"Such, to a great extent is the unavoidable effect of that political
education which is _indispensable_ to all classes of a self-governed
people. They must be trained to it from their cradle; it must go into
all schools; it must thoroughly leaven the national literature, it
must be `line upon line, and precept upon precept,' here a little and
there a little; it must be sung, discoursed, and thought upon
everywhere and by every body."
And so it is; and as if this scholastic drilling were not sufficient,
every year brings round the 4th of July, on which is read in every
portion of the states the act of independence, in itself sufficiently
vituperative, but invariably followed-up by one speech (if not more)
from some great personage of the village, hamlet, town, or city, as it
may be, in which the more violent he is against monarchy and the
English, and the more he flatters his own countrymen, the more is his
speech applauded.
Every year is this drilled into the ears of the American boy, until he
leaves school, when he takes a political part himself, connecting
himself with young men's society, where he spouts about tyrants, crowned
heads, shades of his forefathers, blood flowing like water,
independence, and glory.
The Rev Mr Reid very truly observes, of the reading of the
Declaration of Independence:--"There is one thing, however, that may
justly claim the calm consideration of a great and generous people. Now
that half a century has passed away, is it necessary to the pleasures of
this day to revive feelings in the children which, if they were found in
the parent, were to be excused only by the extremities to which they
were pressed? Is it generous, now that they have achieved the victory,
not to forgive the adversary? Is it manly, now that they have nothing
to fear from Britain, to indulge in expressions of hate amid
vindictiveness, which are the proper language of fear? Would there be
less patriotism, because there was more charity? America should feel
that her destinies are high and peculiar. She should scorn the
patriotism which cherishes the love of one's own country, by the hatred
of all others."
I think, after what I have brought forward, the reader will agree with
me, that the education of the youth in the United States is immoral, and
the evidence that it is so, is in the demoralisation which has taken
place in the United States since the era of the Declaration of
Independence, and which fact is freely admitted by so many American
writers:--
"Aetas parentum pejor avis tulit
Nos nequieres, mox daturos
Progeniem vitiosiorem."
_Horace_, _book_ iii, _ode_ 6.
I shall by and by shew some of the effects produced by this injudicious
system of education; of which, if it is necessary to uphold their
democratical institutions, I can only say, with Dr Franklin, that the
Americans "pay much too dear for their _whistle_."
It is, however, a fact, that education (such as I have shown it to be)
is in the United States more equally diffused. They have very few
citizens of the States (except a portion of those in the West) who may
be considered as "hewers of wood and drawers of water," those duties
being performed by the emigrant Irish and German, and the slave
population. The education of the higher classes is not by any means
equal to that of the old countries or Europe. You meet very rarely with
a good classical scholar, or a very highly educated man, although some
there certainly are, especially in the legal profession. The Americans
have not the leisure for such attainments: hereafter they may have; but
at present they do right to look principally to Europe for literature,
as they can obtain it thence cheaper and better. In every liberal
profession you will find that the ordeal necessary to be gone through is
not such as it is with us; if it were, the difficulty of retaining the
young men at college would be much increased. To show that such is the
case, I will now just give the difference of the acquirements demanded
in the new and old country to qualify a young man as an MD.
+======================================================+============================+
YEnglish Physician YAmerican Physician Y
+------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------+
Y1. A regular classical education at college Y1. Not required Y
+------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------+
Y2. Apprenticeship of not less than five years Y2. One year's apprenticeshipY
+------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------+
Y3. Preliminary examination in the classics, etcetera Y3. Not required Y
+------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------+
Y4. Sixteen months' attendance at lectures in 2.5 yearsY4. Eight months in two yearsY
+------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------+
Y5. Twelve months' hospital practice Y5. Not required Y
+------------------------------------------------------+----------------------------+
Y6. Lectures on botany, natural philosophy, etcetera Y6. Not required Y
+======================================================+============================+
If the men in America enter so early into life that they have not time
to obtain the acquirements supposed to be requisite with us, it is much
the same thing with the females of the upper classes, who, from the
precocious ripening by the climate and consequent early marriages, may
be said to throw down their dolls that they may nurse their children.
The Americans are very justly proud of their women, and appear tacitly
to acknowledge the want of theoretical education in their own sex, by
the care and attention which they pay to the instruction of the other.
