not present, and as this is the first opportunity which has been presented to me to express my views, I have embraced it; and I now ask the members of this convention to pause and reflect before they inflict any injury upon a portion of our citizens who are entitled to our sympathy and to the benefits of education at our hands, before they compel the legislature to carry out a system fraught with such injustice to this class of people, whom they are so anxioes to protect and benefit.

It is partly in view of these reasons, and partly because there has been no call for a change in this particular, that I am opposed to the amendment of the gentleman from the county of Philadelphia. I hope it will be nega. tived, and that we shall still go on, as we have done heretofore, under the provision of the constitution of 1790. And whenever it is found the common school system works well, let it be extended to every district.— But let it be left discretionary with the legislature to establish the system only in those districts where they are desirous to have it, and not to force it upon those in which the people have a system of their own with which they are better satisfied.

Mr. M'CAHEN then modified his amendment by inserting before the word "schools," where it occurs in the second line, the word " common."

Mr. CHANDLER, of Philadelphia county, rose and said;

Mr. President. The modification which the gentleman from the county of Philadelphia, (Mr. M'Cahen) has made, meets my views, and adds to my desire that the amendment should be agreed to.

I little thought, a few weeks ago, that I should stand here to advocate any change in the constitution of 1790. At all events, I little thought that I should hear upon this floor a decision that the amendment proposed by the committee of which I was a member (although my signature does not appear to the report,) should be voted down here, when at Harrisburg it was adopted, after a debate, by a vote of 80 yeas to 38 noes. But, sir, a change has come over us, and we must meet it as best we can. If the fathers call so loud for bread from the harvest field, we, at least, ought not to turn round and give their children a stone.

It is said that the constitution as it now stands with reference to this subject of education, works well. It does not work at all; there is scarcely a school in the commonwealth that is not in violation of the constitution. They are far beyond the provisions of the constitution. The overseers of the poor do indeed whip the little urchins into some corner of the city, until the parents come for them. But we have built school-houses of sizes to accommodate the children of our citizens, and there they are congregated altogether; where the son of the laborer, the child of the mechanic, and the son and daughter of the school director himself receive the same education, and becomes the recipient of that learning which was formerly locked up in store for the rich alone.

It is said that there has been no call for this change; that the people have not asked it at our hands. Sir, about twenty years ago, a solitary voice went up at one corner of the state, and a solitary answer was heard in another. At length another voice was heard. Petitions began to be presented; and these petitions and memorials went before the legislature

every year, gaining numbers and strength, until at length something was done on the subject of education, Was all this done without a call!

Mr. DARLINGTON, of Chester, asked leave to explain. The gentleman from the city, (Mr. Chandler) had not correctly apprehended the purport of the remark which he (Mr. D.) had made. I did not say, continued Mr. D., that there had been no call for a system of common school education. What I said was, that there had been no call made upon this convention for a change in the provision of the constitution of 1790.

Mr. CHANDLER resumed.

The people called for a change, and the constitution prohibited that change; and as I understand it, the people have sent us here to make such changes as are necessary, to open the doors of their school-houses that they may receive all who are disposed to enter them.

I understand, then, that there is a change called for-that the voice of the people asks for it. We have seen political parties call for a change, as that under which they would act; and probably that consideration may have had such an influence upon us as to induce us to change our

votes.

It has been said, that we are about to open the doors of our schools too wide. Can the doors be opened too wide to the children of the commonwealth, when we recollect that the governor of our state, only three years ago, told us thet there were in Pennsylvania three hundred and seventy thousand children, who did not know the letters of their alphabet-who could neither read, nor write. And yet a fear is manifested that we open the doors of our schools too wide; that evil is to be apprehended from the mighty influx of scholars, who may flow in so soon as the doors are thrown open to them. I trust in God that the current may set so strongly in, that all the children in the commonwealth may be educated, and that we shall never again hear a report from our governor, the details of which may cast such a disgrace on the people of this great commonwealth.

