And from entering upon duties or
relations of any kind with the Europeans among whom they are living, but
whose language they cannot speak.
Fifthly, that, by adhering to the native language, the children are more
deeply confirmed in their original feelings and prejudices, and more
thoroughly kept under the influence and direction of their own people.
Among the colonists themselves there have scarcely been two opinions upon
the subject, and almost all have felt, that the system originally adopted
was essentially wrong. It has recently been changed, and the English is
now adopted instead of the native language. I should not have named this
subject at all, had I not been aware that the missionaries themselves
still retain their former impressions, and that although they have
yielded to public opinion on this point, they have not done so from a
conviction of its utility.
The second point to which I referred, - the policy, or otherwise, of
having native establishments near a populous European settlement, is a
much more comprehensive question, and one which might admit, perhaps, of
some reasons on both sides, although, upon the whole, those against it
greatly preponderate.
The following are the reasons I have usually heard argued for proximity
to town.
1st. It is said that the children sooner acquire the English language by
mixing among the towns people.
