UC NULi B H Mflfl Db3 */^' - 4^.'"' '^\ .\ §M I ^^ Ifi^'^W" »*li^ «* -»-«• r-v- W'i ^^ X MltEtAU^ iuiiiuiioilii 11 f y ill I In 1 11 111 f-/^^/ ^^ a -■ /n.M !WtM«^' U^y5.?i'i)^ ^n^ i mii ii 'ft MW!i^;^f!«i^^^ ^^l^^iZZHI^^HHM / rurULAll EDUCATION ON THE CONTINENT ia*iM» r>TTt»Wnf»Pf THE POPULAR EDUCATION OF FRANCE WITn NOTICES OF THAT OF HOLLAND AND SWITZERLAND MATTHEW ARNOLD, M.A. rOREIG5 ASSISTAST-COMinSSIOXKB TO THB COinilSSIOlTEBS APPOINTED TO ISQCIBE ISTO THE STATE OF POPULAR KDUCATIOX IX BSGLAND : PB0FKS90B OP POETBY IS THB UNIVKBSITT OF OXTOBn : ONB OF nSK MAJESTY'S INSPECTOBS OF SCBOOr.S. LONDON LONG.MAX, GKEEN, LONGMAN, AND iiOBEi{T.S 18G1 iDUC UBBARY I know that, since the Revolution, along with many dangerous, liuiy udofiil powers of Government have been weakened. BUKKE (1770> -^o79 CONTENTS. Intkuolction CHAPTER I. Objects ami Means of Inquiry .... CI I APT Eli 11. C)rganis;ition of Modern France .... CHAPTER HI. Popular Education in France before the Revolution CHAPTER IV. Popular Education in France inider the Revolution CIIAPTKi: V. l\>pular Education in France luider the First Empire CHAPTEi: VI. I'oj'ular Education in France imder the Re.storatiori A 4 PAGF. . xi VIM CONTKNTS. CHAPTKK VII. VAGh Popular Education in France under the Munarc})y of July. lb3U— Law of 1«33 VJ CHAPTER VIII. Popular Education in France under the Kevclu'ion of IfSlH and the Second Empire. — Legislation of 1^50, lbi>3, and 1»64 00 ULM'TKl: IX. Present Maliri;il ajif Fnuice and England compared. — Iared.— Kc»ult- on the People 155 CONTENTS. IX POPLLAK EDUCATION OF JSWITZEKLAND. CHAPTER XV. r.V(;K Popular Education in French Switzerland . . . .175 POPULAR EDUCATION OP HOLLAND. CHAPTER XVI. Popular Education in Holland luider the Law of 180G. — Reports of M. Cuvier and M. Cousin ..... 105 CHAPTER XVH. Present School Legislation of Holland. — Law of 1857 . . 208 CHAPTER XVI H. Present Condition of PopiUar Education in Hollaiid . 227 ArrEXDix 239 L/^h9l EDUC. INTRODrCTION, I\ tlio following accoimt of popular education in ceTtain countries of the Continent, tlie State and its action are occasionally spoken of in a way which, if <|uite unexplained, is likely, I know, to offend some of my readers, and to sui^irise others. With many Englishmen, perhaps with the majoritj^ it is a maxim that the State, tlie executive power, ouglit to be en- trusted with no more means of action than those which it is impossible to withhold from it ; that it neither would nor could make a safe use of anymore extended liberty; would not, because it has in itself a natural instinct of despotism, which, if not jealously checked, would become outrageous ; could not, because it is, in truth, not at all more enlightened, or fit to assume a lead, than the mass of this enhghtened community. Accord- ing to tlie long-cherislied convictions of a great many, it is for the pul)lic. interest that Government sliould i)c conlined, as far as possible, to the bare and indis- pensable functions of a police officer and a revenue collector. It is to be always the mere delegated hand of the nation, ne\e)- its oriLiinalinLi head. XM INTRuDLtTloN. No Sensible inau will lightly gi) couiiU'i in an oj)!!!!*"!! finnly lii'Kl l)y a givat botly of his couiilryineii. lie will UilvL- for gnmkHl, that for any opinion which luis taken deep root among a -people so j>owerful, so Huccessful, anil so well worthy t)f respect sus the j)eople of this countiT, tlu-re certainty either are, or have Ixvn, good and sound reasons. He will venture to impugn such an t>pinion with real he>italion, and tuily when he thinks he perceives that the rcit^^uis which once supported it exist no longer, or at any rate seem about to disiij)pear very soon. For undoubtedly there arrive periods when, the circumstances and conditions of Govchiment having changed, the guiding maxims of Govennnent ought to change also. J'ai dii souvcnt^ sjiys Minibeau*, admonishing the Court of France m ITIMI, (jiCon (ievait cluvujcr dr iiKiuhrc dc ijintvcrner^ lorsijuc U' ijouveniemeut nest plus /<• mime. And these derisive changes in the ]>olitical situation of a people hap|)en gradually as well as violently. " In the silent lapse of events," siiys Burkcf, writing in England twenty years before the French Kevolution, "as material alterations have been inscnsil)ly brought about in the policy and character of governments and nations, as tliosc which have Ivon marked by the tumult of pul)hc R'volutions." The wi.sh for a more delibenite and systematically reasoned action on the |iart of the State in dealing with • Corrt4jiondttnrf cntrt U Comic fie Minihfau tt Ic C<»i,i> ui m Marrl, puhH«'«o par M. clc Bacn.url; raris, 1851. vol. ii. p. 143. t Burke's Work*, (edit, of 1»52); vol. iii. p. \\h. IXTKODUCTIO.V. XUl (.'ducat ion in tliis romitry, is more tlian once expressed or implied in tlie following pages. In this introduction I propose to submit to those who have been accustomed to regard all State-action with jealousy, some reasons for thinking that the circumstances which once made tliat jealousy prudent and natural have imdergone an essential change. I desire to lead them to consider with me, whether, in the present altered conjuncture, that State-action, which was once dangerous, may not be- C(^me, not only without danger in itself, but the means <^f hel[)ing us against dangers from another quarter. To combine and present the considerations upon which these two propositions are based, is a task of some difficidty and delicacy. My aim is to invite impartial reflexion upon the subject, not to make a hostile attack against old opinions, still less to set on foot and fully equip a new theory. In offering, therefore, the thoughts Avhich have suggested themselves to me, I shall studi- ously avoid all particular applications of them likely to give olTence, and shall use no more illustration and development than may be indispensable to enable the reader to seize and appreciate them. The dissolution of the old })olitical parties which have governed this country since the Eevolution has long been remarked. It was repeatedly declared to be happening long before it actually took ])lace, while the vital energy of these parties still subsisted in full vigour, and was threatened only by some temporary obstruc- tion. It has been eagerly de})recated long after it had actually begun to take place, when it was in full pro- gress, and inevitable. These parties, ditR-ring in so XIV INTUODLCTION. inndi ('!'•(', wore yot ulikr in this tliat tlicv were Ixitli, in a certain liioail sense, aristocnificdl parties. Tliey were conil)inati()ns of persons considerable, either hy frreat family and estate, or l)y Court favour, or. hisily, by eminent al)iHties and poj)uh»rity ; this last body, however, nttainiiiir participation in pul>lie afl'aii's only throULdi a conjunction with one or other of the former. The.so connections, though they contained men of veiy various degrees of birth and pro}>erty, were still wholly leavened with tlie feelings and habits: of the iij)per class t>f the nation. They liad the bond of a common cul- ture; and, however their i)olitical oj)inions and acts might difler, what they said and diride revolt against the overshadowing greatness and dignity of a commanding Kxecutive. They have a temper of independence, and a habit of uncontrolled atoiy power. The diflerent parties amongst them, as they successively get jx»ssession of the Goveniment, resjXH't this jealous disposition in their f>l>lKtnents, because they share it themselves. It is a disjK^ition pi-o]x;r to tliem sis great jKTsonages, not as IXTKODUCTIOX. XV Ministers; and as tlioy arc great personages foi- their "svliole life, while they may be IMinisters but for a very short time, tlic instinct of their social condition avails more with ihem than the instinct of their ollicial func- tion. To athninister as httle as possible, to make its weight felt in foreign afltiirs rather than in domestic, to see in ministerial station rather a means of grandeur and dignity than a means of searching and useiid administrative activity, is the natural tendency of an aristocratic Executive. It is a tendency which is crechtable to tlie good sense of aristocracies, honourable to their moderation, and at the same time fortunate for their country, of whose internal development they are not precisely fitted to have the full direction. One strong and beneficial influence, however, the administration of a vigorous and high-minded aristo- cracy is calculated to exert upon a robust and sound people. I had occasion lately, in speaking of Homer, to say very often, and with much emphasis, that lie is in the f/ra?id fityle. It is the chief virtue of a healthy and uncoiTupted aristocracy, that it is, in general, in thi-< grand style. Tliat elevation of character, tliat noble way of thinking and behaving, which is an eminent gift of nature to some individuals, is also often generated in whole classes (»f men, (at least, when these come of a strong and good race), by the possession of power, by the importance and respon- sibiHty of high station, by habitually dealing with great things, by being placed above the necessity of cple to the highest pitch of welfare })ossible for them ; but it sets them an invalu- able example of qualities without which no really high Wi'lfare can exist. This has been done for their nation by the best aristocracies. The Koman aristo- cracy did it : the English aristocracy lias done it. They each fostered in the mass of the j)coples they governcil, peoples of sturdy moral constitution and apt to learn such lessons, a greatness of spirit, the natural growth of the conditii^n of magnates and rulei-s, but not the natund growth of the condition of the common people. They madc% the one of the Roman, the other of the Enghsh people, in spite of all tlu' shortcomings of each, great peoples peoples in tin' i]rand styU. And this they did, while wielding the people according to their own notions, and in tlie direction which seemed good to them ; not as ser\-ants and instruments of the people, but as its commanders and heads; solicitous for the g(H-)d of their country, indeed, but taking for granted that of that gCMxl they themselves were the supreme judges, and were to fix the conditions. The time has anived, however, wluii it i> Invom- ing imp«>s8ible for the aristocnicy of Knghmd to con- duit and wield the English nation any longer. It still. indeesc, as many persons in England supp«ise, that it administers but does not govern. He who ad- i2rrEODUcnoy. mi ministers, governs*, because he infixes hi« ''. stamps his own character on all public l pass through his » ... ■. . - - > ^, _ ,_ the Eoghdii ar^tr -^ate. it gtill governs iL T 4y of t:. in - - - '::r. r its of |*vV<2J> Viuuu «if''C JttZ .. The xvni I.VTRODUCTIOX. lidit and air, to he ncitlu'r rrainpod nor ovcrslmdowod. Democracy is tryiiij: to ajjlnn i(i< own essence; to live, to enjoy, to possess tlie world, aa aristocracy has tried, and successfully tried, before it Ever since Europe enierired from barbarism, ever since the condition of the connnon people began a little to improve, ever since their minds began to stir, this effort of democracy has been gaining strength ; and tlie more their C(Mulition improves, tlie more strength this effort gains. So potent is the cliarm of life and expansion upon the living : tlie mnnient men are aware of them, tliey begin to desire them, and the more tliey have of tlum. the more they crave. This movement of democracy, like other opcraliuiis of nature, meriti^ properly neither blame nor praise. Its partisans are apt to give it credit which it does not desene, while its enemies are apt to upbraid it unjustly. Its friends celebrate it as the author of all freedom ; but political freedom may very well be established by aristocmtic foundei^ ; and, certainly, the ]>t)litical free- dom of England owes nunv to the gi*asping English barons than to democracy. Social freedom — equality — that is rather the field of the conquests of demo- cracy. And here what I must call the injustice of its enemies comes in. For its seeking after equality, demo- cmcy is often, in this country above all, vehemently and sconifully blamed ; its character contrasted with that of liberty, wliich can magnanimously endure social dis- tinctions; iu* operations all referred, asof coui^se, to the .'"tirrings of a base ami malignant envy. No doubt there is a gross and Milgar spirit of envy, prompting ihv INTRODUCTIOX. XIX liearts of many of those wlio cry for equality. Xo doubt tliere are ignoble natures which prefer equality to liberty. Eut what we have to ask is, when the life of democracy is admitted as something natural and in- evitable, whether this or that product of democracy is a necessary growth from its parent stock, or merely an excrescence upon it. If it be the latter, certainly it may be due to the meanest and most culpable passions. But if it be the former, then this product, however base and blameworthy the passions which it may some- times be made to serve, can m itself be no more repre- hensible than the vital impulse of democracy is in itself reprehensible ; and this impulse is, as has been shown, itientical with the ceaseless \dtal eflfort of human natiu'e itself. Now, can it be denied, that a certam approach to equality, at any rate a certain reduction of signal inequahties, is a natural, instinctive demand of that impulse which drives society as a whole — no lunger individuals and limited classes only, but the mass of a community — to develope itself with the utmost pos- sible fulness and freedom ? Can it be denied, that to hve in a society of equals tends in general t(j make a man's spirits expand, and his faculties work easily and actively ; while, to live in a society of superiors, although it may occasionally be a veiy good thscipline, yet in general tends to tame the spirits and to make the play of tlie faculties less secure and active? Can it be denied, that to be heavily overshadowed, to l)e profoundly insignificant, has, on the whole, a depressing and benumbing ellect on the character? I know that some individuals react against the strongest inipcdi- XX INTRODUCTION'. niont.-J, ami awe success ntul ectticle, when they would rise, of a condition of sj)lendour, grandeur, and culture, which they cannot possibly reach, has the ellect of making them flag in spirit, and of disposing tliem to sink desptaithngly back into their own con- dition? Can any one deny, that the knowdetlge how poor and insignificant the best condition of imi)oi1ance and culture attiiinable by them must be esteemed by a class incom[)anibly richer-endowed, tends to cheapen this modest possible amelioration in the account of those classes also fc)r whom it would be relatively a real jiiogress, and to di.senchant their imaginations with it ? It seems to me impossible to deny this. And therefore a philosophic obscn-er*, witli no love for democracy, but nither with a terror of it, has been constrained to remark, that "the common people is more uncivihsed in :iri-t..( ratic countries than in :iiiy ..tliere;" because • M. , is -yet in a state of expectation and preparation. The power of France in Europe is at this day mainly owing to the completeness with which she has organised democratic institutions. The action of the French State is excessive ; but it is too little underst«xxl in England that the French ptH)ple has adopted this action for its own purposes, has in great measure attained those pur|K)ses by it^ and owes to having done so the chief part of its influence in Europe. The growing power in Euro[)e is democracy ; and France has organised democracy with a certain indisputjible grandeur and success. The ideas of 1780 were working everpvherc in the eighteenth century ; but it was because in INTRODUCTIOX. XXIU France tlic State adopted tliem that tlic Frencli devo- lution became an historic cpocli for tlic Avorld, and France the lode-star of Continental democracy. Her airs of su])eriority and her overweening pretensions come from her sense of the power which she derives from this cause. Every one knows how Frenchmen proclaim France to be at tlie head of civilisation, the French army to be the soklier of God, Paris to be the l^raiu of Europe, and so on. All this is, no doubt, in a vehi of sullicient latuity and bad taste ; but it means, at bottom, that France believes she has so organised lierself as to facilitate for all members of her society full and free expansion ; that she beheves herself to have remodelled her institutions with an eye to reason rather than custom, and to right rather than fact ; it means, that she believes the other peoples of Euro})e to be preparing themselves, more or less rapidly, for a like achievement, and that she is conscious of her power and inllucnce upon them as an iiiitiatress and example. Li this beUef there is a part of trutli and a part of delusion : I think it is more prorital)le for a Frenchman to consider the part of delu>i()u contained in it ; for an Enghshman, the part of truth. It is because aristocracies almost inevitably fail to appreciate justly, or even to take into their mind, this instinct pushing the masses towards expansion and fuller hfe, that they lose their hold over tiiem. It is the old story of the incapacity of aristocracies for ideas; the secret of their want of success in modern e[)ochs. The people treats them with llagrant injustice, when it denies idl obhgatiou to tliem. They can, and often do, II 1 XXIV I.NTUoItlLTIoN. impart a higli spirit, a fine ideal of Lnaiulcur, to tlic j)c-«)j)le : thus tliey lay the foiinclations of a «:ivat nation: but tlioy leave the petintercsted loerages was, in this respect, of ill omen. The separation between aristocracy and democracy will pro- bably, therefore, go on still widening. And it must in fainiess be added, that as in one most important part of general human culture, openness to ideaa and ardour for them, aristocracy is less advanced INTRODUCTION'. XXV than democracy, to replace or keep the latter under the tutelage of the former would hi some respects actually be unfiivourable to the progress of the "svorld. At epochs ^vhen new ideas are powerfully fermenting in a society, and profoundly changing its spu'it, aristocracies, as they are in general not long siiiTered to guide it without question, so are they by nature not well fitted to guide it intelligently. In England democracy has been slow in developing itself, having met with much to withstand it, not only in the worth of the aristocracy, but also in the fine quaU- ties of the common people. The aristocracy has been more in sympathy with the common people than per- haps any other aristocracy. It has rarely given them great umbrage : it has neither been frivolous, so as to provoke their contempt, nor impertinent, so as to pro- voke their irritation. Above all, it has in general meant to act \vitli justice, according to its own notions of justice. Therefore the feeling of admiring deference to such a class was more deep-rooted in the people of this countiy, more cordial, and more persistent, than in any people of the Continent. But, besides this, the vigour and high spirit of the English common people bred in them a self-reliance which disposed each man to act individually and independently ; and so long as this disposition prevails through a nation divided into classes, the predominance of an aristocracy, of the class containing the greatest and strongest inthviduals of the nation, is secure. Democracy is a force in which the concert of a great ninnber of men makes up for the weakness of each man taken by himself; democracy ac- XXVI INTKODUCTIOX. cepts a certain relative nosition of deference are thus dying out among the lower cliisses of the pjiglish nation, it seems to me indisputable that the advantages which command deference, eminent superiority in higli fechng, dignity and culture, tend to diminish among the INTRODUCTIOX. XXVU liighcst class. I sliall not be suspected of any inclina- tion to underrate the aristocracy of this country. I regard it as the worthiest, as it