It is as
discreditable to the intellect and judgment of a free people to complain
of that which is right in itself, and rests upon established principles
of right, as to submit without resistance or murmur to usurpation or
misgovernment. I do not mean to undervalue the periodical press; but it
must always assume something in regard to its readers, and in politics
it must assume that the principles of government and the history of
national institutions are known and understood.
But the young man should subject himself to a systematic course of
training; and I know of nothing more valuable in political studies than
a thorough acquaintance with English history. Our principles of
government were derived from England; and it is in the history of the
mother country that the best discussion of principles is found, as in
that country many of the contests for liberty occurred. But, as our
government is the outgrowth rather than a copy of British principles and
institutions, the American citizen is not prepared for his duties until
he has made himself familiar with American history, in all its
departments. How ill-suited, then, for the duties of citizenship and
public life, in the formation of taste and habits of thought, is much of
the reading of the present time! And I may here call attention to the
fact that each town in Massachusetts is invested with authority to
establish a public library by taxation.
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