酷兔英语
    当前位置:
  1. 首页
  2. 文章
  3. 娱乐英语
  4. 原版小说
  5. 正文

AUTOBIOGRAPHY-Part8_THOMAS JEFFERSON(1743-1826)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

0 收藏 0 分享 0 赞

章节正文
文章总共2页
middle degree of instruction, calculated for the common purposes of



life, and such as would be desirable for all who were in easy

circumstances. And 3d. an ultimate grade for teaching the sciences



generally, & in their highest degree. The first bill proposed to lay

off every county into Hundreds or Wards, of a proper size and



population for a school, in which reading, writing, and common

arithmetic should be taught; and that the whole state should be



divided into 24 districts, in each of which should be a school for

classical learning, grammar, geography, and the higher branches of



numerical arithmetic. The second bill proposed to amend the

constitution of Wm. & Mary College, to enlarge it's sphere of



science, and to make it in fact an University. The third was for the

establishment of a library. These bills were not acted on until the



same year '96. and then only so much of the first as provided for

elementary schools. The College of Wm. & Mary was an establishment



purely of the Church of England, the Visitors were required to be all

of that Church; the Professors to subscribe it's 39 Articles, it's



Students to learn it's Catechism, and one of its fundamental objects

was declared to be to raise up Ministers for that church. The



religious jealousies therefore of all the dissenters took alarm lest

this might give an ascendancy to the Anglican sect and refused acting



on that bill. Its local eccentricity too and unhealthy autumnal

climate lessened the general inclination towards it. And in the



Elementary bill they inserted a provision which completely defeated

it, for they left it to the court of each county to determine for



itself when this act should be carried into execution, within their

county. One provision of the bill was that the expenses of these



schools should be borne by the inhabitants of the county, every one

in proportion to his general tax-rate. This would throw on wealth



the education of the poor; and the justices, being generally of the

more wealthy" target="_blank" title="a.富有的；丰富的">wealthy class, were unwilling to incur that burthen, and I



believe it was not suffered to commence in a single county. I shall

recur again to this subject towards the close of my story, if I



should have life and resolution enough to reach that term; for I am

already tired of talking about myself.



The bill on the subject of slaves was a mere digest of the

existing laws respecting them, without any intimation of a plan for a



future & general emancipation. It was thought better that this

should be kept back, and attempted only by way of amendment whenever



the bill should be brought on. The principles of the amendment

however were agreed on, that is to say, the freedom of all born after



a certain day, and deportation at a proper age. But it was found

that the public mind would not yet bear the proposition, nor will it



bear it even at this day. Yet the day is not distant when it must

bear and adopt it, or worse will follow. Nothing is more certainly



written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free.

Nor is it less certain that the two races, equally free, cannot live



in the same government. Nature, habit, opinion has drawn indelible

lines of distinction between them. It is still in our power to



direct the process of emancipation and deportation peaceably and in

such slow degree as that the evil will wear off insensibly, and their



place be pari passu filled up by free white laborers. If on the

contrary it is left to force itself on, human nature must shudder at



the prospect held up. We should in vain look for an example in the

Spanish deportation or deletion of the Moors. This precedent would



fall far short of our case.

I considered 4 of these bills, passed or reported, as forming a



system by which every fibre would be eradicated of antient or future

aristocracy; and a foundation laid for a government truly republican.



The repeal of the laws of entail would prevent the accumulation and

perpetuation of wealth in select families, and preserve the soil of



the country from being daily more & more absorbed in Mortmain. The




文章总共2页
文章标签:名著  

章节正文
Copyright © 2023 Qeto All rights reserved.
商务合作 | 联系我们 | 关于我们 | 版权声明 | 隐私条款 | 如果智培

京ICP备05059198号-1 京公网安备 11011202003401号