pils, of those attending the latter institutions, and a large increase, of those dependent on the common schools for instruction. The aggregate of school taxes in that State for the year 1843, amounted to more than half a million of dollars, and from January 1 to December 1, 1843, the sum of money drawn by towns and school districts from the school fund, in behalf of school libraries, as appears from Mr. Mann's Report, was $11,295.00; while, during the same time, there was received into the State Treasury, in behalf of the same fund, the sum of $12,400.24. We have referred to the results in Massachusetts, because that State was the first one in the Union to introduce the common or free school system, and because, after a long probation there, it has triumphed over all obstacles and has become the object not only of State pride, on account of the rare advantages it has secured to its citizens in achieving the great ends of education, but because it has been the model system to other States in the Union, who have been anxious to establish common schools within their limits.

In the State of New-York, it is a condition of the school law, and a very judicious one, that there shall be assessed on each town for the support of schools, an amount equal to that which is apportioned to the town from the State Treasury, and this sum may be, and frequently is, increased largely by a vote of the town. In 1826, the late Governor Clinton, in his annual message to the Legislature, computed that one-fourth of the entire population of New-York was receiving instruction annually in the common schools alone, 400,000 children being taught in those institutions, and the sum of $200,000 being expended upon their instruction. There were at that time 8000 common schools in the State. In 1838, the sum of $55,000 was appropriated by act of the Legislature annually for district libraries, those towns only to share in the appropriation which raised an equal amount. In 1840, about half a million of valuable books were in the public libraries, and nearly $100,000 expended, during that year, for the purchase of new works; and, it was estimated, that in the space of five years from that time, there would be two millions of works, of a popular and useful character, in constant and active circulation among that portion of the people who were unable to purchase books, but who stand in need of the information which they impart.

In Connecticut, Common Schools have always been favorite institutions and an object of peculiar care to the State. From the Report of the Commissioner of the School Fund to the Legislature, in 1826, it appears that the principal of the fund, consisting in bonds, stock, lands and cash, amounted to $1,719,434, upon which the interest accruing was $116,288. The whole number of persons in the State be tween the ages of four and sixteen, according to the enumeration before us, were 84,851,-the number of school societies in the State, 203,-the whole amount of money divided to them during the past year, was $72,123.25, being at the rate of eighty-five cents to each person enumerated. Notwithstanding these princely and permanent arrangements for the support of common schools in that State, the amount distributable from the school fund to each individual, being, in proportion to the population, nearly four times as much as in the State of New-York, the people have found it desirable to raise by taxes an additional fund for the support of schools. The secretary of the board of commissioners, in his annual report for the year 1841, recommends that $12,000, or twice that amount of the income of the school fund, should be set apart as library money, to be drawn by towns and districts only on condition that a like amount be raised by tax or individual subscription.

In Michigan, as we learn from the very able and luminous Reports of the Superintendent of Education in that State, Mr. F.Sawyer, great efforts have been made to sustain a complete and thorough system of Common Schools, which have been, to a considerable extent, eminently successful. No people seem to be more interested in the cause of popular education, than the intelligent citizens of that State. The schools are supported chiefly by the fund resulting from the donation of public lands by the federal government, which we regret to discover has, from various causes, failed to yield as large a revenue as was expected, and the State, accordingly, will, ere long, like other and older States, be obliged to resort to the practice of levying taxes on its citizens for the support of schools, a measure to which their patriotism will doubtless readily submit. Three-fourths of the pupils in that State are in attendance on the common or public schools, while only one-fourth receive instruction in the private schools and academies. In Connecticut, the proportion of the last

class of pupils, compared with that attending the common schools, is at present about one-eighth of the whole.

In Pennsylvania, the common school system has been introduced, and is now in successful operation in that great commonwealth. The schools are supported by a tax levied upon the inhabitants of those townships which agree to adopt the system provided by act of the Legislature. County commissioners are appointed for each county, who ascertain the number of pupils therein, and of orphan children deliver a list to the schoolmen of the district, from which they select the most deserving, and it is their duty, also, to make an annual report of the condition of the schools to the Secretary of State, who makes a report to the Legislature. The schoolmen provide teachers, books and apparatus, superintend the schools, keep an account of expenditures, and visit the schools, which are open to children of every description. The city of Philadelphia has taken the lead in carrying forward the system. We have no recent statements, but from the ninth annual report of the comptroller of public schools, it appears that in the course of nine years, subsequent to the organization of the system, 21,514 pupils passed through the schools of mutual instruction, and 1,940, in the country schools, making the total number of children educated in the public schools of the county of Philadelphia, during that period, amount, in round numbers, to 23,444.

