Our Inquiry Meeting: No. 5

bject of inquiry" this evening, the spccin ing letter was put into oor hands, Journ will aíTord ampie topics for thought YY iilection. Party . Editor : - I consider invself a S . " no all cr of your weckly "inquiry jit( hnving been present, in spirit at Soutli on each occasion. Now I wish to Wlm ie privilege of a member by States a part in its proceedings. Tour - ;e of investigation I likc, and conti your conclusions. But why deal i in general principies? All men, brt,te ;ially young persons, are not the p d philosophers. Why not come Wes i to the level of a working man like nboli 3lf, and give us something plain and liip ÜcbQ ' Teil as hoto we caiji improve villa! clvcs, mcntally and morally. Show tne , ie stairs one by ono, by which great Js walk up to eminence, that we may sesS( xv. We want the minute details of fÜC0 llectual progress. The nccessiiy of öf ( enting these muct be evident, if you nge consider for a moment the condition rx' our readers. As most of them are she lie farming classes, permit me to jnfomy owncaseasa specimen insome vC5 ee of hundreds of ofliers'. and am a-young man, the son of parents u owfi asmall farm, and subsist by the imvc r of their own hands. I live and r with them. 1 have had a good mon school education, and have L s possessed a taste for reading. This Tw ïvegratified from all the facilitics ya ed by our neighborhood, without m0 any particular object or purpose in to c v, nor have I made any systematic forr rts at mental improvement. My ent clls me that so much reading, or jt js having my mind so much on books, ma] great damage to me as a farmer : cer that in all his acquaintancc he never yc :v a good farmer who had a strong jicv sion for reading or stndy: and insists .V t Í must give up a largo sharc of my jm] ding, or my business as a farmer. en Chat somc accidents hoppen to me in gtescquence of dwelling so much on my iing, is true. Sometimc since I broke VL lough while debating in my mind ïther Brutus did right in stabbing Censar: and during the late harvest I mf ished several fingers of my eradle lc intently considering Wm. s anti-tariff argumen's. Howcver, all ;h losses resulting f rom literature are anced more than ten times over by the m( ïefits we derive ín farming from a ruaöl of the "Cultivator," which I have rsuaded father to talie: and he ges that there are soine good things to learned by "book farming." Some of my friends have advised me r ( go college: but I have no taste for the ad languages, and besides, I find that a llege education is not at all a e to usefulness or preeminence in any nj anch of knowledge or action. The oj ofensión of the law has also been . isted, and that is acknowledged to be ty; post road to poiitical office, as well as fame and wealth: but as I find that I uld not become a successful and Q ir lawyer without being at the same ne the open and avowcd excuser or dender of acknovviedged villainy and j. ime, I choose to keep clear of the oj ssion. and preserve my conscience and g dependence. Now, Mr. Editor, I Want you to point Q. ït somecourse of sjelf-education, by t, hich I can remain at home, working 0 oderately on ' the farm, and yet make yself thoroughly msster of any branch o f knowledge I may choose. What I r lost desire in my own case is a g :lge of poiitical institutions, forms of h overnment, add the principies of n al Economy, in all their applications to j. ianks, Tariffs, Public Officers, &c. I t bould like to get a full and-systematic j nowledge of facts and great principies s n these matters, so that I might be able c 3 face any body upon them, in any lation, in writing or speaking. Now ( hatsay you? Cannotyou inquirc into f hese thing?, and give from week to 5 veek such plain directions and hints for :ystematic intellectual improvenient as ;hall benefit multitudes of others as well ïiyself? I will barely mention, in closng, that my sister, who has been looking ] )ver my shoulder, says you must i jer that one half the human race, as well ( is one half of your readers, are fcmales, md it is bclived among many of them hat they have minds as capable of cultiation and improvement as those of the Mhcr scx. Thcy verily belicvc they ' íave a "sphere of action," and are looking to