THE language of the United States differs little or nothing from that of the middle and southern counties of England. The slight peculiarities are chiefly such as relate to accent and intonation, and do not affect the sense. Most of the expressions which are now peculiar to the Americans, and especially to the Yankees, were in use by the ‘pilgrim fathers,’ at the time of their emigration, and to them, probably, ought to be attributed the nasal drawl of the least educated inhabitants of New England. The peculiar words of the Americans are too few to deserve particular notice. The educated men of all the states, and especially the inhabitants of the larger cities and towns, speak a language scarcely to be distinguished from that of the higher classes of the mother country. It is yet a question, in what part of the union it is spoken in its greatest purity, each of the different sections arrogating that praise to itself. Apractised ear, however, can distinguish a difference between them, so as to decide at once to what division the speaker belongs. The want of a capital, by which the standard can be fixed, is probably the cause of this variety. It may truly be asserted, that, on the whole, English is as well spoken in the United States as in the mother country, and that the jargon put into the mouths of Americans by foreign travellers, bears the same relation to the tongue actually spoken, that a gross caricature does to its original.

Education has met with few obstacles in the United States. Neither the interests and prejudices of an aristocracy, nor poverty and dependence of working classes have checked it in the least. State has vied with state in giving the means of instruction to the humblest individuals. Large tracts of land have been granted by the general government, for the support of schools in the new states, and a reservation is made in every new township for that purpose. In the old states, the legislatures have, by legal enactments, compelled every township to provide for the instruction of its population by assessment, and a punishment is provided for neglect. In the New England and some other states, education at the public expense is accounted one of the rights of freeborn citizens.95 It appears from the returns from a hundred and one of the towns of Massachusetts to the legislature, that the amount annually paid in those towns for instruction is one hundred and seventy-seven thousand, three hundred and forty-two dollars. Twelve thousand, three hundred and ninety-three pupils attend private schools in the same towns, at an expense of one hundred and seventy thousand, three hundred and forty-two dollars. In all these towns, the whole number of persons between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one, who cannot read and write, is only fifty-eight. In one considerable town, there are but three persons of the above-mentioned age who cannot read and write, and those three are deaf and dumb.

Infant schools have been established all over the union, with great benefit, and great attention has been given to the improvement of seminaries of all descriptions, as well as to the means of rendering teachers competent to their office. The press teems with myriads of books for the use of children, institutions for the improvement of teachers are established, thousands of associations for mutual instruction are formed, countless lectures are delivered, libraries are accumulated, and, in short, no means of disseminating knowledge is neglected.

The elements of knowledge being thus accessible to all, it follows naturally, that the wealthy should be desirous to give their children a more perfect education than elementary public schools can afford. There are, therefore, an almost infinite number and variety of private schools, in which children may be educated in conformity to the views which their parents may entertain for them. In some instances, public schools have intrenched materially upon private academies; in others, the case has been reversed. Females are not neglected in the same degree as in other countries—in some of the seminaries, they are taught Greek, Latin, the exact sciences, philosophy, botany, chemistry,&c.&c. The great fault of American instruction in general is, that it is superficial, some knowledge of many subjects being communicated, without a very thorough knowledge of any particular one. There are, however, many distinguished exceptions to this remark, and eminent scholars are yearly becoming more numerous.

There are more than sixty colleges in the United States, besides many academies, several theological seminaries, and numerous medical and law schools. Of all these, the most distinguished are Harvard university and Yale college. The object of nearly all of them is to give a thorough education, in languages, mathematics, and the sciences, and it cannot be doubted that most of them afford to the diligent student all the necessary means of acquiring such knowledge. Yet it is not to be denied, that very many of the students leave college studies for the more active pursuits of life, without having given sufficient time or pains to their studies, and in this respect, our universities will not, certainly, compare advantageously with those of England. The reason is obvious—in the old country, few students would spend the best of their years in celibacy and seclusion, in the pursuit of knowledge, were they not supplied with the luxuries of life by endowments, and cheered by the prospect of comfortable future establishments by provision of law. We may console ourselves for this manifest inferiority by the reflection, that if we have fewer great scholars than European nations, neither have we peasants or beggars.

