It is but about three centuries and an half, since, by applying the light of science to navigation, one half of this globe was shewn to the other.

Since, then, these arts and sciences which have their origin in our knowledge of external nature, have, some of them so recently been brought to perfection, while others remain still in their infancy; it need not be deemed surprising, that the science of mind, with those of government, political economy, logic, morals and religion, all of which, in some degree, are dependent on it, should yet remain in a state of imperfection.

In this great department of moral science we descry the dawn of a new era of improvement. I mean to say, that every thing in this department is undergoing a rigid examination on the principles of the Baconian philosophy, and that, in consequence, man's nature, in its moral, intellectual and animal functions, and in its social capacities and relations, is beginning to be better understood; and that the institutions of society, and all the regulations pertaining to them, are beginning to be managed, more in conformity with man's entire nature than they formerly were.

I shall not attempt to prove and illustrate this remark at large, (for that would require a series of discourses), but only in reference to the single subject of education. Nor shall I spread my remarks over the whole even of this subject. Education—a college education, I mean-may be divided into two parts, instruction. and government. I shall confine my remarks to the latter, taking no further notice of what I deem the proper mode of instruction, than as that may be considered a means in order to government.

That mode of government which I intend imperfectly to sketch in the sequel of this discourse, may be denominated the "paternal," as being analogous to that which every wise and affectionate father exercises over his children, and which is the nearest image of that moral and providential government, which the great God, our Heavenly Father, exercises over us his intelligent offspring. It seeks to establish its authority over the governed, not by a system of minute and paltry rules, which require the exercise of an espionage, as vexatious to the governors as it can be to the governed, but by addressing itself to the rational and moral faculties of the latter, and to their sense of honor, their interests, and their social affections and sympathies.

I am perfectly aware, that this mode of government is encumbered with difficulties, from which the old system of governing, by a multiplicity of rules, is exempted. Some of these difficulties arise from the great diversity of character among the students, of whom some, from bad habits, others, from the obtuseness of their sensibilities, others from frowardness of disposition, and others, from the want of good instruction at home, are not the fit subjects for a mode of government so intellectual; and all of whom pass

through, the course so rapidly, that the system has scarcely time to exert its full influence upon them before they are gone, leaving their places to be filled by novices who have never felt its power. Other, and no less, difficulties beset the system, from the side of the teachers, who, possibly, may not be adequate to the very delicate and difficult task of carrying out into practice, a mode of government which requires a rare combination of qualifications in those who exercise it. In proof of this I allege the well known fact, that a well regulated family is a much rarer spectacle than a well governed state, or army, or ship of war. And candor compels me to admit, that, though the success which has attended the experiments hitherto made among us, has been abundantly sufficient to justify a still further trial of the system, yet it has been by no means as great or as general as might have been expected. But this I must say, that the failures, so far as failures have occurred, have arisen from contingencies such as time will remove, while the success has arisen from the system itself. I have full faith in it. It will ultimately prevail in all colleges and schools, and the vital principle on which it is constructed, will ultimately be diffused, and is even now diffusing itself, through the government and policy of nations.

Ages may elapse before the process is complete; for the progress of improvement has been but slow hitherto : yet it has been accelerated, and will continue so to be, still more and more. Accelerated, progressive improvement is the law which governs the destinies of our race. The fables of the poets must be reversed. The iron age, of stern authority and brute force, is past; the silver age of intellect is begun; the golden age of religion and morals, exalted and purified by philosophy, is in prospect.

Among the means of hastening the approach of this glorious epoch, I know of none which is likely to prove more effectual, than such a mode of education as adapts itself to the higher faculties of our nature, and seeks to accomplish its end by such a mode of government as is calculated to give to these faculties their appropriate exercise. Such a mode of government proceeds on the grand principle of treating the pupil as a rational and moral being; by showing him the importance of making the best use of his time and the various advantages and opportunities with which, by the care of the State and of kind parents, he has been furnished ; pointing out to him the many and important benefits which may certainly be expected from a diligent and patient perseverance in a course of application to study, and the disgrace and misery which he must inevitably bring upon himself by an opposite course of conduct. And, as the young seldom go astray from any bad principle, but almost always err, when they do err, from want of experience, whereby they are exposed to a thousand temptations, the danger of which they do not fully understand, the greater expe

rience of the teacher should here come in to supply the deficiency, and he should be ready to take every occasion to indicate by examples, and illustrate by philosophy, the evil tendency of those allurements to vice which the wicked employ as snares to entangle the feet of the unwary and unsuspecting. In a word, every teacher should act the part of a Mentor towards his pupils. By this means they will gradually acquire the habit of reflecting on the tendency of actions, as well as on their moral properties; so that, by the time they have completed their course they may become monitors to themselves, and for the future, as Horace has expressed it, "swim without the cork."

I would not be understood as supposing that a case can ever arise in the government of a college, wherein it would be proper for the teacher to consult his pupils, or seek their advice as to his measures for this would be the utter subversion of his authority. What I mean is, that the course pursued should be so pursued and managed in all its details of operation, as to show plainly that it proceeds not from authority merely, but from reason and a sense of duty on the part of the teacher. And, when this is really the case, there will, in most instances, be, if not a cheerful compliance, at least a ready acquiescence on the part of the pupils. For a love of order is inherent in human nature: it is strong in cultivated minds; and few persons are to be found, even among the inconsiderate, so exceedingly light and frivolous, or so obstinately froward, as not to appreciate or feel the force of considerations addressed to the rational and moral faculties. On the contrary, enactments are never readily submitted to, which have no other foundation than the arbitrary will-the "Sic volo, sic jubeo, stet pro ratione voluntas," of the tyrant ruler. The yoke of authority is doubly galling when it is imposed by folly and I have never yet known a fool, who was not also, to the extent of his power, a tyrant. In proof of this take the fact, that every stupid booby in the country, plays the despot in his family.

