Europe, and was twin-sister of the papal maxim, that "ignorance is the mother of devotion." But the progress of light has exploded them both. In all well-informed communities, it is now universally admitted, that the labor of intelligent, free, independent operatives, is far more productive than that of ignorant serfs or slaves. This doctrine is advocated by the most distinguished political economists, such as Adam Smith, Say, and Malthus. What enlightened individual or company but would prefer to employ, so far as the mere matter of dollars and cents is concerned, the services of persons of intelligence and self-respect, and consequently, of skill and enterprise? By so doing, they find their account in the superior quality of the work performed-in the diminished expense of keeping their tools and machinery in repair in the smaller premium paid for insurance and supervision—and in partial relief from taxes for the support of pauperism and the prevention of crime. Vice is often compelled to pay homage to virtue; but it is a homage by no means more profound, than that which ignorance renders to intelligence. An intelligent agriculturalist-one who understands the nature of different soils, the best methods of cultivation, and the proper rotation of crops, will be far more successful in business, than

one who is ignorant of the scientific principles of husbandry. The merchant of intelligence and forecast more readily perceives those occasional tides in human affairs, which bear men on to fortune, than he who knows but little of the state of the market, and the condition of the world. like manner, those operatives in `a manufacturing establishment who are the most intelligent and enlightened, will, other things being equal, be the most skillful in the prosecution of their work—will command the highest wages, and be the most profitable to their employers. The principles of sound political economy, therefore, offer the highest premium for this description of labor, and present a cogent motive to mental improvement.

It is important,

3. As it elevates the character of manufacturing pursuits. There is a strong disposition in the public mind, to compare the moral character of our manufacturing establishments with that of those in Great Britain. Without at all appreciating the difference in the educational and moral condition of the two countries, in the habits and institutions of society, and in the standing and prospects for life of the operatives, many have imbibed the uncharitable and groundless impression, that the manufacturing establishments of our

country are to inherit the moral character of their predecessors in the old world. That the moral condition of most of the transatlantic manufacturing establishments is deplorable indeed, admits of no question. In a speech of Lord Chancellor Brougham, in 1833, he says, "ignorance prevails in Great Britain to a horrible extent." The British and Foreign School Society, not long since made this memorable declaration, "ENGLAND IS YET UNEDUCATED." Dr. Chalmers, in a speech made on a public occasion in 1834, repeatedly deplored the "practical heathenism," in which thousands of the population of Edinburgh live. He had recourse even to the strong figure, that it is necessary" to excavate the population, firmly imbedded in a mass of practical heathenism." And when we recollect, that more than seven eighths of the population of Great Britain obtain their living by labor, and that manufactures of many descriptions, are prosecuted to an extent which has no parallel in any other country, we can have no doubt, that the above cited declarations of the ignorance which prevails there, have emphatic reference to the operatives in the manufactories. Simpson, in his "Popular Education," also asks, "Who has not felt and deplored, in his intercourse with nearly the whole class of manual

laborers, even what are deemed the most decent and respectable, the mass of prejudice, superstition and general ignorance, which he is doomed to encounter? The working man," he says, "rarely knows how to better his lot in life, by rational reflection on causes and consequences, founded on early acquaintance with the simpler principles of trade, the state of particular employments, the legitimate relation between labor and capital, and between laborer and employer, the best employment of surplus earnings, the value of character, the marketable importance, to say no more, of sober and moral habits and intelligence; in short, on any practical views of the circumstances, which influence his condition. On the contrary, he is the creature of impressions and impulses, the unresisting slave of sensual appetites, the ready dupe of the quack, the thrall of the fanatic, and, above all, the passive instrument of the political - agitator."

Such, according to English testimony, is the mental and moral condition of the great mass of the laborers in the British manufactories. They are so profoundly uninformed as to their own position in the market of labor, and the due relation of labor and capital, that they are readily seduced to join combinations to extort larger wages and fewer

hours, both of which, if they could be obtained, would, in their present condition, only be misapplied to purposes of idleness and sensuality, and of course, be a curse instead of a blessing. By joining such short-sighted unions, they often throw themselves permanently out of the only employment with which they are acquainted, and plunge themselves and their families into all the horrors. of starvation.

That the manufacturers of our country will ever sink to such deep degradation, is, by no means, to be expected. But if, on the contrary, they would reach that high elevation of character, which is so desirable to every community, and which, considering the nature of our institutions, it is so easy for them to attain, the foundations of such intellectual and moral eminence must be laid in the thorough education of the children and youth.

II. But, in such communities as this, there are certain obstacles to great intellectual culture, which deserve our consideration.

1. The first of these is, want of time. From twelve to thirteen hours a day,* you are engaged

* A large proportion of the youth, to whom these Lectures were addressed, are engaged in the cotton manufacture. This fact will explain a few other expressions and allusions in these pages.