of Governor Tazewell's Report to the Legislature of Virginia, on the
Deaf and Dumb Asylum.
The late Chief Magistrate of Virginia, Governor Floyd, in his message
of December, 1833, called the attention of the Legislature to the
condition of that unfortunate race of beings for whom it has been
reserved, under Providence, to the present age, to provide a suitable
system of instruction, by which they should be elevated to the
condition of moral and accountable creatures. The Governor says: "The
deaf, and dumb, and the blind, are objects of sympathy with all classes
of society, and from which no family can claim exemption. An asylum for
these unfortunate beings is suggested, where proper attention and
instruction can be given at public expense--where they can be taught to
read and write, and learn something of the useful arts; where even the
blind can be taught something to alleviate the long and wearisome night
which is allotted to them. I appeal to you in their behalf with the
more confidence, as it is a subject which stands wholly unconnected
with the business of life, from which they are excluded; and without
voice, like the eloquence of the spheres, applies to the heart of all,
from which they will not be spurned by the good and the just."
These humane and benevolent suggestions were referred, by special
resolution, to the Committee of Schools and Colleges, by which
committee a very able report was made on the subject to the House of
Delegates, concluding with a resolution, "that it was expedient and
highly important to provide immediately for the establishment and
endowment of an asylum for the deaf and dumb of the state of Virginia."
At the same session of the Legislature, it appears that a memorial was
presented by the trustees of the deaf and dumb asylum at Staunton, an
association incorporated in March 1833, setting forth that sufficient
funds had been provided to purchase a suitable site for a building--and
praying that the Legislature would make an annual appropriation in aid
of their benevolent purposes. This memorial is written with ability,
and presents in a strong light the necessity of some legislative action
on the subject. The Legislature, it seems however, was not prepared to
act definitively, even with all the lights before them; but as if
unwilling that an object so vastly important, and involving so many
high considerations, should entirely be lost sight of,--the House of
Delegates, a few days before the close of the session, adopted a
resolution requesting the Governor "to communicate to the General
Assembly at its next session such facts and views as he might deem
pertinent and useful, relative to the best plan, the appropriate
extent, the most suitable organization, and the probable cost of an
institution for the instruction of the deaf and dumb, to be located in
some healthy and convenient situation in this state; and that he be
further requested to accompany his communication by such information as
he might be able to impart relative to similar institutions in other
states, together with an estimate of the probable number of the deaf
and dumb who would repair to such an institution, to be located within
the limits of this Commonwealth."
In compliance with this resolution, Governor Tazewell, whose term of
office commenced on the 31st of March last, made a report to the
Legislature at its present session--a report which we regret to say is
entirely at variance with all the views heretofore entertained on this
interesting subject--a report which, so far as such high authority can
wield an influence, is calculated to repress the efforts of the friends
of humanity in the prosecution of so noble a cause. We shall examine
this document with the respect which is due to the high character and
eminent talents of its author--at the same time with that freedom which
belongs to the right of discussion--especially when we believe that the
interests of humanity are deeply concerned in the issue.
The report, after a few preliminary remarks, sets out as follows: "In
differing from those who may be in favor of establishing within this
state a seminary for the education of the deaf and dumb _at this time_,
I hope I shall not be considered by any as being opposed to the
accomplishment of an object so truly benevolent in its character. The
very reverse of this is the fact. It is only because I ardently desire
to see this laudable object attained by the best means practicable,
that I do not concur with those who may desire to effect it by the
creation of such an institution within this Commonwealth _at this
time_." Now with great deference to his Excellency, we humbly conceive
that all the reasons which he assigns against the establishment or
endowment of an asylum _at this time_, apply with equal force to any
_other time_. If there be any force in his arguments, they will
continue to operate, at least in a very essential degree, _for a long
period of years_. What are his reasons?
"Schools for the instruction of the deaf and dumb differ from all other
seminaries of education in this particular--that they can never
prosper, except by means which may suffice to bring together, at one
point, a sufficient number of pupils to commune with each other in
their own peculiar mode, and to concentrate the interest necessary to
be felt, and the efforts necessary to be used by those engaged in their
instruction. No expense can accomplish the desired object, unless by
the attainment of these means. Then, the question seems to be resolved
into this: Can the Legislature of Virginia reasonably promise itself,
that by the employment of any means which it ought to use, it may
concentrate at any point within this state, sufficient inducements to
draw thither the proper number of such pupils and of such instructers?
I do not think this can be done."
We shall forbear answering this part of his Excellency's report, which
we think is very easily done, until we spread still more of his reasons
before the reader.
