LITERATURE. 129

that to furnish instruction is a public duty—
that the poorest have a right to its benefits,be-
cause they are bound to sustain their portion of
the social compact, and the heaviest of its ser-
vices often fall iu full measure upon them; and
finally, that the children of the republic shall
he qualified to become good citizens, at the
expence of that property which in after life,
they are bound to protect.

The legislature have as yet established no
method of sustaining the project by adequate
funds,

An appropriation from the public treasury
of 800 dollars to the support of one acade-
my in each of the larger counties, ana in
smaller counties the same sum to one acade-
my for two or more counties, constitute the
principal expense at present sustained by the
government of Maryland, for the important
object of education; unless we add a small
tax paid by some of the banks as a bonus for
their charters, and which was intended to be
applied to the support of free schools, but has
remained as yet unappropriated in several of
the counties, because so inadequate to effect
that object.

St. John's College at Annapolis, was
founded by the public spirited statesmen who
had then just contributed so largely to the in-
dependence of the country. They contemplat-
ed it as an institution where their sons might
acquire an education at home, which would