growing spirit of modern civilization which, having crossed
the Atlantic Ocean on the wings of trade, has penetrated into
those remote countries, and liberated them from the Spanish
yoke. What more gratifying picture can there be for a true and
liberal Christian, than that which the new world now presents,
overturning a bad system, and establishing a good one, without
being attended with scenes of violence and cruelties. It may
truly be said that the characteristic feature of the Mexican
revolution is that spirit of moderation and generosity which
the maxims of the Gospel recommend, and which are the best
means for establishing true liberty. Our revolution, in its
object, its means, and end, is very different from that of
France: among us, it is not an overthrow of all principles; it
is a natural tendency to create a new order; it is a general
combination to promote the happiness of a vast continent;
it is a necessary transition from darkness to light, from
superstition to christian morality. From the ruins of Greece
and Italy, sprung some rays of light, which, illuminating
the darkness of the middle age, prepared the epoch of the
discovery of the printing-press, the mariner’s compass, and
the new world. From that time, the constant progress of the
arts and sciences has converted knowledge into power, and
nations have been more or less opulent and happy in the ratio
of their scientific attainments, of their industry, and above
all, of their moral and religious principles, which form the
solid basis of true freedom. To these effects of liberty,
England owes her greatness, her happiness, and that very first
rank which she holds in the catalogue of civilized nations.
Spain, that beautiful country, worthy of a better fate, has
been ruined by her ignorance and monkish superstition; she
has only one advantage over the Turkish nation, and that is,
that she lives under the glorious standard of the cross; and
this standard, I hope, will soon lead the valiant and heroic
Greeks to victory, and thus enable them at length to spread
Christianity over the land of their tyrants.
Those lessons shall not be lost in South America. We are
convinced that the foundation of our future and permanent
prosperity rests on the moral improvements of the lower classes
of society. It is not enough for a man to know how to read and
write, and gain a livelihood; he must have religious habits,
must know exactly his duties towards God and towards society;
and no institution is so well calculated for obtaining those
great objects as the British and Foreign School Society. What
an admirable undertaking it is, to bestow the blessing of
scriptural knowledge on all mankind, to unite all the nations
of the globe, by the brotherly ties of science and religion.
Ye noble promoters of this institution! be assured you have
many warm friends in South America. The general desire with us
of all true and enlightened patriots, is for education; the
general cry all over our continent is, _give us education_.
This is the reason that the Lancasterian System has been
immediately adopted in almost every part of South America.
Mr. Lancaster is now living at Caraccas, and promoting public
instruction there.
In Mexico, the first Lancasterian School was opened on the
22nd of August, 1822; and by one of those singular occurrences
in revolutions, the halls of the Inquisition, so inimical to
this Institution, were converted into a public school, into
a nursery of free men, into a true temple of reason. Three
hundred children are taught to read in this school according to
this new system of education, a system which will lead to the
moral perfection of the world, as the mariner’s compass led to
the geographical perfection of the globe. This first school was
called _Escuela del Sol_.
Some time afterwards the Government granted to the Lancasterian
Association of Mexico the large and beautiful convent of
Bethlehem, and a second school was formed there. This
establishment is divided into three departments, and directed
by two professors well acquainted with the system; one of them
is a Frenchman, who went purposely for that object from Paris
to Mexico.
The first department is calculated for six hundred and sixty
children; they learn to read, write, and _cypher_; they are
also instructed in the political and religious catechism,
orthography, arithmetic, and Spanish grammar. The parents of
the scholars who can pay, give a dollar a month, which is about
two pounds ten shillings a year; the children of the poor pay
nothing.
The second department will contain four hundred scholars, who
pay two dollars per month, or nearly five pounds a year. It
is a model or central school for forming teachers and good
professors; and these are afterwards to be sent into the
different provinces, in order to fulfil the desire of our
Government, which is, to place in every village throughout
Mexico a Lancasterian school, a printing-press, and a chapel.
The third department will contain three hundred scholars; and
these pay three dollars a month, or seven pounds a year. The
object intended in this department is, to teach Latin, French,
geography, and drawing, on the principles of the Lancasterian
system. This trial has been made, but I am not sure whether it
has answered or not.
In 1823, there were introduced into the Lancasterian school
of Mexico, the lessons used in your school in London, taken
from the Bible, without note or comment. Some old priests
opposed the introduction of these, stating that it was
prohibited to read extracts from the Bible without notes. The
Secretary of the Lancasterian Association, Mr. Gandéra, a
very enlightened clergyman, and distinguished for his virtue
and zeal in the cause of religion, supported the opposite
opinion, and succeeded in establishing in the school the use
of these extracts. The consequence is, that our children are
acquiring a taste for the perusal of the Scriptures, and they
are hence learning to be virtuous, charitable, tolerant, and
free. This moral education will promote the cause of religious
toleration, and will effect that regeneration which our new
political system requires. We cannot remain as we are; we must
go forward; and, as said in Parliament by Mr. Canning, (whose
name is dear to all our hearts in South America,) “we must go
forward, and keep pace with the growing spirit of the times,
and the great change that has been wrought in the opinions
of the world.” This great change in the general opinion is,
that nations can only be happy under the banners of liberal
sentiments and true morality; that, in short, the combination
of political and religious freedom is as necessary for the
moral happiness of mankind, as that combination of the two
gasses, forming the atmospheric air which we breathe, is to
our physical existence. This vast plan of human improvement
is the great object of your noble Institution, an Institution
which truly deserves the gratitude of the world, and the most
cordial support of all who are influenced _by the love of their
country, and the principles of Christianity_.
[7] Though this letter was not written in South America, as all the
preceding were, yet its evident bearing upon the subject in hand entitle
it, perhaps, to the place it occupies.
[8] At page 32, it is stated that religious liberty was publicly
acknowledged in Peru, under San Martin. This acknowledgement, in Peru,
of this sound principle of policy and of justice, certainly preceded the
one here referred to in San Juan. But the circumstances were different.
In Peru it was the single act of General San Martin, as Protector,
or Dictator of Peru, and the people of the country had no share in
it, whereas in San Juan, the declaration of Religious Liberty was a
legislative act.
[9] This notice, I find, is mentioned in a preceding letter, yet I leave
it here also, as I think the subject is not unworthy of a repetition.
[10] This communication, bearing upon the subject of education in
Spanish America, will be added at the close of this letter. When this
communication is considered as the production of a native of that
country, a gentleman intimately acquainted with its concerns, and
actually holding a high official situation under the Government of the
most populous of these new states, it may tend to confirm the favourable
accounts from that quarter of the world contained in the preceding
letters.
The enlightened and liberal mind of Mr. Rocafuerte, and his truly zealous
endeavours to raise his country high in political wisdom, in literature,
in morality, and in pure religion, are truly praiseworthy.
FINIS.
DENNETT,
Leather Lane, London.