The education of the poor is dwelt upon. Certain gentlemen in this convention feel a particular anxiety in their behalf. Sir, we are not sent here to legislate for the poor. We are not here as a convocation of the overseers of the poor-nor to levy poor taxes, nor to bestow eleemosynary aid. We are here to legislate for the whole state, and for nothing but the whole state; and we are here, upon this very question, to provide the means of education prayed for in all the petitions which have been heard. We are here in short, to provide for the wants of the people. Shall we go back to the old constitution, and erect behind some fence, or within the partitions of some prison domain, a hovel for the poor to be educated in? Shall we continue to keep alive this distinction between the various classes of our citizens? Is this the course of policy we are to adopt in the present enlightened age of the would? If there is any place where all men should be equal it is in the school-house and the grave. If we go back to the constitution of 1790, we shall check every step that has been taken in the progress of our system of education.

If we return to the old constitution, we shall revive all the sectarian schools that have started up in different parts of the state-the Jew in the synagogue the Catholic in his place of worship. And the boys in the streets will renew the old crusade which we witnessed years ago, when here and there a child received a little education.

Mr. President, I was much astonished to hear the allusions made by the gentleman from Chester, on my right, (Mr. Darlington) to the agitation papers in the state. I thank God that, so far as the subject has been agitated, the public prints have done the credit to themselves and the justice to the public, to agitate this question until we shall not be able to get clear of it. As to the charge which has been made that the advocates of this system are courting popularity in the arguments they have made, I must say that I did not expect to hear an enlightened representative from Chester county-the Athens almost of our own state-I say, I did not expect to hear such a gentleman say, that a man who had the boldness to stand up as the advocate of public schools and of general education, was courting popularity. I could if I chose-though I will not wrong myself by doing so-but I might if I chose, find motives in the position which the gentleman from Chester occupies at this time, which might lead others to suppose that he was courting popularity in his own district. I think better of him, however, and know that he would be the last to resort to such means to obtain personal objects.

But, I will ask that gentleman, what should we court from the poor? Surely, not their favor and support. They, probably, might court those in the convention who are rich, but we can acquire nothing from them. It is probable, however, that we may incur the dislike of the rich for the course we are pursuing. I desire to court the public, when I court at all, by advocating means of promoting the public good and adding to the public happiness. I care not whether they are rich or poor. I care not whether I acquire the esteem of one class or of another, so that the public in general is satisfied; and I shall be perfectly content if any popularity which it may be in my power to acquire, comes from the lighting up in the countenances of the poor man a smile of intelligence :-from giving to him and to every man the power to read the constitution of the state in which he lives, that he may look to it as his light and guide of his steps in his political life, and enabling him to read the word of God, which is to be the light and guide of his steps in all things relating to the life which is to come. I court this more than any empty honor which I might obtain by trying to separate the poor and the rich-by again awaking that principle which once existed here among us-and which now I hear exists in different parts of the commonwealth-sending the poor to poor schools, and the tendency of this system to make the rich good and the poor bad. I ask nothing for the poor alone: but I stand here as the advocate of the commonwealth. I ask that all, all may be educated -and that all may be able to claim the benefits which are now extended only to a few.

Mr. FULLER, of Fayette, said that he was in favor of the amendment of the gentleman from the county of Philadelphia, (Mr. M'Cahen.) The section as it was amended in committee of the whole, (said Mr. F.) was open to one objection, as I stated when I addressed the convention this morning-I allude to the words "all persons." These words make the

provision altogether too indefinite, and are calculated in my opinion to alarm the fears of those who entertain prejudices against the general features of a system of education, and this was the sole reason why I was opposed to the report of the committee of the whole. The motion of the gentleman from Luzerne, (Mr. Bedford) to strike out all after the word "state" would, if it had prevailed, have struck out that part which I conceived to be objectionable. But the gentleman withdrew his proposition.

The provision of the constitution of 1790 has, in my opinion, been violated by the legislature of Pennsylvania, in adopting a law providing for a general system of education. That law has not provided for the education of the poor gratis; because the poor are taxed in proportion to their property.

