LXXXII. BOOK voluntary contributions, sometimes from small glebes, fixed funds, or land. It is seldom so large as to prove a temptation to the worldly-minded; but when a congregation is numerous, it is generally sufficient to support the clergyman respectably. In populous towns it is from 2000 to 4000 dollars, (£450 to £900 ;) but in country places it is greatly lower, and is sometimes paid in kind, or raised by penny-a-week associations. A gratuity varying from five to twenty dollars, is usually presented to the clergyman at a marriage. For these slender emoluments, the Americans secure the services of a body of moral, faithful, diligent, and often well-educated clergymen, among whom, fox-hunting and sinecures, and non-residence are unknown. Missionary and Bible societies, and religious institutions of all kinds, are fully more numerous than in Britain in proportion to the population. The Sabbath in some places is kept from sun-set on Saturday, to sun-set on Sunday.* Colleges. There are upwards of forty colleges or universities in the United States, of which Harvard and Yale are the most celebrated; but most of these are less perfect than the kindred establishments in Europe; and classical and scientific education is generally in a much lower state. Harvard university in Massachusetts, has fifteen literary and six medieal professors, and generally from 300 to 400 students. The three terms amount to nine months in the year, and the vacations to three; the academical course is completed in four years, and the expense of a student's board and education is about 500 dollars (£110) a-year, on the lowest scale.(a) Among the theologians of this university, Socinianism is al * For the state of religion in North America, see Morse, I. 206. Warden, chap. 49. Duncan's Travels, (1823) Letter 20. Hodgson Letters from North America, II. 212-230, and passim; and Dwight's Travels, IV. 309-456. (a) {Harvard University, at Cambridge, has a president, 3 professors in theology, 2 in law, 5 in medicine, and 6 or 7 in literature and the sciences, besides 6 tutors and 3 instructors in the modern languages. The system comprising the advantages of the English and Scottish plans of education, is fully adopted in this seminary. The annual vacations, since 1825, comprise only 10 weeks. The necessary expense, including board, instruction, text-books, fuel, and all charges except clothing, amounts to from 220 to 235 dollars a year. See the "Annual Catalogue for 1825."-AM. ED. most universally prevalent. Yale college in Connecticut is BOOK less richly endowed than Harvard, but enjoys an equal re- LXXXII. putation. The faculty consists of a president, nine professors, four medical examiners, and six tutors. The students, except those whose parents live in the town, board within the college. At this seminary, the advantages of the English and Scottish systems are to a considerable extent combined. The scope for original discussion, and elegance of illustration which lecturing affords, is connected with the more laborious and effective discipline of tutors and examinations; the students are not considered as passive recipients of knowledge, but are stimulated to the active exercise of their own powers. All the classes are subjected to a rigorous examination twice a-year; and those examinations, with the numerous exercises prescribed, and the severe discipline enforced, drive away the laggard and disorderly members, and insure a respectable proficiency in those who receive degrees at the end of the fourth year. This college had 412 students in 1820. Most of the other universities and colleges are organized on the same principles.* Public provision to a less or greater extent, is made in Schools. almost all the States for the support of common schools. In the old States, funds have been set apart for this purpose from time to time out of the public taxes or property. In the New States, one square mile in every township, or one thirty-sixth part of all the lands has been devoted to the support of common schools, besides seven entire townships for the endowment of larger seminaries. Throughout New England, the means of education are generally ample; and a grown person unable to read and write, can scarcely be found. In the southern States, where they were more deficient, a zealous attention to the subject has been lately awakened; and families in sequestered situations unite to procure teachers for the children at a great expense. But no State in the Union, and no country in the world, is so amply provided with the means of elementary instruction as *Duncan's Travels, Letters 3d and 5th. Hodgson's Letters, I. 387. BOOK the state of New York ;(a) in which, there were, in 1825, no LXXXII. less than 7,382 common schools, affording education to 400, Literature. 534 young persons, which rather exceeds the fourth part of the whole population. In the middle and eastern States, the people are more universally educated at present, than in any other part of the world; and there is every probability, that the western and southern States will soon share in the same distinction. It is to this circumstance, to the superior degree of comfort the people enjoy, and to the elevation of character nourished by their republican institutions, that we must attribute the non-existence of any class in the United States to which the term mob, populace, or rabble, can be applied.