certainly has been the most successful aristocracy, of which history makes record : if it has not been able to develope excellences ■which do not belong to the nature of an aristocracy, yet it has been able to avoid defects to which the natm-e of an aristocracy is peculiarly prone. But I cannot read the history of the flowering time of the English aristocracy, the eighteenth century, and tlien look at this aristocracy ui our own century, without feehng that there has been a change. I am not now tliinking of private and domestic virtues, of morality, of decorum : perhaps with respect to these there has in this class, as m society at large, been a change for tlie better ; I am thinking of those public and con- spicuous vu"tues by which the nmltitude is captivated and led — lofty spirit, commanding character, exquisite culture. It is true that the advance of all classes in cultm'c and refinement, may make the culture of one class, which, isolated, appeared remarkable, appear so no longer; but exquisite culture and great dignity are always sometliing rare and striking, and it is the dis- thiction of the Englisli aristocracy, in the eighteenth century, tluit not only was their culture something rare by comparison witli tlie rawness of the masses, but it was something rare and admirable in itself. It is rather that this rare culture of the highest class has actually somewhat declined *, than that it has come to • Thi3 will appear doubtful to no one wcll-acqiiaiiited with the literature and memoirs of the last century. To give but two illus- X-\vm INTRODIXTIOX. look loord Chesterfield's Lrttcrf^ (edit, of 1845), vol. i. pp. \\h, 143, Tol. ii. p. 54 ; and then nay, whether the cul- ture there indicated aa the culture of a class haa maintained itself at that level. INTRODUCTION. XXIX loss disposed to folLnv and to admire, aristocracy becomes less aud less qualified to command and to captivate. On the one hand, then, the masses of the people in this country are preparing to take a much more active part tlian formerly in controlling its destinies ; on the otlier hand, tlie aristocracy, (using this word in the Avidest sense, to include not only the nobility and landed gentry, but also those reinforcements from the classes bordering upon itself, wliich this class constantly attracted and assimilated,) while it is threatened with losing its hold on the rudder of government, its power to give to public affairs its own bias and direction, is losing also that influence on the spirit and character of the people wliich it long exercised. I know that this will be warmly denied by some persons. Those who liave grown up amidst a certain state of things, those whose habits, and interests, and af- fections, are closely concerned with its continuance, are slow to believe that it is not a part of the order of nature, or that it can ever come to an end. But I think that wliat I have liere laid down will not a])pear doubtful cither to tlie most competent aud friendly foreign observers of this country, or to those Englis^hmen who, clear of all inlluences of class or party, have apphed themselves steadily to see the tendency of their nation as it really is. Assuming it to be true, a great number of considerations are suggested by it; but it is my puq)ose here to insist upon one only. That one consideration is; — on what action may we rely, to replace, for some time at any rate, that action XXX INTUODULTIOX. of tlie aristocraoy upon the jx'ople of this countn', wliich we have seen exercise an influence in many respects elevating and beneficial, but wliich is rapidly, and from inevit;ible ctiuses, ceasing ? In other words, and to use a short and significant modern expression which every one understands ; — what inllueiice may help us to prevent the English people from becoming, with the growth of democracy, Americanised/ I con- fess I am disposed to aiLswer : — Nothiwj but the in/lu- ence of the State. I know what a chorus of objcctoi's will be ready. One will saxy : Rather repair and restore the influence of anstocracy. Another will say : It is not a bad thing, but a good thing, that the English pet and principal objection I will notice fii-st: I have had occiision to touch ujK>n the first already, and ujion the second I shall touch presently. It seems to me, then, that one may Siivc one's self from much idle terror at names and shadows, if one will be at the pains to rememlxir what diflcreut con- ditions the difTerent character of two nations must necessarily impose on the operation of any piinciple. That which opemtes no.Kiously in the one, may operate wholesomely in the other ; because the unsound paii of INTRODUCTION. XXXI the one's cliaractor may be yet further innamed and enlarged by it, the imsoiuid part of the other's may find m it a correetive and an abatement. Tliis is tlie great use whieh two unhke characters may find in observing each other. Neither is hkely to liave tlie other's faults, so each may safely adopt as mucli as suits him of the other's quahties. If I were a French- man, I should never be weary of admiring the inde- pendent, individual, local habits of action in England ; of directing attention to the evils occasioned in France by the excessive action of the State ; for I should be very sure, that, say what I might, the pai't of the State would never be too small in France, nor that of the individual too large. Being an Enghshman, I see notliing but good in freely recognising the coherence, rationality, and efficaciousness, which characterise the strong State-action of France ; of acknowledging the Avant of method, reason, and result, which attend the feeble State-action of England ; because I am veiy sure, that, strengthen in England the action of the State as one may, it will always fmd itself sufficiently controlled. But, wlien the Constitiitionnel sneers at the do-httle talkativeness of parliamentary government, or when the Morning Star inveighs against the despotism of a centralised administration, it seems to me that they lose their labour, because they are hardening them- selves against dangers to which they are neither of them hable. Both tlie one and the otlier, in [)lain truth, Coiiipoiinil for sins tlicy are ineliiiM to, By damuing those tbcy have no mind to. XXXll INTKODUCTIOX. So tliat tlie exaggeration of the action of tlio State, in Fmnce, furnislies no reason for absolutely refusing to enlarge the action of tlie State in England ; because the genius and temper of the people of this countiy are such as to render impossible that exaggera- tion, which the genius and temper of the French rendered easy. There is no danger at all that the native independence and individuahsm of the English character will ever belie itself, and become weakly prone to lean on others, or blindly confiding in them. Enghsh democracy runs no risk of being over- mastered by the State ; it is almost certain that it will throw off the tutelage of aristocracy. Its reiil danger is, that it will have far too much its own way, and be K'ft far too much to itself. " What harm will there be in that.^" say some: ''are we not a self-governing people ? " I answer : " We have never yet been a self- governing democracy, or anything like it." The diffi- culty for democracy is, how to find and keep high ideals. The individuals who compose it are, the bulk of them, persons who need to follow an ideal, not to set one ; and one ideal of greatness, high feeling and fine culture, which an aristocracy once supplied to them, they lose l)y the very fact of ceasing to be a lower order and becoming a democracy. Nations arc not truly great solely because the individuals composing them are numerous, free, and active; but tiny are great when these numbers, this free- dom, and this activity arc employed in the service of an ideal somewhat higher than that of an ordi- nniy man. taken by himnir. \'>» "nly the great- IXTKODUCTIOX. XXXIU noss of nati(^iis, but their very unity, depends on this. In fact, unless a nation's action is inspired by an ideal conuuanding the respect of tlie many as higher tluui each ordinary man's own, there is nothing to keep tliat nation togellicr. nolliing to resist tlie (hssolvent action of innumerable ami conllicting wills and opinions. Quot homines, tot sententice, and one man's opinion is as good as another's : — there is no basis for a real unity here. In this regard, what is now passing in the Untted States of America is full of instruction for us. I hear numberless English lamenting the (lisrn[)tion of the American Union ; they esteem it a triumph for the enemies of all freedom, a discouragement for the principles of self-government, as they have been long understood and put in practice in this country as well as in America. I, on the contrary, esteem it a great and timely lesson to the over-individualism of the Eng- lish character. We in England have had, in our great aristocratical and ecclesiastical institutions, a principle of cohesion and unity which the Americans liad not : they gave tlie tone to the nation, and the nation took it from them ; self-government here was (piite a dif- ferent thing from self-government there. ( )ur society is probably destined to become much more democratic: who will give the tone to the nation then!'' That is the question. The greatest men of America, her Washingtons, Ilamiltons, ^ladisons, well understanding that aristocratical institutions are not in all times and places possible; well perceiving that in their liepublic there was no place for these ; comprehending, therefore, that from these that securitv for national unitv and XXXIV IXTRODrCTIOX. greatncjv'*, an itleal coniiiuuKlinjj popular reverence, was not to be obtained, but knowing tliat thiis idciil was indispensable, would have been rejoiced to found a substitute for it in the diLMiity and authority of the Stati'. They d(.'i)l<)retl the weakness and iiLsignificmice of the executive power a.s a calamity. When the inevitable coui-se of events has made t)ur self-govern- ment Sijmething really like that of America, when it ha.s removed or weakened that security for a noble national spirit, and therefore for unity, which "Sve possessed in an'stocrcwi/, will the substitute of tJie State be equally wanting to us? If it is. then the dangers of America will really be ours: the nuiltitude in iK)wer, with no ideal to elevate or guide it ; the s[)irit of the nation vulgarised; imity imperilled because there is no institution grand enough to unite round. It would really be wasting time to contend at length, that to give more prominence to the idea of the k?tate is now possible in this country, without endangering liberty. In other countries the habits and disj)ositions of the jieople may be such that the State, if once it acts, may l>e easily suffered to usuq) exorbitantly ; here they cert^iinly are not. Here the j)eople will always suflicicntly keej) in mind that any public authority is a trust delegated by themselves, for certain pui-i)oses, and with certain limit"* ; and if that authority pretends to aii absc^lute, independent cha- racter, they will soon enough (and most rightly) re- mind it of itii! error. Ilere there can be no question of a paternal Government, of an iiresponsible executive jKiwer, professing to a<^t for the people's good, l)ut ^ 1 XTUODICTIOX. XXX\- \viiliout llic ])L'<)plc's consent, and, it' necessary, against tlie peo})le's ^vislles ; here no one dreams of removing a sinu'le constitutional control, of abolisliinLj; a sino;le safe-guard for securing a correspondence between the acts of Government and the will of the nation. The question is, whether, retaining all its power of control over a Government which should abuse its trust, the nation may not now fmd advantage in voluntarily allowing to it purposes somewhat ampler, and limits somewhat wider ^dthin Avhich to execute them, tlian formerly ; whrlhei" it may not thus ac(juirt' in the State an ideal of high reason and riaht tcehng, representing its best self, commanding general respect, and forming a rallying point for the intelligence and for the worthiest instincts of the connnunity, which will herein fmd a true bond of union. I am convinced that, if the worst mischiefs of demo- cracy ever happen in England, it will be, not because a new condition of things has come upon us unfore- seen, but because, though we all foresaw it, our en()rts to deal with it were in the wrong direction. At tlie present time, almost every one believes in the growth of democracy. Almost every one talks of it, almost every one laments it ; ])ut the last thing people can l)e brought to do, is to make timely ])re|)aration for it. Many of those who, if they would, could do most to forward this work of preparation, ai'e made slack and hesitating l)y the behef that, after all, in England, things may probably never go very far ; that it will l)e pos- sible to keep much more of the ])ast than speculators say. Others, witli a more robust laith, tliink that all b •' XXXVl INTRODUCTIOX. (k'lMocracy wants is vigorous j)iittiiig-clown ; and tlmt. witli a good \vill and strong hand, it is perfectly possible to retain the whole Middle Ages. Others, free fixmi the projutliees of elitss and position which warp the judg- imnt of the>e, and who would, I believe, be the first and greatest gainei-s by strengthening the hands of tlu- Su\h\ are averse from doing so, by re:i.son of suspicions anil fears, once perfectly well-grounded, but in this age anil in the present circunistauccs, well-grounded no longer. I speak of the middle classes. I have already shown how it is the natural disposition of an aristocratic< machiniiy and authority to the aristocratical and ecclesiastical party, which it regarded as its best sup]>ort. The party which sulfered com])riscd the flower and strength of that middle 1 XTRODUCTIOX. XXXVll class of society, always very llourisliing and roljust in this country. That poAverfiil class, from tliis spe- cimen of tlie administrative activity of the State, conceived a strong anli[)atliy against all inleivcii- tion of Government in certain spheres. An active, stringent administration in those splieres, meant at that time a High Church and Prelatic administration in tliem, an administration galling to the rnritan party and to the middle class ; and this aggrieved class had naturally \h^ proneness to draw nice philosophical dis- tinctions between State-action in tliese spheres, as a thing for abstract consideration, and State-action in tlic'Ui as they })ractically lelt it and su])posed them- selves hkel}' long to feel it, guided by their adversaries. In the minds of the Enghsh middle class, therefore, State-action in social and domestic concerns became inextricably associated with the idea of a Conventicle Act, a Five-]\Iile Act, an Act of Uniformity. Their abliorrence of sucli a State-action as this, they extended to State-action in general ; and, having never known a beneficent and just State-power, they enlarged their liatred of a cruel and partial State-power, the only one tliey liad ever kiu)wn, into a maxim that no State-power was to be trusted, that the least action, in certain pro- vinces, wa.s rigorously to be deiiiiHl to the State, whi'U- ever this was possible. Tluis that jealousy of an important, sedulous, ener- getic Executive, natural to grandees unwilling to suH'cr tlieir personal autliority to be circumscribed, tiieir individual grandeur to be eclipsed, by the autliority and grandeur of the State, became reinforced in this countiy b 3 XXXVlll INTRODUCTION'. l)y a liko.-ditiincnt among the middle claRses, who liad no such authurity ur grandeur to lose, but who, by a hasty reasoning, had theoretically condemned for ever an agency which they had practically found at tinu"> oppressive. Lenre ws to ourselrc.s! magnates and middle classes alike cried to the State. Not only from those who were full and abounded went up this prayer, but also from those whose condititin admitted of great amelioration. Not only did the whole repudiate the j)hy>ician, but also those who were sick. For it is evident, that the action of a diligent, an impartial, and a national Government, while it can d<> little tt> better the condition, already fortunate enough, of the highest and richest class of it.s people, can really d(^ nuich, by institution and regulation, to better that of the middle and lower classes. The State can bestow cer- tain brnail cnljective benefits, which are indeed mean and insignificant, if comjiaretl with the advantagis already possessese on myself the nde carefully to abstaiti froiu any attempt to suggest a positive application of them. I do not presume to discuss in what manner the world of fact> is to adajit itself to the changc^l world of ideas which IXTKODUCTIOX. XXXIX I liavu been (le>cril)in^\ I oflor l:X'1U'1';i1 roiisidcrnlions, — presented, I hope, without ofiensiveness, as I uiii sure they have been formed without prejudice — con- siderations suggested by w\itcliing the course of men and classes in this country, to the silent reflection of tliinking minds. This an isolated individual, however liumble, may foirly attempt; more he cannot attempt I)r()perly ; perhaps the time has not yet come for more to be attempted at all. But one breach of my own rule I r^liall hero venture to commit, by dwelhng for a moment on a matter of practical institution, designed to meet new social exigencies : on the intervention of the State in public education. The public secondary schools of France, decreed by the Eevolution, and established under the Consulate, are said by many good judges to be inferior to the old colleges. By means of the old colleges and of private tutors, the French aristocracy coidd procur(^ for its children (so it is said, and very likely willi truth) a better training than that which is now given in the lyceums. Yes ; but the boon conferred by the State, when it founded the lyceums, was not for the aristo- cracy, it was for the vast middle class of Frenchmen. This class, certainly, had not already the means of a better training for its children, before the State inter- fered. This class, certainly, would not have succeeded in procuring by its own efl'orts a better trauiing for its children, if the State hatl not interfered, i Through the interference of the State, tliis class enjoys better schools for its children, not than the great and rich enjoy, (that is not the question,) but than the same h 4 xl class enjoys in any luunlry wlicre the ^^talc has not intcrfeix'vl to found thcni. Tlic lyceiuns may not be so ^ootl iLS Eton in- Harrow; but they are a great deal better than a Classira/ dtid Commercial Acadeiinj. The aristoeratie eh»s>es in Knglaml may, perhaps, be well content to rest satisfied with their Eton and Harrow ; the State is not likely to do belter for them ; nay, the superi(»r confidenci-. spirit, and style, cn- gendereil by a training in the great j)ublic schools, constitute for these classes a real privilege, a rejd engine of command, which they might, if they were selfisi), be sorry to lose by the establishment of scIkk^Is great enough to beget a like spirit in the classes below them. l*nt thr middle elasses in England have everj- reason ; I»nt with their private schcmls ; the Stale can a<' a great deal better for them ; by gi\ing to schools for these classes a i)ublic chanicter, il can bring the instruction in them under a criticism which the knowledge of these clas>es is not in it.self at present able to supply ; by giving to them a natitmal character, it can confer on them a greatness and a noble spirit, which the tone of these classes is not in itself at present adi'cpiate to impart. Such siIkh^Is would ^«M)n pn)ve notable competitors with the exist- ing public schools : they would do the>c a great senice !)y stimulating them, and making them look into their own weak pt»inti» more dosel}' : economical, l)ecause with charges imifonn and under seveix^ revision, they Would do a great service to tliat large In^ly of persons, who, at prei>ent, sociug that on the wlu»le the best secondarv in^t^^clion to be fnund is that of the exist- INTKODVCTIOX, xli iiiLi; piiblii' schools, ohttiiii it for tlicii- childrrii (Vom a soii^c of iluty, altliough tluy can ill alford it, and allliouLi'li its cost is ccilaiidy rxoihitaiit. Thus the mitldlc classes iniulit, by the aid of the ^^tate, better their iiislmctiiMi, while still keepinu' its cost moderate. This ill itself would be a ^'aiu ; but this ^-aiu would be nothing in coni[)arison with that of acquii'ing the sense of belonging to great and honourable' seats of h'arn- ing, and of breathing in their youth the air of the best culture of their nation. This sense would be an educational inlluence for them of the highest Vijue ; it would ivally augment their self-respect and moral force; it would truly fuse tlu'Ui with the class above, and tend to bring about for ihcm the e(piality which they desire. So it is not State-action in it-elf which the middle and lower classes of a nation ought to deprecate ; it is State-action exercised by a hostile class, and for their oppression. From a State-action reasonably, e(juitabl)% and nationally exercised, they may derive great beiuTit ; greater, by the very nature and necessity of things, than can be dei'ived from this source by the class above them. For the middle or lower classes to obstruct such a State-action, to rei)el its benefits, is to play the game of their enemies, and to prolong for themselves a condition of real inferiority. This, I know, is rather dangerous ground to tread upon. The great middle classes of this country are conscious of no weakness, no inferiority; they do not want any one to provide anything for them; such as they are, they l)elieve that the freedom and i)rospeiity Xlii IMK^'I'l t Tl<«.