In him, and those who co-operate with him, are personified virtue, disinterestedness and love of country.

The great orator of Rome declared, "the republic is assailed with far more force and contrivances than it is defended, because bold and profligate men are impelled by a nod and move of their own accord against it. But I know not how it happens the good are more tardy. They neglect the beginning of things, and are roused only in the last necessity; so that sometimes by their delay and tardiness, while they wish to retain ease, even without dignity, they lose both. Those who are willing to be the defenders of the republic, if they are of the lighter sort, desert; if they are of the more timid sort, they fly. Those alone remain and stand by the republic, whom no power, no threats, no malice can shake in their resolution."

This was the language of truth when used by Cicero, as applicable to the Roman republic, and is it not equally the language of truth as applicable to our own republic? Who that hears me did not see the fitness of this application as the words were pronounced?

It was a just and profound observation of Machiavel, that the real powers of government are often contracted to a narrower point in republics than in monarchies.

In politics, as in the other great operations of society, the elements of good and evil are closely connected. They are in conflict, and the victory over evil can only be achieved by discipline of the head and heart.

Intelligence without virtue increases the amount of evil; virtue without intelligence can oppose no effectual resistance to political corruption.

In a late statistical account of the progress of crime in France, it is stated that the violations of the law were most numerous in those departments where the people were best educated. This shows that education, to be a national blessing, must be accompanied by moral culture. . This in a great degree had been neglected in France, and the consequence is seen in the increase of crime. In this country moral principle is inculcated in our schools of instruction generally, from the highest to the lowest; and I wish I could say the Bible (which is the foundation of moral principle) is studied in all our seminaries..

The good sense of parents generally points out to them the propriety of having their children educated, so as best to qualify them for that branch of business or profession to which they are destined; so that when they enter upon its duties they may understand them and be prepared to discharge them. But are there no duties which a student will have to perform except those which relate to his profession or trade? Does he owe no duties to his God and his country? If he be left to learn them when he shall

be called on to exercise them, why instruct him in the business or profession which he is to prosecute? Why may he not learn this when he engages in it? If the reply be that this knowledge is indispensable to his interest, I would enquire whether a knowledge of his political rights and duties is not equally indispensable to a proper discharge of them? And is not the interest of the public, superadded to his own in this case, to outweigh a mere personal interest? Can there be any just comparison of importance in the two cases; and has not the attention of parents and teachers been chiefly, if not exclusively, directed to the lesser interest to the neglect of the greater ?

It is not expected that the science of government at large should be taught in our common schools. This would be found impracticable, but those elementary principles which are easily comprehended and easily communicated, should be taught. This would embrace an outline of our political system, the origin of the state and federal governments, and the powers of each as established by common construction or judicial decision. The divisions of powers into three great departments, the executive, the judicial and the legislative, and the appropriate duties of each; how the checks and balances of the government operate and afford the highest security to the rights of the citizen; the nature of the constitution as the fundamental law, and as the test of legislative and executive aets, should be fully explained.

The responsibility under which every public functionary acts should be shown, and how he may be called to account; and also that he holds a trust which he is bound faithfully to discharge in conformity to the laws, and with a single eye to the public good; and that every prostitution of this trust is an abandonment of principle, and weakens the moral force of the government. The qualifications required for an enlightened discharge of public duties, in the various offices established, should be clearly stated; and above all the political rights and duties of every citizen should be inculcated, as constituting the foundation of our political system; that it is only by a vigorous and untiring discharge of these duties, the government can be maintained and preserved in its original purity.

Ample details on these points and others connected with them, can be found in books already published; and the subject could be enforced and variously illustrated by a reference to other governments.

If these great principles were duly impressed upon the mind of every youth as a part of his education, I hazard nothing in saying that they would never be forgotten; and seldom would they fail to influence his future conduct.

Early impressions are the most easily made, and they are remembered the longest. Who has forgotten the incidents of his boyhood? The events which transpired at school are cherished

with a fondness of recollection which is as remarkable as it is universal. Even under the infirmities of age, when the traces of memory become faint and confused of more recent transactions, these remain in all their freshness and vigor.

Early impressions on important matters, when deeply fixed in the mind, become the axioms of life. They in some degree restrain the exuberance of youth, exercise an influence in riper years, and in the decline of life they grow stronger as other causes cease to influence.