It would be easy to multiply these statistics, by references to the messages of governors, the reports of commissioners and superintendents, and the acts of legislature of the different States which have introduced the common school system, but the instances cited are sufficient to show, that the system is a practical one, and that it answers the great ends of popular enlightenment for which it was intended. The question arises, whether it cannot be advantageously and generally introduced into the Southern States, and be rendered equally instrumental in training the minds of our children and youth, and of diffusing the blessings of light and intelligence among all classes of our citizens. The subject, we fear, has not received the attention from our Legislatures, which it should have done. We have been too impatient, and where the system has been introduced among us, and has not worked as well as was hoped, we have been too ready to pronounce it impracticable, and to dispense with those efforts which are necessary to the success of any VOL. VI.-No. 12.

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plan of such magnitude,-a plan which, from its very nature, was likely to encounter the indifference of some and the prejudices of others, and which, only after repeated trials, failures and successes, could be expected to obtain an unquestionable title to the public confidence.

We are happy to see the late movement that has been made to introduce the system into New-Orleans. It has been attended thus far with the most fortunate and flattering results. That great and thriving city had long contended with the evils resulting from an imperfect organization of its schools. No government had been more liberal, and almost lavish, in the appropriation of money for the support of schools, than Louisiana, and of this munificence NewOrleans had her full share of the resulting benefits; but improvidence prevailed in appropriations, and, above all, method was wanting; she had no great system of public schools, like New-York and Boston, for the whole community, and, while her numbers have been increasing with unexampled rapidity, and she has been advancing in arts, in civilization, in institutions, in commerce, till she occupies a position, second in the interest she excites and in her prospects, to no other city in the Union, the inadequacy of the provisions she had made for the proper instruction of her superabundant population, was an evil of which the pressure has been sensibly felt. We have before us the first and second annual Reports of the condition of the Public Schools in the second Municipality, prepared by its worthy and public spirited Recorder, the Hon. J. Baldwin, and an Address delivered at the request of the Directors of the Public Schools of that Municipality, on the 22d of February, 1843, by the Hon. T. H. McCaleb, Judge of the District Court of the United States for Louisiana, a distinguished scholar, as well as an eminent jurist. We have placed the titles of these pamphlets at the head of this article, and shall avail ourselves of the information they contain to give our readers a brief account of the history of this noble and successful movement in behalf of the cause of public education at the South.

The act of the Legislature of Louisiana, authorizing the Municipalities of New-Orleans to establish public schools in that city, was passed February 14, 1841. Shortly after the passage of this act, the Council of the First Municipality created a Board of Directors of Public Schools, who, together with the Standing Committee on Public Education, were

authorized to prescribe rules and discipline for the schools, to direct the system and course of education therein, and to select teachers. This body was organized on the 15th May, 1841, and immediately and vigorously entered upon the discharge of the duties assigned to them. Despairing of success in any attempt to remodel existing institutions, which they regarded as a mere apology for a system of education, they determined to commence entirely de novo. With this object in view, they resolved to secure the services of some gentleman of eminence, acquainted with the most approved methods of education in modern times, who should come at once upon the spot, and aid them in organizing a system. Application having been made to that distinguished philanthropist, the Hon. Horace Mann, Secretary of the Board of Education of Massachusetts, to recommend some person suitable for the purpose, he suggested the name of the Hon. J. A. Shaw, as a gentleman every way fitted by his education, learning, talents and experience, to meet their views and expectations, and he was accordingly engaged, and entered upon his duties about the close of the year 1841, with a school of twenty-six pupils. At the end of a month the names of three hundred and nineteen pupils had been registered, and at the expiration of a year, eight hundred and forty were in attendance upon the public schools, and the names of thirteen hundred and ninety-seven had been registered as belonging to them, and as having participated in their advantages. The number of pupils, at the end of the same year, in attendance on the schools, was 1,217; and, at the time we are now writing, is about 1,450. The gross expenditure of the Second Municipality for the support of the schools, amounted, during the first year, to $21,459.27; the second year, to $21,000; the Municipality having received from the State, the first year, the sum of $1,893.51, and, the second year, that of $2,200. The ordinary expenses required to support the schools, during the fiscal year terminating with the month of May last, were the following,viz: Principal Superintendant's salary, $2,500; 1 Assistant do., 960; I do., 840; 2 do., each 800, 1,600; 1 do., 780; 1 do., 20; 1 do., 600; 1 do., 540; 3 do., each 500, 1,500; 4 do., each 420, 1,680; 7 do., each 360, 2,520; house rent, 1,800; books and stationery, 1,500; contingencies, 460. Total, $18,000.