\. of England are tlu-ir work, and that tlic liiluiv Ixlonjrs to tluni. No one admires thcin more tliaii I do; but those wlio a(hnire them most, and wlio most believe in tlic'ir eapabilitios, ran n-nder tliem no better service than by pointing out in what they underrate tlieir defi- ciencies, and liow their deliciencies, if unremedied, may impair their future. They want culture and dignity ; they want ideas. Aristocracy has culture and dignity: demoi-iacy lias readiness for new idea-s and ardour A>r the ideas it possesses : (»f these, our middle cliLss hjis the Jiist only, ardour for the ideas it already possesses. It believes ardently in liberty, it believes ardently in industry; and, by Us zealous belief in these two ideas, it ha.s accomplished great things. What it has accom- plished by its lu'lirf in indu>try is patent to all the world. Tlu' liberties of England are less it*? exclusive work than it sujjjioscs ; f(^r tluse, aristocracy ha.s achieved at least as much ; but of one inestimable part of liberty, liberty of thought, it has been (without precisely intending it) the princii)al champion. The intellectual action of the Church of England upon the nation has been insignificant ; its social action hiis been great and useful. The social action of Protestant Dis- sent, that genuine product of the English middle cla.ss, ha.*^ Ixjen insignificint ; its positive intellectual action lias l)een insignificant ; its negative intellectual action — in so far a.sby strenuou.»niCTln.V. been cfll'cli'il int.»t successfully, and it*: result spread must widely. This is why the spectacle of ancient Alliens has such profound inteix^t for a rational man ; that it is the spectacle of the culture of a peopU'. It is not an aristocracy leavening with it.s own high spirit the multitude which it wields, but leaving it the unformed nmltitude still ; it is not a democracy, acute and ener- getic, but tasteless, narrow-minded, and ignoble; it is tile middle and hiwer classes in the highest develop- ment of their humanity that these classes have yet reached. It was the viain/ who rehshed those arts, who were uot satisfied with less than those monuments; in the convei*sations recorded by I'lato, or by the matter-of-fact Xenophon, which for the free yet refined discussion of idejis have set tlie tone for the whole cultivatecl world, shopkee]K*i-s and tradesmen of Athens mingle as sj)eakci's. For any one but a pedant, this is why a handful of Atlu'iiiaiis of two thousjuid years ago are more interesting than the millions <»f most nations our contemporaries. t^urely, if they knew thi.s, those friends of progress, who have confidently pronounced the remains of the ancient world sc) much lumber, and a chvssical education an aristocratic imper- tinence, might be inclined to reconsider their sentence. The coui*se t^iken in the next fifty years by the middle clitsses of this nation, will probably gire a decisive turn to it.s history. If they will not seek the alliance of the State for their own elevation, if they go on exaggerating their spirit of individualism, if they persist in their jailousy of all govenimental action, if they cannot leam that the .iiitipathics and the Shib- IXTIIODLXTIOX. Xlv boleths of a ])ast nge are now an auaclirDiiism for tlR'iu —that will not pivvc'iit tlioin, [)ro])al)ly, from get- ling tlie rule of their country for a season, Ijut they will certainly Americanise it. They will lule it by their energy, but they will deteriorate it l)y their low ideals and want of culture. In the decline of the aristocratical element, which in some sort suppUed an ideal to ennoble the spirit of the nation and to keep it together, there will be no other element present to perform this service. It i- in itself a serious calamity for a nation that its tone of feeling and grandeur of spirit should be lowered or dulled : but the calamity appears far more serious still, when we consider that, as we have seen, this high tone of feeling suppHes a principle of cohesion by which a nation is kept united ; that without this, not only its nobleness is endangered, but its unity. Another consideration is, that the middle classes, remaining as they arc now, with their narrow and somewhat har.-h and unattractive spirit and culture, will almost certainly fail to mould or assimilate the masses below them, whose sympathies are at the present moment actually wider and more liberal than theirs. They arrive, these masses, eager to enter into possession of the world, to gain a more vivid sense of their own life and activity : in this their irrepressible development, their natural educators and initiators are those immediately above them, the middle classes. K these classes cannot win their spnpathy or give them their direction, society is in danger of falling into anarcliy. Therefore, with all the force I can, I wi.>h to urire Xlvi INTRODrtTION. upon tlie middle classes of this eountry, both that they might he very greatly profited hy the action of the State, and also that they are continuing their opposi- tion to such action out of an unfoundeil fear. But at the same time I sjiy, that the middle chtss luis the right, in admitting the action of Government, to make the condition that this Govermnent shall be one of its own adoption, one that it can trust. To ensure this is now in its own power. If it drmal and inefficient. lUit in the second place I answer : —If the executive government i*- re;illy in tiie hands of men no wiser than the bulk of mankind, of men whose action an in- telligent man would be unwilling to accept as repre- sentative of his own action, wliosc who are to sum up and con- centrate its action, controls it in such a manner, that it allows to bf chosen agcnt^jSO little in its confidence, or so mediocre, or so incoiiYpetent. that it thinks the best thing to be done with them is to reduce their action as near as possible to a nullity. Hesitating, blundering, unintelligent, inefficacious, tlic action of tlic State may be ; but, such as it is, it is the collective action of the nation itself, and the nation is resjwnsible for it ; it is its own action which it suffei's to ])e thus unsatisfac- toiy. Nothing can free it from thi-^ responsibility. The INTRODUCTION. xlix conduct of its afliiirs is in its own power. To carry on into its executive proceeelings the indecision, coii- llict, and discordance of its deliberative proceedings, may be a natural defect of a free nation, but it is cer- tainly a defect; it is a dangerous error to axil it, as some do, a perfection. The want of concert, reason, and organisation in the State, is the want of concert, reason, and organisation in the collective nation. Inasmuch, therefore, as collective action is more effi- cacious than isolated individual efforts, a nation having great and complicated matters to deal with must greatly gain by employing the action of the State. Only, the State-power which it employs should be a power which really represents its best self, and whose action its in- telligence and justice can heartily avow and adopt ; not a power which reflects its inferior self, and of whose action, as of its own second-rate action, it has perpe- tually to be ashamed. To offer a worthy initiative, and to set a standard of rational and equitable action — this is what the nation should expect of the State ; and the more the State fulfils this expectation, the more will it be accepted in practice for what in idea it must always be. People will not then ask the State, what title it has to commend or reward genius and merit, since commendation and reward imply an attitude of superiority : for it will then be felt that the State truly acts for the English nation ; and the genius of the English nation is greater than the geniits of any individual, greater even than Sluikspeniv's genius, foi- it includes the genius of Xewton also. I will not deny that to gi\e n more j)r«i)iiinent part c 1 INTRODL'CTION. to the State would he a coiisiilerable cliango in tlib country ; that maxims once ver}- sound, and habit:? once very salutary, may br ap])ealed to against it. The sole que.^itiun is, wlu'ther tliose nuiximsand habits are sound and siilutary at this moment. A far ^naver and more dillicult change, because a change at variance with maxims far less sound and habits far less saluUiry. — to reduce the all-eflacing prominence of the State, to give a more ])rominent part to the individual, — is imjie- riously presenting itself to other countrii'S, lk)th are the suggestions of t)ne irresistible force, which is gradually making its way evi rpvlicre, removing old conditions and imposing new, altering long-fixed habits, under- mining venerable instituti<.)ns, even modifying national character — the modem sjnrit. Undoubtedly we arc ch-awing on towards great changes; and for all nations the one thing needful is to discern clearly tlicir own condition, in order to know in what particular way they themselves may best meet them. ()j>enncss and llexibility of mind are at >\w\\ a time the first of virtues. Jle ye perfect, said the Founder of Christianity ; / count not myself to have apprehended, said its greatest Apostle. Pcr- fection will never be naehed ; but to recognise a period of transfonnation when it comes, and to adapt themselves honestly and rationally to its laws, is the nearest approach to perfection of which men and nations are capable. No habits or attachments should prevent their trying to do this ; nor indeed, in the long run, can they. Human thought, which made ail institution>, inevitably saj^s them, renting only in that which is absolute and eternal. rOPULAR EDUCATION OF FRANCE THE POrULAK EDUCATION OF FMNCE, C'lIArTEU I. OBJECTS AND MEANS OF INQUIRY. Having boon entrusted by the Eoyal Comniissioiiers, appoiuted to inquire into the state of popiilixr education in England, -svitli the cliarge of reporting to tlieni on i y tlie systems of popular education in use in France, Holland, and the French Cantons of Switzerland, I proceeded to Paris on the 15th of March, 1850. The British Ambassador at Paris, Earl Cowley, to whom my warmest acknowledgments are due for the prompt kindness with which he gave me his assistance on every occasion wlien I ap})ealed to him for it, introduced me to ^L lioulantl, tlie Minister of Public Instruction, who furnished me with all facilities for prosecuting my inquiry. Xot «>nly did M. Kouland obhgingly place at my disposal the aid, in Paris, of those officers of his department who could best giude me, but he also supplied me with letters to the Prefects and Pectoi-s, by which I was enabled, after le«aving Paris, to extend my researches to the provinces, and to \isit schools in eveiy part of France. // B •2 CIIAITKK I. FllANCi:. Fioin tviiy I'uiulioiiarv (•!' tlu' Fiviali < i<»vt'rniiK'nl witli wlioni 1 was placet! in ii'latiiui, I exiKTii'iioeil uiiiluiiu omrtosy, attcMili«»M, ami ns>i>tam.'c'. My thanks arc duo to thcni nil ; but I mu.«^t be allowed to meiUiou by name two gentlemen, whom I had the advantage of consulting ct)nstantly, and to whom my obligations arc unbounded — }>{. Magin ami ^[. Kapet. ^I. Magin, now Inspector-General c»t' jjHmary instruc- tion, and tormerly Kector of the Academy of Nancy, the metropolis of one of the best educated districts in France, has peculiar qualifications, in his wide expe- rience, his thorough mastery of the whole system of French education, his perfect disinterest^'diiess, and his singular clearness of judgment, for guiding an inquirer charged with such an errand as mine. If I have not wholly failed in finding my way through the compli- cated general question which in France I had to study, it is M. Magin whom I have had, ahiio-t always, to thank for my clue, lieconnnended by Lord Gmuville's kindness to the notice of M. Guizot, (whose service in the cause of popular education is one of his many distinctions), I was introduced by M. Guizot to a Primary InspecU>r, who was, he said, of all men the best qualified to inform me respecting the I'rench schools and the prac- tical working o( their system — M. IJajiet. This testi- mony borne by M. Guizot to M. Kapet's excellence I soon found that eveiy other voice — official and unoflicial, clerical and lay — cordially confirmed. In- deed, I could not but be astonished to find one, wlmm all thus united in (U'sen-edly praising, jilaced in the official hienirdiy of public instruction so far below hi.s meiits. "SL Rai^et's guidance and infonuation were invaluable to me in prosecuting my visits to schools. OBJFX'TS AND MRAXS OF IXQUIKY. 3 I afterwards visited Holland and the Freneli Cantons of Switzerland. In these countries, also, I received eveiT assistance, both from the Piritish Legati(^n and tVoni the oflicers of Government. But the time which I was able to pass in Holland and Switzerland was very- limited ; it was to France that I principally directed my attention. ]\I. Cousin's rejiort on Public Instruction in Holland is in every one's hands ; the state of things which it describes is to this day little changed. In Switzerland, the German Cantons, the Cantons most interesting to the student of pubUc education, (Canton Aargau is said to possess the best primary schools in Europe), were beyond the province assigned to me by my instructions. Even bad they fallen within it, I should have hesitated, though their schools aie un- doubtedly superior to the French schools, to shorten my inquiry in France in order to visit them. The day has gone by, when the actual mechanism of primary schools formed the principal object of inquu'ies upon pubhc education. Kival school-methods have ibught their fight ; and at the present day we in England, at any rate, think that we know pretty well in what good school-keeping consists. It was not to arbitrate between the monitorial and simultaneous systems, or to give the palm to the best plan for fitting and furnishing schools, that the Education Commission was appointed. That appetite for school-details must indeed be voracious, which at the })resent day can make its pc^ssessor forget, in the spectacle of highly pcrfiTtt'cl schools, that the \ital (juc-lii'u is no longer the ])erfection of elementary sc1k)o1s, but their ovation ; their creation, and upon what scale this is accomplished, and under what conditions. France is a country, in ]>o|»ulaiin!i. in cxtciil, in re- u -2 4 ( HAiTi:n i. — ritANci:. sources, n<»t ill-niatclu'd witli had its historians, that of France has hitherto remained undescribed.* I begin, therefore, M'ith France ; and my notices of prinuiry instruction in Holland and Switzerland will be but >upi)leuuiitaiy. • I Hjx'ak of sjHciiil works, compowHl in the English langiinjrc, or of which English translations exist. But f»ir gi-neral works noticing French education along with that of other countries, sec Mr. K.iy's interesting IxKik, The Education of the Poor in England and Eti- ropr, London, IJ^IO; anls of their locality, we shall be able to conceive the com- j)leteness of the municipal organisation which actually exists in France. Three forms of religious w<»rsliip are recognised by the law : the lJ..m:iii CilliMli.-. ilu- rn»lc>tant. aiul • II if< to 1h' iK'tt 11. ii<>\M\inii ofhin own nnining. At PariH aiui in all tlic ffTvat town-H lIiiH ]ia« iK-vn done; but it in, aliio, (iHcn done in the conntn*. AlM»ut I'OOO ninniciiial councils have Ix-cn thuH dissolved since 1851. 0RGAXI8ATI0X OF .A[0DI:RX FHAXCR. 7 (lie JL'\vi.>-]i.* TIk' ministers of tliese three communions are alike salaried by the State. Tlic Ivoman Cathohc rehgion is truly, as designated in the Concordat, (the instrument which fixes the modern legal constitution of the French Church), " the religion of the great majority of the French people." It is professed by more than tliirtcen-fifteeuths of the population. There are about five millionsf of Protestants, divided between the Lutheran and Calvinist communions. The Cal- vuiists are the more numerous, having 510 salaried ministers, Avhile the Lutherans have but 255. The Jews are in number about 70,000. * In France always called Israelite, the terms Jew, Jewish, heing considered somewhat opprobrious. f I quote from the latest information, a work by jM. Magin, Cours de Geographie Moderne, Paris, 1858, authorised by the French Government for use in the public schools. But on this subject of the numbers of the French Protestants there is the most astonishing diversity of as.sertion. The lowest estimate which I have seen puts tliem at one million ; the highest at six millions. J CIIAITKK 111. POrn.AR KItrcATlON IN KHANCE IIKHHIL THK IlEVOLrTION. In Fiaiu\', as in (»tlic*r countries, llic Christian Clmrrli has from the earliest times recognisetl llie duty, and asserted tlie right, of organising and controlling jiuhlic education. Besides the monastery-schools, besides the ecclesiastical or episcopal schools, the church professed tlu' oMigatiofi to ])rovide schools of a humbler order, schools for the ])oor laity, Us i>asto- p/torluin) a certain mnnber of readei*s, and to train them to the stutly of letters as well lis to the minis- try of the alUu\ The Latemn Council of 1170 gave injunctions, renewed by the I^iteran Council of 121.% that a jirebend in eveiy cathedral should be devoted to the maintenance of a |)rtH'e[)tor charged to instruct, without fee, the young. This instnif-tion, like that of the higher sc1hm)1s, was under the superintendence of • S'O p. 90 of Ili.otoirt lit rin.*tnirtinn Pnbliquc rn Kuropr, et princijHtlnnent fii France, par Vallct t\v Virivillc, pnifcRwnr aiixi- liairc ii rfio«>lr ilej* CliartcH, -Ito, rarin, IHID : a work U» wliich, both here and in what follows, I am much indebted. rOrUL-VR EDUCATION BEFORE Till': IlEVOLUTIOX. 9 nil ecclesiastical rmu'lionary delegated lor the purpose by the bishop. lie bore the title of ecolatre, or master ot" the schools, and generally filled at the same time the office of chantre^ or master of the choir. But. if the Church arrogated to herself the right of go- verning public education, the State, in France, arrogated it yet more imperiously. This power, which, though maintaining Eoman CathoHcism, opposed to ecclesiastical encroachment the Propositions of Bossuet in 1G82, the Organic Articles of the Concordat in 1802, inherits from the lioman Empire, and has never ceased to put in practice, the loftiest idea of State attributions and State authority. It has maintained this idea against the Tope; it has maintained it against its own subjects;^ Charlemagne assumed the right of subjecting his bishops to his own examination, in order to assure himself that, amid the distractions of their benefices, , they had not let their learning grow rusty. Henry the Fourth, in his Statutes of Eeformation for the University of Paris, issued in 1598, takes it upon him to ordain, that no boy who has passed the age of nine j-ears shall be allowed to be educated at home.