Indian affairs, an engineer office, an ordnance office, an office for the commissary general of subsistence, a paymaster-general's office, and a surgeon-general's office. This department has the superintendence of the erection of fortifications, of making topographical surveys, of surveying and leasing the national lead mines, and of the intercourse with the Indian tribes. The military peace establishment of the U.States was fixed, by act of congress of March 2, 1821, at 6000 men. The army, as organized according to this law, is under the command of one major-general, and two brigadier-generals. It consists of four regiments of artillery (2240 men), and seven regiments of infantry (3829 men). This might be increased to 12,000 men without a proportionate increase of the expenses in the war department, the number of privates being reduced as low as possible, while the officers are kept up on a scale adapted for thrice the effective numerical force; by which arrangement the general expenses are diminished in time of peace, and a sufficient number of officers are in readiness on the breaking out of war. This circumstance, and that of the high price of labor in the U. States, render the expenses of the military peace establishment much greater in proportion than those of the European powers. It appears, from the report of the secretary of war (Dec., 1831), that the U. States now have, in serviceable condition, 465,000 muskets. The annual demand to supply the necessary loss in the army and the militia, and to furnish the issues to the respective states, is 18,300: the number manufactured in the public armories is about 25,000, which, with 11,000 made at private works, gives a total annual production of 36,000. In 1815, there were but 20,000 in the arsenals. There are at present 623 cannon for field service, and at the arsenals and in the old fortifications 1165, of antiquated patterns, and, with the exception of about 400 pieces, unserviceable. 1214 cannon of the improved pattern have been procured for new fortifications, in addition to which, 2587 are required; and for works now constructing, 4045 pieces will be necessary. The U. States have no public armories for the fabrication of can

non.

The number of militia is 1,262,315;

Post-offices in 1790,

but the organization is very defective. The military academy at West Point, supported by the federal government, consists of the corps of engineers, professors and teachers, and 250 cadets, who are trained to the duties of privates, of noncommissioned officers, and of officers. To the bureau of Indian affairs, all matters touching the Indian relations are referred. This bureau is subordinate to the department of war.-4. The navy department was created by act of congress of April 30, 1798. The secretary issues all orders to the navy of the U. States, and superintends the concerns of the navy establishment in general. The board of navy commissioners, consisting of three officers of the navy, in rank not below that of a post-captain, was established in 1815. The board is attached to the office of the secretary of the navy, and, under his superintendence, discharges all the ministerial duties of that office relative to the procurement of naval stores and materials, and the construction, armament, equipment and employment of vessels of war, as well as other matters connected with the naval establishment of the U. States. There are navy-yards at Portsmouth (N. H.), Charlestown (Mass.), Long Island (N. Y.), Philadelphia, Washington, Gosport (Va.), and Pensacola. The naval force consists of twelve ships of the line, seventeen frigates, sixteen sloops of war, and seven smaller vessels. (See Navy.) Two dry docks have been completed at Charlestown and Gosport, at an expense of $500,000 each, and timber has been procured for five ships of the line, five frigates, and five sloops of war.-5. The postmaster-general has the appointment of the postmasters throughout the U. States, the making of contracts for carrying the mails, and the direction of every thing relating to the post-office department. The revenue arising from the post-office has been principally expended upon the extension and improvement of the establishment, by which means the regular conveyance of letters, newspapers, pamphlets, &c., has been extended to the inhabitants of every part of the Union, even to the remotest territorial settlements.

1800, 1810, 2300

903

66

1,875 20,817

1820, 4500

1830, 8450

38

In July, 1831, the number of offices was 8686. The amount of postage accruing in 1829 was $1,707,418; in 1830, $1,850,583; in 1831, $1,997,811; the expenses of the department during the latter year, $1,935,559, of which 635,028 was in compensation to postmasters, and $1,252,226 for transportation of the mail. (See Post.) 5. Education. The general education of all classes has no where been so much attended to as in the U. States, where it is well understood that free institutions can be rendered secure only by the diffusion of intelligence among the citizens. A remarkable proportion of the first colonists of New England were educated men. The tone which they imparted has never been lost; and the principle which they established, that the education of the community should be carried on at the common expense, has never been abandoned in the states they planted, but has been successively adopted by other states, until, at last, though its practical operation has been extended only to eight or nine, its soundness and importance are acknowledged by all. From this principle has grown up whatever is peculiar in American education: and in order to understand how this is carried on, and how it differs from education in other countries, it is necessary to trace its operations through the three stages of instruction provided for or protected by law in the different states-common schools, or free schools, supported at the public expense; incorporated academies; and incorporated colleges. 1. Common Schools, or Free Schools. It is obvious that the character of the mass of the people will be formed in these schools, because the great majority cannot, from their circumstances, afford to seek higher or better education than can be obtained in them. These schools, therefore, demand the first attention in a free state, and, happily for New England, received this attention so early, that they have always constituted the foundation of what is most peculiar and valuable in the character of its inhabitants. (See Schools.) One of the advantages of the system is, that the whole population is made to take a direct personal interest in the business of education, and to carry it on in the way best suited to supply the general wants. The people, in their town-meetings, vote the money, by their committees spend the money, and by their children get the benefits of the outlay: the whole management of the schools is directly in their hands. Another great advantage is, that the schools are support