The consequences of the superficial but universal diffusion of literature and science in the United States are remarkably singular. Literary productions of the lowest order exist in excess. We think we should not speak much amiss in saying, that more newspapers are published in this country than in all Europe. Agreat number of them are of an inferior character, being filled with virulent and crude political speculations, religious controversy, or rather vituperation, items of common-place intelligence, such poetry and literature as may be expected from writers beneath their majority, advertisements, puffs, and trash of all kinds. Some, which are purely political, mistake abuse for the energy of eloquence; others, which are devoted to the interests of the commercial classes, are chiefly filled with advertisements; some contain little beside invective against masonry or antimasonry, and not a few disgrace religion, under pretence of promoting its progress. The cause of this perversion of the press is very simple. The expense of starting a newspaper is so trifling, that any successful apprentice can establish one on arriving at his majority; and an excellent printer may make a very indifferent editor. Having once began to publish a print, he must conduct it on his own mental resources, for there are few establishments of this kind which can afford to pay for really valuable assistance. Yet, every state can boast of some public journals of higher character. There is also another class of journals which are really valuable, and which partake of the nature of magazines. These are periodical records of facts connected with trade, commerce, internal improvement, mechanical inventions, and matters connected with the proceedings of the national and state legislatures. Such are Niles’s Register, Blount’s Annual Register, and a few others of the same character.

The present number of magazines and reviews would seem to indicate a very rapid improvement in American taste and knowledge. Some years since, many abortive attempts were made to establish an American review, and the North American was the first to maintain its ground, and its improvement has been constant. It is now very well known, and often quoted in Europe. Silliman’s Journal of the Sciences is deservedly esteemed. There are also several monthly magazines of a very respectable character. The Knickerbocker, issued in New York, has acquired considerable notoriety. The New York Review, conducted by Professor Henry and J.C. Cogswell, Esq., is fast gaining a high reputation. “Colman’s Monthly Miscellany,” just issued, under the editorial direction of Grenville Mellen and William Cutter, gives promise of a good progress. Even the new western states are not wholly without periodical literature. Theological magazines are very numerous, and some of them are ably conducted. The Christian Examiner and Unitarian Advocate are the organs of Unitarianism. The Christian Spectator and Spirit of the Pilgrims are Calvanistic works, and, indeed, almost every sect in the union has its particular organ. Christians of all denominations will be disposed to question the merits of many of these; but none will deny that they are all useful in some degree, as they serve to awaken a spirit of inquiry. The annual publications are, the American Almanac, the merits of which are denied by none, and which is constantly improving; and the Annual Register, also a very useful work. The beautiful books of the New Year, as the Annuals may perhaps be called, can receive no other notice here of course, than as they may be considered as evidence of improvement in the arts.

Literature, in the form of both poetry and prose, is certainly taking a ground, in the United States, increasingly honorable to writers and to the cause. Still, our novels, though many are striking, and some powerful, want the vigor of another day, as exemplified in Brown. Useful books can have no better champion than they find in the name of Sedgwick. The drama, it may be observed, has been illustrated in latter days, by efforts that reflect honor on some of our poetical writers. Meritorious law books of American production are not rare. The labors of Chancellor Kent are an honor to the science of jurisprudence. In history, we have Judge Marshall’s Life of Washington, Belknap’s History of New Hampshire, and well-written histories of most of the old states. Many more writers we have, whose pens have been employed merely on matters of local and temporary interest. Still, however, our literature has not kept pace with that of the mother country. Little has been done to encourage it, and many causes have contributed to retard its growth. It has been in a great measure superseded by foreign publications, which the American bookseller can republish without paying the author, and which he therefore prefers. There is little honor and less profit in the pursuits of our writers. Our mechanics become wealthy by hard labor, whereas our writers might starve, did they depend on their pens. There is a great demand for all things which are of practical, tangible, every-day utility, but a very limited one for fine reading. Few of our people have the leisure and fortune which might enable them to cultivate literature and science advantageously. Under these circumstances, most of what is written is done hastily, and consequently badly done. But notwithstanding the great number of discouraging circumstances, enough has been well done to indicate the existence of much talent and learning.96

