or inconvenience arising from their prosecution could be imagined by timid and cautious minds, will remain destitute of their benefits to the end of time. There are many individuals in every community who, like the sluggard, always imagine that "there is a lion in the path" that leads to the attainment of great objects, and, lacking courage to move forward themselves, endeavor to alarm others by depicting difficulties and dangers which have no other existence than in their own imaginations.

We have noticed what we regard as the most dangerous symptoms of a commercial revulsion; and, while we admit that if these symptoms remain unchecked for an indefinite period, they must prove fatal to our present prosperity, we, nevertheless, believe that it would be difficult to recur to a time in the history of this country, when its capacity for accomplishing great works was greater than at present.

The unqualified expression of this opinion may be regarded by some individuals, as imprudent at a time when strong symptoms of speculation are observable in many parts of the country; and when, too, the excess of imports continues to be augmented. But we regard those who endeavor to inspire the minds of the people with apprehensions of immediate ruin, as having mistaken the means of preventing the evils which they desire to avoid; for, whilst overwrought pictures of danger are disregarded by the shrewd and more daring portion of the community, they tend to prevent prudent and timid individuals from investing their means in enterprises, calculated to develop the resources of the country. The surest method by which overtrading and speculation can be prevented, is to encourage the employment of capital in productive branches of industry; for in no other way can the prices of property and labor be so regulated, as to bear a just and permanent relation to their true value.

Uninterrupted prosperity for a few years in succession, has uniformly, in this country, been followed by a revulsion more or less disastrous. And not comprehending the true causes which produce this result, or unwilling to admit their own indiscretions, those who suffer most, generally attribute their misfortunes to the policy of the Government. It cannot be doubted that there is a lack of wisdom in the national legislature, as well as amongst the people; and every branch of industry being more or less affected by legislative action relating to foreign commerce, it requires a high degree of intelligence and sagacity on the part of the statesman to foresee the more distant effects of any law designed to regulate trade. But this prominent feature in the history of American commerce and finance, is derived from the economy and habits of the people-formed with reference to their social condition and the abundant resources of the country which remain undevelopedrather than from legislative action.

Perhaps no other people profit so little by practical illustrations

of the fundamental principles of political and individual economy, as do the citizens of the United States. An individual labors with moderate success for many years, and, by investing his profits in productive property, gradually increases his wealth: during this period he will make no investment in property, unless convinced that the profits will be certain, and it is dificult to draw him into any kind of enterprise, where the profits depend on contingencies. But should a few years of unusual prosperity occur, he will abandon the principles, to the observance of which he owes his success, and become a speculator. He discovers that town lots and unimproved lands are advancing in price; and, actuated by a desire to grow rich suddenly, it would seem that the teachings of experience and observation are obliterated from his memory, and he rashly hazards the acquisitions of many years in the purchase of property which yields no revenue, and at prices far above the nominal value at which it was formerly estimated, even by himself.

Another abandons his farm or workshop and becomes a merchant; and, finally, the idea of accumulating wealth by purchasing, instead of producing it, becomes prominent in every mind. While debts and the expenses of living rapidly increase, production as rapidly declines, until individual credit is brought into requisition to supply the deficiencies; but, this expedient failing, banks and other corporations are created as the last desperate effort to sustain, for a season, a state of things now rapidly drawing to a fatal conclusion.

In treating this subject, we have aimed to state the facts fairly; for, be the condition of man whatever it may, he cannot be benefitted by misleading his judgment. We have endeavored to show that, while there is no serious cause of alarm, yet there is reason for the exercise of more than ordinary caution. The eastern States have enjoyed an unparalleled degree of prosperity through a period of many years; the development of the resources of the South and West, which in times past contributed to their wealth, begins to act in another direction; and they now find it necessary to adopt artificial means to sustain their controlling influence over the industry and commerce of the nation. In this they are struggling against natural laws, which must prevail in the end; and a reaction in their financial condition may be regarded as an inevitable consequence. Such an event could scarcely happen there without producing a temporary check in the West: but if we look well to our own condition and avoid the creation of debts beyond our certain means of payment, we shall escape the misfortunes which usually attend great commercial revulsions. In the mean time let us encourage the establishment of manufactures and the opening of mines; for upon these pursuits our agriculturists must finally rely for a market. They constitute the true and only solid foundation of our commercial independence, and will serve to protect us against the revulsions of other countries.

ARTICLE II.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF JNO. AUG. WILLIAMS, A. M.,

PRESIDENT OF CHRISTIAN FEMALE COLLEGE, delivered BEFORE THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES, AT HIS INSTALLATION, IN THE TOWN OF COLUMBIA, BOONE COUNTY, MISSOURI, APRIL 7TH, 1851.

AMONG the many improvements that distinguish the present age, that which has been made in the Science of Education, is one of the most important. Since the revival of Letters indeed, the acquisition of useful and polite learning has been the employment of the more favored youth, among all civilized nations; and now an education is regarded as essential to the happiness of every individual. Still, it is a recent inquiry which has sought after the best means of enlightening and developing the mind, and comparatively modern taste or policy has elevated the office of Instructor to the rank of a learned profession.

Such, however, have been the circumstances of the American citizen, particularly in Western or younger States; so absorbed has he been in the settlement and cultivation of a rich and extensive territory, that he has, in a great measure, failed to reap or to appreciate those advantages, which have resulted from improvements in this interesting department. Education is, consequently, trammeled with much error; error, which philosophy and enterprise have elsewhere discovered and corrected. Although a zeal, a liberality, in behalf of this cause exist in many portions of our own land, worthy indeed, the imitation of any people, yet, unfortunately, this zeal is often found to espouse the most fatal errors, and this liberality to be successful in their support.

