year in London, 13,000 were totally ignorant of even the rudiments of learning, and only 150 could read and write well; and of 20,500 females taken into custody, 9,000 could neither read nor write, and only 14 could read and write well. More than one-third of the whole number were ignorant of even the rudiments of learning, and out of 64,000 only 164 could read and write well. And we may fairly conclude, that of those who could read indifferently, perhaps not one in a thousand had ever been taught the first principles of moral philosophy, either from books, or from their associations in society. It is true that highly educated individuals are too frequently guilty of moral delinquencies; but this does not disprove the correctness of our opinion; for a whole life may be spent in cultivating the intellect, with but little advantage to the moral nature; and it may be esteemed as among the errors of the age, that more consideration is given to intellectual than to moral culture.

A system of education, embracing every individual in the State, may be regarded as essentially necessary to the perpetuation of a republican form of government, and for the attainment of this object, the legislature should be invested with power, not only to raise the necessary means by taxation, but also to compel the attendance of such as might refuse or neglect to avail themselves of the opportunities afforded for instruction. And no male individual should be discharged from school until he had received a course of instruction in moral philosophy and political economy. We do not object to universal suffrage even in the present condition of society; but we are fully persuaded that universal education is necessary to sustain it as a system.

It is generally conceded that there must be at least two parties in all free governments; and there is a philosophical reason why this should continue to be the case, perhaps throughout all time. For, if we should suppose all men to be both intelligent and virtuous, still there would remain that difference of temperament which distinguishes the ardor of youth from the caution of age-the former constituting what may be denominated the motive or progressive power of society, while the latter serves to direct its course and restrain it from violence. These are legitimate and natural party grounds, and political parties formed upon any other than these, must be short-lived, and may be regarded merely as episodes in history, which are calculated to blemish rather than embellish its pages.

The more nearly the strength of parties is balanced, the greater will be the influence of ignorance and vice in the councils of the nation; for the suffrages of the ignorant and vicious are more likely to be given to the candidate whose intelligence and morals do not elevate him above their sympathies. And hence, eminent talent, experience, and virtue become practical disqualifications for office. While availability is sought with little regard to the opinions or desires of intelligent and good men, but with reference mainly to the support of those who have no better guide for their actions, than selfishness or prejudice.

Should the intellectual and moral condition of the community demand a con

tinuance of this policy, it will depress the standard of both private and public virtue, until the organic form of our government shall be made to yield to the dictation of ignorant and designing men. For it would be absurd to suppose that he who has been chosen upon the ground of availability, will rise above the principles to which he owes his elevation.

Those who confer the office, also declare the policy by which the incumbent shall be governed, and this becomes the law of his political existence, and he considers himself bound to obey its mandates, regardless of all other considerations. Such could never be the case if all men were educated, for then, although there might be party strife, yet each would select their candidates from among those who possessed the highest intellectual and moral qualifications, as the best exponents of their policy.

We have not drawn a fancy sketch for the purpose of illustrating a theory, so far from it, we have but faintly depicted the image of things that not only exist, but are deeply impressed upon the minds of millions of the American people. But as much as they deplore this, our downward tendency in the scale of civili zation, they make a virtue of necessity, and follow the lead of those who give direction to the destinies of the nation, and thus, by their actions, give countenance to that which they condemn in their judgments.

We have treated this subject with something more than our usual freedom of manner for the purpose of arousing the people of the west from that state of apathy which seems to pervade the general mind in regard to public education. Believing that the cause of the evils which we have endeavored to expose cannot be effectually removed by individual exertion, we must look to the legislature for that assistance which the framers of our constitution designed that it should af ford, in redeeming its constitutents from the evils of ignorance.

The grant of lands by the general government, for the purposes of education, although liberal, is totally inadequate to the support of an efficient system, and besides this, its benefits are unequally distributed. For, while the lands donated in one township may be sold, perhaps, for two thousand dollars, that in the adjoining township may only bring one thousand-and the proceeds of each are limited to a territorial area, without reference to the number or condition of the population. These are important objections, which ought to be removed if practicable; for there is no principle more important to be observed by governments than that of an equal distribution of public benefits.

We know the reluctance with which the people of every country assent to an increase of taxes, and it is from this cause that the friends of education have most to fear. But we are persuaded that if men will calmly and carefully examine the subject in all its bearings, they will conclude that no other appropriation which they could make of their means, after the primary necessaries of life are supplied, would so much contribute to the happiness of themselves and their offspring. You toil and submit to many privations, for the purpose of transmitting

property to your offspring, but you leave them in a community where the protection of this property is not less a burthen than would be its acquisition; and the chances are scarcely equal, that the benefits will ever reach your children's children, who stand not only an equal chance of being destitute of property, but of the means of education also. Or, should the wealth which you acquire be transmitted to many generations, still if the present condition of society should continue, it may be well doubted whether it will contribute to their happiness. Would not a guarantee on the part of the State, that every individual should receive a reasonable education, be a more certain and better provision for your de scendants, of the third generation at least, than any benefits which you could secure to them by the acquisition of property, with so many chances against them for its enjoyment? Should you propose to educate your son with a view of making him useful to himself and to the country, and indulging the natural desire of a parent, you should establish in his mind those high and ennobling principles of virtue and honor which distinguish and adorn the statesman, this would but disappoint your hopes; for these high qualities would elevate him above the sympathies of his countrymen, and, in their estimation, unfit him for public employment. But if you still desire that he should succeed to the high offices of the country, you must caution him against the study and imitation of those high examples which are supposed to embellish and adorn the history of man, and put him as an apprentice to learn the arts of intrigue and dissimulation under some popular demagogue.