We have already alluded to the general feeling in regard to education. The strength of this is exhibited in the great number of common schools and colleges. Institutions by this name are to be found perhaps more frequently than the cause of sound scholarship requires. If the funds which are now distributed through so many small establishments were concentrated on a few universities, advantages might be enjoyed which will now be in vain sought. It is much to be regretted that measures have not been taken for the erection of a national university, which the general government of the country might endow with privileges and means sufficient for its permanent success.

At the head of the collegiate institutions in the United States, is Harvard university, originally styled Harvard college, at Cambridge, three miles west-north-west of Boston. In the year 1636, the general court advanced four hundred pounds towards the establishment of a college, which was incorporated in 1638; and the same year, the Rev.John Harvard died, leaving a legacy of seven hundred and seventy-nine pounds, seventeen shillings, and two pence, to the college, which, on account of this donation, was named Harvard college. Its endowments have since, from time to time, been greatly increased by donations from the state, and many munificent private benefactors. The university comprises the collegiate department for undergraduates, or the college, properly so called, and the theological, law, and medical departments. It has four halls, four stories high, for the accommodation of undergraduates; two halls containing the library, cabinet of minerals, the chapel, and various other public rooms; a divinity hall, a law hall, and a medical hall, (which last is situated in Boston,) and other buildings. The university library contains upwards of forty thousand volumes, of which thirty-five thousand, five hundred, are in the general library, three thousand in the law, one thousand in the medical, six hundred and fifty in the theological library: and there are libraries belonging to the students, which contain four thousand, five hundred volumes. The philosophical and chemical apparatus, and the cabinet of minerals, are extensive, and very valuable. The property in possession of the university, exclusive of the college buildings, library, apparatus, and grounds adjoining to the buildings, according to the treasurer’s report, dated October, 1832, amounted to:

The institution is under the legislative government of a corporation, consisting of seven members, and of a board of overseers, consisting of thirty elected members, together with the governor, lieutenant governor, the members of the council and senate, the speaker of the house of representatives, and the president of the university, ex officio.

Yale college was established in 1700, at Saybrook; incorporated in 1701; and removed to New Haven in 1716: the first commencement at Saybrook was in 1702; the first at New Haven, in 1717. It derives its name from Elihu Yale, of London, (but a native of New Haven,) governor of the East India company, who was one of its principal benefactors; it received from bishop Berkeley one thousand volumes of books; and since its foundation it has, from time to time, received benefactions from various individuals, and also from the state. It has, for some years past, had a greater number of students than any other college in the United States. It possesses ten valuable buildings, two of them of stone, the others of brick; four of which are college halls, one hundred feet by forty, four stories high, containing thirty-two rooms each for students; and another hall is soon to be erected. It has the finest cabinet of minerals in the United States, a good chemical and philosophical apparatus, and a library of eight thousand, five hundred volumes; and there are libraries, belonging to the students, containing ten thousand, five hundred volumes. The funds of this institution, considering its reputation and number of students, are small; and it is supported chiefly by tuition fees. The whole amount of the funds of the different departments, exclusive of buildings, library, apparatus,&c. is stated at eighty or ninety thousand dollars. According to the statement of the treasurer, subscriptions have lately been made for the benefit of the college, by six hundred and eighteen individuals, of one hundred and seven thousand dollars, of which forty-one thousand dollars have already been paid. The college is under the legislative government of a corporation, consisting of the president of the college, the governor and lieutenant governor of the state, and the six senior senators, ex officio, and ten clergymen.

Connected with this institution, is a law school, theological department and medical institution.