* Napoleon, ^ after establishing his University, decrees, that after a certain day every educational establishment in France wliiili is not provided Avith an express authorisation liom his Grand-Master, shall cease to (>xist.f Tlie French State may refuse to concede to the Cluucji tlie control of public instruction, but it agrees with the Cluuvh in holding that pul)lic instruction must be in the hands of an authorised body. Collegia illlcita diffnolrantur, said the Itoinan law ; unautliorised asso- * Art. 4. '' Xullus in jtrivatis anliljus jnierus, (lui nonum annuia cxccsserint, instituat ct doccat." t Decree of 11 September 1808. 10 niAITKR in. FRANCi:. ciations arc to ho (lij?M>l\c-tl. 'J'lic Lnratot of Frciicli jurisU^, the tViund of ra.scul*, eiifoixcs the same nuLxiin : " The fii'st rule for all associations," he says, ** is that they be established for some jniblic advaiitiige (ind In/ the order or permission of the Sovereitjn ; Un' all iissem- blages of more than one or two j)ei'sons witliout this order or permission would be unlawful." "Every one knows," siiys another great lawyerf, " that no assembly nf pel-sons may take place in the realm unless with the autliorisiition of the Sovereign." Finally, the siirac principle is consecrated by the existing law of France, by the Penal Code J, which declares that " no associa- tion of more than twenty persons, whose object shall be to assemble daily or at certain fixeil times in order to occupy themselves with religious, hterary, political, or other mattei"s, may be fonncd unless with the con- sent of the Government, and under such conditions as it shall please the public authorities to impose." Theo crai'y in France, with M. de Bonald for its organ §, may desire to intrust education to a clerical corpora- tion ; modem society in France, with the fii-st Nai>oleon for its organ, may desire to inti-ust it to a lay coi-jiora- tion ; but both are agreed not to intrust it to itself. Liberty of instruction, such as we conceive it, a])peai>s in French legislation once, and once only ; it appeal's there in 1703, under the Keign of Terror. The high Roman and Tinj)erial theory as to the • Domat, tlic author of Lf3 Ia)\s n'vUcs daM Icur Ordrc nniurcl. Ho (lied in ICOfi. I Kosst-au de LacomW, nutlior of the R(nidl de Ju r:'f prudence civile, and of the Recueil de Jurispnidcnct cannnique. He died in 1749. X Code Penal, art. 201. § Sec hiH Thc'orie dtt Pmnoir pnliti-pic ct rclt-ficuT, pxililislic*! in 1796. I'Orri.AU KDUCATION BKFOKH TIIH IIRVOLUTIOX. H duties and powers of tlic State lias never ol)taiiie(l in England. It would be vaiu to seek to introduee it ; but it is also vain, in a eountry where this theory is powerless, to waste time in decrying it. I beheve, as every Englishman believes, that over-government is pernicious and dangerous ; that the State cannot safely be trusted to undertake everything, to supermtend everywhere. But, having once made this profession of faith, I shall proceed to point out as may be neces- sary, without perpetually repeating it, some incon- veniences of under-governnient; to call attention to certain imptu'tant i)articulars, in which, Avithin the domain of a single great question, that of public edu- cation, the direct action of the State has produced salutary and enviable results. From the lifth to the fifteenth century the 'institu- tions founded for popular instruction bore little or no fruit, because instruction m Europe was up to that time nearly confined to one class of society, the clergy. From the very earliest times, indeed, a simple shepherd boy, hke Saint PaU'oc^us of Berry, might enter a monastery-school and become one of the learned men of his epoch; but it was on condition of embracing* the ecclesiastical ]irofession. The urban and rural free schools, of wliich nu'iition has been made, served chiefly U) train boys designed f(jr the service of the choir, like the schools for choristers which still survive ; or, hke the lesser seminaries, of which they were pro- bably the germ, to give the first teaching to boys de- signed for the ministry. The collectoi-s of autographs, in their quest of the handwriting of noble and dis- tinguished persons, do not mount beyond the four- teenth centuiy, because up to that time even great personages seld<^m knew how to write. Wlien .such 12 rnAiTF:R iii.- niANn:. was the scliool-lcaniini; of the rieli and n<»l)k\it may be iinagiiiecl what w{l< tliat uf the jioor aiul lowly. It was confined to a little instruction in the cateihisni and the rudiments i»f reliL'ion, pven, where it wa.s •iiven at all, to the children of both .sexes alike. Li the fifteenth centuiy there are signs in the laity of France both of a growing demand for school in- struction and of a sense that the Church inefficiently performed her duty of supplying it. In 1412, the in- habitants of ^aint Martin de Villei-s, in the diocese of Evreux, founded a school for their own parish. The bishop complained of an encroachment on his privilege. The new school, he said, injured his own school at Toutjue, Tlie disjiute was settled by the consent of the lay foundei's of the new school tolitan cathedral, who himself e.\ercised in the seven- teenth century the superintendence of the ecclesiastical schools of Paris, and who has left an histoncal account f • Tlie great Cliancollor of the University of Paris, Jean Gcnwn, (iKirn 1.3C3. died 1 129). was in advance of his order and his age in his zeal for |Hipnlar etluration, an in r»tlier niatten*. In hih re- tirement at Lyonis at the end of liis life, lie hini!H.'lf taught the children of the poor ; and hi« ii» the remarkable .>«ying, *' The Rc- fonnation of the Church niu.«f be oommeuccvl with the young children." t Traitc hiftorique des Ecolet rpuropalet et tcclesia^ti'ques, Paris, lfi78. rOPL'LAR HDUCATIOX r>i:F()J{H TIIH REVOLUTIOX. 13 of tlieni, av(iws the obligation of tlic Cliurcli and con- fesses her fiiilure. This confession is made in 1(378 ; not twenty years later* every parish in Scotland had its school. It is Avell known how prodigious an impulse the Eeformation gave in Protestant countries to the educa- tion of the peo[)le. The primary instruction of Hol- land, of Scotland, of Protestant Germany, dates from that event. In France, the ferment of mind, which in England and Germany produced the Eeformation, ex- isted ; but it took a diiTerent course. Yet everywhere the new spirit showed solicitude for popular education, although it could not evcryAvhere found it. In the meetings of the States-General held at Orleans and at Blois in 15G0, 157G, and 1588, the Estates called the attention of the sovereign to the want of elementary schools. The n()l)ks proposed to make church bene- fices contribute yearly a certain sum, to be employed in maintaining schoolmasters and literate persons (peda- gogues et gens lettres) in all towns and villages, " for the instniction of the children of the poor in the Christian religion and other needful learning, and in sound mora- lity." The Third Estate insisted on the obligation of the clergy to " instruct or cause to be instructed the children of the poor in all good learning, according to their capacity, even from tlieir earliest years, not de- l'ii/i)ig or excusing themselves on pretext of the negligence of parents and sponsors" The nobles even demanded tliat " parents who neglected to send their children to scliool sliould be subjected to compulsion and fine." Little was done, lioAvever. The ordinance of Orleans, designed to meet tlie wishes of the Estates of loGO, altemptrd to revive tlie ancient prescri})tion of the • In IGOG. 14 niAPTKK in. — KKANf i:. C'ouncil.s l)y diivctin;,' that in " fvery calhuiial or col- lejriate cliurcli Diie J)1v1>cik1, <»r the revenues of the sjiine, shouKl be pennanently devoted to maintiiin a preceptor, and to «^ive free seliooling to the children of the place." It added a provision unknown to Councils, that this preceptor shoulil be appointeil //// the eccU' s'uust'u'al and inuuicijml tiut/ion'tles conjoiutlij. In 1503, Charles IX. attenij)ted by letters patent to put this ordinance into execution at Paris ; the ecclesiastical authority, the master of the schools, resisted, conijilain- ing that his jirivilejje was infriuL^d ; and the kiiiL' gave way. The Church owid to tJic laity some comiK»nsjition for her obstructiveness, and she paid her debt in a certain measure. Civilisation owes much to the great religious orders which laboured in the work of teaching; to the Dominicans, the Franciscans, the Benedictines, the Oratorians, the Jesuits. These, however, busied themselves with the education of the rich ; but humbler ellorts were not wanting, devotetl to the service of the ])(H)r. A member of the scvere^st of religious commu- nities, a ^linim of the Order of St. Francis of Paola, the Fere Barre, founded in 1071 an association of teachei-s for the instruction of j^oor children of both s<.^xes. The association totik the title of "Brothers and Sistei-s of the Christian and Charitable Sc]uk)1s of the Child .ItMis." Towards 1700 the Ursulines and other si.ster- honds, by the establishment of their sch(X)ls for girls, carried onward this elTort. In 1780 the religious so- cieties cngjiged in teaching the poor of Fmncc were twenty in number ; but the religiou.s society which ha.s j)rosecuted this work most effectually, wliich has most merited gratitude by its labours for the education of the i)Oor, and which, at the present day, mo.st claims rOrULAU EDUCATIOX BKFOKK Till': KKVOLUTIOX. 15 atteiiti(^u from its lumiln-rs and IVoiu its iiillucnco, is iindoubtcdly the .society ol" tlie " i>iellireii oi' tlie Chiistiuii Schools." * It dates from 1G79. In tliat year it was founded by Jean Baptiste de Lasalle, a canon of the cathedml ehuicli of Ivlieinis and a man of apostoUc piety and zetd, in Elieims, liis native town. He resigned his canoniy in order to be able to tend his infant institu- tion more assiduously. He drcAv up for it statutes wliicli are a model of sagacity and moderation, and by which it is still governed. He composed for his schools a handbook of methodf, of Avhich later works on the same subject have little imjiroved the pi'ccepts, while they entirely lack tlie unction. He lived long enough to see the fruit of his hibours. In 1GS8 he established at Paris a colony of his teachinij brethren.'^ In 1705 he fixed the head-quarters of his institute in Eouen, at the house of Saint Yon, from which his community took one of the titles by which it long was familiarly known. § Wlien he died in 1710, with the title of Superior-General of the Brethren of the Christian Schools, his order was established in eight dioceses. In 1724, when the society received a bull of confirma- tion and approbation from Pope Benedict XIH., it possessed "lo houses in France. In 17S5, the immber of children taught by the brethren was reckoned at 30,000. Dispersed at the Pevolution, they were re- established under the reign of Napoleon, and in 1825, • Institut dcs Frercs dos I^colus Chretiennos. •f Comhiite des Ecoles Chn'tienncs. J Fn-rcs cnscignants. § Tlie brc'tliren liave gone by tlic names of Freres dc Saint Yon, Freres Ignorantins, and Freres des Ecoles Chretiennes. They are now almost universally called by the latter title. iG (iiAnKi: III. — ruANCK. during tlie Kostonition, ilie number of tlieir lioust\« was 210. In 184S they had in France 10,414 sehool.^ and taught 1,3.')4,0.j0 children,* Their central house is now at Paris. The brethren are enjoine(l l»y tlu-ir statutes to devote themselves to the instruction of boys in all things that pertain to an honest and Cliristian life. They are not forbidden to receive the rich nito their schools, but their principal business is to be with the poor, and to their poorer scholars they are to extend a s[)ecial aflVction. They are to obey a Superior- General, who, with two assistants, is to be elected by the assembled directors of the jirincipal houses. The Superior-General is chosen for life, the assistants for ten years. The separate houses are to be governed by (brectoi>, chosen for three yeai*s. No brother is to t;ike holy orders. Their vows, whicli are for three years only, are the three regular vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, with another of stability, and of teaching wilh«nit fee ov reward. Even these three-year vows they are not permitted to make until they have been membei*s of the institute two years, one of which is passed in the noviciate, the other in a school. They are always to g«) in com])any with otliei^s of their order ; at first they went in parties of two, now they must be at least three. Together with religious know- ledge they are to teacli their scho]ai*s reading, writing, and arithmetic. They are to have in each of their liouscs 11 store of >chool-books and school-material, • I quote from n-tunis jnipplicd by the Superior of the brethren, the Fr^rc Philippe, to M. V.illet de Viriville for hi« Ifistoire de C Instruction Publique en Europe, and p\il>lisl)cwris. The weakness of the disciples was not long in justilying the master's hesitation. A similar connnunity, established some years later on a much smaller scale, deserves notice, because in coiniection Avilh its t'|)erali»)ns wr have one of the few * He rstablisljt'd liis institute, says Pope Beneilict Xlll.. in lii-< l>ull t'l" approhation, "pic considerans innumcra qua; ex ignuiauliii, oiiiniuni orig-ine maloruni, proveniuiit scandala, procscrtiin iu illis, qui, vei egcstate opprossi, vol fabrili opcri unde vitaiu eliciuiit operain dautes, quaruinvis scientiaruni liuniananuu, e.r drfectit OTi's iinpeinlendi, non .stiliun pcnitus rudts, sed, quod inagis dolenduin est, clementa religiouis Cliristiana; penaepc ignorant."' 18 • II AITKK I IF.— FRANCE. facti>, U'stifyiiiLi to fruit Ixn-nc by j^opular instruction, wliich are tle deWte, which in vcrj- intercMing, istohe foun«l (copieivil)lL' initialiMii into tlit* myslLTies of tlu* Catho- lic, Apostolic, ami K])ointed unless ai)proved by the ecclesiastical authority: ^lo^t often he was directly named by the cun''. In France, as in other countnes, pojiular tradition re])reseiits the incumbent • JiapjKirl ttu Hoi ftir rinsli-ucWon fccondaire, PaIi^», 184.1. t Ibid. p. 56. IM^ITI.AIJ KOUCATKXX nHFOltH TIIH UKVOIA'TfOX. Jl as iisu;illy inHiiinatiiiu- to the post ol' sclK^olniastcr eitlier liis sacristan or tlie cripple of tlie village. In the case ot" foundation schools, the founder or his representa- tives nominated the teacher; but here, too, the con- currence of tlie ecclesiastical authority was always re- (juired. * The instruction of the mass of the poor remained very nearly wliat it had been in the middle auvs. In C(~)nversinLr with middle-ajjred Avorkini^ men C^ O CD CD in the French provinces, I found almost invariably that my informant himself had attended school ; more rarely, that his fiither had attended it; that his grandfather IkkI attended it, never. * An edict of Loiiis XIV. (dated April 1695) says, " Les regens, procepteurs, maitrcs et mattresses d'ecoles des petits villages seroiit approuves par les cures des paroisscs on autres personncs ecclesi- asti(jufs qiii out droit de le laire." — Art. 25. 22 ('ii.\rTi:i: iv. riirrLAi; r.m cation in KUANcr. i ni»kk tiu: KLvoLrnoN. Tin: Kevolution presented itself witli magnificeiit pnv iiiiscs of universal education. Alroaily, in 177o, Turcot, in liis celebrated programme, liad drawn the outlines of a unifnnn and national system, to be superintended by a lioyal Council. The instructions of all three ordei-s of the Stiites-Gcneral loudly called f(»r it. The clergy, while demanding a national system, insisted above all on the necessity of executing with more strictness " the regulations which tend to mainUiin and fortify the precitnis influence of the curi»s upon educa- tion." The nobles declared simply that " the time was come for propagating through the countiy district's the means of instruction for those who lived there, and for extending this instniction evtu to the poor." The Third Estate demanded that "public education should be so modified a.s to be adajUed to the wants'^ of all ordei*s in the State ; that it might form g(^>od and useful men in all classes of society." With the prc^cision of a power wliich liad already discerned its future means of strength, and was (U'tcrmined to use them, this for- midable claimant suggested that the mimicipal and lay authorities should in future share with the Church the ai)jK>intment and control of pul)lic teachere. The Con- stituent Assembly hastened to resix>nd to the national rOrULAU EDUCATIOX UNDKR THE UEVOEUTIOX. 23 Avishes. A commission was a|)i)()iiited, wiru-li after two years of laborious inquiry appeared Avitli a report and the project of a law. By a singular chance, as if no great pubUc question, however ahen to liim, was to escape this most versatile of statesmen, the reporter of the commission was M. de Talleyrand. The Con- stituent Assembly received the report on the eve of its se])aration. It voted no plan of pubhc instruction; but it consecrated in a single famous article the prin- ciple upon which such a. plan was to repose. It decreed * : " There shall be created and organised a pubhc instruction, conmion to all citizens, gratuitous in respect of tliose branches of tuition which arc indis- pensable for all men. Its estabhshments shall be dis- tributed gradually, in a ])roportion combined with the division of the kingdom." On the 1st of October the Legislative Assembly met, and six months afterwards f it received from Condorcet another report on national education — another proposed law. But the time was no longer favourable for founding. The Convention replaced the Legislative Assembly J ; tiie revolutionary decrees flew thick and fast, and nearly every one of them struck down an institution witliout givmg to it a successor. On the 8th of March, 1793, it was decreed that the property of all endowed scats of education in France • In the Fundamental Dispositions of the Constitution of Sep- tember 3rd, 1792. " II sera cree et organise une instruction jnib- litjue, commune k tons les citoyens, gratiiite a Tegard des parties d'enseignement indispensablcs pour tous les hommes, et dont le.s etablissemens seront distribues graduellenicnt, dans un rai>iM>rt com- bing avec hi division du royaunie."' t April 20th, 1702. % September 21sr, 17 ".••_'. c 4 / .') niAlTKR IV. — FRANTE. sliDiild he sold, and that llu' pnKviuls should go to the 8tate. On the 18th of August in the same year, the religicnis corporations devoted to teaching, along with all other corponitions, religious and secular, were sup- pressed, on the ground that '* a truly free state must not tolerate within itself any eorjxM'ate l)ody whatever, not even those which, having devoted themselves to public instruction, have deserved well of their country."* A little later, on the loth of September, the abolition of all existing colleges and faculties was pronounced, and the renowned University of Paris, with a host of less distinguished institutions, fell in a common ruin. So complete was the destruction, that in the next year a warm friend of education, Fourcroy, afterwards the chief agent of the First Consul in reviving and reor- ganising public instniction, declared to the Convention that France was fast relapsing into barbarism. To this had c. >jmlar instruction, and even an exaggenittxl faith in it. Oiu' of its members proposed that no less than three sittings of the Assembly in i-very ten days should be (h'voted to this subject alone. It was the Con- vention which endowed France with two admirable institutions, of which the vitality has proverent qu'un dint vraimcnt librc nc doit souffrir dans (ion win ancunc corporation, p.v mi'mo ccllcs qui, tou<^c« a lon- seignomcnt public, ont bicn m^rit take ])art in it so far as their agcAvould allow." Ill this manner the Convention filled up the outline traced by the Constituent Assembly. These were the '• branches of tuition " which the French Eevolution lield to be "indispensable for all men." A few days afterwards* it j^roceeded to organise the instruction decreed. A " conimission of I'liligliteiied • Decree of October 29tli, 1703. 