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Dr . Colquhouxi in all his writings , affects to regard the labouring people as a distinct species and he is afraid that they should by any means be led to form a different opinion of themselves ; hence , it is the object of his plan , to prevent the children of the poor from being u educated in a manner to elevate their
minds above the rank they are destined to fulfil in Society , " which he thinks would be the case , if u extensive knowledge were
diffused amongst them /* In a state of society rapidly improving , we cannot imagine a motive or principle more impolitic or immoral The distance between the lord
and his slave is a mere mathematical point , compared with the distance between knowledge and ignorance ; and is it not enough for the small minority which constitutes the great men of the earth ,
that they have reduced the majority of . the human species to constant servitude , but they must degrade mankind to the state of mere machines ? Js it jiot enough , that they have acquired such a
control over the body , as ena . bles them -to say unto this man , u Come and he cometh , and unto that man , Gro and he goeth , " but they must usurp the dominion of the mind also ?
The object of the worthy magistrate , is at variance with every principle of moral Justice , and every tie that binds men together in civil society ; and a state
that would act upon such principles , would have no claim upon the allegiance of its subjects . The whblc business of life , is a ( competition between individual
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Colquhoutfs System of Education . 383
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and individual , to , procure as great a portion of happiness as can be compassed by each single ef * fort ; ^ nd it is the super-abundant quantity that is produced by the continued struggle , and found more than sufficient for in * dividual use , that constitutes tiro public good . Hut the degree of happin ss , either public or
private , depends upon the struggle being conducted on equal terms ; and if the competitive powers become engrossed on one side , both public and private happiness will
diminish , and can only exist ii * proportion as this equality be * comes restored . No very laboured research is necessary , to prove that the miseries * and distresses
of the people of England , have uniformly increased , as literature and tire sciences have been improved . It is not because literature and the sciences are unfavourable
to happiness , but because they have given the people new powers which bigotry and covetousness have refused to extend to the whole of the combatants in the
struggle , and therefore has left a part of them unequal to the task of procuring happiness . The monopoly of learning by
the rich , is as ungenerous on their part , as would be the conduct of a wrestler , who should contrive to tie the hands of his antagonist before he would contend for
the prize ; and it is impolitic , because every design of the multiform occupations of the mind
being to produce happiness , the more talent and ability there is employed in their direction , th £ more abundant must be the stock created . Can it be arguedt hat
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1807, page 383, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2382/page/43/
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