The legislature of Virginia, at the session of 1817–18, adopted measures for establishing an institution, then proposed to be named Central College, and twenty-four commissioners were appointed to select a site for it. They accordingly selected a pleasant and elevated spot, nearly two miles from Charlottesville, in the county of Albemarle, not far from the centre of the population of the state. Their choice was confirmed by the legislature in 1819, and an act was passed, incorporating the institution, by the title of the University of Virginia, which went into operation in 1825. It was erected and endowed by the state; and it owes its origin and peculiar organization chiefly to Mr.Jefferson. It has a fine collection of buildings, consisting of four parallel ranges, about six hundred feet in length, and two hundred feet apart, suited to the accommodation of nine professors, and upwards of two hundred students; which, together with the real estate, cost three hundred and thirty-three thousand, nine hundred and ninety-six dollars. It possesses a very valuable library of eight thousand volumes, and a philosophical apparatus, which, together, cost thirty-six thousand, nine hundred and forty-eight dollars. The state gives annually fifteen thousand dollars for the support of the institution. The whole annual income of the university is about eighteen thousand, five hundred dollars. The professors are paid, partly by a fixed salary, and partly by fees received from the students; but the sums which they severally receive are widely different, varying, in ordinary years, from sixteen hundred to three thousand, five hundred dollars.

The plan of this university differs materially from that of other institutions of the kind in the United States. The students are not divided into four classes, with a course of studies embracing four years; but the different branches of science and literature here taught are styled schools. The following particulars are extracted from the ‘Regulations,’&c. Students are not admitted under sixteen years of age; every one is free to attend the schools of his choice, and no other than he chooses; provided, that if under the age of twenty-one, he shall attend at least three professors, unless he has the written authority of his parents or guardian, or the faculty shall, for good cause shown, allow him to attend less than three. In each school, there are three regular lectures a week; besides which, there are, in most of them, extra lectures, suited to the several classes into which the school is divided. The mode of instruction is by text-books and lectures accompanied by rigid examinations.

Three honorary distinctions are conferred by this institution; a certificate of proficiency,—that of graduate of any class,—and that of master of arts of the University of Virginia. No particular period of study is prescribed for the acquisition of these honors. The student obtains them whenever he can undergo the rigid examination to which the candidates for them are subjected. The title of doctor of medicine is conferred on the graduates of the medical department.

There is but one session annually, commencing on the tenth of September, and ending on the twentieth of July. Commencement is on the last day of the session, when there are public exercises, and at the same time the certificates and diplomas are awarded. Number of students, in 1833, one hundred and fifty-seven.

Kenyon college, at Gambier, in the central part of a tract of land belonging to it, five miles east of Mount Vernon, and fifty-two north-east of Columbus, was founded, in 1828, by the exertions of bishop Chase, who went to England in 1823, and returned in 1825, having there obtained for it about thirty thousand dollars; and he gave to the college the name of ‘Kenyon,’ from lord Kenyon, one of its principal benefactors, and to the town the name of ‘Gambier,’ from lord Gambier, another of its benefactors. It has received considerable additions to its funds from individuals in several of the states; and it possesses eight thousand acres of land. The college edifice, which is of stone, contains thirty-six rooms, and forms only one third part of the entire design. The library contains two thousand, three hundred volumes. The college is under the direction of a board of sixteen trustees, of which the bishop of Ohio is president ex officio. The college has connected with it a theological department and a grammar school.

It does not fall within our plan to give a particular description of the numerous collegiate institutions throughout the country. In addition to this account of the most prominent establishments, we have added a list of colleges in the appendix, for which, as well as the previous descriptions, we have been indebted to the American Almanac for 1834. To that valuable work we refer the reader for a collection of much useful and interesting matter on the subject of education in the United States.