"The whole number of white persons in Virginia, of all ages, who were
deaf and dumb, is shown by the last census to have been then four
hundred and twenty-two only. The annual increase of such unfortunates
(as shown by the calculations made upon the population of other
countries less favorably situated in this respect than Virginia,) does
not amount to more than about fifteen in a million--a number
approaching so nearly to the annual decrease by natural causes, that
the annual augmentation here must be very small indeed. Of the whole
number of deaf and dumb in any state, even in those where the most
liberal means have been employed to attract to their long established
asylums all of that class who might be induced to resort thither, the
proportion does not exceed one fifteenth. Thus in Connecticut, where
the number of mutes, as shewn by the last census, was two hundred and
ninety-five, there were not at their asylum, according to the last
report of that institution which I have seen, more than eighteen
persons of that number; and this after a period of sixteen years had
elapsed since the commencement of this establishment. Yet in
Connecticut the population is dense, and the inducements held out to
send all their deaf and dumb to this asylum are very great indeed. So
too in Pennsylvania, where the last census shews the whole number of
mutes to have been seven hundred and twelve, the number of these at
their excellent asylum, according to the last report, was only
forty-eight, after this seminary had been opened fourteen years.
"If then," continues the Governor, "in Connecticut, where there are two
hundred and ninety-five mutes, there cannot be collected at such an
institution, after sixteen years, more than eighteen of that number;
and if in Pennsylvania, where the number of mutes is seven hundred and
twelve, only forty-eight of that number can be induced to avail
themselves of the advantages held out by its admirable institution,
after ---- years; it is unreasonable to suppose that the sparse
population of Virginia could supply a sufficient number of pupils to
attain the great object had in view by the establishment of a seminary
here like that proposed. For it must not be overlooked, that the supply
of pupils to every school will bear some proportion to the expense of
maintaining them while there, and that in older institutions, this
expense will be necessarily much less than in those of more recent
origin."
The Governor would have shed much more light upon this branch of the
subject, if he had expressed his opinion as to the precise number of
pupils which it was necessary to bring together, in order that they
might "commune with each other in their own peculiar mode;" and which,
according to his view of the subject, is necessary to the existence and
prosperity of all such institutions. That opinion however he has not
indicated; but has left us to infer that as not more than one in
fifteen has ever been induced, according to the experience of other
institutions, to resort to them for instruction, even by the employment
of the most liberal means,--that proportion of the whole number of free
white deaf mutes in Virginia, would not be sufficient to justify the
commencement of such an establishment here. One fifteenth of the whole
number in Virginia, at the last census, would be twenty-eight. That
number, however, will not suffice, and we must wait longer. How long,
it is impossible to tell--inasmuch as from his Excellency's reasoning,
the increase must be very inconsiderable--being not more than at the
rate of sixteen annually for every million of inhabitants; and from
this must be deducted the decrease from natural causes. Let us suppose
then that the annual increase in Virginia is sixteen, and that the
annual decrease is twelve, leaving a yearly increment of four to the
whole number in the state. Now as, according to Governor Tazewell's
views, not more than one in fifteen of the whole number can be induced
to attend a school of instruction, it requires not the aid of Cocker to
demonstrate that several years must elapse before even an additional
pupil can be added to the twenty-eight above stated. Candor compels us
therefore to declare that we think this part of his Excellency's report
very unsound in its reasoning. He seems to have founded his argument
upon the supposition that the deaf and dumb pupils to be educated at
the proposed asylum in Virginia, are to be maintained from their own
resources, or the private liberality of their friends; whereas, the
very object of applying for Legislative aid, is to enable many of these
indigent children of misfortune to obtain instruction at the public
expense. If this was not the ground of the Governor's reasoning, why
does he suppose that not more than one-fifteenth of the whole number of
deaf mutes could be induced to resort to a seminary for instruction?
Does he mean that a larger proportion could not be obtained if the
public expense were proffered for their education and subsistence? If
he does, then we humbly think that his Excellency is most egregiously
mistaken.
