from his moral courage in fearlessly pointing out the
truth, the best friend to America, among their own countrymen, has been
Dr Charming. I certainly was under the impression, previous to my
visit to the United States, that education was much more universal there
than in England; but every step I took, and every mile I travelled,
lowered my estimate on that point. To substantiate my opinion by
statistical tables would be difficult; as, after much diligent search, I
find that I can only obtain a correct return of a portion of our own
establishments; but, even were I able to obtain a general return, it
would not avail me much, as Mr Carey has no general return to oppose to
it. He gives us, as useful, Massachusetts and one or two other States,
but no more; and, as I have before observed, Massachusetts is not
America. His remarks and quotations from English authors are not fair;
they are loose and partial observations, made by those who have a case
to substantiate. Not that I blame Mr Carey for making use of those
authorities, such as they are; but I wish to show that they have misled
him.

I must first observe that Mr Carey's estimate of education in England
is much lower than it ought to be; and I may afterwards prove that his
estimate of education in the United States is equally erroneous on the
other side.

To estimate the amount of education in England by the number of
_national schools_ must ever be wrong. In America, by so doing, a fair
approximation may be arrived at, as the education of all classes is
chiefly confined to them; but in England the case is different; not only
the rich and those in the middling classes of life, but a large
proportion of the poor, sending their children to private schools.
Could I have obtained a return of the private seminaries in the United
Kingdom, it would have astonished Mr Carey. The small parish of
Kensington and its vicinity has only two national schools, but it
contains 292 (I believe this estimate is below the mark) private
establishments for education; and I might produce fifty others, in which
the proportion would be almost as remarkable. I have said that a large
portion of the poorer classes in England send their children to private
teachers. This arises from a feeling of pride; they prefer paying for
the tuition of their children rather than having their children educated
by the _parish_, as they term the national schools. The consequence is,
that in every tow