me proportionally far
smaller than in the States, notwithstanding all the advantages of the
free and liberal education which is within their reach.

I cannot but think that the general system of training youth in the
Republic has a most prejudicial effect, in many instances, on their
after-life. In their noble zeal for the education of the brain, they
appear to me to lose sight almost entirely of the necessity of
disciplining the mind to that obedience to authority, which lays the
foundation of self-control and respect for the laws of the land.
Nationally speaking, there is scarcely such a thing as a lad in the
whole Union. A boy in the States hardly gets over the novelty of that
portion of his dress which marks the difference of sex, ere his motto
is: "I don't care; I shall do what I best please:" in short, he is made
a man before he ceases to be a boy; he consequently becomes unable to
exercise that restraint which better discipline might have taught him,
and the acts of his after-life are thus more likely to be influenced by
passion and self-will than by reason or reflection. I find in the
lecture from which I have already quoted, the following paragraph,
which, as I consider it illustrative of my last observation, I insert at
length.

"But the most alarming feature in the condition of things, not only in
the city, but elsewhere throughout the country, is the lawlessness of
the youth. The most striking illustration of this which I have seen is
taken from a Cincinnati paper of last January. It seems that in the
course of a few days one hundred applications had been made by parents
in that city to have their own children sent to the House of Refuge.
The particulars of one case, which happened a short time before, are
given:--a boy, twelve years of age, was brought before the Mayor's
Court by his father, who stated that the family were absolutely afraid
the youth would take their lives, and that he had purchased a pistol
for the purpose of shooting the housekeeper. A double-barrelled pistol
was produced in court, which the police-officer had taken from the
boy, who avowed that he had bought it for the purpose stated. The
mayor sent the boy to the House of Refuge."

I now pass on to the question of Liberty in the United States. If by
liberty be understood the will of the greater number ruling the State or
regulating its laws, certainly they have more liberty than England; but
if by liberty