Strange as it may seem however, whilst the Governor in the part of his
report which we have quoted, seems to reason upon the idea that
Legislative aid is desired for the sole purpose of endowing an asylum
at the commencement, and that the annual cost of supporting and
educating the pupils is to be drawn from private sources,--he
nevertheless suggests as the preferable mode, that the Legislature
should annually appropriate a sufficient sum for the maintenance of a
given number of pupils at the institutions of Connecticut or
Pennsylvania. Let him speak in his own language:
"If the benevolent purpose of instructing the deaf and dumb be the
great object of those who desire the establishment of a seminary of
this kind in Virginia at this time, the principal question must be, by
what means can such an object be best attained? The considerations I
have mentioned will probably suffice to shew, that much proficiency
cannot reasonably be expected from a school of this kind created here
now, nor for many years yet to come, except at a cost to the public
very far exceeding any public benefit that could possibly be derived
from it. The benevolence of the object might perhaps justify such an
expenditure for its accomplishment, if no other means existed. But when
other means are open, by which the same benevolent purpose may be
attained, even better, and at much less expense, it seems difficult to
assign any reason why the better and cheaper mode should not be
preferred. This better mode seems to me to be, to appropriate a portion
of the sum it must require to create and to perpetuate such an
establishment here, to the advancement of the same object in some other
seminary already established in one of the other states. All the
eastern states (except Rhode Island, I believe,) have pursued this
course in regard to the seminary at Hartford, in Connecticut; and I
understand that New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland have adopted the same
plan with respect to the seminary in Pennsylvania."
In what way, let us ask, is this annual appropriation which the
Governor recommends, to be expended? Upon the indigent of course--upon
those to whose intellectual night the providence of God has superadded
the gloom of poverty; and these objects of public sympathy and bounty
are to be selected we presume from various parts of the commonwealth,
according to some equitable rule hereafter to be established. Now we
humbly think, that whatever inducements could prevail upon the friends
of these unfortunates, to send them from three to five hundred miles
abroad, in order to partake of the state's charity, would operate with
much greater force if the place of their destination were somewhere
within our own limits. Of this fact we presume there can be no
question. The father or guardian of an indigent deaf mute in one of the
border counties of this commonwealth, would vastly prefer Richmond,
Staunton or Charlottesville as the place of his education, to either of
the cities of Philadelphia or Hartford. There are, moreover, many
strong and obvious reasons why a _state institution_ should be
patronized, in preference to any other. The public funds would be
expended on our own soil, and among our own population. The state would
be even richer, by the introduction among us of that peculiar science,
which reveals the mysterious intercourse of human minds deprived of the
usual inlets to the understanding. The Governor himself seems to be
aware that the encouragement of every good thing among ourselves,
rather than to be dependent upon others for their enjoyment, is an
honest, natural and patriotic prejudice; and accordingly he takes some
pains to encounter and overthrow it. Hear him.
"Although I will not admit that there is a single citizen within the
limits of Virginia more desirous than I am to domesticate here every
thing needful to the well being of the state, yet I neither consider
many of what are called modern improvements as coming within this
description, nor do I regard it as wise to attempt such domestication
prematurely. It is among the wise dispensations of Providence, that all
things really necessary to man are placed within the grasp of every
community composed of men, and that much of what is not necessary, but
convenient only, is of easy acquisition in every civilized society. But
when you ascend higher in the scale, and seek to teach or to learn all
the sublime and long hidden truths of modern science, it is perhaps
fortunate for our race that there are not many any where who feel the
inclination to become scholars, and very few indeed who are qualified
to teach such lessons. Such science may truly say she is of no country;
for no single country on the habitable globe could fill the chairs of
the instructers, or the forms of the pupils. Accident generally lays
the foundation of such seminaries, and the contributions of the
civilized world are required to erect and preserve the edifice. Does
any country grudge to pay her quota to the common stock, or seek to
pluck from the wing of science the particular feather which such
country may claim as her own?--each will do so in its turn--and the
bird which might have soared to a sightless height, when stripped of
its plumage, will but flutter on the surface, unable to wing her way on
high."
Now we confess that we do not understand to our entire satisfaction
this extract from the report. The figure of the bird with the plucked
plumage, neither strikes us as in very good taste nor very
intelligible; but as we have more to do with his Excellency's arguments
than his rhetoric, we shall leave the latter to those who are better
skilled than we are in following "the mazes of metaphorical confusion."
The governor proceeds:
"If this is the case with science, in what may now be considered its
higher departments, how much stronger is the appeal humanity makes in
favor of benevolence and christian charity. These are of no country,
certainly. They but sojourn on earth, teaching frail man to do his duty
to his maker, in providing for the wants of his unfortunate fellows, so
far as is practicable. To them it must be of little consequence indeed,
whether the mute by nature is made a rational being by arts employed in
his education, either in one place or another. So far as regards the
unfortunate mute, the only inquiry is, where can he be best taught? The
only inquiry of the benevolent ought to be, where can he be so taught
at the least cost? This last is an inquiry suggested not less by
benevolence than the former; for as the means of even charity are
necessarily limited, that application of them is best which promises to
do the greatest good with the least expenditure.