ed by a tax upon property, although this remark does not apply strictly to all the states, in some of which there is a public fund for bearing a certain proportion of the expense. But every where in New England, except in Connecticut, they are supported by a tax on the property of all. It is therefore an arrangement eminently beneficial to the poorer classes of the community. In most towns, one fifth of the inhabitants pay at least one half of the tax, and, instead of sending one half of the scholars, do not send one sixth. Of course the school tax is substantially a tax on the rich to educate the children of the poor; and it is thus equally beneficial in its operation upon both parties. The poor have the promise of the law and the constitution that their children shall be educated, and thus preserved from the greatest temptation to crime: the rich are assured that they shall live in a community where universal education shall keep the foundations of society safe, and afford them a greater personal security than the law can offer. In this way the system of free schools, as practically carried into operation in New England, is to be regarded as a great moral police, to preserve a decent, orderly and respectable population; to teach men, from their earliest childhood, their duties and their rights; and, by giving the whole mass of the community a sense of character and a general intelligence, make them understand the value of justice, order and moral worth, and more anxious to maintain them than the law itself can be. The means of improvement being thus given to all, we find daily examples, in the U. States, of men raised to the most commanding influence from the poorer classes of the obscurest villages, who, but for the opportunity offered by the free schools, at their own doors, to make the first step in their career, would never have risen from the humble station in which they were born. The following remarks are from an article in a number of the Quarterly Journal (published in London), written by professor Ticknor of Boston, from whom we have received the materials for these remarks on education in this country:-"This system of universal education has now, therefore, become, to a remarkable degree, the basis of the popular character which marks the two millions of people in New England. The laws, indeed, differ in the six states, and have been altered in cach, from time to time, since their first enactment; but all the states have laws on the subject: the

leading principles are the same in all of them; and the modes of applying them, and the results obtained, are not materially different. Indeed, in almost every part of these six states, whatever may be the injunctions of the law, the popular demand for education is so much greater, that the legal requisitions are generally or constantly exceeded. The most striking instance of this is, perhaps, to be found in the city of Boston, where the requisitions of the law could be fulfilled by an expenditure of three thousand dollars annually, but where from sixty to seventy thousand are every year applied to the purpose. And yet multitudes of the poor and small towns in the interior show no less zeal on the subject, and, in proportion to their means, make no less exertion. The mode in which this system of popular education is carried into effect is perfectly simple, and is one principal cause of its practical efficiency. The New England states are all divided into territorial communities called towns, which have corporate privileges and duties, and whose affairs are managed by a sort of committee annually chosen by the inhabitants, called selectmen. These towns are of unequal size; but in the agricultural portions of the country, which contain four fifths of the people, they are generally five or six square miles; and upon them, in their corporate capacity, rests the duty of making provision for the support of free schools. This duty is fulfilled by them, in the first place, by voting, at a meeting of all the taxable male inhabitants over twenty-one years old, a tax on property of all kinds to support schools for the current year, always as large as the law requires, and often larger; or, if this is neglected by any town, it is so surely complained of to the grand jury by those dissatisfied inhabitants, who want education for their children, that instances of such neglect are almost unknown. The next thing is to spend wisely and effectually the money thus raised. In all but the smallest towns, one school, at least, is kept through the whole year, in which Latin, Greek, the lower branches of mathematics, and whatever goes to constitute a common English education in reading, writing, geography, history, &c., are taught under the immediate superintendence of the selectmen, or of a special committee appointed for the purpose. This, however, would not be carrying education near enough to the doors of the people, in agricultural districts, to enable them fully to

avail themselves of it, especially the poorer classes and the younger children. To meet this difficulty, all the towns are divided into districts, varying in number, in each town, from four to twelve, or even more, according to its necessities and convenience. Each district has its district school committee, and receives a part of the tax imposed for education; sometimes in proportion to the population of the district, but oftener to the number of children to be educated. The committee of the district determine where the school shall be kept, select its teacher, choose the books that shall be used, or delegate that power to the instructer, and, in short, are responsible, in all particulars, for the faithful fulfilment of the trust committed to them; the general system being that a school is kept in each district during the long winter months, when the children of the farmers are unoccupied, by a male teacher capable of instructing in reading, writing, arithmetic, English grammar, geography and history; while in the same school-house, during the summer months, schools are kept by women, to instruct the smaller children in knowledge even more elementary. In this way, for the population of New England, consisting of two millions of souls, not less than from ten to twelve thousand

free schools are open every year, or, on an average, one school to every two hundred souls a proportion undoubtedly quite sufficient, and larger than would be necessary, if the population were not in many parts very much dispersed."*.

