past. The recollections of childhood are quite at variance with the real
truth, and tradition is often the dream of old age concerning the
events of early life. As rivers, hills, mountains, roads, and towns, are
all magnified by the visions of childhood, it is not strange that men
should be also. Hence comes, in part, the popular belief in the superior
physical strength and greater longevity of the people who lived fifty or
a hundred years ago. Each generation is familiar with its predecessor;
but of the one next remote it knows only the marked characters. Those
who possessed great physical excellences remain; but they are not so
much the representatives of their generation as its exceptions. The
weak, the diseased, have fallen by the way; and, as there is an intimate
connection between physical and intellectual power, the remnant of any
generation, whatever its common character, will retain a
disproportionate number of strong-minded men. Hence it is not safe to
judge a generation as a whole by those who remain at the age of sixty or
seventy years; especially if we reflect that public opinion and
tradition are most likely to preserve the names and qualities of those
who were distinguished for physical or mental power. Yet, after making
due allowance for these exaggerations, I cannot escape the conclusion
that we have, as a people, deteriorated in average sound political
learning; and I proceed to mention some of the causes and evidences of
our degeneracy, and of the superiority of our ancestors.
I. _The political condition of the country has been essentially
changed._--General personal and family comfort, according to the ideas
now entertained, was not a feature of American society for one hundred
and seventy years from the settlement at Plymouth. Life was a continual
contest--a contest with the forest, with the climate, with the Indians,
and especially was it a continual contest with the mother country. The
colonists sought to maintain their own rights without infringement,
while they accorded to the sovereign his constitutional privileges.
Conflicts were frequent, and apprehensions of conflict yet more
frequent. Hence those who had the conduct of public affairs were
compelled to give some attention to English history, and to the
constitutional law of Great Britain. Moreover, it was always important
to secure and keep a strong public sentiment on the side of liberty; and
there were usually in every town men who thoroughly investigated
questions of public policy. There was one topic, more absorbing than any
other, that involved the study of the legal history and usage of Great
Britain, and a careful consideration of the general principles of
liberty; namely, the constitutional rights of a British subject. Here
was a broad field for inquiry, investigation, and study; and it was
faithfully cultivated and gleaned. There has never been a political
topic for public discussion in America more important in itself, or
better calculated to educate an American in a knowledge of his political
rights, than the examination of the political relations of the subject
to the crown and parliament of Great Britain previous to the Declaration
of Independence. It was not an abstraction. It had a practical value to
every man in the colonies, and it was the prominent feature of the
masterly exposition made by the Massachusetts House of Representatives,
to which I have already referred. And we can better estimate the
political education which the times furnished, when we consider that the
revolutionary war was made logical and necessary through a knowledge of
positions, facts, and arguments, scattered over the history of the
colonies. But, when our Independence had been established and
recognized, constitutions had been framed, and the governments of the
states and nation set in motion, the beauty and harmony of our political
system seemed to render continued attention to political principles and
the rights of individual men unnecessary. Hence, we may anticipate the
judgment of impartial history in the admission that public attention was
gradually given to contests for office which did not always involve the
maintenance of a fundamental principle of government, or the recognition
of an essential human right. It does not, however, follow, from this
admission, that we are indifferent to our political lot,--occasional
contests upon principle refute such a conjecture,--but that men are not
anxious concerning those things which appear to be secure. And the
differences of political parties of the last fifty years have not been
so much concerning the nature of human rights, as in regard to the
institutions by which those rights can be best protected. Therefore our
political questions have been questions of expediency rather than of
principle. And, if there is any foundation for the popular impression
that public offices are conferred on men less eminently qualified to
give dignity to public employments, the reason of this degeneracy--less
noteworthy than it is usually represented--is to be found in this
connection.
