Public Leger, Volume 2, Number 62, Richmond, Wayne County, 28 May 1825 — Page 4

ORIGINAL POETRY.

THE FOOL'S-CAP, BV SIMON QUILL.

iNO. IV. "Tis Education forms the common miml Jut as Iht- twi is bent the tree'a inclinM." Tore. The influence of Education upon the human mind i incalculably great. It

moulds the pliant subject into almost any

shape, and establishes the "metes and bound?" of all its energies. The child,

j rectly contrary to the beaten track of error, t ignorance and prejudice. But who arc qualified thus to become the artificers of great minds? Who knows how to direct the opening faculties of aspiring youth? The fact is, this is a science little understood and most shamefully neglected. Parents are most culpably negligent of this duty, and act as if there was nothing for them to do, hut to sit in listlcssness and apathy, while their children lloat upon the turbulent sea of life without a pilot or a helm. But there is something also for the government to do. It belongs to the government to devise and establish institutions for the purpose of diffusing a knowledge of philosophy and the arts. These, though not all that should be taught, yet are important, and worthy the most assiduous attention of government. Much has been done in this wav by some states, enough to

show that much more may be done. I feel j more anxious on this subject because I

have sev erely suffered from the want of a proper education. I know and sensibly feel the deprivation of it, and would therefore do my best endeavors to convince nil iof its great importance. I would set be- ! fore parents in lively colors, the great advantage to themselves, their children, and I their country of a well educated, improved and enlightened posterity. But my ! voice is weak, and weak of coUrse w ill be i the effect of whatever 1 can say. t

Extract from an address delivered by Richard Me.vdemiall, president of the

Manumission Society of North Carolina,

lat a meeting of the General Association,

own

it yields to the impression of every circum

stance, and grows up the imitator of those around it. True, there are some who are not so entirely dependent upon education for the developement of their talents, and the formation of their characters. There are sorne who are fitted by nature for great purpes, and to shine, bright but lonesome meteors in the skv of darkness and ignorance. But this exception does not do away the truth of the general position, that man owes much to education for making him what lie is, whether great or vile, whether one of "nature'? noblemen" or her meanest mendicant. We need but refer to the various nations of the earth for a proof of this. While one nation is enslaved, enthralled, and dead, under the influence of a paralyzing ignorance, another is a proud proof of what man is capable when In? energies are properly cultivated and directed. While one shall hold infanticide, parricide, and murder to be duties exacted of them by their Gods, another shall look upon them as crimes of the deepest die. It were entering upon too prolific a subject to show the various customs and sentiments of the ditferent races of mankind. They ma v be seen at a glance; but volumes would be necessary to describe them. I have only to say, that the? prove conclusively the pliability of the mind of man, and show that it is, in general, whatever circumstance0 make it. It the above remark? arc correct, the deduction follows, that the proper education of the rising generations of men, is a duty of the most imperative and important feature. And it is the greatest dutv devolving upon parent and governments. To parents this great object must be principally consigned. They are the persons pointed out by nattire, and she prompts them to it bv the affections with which she imbues their hearts. If this duty is discharged bv parents with fidelity, they will be rewarded by a noble, a happy, and a generous posterity the pride of their parents, the honor and support of their country. 1 must not be understood to say that the system of education now generally pursued ever will or can have this happy effect. The most extensive and diffusive knowledge of the arts and sciences can never make a truly great man. Such knowledge may be connected with the meanest disposition, and the most debased atfections. Education does not altogether consist in what wc generally understand by the term no, to "be productive of all

the good effects of which it is capable it mu-t consist of something else. Mr. Playfair defines education to be "The art of fitting youth to enter into the world, so as to live happily and well, and enabling them to fill their places in society." If we were to adopt this definition, and act accordingly, we should have to proceed on an entire different plan from that which we at present pursue. Parents would not be contented with merely sending their children to the common schools; but their home would be made a continual school to them, and every circumstance a lesson. 'Tis in the nursery they then would be taught, and there learn the most important part of their knowledge. There the pliant mind would have a direction given it, worthy of its grcat destinies, and di-

with all its faculties just bursting into life,

but weak, wavering and unsteady,!" 1

I . . 1 . A A. I V 1 A I I V 1 . A.