2C> MIAITKU IV. — rUANCK. ])alrints and moral jn-i-sons" was to be established in tviiv district, in order to ilelcrinine where the new sehooLs should be })laeed, and to *V.m//////t' all citizcnM who propoitt'd to devote them^elve-s to tlie work of national education in the priniary acfiools" Tiie eoniuussit)n wa.s to examine candidates as to their ac(juiremenl,s their aptitude for teaehin*;, their morals, and their patriotism. The examination wius to be public. The connnission was to form a list of the candidates who had satisfied them, and this list wits to be published in each school district. On the dccadi followini; its ])ub- hcation, such inhabitant.s iis were parentis and guardians were to meet and choose a teacher from it. Vacancies were to be filled up in the same manner. The decree was to apj)ly to schoolmistresses as well as school- miu^ters, and for the salaries of both it fixed a miminium of 1200 francs (48/.). 13ut no woman o( iiobK' family, no woman who had formerly belonged to a religious oixler, no woman who had formerly been named to the post of teacher by a noble or by an ecclesiastic, wjis to be eligible f«)r the ollice of sclRH)lmistress. There was no fear that men thus circumstanced would be chosen by the local authorities; their compassion or their eni- barnissment might dispose them to be less severe in excluding resourceless women. Tlie Convention could furni>h a programme of instruc- tion, but it could not furmsh schools. In despair it renounced the attempt, and addressed itself to j)rivate enterprise. On the I'.Mh of December, 1708, appeared the startling decree which abandons abruptly the con- secrated traditions t>f public instruction in France, and which, in the eyes of eveiy orthodox functionaiy of that instniction, stands as the abomination of desolation, witncssinir that the end of the worhl is come. Lensciqnc- I'Orri.AU KDUCATIOX UNDER TlIK URVOLUTIOX. 27 meat est Ii0n\ hogiiis this now voice; — " Teacliing is free — it shall be public ; citizens and citizenesses who tlesire to avail themselves of theii" liberty to teach" shall merely be required to inform the muuicipal authority of their intention to open a school, and of the matters which tliey propose to teach, and shall pro- duce, besides, a " certificate of civisni and good morals." Thus fortified, a teacher might open his school, and the Ucpuljlic luidertook to pay his scholars' fees. There ^\•as no fear lest these should be wanting ; for the laAV provided that parents shoidd be compelled, under pain of line, to send their children to school, thus transferring to the scholar the control from which it exempted the teacher. Such liberty was too novel to last ; and a decree of the next year restricted it.* Freedom of instruction was maintained, in so far as it was still left to the individual U) place a school where he woidd, without first asking the State's leave ; Init the teacher w^as subjected to a more exact superintendence. Even his charter of liberty, the decree of December, 1793, had committed liiin to the watchfulness " of the municipality or section, of ])ari'nts and guarchans, and of society at large ;" any of whom might denounce him if he taught an}i;hing '" contrary to the laws and to re})ublican morality." The law of 1794 placed him in the hands of a ''jury of instruction," to be chosen by the district administra- tion fn^m among fathers of families. Tliis juiy was to examine and elect the teacher ; he had tlieii to be approved by the district administration; afterwards he was to l)e superintended in the management of his school by the jury. To (juicken the zeal of those * Decree of November 17tli, 17'jl. 28 CIIAITKR IV. IRAVCi:. parents whom the iH-naltics of the decree of 1703 liad failed tn move, the new hiw ordered that ''those young citizens who liave not attended scliool sliall he examined, in tlie presence of the j)eoi)le, at the Fcju^t of the Young, and, if tliey sliall then he found not ty a cU-crct; t.f August 31st. 1797. t Thr first chapter of this I.itr, which alone rolates to primarj- in- ntniction, ih printttl tcxtually at the end of this volume. rol'ri.AK llDleATlOX VSDKll TllK KKVOLUTIOX. 29 tioii of a very little, the Tu'volutioii had to renounce almost all its illusions. PopulcU' education, which had had Jaws upon laws to itself, was confined, in the law of 1795, to the hmits of one short chapter. The " acquire- ments indispensable for all men " had dwindled to read- inu', writing, ciphering, and the elements of republican morality. The State, which was once to give every- tliimr, was now to o;ive nothing but a schooUiouse. The schoolmaster's salary of from 1200 to 1500 francs a year out of the pubhc purse, descended to a salary sueh a-< he could extract out of " the local authorities." The free schooling promised to all scholars came down to a bchoolini; which all but one-fourth of the scholars were to pay for. In compensation the youth of France might attend school or not, as they and their parents pleased. Guarantees for the efficiency of the school- master were still maintained. He was still to be exa- mined by a jury of instruction ; the municipal authorities presented liim for examination ; the departmental autho- rities nominated him when examined. He was thence- fonvard under the superhifendence of the municii)al administration. The concurrence of the jury, the municipality, and the department was necessary for his dismissal. Thus the Convention atoned for its first extravagance. The day after the passing of this law, it separated.* "What,"' I ventured to a-k M. (nii/.ol, -did the Trench lievolution contribute to the cause ol" poj)ular education?" " Uu deluge de mots," rei)lied j\J. (iuizot, '• rien de plus." As regards the material establishment of ])opular instmction, this is unquestionably true. Yet on its future character and I'egulation the devolution, • On the 2Gth of Octol.tr, 1705. 80 rilAITKR IV.— rRANCK. as unquostioimbly, exercised an iiillueiuo wliicli even" Freiu'hinan takes it for granted tliat an inquirer under- stands, and wliich we in England nuii«t not overlook. It estal)li>lied certain conditions under which any future system of popular education must inevital)ly constitute itself. It made it im])ossil)le for any government of Fnmce to found a system wliidi w:i< lutt A/y. and nvIi'hIi was not natumal. 31 CILVrXEE V rorULAR EDUCATION IX FRANCE UNDER THE FIRST EMFIRE. TiiK weak government and tlie exhausting wars of tlie Directory left, a.s is well kno^\^l, tlic whole of the internal administration of France in neglect and confusion. Public instruction suiTered with evei^^hing else. In 1799 Napoleon began the task, his efforts in which liave shed an imperishable glory on the Consulate, and which it Avould have been well for liim never to have forsaken for any task less pacific and less noble — the task, to use his OAvn words, of " foundmg a new society, free alike from the injustice of feudahsm and from the confusion of anarchy." Of his labours, modern French administration, the Concordat, the pubHc schools for the middle and upper classes, the Legion of Honour, the Code, the University, are monuments. Primaiy schools did not escape his attention. But the urgent bushiess of the moment was to deal Avith secondaiy schools ; to rescue the education of the richer classes themselves, those classes in whose hands the immediate destinies of a civilised and regular society are placed, fmm the state of ruin into wliicli it had fallen. To tliis the First Consul addressed himself. The law of the 1st of !May, 1802, founded secondary instruction in France as it at this day exists. For the feeble and decaying central schools of the Convention* — mere c>• iindcr the new law. // 32 < II.\ITI:K v. — IHANii;. without lioKl oil their pupils, witluait ilisciphnc, :iik1 without study — tho new hiw substituted the coimnunal C()lleossible, or even de>ir- al)le, to the schools which it created. Only the first chajUer of the law of 1S02 related to primaiy schools. This merely rejieated the humble j)rovisions of tlu' liu^t law of the Convention. The com- mune was to furnish a schoolhouse to the teacher, who still, after this was supplied to him, had to dei)end for his support ujion the payments of his scholars. 'J'he number «)f these to be exempted, on the ground of poverty, from the school-fee, was reduced from a fourth to a fifth. The suj)eriiitendence of the teacher by the munici[)al authorities was confirmed. Finally, the scli(H)ls were |)laceor, in comj)ari.son with that which at a later time they received, it is curious to remark how strongly the inconvenience of their totiU disorganisation was felt rorULAR EDUCATIOX UXDER THE FIRST E^[PIRE. 33 in tlie Frencli i^'ovinccs, as loiio- no'o as tlie beuinninir of this centiiiy. It seems as if, rude and illiterate as was the village-school of France before the Eevolution, its thsappearance could leave a blank as serious as the blank Avhich the disappearance of the village-school M'ould leave now. In its endeavour to bring order out of the chaos which the Eevolution had left, the Con- sular government invited in 1801 the practical sugges- tions of the council-general of each department upon the wants of the locality. The coimcils-general, in their replies, expressed, auKMig other things, the great- est dissatisfaction at the state of the primaiy schools, and the greatest desire to see it improved. Many of them called for the re-eStabhshment of the rehgious orders devoted to teachiufy. " The Brethren of the o Christian Doctrine, the Ursulines, and the rest, are nuK^li regretted here," says the council-general of the Cute d'Or. That of the Pas de Calais begs the govern- ment " again to employ in the instruction of boys and girls the Freres i^piorantin.'^, and the Daughters of Charity, and of Providence." That of the Pyrenees Orientales says, " People here regret the religious asso- ciations which busied themselves in teaching the child- ren of the poor." That of the Aisne asks, like that of the Pas de Calais, for the " reorganisation of the reli- gious communities devoted to the elementaiy instruc- tion of children of each sex." To commit the |)rimary instruction of France to religious corporations was at no time the intention of Napoleon. To avail himself of the scn'ices of these coi-jiorations, imder the C(^ntrol of a lay body, modern in its spirit, and national in ils composition, he was abundantly willing. Such a body lie designed to estal)lish in his new University. By a short law of the 10th of May, 1800, the Uiiiver- D / 34 CHAITKB V. — FRANCK. sity of France was called inlo cxistouce. '' There shall be formed," says the law, '* under the name of Impcrvd University, a l)<)dy witli the exclueive charge of tuition and of public et^lucation throufrhout the empire. The inembei"s of the teaching body shall contract civil oblipuions of a special and tem|)orary character." The new Univei'sity was or«^anised by a decree of the 17th of March, 1808. Under a hiemrchy of grand-master, councillors, inspect<^rs-^a'neml, and rectors, wa.s placed the whole instmction of France. The faculties, the lyceums and communal colleires, the primary schiiy « r« ;Ued by Napo- leon. The |>owei's wlr -h he conferreols ; he revised and ap- proved their statutes; he oflered to them pecuniaiy aid ; he exerted himself to rescue them and other teachei-s fn)m tlie conscription. lie wrote to the bishops and prefects, requesting information about village schools and scIkkjI masters, to guide him in con- tinuing or disniLs^iing the latter. Li one letter, written by him to a prefect in 18()1>, there is a ptissjige which is valuable as showing how teachers were at that time appointed : — " The modes in wliich primaiy teachers are nominated," he s;iys, "are extremely various; in • By o decree of November loth. 1811, fhe University was ordere iuiKi- :iim1 no slafllor dealing witli popular (Mlucatioii. TIh' primary sc-hcM>lti \v«.-iv in t(^»o riulll-ring a condili(»n to bo ivstoivd l)y tl'.<' occasional efloits of rectoi-s and inspectoi>s-gencral. The country districts of France, swept by the conscription, were too harassed anci«5t<' ; coiisidorant fjuc Ic8 mi'thodcM jii^pi' aujourd'hiii tisittituti..ii^ U hi li:iuf«ur di> luiiiii ns tin hicilr." \c. 41 CHAPTEE yi. rorULAR EDUCATION IN FRANCE UNDEK THE PvESTOKATION. To tlie lic'storatioii is due the credit of having first per- ceived, that, ill order to carry on the war with ignorance, the sinews of war were necessary. Other govermneiits had decreed systems for the education of the people ; the crovernmeut of the Restoration decreed funds. An ordinance of the 29th of February 1816 charged the treasury with an annual grant of 2000/. for the provi- sion of school-books and model schools, and of recom- penses for deserving teachers. The sum was small ; Ijut it was the first. The same ordinance prescribed tlie formation of cantonal committees, to watch over tlie disciphne, morahty, and rehgious instruction of primary schools. These committees (wliicli were to be unpaid) were to consist of tlie cure, two local officials of tlie g(jvermnent, and four notables of the canton to be nominated by the rector to whose academy the school belonged, and aj^proved by the prefect. Above all, this ordinance instituted a certificate of three degrees, to be obtained by examination before the rector's deputy. It made special provision for the hidepen- dence of Protestant schools. It may truly be said that this ordinance of ISIG presents, in germ, several of the l)e>t provisions of the law of 1833. But ill its government of public instruction, as in its government of other pubUc interests, the Restoration was not happy. It labomx'd under the incurable weak- 42 CIIAITKH VI. — lUANCE. ncss of bein^' a traditionary nioiiarcliy working witli revolutionary tot)li< ; it wa-s placed a.s Charles II. would have been placed had he returned to England bound by the Common wealth-laws instead of the Declanition of Brediu The legislation of the English Kepubhc dls- aj)peared from the statute-book ; that of llie French liepublic survived to hamper the Kestoration. In its treatment of public instruction, as of other questions, the monarchy was perpetually striving to assert its o^\^l traditions in face of a legal situation of which it was not mtister, and perpetually failing. One of its fii-st acts wa.s to strike a blow at the Univei^sity. A royal ortli- nance of February 17th, 1815, announced the intention of taking public instruction out of the hands of an au- thority " whose absolutism was incomi)atible with the l>aternal intentions and hberal spirit " of the Kestoration, uud which *' reposed on institutions framed rather to serve the pohtical views of the former govermnent, than to spread among the people the benefits of a moral and* useful education." Napoleon reappearcxl, and the Uni- versity was resi)ited. At its second return, the monarchy, more moderate or more timid, maintained provisij)nally a system for which it had no substitute ready.* The Gnind-Master and council were replaced by a Commis- si(m of Public Insti-uction f ; but the Univei^sity was left in possession of its dues, its academies, and its ext'lusive privileges, of which the ordinance of February had de- prived it. The friends of the monaixhy m"ged it to decentralise as much as possible J ; to foster institutions • By an onlinanco of v\jigu»t 15th, 1815. t This Commission consi(«lcd at first of five, aftor^rards of fvrcn, mcmbiTs. M. Rover- Collard wa» it« first ]>rr'.'*idcnt. \ " En Yrzoce, aujourd'hui, l«t lois tcndont a la democratic, ct radministratiou tend au de<«potiame. — Voiilez-Toiu< ouvrir une 6cok' t rorUL.\ll EDUCATION UNDER THE EESTOKATION. 43 Avliieli, by their local strengtli, independent permanence, and conservative spirit, niiglit serve in the country as points of support to the government. M. de Tocque- \ille has pointed out how, even before the Kevolution, it was tlie constant ellbrt of Frencli government to over- bear such institutions, because all independence was distasteful to it. But, in spite of Government, they existed in the ancient France in great numbers. They were the necessary result of the isolation of provinces, tlie variety of jurisdictions, the multitude of corporations. Tlie humble Institute of the Christian Schools olTered to the Kestoration an opportiuiity of reverting to the old order of things. The moment this congregation was relieved fi'om the Empire, it attempted to shake off the yoke of the Imperial University. The occasion was the certificate prescribed by the ordinance of 181G, and wliich tlie rectors endeavoured to enforce. The Supe- rior-General directed the brethren to refuse to be ex- amined. The individual certificate was calculated, he said, " to weaken the dependence of the members on their chief, and to destroy their congregation."* lie ])c)ldly maintained, in defiance of the revolutionary legislation, that as his community had never ceased to have a legal existence, it ought to continue in the en- joyment of its ancient civil rights. His adversaries re- torted that if the coq-)oration of the Christian Schools had not been suppressed by the revolution, then neither had the most absurd and obsolete corporations, whom prcncz im diplome. — L'Univcrsite ne demande qu'une chose aux Fr6re3, c'cst de dissoiidre Icur congregation, pour devcnir de simples inatitiiteurs primaires dont elle disposera souverainement. — L'Uni- vcrsite s'occupcra de vous foumir Ic savoir, ct Ics tribunaux s'occu- peront de vos mocurs." — Conservateur of November, 1H18. * The Frere Gerbaiid to the Minister of the Interior, July 7tli, 1818. 44 tllAITKK VI. — FKANCK. to name was to prove )kc a smile, l)eeii suppressed, ami they were still legally existing, ^^'e in England, with our juilieioiLs contempt of logic, >l!oul(l probably have contented oui-selves with ignoring the monstrous decree of 1702, when a useful institution was at stake, while we left useless institutions to it.s oj)eration. The go- vernment of the liestoration thought it convenient to keep the religious societies dependent ou it for their existence, but it freely conceded to them exemi)tioiLS and privileges. That is to say, it denied to these bodies the power of aiding it as inde])endent forces, while it gained for itself the odium of an unjust favouritism. In July, 1818, the Commission of PubUc Insti-uction decided that the brethren of the Christian Schools should be exempted from examination, and should receive their certificates on jiresentiiig their letlei> of obedience. In 1821* the Minister of rul)lic Instruction, M, de Fniys- sinoiLs, remodelled the cantonal committees, so as to give the entire command of the Catholic primaiy schools to the l)ishoj)s and clerg}'. Whether the Kestoration was a just or an unjust steward to the French ]»eoj)le, it cannot, at any rate, be commended for having done wisely. Without strengthening itself, it managed to oflend every liberal sentiment, and to unite against its own existence the most moderate friends of liberty with the most reckless anardiists. It reimposed Ljitin as the language of college lectures, while it continued to refuse to fathers of families the {wwer of disposing of their projx'rty a.s they pleased. It abandonctl the primaiy schools to the clergy, while it continued to keep the Church the salaried sen-ant of the State. Yet, in n' pt.niilar education, it sliowed uiii- • liv an orJiiuiucc dated Aj'ril 8tli. rorULAR EDUCATION IXDKR THE RESTORATIOX. 