Youth then is the period most favorable for the inculcation of the elementary principles of our government; and next to moral principles, with which they are closely connected, they are the most important. They should be taught in our common schools; and if this shall be done, long before the youth will be entitled to exercise the rights of suffrage, he will often discuss the principles he has learned, and apply them to the duties of practical life. will be prepared to judge for himself, and instead of following in the footsteps of others, he will be able to instruct and influence those whose political knowledge is more limited than his own.

The inculcation of these principles are recommended by considerations of the highest moment. Nothing less than the preservation of our political institutions is involved. The study recommended will be found as well calculated to fix the attention and enlarge the mind of the student as any other; and as the knowledge acquired will find constant exercise in the political action of the country, it will become matured by experience.

We have seen what deep calamities have fallen upon the human race by a misdirection of the concentrated energies of society. The passion for war, the wild spirit of fanaticism, unchastened ambition, demagogueism, corruption, are all to be encountered in the political field; and are these enemies to be met and overthrown by men alike ignorant of the principles they sustain and oppose? This is impossible. A victory over these adversaries can only be achieved by virtue and intelligence.

LECTURE

ON

MORAL CULTURE,

BY REV. M. M. CARLL..

It is proposed in this article to state a few of the leading principles which relate to the moral culture of man.

Man is a moral and religious as well as an intellectual being; and the former part or constituent of his nature requires development by culture, no less than the latter.

Knowledge and wisdom are very different things, inasmuch as a man may be possessed of a great deal of knowledge without being wise.

Knowledge has reference to the intellectual faculty, but wisdom implies the exercise of the good affections of the heart, as well as the exercise of the understanding.

The mind of man consists of will and understanding, good as well as evil affections being predicated of the former, and thought of the latter.

The will with its affections, is more interior, and therefore superior and prior to the understanding, and of consequence, the latter is governed and influenced by the former.

Thought cannot exist without affection, nor remain in the memory, unless received by some affection of the will. Consequently the best and shortest way to the understanding is to commence with the culture of the moral affections.

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As the light of the sun, without a due degree of heat, will not excite vegetation; so the light of intelligence, unconnected with the genial warmth of love and affection, will not effect the growth of the mind, but it will remain in a wintry state.

The end of all knowledge is to make man good and useful, in the various relations of life, and qualify him for a future state of happiness.

To know, to understand, and to do our duty, are widely dif ferent things, and if we stop short of the latter, we rest in the means instead of the end, like trees that bear leaves only instead. of fruit.

Much time and labór are spent in inculcating scientific truths, and various kinds of knowledge, but little comparatively in reducing those truths and this knowledge to practice..

In proportion as the end is superior to the means, in the same proportion is the practice of principles superior to the mere knowledge of them.

Some mode ought to be devised by which the more prominent moral virtues might be steadily and uniformly practised in our schools; they should take precedence of intellectual culture, and be presented to the notice of children in bolder relief than has hitherto been done.

Intellectual culture prevails in our schools to the exclusion almost entirely of moral, which is to reverse that order which ought to obtain, by regarding that as primary, which is in truth only secondary.

The religious and moral qualities of his nature, are those which present man in the most amiable light, and confer the highest dignity upon his character.

It is the province of education to bring out the whole character, and give to each faculty its due degree of attention and culture, in proportion to its relative dignity and importance.

The education of the child ought to have especial reference to the future relations of the mah; as a useful citizen, as a parent, as a social and immortal being.

As a member of society, or useful citizen, every human being has certain duties to fulfil, which ought to have reference to the well-being of the whole in the first place, and to himself in the second place.

To regard our own convenience and welfare as primary, and the performance of those uses, which regard the good of the community as secondary, is essentially selfish, and subjects us to that train of cares which naturally appertain to a corrupt and perverted principle of action.

A faithful performance of duty, and of the uses which properly belong to our sphere of action, is to concur and comply with the designs of the great Governor of the world, who is constantly promoting the good of the whole, and is to secure to ourselves the blessings of his Providence.

In the conjugial and parental relation, the exercise of the moral and religious affections is equally necessary, since not only our own happiness depends upon it, but that of those with whom we are connected by the tenderest ties; those who look up to us for natural comforts, as well as for precept and example.