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Untitled Article
they may also work against the welfare of the people , if so disposed ; and the probability is , that particular branches of instruction , such , for example , as might have a tendency to lead the people to canvass narrowly their political institutions , would not be encouraged , if permitted , by the rulers . The dog who has
been often beaten is apt to look suspiciously on all who carry sticks ,, and does not always discriminate , whether the stick be intended as a support to the owner or only as a weapon of offence . The people of England have seen that the despotic governments of Europe have , on many occasions , banded together to keep down the people for the advantage of their own sinister interests ; and the circumstance that the present government of Prussia
happens to be enlightened , can by no means operate on them , as an inducement to place themselves beneath the tender mercies of a similar rule , simply because the ruler might , if he chose , take it into his head to play king stork . The fact of the work being of Prussian origin , must have a rather unfavourable effect upon its
popularity amongst those to whom it may be most beneficial ; and it were therefore to be wished that the preface had been more explicitly worded , in order to remove the impression that the translator approves of the Prussian mode of government , as well as of public instruction ; but any such impression must surely be removed by those who read the following sentence : —
* These cheering symptoms of a general tendency of the public mind of England towards the subject of National Education , have been watched with solicitude , and hailed with delight , by all who are impressed with its importance ; by none with bo much , as by M . Cousin himself ; who , highly as he estimates the approbation of England * will think his reward far higher , if the labour he has devoted to his native country shall turn to the profit of her true and energetic ally in Uiq cause of human improvement . "
This is a cause of national congratulation . England is in heart ' the true and energetic ally' of all who work in the great cause of human improvement . Her head lias , it is true , been sadly bewildered at times , by the artifices of designing despots , who persuaded her that costly and brutal wars were necessary sacrifices for liberty . But she has seen through that juggle , and the term ' natural enemy' will cease henceforth to encumber the national nomenclature . Demagogues also may confuse her clear
nrion for a while ; but she has a glimpse of the beyond , and the onward march of improvement is sure , though it be not post haste . € Her true and energetic ally / It is true , and it is ce rtaiu . In the communion of kindly feelings newly awakened bet ween re g enerating Kngland and ' Young France / the germs *» 11 grow which shall ultimately work out the redemption of ^ any nations , from the evils under which they at present labour . 4 is not worth while , at the present day , to diectu * wbetber or not
Untitled Article
On the Objects of Popular Education . 719
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1834, page 719, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2638/page/45/
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