45 form solicitiulo aiul occasional lilimpses of liberalism. Ill 1828* a new jMiiiister of Instruction, M. de Vati- mesnil, restored to the cantonal committee its lay cle- ment, and to the University its control of the primary schools. He gave, for the first time, t^ dismissed teachers an appeal from the rector and his academic coimcil to the Eoyal Council of Public Instruction at Paris. He extended the cantonal committee's right of inspection to girls' schools, -which an ordinance of the 3rd of Apiil, 1820, had subjected to the prefect alone. In 1830 f M. Guernon de Eanville, one of the ministers who signed the fatal ordinances of July, again abrogated this latter provision. The superintendence of girls' schools imder sisters of the religious communities he took away from the cantonal committees, and assigned to the bishops alone. Yet this same M. Guernon de Pianville calledj the mimicipal councils to deliberate on the immediate estabhshment of a system of communal schools which prefigures the system founded in 1833. In 1829 the State doubled the sum which since 1816 it had annually allotted to primary histruction ; in 1830, on the eve of the Eevolution, it increased it sixfold. § The jH-imary normal schools, of which the Empire had bequeathed but one to the Restoration, were thirteen in number in 1830. In more than 20,000 of the com- numes of France a school of some sort or other was established. Yet the reporter|| of the law of 1833 could say with tnith that the monarchy of July had • By an ordinance d.ited April 21st. f Ordinance of Janiiar}' Cth, 1830. X Ordinance of February lltli, 1830. § The grant in 1829 wa.s 100,000 fr. (4000/.), in 1830 it was 300,000 fr. (12,000/.). II M. Coiisiii, in the Moniteuv of May 22nd, 1833. 4G niAlTF.R VI. — rUANcl'. ivoeiveil {)(>j)ular olui-atinii in a ilrploraltlc stale iVoin its predecessor. Ill faet, the situation of primary iustruetion in 1830, far from brilliant iw it a|)pearecl, Wits j'et extorniilly more specious tlmn internally sound. The ordinance of 181 G imposed on teachei"s the necessity of beinix ex- amined and certificated ; it thus established the best and only jruarantee for the efliciency of that agent on whom a school's whole fortune hangs : but the guaran- tee was illusory. The reader has seen how the religious corpomtions were allowed to evade it, by j)resenting their letters of obedience in lieu of a certificate. There remained the lay teachers. They had to undergo an examination before the rector's delegate. But the rec- tor had at his disposal no proper stalT to which to com- mit such functions. Inspection ditl not then exist. In nine cases out of ten the rector named as his delegjUc the cure of the parish for which a schoolmaster was recjuired ; the cure named the man of his own choice with or without examination ; and the rector bestowed the certificate which his delegate demanded. Even the legal power of control over the choice of incom])etent teachei-s the University lost in 1824. Catholics them- selves confessed the injury which Catholic scluxils had sulTercHl by the exemption of their teachei's from the most salutar}' of tests.* Nor was the communal school in many cases more of a reality than the n-hoolmastcr's certificate. Of the 20,000 communes jirovided with schools barely one half possessed, even in 1834, school- jm-miscs of their own ; in the other half the school was held in a barn, in a cellar, in a stable, in the church- porch, in the open air, in a room which sen*ed at the • r.ippnrt mi Roi, by the Dtikc of Broglio, October 16th, 1830, in the Bulletin Universitaire, vol. ii. p. 174. POPULAR EDUCATION UXDKR TlIK RESTOPvATIOX. 47 same time as the sole dwelliiig-plaee of tlie sclioolmastcr and liis family, where his meals were cooked and his children born.* Where school-premises existed, they were often no better than theii' less pretentious substi- tutes : they were often hovels, dilapidated, windowless, fireless, reeking with damp ; where, in a space of twelve feet square, eighty children were crowded together ; where the ravages of an epidemic swept the school every year.f The state of tilings reported by the in- spectors, nearly 500 in number, whom M. Giuzot, at the end of 1833, sent through the length and breadth of France to determine accurately the condition of ele- mentary schools with which the law of 1833 at the out- set had to deal, is probably the same state of things which a similar inquest, had the happy thought of jiiaking it arisen, woidd have revealed in every country in Europe when popular instruction first began to be closely scanned.. Here the teacher was a petty trades- man, leaving his class eveiy mordent to sell tobacco to a customer ; there he was a di'unkard ; in another place he was a cripple. The clergy were often found at war with the schoolmaster ; but then the schoolmaster was often such that this state of war was not wonderful. '• In what condition is the moral and religious instruc- tion in your school ? " one of M. Guizot's inspectors asked a schoolmaster. " Je n\mseily, to use a French expression, /ficM//atetl, or it was tlriven into the communal colleg'-. v^ -^ '♦ • - ^ " t thication * Bv an ordinance dated June i^rd. rorULAK EDUCATION UXDEIi TUK MOXARCIIY OF JULY. 51 wliu-li it did not want, and wliieli lett it luifittcd for its position in life. For tliis class the law of 1833 created a superior priniaiy instruction, not properly embracing foreign languages, ancient or modern, but embracing all that constitutes what may be called a good French education. For the immense class below, for the mass of the French people, it estabUshed an elementary primary instruction. This instruction, the indispensable minimum of know- ledge, the " bare debt of a country towards all its off- spring," '* sufficient to make him who receives it a human being, and at the same time so hmited that it may be everpvhere realised," * added something to the scanty programme of 1705 and 1802. In the lii'st l^lace it was rehgious. " Moral and religious teaching " formed a part of it. It added, besides, the elements of French grammar ; and, for a purpose of national con- venience, the legal but imperfectly received system of weights and measures. The Charter had proclaimed hberty of teaching ; private schools, therefore, were free to compete Avith public schools in giving this primary instruction. To estiibhsh them there was no longer needed, as hereto- fore, the authorisation of a rector. The only guarantee which the State demanded of them was the possession by the teacher of a certificate of morahty, and of a certificate of capacity. Liberty of teaching was thus secured to all competent pei*sons who claimed it. Liberty to incompetence is not an article of faith witli French liberahsm. But by far the greatest part of jirimaiy iusiruclion must of necessity be given in pul^lic schools. "The • Exjwsedes Motifs (k la Loi flu 28 Jiu» 1833, by M. GiiLjot, Jan. 2ncl, 1833. fi2 (11 AIT!:it MI. — FIL\NCE. priiuiplt* of liberty, julmittcd as an only principle, woukl be," says M. Cousin, ''an invincible «>bstaclo to the universdlih/ of instruction, since it is precisely the most necessitous districts tlmt j)rivale adventure visits lea5t." * Eveiy comnmne, therefore, either by it.l all the indigent children of the connnune, no lontrer a fourth of them or a fiftli, but all, were to be admitted without fee. These national scliools must respect that religious liberty which the nation professed. The wishes of parents were to be ascertained and followetl in all that concerned their children's attendance at the religious instruction. J The elementary schools were to respect religious liberty, \un\ they were to be planted in every com- nunie ; but liow were they to be planted? Preceding laws had not answered this rpiestion, and they had re- mained a dead letter. The law of 1S33 answered it tilUS : Bl/ a jt'inf il,-ti,ni «./ /A. ,:-n,n,lln,\ flu' ,1, jnirt- menty and the Stat> . If the commune ix.^ve..,.,! vuiiuirnt re-omve- <>! us own to maintain its eli'mentary school, well and gmxl. Some had foundations, gifts, and legacies, for the main- tenance of.sclKX)ls; some had largo ctminumal pro- perty. In the Vosgcs, for instiince, there aiv commimcs possessing great tracts of the becvh forests with which those mountains are clotheil, whose annual income • Si><> M. CouRin'R report in the Mouiimr ..f M.iy 22iid. 1833. M. Gtiizot, in his Expo$e des Afoti/s, njxviks to tlie mme cflcct : " Ia» lieux oil rinrtniclion primaire porait Ic plus nix ; more than 2.")()() students witc, in the latter year, under training in them. In the lour yeais from 1834 to 1838, 4557 public schools, the property of tiic communes, liad been added to the 10,310 which existed in 1834. In 1S47 the number of elementary schools for boys had risen from 33,01)5. E 4 5(J ( IIAITKK Ml. rUANCi:. wliicli it ivarlievl in iS.il, lo j:j,:)14 ; llic nmnhcT uf scliulai-s atlLMiding thfin from l,(j')4,82S to 2,170,070.* In IS4'.>, tlio t'lcnicntary scli«)ols were giving instruction to .'),').')(), !;>') cliildren of tlie two sexes.f In 1851, out of tlie 37,000 coniniuneij of France, 2,500 only were williout .schools ; througli tlie remainder tlicrc were distrilnited primary sc1k»o1s of all kinds, to the number of G1,481.J The charge borne by the communes in the support of their schools was nearly 300,000/. in 1834, the fii-st year after tlie passing of the new law. In 1849 it had risen to nearly 400.000/. The charge borne by the departments was in 183'> nearly 111,000/.; in 1847 it was more than 180.000/. The sum cc^ntri- buted by the State, <»nly 2,000/. in 1810, 4,000/. in 1820, 40,000/. in 1830, liad ri.ose on the communes the obligation of raising funds for their support ; but it subjected them all alike to the authority of the communal and distinct committees •^, wh<^ were to delegate in.>«pectre.sses to • Mt'ni'-i ^ ■ rrir a F Jlistnirc dc vxiti Tunpa. ]<\r M. Citiizot, vol. iii. p. 81. t Prwident'H ni««sKuro of June fitli, IS 10. ^ rreHi(lfnt"M iiu'>v>cif:«' of Novnuln'r Itli, 1M.'»1. § liuiUjrt (l( r Instnictinn Puhliiju^^ pp. 181-2. I! Kibruarj- 2Gtli. ^ Ever since the ordinance of Febniarj- OUi, 1830, Pchools under mi.Htrefliicit \rho l>eIongcd to religious communities had been ex- rOlTLAR EDUCATION UNDER THE -MONARCHY OF JULY. 57 visit them ; and it required from their teachers the certificate of capacity. From meml)ers of the female rehgious orders, however, their letters of ol^edience were still accepted as a substitute for the certificate. Normal schools for the training of lay schoolmistresses were at the same time formed. A year and a half afterwards * a similar ordinance recrulated infant schools, which ever since 1827, when M. Cochin, the benevolent mayor of the twelfth arrondissement of Paris, founded a model mfant school in his own dis- trict, had attracted interest and found voluntary sup- pcn-ters. The pecuniary aid given by the State to these institutions was small ; the first grant, in 1840, a grant Avhich they had to sliare with girls' schools, was but 2,000/. They multiplied, nevertheless ; their munber rose from 555 hi 1840 to 1489 in 1843, and to 18G1 in 1848. Primary teachers had been empow- ered f to estabhsh classes for adults in connection with theii* schools. In 1837 there existed 1856 of these classes, giving instruction to 36,965 working people. Li 1843 there were 6434 of them, with an attendance of 95,004 pupils ; in 1848 the classes were 6877 in number, the pupils 115,164. Pubhc instruction was not only founded, it was in operation. Two defects in tlie system soon became visible. One was in the authorities charged to sui)erintend it. Neither the communal committee nor tlial of the dis- trict performed its functions satisfactorily. The com- munal or palish committee, composed of tlie mayor, the clergjniian, and one or more principal inhabitants eniptod from all supervision but that of the ecclesiastical authority and the prefect. • December 22nd, 1837. •j" By a lihilcment snr les Classes d'Aflultes, issued by the Royal Council of Pulilic Instruotjon. ^farch 2-ind. l.s:](;. 5H ( ii\rTi:i: vii. — i-ram r.. muninatod by tlio {li>tnct CDiniuitloc, was not clisin- cliiR'd to incildlc in tlic inaniigcnieiit of llie sdu>ol, Init neither it.s fairness nor lis intelligence could be safely trusted. So strongly had this been felt, that the Chani- lx>r of Deputies in 18o3 had refuseil to intrust to this eonnnittee the powi'i-s "svhich the Minister, in his zeal for local action, had destined for it, and had insisted on giving to the Minister the power of dissolving it on the report of the ilistrict committee. The district com- mittee, composed of the principal pei-sonages, ecclesi- astical and civil, of each sul)-})refei-ture, was generally deficient neither in fairness nor in intelligence ; but it was distant, it was hard to set in motion, it was disin- clined to decisive measures. In truth, a due suj)ply of zealous and respectable persons, bt)th able and willing to superintend primaiy schools, is wanting in the countiy districts of France. It was to form such a class that 'Si. Guizot had framed me;isures and ^^Titten circulai*s ; for this he had solicited prefects and rec- tors ; for this he had directed every inspector to forego, at first, his right of inspecting schools without notice, to convoke committees and municipalities to meet him, to nniltiply his conununications with them, to invite their confidence and to keep them informed of the views of the government, to make his inspec- tions fully and j>atiently, not to neglect his rui-al schools, however huml)le or however remote, in order that the nual population might itself learn to take intiTcst in its schools, when it saw that " neither dis- tance, nor hardshi[> of sea.«!on, nor diOiculty of access, jireventcd the government from bestowing active care on them." • He had not succectled. In England such • Sw M. Guizot's circulAf to the inspectors on their appointment, Aiipus't 13th, lJH.35, in the DuUctin Cmvereitaire, Tol. iii. p. 275. The wl)"l<' iMiTiilnr is wi 11 w.irtli rcndiiu'' rOlTLAK KDUCATIOX UNDER THE MONARCHY OF JULY. 59 persons exist in alnidst eveiy locality ; the one tiling needful is to choose them. The other defect was in the position of the teachers. Tlie miserable fixed salary of 8/. a year, snpplemented by the small fees of the scholars, was wholly insufficient for their maintenance. Fully indoctrinated with a sense of the magnitude of their office, they were transferred from the normal school, where their life was one of comfort ; they were planted in a village where they were considerable personages, in constant relations with the mayor and the cure, and obliged to keep up a certain appearance ; and there they were left to exist on a pit- tance which just kept them from starvation. Their position was one of cruel sullering, and their chscontent was extreme. Tlie Government determined to relieve them. In 1847, a measure was introduced by M. de Salvandy, then ^Minister of Instruction, which fixed three classes of teachers and a minimum of salary for each class : for the lowest class, 24/. a year ; for the second, 36/. ; for the highest, 48/. In Paris itself the lowest salary of a teacher of the first class Avas to be 60/. To English schoolmasters in 1860 these salaries will appear despicable ; to the French schoolmaster in 1847 tliey would have been a great boon. But the Revolu- tion of 1848 arrested tlie measure which promised them. CO ciiAiTi:i; VIII. run L.VU EDltATION IN FllANCK l.NDKU THE KEYOLITION OF 1848 AND THE SECOND EMrillE, — LEGISLATION OF 1850, 1853, AND 1854. The lievolution of 1848, however, had ^^reat designs for the primary teacliers. Tliey were to be tlie agenu^^ lo I)oi)ularise and consolidate it. Tlie portentous circuhir* by wliich M. Carnot exliorted the .sclioolniasters of Fnince, on tlie eve of the elections, to use all their in- fluence to promote the return of sincere ri'iniblicans, and to combat the p(>i)ular j)ri'judice which j)referred the "rich and lettered citizen, a stranger to the j)easant's life, and blinded by interest's at variance with the j)en- sant's interests," to the "honest peasjint endowed with na- tural good sense, and whose ])nictical exjxM'ience of life was better than all the book-learning in the world," is still in eveiy one's memoiy. The schoohnastei^^ of the department of the Seine had not waited for M. Caniot's invitation to open gratuitous evening cla.s.scs for the in- struction of adults in the "rights and duties of citizens." The Minister applauded their zeal. But sjitisfactions more solid than aj^plause were due t. 2, G, 8, 10, 18, 20. 62 (IIAITr.R VIII.— rilANCK. for the usefulness of the certilicate test, tlie Fivro Plii- lippe desired for tlie brethren its continuance For rejisons which prevailed with the commission, whicli he did me the honour to repeat to me, and which seem Uj me full of weiL'ht, the Pere Klienne deprecated for the sisterluHxls its imposition. One of the moi?t eminent liberals in France told me that, for his part, ever since 1848 he had wished to confide the whole primary in- struction of the country to the reliLnous comnumities. It was declared that the public morals were proved by the statistics of crime not to have improved since the law of 1833, but on the contrary to have deteriorated*, and that recoui*se nuist be had to religion to cure a state of disorder which mere instruction had perhaps aggra- vated, certainly not corrected. Sentences of suspension and dismissal were launched by the prefects right and left against the lay primary teachers. But the misdeeds of these functionaries were extravagantly exaggerated. The alann and irritation of the revolutionaiy year made their accusei-s intemperate and unjust. In ever}* quarter of France which I visited, rectoi-s and inspectors united to a.'^sure me that grounds for serious complaint against the lay teachers had been very scarce indeed ; that the foolish profession of strong republican o])inions (to which, besides, the circular of the Minister directly called them) lunl been the sole fault of the great majority of those who oiTended ; that it was astonishing that a class, so poor and so stimulatetl, should have, on the whole, be- luived so well. On dispa.s'^ionate iufjuiiT, made at the instance of the Univei>ity functionaries, a giaxt number t>f teachers who had been summarily dismissed w^ere • Rapport fait au nom d« la Sous-Commimon, Ac, p. 8. But on thiR quwtion of the increase of crime, sec the interesting criminal statistics* at the end of thia volume. roi'UI.AR EDUCATION SINCE 1848. G3 reinstated. The loud coiii])laints against tlieir over- training and against the normal schools gradually died away, and a few years afterwards the Government itself proclaimed how inijust had been the imputations against these latter. " For a time," says the mmister, M. For- toul, in 1854, " people may have "made the normal schools responsible for the faults of a few young men whose errors were caused far more by the cidpable promptings addressed to them than by the education received in these schools ; but on all sides people are now beginning to ajDpreciate them more justly." Under the hostile impressions of 1849, however, the law of March 15th, 1850, was conceived and promulgated. This law, with the organic decree of March Otli, 1852, and the law of June the 14th, 1854, forms the body of legislation now actually in force in France on the subject of public instruction. The design of the two last-named acts is to complete and to make more stringent the main law of 1850. The new legislation swept away much of the law of 183.3. It changed the authorities in whom the control of primary instruction was vested. It abolished the communal committee and the district committee. In the bodies which it substituted it eradicated the elective ])rinciple. It gave to the mayor and the minister of religion in every C(^mmune the supervision and moi'al direction of primaiy instruction.* The old committees were replaced, as to some of their functions, by dele- gates from each canton. The canton is a division larger than the commune, smallei- than the arrondisse- ment. But these cantonal delegates are the nominees of the departmental council. They inspect the primar)^ • Law of Murcli l.