Newspapers / The Tarborough Southerner (Tarboro, … / Feb. 17, 1827, edition 1 / Page 4
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JV. Carolina General Assembly. REMARKS OF MR. POTTER, On Thursday, the 1st inst. on in troducing the Report of the Com mittee on Education, on the "Bill to establish a Political College for the State of North-Carolina:" Mr. Speaker From the turn Avlnch the discussion in reference to this measure has taken, it would seem that the further agitation oi the subject must be attended witl some degree of embarrassment. Uefore, therefore, I proceed to the remarks I am now about to sub mit, I must pause, to assure the House, that so far as I am con cerned, they need entertain no ap prehensions of excitement about tins matter. In a moment of am pliation, I may overstep the line, which prudence would prescribe tor the regulation of my conduct; and, on a late occasion, I did, when much excited, indulge in expressions, incompatible, I be lieve, witli the rules of the House, and the decorum of debate. For this I am sony. I say this to the House not to any individual. Let it be distinctly understood, that to the House alone I make this acknowledgment: and I ten der it to them, not from any low desire to avert their wrath from my head, but because I feel it to be due to them, and, therefore, just and becoming in me. I have seen rather too much of the mode, in which the praise and censure of this world are bestowed, ever to "regard men's smile or frown, as loss or guerdon of a glorious lot." 1 could view with indiffer ence the congregated wrath of all mankind, where it should be un just; but I confess it gives me pain to believe, that I have incurred iiiest." He has since declared he had no allusion to me; but I had a few days before, in describing the condition of the State, used even stronger language, than that which fell from the gentleman from Buncombe. I wTas the only member of this House, who, dur ing the session, had used such lanuaire; and I could not, there fore, but regard myself as the in dividual against whom those dir ty words were directed. If the member from Salisbury had sta ted, that he deemed the course I had pursued improper, that he thought it wrong, or even unbe coming, I should have considered that, as a member of this House, he had a right to express such an opinion, and I should have borne it decently; but his language was so gross, imputing to me, as I con ceived, nothing less than personal filth and foulness, that, at the mo ment, I lost the balance of my tem per, and violated the feelings and dignity of the House. Still it was wrong, since no degree of outrage which I could receive from an in dividual here, would justify me in insulting the House. But where is the man, whose feelings have not sometimes triumphed over his reason! 1 think von will allow, I had some rkdit to feel indignant at the charge, when you learn, that, instead of loitering in the nest which brooded me, I left it before I was fairly Hedged, to stand forth in its defence. Dur ing the late war with Britain, when our country was sending down her gallant sons to the sea-shore to repel the enemy, I sought an op portunity to meet them on the ocean itself. While yet a boy, at the age of fifteen years, I left the humble home of my youth, and went forth, to do whatever my the displeasure of those with I feeble arm could, in behalf of my whom I am associated, and to country; and while other young know, too, that 1 have ffiven them 'men of inv acre were eno-no-nrl in just cause for censure. It is not acquiring education and fortune, the idea of being unpopular, that I it was my lot to wander o'er the distresses me, but the conviction ; world, .without the advantages of resting upon my mind, that 1 have done wron". It is not in my na ture to be rude, even to the lowest either. I forfeited forever the op portunity, which yoith alone can give, ot disciplining my mind, and of God's creatures, and the re-! now feel, and ever shall denlnmblv apect I bear myself alone, inde-I feel, the want of that education, I pendentlv of my regard for the dignity of this body, would ever restrain rue from a deliberate as sault upon its feelings and charac ter. Sir, the assault was not de liberate. The House will do me the justice to reflect, that, on the occasion alluded to, I acted under a strong and gross provocation. On account of the absence of the member from Salisbury, I shall abstain from any remarks upon the motives which induced him to use the harsh and offensive lan guage alluded to; and, for my jus tification, shall simply state the language itself, and the light in which I and other gentlemen view ed it. This is now the more ne cessary, since a bungling reporter, whether from ignorance or design 1 know not, has published a most imperfect account of it. In reply to the gentleman from Buncombe, who had alluded to the degraded situation of North-Carolina, I un derstood the member from Salis bury to say, that on previous occa sions, remarks of a similar charac ter had been used, and that "it was a dirty bird that befoul'd its own am so anxious to extend to the ri sing generations of my country men. During six years, in the very spring-time of life, from the age of fifteen to twenty-one, I bore the arms of my country in the Navy of the United States, Was this the flight of a bird thatwould "befoul its nest!" Was this the conduct of one indifferent to the honor and welfare of his country? That honor, and that welfare, are as dear to me as ever. I cherish towards North-Carolina all the af cction and devotion that a child could feel for an aged and a help less parent. To me she is but the dearer, for her very helplessness and decrepitude, I sprung from her soil the bones of my fathers, for several generations, are sleep ing in her bosom to me she is now my only parent. But 1 came not here to flatter. and cajole her my object is to serve, not to court her. I will not compliment even my country, at the expense of truth. I will not say that North Carolina is a great State, and I am proud of her, because she is not; but I have endeavored to tell her how she may become so. The stern and naked truths I told her, were spoken in the kindest spirit. They were the -offerings of a heart, full of devotion for its country. My object was the hon or and welfare of my country, and my arguments were those of truth and justice; and are you unwilling to listen to these Woe to the interests and liberties of the peo ple, when one of their representa tives shall be regarded with an evil eye for standing up here and proclaiming the truth for expo sing here in the face of his coun try, the baseness of those, who have been entrusted by that coun try with the guardianship of her rights, and prostituted that trust to private purposes. What! are we to be required to tread lightly, and talk as softly in this Hall, here where the rights of freemen arc discussed and disposed of, as if we