perhaps; but not too great to be done. Nothing is too great to be done, which is founded on truth and justice, and which is pursued with the meek and gentle spirit of Christian love. When this objection was suggested in the British House of Commons, to the measures proposed for the regeneration of the children of Africa, Mr Pitt, in reply to it, exclaimed, 'We Britons were once as obscure among the nations of the earth, as savage in our manners, as debased in our morals, as degraded in our understandings, as these unhappy Africans are at present.' The work is doubtless too great to be entirely effected by this Society, by the most ardent and zealous of its friends, perhaps for the present and the next succeeding generation. But is it too great for the enlightened public opinion of the world? Is it too great for the joint efforts of the United States, of Great Britain, and of France, and the other Christian countries, already pledged to the cause? Is it too great for the transmitted purpose, the perpetuated concert of generations succeeding generations, for centuries to come? Sir, I may ask, without irreverence, in a case like this, though it be too great for man, is it too great for that AUGUST PROVIDENCE Whose counsels run along the line of ages, and to whom a thousand years are as one day?

SPEECH

AT A PUBLIC MEETING, HELD AT

ST PAUL'S CHURCH, BOSTON,

21ST MAY, 1833, ON BEHALF OF KENYON COLLEGE, OHIO.

THE lucid exposition, which has been made of the object of the meeting, by the right reverend bishop (McIlvaine), lightens the task of recommending it to an audience like this. I do not know but I should act more advisedly, to leave his cogent and persuasive statement to produce its natural effect, without any attempt on my part, to enforce it. But as we have assembled to communicate our mutual impressions on the subject ;-to consult with each other, whether we can do any thing, and whether we will do any thing, to promote the object in view, (which, I own, seems to me one of high moment), I will, with the indulgence of the meeting, and at the request of those by whom it is called, briefly state the aspect in which the matter presents itself to my mind.

I understand the object of the meeting to be, to aid the funds of a rising seminary of learning, in the interior of the State of Ohio, particularly with a view to the training up of a well-educated ministry of the gospel, in that part of the United States;—and the claims of such an object on this community.

As to the general question of the establishment and support of places of education, there are principally two courses, which have been pursued in the practice of nations. One is, to leave them, so to say, as an after-thought,-the last thing provided for ;-to let the community grow up, become populous, rich, powerful; an immense body of unenlightened peasants, artisans, traders, soldiers,

subjected to a small privileged class;-and then let learning creep in with luxury; be esteemed itself a luxury, endowed out of the surplus of vast private fortunes, or endowed by the state; and, instead of diffusing a wholesome general influence, of which all partake, and by which the entire character of the people is softened and elevated, forming itself but another of those circumstances of disparity and jealous contrast of condition, of which too many were in existence before; adding the aristocracy of learning, acquired at expensive seats of science, to that of rank and wealth. This is, in general, the course, which has been pursued with respect to the establishment of places of education, in some countries of Europe. The other method is, that introduced by our forefathers, viz., to lay the foundations of the commonwealth on the corner-stone of religion and education ;—to make the means of enlightening the community go hand in hand with the means for protecting it against its enemies, extending its commerce, and increasing its numbers; to make the care of the mind, from the outset, a part of its public economy; the growth of knowledge a portion of its public wealth. This, sir, is the New-England system. It is the system on which the colony of Massachusetts was led, in 1647, to order that a school should be supported in every town, and which, eleven years earlier, caused the foundations of Harvard college to be laid, by an appropriation out of the scanty means of the country, and at a period of great public distress, of a sum equal to the whole amount raised during the year, for all the other public charges. I do not know in what words I can so well describe this system, as in those used by our fathers themselves. Quoted as they have been times innumerable, they will bear quoting again; and seem to me peculiarly apposite to this occasion: After God had carried us safe to NewEngland, and we had builded our houses, provided necessaries for our livelihood, reared convenient places for God's worship, and settled the civil government, one of the next things we longed for and looked after, was to advance learning, and perpetuate it to posterity; dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches, when the present ministers shall be in the dust.'