^lli. l.s.J<>, Art. 11. r,4 (IIAITKR VIII. FKANrC. Bcliools of their aiiitoii ; hut their ixjwei-s only enable them to address representations on tlie results of their inspection to the departmental council or the inspector, and they have no real authority over the schools or teachers. The departmental couneil meets twice a month at the chief town of tlie department. It con- sists of thirteen membei's, presided over by the prefect At first a majority of the members proceedetl from election. At present cveiy member, except the prefect, the procureur-general, the bishop, and an ecclesijistiail nominee of the l)i>h()p, who sit of right, is nominated by the Minister. This council has very extensive powers. It nominates the cantonal delegates and the commissions charged with the examination for certificates. It has the rcgulatitMi of the public primaiy schools, fixes the rate of school fees to be paid in them, draws up the list of teachers admissible to the office of conmiunal teacher in the department, is the judge of teachers in matters of discipline, can even interdict them for ever from the exercise of their j)rofession, subject to an apjK'al to the Imperial Council of Public Instruction in Taris. It can refuse to any teacher, without right of appeal *, that ])eniiission to open a ])rivate primaiy school which the law of 1833 accorded to all teachers ]»rovided with certificates of morality and capacity. lUit it cannot nominate^ suspend, or dismiss a teacher. Tiiis power, after some fluctuation, has been confidtxl to the promptest, the sternest, the strongest of public functionaries — the functionaiy on whose firm hand the Cliamber of Deputies, in 1833, in its zeal for a more stringent control of public instniction, hsul in vain c«ist longing eye* — the ])rcfc<'t. Ev(mi the ministerial insti- • U^^r „f March If.th, 1850, Art. 28. rOlTLAR EDUCATION SLNX'E 1848. (J5 tution is no longer necessary for tlie teaclier. Tlie prefect names, changes, reprimands, suspends, and dis- misses all public primary teachers of every grade.* To interdict them absolutely and for ever from the exercise of their profession is alone beyond his power. It has even been decided that a clause in the decree of 1852 f, giving to municipal councils the right to be heard respecting the nomination of their connnunal teacher, means merely that they are at liberty to inform the prefect whether they prefer a layman or a member of a reliu'ious association. But the prefect exercises his autliority " on the report of the Academy-Inspector." This introduces us to a new wheel in the machinery of French pubhc mstruction. The academies of France, the constituent members of the University, have been at dilTerent times twenty-six, twent3^-seven, and eighty-six in number. They are now but sixteen. Each academy has a district embracing several departments. The rectors of academies, who under the first Empire and the Eestora- tion were the rulers of primary instruction, have now in their charge only its normal schools, and in elementary schools the methods of teaching and course of study. But attached to every rector, for each of the depart- ments composing his district, is a functionary called an academy-inspector.J This ofTicial's chief concern is with secondary instruction, but he has also the general supervision of primary instruction ; it is to him that the primaiy inspector makes his reports, and by liis representations the prefect, in dealing witli the j)rinKiry teachers, is mainly guided. • Law of June 1 Itli, 1854, Art. i . t Art. t. J Inspfctour d'AcAilemie. F 60 ciiAiTKR vm. — riiAMi:. One otlitT juitliority ivinains to bo iKtticod. It is tlic Imperial Council of rublic luNtruclion. This council is the latest development of the Council of the Univei-sity, of the Commission, Council Koyal, mid Superior Council of Puhlic Instruction, Its comj)osi- tion has undcr^'onc many chan«j:es. The Minister has always presitled at it ; InU of its members the majority were formei-ly chosen by the great ecck^siastical, judicial, or learned Ix^dies whom they respectively represented, and it had a ])ermanent section composed of memlxM's named for life. Every member is now named by the Emperor; the permanent section is abolished, and members are appointed for one year only. Before this council the Minister, if he thinks fit, brinjrs for dis- cussion projected laws and decrees on public education. He is bound to consult it resi)ecting the i)roLn"'ammes of study, methods, and books, to be adopted in pubhc schools. To watch in the provinces over the due observance of it^ regulations on these matlei-s is the l)usines8 of the rectors and their academic councils. Finally, the Imperial Council has to hear and juilge the appeals of teachers on whom departmental councils have laid their intCRlict. Thus the French pubhc teacher, in place of the general supervlsic^i of the communal council, in which the prepossessions of one member often neutral- ised those of another, is now put under the inchvidual supervision of two persons, the mayor and the curc^. These watch over the mondity and religion of his Bchool ; the cantonal delegates watch over its instruc- tion. Al)ove these, in place of the easy district-com- mittee, armed with power indeed to reprimand, suspend, or dismiss liim, but slow to exercise this power, and liable to have its extreme sentence, that of dismiss{\l. rOrULAR EDUCATION SINX'E 1848. G7 reversed by an appeal to a higlier authority *, lie has tlie ever-wakeful executive, the prefect himself, armed with powers which he is prepared to use, and against which there is no ap[)eal. Finally, his scholastic career may be closed altogether by tlie departmental council.f But the new legislation, though thus tightening the reins of control for the teacher, could not possibly leave his salary unimproved. Ilis pecuniary condition was so lamentable as to call pity even from his enemies ; many thought, indeed, that to the miseiyof this condition were due nearly all tlie iaults which had made enemies for him. The fixed salary of 8/. a year was retained ; but it was provided that where the school fees added to this did not make up an income of 24/. a year, what was wanted to complete this sum should be paid by the pubhc. This was, in fact, to increase the charges of the State ; for no additional taxation was imposed on the commune or the department. With so vast an army of public teachers, to increase the pittance of each even a httle was formidably expensive. A new law J provided a class of " supplying teachers," insti- tuteurs suppleant'^, less costly than the regular communal teacher. In future no one could be apj:)ointed communal teacher who liad not served for three years since his twenty-first year as an assistant (adjoint) or as a supply- ing teacher. The same decree permitted public mixed schools, where the scholars were not more than forty in number, to be placed under the charge of women, whose salary was to be that of supplying masters. Tliese new teachers were divided into two classes ; the • Tlie Minister in Council Hoyal. — Loi sur V Instruction pri- maire, 28 Juin 1833, Art. 23. t But wirti appeal to the Imperial Comicil. See above. :{ Decree of December 31st, 1853. r 2 C8 ( llAITi;i: \ 111. IIJAM K. miiiimmn of sjilary tVn* I Ik* lir>t was lixed at 20/. a year, for the tJecoml at 10/. a year. They were only to be employed in coniinunes where the number of inhabitant;* did not exceed 500, or tcmj)omrily to fill vacaneies in laiger places. But, on one pretence or otlu-r, large as well as small connnunes in considerable numbei*s soon managed to confide their schools to these cheaper tcachei"s. The suflerings which the law of 1850 had sought to alleviate reaj>peared. By a decree* due to the present Alinister of Public Instruc- tion, M. Ivouland, the lower chiss of i!uppU'a)it'< was abolished, and there is now but one class of supplyhig teachers, and one minimum of salary for them. 20/. This is gi'ievously insufficient ; but the reader is not to suppose that all the jnil)lic scho«)ls of France are star\ing their teachers on 20/. or 24/. a year. These are mini/na of salary, frequently exceeded by the free will of communes, and for which no good and exiKirienced teacher can be obtained. The law j^ermits a commune, if it pleases, to establish schools entirely gratuitous ; only it must support these schools out of its own resources. In all the principal t<^)wns of France this is done, as there is not one communal .school in Paris, for instance, in which a scholar pays anything. The teachers of these schools have therefore no school-fees to tnist to ; but they receive from the municipality salanes far exceeding the bare legal rate, salaries which, though not equal to those of similar teachei*s in England or Holland, are .suflicient to maintain them in comfort. It is in the villages and hamlets of France that the privations of underpaid sch(x>huastei*s are to be witne.ss(Hl. • Decrro <««" .iuiv L'nth. In^m. rorn.Aii kducatiox sixce 184s. go The new legislation has thus alteied the law of 1833 in all Mhieh concerns the supervision of primaiy schools. It has attempted, not very successfully, to amend the pecmiiary situation which M. Guizot's law created for the primary teacher. But the grand and tVuitful provision of M. Guizot's law, the money clause, the ha[)py distribution of the cost of pubhc schools be- tween the commune, the department, and the State, victoriously endured the test of hostile criticism. It remained unassailed and unassailable, modified only in an insignificant point of detail. Another important provision of M. Guizot's law re- mained untouched, that which guai'anteed religious hberty in pubhc schools. It is the happuiess of France, indeed, that this liberty is so firmly estabhshed that no legislation is hkely to try to shake it. Among the many interesting instructions wiitten by M. Guizot between 1833 and 1837, none are more interesting than those which relate to this vital question. The text of the law of 1833, and the tolerant disposition of M. Guizot himself, tended to make denominational schools, as we should call them, the exception, and connnon schools the rule. " In certain cases," says the law *, " the ^linister of Pubhc Instruction may authorise as connnunal schools, schools more particularly appro- priated to one of the rehgious denominations recognised by the State." " It is in general desirable," writes M. Guizotf , " that children whose families do not profess the same creed should early contract, ])y frequenting the same schools, those habits of reciprocal friendship and mutual tolerance which may ripen later, when * Lot sur r Instruction primai're, 28 Juln 1838, Art. 9. t In a circular to the prefects, July 2ltli, 1833. See " Bulletin Univcrsitaire," vol. iii. p. 293. r 3 70 ( IIAITKR VIII. — FRANCK. they live together as prown-iip citizens, into jiLslice and liaiinony." But the dangers to wliich reHgious Uberty was sometimes exposed in tliese common schools did not escape him. He wi.slied the reHgitructi(»n of the majority, or else that it,s own religious instruction will be left un- (\aretl for. Against both dangers M. Guizot endeavc»ured to provide. Itectoi-s were charged to see that in public schools no child of a diflerent religious profession fi-om that of the majority w;u^ coa^trained to take part in the rehgious teaching and observances of his fellow-scholars. They were to permit and to request the j^arent.s of such children to cau^e them to receive suitable religious in- struction from a minister of their own connnunion, or from a layman regularly appointed for the puii)Ose. They were to take care that in every week, at fixed hours to be agieed uj>on between the minister of re- ligion, the parents, and the hx'nl committee, such children were conducted from tlie schoi •,'. Bulletin Universitcu're, vol. iv. p. 382. rorULAU HDITATIOX SINCE 1848. 71 been broiiulit up. Inspectors and local committees were strictly enjoined to see these regidutions ob- served. Similar provision was made for religious instruction and religious freedom in the normal schools. Finally, where the minority had cause to de- sire a school to itself, and reasonable numbers to fill it, tlie authorities were to be very heedful that its demand was not imjustly refused by the mmiicipal councils-. The event proved that religious instruction in com- mon schools presented grave practical difTiculties. The new law profited by the lessons of experience. Under the dominion of the new law denominational schools are the rule, common schools are the exception. In those communes where more than one of the forms of worsliip recognised by the State is pubhcly professed, each form is to have its separate school.* But the dei^artmental council has power to authorise the union, in a common school, of children belonging to different commimions.f Of children thus united, however, the religious hberty is sedulously guarded. It is provided tliat ministers of each communion shall have free and equal access to the school, at separate times, in order to watch over the rehgious instruction of members of their own flock. | "Wliere the school is appropriated to one denomination, no child of another denomination is admitted except at the express demand of his parents or guardians, signified in writing to the teacher. Of such demands the teacher is bound t(j keep a register, to be produced to all tlie school authorities. I confi- dently aflirm, in contradiction to much ignorant asser- tion, that the liberty tlius proclaimed by the law is • Loidu 15 Mars 1850, Art. 30. f H'>'f- Art. 15. X Loidu 15 Mars 1850, Art. -41; Dtcrtt c, indeed, the embei^ of religious animosities still smoulder; but it is among the lower orders of the poj)ulatinii. It is not that the State persecutes the ProtesUuits ; it is that the Protestant and Cathohc mobs have still sometimes the impulse to persecute each other, and that the Stnte ha«< hard wjiaid it long, and who know what it has bought for them, will continue to pay while they must, but which till' middle classes will never even begin to pay. When I told the Freiu'h University authorities of the amount jiaid for a boy's education at the gi'cat English schools, and paid often out of veiy moderate incomes, they cx- clainuHl with one voice that to demand such sacrifices of French parents would be vain. It would be equally vain to demand them of the English middle cla.*prnpliie ; \v whiii ivsult is produced l>y tliis legislation. I will endeavour to show lK»th the iiiaterial and the moral result produced. The material result in money raised, schools founded, scholars under instruction; the moral result in the quality of the in- struction, the proficiency of the scholars, the elTect, so fai' a-^ that can he ascertained, on the nation. I Ix-Lrin with the former. The task is not easy. For the last eight yeai-s no r('j)ort on the state of primary instruction has heen published by the French Government. In the financial report yearly issued by the Department of Public In- struction, the sum.s raised for |)rimary schools by their most important contributor, the commimes, are not returned. Vast preparations were made in 1858 for a detailed report, to be accomi)anied by full statistics. At the ]a.st moment tlie Government recoiled before the expense of its publication. The invaluable materials collecterevails an e(iual unanimity in favour of mixed schools. Of tlie 17,(»00 mixed scliools of France, 2250 arc taught by women, of wliom the greater number belong to religious orders. Tlie remaining mixed schools arc under masters. Divitling the i)rimary schools of Fmnce according to the lay or ecclesiastical character of their teachers, we have the following numbci's : — Public lay l>oys' .schools „ Congrcganist „ Private lay Ixiys' schooln Cv>n::nL'ani.^t ,. "ulilic lay girl.s' .sthuuls „ Congrt-giuiist ,, Vivato lay girls' hcIiooIs „ Congrcgani.-t , G5,1(K) The number of children under instniction in these scliools is 3,850,000, divided as follows : — Boyd, in l>oyM' or mixed KbooLt - 2,iriO,0<10 CJ iris, in girls' HchooU - - 1,1.')(»,000 Girls, in mixetl w;hooU 25«>,0()0 31.100 2,1W 30,200 2.1MK> TjHO ;;.i(to 39,000 4,7«KI 0,200 13,'.MK» .•K2l)liL'at«>ry cxiKMulilure, tlu-rcfoiv, f«»r tlie year 185G, ainoimted in roiiiul numhei-s to 1,1(I7,(>0()/. The Jdcultatire or optional expenditure L? shared a-s follows : — Charges borne by the Comimincs. / / Maintenance of girl«' schoola and inCmt.s' hcluH.l.H (not obligator)- by law) - 4,C0(»,()0() BiiiMing, purcliaKing, and repjiiringschool- hoii9t« . _ - _ 3,800,000 Exjx'nses for classes of adults, books, and rewards - - . . I.:,(>0,n00 9,900,000 00 Charges borne by the Department and State. /■ Normal kcIiooIm for young women, and extraordinary expemnvs for nonnal whools - - - 3') 1,321 85 Grants to communes for the erection, purchase, and repair of school- houses and fittings - 0C»1,J12 42 BtHjks for |xx)r .schnjju - 32, Ml M Special grants for girls in^inirtinn 311>,919 r»7 Grants for classes of adults and ap- prentices ... CH,18G 25 Grants for infiuits' schools and needhwork - - - 172,020 71 Kewaixls and relief to teachei-s - 2(>r.,r.l3 3(> (Jrants to private schools and cliari- tiible establishments - - 01,300 00 Printing and sundries - - 107.2<>0 ^<0 ■_ 2,081,397 61 12..'.sl..V.i7 01 MMkinu, in the year IS-'Sfi. n ters, of r)0:],()()0/. Tlie items of this expenditure vary from year to year, but its pencral amount remain:? much the sune. MATERIAL AND FIXAXCIAL CONDITION OF EDUCATION. 85 To meet tliis expenditure, the following sums were received : — From donations and legacies From laniilies : — By fees from sclioLirs By pajTiients from normal school students for board, &c. 9,301,552 513,327 c. 5G 38 184,320 9,811,879 8(3 91 From communes : — By obligatory school taxation 11,955,003 15 By voluntary school taxation '.),',»00,(»0(» 00 21,855,003 15 From departments : — For ordinary expenses - 4,101,213 55 For extraordinary expenses - 1.171,910 59 From the State : — For ordinary expenses - 3,000,093 40 For extraordinary expenses - 1 ,509,844 52 5,273,130 14 ,109,937 92 12,297,332 01 So that tlie amount received nearly e(|ualled the amount expended. It appears from tlie above figures that had the com- munes borne tlie full ordinary expenses of their schools, as well as the extraordinary expenses actually con- tributed by them, tliey would have had to find a sura of, in round numbers, 1,507,740/. They actually bore a charge of 874,200/. ; ])iit of this tliey were legally bound to bear but 478,200/. They voluntarily under- took a burdcri of 390,000/. Famihes and pii\ate persons contributed, in school-fees, board, and tlona- tions, about 423,000/. The departments bore a charge of 210,020/.; of this, the obligations of the law imposed on them 104,040/. ; they vohuitarily taxed tliemsclves for 40,880/. Finally, the State directly conlributed a 3 86 ( IIAITKK !X. — FKANCK. about 200,800/. (maily the .same amount as the de- part meiit.s) : to tleliay reguhir cliargea wliich it had undertaken to make good, it paid 140,400/. ; wliile for tlie additional expense;? wliich have been detailed it granted 00,400/. The expenses of primary instruetion above enume- rated do not inelude the expense of the central admi- nistration in Paris. This, for 1850, was 059,048/ 57 c*; in round num]>ers, 20,^>G0/. Not more than one-third of this eharge, which embraces the services of suj)erior, sccondaiy, and primary instruction, belongs t*) primaiy mstruction. We nuist add the salaries of four inspec- tors-general at 8,000/ each, 32,000/. (1,280/.), and their'travelling allowances, 10.000 /'. (400/.) This will give a total of, in round numbers, 10,470/., to be adtled to the general expense of ])rimaiy instruction in 1850. The general total will then, instead of 1,700,000/., ])ecome 1,710,47(1/. ; considerably less than one million and three-quarters vterling.f I'ublic primaiy in^trudion in Franct', then, cost in the year 1850 about 1,710,500/. ; o( thi.s, parish tiixa- tion (as we j^hould siiy) contributed somewhat less than nine-seventeenths; county fixation about two-seven- teenths; the consolidated fund about two-seventeenths; and school-fees and private benevolence somewhat more than four-seventeenths. Taxation, obligatory and • Thus (livicK'd : — Personntl, 172,237 /. 