The amendment of the gentleman from the county of Philadelphia, (Mr. M'Cahen) brings the matter, I think, more in conformity with what the legislature and the people may have had in view;-it appears to cover the whole ground, that is to say, that the children of the commonwealth. without regard to rich or poor, shall receive the benefits of education. The difficulty which will be experienced if we re-enact the provision of the constitution of 1790, will arise from the latter clause. In different parts of the state, it has been raised as an objection to the law made under the provision of the old constitution, that it is a violation of that provision. If that section is suffered to remain as a part of the amended constitution, the same objection will still be urged; and I think that gentlemen must perceive that the law now existing is at variance with the constitution. The amendment of the gentleman from the county of Philadelphia, will remedy all this-will make the provision acceptable, and I have no doubt will meet the views of the people.

This subject has been discussed in committee of the whole at Harrisburg; and it is not necessary now to enter into any discussion as to the propriety of a general system of education.

Mr. DICKEY, of Beaver, said that he supposed there was not a single member of the convention who was not in favor of educating every child in the commonwealth, or who was opposed to extending the benefits and the blessings of education to every person in it.

But, continued Mr. D., though this may be the universal feeling of the convention as I do not doubt that it is-still there may be some question as to the expediency of adopting the amendment of the gentleman from the county of Philadelphia, which is similar in character to the report of the committee of the whole which was negatived this morning, with the exception that the word "children" in the former, is inserted in the place of the word "persons" in the latter.

Mr. President, I do not stand here to declare myself the advocate of the common school system in Pennsylvania; because it is known not only that I am its professed advocate, but that I have shown myself ready in the legislature to support and sustain that system, even at the hazard of popularity. I voted for the bill of 1833-4-known as the common school bill. I was one of the number who resisted its repeal-and which repeal would have taken place, as I have at a former time, when this sub

ject was before us, taken occasion to remark, but for the noble and patriotic course of the gentleman from Adams, (Mr. Stevens) who came to the rescue and saved it.

I am the friend of that system, here and every where; and so anxious am I that the benefits of education should be diffused, that I am not willing to do any thing calculated to agitate the subject to array against each other the advocates of the school system and those who are opposed to it; when the result of such a state of things may be that you will not even have your "poor" educated at all.

Mr. President, we should do in this instance as we are compelled to do in many others. We must take things as we find them. We should act upon this important subject of education, according to the circumstances in which we find the commonwealth placed in regard to it. Is it not known to every gentleman within the sound of my voice, that the provision in the constitution of 1790, which declares simply that "the legislature shall as soon as conveniently may be, provide by law, for the establishment of schools throughout the state, in such manner that the poor may be taught gratis," remained a dead letter, so far as concerned the children of the commonwealth generally, until the establishment of the common school system under the act of 1833-4. There was a provision that the poor should be educated gratis, but that did not become a law until the year 1809. And under that act of 1809, many of the poor children of this commonwealth, have received the benefits of education. In Montgomery county, the funds for that purpose were equal to four or five thousand dollars. Such also was the case in Chester and other counties.

It is not to be forgotten, that in reference to the common school system in this state, we are met by many serious prejudices. Of this fact, the members of this body are as well aware as myself. They know that those prejudices exist, and they know that the common school system, as now established by law, is not of an imperative character. The law leaves the matter to the voluntary action of the people; and at the same time, as a means of leading the people to its acceptance, the law holds out inducements for that object in the shape of appropriations of money from the public treasury. The result is, that an amount of money has been distributed for the advancement of this great project, which has induced a large portion of the people to adopt it. In addition to these appropriations, a certain sum has been added by way of tax; and we learn by the report of the superintendant of common schools of the last year, that, out of about one thousand districts, upwards of seven hundred have accepted the law; thus leaving between two and three hundred districts, of the most dense population, who have not accepted it—but who still resist, and set themselves in array against it.

Looking at these facts, I ask the friends of education in this convention, whether, by any unguarded or precipitate action here, they are willing to run the risk of destroying this system which is gaining thus surely upon the affections of the people. and which is adding district to district year after year? Are they willing to array three hundred non-accepting districts against the system-adding to them the force of that powerful minority which is known to exist in all the accepting districts? Are they willing to endanger the great principle which every gentleman has at