j loru county, on inc l nil oi xuarcn last, j "If we take fairly into view the situation of things a few years past, and com- ! pare them w ith that of the present period, : not forgetting that the year 1808 was the 1 earliest period that the embryo ideas of the convention for the union dared burst into light, surrounded with the misty shades ! of darkness and shadows of death, we 5 ! in 11 be bound in holv adoration to marvel at i - j the change. See the rapid strides ot justice in the untutored regions, amid the fluctuating scenes of South America, and , the benevolent acquiescence of the cold ' country of Sweden! But, above all, bchold the two great and powerful nations, j who not long since, were seen threatening J to shake the deep foundations of the main j with hostile thunder, their contacting i squadrons, rolling in vollied wrath from

sea to sea, traversing tne mountain wave replete with boiling ire, and marshalling

out their lengthened lines of dazzling files j

on land, swelling with desire, to imbrue their hands in each others blood, or exulting in direful deeds performed! and now behold them leagueing or leagued in calm confederation, deep under the weight of sutTering humanity, and in mutual concession striving in profound and sympathetic amity to retract those wrongs and return to Africa her long lost wanderers. This is a wonderful change indeed! Behold those vessels smoothly gliding in joyful concert, making remuneration for the long list of wrongs perpetrated. This is turning swords into ploughshares, and spears into pruning hooks, on a great, a glorious, and a national scale. Those bellowing machines that for centuries past hurled destruction, terror and death in the midst of unoffending villages in Africa, whose

innocent inhabitants were reposing in si- i

lent slumber at the midnight hour; tilling the streets with the dead, and striking terror into the hearts of the living; loading men and women with irons, and dragging them to the ships amid the shrieks of the dying; leaving hapless infants to perish, and the aged to wail these instruments are now employed for their protection, to guide in safety back to their native shore, those wretched and unoffending victims of misfortune. Thus wc should be thankful that the work is not yet to begin. But although the spirit ot our government truly is willing, yet the fleshly inclination of some of the states seems to render it weak. he is calling, in the voice of affection, say

ing "come out of her my people," with all j the fondness and ecstacy with which a kind father beholds his daughter, the youthful

uaning ol Ins hope, yielding her hand to the enchanting allurements of a dissipated lover. Yes, a benevolent Congress is reaching to clasp us in the bonds of permanent and lasting prosperity ; calling, as she did to Missouri Missouri alrtady impregnated with the seeds of her own ruin O Missouri, Missouri, "how oft would I have gathered thee, as alien gathcreth her brood, and ye would not!" Thus we find Congress doing much for the benefit of the children of Africa. But

while those atrocious and murdering marauders, the slave-dealers, are well aware! of the penalties attached to their crimes, yet many have dared, in the face of law j and of justice, and at the risk of dying the!

death of a pirate, still to continue their barbarous practices amid the shrieks of humanity and the frowns of an offended God ; and we, of the humane state of North Carolina, who have declared "that all political power is vested in, and derived from the people only ;" and that we have a right peaceably to assemble to instruct our representatives, tacitly acknowledge it to be right, as if we held it not only right but virtuous; for we still bold an open door for the purchase of slaves, through w hich the man-stealing smuggler may pass with impunity, goading on their w ay a manacled train of wretched human beings, doomed to perpetual bondage! This is the very cap-sheap of the crying sins of Babylon. Surely we have not been awake to the enormitj and the evil of our doings. I therefore earnestly recommend that a petition, couched in the most moving terms, be presented to our next legislature for the enactment of a law to prevent our citizens from purchasing slaves, of any description, from beyond the limits of the state, under such modifications, limitations, penalties and restrictions, as they in their wisdom may regulate ; and that it be made the duty of every conservator of the peace, to sec that the law be faithfully fulfilled, to the end that our state may no longer contribute to the necessity of spending millions of dollars by the General Government for the suppression of the evil in question; and that we no longer hinder the efforts of a struggling world emerging from heathenish darkness, and anxious to roll into light. It is my sincere desire that we may no longer thus oppose the work of humanity, without answering any other purpose to us than merely to gratify and shield the cupidity of a few guilty traffickers in blood."