* The growth of a native literature in the United States has been impeded by several causes. First, the number of well educated persons living in idleness, who cultivate taste, and encourage its cultivation in others, is comparatively small. Secondly, the universal addiction to gainful pursuits, and the striking success which repays them, dishearten persons from engaging in occupations that do not fill the pocket. But thirdly, by far the greatest impediment is the existence of the more advanced literature of England, in the very language of the country. Though the political connexion has ceased, the United States, in what regards literature, are nearly as much a province of Britain as Yorkshire or Ireland. So long as British writers furnish the standard by which transatlantic works are tried, native American writers will not receive justice; and while American publishers can import and reprint, without risk or expense, works already stamped with the approbation of British critics, and the British public, they will feel the least inclined to engage in the doubtful and hazardous speculation of publishing the original products of American (a) [In all the New England states, except Rhode Island, the towns and townships are divided into districts of convenient size, in which schools are supported at the public expense, and thus place the means of elementary instruc tion within the reach of all the inhabitants.]-AM. ED. * Warden, chap. 48. Morse, passim. Walsh's Appeal, (1819) p. 297. genius. Besides, the appetite for knowledge, and the sort BOOK of amusement which reading affords, like the desire for LXXXII. clothes and luxuries, requires a certain, and only a certain supply; and in the one case, as in the other, when the article can be cheaply imported, the native manufacture is discouraged. America, however, is rapidly acquiring a literature of her own; and the productions of her press already begin to attract attention in Europe. In one department of literature, of a humble indeed, but a most useful description, the United States stand unrivalled. We allude to their Newspaper press. There were but seven Newspapers published in the United States in 1750 ;* but in 1810 papers. there were 359, (including twenty-five published daily.) which circulated 22,200,000 copies in the year. In 1825 they had increased to the astonishing number of 598 according to the following table, published in New York. Periodical Press of the United States in 1825. The number of copies circulated in the year, by these journals, probably exceeds 30,000,000. In the British isles in 1821, with twenty millions of people, the number of newspapers was estimated to be 284, and the copies printed annually 23,600,000. The whole of continental Europe, containing 160 millions of inhabitants, where the press is chained down by royal and priestly jealousy, cer Dwight's Travels, IV. 345. † Lord John Russel's Speech on Reform, April 1822, p. 42. LXXXII. BOOK tainly does not support half the number of journals which exist in the United States alone. They are superficial observers who attach a small importance to this humble branch of literature. Though none of the American papers equal the best of those published in London, the periodical press of the United States taken altogether, is the most powerful engine for diffusing mercantile, political, and general information, for stimulating the activity, and operating on the minds and morals of the people, which has ever existed in any country. No duty is paid, either on the papers themselves, or on the advertisements they publish. The price of a weekly paper is about two dollars per annum, or twopence each number, that of a daily paper from eight to ten dollars, or one penny halfpenny each number. A single paper sent by post pays one cent (a halfpenny) for any distance under 100 miles, and a cent and a half for all greater distances; and pamphlets (a) may be transmitted by post at the same expense. The following are the dates of a few of the principal events in the history of the United States. 1607. First settlement made by the English. 1776. July 4. The Independence of the United States proclaimed. 1782. Nov. 30. 1787. Sept. 17. 1789. March 4. 1797. 1801. 1809. Peace concluded with Great Britain. Inauguration of George Washington as president. 1812. June 18. War declared against Britain. 1814. Dec. 24. Peace concluded. 1917. Inauguration of James Monroe as president. [1825. Inauguration of John Quincy Adams as president.]-AM ED. (a) [The rate of postage on pamphlets has been increased by a law which went into operation in 1825. Periodical pamphlets pay 1 1-2 cents on each sheet for 100 miles or less, and 2 1-2 cents for a greater distance; pamphlets not periodical, 4 cents on each sheet for 100 miles or less, and 6 cents for a greater distance.-AM. ED. |