without going so far, VOL. IX. No. 25.

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the lowest schools of our great cities, of Paris itself, will never hold out any adequate inducement to persons seeking a renumerating occupation. There will doubtless be some philosophers inspired with the ardent philanthrophy of Saint Vincent de Paule, without his religious enthusiasm, who would devote themselves to this austere vocation; but the question is not to have here and there a master. We have more than forty thousand schools to serve, and it were wise to call religion to the aid of our insufficient means, were it but for the alleviation of the pecuniary burthens of the nation. Either you must lavish the treasures of the State, and the revenues of the communes, in order to give salaries, and even pensions, to that new order of tradesmen called schoolmasters; or you must not imagine you can do without christian charity, and that spirit of poverty, humility, courageous resignation, and modest dignity, which Christianity, rightly understood and wisely taught, can alone give to the teachers of the people. The more I think of all this, the more I look at the schools in this country, the more I talk with the directors of normal shools and councillors of the ministry, the more I am strengthened in the conviction that we must make any efforts or any sacrifices to come to a good understanding with the clergy on the subject of popular education, and to constitute religion a special and very carefully-taught branch of instruction in our primary normal schools.

I am not ignorant, that this advice will grate on the ears of many persons, and that I shall be thought extremely dèvot at Paris. Yet it is not from Rome, but from Berlin, that I address you. The man who holds this language to you is a philosopher, formerly disliked, and even persecuted, by the priesthood; but this philosopher has a mind too little affected by the recollection of his own insults, and is too well acquainted with human nature and with history, not to regard religion as an indestructible power genuine Christianity, as a means of civilization for the people, and a necessary support for those on whom society imposes irksome and humble duties, without the slightest prospect of fortune, without the least gratification of self-love.

If it be yet a question, whether Christianity is true, it is a very grave question; the mind and labor employed on it have been well employed, and centuries more may be wisely devoted to the investigation of it. But it is not so; the intelligence and virtue of society are on the side of the Bible. The argument for it has not been answered; no attempt to answer it has been made, by any man of reputation, during the last thirty years. The men, especially, who have most at stake in the fortunes of this government, who will have to bear the responsibility of a failure in our experiment of republican liberty, in the judgment