By no other means, so well as by newspapers, could the introduction and dissemination of the fundamental principles of morals and politics be effected among the crown-up part of society: for, by recurring to these principles incidentally, in discussing the passing topics of the day, and by their being developed one at a time, they take root in minds that are not prepared by previous knowledge either to peruse or to understand a condensed or systematic form of conveying the principles of any science. The same observation will apply to the diffusion of every kind of knowledge. Cooperative and temperance societies are not to be lost sight of, if it were for no other reason than their showing evidence of the active state of the public mind in all that regards the progress of society. There cannot be a doubt that, both in America and in Scotland, very great evils have resulted from the taste, so long prevalent, for ardent spirits. The indulgence in fermented liquors may render men sots, but the excessive use of ardent spirits turns them into infuriated madmen.