Governments and political organizations accept the common law of
society. When an individual or a corporation is prosperous, places of
trust and emolument are often gained and occupied by unworthy men; but,
when profits are diminished, or when they disappear entirely; when
dividends are passed, when loss and bankruptcy are imminent, then, if
hope and courage still remain, places of importance are filled by the
appointment of abler and worthier men. The charge made against official
character, to whatever extent true, is better evidence of confidence and
prosperity than it is of the degeneracy of the people; and a public
exigency, serious and long-continued, would call to posts of
responsibility the highest talent and integrity which the country could
produce. But it is, nevertheless, to be admitted as a necessary
consequence of the facts already stated, and the views presented, that
the average amount of sound political learning among those engaged in
public employments is less than it was during the revolutionary era. It
is, however, also to be observed, that, when such learning seems to be
specially required, the people demand it and secure it. Hence the work
of framing constitutions, even in the new states, has, in its execution,
commanded the approval of political writers in this country and in
Europe. And it must, also, be admitted that peace and prosperity render
sound political learning and great experience less necessary, and at the
same time multiply the number of men who are considered eligible to
office. Candidates are put in nomination and elected because they have
been good neighbors, honorable citizens, competent teachers of youth, or
faithful spiritual guides; or, possibly, because they have been
successful in business, are of the military or of the fire department,
or because they are leaders and benefactors of special classes of
society. In ordinary times these facts are all worthy of consideration
and real deference; but when, as in the Revolution, every place of
public service is a post of responsibility, or sacrifice, or danger,
candidates and electors will not meet upon these grounds, but,
disregarding such circumstances, the canvass will have special reference
to the work to be done. For civil employments, political learning and
experience are required; and for military posts, skill, sagacity, and
courage. It may be said that our whole colonial life was a preparatory
school for the revolutionary contest; and, therefore, the major part of
the enterprise, ambition, and patriotism, of the country, was given to
the training, studies, and pursuits, calculated to fit men for so stern
a struggle. But now that other avenues are inviting in themselves, and
promise political preferment, we are liable to the criticism that our
young men, well educated in the schools and in a knowledge of the world,
are not well grounded in political history and constitutional law,
without which there can be no thorough and comprehensive statesmanship.
And, as I pass from this branch of my subject, I may properly say that I
do not seek to limit the number of candidates for public office; for
every office is a school, and the public itself is a great and wise
teacher. Nor do I ask any to abandon the employments and duties, or to
neglect the claims of business and of social life; but I seek to impress
upon our youth a sense of the importance of adding something thereto.
The knowledge of which I have spoken is valuable in the ordinary course
of public business, and absolutely essential in the exigences of
political and national life. And it is with an eye single to the
happiness of individuals, and the welfare of the public, that I invite
my fellow-citizens, and especially the young men of the state, to take
something from the hours of labor, where labor is excessive; or
something from amusement, where amusement has ceased to be recreation;
or something from light reading, which often is neither true, nor
reasonable, nor useful; or something from indolence and dissipation;
and, in the minutes and hours thus gained, treasure up valuable
knowledge for the circumstances and exigences of citizenship and public
office.
II. _The claims of business and society are unfavorable to political
learning._--I assume it to be true of Massachusetts that the proportion
of freehold farmers to the whole population is gradually diminishing,
and that the amount of labor performed by each is gradually increasing.
From the settlement of the country to the commencement of the present
century, there was a great deal of privation, hardship, and positive
suffering; but the claim for continuous labor was not exacting.
The necessary articles of food and clothing were chiefly supplied from
the land, and the majority did not contemplate any great accumulation of
worldly goods, but sought rather to place their political and religious
privileges upon a sure foundation. Agriculture was in a rude state, and
consequently did not furnish steady employment to those engaged in it.
It is only when there are valuable markets, scientific, or at least
careful cultivation, and large profits, that the farmer can use his
evenings and long winters in his profession. These circumstances did not
exist until the present century; and we have thus in this discussion
found both the motive and the opportunity for political learning among
our ancestors.
It is also possible that the increased activity of business and business
men is unfavorable to those studies and thoughts that are essential to
political learning. Commerce and trade are stimulated by never-ceasing
competition; and manufacturers are not free from the influence of
markets, and the necessity of variety, taste, and skill, in the
management of their business. If the larger share of the physical and
mental vigor of a man is given to business, his hours of leisure must be
hours of relaxation; and to most minds the study of history and of
kindred topics is by no means equivalent to recreation. Moreover,
society presents numerous claims which are not easily disregarded.
Fashionable life puts questions that but few people have the courage to
answer in the negative. Have you read the last novel? the new play? the
reviews of the quarter? the magazines of the month? or the greatest
satire of the age? These questions have puzzled many young men into
customary neglect of useful reading, that they may not admit their
ignorance in the presence of those whom they respect or admire.
But, everything valuable is expensive, and learning can be secured only
by severe self-sacrifice. With our ancestors, after religious culture,
historical and political reading was next immediately before them; but
the youth of this generation who seek such learning are compelled to
make their way without deference to the daily customs of society. There
is no fashionable or tolerated society that invites young men to read
the history of England prior to the time when Macaulay begins. Nor does
public sentiment recommend De Lolme on the British constitution, the
Federalist, the writings of Jefferson, Madison, Marshall, Story, and
Webster, upon the constitution of the United States, and the practice of
the government under it. Not but that these topics are considered in the
higher institutions of learning; but I address myself to those who have
enjoyed the advantages of our common schools only, where thorough
instruction in national and general political history cannot be given.