The Wife. How sweet to the soul of man (says Hierocles) is the society of a beloved wife! When wearied and broken down by the labors of the day, her endearments sooth, her tender cares restore him. The solicitudes and anxieties and the heaviest misfortunes of life, are hardly to be borne by him who has the weight of business and domestic cares at the same time to contend with. But how much lighter do they seem, when, after his necessary avocations are over he returns to his home, and finds there a partner of all his griefs take her share of domestic labor upon her, and sooths his anguish by her participation. A wife is not, as she is represented and esteemed by some, a burden and sorrow to man No: she shares his burdens and she alleviates his sorrows, for there is no difficulty so heavy or insupportable in life, but it may be surmounted by the mutual labors and the affectionate concord of that holy partnership.

Taxes in- England. An English editor speaking of the oppression, which a corrupt government inflicts upon the people of that country, says: " We have taxes upon every article that enters into the mouth, or covers the back, or is placed under the foot; taxes upon every thing which is plea

sant to see, hear, feel, smell, or taste; tax-; es upon warmth, light, locomotion; taxes j on every thing on the earth, and the wa- j ters under the earth, on every thing that! comes from abroad, or is grown at home;j taxes on the raw material; taxes on every j fresh value that is added to it by the indus-j

try of man ; taxes on the cause which pampers man's appetite, and the drug that restores him to health; on the ermine which decorates the judge, and the rope which hangs the criminal; on the poor man's salt, and the rich man's spice; on the brass nails of the coffin, and the ribbons of the bride; at the bed and board, couchant or levant, we must pay: the school-boy whips his taxed top; the beardless youth manages his taxed horse, with a taxed bridle, on a taxed road; and the dying man, pouring his medicine, which has paid 7 per cent., into a spoon that has paid 15 per cent., flings himself back upon his chintz bed, which has paid 22 per cent., makes his will on an 8 stamp, and expires in the arms of an apothecary, who has paid a license of an hundred pounds for the privilege of putting him to death. His whole property is then immediately taxed from two to nineteen percent. Besides the piobate.

large lees are demanded for burying himj in the chancel; his virtues are handed! down to posterity oMaxod marble ; and he j is then gathered toSis fathers, to be taxed :

no more.

ground and exercise different., other nations. In Constarainopi up money seems their only iw The women are lively, chatt, K humored, nnrl the mnr i'l,i'. iuiJ

....... " i ...w ..iv.ii ii ucruj if) j, x ordinary degree. The ArnA not so intolerant as the Turk T W

of St. Gregory, which the deluded a ians nay large sums to kiss. ' rrr-D

that they shall thus secure their tl t , " r .i 4 N!UH tin

Tin: Armenians. Though these people are dreadfully oppressed and fleeced by the Persians, they live at Constantinople in comparative case and nflltience; especially as they have superceded the Jews in becoming bankers to the Turks ; so that at present, they have the mint in their own hands. They arc, therefore, in the Turkish capital, a quiet, ploddn g people, and are either bankers, mercl n or clerks; but in their own country they till the

attached to the forms of rf.i;; lu

fasts, as observed by the priests ' i: more severe than those of t lie Greek v CVen their priests, appear tohavennp dress but are marked by longl.rar(js. ,:,r bishops wear purple. At the ' r Essipiniazin, near Erivan. tb 7

dead hand, w hich thev nrrtrr.,i ,ltP

rc ' ... ...x.-.y VV'V0 r,et!;