‘Less attention,’ says Mr.Cooper, ‘is paid to classical learning here than in Europe; and, as the term of residence (at our colleges) rarely exceeds four years, profound scholars are by no means common. This country possesses neither the population nor the endowments to maintain a large class of learned idlers, in order that one man in a hundred may contribute a mite to the growing stock of general knowledge. There is a luxury in this expenditure of animal force, to which the Americans have not yet attained. The good is far too problematical and remote, and the expense of man too certain, to be prematurely sought. Ihave heard, Iwill confess, an American legislator quote Horace and Cicero; but it is far from being the humor of the country. Ithought the taste of the orator questionable. Alearned quotation is rarely of any use in an argument, since few men are fools enough not to see that the application of any maxim to politics is liable to a thousand practical objections, and, nine times in ten, they are evidences of the want of a direct, natural, and vigorous train of thought. They are the affectations, but rarely the ebullitions, of true talent. When a man feels strongly, or thinks strongly, or speaks strongly, he is just as apt to do it in his native tongue, as he is to laugh when he is tickled, or to weep when in sorrow. The Americans are strong speakers and acute thinkers, but no great quoters of the morals and axioms of a heathen age, because they happen to be recorded in Latin.

‘The higher branches of learning are certainly on the advance in this country. The gentlemen of the middle and southern states, before the revolution, were very generally educated in Europe, and they were consequently, in this particular, like our own people. Those who came into life during the struggle, and shortly after, fared worse. Even the next generation had little to boast of in the way of instruction. Ifind that boys entered the colleges so late as the commencement of the present century, who had read a part of the Greek Testament, and a few books of Cicero and Virgil, with, perhaps, a little of Horace. But great changes have been made, and are still making, in the degree of previous qualification.

‘Still, it would be premature to say, that there is any one of the American universities where classical knowledge, or even science, is profoundly attained, even at the present day. Some of the professors push their studies, for a life, certainly; and you well know, after all, that little short of a life, and a long one too, will make any man a good general scholar. In 1820, near eight thousand graduates of the twelve oldest colleges of this country (according to their catalogues) were then living. Of this number, one thousand, four hundred and six were clergymen. As some of the catalogues consulted were several years old, this number was, of necessity, greatly within the truth. Between the years 1800 and 1810, it is found that of two thousand, seven hundred and ninety-two graduates, four hundred and fifty-three became clergymen. Here is pretty good evidence that religion is not neglected in America, and that its ministers are not, as a matter of course, absolutely ignorant.

‘But the effects of the literary institutions of the United States are somewhat peculiar. Few men devote their lives to scholarship. The knowledge that is actually acquired, is, perhaps, quite sufficient for the more practical and useful pursuits. Thousands of young men, who have read the more familiar classics, who have gone through enough of mathematics to obtain a sense of their own tastes, and of the value of precision, who have cultivated belles lettres to a reasonable extent, and who have been moderately instructed in the arts of composition, and in the rules of taste, are given forth to the country to mingle in its active employments. Iam inclined to believe that a class of American graduates carries away with it quite as much general and diversified knowledge, as a class from one of our own universities. The excellence in particular branches is commonly wanting; but the deficiency is more than supplied by variety of information. The youth who has passed four years within the walls of a college, goes into the office of a lawyer for a few more. The profession of the law is not subdivided in America. The same man is counsellor, attorney, and conveyancer. Here the student gets a general insight into the principles, and a familiarity with the practice of the law, rather than any acquaintance with the study as a science. With this instruction, he enters the world as a practitioner. Instead of existing in a state of dreaming retrospection, lost in a maze of theories, he is at once turned loose into the jostlings of the world. If, perchance, he encounters an antagonist a little more erudite than himself, he seizes the natural truth for his sheet-anchor, and leaves precedent and quaint follies to him who has made them his study and delight. No doubt he often blunders, and is frequently, of necessity, defeated. But in the course of this irreverent treatment, usages and opinions, which are bottomed in no better foundation than antiquity and which are as inapplicable to the present state of the world, as the present state of the world is, or ought to be, unfavorable to all feudal absurdities, come to receive their death-warrants. In the mean time, by dint of sheer experience, and by the collision of intellects, the practitioner gets a stock of learning, that is acquired in the best possible school; and, what is of far more importance, the laws themselves get a dress which brings them within the fashions of the day. This same man becomes a legislator, perhaps, and, if particularly clever, he is made to take an active part in the framing of laws, that are not to harmonize with the other parts of an elaborate theory, but which are intended to make men comfortable and happy. Now, taken with more or less qualification, this is the history of thousands in this country, and it is also an important part of the history of the country itself.’