This kind of learning must be self-acquired, and acquired by some
temporary sacrifice; and the sooner, in the case of every young man,
this sacrifice is contemplated and offered, the more acceptable and
useful it will be. And the acquisition of this kind of learning does
not, in a majority of cases, admit of delay. It should be the work of
youth and early manhood. The duties of life are so constant and pressing
that we find it difficult to abstract ourselves and our thoughts from
the world; but, from the age of sixteen to the age of twenty-five, the
attention may be concentrated upon special subjects, and their elements
mastered.
By the Athenian law, minority terminated at the age of sixteen years;
and Demosthenes, at that period of his life, commenced a course of
self-education by which he became the first orator of Athens, and the
admiration of the after-world. The father of Demosthenes died worth
fourteen talents; and the son, though defrauded by his guardians, was,
as his father had been, enrolled in the wealthiest class of citizens;
yet he did not hesitate to subject himself to the severest mental and
physical discipline, in preparation for the great life he was to lead.
"Demosthenes received, during his youth, the ordinary grammatical and
rhetorical education of a wealthy Athenian.... It appears also that he
was, from childhood, of sickly constitution and feeble muscular frame;
so that, partly from his own disinclination, partly from the solicitude
of his mother, he took little part, as boy or youth, in the exercises of
the palæstra.... Such comparative bodily disability probably contributed
to incite his thirst for mental and rhetorical acquisitions, as the only
road to celebrity open. But it at the same time disqualified him from
appropriating to himself the full range of a comprehensive Grecian
education, as conceived by Plato, Isokrates, and Aristotle; an education
applying alike to thought, word, and action--combining bodily strength,
endurance, and fearlessness, with an enlarged mental capacity, and a
power of making it felt by speech.
"The disproportion between the physical energy and the mental force of
Demosthenes, beginning in childhood, is recorded and lamented in the
inscription placed on his statue after his death.... Demosthenes put
himself under the teaching of Isæus; ... and also profited largely by
the discourse of Plato, of Isokrates, and others. As an ardent
aspirant, he would seek instruction from most of the best sources,
theoretical as well as practical--writers as well as lecturers. But,
besides living teachers, there was one of the last generation who
contributed largely to his improvement. He studied Thucydides with
indefatigable labor and attention; according to one account, he copied
the whole history eight times over with his own hand; according to
another, he learnt it all by heart, so as to be able to rewrite it from
memory, when the manuscript was accidentally destroyed. Without minutely
criticizing these details, we ascertain, at least, that Thucydides was
the peculiar object of his study and imitation. How much the composition
of Demosthenes was fashioned by the reading of Thucydides, reproducing
the daring, majestic, and impressive phraseology, yet without the
overstrained brevity and involutions of that great historian,--and
contriving to blend with it a perspicuity and grace not inferior to
Lysias,--may be seen illustrated in the elaborate criticism of the
rhetor Dionysius.
"While thus striking out for himself a bold and original style,
Demosthenes had still greater difficulties to overcome in regard to the
external requisites of an orator. He was not endowed by nature, like
Æschines, with a magnificent voice; nor, like Demades, with a ready flow
of vehement improvisation. His thoughts required to be put together by
careful preparation; his voice was bad, and even lisping; his breath
short; his gesticulation ungraceful; moreover, he was overawed and
embarrassed by the manifestations of the multitude.... The energy and
success with which Demosthenes overcame his defects, in such manner as
to satisfy a critical assembly like the Athenians, is one of the most
memorable circumstances in the general history of self-education.
Repeated humiliation and repulse only spurred him on to fresh solitary
efforts for improvement. He corrected his defective elocution by
speaking with pebbles in his mouth; he prepared himself to overcome the
noise of the assembly by declaiming in stormy weather on the sea-shore
of Phalerum; he opened his lungs by running, and extended his powers of
holding breath by pronouncing sentences in marching up-hill; he
sometimes passed two or three months without interruption in a
subterranean chamber, practising night and day either in composition or
declamation, and shaving one-half of his head in order to disqualify
himself from going abroad."[3] Yet all this effort and sacrifice were
accompanied by repeated and humiliating failures; and it was not until
he was twenty-seven years of age that the great orator of the world
achieved his first success before the Athenian assembly.
But how can the youth of this age hope to be followers, even at a
distance, of Demosthenes, and of those his peers, who, by eloquence,
poetry, art, science, and general learning, have added dignity to the
race, and given lustre to generations separated by oceans and centuries,
unless they are animated by a spirit of progress, and cheered by a faith
that shall be manifested in the disposition and the power to overcome
the obstacles that lie in every one's path?