were within .the walls of a Spanish Inquisition! Arc we to shrink with a sickly feeling of deli cacy, from the exposure of men who have trodden upon the rights of the people! Are we, whose es- peciai utuy it is to Jook "with an eye that never winks" to the inte rests ot the people are ice to permit those interests to be be trayed, and not beard and brand the ollender with his crime! I hope the time is not yet come, when it can be said of us, "plate sin in gold, and the strong lance ot justice fails harmless at its feet: clothe it in rags, and a pig my straw doth pierce it." When 1 at least shall act on such princi ples, 4be ready, gods! with all your thunderbolts, dash me in pieces. ir, my remarks the other day were strong -they were bold; but they were true, and spo ken in a spirit of as great tender ness towards my fellow-citizens, as if they had been a band of bro thers. The House, I am sure, did not understand the facts to which I alluded, or they would at once have perceived the justness of my observations. I will not now ha rass them by an attempt at expla nation. If I were. I should un fold a scene of baseness and cor ruption, that would astonish and shock the members of this House. Yet the people do not see it the people do not understand it; and I, it seems, have been considered very impolite very rude, indeed, because I wished to inform them of it. Some, who admit the truth of what I said, yet deem this an improper place to have told it. I do not think so upon the most deliberate reflection! do not think so. I do not see what arguments could have been used, more fairly or more forcibly, to show the ne cessity of educating the people. My object was to show, that, to the preservation of the rights of the people, it was essential they should know them; that, to protect them against the errors of weak men, and the artifices of bad ones, they should all have the capacity, to understand and superintend the management of their affairs. I made the statement I did, to show you how insensible our people are to their political character and political rights. I told you then I tell you now -that avast portion of them have not the capacity to understand their rights & interests. The measure I proposed to you 'H great and a responsible one; and I xJ't' it necessary to unveil lo you, thc fuji extent of the disease, in order to induct you to apply so costly a remedy. mention the ignoranee of the people nc as a reproach to them, but a misfortunt it would less.become me than anv othe' member of this House, to speak wx levity of those misfortunes of mv fellow citizens which arise from poverty. 5Tj3 we who are to blame, for withholding from them, against all sound policy, and in defiance of the Constitution itself, the means of education. At every turn we are met with mortifying evidences of the lamentable dearth of education a mong us. A single fact, which we act cd upon the other day, speaks volumes on this subject. To enable an individu al to write a book, the object of which is tq tell us how we came here, ami where we came from which, in short is to give us an account of our ancestors and our institutions, vc were "called upon to lend him the aid of legislation. The reading portion of the community is s small, that it does not furnish patrons"- even for the most interesting of all lite rary works. Sir, I voted for that mea sure; but I confess I did it with extreme j reluctance. I wish to strike the evil at ( its root. I wish to create readers rather j than bocks. Educate the people, and every ining else will lollow as a matter of course. Make education general, and we shall no longer be called upon to furnish premiums for literary and scien tific works. Qualify the people toman age their affairs with ability, and be as sured Ihcy will give a just and enlight ened direction to them. The people are always disposed to do right, and always will, if they understand how; but, whilo this is admitted as a general principle while no one denies the importance of general education we stand hesitating and doubting, and refuse to act insupe rable difficulties seem to rise up, lo pre vent us from fixing upon a definite sys tem. The measure before you is object ed to by some, on the ground of the smallness of the number which it propo ses to educate. Sir, my object is to be gin, by creating for ourselves a body of precentors, whose duty it shall be to in struct the mass of our people. Supposa we were now to establish District Schools throughout the State, where could we find men qualified to take charge of them? We should have to import them; for we have not at home men who are qualified to educate our children, except those whose situations would prevent them from undertaking the task. Look to your University, and look to almost every respectable School in the State. Our most distin guished seminary of learning is managed and governed bv foreigners. Anions: the officers of the University, there is but one native of North-Carolina, and he, I believe, was educated at the North. Nearly every Academv in the State is under the superintendence of a Northern man; and if we were now to establish a system of District Schools, we should have to import a cargo of Yankees to take charge of them. Adopt the bill before vou. and it will fur nish you, at the end of three years, with a hundred and seven men, cf native growth and origin, eminently and efficiently quali fied to train and instruct our youth; awl it will be their duty, under the provisions o this bill, to perform the duty of instructors for three years, at such stations as may be assigned them, in consideration cf the educa tion they shall have received from their country. But this would be but the com mencement of its benefits. The funds pro posed would support the institution forever: and at the expiration of every three years, it would send forth more than a hundred vir tuous and intelligent citizens, to inform anc educate our indigent and helpless children. It is my opinion, that, if we ever doattemp to educate the mass of our people, so long as the population is as diffuse as it is, it must be done by the establishment of schools ir. the several counties, upon plans similar t thc one now offered to you; and, in that evci-i. it would be a matter ot the first importance, that a general system of discipline should perrade them all", producing, as it certainlv would, a most desirable result a unity ct character among all our citizens. If I were to stand here and speak to you until the set ting of the sun, I could not exhaust all the arguments in favor of this measure; but I an: led to believe that the country is not yet ripe for it. If so, it will gratify me at least W know that thc subject is now open, and thft attention of the people will be diav!i to
The Tarborough Southerner (Tarboro, N.C.)
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Feb. 17, 1827, edition 1
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