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lit s v8lta'4%dn9r the @pmin$&f Parliame...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
• . ¦¦ '"' . •' , The Queen, The Opening...
swell th # amwmt of human enr j $ y ' : m $% it , rrJs it consistent with j ^ Hpe r tlwt the knowledge requi * § U § to mq , ke d man acquainted Wth his rights and duties should
be purposely withheld from , him , qtid then that he should be upbraided and dep rived of his rights Wfr . the plea of his ignorance ? J ^ nd is it not equally cruel and v / fijust to suffer human beings to ^ e matured inignorance and , crime , arid then to blame and punish tliem ?—Let our rulers ask
themselves , when they see our prisons filled with victims , our land covered with paupers , and our streets infested with intemperance and prostitution — how much of those terrible evils are occasioned by ignorance , the
consequences of their anm neglect ? and how many of their sanguinary laws might have been spared —how many of their prisons , bridewells , and hospitals
dispensed with—and how many millions of public and private wealth arrogantly given and ungraciously received , might not htav § feeen better appropriated in diffusing the blessings of education ?—We are certain that
inquiry will convince them of the fjt ^ t , and lead them to perceive that knowledge , like th ^ balmy breeze , queers and refreshes in its prpgress ; but ignorance , like the tainted air , scourges with disease as it sweeps onward in its desolaticm , —We trust we have , in some degree , succeeded in showing the
great , importance qi education , and the necessity of publicly exten 4 ing if , mt as a bhairity , but W $ & r ight , a right derivable from society itself ; as society implies a union for mutual benefit , and consequently fa publicly provide for the security and proper train-
• . ¦¦ '"' . •' , The Queen, The Opening...
iiig of all its members ; which , if it mils to effect , the band of social obligation is dissolved , and it degenerates into an unholy compact , selfishly seeking its own advantage to the prejudice of the excluded . — Independent of
which , charity , by diminishing the energies of self-dependanc & , creates a spirit of hypocrisy and servility , all just governments should seek to prevent . We contend , therefore , that it is the dutv
of the Government to provide the means of educating the nation ; for as the whole people are benefited by each individual ' s laudable exertions , so all ought to be united in affording the best means of developing the useful
powers of each . —But how , it may be asked , are the means to be provided ? We may reply , by asking how were the means provided for less worthy purposes ? We remember that twenty millions were paid to compensate the
owners of slaves for relinquishing their unjust traffic ; that the means were provided for paying extravagant pensions , and for erecting useless palaces to royalty 5 and are still found to support an almost interminable list of idlers from year to year . Whence ^ too , we may inqui ?* ey
came our means to wage war against freedom wherever it raised its head , and to assist all the idespots of Europe to keep their pedple in ignorance and slavery ? Were but half the anxiety evinced to train the human race in peUce
and happin £ ss as has hithettd been exerted to keep them in subjec tion to a few despots , abundant means would be afforded for the purpose . —But though we hq } d it to be the duty of Gbvernment % 6 raise the means of education , by
Lit S V8lta'4%Dn9r The @Pmin$&F Parliame...
lit s v 8 lta' 4 % dn 9 r the @ pmin $ & f Parliament , & ndtk & r
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 1, 1837, page 382, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/mrp_01121837/page/14/
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