and the great body of our people left to struggle as they have struggled before. Here, at least, it may be demanded, that those who support all, defend all, and govern all, should not in addition to this, be expected to suffer all. But if this is not to be so-if the wrong and injury already done, are to be stopped; if the melancholy distinction of sharing an equality in uneducated population with a single American rival is to be effaced, and our labors are hereafter to elevate the mind which our neglect has done so much to crush-if this is to be so, not an hour, not an energy which the legislature can command, should be lost, before this work of justice, hope and renovation, shall have been begun.

I have submitted in former messages what seemed to me the germ of a suitable plan for the accomplishment of this work, and respectfully refer to it now as capable, in my judgment, of being successfully matured and applied. That plan was, generally to establish in each county, with the consent of a majority of its tax-payers, free schools for common education. To rely for the support of these schools upon the quotas of the present school fund, and upon such additional sum as might be found necessary, to be made up of county and state taxes united in given proportions. To place the schools, wherever adopted by county vote, and all matters connected with their location, accounts and management, under county tribunals, and these, in turn, under the general supervision of some central and controlling head; and to authorize each county to renounce the plan, after having adopted it, should it wish to do so; and in all cases, whether the plan is accepted, rejected or renounced, to continue the school quota to each county just as at present.

Without illustrating this plan by additional detail, it is, perhaps, enough to say of it, that by placing its adoption in each county upon the express consent of its own tax-payers, you appeal to those who are the most concerned in interest, and most identified with each other in intercourse and business, to decide whether it will suit them or not; you enable each county, in case of its adoption, to modify, adapt and mature it, according to its judgment and its own view of its local circumstances and wants; you connect every citizen, in some degree, with its management, make every tax-payer a sentinel upon its operation, and thus secure its ultimate sufficiency and support by surrounding it with the largest possible amount of watchfulness, interest and affection. Nor is this all-by supporting these schools upon a general fund, making them free from any charge for tuition, you at once destroy those designations of indigence and charity, which have kept so many thousands in ignorance; you bring the rich and poor of our people into closer connection with each other, diffuse a kindlier and healthier sympathy throughout the whole of society, and discourage, in their very embryo, all youthful tendencies to exclusiveness and caste.

A Convention of more than two hundred delegates from different parts of Virginia, met at the Capitol in Richmond, on the 10th of December, and continued in session through the 11th and 12th, with Governor McDowell as President; Judge Lomax, Judge Duncan, Thomas J. Randolph, Dr. Patrick, A. T. Caperton, W. H. McFarland, G. H. Carson, and S. Watts, Vice Presidents; and S. Gallagher, and R. B. Gooch, Secretaries.

The deplorable condition of education in Virginia, was freely exposed, and various plans for improving the whole system of public instruction, were presented and discussed. The Convention finally adopted a report, in which the present system is pronounced defective in the following particulars:

1st. It creates a distinction between the rich and the poor.

2d. It makes no provision for the examination of teachers as to their moral characters and qualifications.

3d. It confers no authority on school commissioners for the selection of school books.

4th. It embraces no provision for the education of teachers.

To supply these and other defects, the Common School System, or schools for the rich and the poor, supported by public funds, taught by teachers whose qualifications are properly ascertained, and managed by officers elected by the people, was recommended to the favorable consideration of the Legislature.

Let us now turn to the results of the Common School System, in a state where its cradle was rocked, side by side, with the infant commonwealth, and which has grown with the growth, and strengthened with the strength of the state.

MASSACHUSETTS.

From the Abstract of School Returns for 1844-5, made up with great care in the office of the Secretary of State, we have compiled the following Tables:

1. A Table exhibiting the condition of the common schools in several important particulars, in twenty-nine towns, which rank highest among the three hundred and eight towns in the state, for the sum annually voted for the education of each person between the ages of 4 and 16 years, the length of the school, the number of children in daily attendance, and the average compensation paid to teachers, male and female.

No state in the Union, no country in the world can show returns for the same number of towns, which argues so favorably for the condition and improvement of common schools, as does this Table.

2. A Table exhibiting the condition of common schools in the same particulars, in the same number of towns which rank the lowest in reference to the amount of appropriation for school purposes, length of school, and compensation of teachers. Low as is the relative rank of these towns in Massachusetts, they would occupy the highest relative position on a scale similarly graduated, in any other state.

3. A Table exhibiting the condition of education in the several counties of the state, graduated according to the apropriation in each for the support of common schools, with the aggregate of the State.

* A history of the School System of Massachusetts, with an abstract of the laws as they are now on the statute book, is given in Educational Tract, No. III.

TABLE, showing the Population, Valuation, &c., of the different Counties, with the Aggregate of the State.

Total, 14737,700 $299,878,329 31 3382 149,189 169,977 191,981 7.25

2.99

36,338 02