We may not inappropriately introduce in this connection the following account of the Military academy at West Point, for which we have been indebted to an able article in the North American Review for January, 1832.

The main object of the institution is to qualify the pupil for the performance of all the duties of a military life; and, by way of preparation, he is carefully disciplined in the various duties of a soldier and officer, from the handling of a musket, to the commanding of armies. The use of the various instruments of attack and defence; the construction of military works, both permanent and temporary, and the most approved methods of attacking and defending these works; the manner of conducting the marches of armies, and of disposing of the different arms, with a view to their mutual protection and assistance in cases of emergency; minor tactics, or the evolutions of troops, whether in small or large numbers; and the more complicated and exalted principles of grand tactics, or strategy, are each in turn carefully attended to, so far as theory and the lessons of experience extend.

Besides these military subjects, studies of a different nature are made to engage a large portion of the pupil’s attention during the last year. Civil engineering, in its multifarious departments, viz. the construction of roads, canals, bridges, and rail-roads, together with the elements of carpentry and architecture, holds an important rank. As architecture is becoming daily more interesting to the public at large, its encouragement and advancement cannot be too strongly recommended. Adeficiency of taste and information upon this subject is but too evident in many parts of our country; and any institution, which tends to diffuse the correct and chaste principles of this art, deserves to be cherished and encouraged. Afine collection of casts, representing the most celebrated buildings of antiquity has recently been procured from France for the Military academy; and there is every reason to hope, that it will tend materially to improve the department of architecture.

The studies that have now been enumerated, together with rhetoric and national and constitutional law, embrace the chief objects of attention at this institution. Acursory glance at this course of instruction will be sufficient to convince the observer, that it comprehends much useful information. Yet there are many, who profess to believe the academy not only useless, but absolutely injurious, in its effect upon the public interests. They maintain, that genius and courage alone are enough to insure distinction in the military profession. They say, that all our citizens are soldiers, and that competent officers can be selected from among them, whenever military services are necessary; and they, doubtless, honestly believe, that to become an able officer is not a very difficult matter. But, with due respect for the sincerity of these opinions, we must confess our preference for the doctrine of our illustrious Hamilton; who says, that ‘war, like most other things, is a science to be acquired and perfected by diligence, by perseverance, by time, and by practice.’ These few words, coming as they do from a statesman of acknowledged genius and wisdom, are entitled to the most respectful and deliberate attention. That great man had investigated, with the most keen and discerning scrutiny, the many and complicated causes of national grandeur and infirmity. He had especially weighed the mighty causes, which had elevated, sustained, and overthrown the various contrivances of men for self-government; and he was of the unqualified opinion, that a national military establishment was indispensable to our peace and security. The reasons which led him to this conclusion are, doubtless, familiar to most of our readers, and still operate with undiminished influence. All, however, must acknowledge, that a military establishment without skilful officers, would be about as inefficient as powder and bullets without a gun, or a vessel without helm or compass. But how is this skill to be ‘acquired and perfected?’ Doubtless, ‘by diligence, by perseverance, by time, and by practice.’ These objectors should hesitate, before they destroy one of the most useful instruments by which this benefit is to be secured.

Such an instrument is the Military academy. Before they attempt to subvert so noble an edifice, they should reflect, that it is not always wise to suffer speculation to prevail over experience. They should remember the consequences, which have heretofore resulted from the want of military science and skill, before they labor to expose us anew to similar evils. They ought not to forget, that nations, as well as individuals, are liable to be overwhelmed by adverse events, whose approaches cannot be foreseen, or guarded against by any sudden exertion of art or power; that a hitherto unknown responsibility rests upon the citizens of this republic, an obligation greater than ever was imposed upon any other political society; and that we ought, at least, to pause, before we divest ourselves of any of those securities, upon which the peace, the progress, and the stability of our institutions may depend.