discover where it ia, and how largc X is. Yours, ISAIAII BENSON.We will lake lsaiah's letter into consideration, and shortly report on it. Q553 The Phrchological Journal for August, contains sundry good arlicles on Human Improvcmcnts, Phonography,&c. with a portrait and character of Ronge, the Germán reformer, ft According to the Ypsilanii Sentinel, the price of Wheat in that villagc from Aug. 1, 1845 to June 1, 1846, ten months, averagcd 74 two-cevenths ets. per bushei,see the real condition of ts 'party, 500 M sutures to spenk out. Herc is a In his ïen from our ncighbor of the State says : il. "Y o are convinccd that the Whig ly toi must tukc decided anti-slavery as V d, ar break to yicces. Tliere is will b ernative. Let not our expediency pay i :ians expect any thing from the time, ern States- there are some true dischi s - true friends of freedom, in those vate i, bul they are a íopeloss minority. mentí by taking the right course every Post. íern State will soon bo with us." Ea men be colored citizens ol Detroit the cthisda?. It is the anniversary oí j." resumed abolitiou of slavery in the India Islands. Slavery has been ;hed in nnmc, nnd the ware ;ystem introduccd in itsstead, a more ve ] nously unjust system of slavery than wth( ,ld."- Free Press. (nc„ this the degree of information prfl d by the editor of the leading CY paper in Michigan, respeeüng one a?5er he most important cvents of the rj, ? with he "apprentiecshipsystem" was pres 1 in 1838; and, according to the best the , ■mation, the black population of the ry _ ;t Indies are the mS'storderly, moral, liappypcoplc alive. CC ow litlle sympathy these poüticians roac i for any eflbrt to benefit mankind ! - L:G3 'e Journal. 134 "?= T' nnonro ilint tlin riniinf.il of U;nty Naval Captains was assemblee! at " " shington, notto delibérate on the best Mai e of taking the castleof St. Juan,but ing onsider the prqpriety of sundry resimi is in the Navy proposed by the presSecretary in his report to Congress. i ces said that the report was approved ra ïy points, and that the inefficiënt offi3 will be dismissed on half pay, for qwe suppose, and that promotions will Auj eaftcr be made by mcrit and not senior ' as heretofore. This is no doubt an Lnli )rovement: but the most stupid observ■L :annot fail to see that heré is a great Co( 3 towards fastening on the country a thiananent mniiary uns.iuuim). "j ïld naval or militan" officers draw pay doing nothing? No such principie R ever been rccognized in civil j lts. p Vhat wauld the people of Michigan I to settling on Senators Woodbridge or s, a salary of $1,000 a year for Ufe, r their terms of office expire, the tiey to bc raised by taxation of the ;higan farmers, and paid out of the c.( isury? The people would be nn; it at the bare proposal. Yet they will an uiesce without murmuring a word in ■ing Uoice that amount of half pay to lg iptain who has lived luxuriously all his an] s at the public expense, and half the ie in ultcr idlencss! These two Senrs will doubtless vote for this measure, besustained in so doing by the people the State. Biit the time for the laborr classes to awakc to a vindication of ;ir rights scems not to have yet come, e fear they must follow the heek of -ir nolitical leaders in stolid blindness C r anothcr generation. - w tCT" A naltry fellow who edits. theickson Whig Gazctle, over the initials Cl ? T. S. M." tells his readers that the eU gnal has been "bought up" by the pubcation of the Tax sales, and has gone ver body and soul to the Locofoco par" We have no words to bandy with ne who can deliberately fabrícate lies, ut will state the facts for the information f our readers, which are these : the law cquires that the Tax list of each county hall bc published in a paper which shall avo been regularly published for six lonths previous to the first of March. - 5oth the Democratie papers of this counyhad failed in this particular: and the Auditor General sent the list to us, intead of either of the Whig papers. Our :irculation is much the largest. The list sto bc insertod only eight weeks, and f omes to loss than $150- rather a small "3 ifiair to "buy up" any body, unless it be ■_ lueh a genius as this Jackson editor, and . hose of a similar calibre. - ' Tunsp. inores" AftAlN ! i