"To all this let me add, that if there is any thing better calculated
than any other to cement our union, and to keep bright the chain which
I trust will bind these states together while time lasts, it will be
found in the contributions of each to the advancement of objects
approved by all, without any jealous regard to the actual spot at which
such a general good may commence. If a generous spirit of this sort is
but once manifested, its effects will be soon seen and felt by all.
Acts of kindness will not fail to induce forbearance and to generate
sympathy. When each state shall feel, that for the aid it requires to
accomplish any object of general utility, it may rely confidently on
its co-states, there will be no more applications to the federal
government to pervert the language of the constitution, in order to
accomplish the unholy scheme of robbing a minority to enrich a
majority. Then, those who contend but for the spoils of the vanquished,
may be safely left to the contempt which such a motive cannot fail to
inspire with all the generous and the good. It would have been worthy
of Virginia to set such an example: it is worthy of her to imitate that
which others have already taught."
It is in these passages that we think lurks the fallacy, and we might
add, the mischief of the Governor's views. He sets out first by
deprecating all legislative interference on the subject. "Let us alone"
is his cardinal maxim, and the maxim of the school of political
economists to which he belongs.--Let individuals take care of
themselves and of each other, but let not government presume to thrust
its paternal care upon the community. In the next place, however, if
the State, according to his Excellency's notions, will officiously
obtrude into these private matters--why then let the funds of the
Commonwealth go abroad and enrich some sister State.--These kind
offices will brighten the chain of union which binds the States
together. They will teach us all to rely more upon each other, and less
upon the general government. This is the sum and substance of the
Governor's reasoning; and dangerous and fallacious as we believe it to
be, we feel the stronger obligation, coming from the high quarter it
does, to resist and refute it if we can. It may be justly asked, if
there be any thing sound in this specious appeal to the generous
feelings of the States, why have not the States carried out the
doctrine themselves? Why has North Carolina for example, proverbially
styled the Rip Van Winkle of the South, been so blind to her own
interests and duty, as not to send her deaf and dumb children to
Hartford, instead of erecting an asylum at home? Why have Ohio and
Kentucky been guilty of the similar folly of founding institutions
themselves? We think we can answer these questions in the only way in
which they can be answered, and that is, that these younger
States--these (for the most part) daughters of the Old Dominion, are
wiser in their generation than their venerable mother. They have
discerned their true interests, in fostering their own establishments.
Did any one ever dream that Kentucky had given cause of offence to her
sister States, by erecting an asylum for the poor mutes? We apprehend
not. The truth is, that his Excellency the Governor, is entirely
mistaken in his views upon this subject. State pride,--State
sovereignty,--State independence,--jealousy of the federal
government,--whatever you please to call it, is best preserved by each
individual State taking care of its own resources, and building up its
own establishments. What a ridiculous business it would be, if
twenty-four families in the same neighborhood, were to act upon the
principle that each was to take care of all the rest in preference to
itself? How will the twenty-four States ever be strong, unless each
State will attend particularly to the developement of its own latent
powers and capacities--unless each will apply its own energies for its
own benefit? Pursue the Governor's doctrine to all its remote
consequences, and see to what absurdities we are driven. The University
of Virginia was a most palpable violation of the courtesy and good
feeling due to our sister States. Besides, according to his Excellency,
would it not have been _cheaper_ to send our sons as usual to
Cambridge, and Princeton, and Yale, rather than incur the enormous
expense of erecting a splendid establishment from the State Treasury?
The University, by the way, furnishes a very strong case, favoring, in
many of the views in which it may be regarded, the positions and
doctrines of Governor Tazewell; yet what Virginian regrets even the
lavish expenditure by which that institution has been endowed?--Who
does not rather rejoice, that in his native State, at the base of
Monticello, the domes of science have been reared, to scatter its light
to the present and future generations?
