_An Address on Education, as connected with the Permanence of our
Republican Institutions. Delivered before the Institute of Education
of Hampden Sidney College, at its Anniversary Meeting, September the
24th, 1835, on the invitation of that Body. By Lucian Minor, Esq. of
Louisa. Published by request of the Institute._
We earnestly call the attention of the public at large, but more
especially the attention of all good citizens of Virginia, to the
Address with whose title this article is headed. It will be found
entire in the columns of the Messenger--but its appearance, likewise,
in pamphlet form, simultaneously with the issuing of the present
number, affords us an opportunity of noticing it editorially without
deviating from established rules.
Virginia is indebted to Mr. Minor--indebted for the seasonable
application of his remarks, and doubly indebted for the brilliant
eloquence, and impressive energy with which he has enforced them. We
sincerely wish--nay, we even confidently hope, that words so full of
warning, and at the same time so pregnant with truth, may succeed in
stirring up something akin to action in the legislative halls of the
land. Indeed there is no time to squander in speculation. The most
lukewarm friend of the State must perceive--if he perceives any
thing--that the glory of the Ancient Dominion is in a fainting--is in
a dying condition. Her once great name is becoming, in the North, a
bye-word for imbecility--all over the South, a type for "the things
that _have_ {67} _been_." And tamely to ponder upon times gone by is
not to meet the exigencies of times present or to come. Memory will
not help us. The recollection of our former high estate will not
benefit us. Let us act. While we have a resource let us make it of
avail. Let us proceed, at once, to the establishment throughout the
country, of _district schools_, upon a plan of organization similar to
that of our New England friends. If then, in time, Virginia shall be
regenerated--if she shall, hereafter, assume, as is just, that proud
station from which her own supine and over-weening self-esteem has
been the means of precipitating her, "it will all be owing," (we take
pleasure in repeating the noble and prophetic words of Mr. Minor,) "it
will all be owing, under Providence, to the hearkening to that
voice--not loud, but solemn and earnest--which from the shrine of
Reason and the tombs of buried commonwealths, reiterates and enforces
the momentous precept--'ENLIGHTEN THE PEOPLE.'"