Now, sir, it is proposed to assist our brethren in Ohio, to lay the foundations of their commonwealth on this good old New-England basis; and if ever there was a region where it was peculiarly expe

dient that this should be done, most assuredly the western part of America, and the State of Ohio as much as any other portion of it, is that region. It is two centuries since New-England was founded, and its population, by the last census, fell short of two millions. Forty years ago, Ohio was a wilderness, and by the same enumeration, its population was little less than a million. At this moment, the population of Ohio, (the settlement of which was commenced in 1788, by a small party from our counties of Essex and Middlesex), is almost twice as large as that of our ancient and venerable Massachusetts. I have seen this wonderful State, with my own eyes. The terraqueous globe does not contain a spot more favorably situated. Linked to New-Orleans on one side, by its own beautiful river, and the father of waters, and united to New York, on the other side, by the lake and the Erie canal, she has, by a stupendous exertion of her own youthful resources, completed the vast circuit of communication between them. The face of the country is unusually favorable to settlement. There is little waste or broken land. The soil is fertile, the climate salubrious; it is settled by as true-hearted and substantial a race, as ever founded a republic; and there they now stand, a million of souls, gathered into a political community, in a single generation!

Now it is plain, that this extraordinary rapidity of increase requires extraordinary means, to keep the moral and intellectual growth of the people on an equality with their advancement in numbers and prosperity. These last take care of themselves. They require nothing but protection from foreign countries, and security of property, under the ordinary administration of justice. But a system of institutions for education,-schools and colleges,requires extra effort and means. The individual settler can fell the forest, build his log-house, reap his crops, and raise up his family in the round of occupations pursued by himself;—but he cannot, of himself, found or support a school, far less a college; nor can he do as much toward it, as a single individual, in older States, where ampler resources and a denser population afford means, cooperation, and encouragement, at every turn. The very fact, therefore, that the growth of the country in numbers has been unexampled, instead of suggesting reasons why efforts in the cause of education are superfluous, furnishes an increased and

increasing claim on the sympathy and good offices of all the friends of learning and education.

What, then, are the reasonable grounds of the claim, as made on us? I think I perceive several.

We live in a community comparatively ancient, possessed of an abundance of accumulated capital, the result of the smiles of Providence on the industry of the people. We profess to place a high value on intellectual improvement, on education, on religion, and on the institutions for its support. We habitually take credit that we do so. To whom should the infant community, destitute of these institutions, desirous of enjoying their benefits, and as yet not abounding in disposable means, to whom should they look? Whither shall they go, but to their brethren, who are able to appreciate the want, and competent to relieve it? Some one must do it; these institutions, struggling into existence, must be nurtured, or they sink. To what quarter can they address themselves, with any prospect of success, if they fail here? Where will they find a community more likely to take an interest in the object,-to feel a livelier sympathy in the want,-more liberal, more able to give, more accustomed to give?

It is not merely in the necessity of things, that young and rising communities, if assisted at all, should derive that assistance from the older and richer; but the period is so short, since we ourselves stood in that relation to the mother country, and derived from her bounty, benefactions to our institutions, that the obligation to requite these favors, in the only practicable way, is fresh and strong, and like that which requires a man to pay his debts. Dr Franklin was accustomed sometimes to bestow a pecuniary favor on a young man, and, instead of requiring payment, to enjoin the object of his bounty, when advanced in life, and in prosperous circumstances, to give the same sum of money, with a like injunction, to some other meritorious and needy young person. The early annals of our country contain many instances of liberality from beyond the ocean. Our own university and that of New Haven, were largely indebted,-particularly ours,-to pious and benevolent individuals in England. I know no mode of requiting these favors, (which we cannot repay to the country from which we received them ;—she wants nothing we can give,—) more nat