The truth is, and most melancholy is the truth, that many of our
leading men in Virginia, perhaps the far greater number, are inclined
to acquiesce in this fatal doctrine of State apathy--this most
paralyzing policy of passive inertness,--whilst the world at large, and
many other portions of the Union, are marching in advance of us, with a
celerity which defies calculation. Governor Tazewell might well have
applied his figure of the bird despoiled of its plumage, to our poor,
old and venerable mother. Her daughters, and sisters, and
brothers--almost the whole family--no doubt with the best intentions in
the world--are practising, in one way or other, on the old lady's kind
feelings and generous principles. Our worthy and excellent friends East
of the Hudson, send us their notions--their long provender, their
vegetables and brooms, and beg us, by all means, to buy them, because
it is _cheaper_ to do so, than to divert our labor from our valuable
staples. They send us also their excellent cottons, and other fabrics
of their looms, which we take liberally, although we have a good deal
of surplus labor, and the finest water power in the Union.--Our near
neighbor and almost twin sister Maryland, is pushing, with a degree of
enterprise which does her credit, her internal improvements into the
heart of our own territory--and we----we have too much grace and
politeness to say to her, that it is rather an intrusion. Our most
filial and amiable daughters to the West, send to us their hogs, horses
and cattle--and we pay them, at least so says the buyer, most
tremendous prices. All these drains from our prosperity, and many more
which might be enumerated, we submit to, with a degree of patience and
composed resignation that even Job might have envied. Our Eagle is
indeed stripped of its plumage, to adorn others more fearless and
adventurous on the wing.
But to return to the Report. The Governor thinking it probable that the
Legislature might not concur in his views, either to give the whole
subject of a deaf and dumb asylum the go-by, or to adopt the
alternative of sending the indigent pupils into other States, presents
various views touching the management of such institutions--the general
correctness of which we are not disposed to question. At one thing,
however, we are somewhat surprised, and that is, that his Excellency
seems not to have been aware of the existence within this State, of an
incorporated asylum, prepared to go into operation whensoever the
public shall extend its patronage. The Report seems to have been
founded upon a voluminous mass of documents, which are deposited in the
public library, for the use of the Legislature. Not having access to
them, we shall content ourselves with a reference to such others as lay
within our reach, in order to present, in a few strong lights, the
importance and necessity of such an institution in Virginia.
At the session of 1825-'6, Governor Pleasants communicated to the
Legislature the first annual report of the trustees of the Kentucky
institution, and also the ninth annual report of the Hartford Asylum.
The first mentioned document is particularly important, inasmuch as it
exhibits at once the success which attended a _first experiment_, under
circumstances extremely disadvantageous. The report of the trustees
made to the Kentucky Legislature was referred to a joint committee of
the two Houses,--who visited the asylum at Danville, and who, among
other things, stated, on their return, "that they were greatly
gratified in witnessing the progress made by the pupils, whose facility
and correctness in comprehending the signs made by the teacher, and
expressing their ideas, exceeded any thing that could have been
anticipated by the most sanguine friends of the institution." They
further state the following extraordinary facts, which ought at once to
dispel all prejudice, and unite all hearts in support of a system of
instruction, attended by such beneficent results. "All those who had
been instructed in the asylum for FOUR MONTHS, _wrote good hands,
spelled correctly, and answered promptly and correctly, numerous
questions that were proposed to them by the teacher and members of the
committee_." It also appears that the whole number of pupils, at the
end of the first year, was only twenty-one--a number, which, according
to Governor Tazewell's theory, is not sufficient for the purpose of
mutual communion, in their peculiar mode--but which, in the instance
before us, would seem to establish the very reverse of that
proposition.
The report from the Hartford Asylum, which is dated in 1825, is
particularly interesting, as furnishing extraordinary proofs of the
progress of the pupils, both in moral and intellectual attainments. We
think, if Governor Tazewell had been so fortunate as to light upon this
document, he would scarcely have urged as a reason for _postponing_ an
asylum in Virginia, that the science of instructing the deaf mute was
continually advancing, and was likely to be more perfect some years
hence than at present. Doubtless this peculiar and valuable art will
improve, and so will many other branches of knowledge which are even
now in a highly advanced state. Natural history, chemistry, and the
physical sciences generally, are constantly enlarging their boundaries,
and extending their acquisitions--but shall we, on that account, remain
in ignorance of what they _now_ teach, in the vain hope that by and by
they will reach the maximum of perfection? Strange doctrine truly!
We have already referred to the memorial of the trustees of the
Staunton institution, and the report of the committee of schools and
colleges--both of which interesting papers will be found among the
printed legislative documents of last winter, and ought to be reprinted
for distribution among the members of that body, now in session. We
hope that the Legislature will take the subject into its speedy and
earnest consideration, and that, in the language of the Kentucky
report, they will hearken to the "claims of those whom God, in the
mysterious dispensations of his providence, has deprived of the faculty
of hearing and of speech; of whom an eloquent divine has said, 'silence
like theirs is eloquence.'"