Their exertions are, however, to a certain degree, checked by the
circumstance, that there is not sufficient time allowed previous to the
marriage of the females to give that solidity to their knowledge which
would ensure its permanency. They attempt too much for so short a space
of time. Two or three years are usually the period during which the
young women remain at the establishments, or colleges I may call them
(for in reality they are female colleges.) In the prospectus of the
Albany Female Academy, I find that the classes run through the following
branches:--French, book-keeping, ancient history, ecclesiastical
history, history of literature, composition, political economy, American
constitution, law, natural theology, mental philosophy, geometry,
trigonometry, algebra, natural philosophy, astronomy, chemistry, botany,
mineralogy, geology, natural history, and technology, besides drawing,
penmanship, etcetera, etcetera.
It is almost impossible for the mind to retain, for any length of time,
such a variety of knowledge, forced into it before a female has arrived
to the age of sixteen or seventeen, at which age, the study of these
sciences, as is the case in England, should _commence_ not _finish_. I
have already mentioned that the examinations which I attended were
highly creditable both to preceptors and pupils; but the duties of an
American woman as I shall hereafter explain, soon find her other
occupation, and the _ologies_ are lost in the realities of life.
Diplomas are given at most of these establishments, on the young ladies
completing their course of studies. Indeed, it appears to be almost
necessary that a young lady should produce this diploma as a certificate
of being qualified to bring up young republicans. I observed to an
American gentlemen how youthful his wife appeared to be--"Yes," replied
he, "I married her a month after she had _graduated_." The following
are the terms of a diploma, which was given to a young lady at
Cincinnati, and which she permitted me to copy:--
"In testimony of the zeal and industry with which Miss M---T---has
prosecuted the prescribed course of studies in the Cincinnati Female
Institution, and the honourable proficiency which she has attained in
penmanship, arithmetic, English grammar, rhetoric, belles-lettres,
composition, ancient and modern geography, ancient and modern history,
chemistry, natural philosophy, astronomy, etcetera. etcetera. etcetera,
of which she has given proofs by examination.
"And also as a mark of her amiable deportment, intellectual
acquirements, and our affectionate regard, we have granted her this
letter--the _highest honour_ BESTOWED in this institution."
[Seal.] "Given under our hands at Cincinnati, this 19th day of July,
Anno Domini 1837."
The ambition of the Americans to be a-head of other nations in every
thing, produces, however, injurious effects, so far as the education of
the women is concerned. The Americans will not "_leave well alone_,"
they must "gild refined gold," rather than not consider themselves in
advance of other countries, particularly of England. They _alter_ our
language, and think that they have _improved_ upon it; as in the same
way they would raise the standard of morals higher than with us, and
consequently fall much below us, appearances supplying the place of the
reality. In these endeavours they sink into a sickly sentimentality,
and, as I have observed before, attempts at refinement in language,
really excite improper ideas. As a proof of the ridiculous excess to
which this is occasionally carried, I shall insert an address which I
observed in print; had such a document appeared in the English
newspapers, it would have been considered as a hoax.
"Mrs Mandelle's Address:--
"To the young ladies of the Lancaster Female Academy, at an examination
on the 3rd March, 1838.
"Affectionate Pupils:--With many of you this is our final meeting in the
relative position of teacher and pupil, and we must part perhaps to meet
no more. That this reflection _filtrates from my mind to my heart_ with
saddening influence, I need scarce assure you. But _Hope_, in a voice
sweet as `the wild strains of the Eolian harp,' whispers in dulcet
accents, `_we may again meet_.' In youth the impressions of sorrow are
fleeting and evanescent as `_the vapery sail_,' that momentarily
o'ershadows the _luciferous orb of even_, vanishes and leaves her disc
untarnished in its lustre: so may it be with you--may the gloom of this
moment, like the elemental prototype, be but the precursor of
reappearing radiance undimmed by the transitory shadow.