It may not be improper, on this occasion, to advert, in a brief and familiar manner, to some of these evils, and to intimate, as we proceed, that remedial course we design to pursue in this, our young, and, I trust, our favored Institution.

In this practical, matter-of-fact age, nearly everything is estimated according to its pecuniary advantages. Office, honor, skill, and reputation, are sometimes valued solely in consideration of the annual amount which they secure to the possessor. The advantages of scholarship, in the estimation of some, indeed of many, consist in the increased facilities they afford in the accumulation of wealth. Even the rudimental key-reading, writing, and calculation-is desired, not because it opens to the student the rich stores of intellectual treasure, but because these simple, yet invaluable attainments are necessary to render him an accomplished business man; to make him familiar with forms, pricescurrent, and commercial details. Even science and literature are sometimes considered merely as useful instruments in the field

of profitable discovery, or in the department of mechanical invention; these often bear a mercantile value, computable in dollars and cents-the great exchangeable representative of human worth, wants, and opinions.

As an illustration of the nature and tendency of this popular notion, we might remark that those distinguished philosophersFulton, Franklin, and Morse-while eminently conspicuous in the walks of science, and deservedly esteemed for many excellencies of character, moral and intellectual, have a fame awarded them at this day, which few of their contemporaries have received; not so much in consideration of the moral benefits which have accrued to society from their labors, but rather, because their several inventions have filled the coffers of government, have increased the revenue of the nation, and replenished the purse of the citizen. The monuments which these celebrated men have erected for themselves -the rod, the steamer, and the telegraph-will, doubtless, remain imperishable, when the labors of a Howard, a Dix, or a Mathew, shall have been forgotten.

The influence of this notion is most deleterious. It sinks the intellectual into the commercial character; it degrades scholarship into a lucrative accomplishment; it converts a laudable ambition into a sordid avarice; and makes reason, taste, and fancy subservient to the petty schemes of a selfish aggrandizement.

So true is it, that almost everything bears a specific value, determined by gold, and expressed in the denomination of the Federal Table, that even the dialect of the counting-room has become applicable in the definition of moral and intellectual subjects. The term worth, for instance, which once expressed the price of merchandize, is now used interchangeably with merit, or moral excellence; and talent, which formerly designated a certain amount of money, is now expressive of a certain amount of intellectual ability.

Truly, we live in a golden age!—not like that which the poet's fancy has described, when man lived supremely blessed, amidst the tranquil scenes of innocence. simplicity and bliss, where every affection of the heart, and faculty of the mind was pure and vigorous, and found its proper exercise and gratification in the objects which surrounded him; but we live in an age when all our hopes and fears, our tastes and desires, our energies of soul and body, are too often concentrated in the miserable pursuit of a gilded phanAs a people, we have, like Israel of old, turned to the worship and service of a splendid idol, at the very moment when the God of Science was communing most freely with us. We have decked the golden calf with laurel snatched from the brow of the scholar and philanthropist-thus adorning the object of our idolatry with the spoils of literature, and often of christianity.

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No wonder then, that the popular view, with respect to EDUCATION partakes so largely of this pecuniary character, and that

consequently, much that renders learning the noblest of acquisitions is overlooked. No wonder, that the highest and best attainments of mind are depreciated, and the cultivation of a delicate taste, a logical discrimination, and a refined fancy is neglected. No wonder that the statesman so often gives place to the demagogue, the economist to the shrewd speculator, and the philosopher to the inventor of patented machinery. No wonder that banking houses are more numerous than colleges-that more tickets are sold at the lottery table than at the door of the lecture room. No wonder that salaries are more desired than wreaths of laurel, and that there are more adventurers to El Dorado, than pilgrims to Mount Parnassus !

Were we, however, to conform to the customs of the age, in the calculation of the value of an education, we might find sufficient reasons for regarding it as pre-eminent with respect to its actual pecuniary advantages.

A sound, rational education is, emphatically, the poor man's wealth, the orphan's best legacy; a rich, imperishable legacy, which a youth of industry never fails to bequeath to manhood. It is a capital into which time, health and energy, are always easily convertible. In the language of political economy, capital is any material or element whatever, which, when combined with the requisite labor, will yield the comforts or elegancies of life. Uncultivated lands, hoarded coin, unexplored mines, are, in fact, utterly valueless in this isolated and passive condition. But they become the resources, the wealth of a nation, when married to human industry. It is, likewise, an established principle, that in order to determine the intrinsic value of any thing that comes under this denomination, we do not apply the ordinary rules of mensuration alone, but we look likewise, and chiefly, to the industrial products, as the fair exponent of its capital value. We thus compute the value of a section of land, not by ascertaining its area in roods and acres, but by looking at the annual harvest returns which an average amount of industry will produce. In fine, that is the most valuable species of capital, which, with any given amount of labor, will yield the largest per centum of profitable result. A consideration is always paid to any peculiarity in its nature or circumstances, which may affect its intrinsic value-as its liability to loss or injury.

To apply these principles to the subject before us: Knowledge, agreeably to the language of this practical and pecuniary age, is a productive capital, an immaterial stock, capable of yielding a certain amount of profits, when combined with the requisite labor. To estimate the commercial value of a polite and finished education--such as may be attained by young gentlemen, and, I might add, young ladies, in our universities and colleges-we are authorized by the spirit and custom of the age, to look at the usual