But, although the desire of distinction may lead your sons to seek office, even upon these hard terms, yet we cannot suppose that there is a parent in the land whose heart would not be grieved at their success, if obtained upon principles so debasing and dishonorable.

In conclusion, we invite all those who have had the advantages of a liberal education, and who are, therefore, the better able to appreciate its importance, to give their countenance and support to a system of universal education within our State. To the man of wealth we say, if you desire that your descendants should enjoy the products of your toil in comfort and quietude, appropriate a portion of your income to the improvement of the moral condition of those upon whom they must depend for protection. To the poor man we say, if you desire to place your offspring upon the broad platform of equality with those of the rich and honored of the land-if you wish to improve and elevate their moral nature-to guard them against habits of vice and the commission of crime-to lighten their burthen of labor, and to open to their minds a boundless source of intellectual and moral enjoyment, then come up to this great work, and cheerfully contribute your mite to aid in its consummation.

ART. II-THE COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.

CHAPTER II.

HAVING in the first division of our subject spoken in general terms, of the nature and extent of the country and its navigable streams, we come now to treat of its general history, particularly with reference to its progress in population, commerce and navigation.

For the last sixty years the population of the Valley of the Mississippi has doubled every ten years. At the first census of the United States (1790) it did not exceed 200,000. In 1800, it had increased to about 560,000; in 1810, to 1,370,000; in 1820, to 2,580,000; in 1830, to 4,190,000; in 1840, to 6,370,000; and in 1847, according to the preceding average ratio of increase, it exceeds 10,520,000. In the year 1850, according to such ratio, it will exceed 12 millions, and be about equal to the population of all the Atlantic States.

The history of Missouri alone, however, exhibits a still more extraordinary increase. In 1771, the population was 743;† in 1799, it was 6,005; in 1810, it was 20,845; in 1820, it was 66,586; in 1830, it was 140,455; in 1840, it was 383,702; and according to the same ratio of increase, (173 per cent. decennially,) it is, in 1848, 531,040, being an increase of over 17 per cent. per annum, and the present population, without doubt, actually exceeds that number. But while the decennial increase of Missouri was 173 per cent., that of Illinois was 202, Mississippi 175, Michigan 555, and Arkansas 221 per cent.

The commerce and agriculture of this Valley exhibit a growth as surprising as that of its population.

The first schooner of the Northern Lakes, "the Griffin," in 1679, was freighted with the first combination of commercial enterprise and settlement that reached the Valley of the Mississippi. Thus the rivers of the Valley owe to the great Lakes the introduction of commerce and population.

From that period up to the purchase of Louisiana in 1803, and even later, the fur trade of the French immigrants with the Indians constituted a leading pursuit of the inhabitants, especially of the upper half of the Valley of the Mississippi. These immense rivers and lakes were navigated from Quebec, on the St. Lawrence, to the Yellowstone, on the Missouri, by bark canoes, and the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, connecting the Lakes with the Mississippi, were a chief thoroughfare of the trade.

Next to the canoe came the Mackinaw boat, carrying 1500 weight to 3 tons, and then the keel boat or barge of 30 to 40 tons. The first appearance of the keel boat, in the Mississippi, above the mouth of the Ohio, of which we have any account, was in 1751, when a fleet of boats, commanded by Bossu, a Captain of French Marines, ascended as far as Fort Chartres. This enterprise also, was +Hutchins.

the first to ascertain, by experience, something of the nature of the navigation of the Mississippi. One of the boats, "the St. Louis," struck a sand bar above the mouth of the Ohio, was unladen and detained two days. Three days after says the traveler, "my boat ran against a tree, of which the Mississippi is full ;* the shock burst the boat, and such a quantity of water got in that it sunk in less than an hour's time." This was probably the first boat snagged on the Mississippi. From three to four months was the time consumed at this period, and for many years afterward, in a voyage from New Orleans to the settlements in the vicinity of St. Louis; a voyage occupying a steamboat in 1819 twenty-seven days! but which of late has been accomplished in less than four days!

The annual average value of the fur trade of Upper Louisiana for fifteen successive years, ending in 1804, amounted to $203,750. That part of the province also exported some lead, salt, beef and pork-the Indian goods coming from Canada, those for domestic consumptiou from Philadelphia and Baltimore; groceries from New Orleans, and hardware in small boats from the Ohio river. The annual exports from the lower part of the Mississippi Valley for the year 1802, amounted to about $2,160,000, and the imports to about $2,500,000; the exports consisting of sugar, cotton, rice, indigo, furs and peltries, lead, lumber, cattle, horses, beef and pork, tar and pitch. For the year 1846, the receipts at New Orleans from the upper country, amounted to $90,033,256.

At the period of the introduction of steam upon the Mississippi, 1817, the whole commerce from New Orleans to the upper country, was transported in about twenty barges of an average of 100 tons each, and making but one trip in a year. The number of keel boats on the Ohio was estimated at 160, carrying thirty tons each. The total tonnage was estimated at between 6,000 and 7,000. In 1834, the number of steamboats on the Mississippi and its tributaries was 230, and their tonnage equal to about 39,000.

In 1840, the number was 285, with a tonnage of 49,800.

In 1842 the steamboat tonnage of the western rivers was returned by the Treasury Department as follows:

In 1843, the number of boats was estimated at 672; tonnage, 134,400.

By this accident, I lost all I had; I ran the risk of perishing too; for I had thrown myself in a pirogue, but it was so full of goods saved from the wreck that it overset; several soldiers were drowned, and I should have shared the same fate had it not been for a generous Akanza, who, not fearing the severity of the season, leaped into the water and seized me by my riding coat.-[Bossu, vol. 1, p. 114.