"Happy and bright indeed has been this small portion of your time
occupied, not only in the interesting pursuit of science, but in a
reciprocation of attentions and sympathies, endeared by that holiest
_ligament_ of earthly sensibilities, _religion_, which so oft has united
us in soul and sentiment, as the aspirations of our hearts
simultaneously ascended to the mercy-seat of the great Jehovah! The
remembrance of emotions like these are ineffaceable by care or sorrow,
and only blotted out by the immutable hand of death. These _halcyon
hours of budding existence_ are to memory as the _oasis_ of the desert,
where we may recline beneath the soothing _influence_ of their umbrage,
and quaff in _the goblet of retrospection_ the lucid draught that
refreshes for the moment, and is again forgotten. Permit me to solicit,
that the immaculate principles of _virtue_, I have so often and so
carefully inculcated, may not be forgotten, but perseveringly cherished
and practised. May the divine dictates of reason _murmur in harmonious
cadence_, bewitching as the fabled melody of the musical bells on the
trees of the Mahomedan Paradise. She dwells not alone beneath the
glittering star, nor is always encircled by the diamond cestus and the
jewel'd tiara! indeed not! and the brilliancy _emulged_ from the
spangling gems, but make more hideous the dark, black spot enshrined in
the effulgence. The traces of her peaceful footsteps are found alike in
the dilapidated hovel of the beggared peasant, and the velveted saloon
of the coroneted noble; who may then apportion her a home or assign her
a clime? In making my acknowledgments for the attentive interest with
which you received my instructions; and the respectful regard you
manifested in appreciating my advice, it is not as a compliment to your
vanity, but a debt due to your politeness and good sense. Long, my
beloved pupils, may my precepts and admonitions live in your hearts; and
hasten you, in the language of Addison, to commit yourself to the care
of Omnipotence, and when the morning calls again to toil, cast all your
cares upon him the author of your being, who has conducted you through
one stage of existence, and who will always be present to guide and
attend your progress through eternity."
An advertisement of Mr Bonfil's Collegiate Institute for Young Ladies,
after enumerating the various branches of literature to be taught, winds
up with the following paragraph:--
"And finally, it will be constantly inculcated, that their education
will be completed when they have the power to extend unaided, a spirit
of investigation, searching and appreciating truth, _without passing the
bounds assigned to the human understanding_."
I have now completed this volume, and although I omitted the major
portion of my Diary, that I might not trespass too long upon the reader
my task is still far from its termination. The most important parts of
it--an examination into the American society and their government, and
the conclusions to be drawn from the observations already made upon
several subjects; in short, the working out of the problem, as it were,
is still to be executed. I have not written one line of this work
without deliberation and examination. What I have already done has cost
me much labour--what I have to do will cost me more. I must, therefore,
claim for myself the indulgence of the public, and request that, in
justice to the Americans, they will not decide until they have perused
the second portion, with which I shall, as speedily as I can, wind up my
observations upon the United States and their Institutions.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note 1. A church-yard with its mementos of mortality is sometimes a
fair criterion by which to judge of the degree of the education of those
who live near it. In one of the church-yards in Vermont, there is a
tomb stone with an inscription which commences as follows: "Paws,
_reader_, Paws."
Note 2. New York is superior to the other states in this list; but Ohio
is not quite equal. I can draw the line no closer.
Note 3. Notwithstanding that Philadelphia is the capital, the state of
Pennsylvania is a great _dunce_.
Note 4. Miss Martineau says: "Though, as a whole, the nation is
probably better informed than any other entire nation, it cannot be
denied, that their knowledge is far inferior to what their safety and
their virtue require."
Note 5. The master of a school could not manage the gab, they being
exceedingly contumacious. Beat them, he dared not; so he hit upon an
expedient. He made a very strong decoction of wormwood, and for a
slight offence, poured one spoonful down their throats: for a more
serious one, he made them take two.
Note 6. Mrs Trollope says: "At sixteen, often much earlier, education
ends and money making begins; the idea that more learning is necessary
than can be acquired by that time, is generally ridiculed as absolute
monkish bigotry to which, if the seniors willed a more prolonged
discipline, the juniors would refuse submission. When the money getting
begins, leisure ceases, and all the lore which can be acquired
afterwards is picked up from novels, magazines, and newspapers."
Captain Hall also remarks upon this point:--"I speak now from the
authority of the Americans themselves. There is the greatest possible
difficulty in fixing young men long enough at college. Innumerable
devices have been tried with considerable ingenuity to remedy this evil,
and the best possible intentions by the professors and other
public-spirited persons who are sincerely grieved to see so many
incompetent, half-qualified men in almost every corner of the country."
Captain Hamilton very truly observes:--"Though I have unquestionably met
in New York with many most intelligent and accomplished gentlemen, still
I think the fact cannot be denied,--that the average of acquirement
resulting from education is a good deal lower in this country than in
the better circles in England. In all the knowledge which must be
taught, and which requires laborious study for its attainment, I should
say the Americans are considerably inferior to my countrymen. In that
knowledge, on the other hand, which the individual acquires for himself
by actual observation, which bears an immediate marketable value and is
directly available in the ordinary avocations of life, I do not imagine
that the Americans are excelled by any people in the world."