IV limiWM'2 nf III frrimc ... . Jl,

there for this purpose from all (mrtf!1'

the Levant. An Armcninn priest came from this convent to Coitantirr in the beginning of 1811, was suspecu'dh

tliv,u i'ii.rintii unit v l M i VM lit Tl'T Tak. i a ... i i I b crnniis-

sioneu io puitnasc urge and (jfn: privileges for the convent, and mhK

clamour wa9 in consequence raided bvtK

that he thought his life in diuer, and heir

for shelter; this was refused him all'

month after he was obliged to lcae (V

sianuiiopju. i ne inneniarjs, like all rM. i : : i. , T , 1

iiiriMian in me evam, are (Icvotfrb

their faith; one of them lately hangrd ;I

Aleppo, was told that n tic turned To:'

his hie would be spared; he made the

of the cross, and was instantly turned t

From the Cinrinmti Gaicltc. The subject of the Tariff ai d it? f; able operation upon the mamif.icturirc terests of the country, continue stillto'eigage the attention of some cfourciste economists. Among them ue roticc ia particular Mr. Cary, and the Editor cf Niles' Register. Both of these cntleme?. have done much for the cncouraL'trnrit ci domestic industry. The one bv the circulation of well written pamphlets ujiti the subject; and the other by essays thro' the medium of his valuable Register. The following paragraph is from the latter. "Time is not allowed, at p resent. to go ir.-

toan extensive considcrationof the present.

prosperous condition of the united St.tes

but an opportunity shall soon be taken

to shew that this prosperity has been mair,

ly brought about by the transf -r efteisci

thousands of persons from the consuming Unproductive classes, in conscquer.ee of tl e "encouragement," small as is, that ws forded in the late revision of the t v::i And who ha suffered by that? H:it?ic revenue been diminished have the pr:r c? of articles advanced on account ot No neither lias happened. On the cot tr :.rv. the revenue has increased, for the f-tst ci

all reasons that the people are more

to indulge themselves in the use i I1 r

luxuiies than thev were and the Juris

tic

i

honest apnre

issh or purchased clamors of ot he is, core cm ing monopolies. That the nation is tori lited manv millions a vear, bv the start tb. was given to manufactures in the nioditic." tion of the tariff. K 1 my mii:d, as evident as that I mself am alive but I have jet to learn that any class of i r.di vid:rd-. r.o matter how few they may It. sulur e least injury fivm it,' except some interests arid affections we -re li"H.v ",: the other side of the water."- British ners and whippers-in.and cxclusi:of Britih threads tapes and bobHi,. business of these has been interlerred t and lam glad of it. Another imsurM

regulation of sales at auction, win more of them to "close tin ir account-, acompel them to make room for Amnc labor and capital, for the supply ot own wants provided the sjstem adi'i in the tariff bill, and the principle-?' f lished in respect to internal iniprc ''j are carefully guarded and rigidly to, subject to such revisions and '"Jl' ments as experience shall point out ccssity or propriety of."' James the Second, when he . ,! ' of York, took it into his bead to vi-it llj merely out of curiosity. In the r- "r-' their conversation. IheDuKe asked M! ' "Whether he did not think the hcZ sight was a judgment upon hint t r ., he wrote agrinst his father, Ci , Our immortal bard made the foil' ply: "If your highness thii.ks tl , calamities which bel'al us here, ni" cations of the wrath of Heaven, in manner are wc to account 1'' ',e ' .-

the kins, your father? the dispi" u',. vc

1 1

MllieS mail l i Jl" -H- ii.i- " c coinpctiton has totally put dtv.n t'.c nest apprehensions of sc me, at d these!;

i .1.:. r-.ir.rknltlO'

i It iltt.ll, IIIUSl, IipOII III1S) been much greater against him fori have only lost my nrs, but lu"" his head.

" . ,rii;fcr How many do wc meet with in course in life who affect to despfcc passes their comprehension