Such a course of training requires individual effort and personal
self-sacrifice. It would not be wise to follow the plan of the Athenian
orator; he adapted his training to his personal circumstances, and the
customs of the country. His history is chiefly valuable for the lessons
of self-reliance, and the example of perseverance under discouragements,
that it furnishes. But it is always a solemn duty to hold up before
youth noble models of industry, perseverance, and success, that they may
be stimulated to the work of life by the assurance of history that,
"Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us further than to-day."
III. _The popular reading of the day does not contribute essentially to
the education of the citizen and statesman._--It is not, of course,
expected that every man is to qualify himself for the life of a
statesman; but it does seem necessary for all to be so well instructed
in political learning as to possess the means of forming a reasonable
and philosophical opinion of the policy of the government. It is as
discreditable to the intellect and judgment of a free people to complain
of that which is right in itself, and rests upon established principles
of right, as to submit without resistance or murmur to usurpation or
misgovernment. I do not mean to undervalue the periodical press; but it
must always assume something in regard to its readers, and in politics
it must assume that the principles of government and the history of
national institutions are known and understood.
But the young man should subject himself to a systematic course of
training; and I know of nothing more valuable in political studies than
a thorough acquaintance with English history. Our principles of
government were derived from England; and it is in the history of the
mother country that the best discussion of principles is found, as in
that country many of the contests for liberty occurred. But, as our
government is the outgrowth rather than a copy of British principles and
institutions, the American citizen is not prepared for his duties until
he has made himself familiar with American history, in all its
departments. How ill-suited, then, for the duties of citizenship and
public life, in the formation of taste and habits of thought, is much of
the reading of the present time! And I may here call attention to the
fact that each town in Massachusetts is invested with authority to
establish a public library by taxation. This, it seems to me, is one of
the most important legislative acts of the present decennial period;
and, indeed, a public library is essential to the view I am taking of
the necessity and importance of political education. Private libraries
exist, but they are not found in every house, nor can every person enjoy
their advantages. Public libraries are open to all; and, when the
selection of books is judicious, they furnish opportunities for
education hardly less to be prized than the common schools themselves.
The public library is not only an aid to general learning, a contributor
to political intelligence and power, but it is an efficient supporter of
sound morals, and all good neighborhood among men.
If the public will not offer to its youth valuable reading, such as its
experience, its wisdom, its knowledge of the claims of society, its
morality may select, shall the public complain if its young men and
women are tempted by frivolous and pernicious mental occupations? It is,
moreover, the duty of the public to furnish the means of self-education,
especially in the science of government; and political learning, for the
most part, must be gained after the school-going period of life has
passed.
Let American liberty be an intelligent liberty, and therefore a
self-sustaining liberty. Freedom, more or less complete, has been found
in two conditions of life. Man, in a rude state, where his condition
seemed to be normal, rather than the result of a process of mental and
moral degeneracy, has often possessed a large share of independence; but
this should by no means be confounded with what in America is called
liberty. The independence of the savage, or nomad, is manifested in the
absence of law; but the liberty of an American citizen is the power to
do whatever may be beneficial to himself, and not injurious to his
neighbor nor to the state. The first leaves self-protection and
self-regulation to the individual, while the latter restrains the
aggressive tendencies of all for the security of each. The first is
natural equality without law; the second is natural equality before the
law. With the first, might makes right; with the latter, right makes
might. With the first, the power of the law, or of the will of an
individual or clan, is in the rigor and success of execution; with the
latter, the power of the law is in the justice of its demand. We, as a
people, have passed the savage and nomadic state, and can return to it
only after a long and melancholy process of decay and change, out of
which ultimately might come a new and savage race of men. This, then, is
not our immediate, even if it be a possible danger. But we are to guard
against intellectual, political, and moral degeneracy. We are, through
family, religious, and public education, to take security of the
childhood and youth of the land for the preservation of the institutions
we have, and for the growth, greatness, and justice, of the republic.
Liberty in America, if you will admit the distinction, is a growth and
not a creation. The institutions of liberty in America have the same
character. By many centuries of trial, struggle, and contest, through
many years of experience, sometimes joyous, and sometimes sad, the fact
and the institutions of liberty in America have been evolved. It has not
been a work of destruction and creation, but a process of change and
progress. And so it must ever be. Reformation does not often follow
destruction; and they who seek to destroy the institutions of a country
are not its friends in fact, however they may be in purpose. Ignorance
can destroy, but intelligence is required to reform or build up. Let
the prejudice against learning, not common now, but possibly existing in
some minds, be forever banished. Learning is the friend of liberty. Of
this America has had evidence in her own history, and in her observation
of the experience of others. The literary institutions and the
cultivated men of America, like Milton and Hampden in England, preferred
"Hard liberty before the easy yoke
Of servile pomp."