*On this point no one has spoken with more debate, to the free schools, where he himself repower than Mr. Webster, who, alluding, in public ceived his earliest training, said,-" In this particular, New England may be allowed to claim, I think, a merit of a peculiar character. She early adopted, and has constantly maintained the principle, that it is the undoubted right, and the bounden duty of government, to provide for the instruction of all youth. That which is elsewhere left to chance, or to charity, we secure by law. For the purpose of public instruction, we hold every man subject to taxation in proportion to his property; and we look not to the question whether he himself have, or have not, children to be benefited by the education for which he pays. We regard it as a wise and liberal system of police, by which property, and life, and the peace of society, are secured. We seek to prevent, in by inspiring a salutary and conservative princisome measure, the extension of the penal code, ple of virtue and of knowledge in an early age. We hope to excite a feeling of respectability, and a sense of character, by enlarging the capacity, and increasing the sphere of intellectual far as possible, to purify the whole moral atenjoyment. By general instruction, we seek, as mosphere, to keep good sentiments uppermost,

2. The common or free schools give instruction in the elements of an English education (reading, writing, arithmetic, geography), and in the larger towns teach Latin and Greek. The public legislation goes no further in its requisition, but has generally stood ready to assist the people, whenever they have shown themselves disposed to go beyond this point. This is visible in the number of academies, incorporated by law for the purposes of giving higher instruction than can be obtained at the common schools. Individuals desirous of securing better teaching for their children than the law provides, associate together and raise funds, obtain an act of incorporation from the legislature for the management of their funds, and sometimes receive a grant of money from the public authorities. These institutions are often also founded by charitable donations of individuals, and are supported in part by the tuition fees of the pupils, which are generally very low. They give instruction in the ancient languages, and often in French, with the lower branches of the mathematics and natural philosophy. Children from the neighboring towns are sent to them, and are prepared for the colleges, or for active life as traders, mechanics, farmers, &c. There are about 500 such institutions in the country, and they are of great importance, by bringing the means of a useful practical education within the reach of a very large portion of the community. 3. The last step in education, of which the government and the people take any direct cognizance, is in the colleges, which are incorporated institutions, possessing more or less funds, a regular body of teachers, and the power of conferring de

and to turn the strong current of feeling and opinion, as well as the censures of the law, and the denunciations of religion, against immorality and crime. We hope for a security, beyond the law, and above the law, in the prevalence of enlightened and well-principled moral sentiment. We hope to continue and prolong the time, when, in the villages and farm-houses of New England, there may be undisturbed sleep within unbarred doors. And, knowing that our government rests directly on the public will, that we may preserve it, we endeavor to give a safe and proper direction to that public will. We do not, indeed, expect all men to be philosophers or statesmen; but we confidently trust, and our expectation of the duration of government rests on that trust, that, by the diffusion of general knowledge and good and virtuous sentiments, the political fabric may be secure, as well against open violence and overthrow, as against the slow but sure undermining of licentiousness." (Journal of Debates in the Convention to revise the Constitution of Massachusetts, 1821, page 245.)

grees. (See Colleges.) The oldest and amplest of the colleges is Harvard college, in Cambridge, founded in 1638. (See Cambridge.) The example of Massachusetts was early followed by the other colonies; and in 1776 there were eight of these institutions in the U. States. The number at present is sixty, differing, however, extremely in the extent of the course of studies, the number of teachers, and other advantages which they afford to the students. The course of studies in all of them lasts four years, and embraces Greek, Latin, natural philosophy, mathematics, metaphysics, moral philosophy, chemistry, &c.; but all these studies are pursued very superficially, as may be inferred from the circumstances of the age and qualifications of the pupils when they enter the institution, and of all being required to pass through the same course without regard to the very unequal attainments, and the different talents and objects of each. The colleges have done much good in preparing many, in some degree, for their professional studies; but they do not give that thorough education which is now more and more felt to be wanted in the country. The period of education is itself too limited; most young men, in the U. States, completing their preparatory studies at about the age of eighteen. These remarks, though still applicable, in all their force, to nearly all the institutions of the country, are less strictly true at present of two or three of the oldest, in which attempts have been made to introduce a better method of study. On leaving the colleges, the young men who have been educated in the manner described, have hitherto, with few exceptions, entered upon the study of one of the three professions; but at present those who devote themselves to the business of manufacturing and engineering are more numerous than formerly. Beyond the colleges little has been done by public legislation for education. The law, medical and theological seminaries have been generally established and maintained by the exertions of private individuals, although this remark is not without exceptions. There are at present twenty-six theological seminaries in the Country; but a small portion of the clergy have, as yet, been educated in these institutions, most of which are, indeed, yet in their infancy. The great body of the clergy pursue their studies under the direction of some individual clergyman, or do not study at all. The standard of theological instruction in the U. States must