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Whether or not these questions are pointed at the American Asylum, it is of little importance to decide. Dr. Howe has, however, very serious objections to the Hartford School. He says:

"The Institution is strictly conservative. Its system of instruction, adopted fifty years ago, is still adhered to with few changes, and all proposals to modify it are stoutly resisted. . . Held fast by the anchor of conservatism, it breasts the tide of progressive ideas, which sweep by it. . . The great march of improvement in all other branches of instruction, affects not the method adopted at Hartford nearly half a century ago, and followed ever since, almost without change." (pp. 5, 57.)

If these allegations were believed by Dr. Howe, they convict him of inexcusable ignorance; if not believed, of, to say the least, criminal recklessness. But waiving for the present the question of fact, let us look at the intrinsic improbability of these accusations.

If the American Asylum were the only Institution for deaf mutes in the country; if for the past fifty years it had been under the same Principal, who controlled absolutely the system of instruction, both in its principles and details, then it might possibly be true that no change or improvement had been made. But the School at Hartford is only one of nearly thirty similar Institutions in the land, each eager to surpass in the race of improvement. It has had four Principals within the fifty years of its existence. No one of them has ever assumed to dictate absolutely as to the methods of instruction. On the contrary, the instructors of the different classes, most of them men of liberal education, have been encouraged to exercise their ingenuity, and stimulate their invention in the discovery of new and better methods. Regular meetings have been held by the Faculty, in which the principles and methods of instruction have been elaborately and thoroughly discussed. New thoughts have been constantly struck out by the different teachers, and by them subjected to the test of experiment. No less than five or six Conventions of teachers, from all the Institutions in the United States, have been held, in which papers prepared by the ablest men in the profession, have been presented, and fully discussed by the Body. The proceedings of these Conventions have been stenographically reported, and published. As the result of all this mental activity and inquiry, if may be asserted with confidence, that in no one department of education in our land, have there been such great changes and such great advancement, as in that of the instruction of the deaf and dumb. While the Institution at Hartford is the oldest in the country, and spares no pains to be the best, so far is it from having a system, which, like the laws of the Medes and Persians, alters not, that there are at this very time, six of its instructors who have been connected with other Institutions, and whatever they have learned elsewhere, they have been freely encouraged to adopt at Hartford. Is it an inexcusable vanity, that this large body of educated men, and practical instructors, should assume to know something of the subject to which their lives, and most assiduous industry have been devoted? Or is it another great "principle," till now undiscovered, that those who have had the slightest opportunities for information, know more about a subject than those who have given to it the thoughts and labors of a lifetime?

"The American Asylum," says Dr. Howe, "enjoys the monopoly of educating the public beneficiaries of all the New England States; a monopoly of which it seems to be very tenacious. . . . The Directors of the Connecticut Asylum, which has done so much for the mutes of New England, ought not to object to any change which will promote the interests of these unfortunates, even if it should involve the loss of a monopoly which the Asylum has so long enjoyed." (pp. 5, 58.)

Would it not naturally be inferred from this language, that it was a pecuniary benefit to the Asylum to receive and instruct the pupils of other States? Did not the writer intend to make this impression? "The American Asylum enjoys the monopoly of educating the public beneficiaries of all the New England States." The Directors of the Asylum are Connecticut men. They all reside in the city of Hartford. The Institution is what is called a Close Corporation, and yet these men actually pay out from the funds of the Asylum full $15,000 a year for the support of pupils from other States! If it costs $250 a year to board and instruct each pupil, the State pays $175, and the Asylum pays $75. And this is the kind of monopoly it has been enjoying for fifty years! The State of Massachusetts, having about a hundred pupils in the Asylum, actually receives from it $7,500 a year, towards their support. But how can this be? The Asylum, though chartered by the State of Connecticut, was at once endowed and adopted by Congress as a National Institution. It has, in consequence, permanent funds yielding about $18,000 a year. Of this sum, each pupil is made an equal participant, from whatever State he may come. Can there, then, be any possible pecuniary motive, which should make the Directors desirous of retaining the pupils of other States? Having faithfully administered this bounty for the fifty years which are past, they are ready to do so still, but self-respect requires them to say to each State, "Continue your deaf-mute children with us so long, and only so long, as, in your judgment, you cannot do better with them elsewhere. Whenever you judge they would be benefited by removal, remove them."