To illustrate, further, my meaning, allow me to narrate a fact taken from my own experience in early life, and which took place under the former system of school government, as administered not by a fool, but by one of the wisest and most excellent of men, the late Judge Mills of Kentucky. I mention his name because the incident reflects no disgrace, but honor on his memory. The disgrace belongs to the system and the times which made the system necessary.

The academy in which Mills taught at the time to which my narrative refers, and which afterwards, in 1802, became a college, was situated in the town of Washington, the seat of justice for the coun y of the same name, in Western Pennsylvania. The school was composed of young men and boys, engaged in learning Latin and Greek; most of them from the town, a very few from the country adjacent. I was of the number of the latter. Our fel

lows of the town, called us elodhoppers, and we, as may well be imagined, reciprocated the feeling, by which, we more than surmised, the epithet was suggested: and the mortification which we felt on account of this uncouth name, which we were often compelled to hear uttered, not in the most deferential tones, and, accompanied, sometimes, with smiles not complacential, and attended too, on some occasions, with gestures and words of contemptuous invitation, which, though strange language with us, we knew very well how to interpret the mortification which we felt on those occasions was increased by observing that onr rivals of the town were finer dressed, and more ready and sprightly-(perhaps we would have called it saucy)—in their manners than we, and that they themselves seemed to enjoy, no little satisfaction in the consciousness of their superiority over us in these respects. Yet our sense of inferiority was rendered less painful, by the belief that, in scholarship, we were, at least, equal to our rivals, while we surpassed them in good behaviour. Of this, it is true, we were not the proper persons to judge. But Mills, in whose capability and impartiality, as a judge in such matters, we had the utmost confidence-Mills, whom we all reverenced, and some of us feared, and the most of us loved-Mills thought so: so, at least, we firmly believed. He had never said so, in our hearing, nor in the hearing of any one; for he was a very prudent teacher: sparing in his commendations, and cautious on the matter of comparisons. But we inferred his opinion in the premises from the fact that he inflicted on them some of them occasionally-a most tremendous flagellation with a cowhide. And as we, of the country party, witnessed such infliction, it is altogether probable that the unhappy sufferer and his trembling companion, if they cast a glance at the faces of the clodhoppers, might not have been able to discover there those expressions of sympathy which would, in us, have been fitting on the occasion. But alas for us, the clodhoppers, evil was brewing against us, as will soon appear by the sequel.

On each Saturday the custom with Mills was to appoint a monitor for the following week, whose duty it was to note down in a book, which he was to carry with him for the purpose, every instance of misconduct which he might observe in any of the students during the week, affixing to the insertion of the notice in his book the name of a witness to the crime, if any was present. Saturday was the day of doom, when this book was to be opened by the teacher. The culprit had no escape. If he absented himself, on the day of trial, he was punished to a certainty, and with double severity, on his first appearance afterwards. If he came fortified as to his back, by supernumerary garments, the precaution availed him not, for he was compelled to strip. There was no appeal and the sentence was inflicted forthwith. Now, it so happened, that one day at noon, I lifted my eye from the page of

a book, in which I was reading at the window of the academy, and casting a glance over the campus, I saw a couple of students, one of them monitor for the week, playing some indecent pranks and gestures such as before described. For this I reproved and endeavored to shame them by portraying their conduct in such terms as disgust suggested. "Hah! my lad," said the monitor, jumping up in a rage and shaking his fist; "never mind! I'll fix you for this! look out for Saturday!" "Saturday," thought I, "the sound carries terror with it only to the guilty; and Fam innocent ;" and so I answered his threat with a sneer. At length Saturday came. The monitor's book was called for and after examining into, and disposing of some cases, the teacher read, "Andrew Wylie for" Here an alleged offence was marked against me, of which I knew nothing whatever, and the name of Armstrong, the same who had been acting with the monitor in the shameful scene that I had ridiculed, was set down as the witness. "Stand forward," said Mills to me in a voice that made me tremble. I stood forth-the cowhide, which he held in his hand, though not uplifted, first caught my eye-then his eye, which seemed at that moment to look me through. "Armstrong," said he, addressing the witness; "how was this?" Armstrong faltered-Mills cast a look at the monitor, who seemed to shrinkthen at me, who, by this time, having recovered from the shock, was able to declare my innocence. His eye seemed to scan my inmost thoughts while I protested I knew nothing of the matter, and after asking a few more questions of my accusers, he dismissed the case, and ever after treated me as before. But had he acted otherwise had he believed my accusers and inflicted the punishment, I know I should have been ruined.

*

Should the general judgment now burst upon me, in all its stu pendous grandeur, I can scarcely conceive how it could strike me more forcibly than did, at that time, the scene I have just described. It left upon, or rather sunk into my soul, two impressions, as if they had been scorched into it by the lightning, or made by the immediate exertion of Almighty power. To these impressions I can distinetly trace my intense, unutterable, uncontrollable detestation of a false accuser, and my unconquerable opposition to a mechanical system of government for rational beings.

Another ill feature of this kind of government, which I had abundant opportunity to remark while placed under it at college, was, that no admonitions were ever given us as to any bad practices that we were liable to fall into, except such only as directly interfered with the regular performance of college duties. If these were discharged, all was well, the government cared for no thing further. Among these bad practices there was one which, it required nothing but the advice of the teachers, to have prevented from becoming so prevalent as it did. I refer to the practice of