of public and private liberality, in every part of the State; to whose existence Charlestown gave the first impulse, to whose growth and usefulness the opulence of Boston has, at all times, ministered with open hand. Still further on than the eye can reach, four lines of communication, by rail-road and steam, have, within our own day, united with the capital, by bands of iron, a still broader circuit of towns and villages. Hark, to the voice of life and business which sounds along the lines! While we speak, one of them is shooting onward to the illimitable West, and all are uniting with the other kindred enterprises, to form one harmonious and prosperous whole, in which town and country, agriculture and manufactures, labor and capital, art and Nature,-wrought and compacted into one grand system, are constantly gathering and diffusing, concentrating and radiating, the economical, the social, the moral, blessings, of a liberal and diffusive commerce.

It

In mere prosperity and the wealth it diffuses, there is no ground for moral approbation; though, I believe, in any long period of time, it will be found that those communities, only, are signally prosperous, where virtuous principle is revered, as the rule of conduct. is the chief glory of our commercial community, that the old standard of morals is still kept up; that industry and frugality are still held in honorable repute; that the rage for speculation has not eaten out the vitals of character, and that lucky fraud, though plated stiff with ill-gotten treasure, dare not yet lift up its bold, unblushing face, in the presence of the humblest man who eats the bread of honest industry.

So may it still remain; and let it still be your object, gentlemen of the Mercantile Library Association, to uphold this well-approved character of our ancient metropolis. Never let the mere acquisition of wealth be an exclusive pursuit. Consider it of tenfold importance, to manifest, in all the transactions of life, that quick sense of honor," which feels a stain like a wound," and that integrity, which the mines of Peru could not bend

from the path of principle. Let wealth be regarded as the instrument of doing, as well as of enjoying, good. In a republican government, the mercantile class, in the natural course of things, is the only one whose members, generally speaking, can amass fortune; let it be written on your hearts, in the morning of life, that wealth is ennobled only in its uses. Form, from the first, a large conception of the character of the liberal and upright merchant. Regard him as one, to whom the Country looks to sustain her honor, in the hour of trial; to uphold her public establishments, to endow her charities, to be the father of her orphans: as one whom no success will make ashamed of his vocation; who will adorn his days of prosperity with moderation and temper; and hold fast his integrity, though fortunes turn to ashes in his grasp. Improve the opportunities for cultivating your minds, which this Institution presents, never greater than at this season; and the still further and peculiar opportunities for mental improvement, which will shortly be placed within the reach of the young men of Boston, in consequence of the recent munificent bequest of Mr. Lowell. The keys of knowledge are in your hands; the portals of her temple are open to you. On the shelves of her libraries, there are stores of information, which, besides contributing to your success in your calling, will give grace to good fortune, and comfort and resource in disaster.

Above all, while you pursue, with spirit, the business of your vocation, and follow the paths of enterprise to the ends of the earth, let a well-instructed conscience be the companion of your way. Her guidance will safely lead you, when calculation is bewildered and prudence is at fault. Though your hope, in all else, be blasted, fail not, my young friends, to acquire the pearl of great price, that wisdom, whose merchandise is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. Let this be the object of your life; and, while the guilty glories of war are deprecated by mankind, and the weary honors of successful ambition

weigh like lead on the wearer, you will enjoy, in the esteem and gratitude of the community and the peace of your own minds, the happy portion of THE LIBERAL

AND UPRIGHT MERCHANT.

THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION IN A REPUBLIC.*

MR. PRESIDENT,-I rise, at the particular request of the Secretary of the Board, and in compliance with the wishes of other respected friends of Education, to express to you the thoughts which occur to me, on the great subject now under our consideration, and more especially, on the Resolution which has just been read. I do not come prepared to discuss the proposition which it contains, in a maturely-digested discourse. My object, only, is to offer to you, and this large and respected audience, the thoughts, somewhat desultory, which present themselves to my mind, on the principle advanced in the Resolution; and if I can do no more, I shall be well contented with having offered to the Convention this public testimony of the interest I take in the cause.

I will observe, in the first place, that, without designing any thing like adulation of our native State, we may claim for it the credit of having made provision for education, from the earliest period of its settlement. The small New-England republics, and especially Massachusetts, have been, in point of time, far in advance of the older governments of the world, in systematic provision for the education of the people, at the public expense. In setting this example, we have certainly paid back to Europe no small part of the debt of civilization. I regard this hereditary care for education as a precious portion of our moral birthright, and I trust we shall transmit it, unimpaired, to afterages.

I would gladly believe, nay, I do firmly believe, that *The following Remarks, in substance, were made at a County Common School Convention, held in Taunton, Massachusetts, on the 10th October, 1838, when a Resolution was under consideration, which asserted the connexion between public intelligence and a republican form of government.

this attention, which, in this Country, has never been withheld from education, and which, of late, I am rejoiced to say, has greatly increased, does not manifest itself in an accidental, far less, uncongenial, association, with that general interest in political affairs, which also characterizes our communities, and springs from popular institutions. On the contrary, in the view I take of the subject, a country, possessed of such institutions, is precisely that where education is most important; where alone it is absolutely necessary, for carrying on the system of government, and keeping up its natural healthy action. It is, of course, in such a country, that we should most expect, from the people, an enlightened and vigilant care of education.

There are two simple plans of government; on which, either pure and without qualification, or with some admixture of the two principles, all constitutions are constructed. One of them asserts, that the people are the rightful source of power, both ultimate and direct; the other denies this proposition. When Charles the First stood upon the scaffold, and a moment before he laid his head upon the block, so firm was his faith in the last-named principle, that he declared, with his dying breath, that "the people's right was only to have their life and their goods their own, a share in the government being nothing pertaining to them." The other plan is announced, in clear terms, in the Constitution of Massachusetts: "The people of this Commonwealth have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves, as a free, sovereign, and independent, State."

Now, it might be thought, that, even on the theory of government which Charles sealed with his blood, education would be deemed a great popular interest, as teaching the methods, and furnishing some of the means, of preserving life and acquiring property, which he admitted to be within the right of the people. It does not appear, however, that, at that time, nor till long after, this right was understood as imposing any correla