50 c. ; Materiel, 180,71 \f. 1 1 r. ; Iiulcmnih's h tUs auplotfc's suppn'nies, 6,099/. 96 C. Sec tlic Comptc drfiiu'tif rf« Dt'pfiifcs de CExcrcice 1856 {Servict lie rinMnictinn puhliqu()\ Parii*, ISS^*. f The BciTice« of rectore aiid nculemy-inspwtors (taking, under the head of Adtuiniftnilion acadcuuquc, a 8um of 817,523/. 32 c. in the eKtimateH of 1856) are in p.irt given to prinL-tr}- inslnaction ; but n-H these ftinetionaries strictly Ix-long to superior and secondary in- Btniction, I chargi* primary instruction with no nliarc in this item. MATEKIAL AX1> FIXAXCIAL COXDITIOX OF EDUCATION. 87 voluntary, produced altogetlier nearly 1,295,000/. ; that is to say, it produced more than throe-fourths of the whole amount expended. What will, I thuik, most strike the reader in con- sidering these figm'es will be this — the innnense num- ber of schools maintained in proportion to the money spent. France possessed, in 1856, 65,100 primary schools. Of this number all but 15,000 were, not aided, but maintained, out of an expenditure of con- siderably less than one miUion and three-quarters sterhng; the 15,000 private schools received amongst them some assistance out of it, but the 50,100 public schools were, I repeat, maintained. Nor does the total of 65,000 ]H'imary schools include hifant schools, numbering 2,684 in 1859*, and receiving 262,000 infants. Neither does it include adult schools, ap})ren- tice schools, needlework schools, educating among them a gi'cat nmnber of pupils, and nearly all assisted, some supported, out of this expenchture, but for which, unfortimately, there are no collected statistics of as re- cent a date as 1856.f If added, these would certauily carry the number of ])laces of instruction for the poorer classes in France to 75,000, and the number of learners ill them to aljove ibur niilhoiis. I3ut, omitting these, * Infant schools in France arc now regulated by the decree of March the 21.st, 1855, which places them under the innnediate pa- tronage of the Empress and of a central committee. The decree establishes inspcctres.ses of infant schools, one for each of the sixteen aciidemies of France ; these ladies are named by the Minister, and paid by the State; tliey each receive 80/. a year, and allowances fur travelling. t In 1848 there Avere G877 adult schools in France, with 115,lG-t piipiLs. In 1813 there were 3G apprentice schools, with TJCxS scholars; and 115 orivroirs, or needlework .schools, with b'JOfi girls attending them. 88 (iiAiTi;i; i.\. — riiA.vri:. omittiiiL' tlie private siIiodIh, lor 1,710.(100/. a yoar more llian .')(),()( 10 sc]i(H)ls arc* entirely inaintaiiK-d, and more than tljree millions and a lialf of children are instructed. Assume the whole expenditure to contribute ec]ually to this result ; then, to the three-fourths raised by taxa- tion, three-fourths of the school-result effected are due. In other words, for l,2'.ir),000/., more than 37,500 Bchools are maintained, and more than two millions and a half of children are taught. In Great liritain, according io the latest returns, the annual expenditure on jtrimaiy instruction, properly so called, was about 800,000/. Tutting out of sight, as we luive put out of sight in the case of Fi*aiice, tlie value received for this expenditure in the shajH? of administration, inspection, OC-c, let us iu l»y companies, uikKt the cimrgu of an uVLTluukcr, like tlic inmalcs of an hospital or a barrack. Tlic Enfjlisli PriN-j' Council Oflice would rc«;ard >vit]i contempt a certificate examination which occupies but a few ]ioui"s, and whicli leaves conic sections unexplored. Knudish inspectors would never cpiit their fellowsliips for posts tlie occui)ant of which has the .•salary of an exciseman. This service of insjx'clion, in- deed, in which I could not but feel a sympathetic and friendly interest, is, of all the cheap services of French j)ubHc instruction, the very cheapest. Till recently a j)rimary inspector's salary was such as to appear, even to French olFicials, cruelly insufficient ; intt)lerably out of ])roportion with the im]K)rtance of his function-s. It was such as to reduce liim to hve by what he could borrow, not unfrc(iuently haviuLi recourse for his loans to tlie teacliers under his inspection.* Ikit even now that their position is im^n'oved f, even now tliat their salary is i*aised nearly to the hiixliest luiiiit which, in IS')?, their compassiimate friends thought possil)le. what is it that French inspectoi-s receive ? The hi«jhcst cliL«^s of them receives 9G/. a year ; the second class 80/. ; the third, and infinitely the most numerous, GiL They have besides this, while actually engaged, away from home, in the business of inspection, a personal allow- ance of o.v. (jci. a day, with (W/. (it is ahnost incredible) for ever}- school which they visit. Out of this allow- ance they have to defray their own travelling expenses. Compared with this, the incomes of the oflicials of the • Jiuflgrt il( r Inslnictinn piibliqtK, p. 102. t Hy a decree of June 21st, ISbH, due to M. Koiiland, tlic present Mini.stor. There arc at present 275 prini.iry in«i>cctor»; 30 in the highr.^t class, GO in the hccond, \X^y in th<- lowest. There in, besides f.ir l\iriis a ppocial class of inspcctorR, with salaries of 100/. a year. The toUnl yearly coat of iuKpoctioD i» 2J^,887/. JfATEKIAL AND FINANCIAL CONDITION OF EDUCATION. 91 central adiiiiiiistraliuii are })riiicely. ]]ut compared with our standard, they are, with one single exception, very low. The divisional chief, answering to the secre- tary to our Education Comnhttee, receives, when his salary has reached its highest point, 480/. a year ; the two c/u'/.'i de bureau, corresponding to our assistant secretaries, receive 240/. ; the lower officials in a like proportion. The four inspectors-general of primary instruction, the corner-stone of the administrative fabric, and the employment of whom makes it possible to employ with prolit an army of inspectors of a lower grade, receive but 32U/. a year. Vice-president or vice- minister there is none ; indeed, the French officials thought the post of this functionary, ^vhen I explained it to them, a very curious invention. "Your vice- presidency," they said, " must generally have for its occupant one who would not have been designated chief minister of public instruction ; yet it is he who, inider the shadow of a nominal chief's authority, will inevitably transact nine-tenths of your educational business, and give the guidance to your system." Such w\as their criticism, whether it be sound or not ; at all events they have not the office. Alone, amid his host of inferior functionaries, with unapproachable brilhancy, velut inter iipies Luna niinores, shines the Minister. lie has a salary of 4000/. a year, with a house and allow- ances, which raise the value of his post mucli higher. This enormous disproportion between the chiefs salary and that of even his highest functionaries strikes an English observer as strange. Perhaps French subor- dinates console themselves with the rcllection tluit in their country any educated man may aspire to be Iklinistcr of Public Instruction, as any common soldier may aspire to be a Marshal of France. 92 (IIAITKK IX. — FKANCE. The liahits of our counlrY are liaixlly compatible witli t)Hieial silaries so low as those of Fmnce ; and to have our schoolmasters* means reduced to tlie French standaixl would l)e a serious misfcjrtune. But there can be no doubt that a certain plainness and chea})ness is an indis- })ens:ible element of a plan i>f education which is to be veiy widely extended ; that a national system is at tliis price. In operations on a really vast scale, that rigid economy, even in the smallest matters, which in very limited operatituis may be thought overstrained, be- comes an imperious necessity. The department to which I have the honour to belong is perhaps the most rigidly administered of any of the English public de])artments ; it is of very recent date, it has grown up under the broad daylight of publicity. But it^ habil.s were formed wlien the schools under its supervision might be counted on the fingers. On tie dote pas luie armte^ mournfully cries M. Eugene Kendu, contrasting the conilition of French inspectors with that of their English brethren ; but an army the English school- inspectors nuist become if they arc to meet the exigences of a national school-system. Yet w'hat iiatii^n can aflbrd to employ, in such a semce, 275 liighly-tniined dijjlomalists. selected to conduct delicate negotiations with inlluential rectors? The thing is im- possible ; a vast body like that of the French insi)ectors nuist necessarily be taken from a larger class, paid at a lower mte, and recruited in part, as the French in- spectoi"s are with eminent advantage recniited, from among the mastei-s of elementaiy schools. " Should you not gain in some re.s|>ects by having your inspectors drawn from a liigher class in society?" I asked ^L Magin. He said that the work of primary insj»ection was i)erfectly well done by the present staff, and. so far MATERIAL AND FIXAXCIAL CONDITIOX OF EDITATIOX. 93 as I lincl tlie iiionn>! of observing-, I entirely agree witli liini ; but even li;ul tlu' actual results been less satis- faetoiy, he would not allow that it was possible to entertain the question for a moment. The number, he said, was too overwhelming. Again, with respect to what may seem small matters of expenditure, it is im- possible to over-estimate the saving which is effected in France, where administration is on so vast a scale, by a scrupulous economy in respect to these. Eoyal and imperial ordinances limit the privilege, and guard against the abuse, of official postage. Stationery and printing, those great administrative agents, are under severe control. " La jy^perasserie administrative est le feau de V administration Francaise" said a chstiniruished official one day to me, — "French administration is bepapered to death ; " — in English administration, also, paper plays no small part ; but on how much more extravagant a scale ! I have before me the form of report used by French inspectors when they visit a school. It is a single note-sheet of ordinaiy paper, containing printed questions, over against wliich the answers have to be wTitten. Within these ii'on bounds is the ill-a])preciated but irrepressible eloquence of in- spectors confined. An English inspector's visit to any elementary school expends six sheets and a half of excellent foolscap. These appear insignificant matters ; but when you come to provide for the inspection of 05,000 schools, it makes a difference whether you devote to each six sheets and a half of good foolscap, or a single sheet of very oidinaiy note-paper. Again, I take the item of certificate examinations. The charge for these in France is borne ])y the departments ; under one sum is included the outlay for these, the outlay for the cantonid delegacies, the outlay for j)remises for 94 ( IIAITKR IX. — FRANCE. sav'ings-l)anks ; all three beinir at the charge of the department In 1850 this item for the whole of France was under 2000/. For this sum, besides the other expenses just mentioned, the certificate examina- tions requisite to meet the wants of a system of 47.000 schools emplopng certificated te them. I am bound to si\y that great good scn.^.* seemed to me to characterise French administration lx)th in its requirements and in MATERIAL AND l-L\AXCIAL COXDITIOX OF EDUCATIOX. 95 its foH)enranco whvn dealiiiu' M'itli sdiools : to take tlio miu'h disputed article of hoarded lloors for instance ; reconunended generally in all schools, these have never been inflexibly required but for inftuit schools. Per- liaps we may one day have to take a lesson from France in some of these respects. Not without doing violence to some crotchets, not without lopping off some elegant but superfluous branches of expenditure, will the plaything of philanthropists be converted into the machine of a nation. 96 ciiAiTi:!: X. ri;i>-KNT IMII I.i;( TI AL AND MORAL Cn.M»ITIi>N OK rorPLAR EIiUCATION IN FKANCE. — SCHOOLS LN PAUIS. Tin: n';ik next : What are these munerous scliools of Franci' like? what sort of an education do they give to their schc^lai-s ? To tliis question I shall endeavour to rej^ly hy L'iviiiLi an account of a few of the schools which I myself visited, and I will select those which may serve as representatives of the class U) which they helontj. This is not diflicult. M. Kouland, the Minister of Public Instruction, in an inteniew with which he lionoured mo while I was in Paris, assurcMl me, on liearing that I proposed to visit schools in all partes of France, that I was Lrivinir myself a great deal of very imnecessary troul)lc ; that when I had seen a few schools anywhere, I had seen enough to enable uic to judge of all. It would have been improper for me to accept this assumnce, even upon such eminent autho- rity, withf)ut venfying it by my own cxperienc(\ I therefore ])rocetHled on my I'uterprise, for wlii«]i M. liouland obligingly furnished me with the most ample facilities ; and I visited schools in all quarters of France. I learned much whiih, without visiting the localities I never shortant part in French primary instruction; they are young nun not yet arrived at the age when they may be full connnunal teacliers*; tlie law does not oblige them to be certificated, l)ut all those emj)loyed in Paris and in the large towns are certifiaiteil. beciiuse the munici- palities of these towns will employ no other ; the de- partmental council decides whether a school needs an adjoint or not ; the head-master names him. Monitoi-s were employeK.' it. The desen'cd j)opularity of the .sc1hk)1s of the Jirethrcn.and the untloubted preference for them of the most respectable part of the urban populations, give them ample opportunities of thus ofTending. To the Sistii>t they are yet more abundantly offered, and as seldom re>i^tible. There are conununes where, out of five Sisters engjiged for the service of public education, one Sister alone devt)tcs lier laboui> to the poor. Under this one Sister all the (Mjor children of the ])arish, of all ages, are taught in a single free class, often numbering as many as eighty scholai's. The frnir remaining Sisters devote themselves to the diversified instruction of two IXTKLLECTUAL AND .MORAL COXDITION OF EDUCATIOX. 10] classes ol' about lirk-eii girls i-arli, drawii iVoiii the wrll- circumstaiiced families of the ((iiinmiiic, who pay fi'om three to five francs a mouth foi- a daughter's schooling. It is undoubtedly true that iu this way the histruction of the poor often sutlers ; sometimes by the actnal ex- clusion of poor children from public schools Avhere their places aic improperly occupied l)y tlu' ricli, sometimes by the undue subordination of their instruction to that of richer scholars. Yet I could not discover that even in the great towns, where population is thickest, niasses of poor children anpvhere remained witluuit instiuction. There are cases of hardship,snch as those which I have mentioned; but I shoidd mislead the English reader if I allowed liim to think that I found in any French city educational desti- tution such as that of the 21,025 schoolless children of Glasgow, such as that of the 17,177 schoolless children of Manchester.* I should mislead him if I let him think that I foimd in France, or that I believe to exist in France, a schoolless multitude hke the 2.2o0,000 of England. I endeavoured without success to obtain returns showing the nuiiibci' of fliildi'cu iu France between the ages of live ami thirteen years who remain without schooling. Inquiries have been for the ]a>t few year- in pnoecution willi a \ieNV t<) obtain accurate inlbnnation on this matter ; but tho>e eon- dui'ting tliem avowed to me that tliey were not yet sulhciently complete to enable them to give me statistics which might be relied on. It would be well, perhai)s, * See The State of our Educational Enterprises, l)y the Kev. Wm. Frascr, Gla-sgow, 1858, p. 146. I do not agree witli Mr. Fraser's conclusions; but it is inii>ossible to value too higlily either the inforniation which he has collected, or the si)iiit iu whicli he writes. II 3 102 ( HAITKi: X. FRANCE. if tlie stiitisliciuns t)f all countries were equally Ciiutiuus or equally cmulid. But in all the hu-pe towns which I visited, the inspectors united in itssuring me that, irreirularly as the schools niijiht be frequented, feeble as niight be the result which ihcy pnKhKxtl, no con- siderable cliu, held in three good and well- fitted rooms, each under the cure of a twister; there is also an infimt school of 100, mider the care of two other Sistei*s. These Sisters belong to a community of sixteen, who live in the same house under a superior ; five are chargt'd with the care of the schools, the re- mainder devote themselves to visiting the poor, tending the sick, preparing medicaments for them, and similar IXTELLECTL'AL AND MOUAL CONDITION OF EDUCATION. 103 Avorks ol" charity. Tlit' prumises where the school was iorinerly held were very bad ; two years ago the city of Paris bought the present house, and arranged it excellently for its actual purpose. The order in both schools Avas admirable; the instruction in the girls' school moderate. The arithmetic, however, was good ; nearly all the girls in the upper class could Avork cor- rectly sums in interest and in vulgar and decimal frac- tions : in a similar school in England this would seldom be the case. On the other hand, few girls in tliis class coidd tell how many departments France contained, or had even an elementary knowledge of geography : the upper class of a guis' school in England is generally fairly intbrmed on geography — certainly has almost always learned the number of the Enghsh counties. In Paris, the instruction in the schools of the Sisters is commonly inferior, the inspectors told me, to that of the lay girls' schools. In the provinces it is not so ; not, perhaps, that the Sisters' schools are there better, but that the lay schools are worse. Apart from the mei-e instruction, liowever, there is, even in Pai'is, some- thing in the Sisters' schools which pleases both the eye and the mind, and which is more rarely found else- wiiere. There is the fresh, neat schoolroom, almost always cheerfuller, cleaner, more decorated than a lay schoolroom. Thoi-e is the orderliness and attachment of the children. Finally, there is tlie aspect of the Sis- ters themselves, in general of a refinement beyond that of their rank in life ; of a gentleness which even beauty in France mostly lacks ; of a tranquilhty which is evi- dence that their blameless lives are not less happy than useful. If ever I have beheld serious yet cheerful benevolence, and i!ie serenity of the mind pictured on the face, it is her- -. Is it then impossible — I perpetually 104 rHAITKIt X. FI!\\( r.. asked myself in ivjianlinii tliLiii - is it then iinin»s>il»le for i)e(»j)le no longer under the world's ehann, or who liave never felt it, to associate thentselves tt)gether, and to work hap|)ily, conibinedly, and eflectually, unless they have lii*sl adheri'd to the doetrines of the Council of Trent? The law of France does not recognise perjKtual vows; l)ut it is extremely ran* — it is so rare as to be almost without examj)le, and an indelible stigma — for a Sister to quit the religious life when she has once embraced it. ^^he may (juit, indeed — fatigue or ill- health may often comj)el her to (juit — the laborious ])rofession of a teacher; but it is only to engage in some other charitable service of her calling. If she <'eases to be a schoolmistress, she becomes a visitress or a nurse, or she gives her laboui*s in the dispensary. To the end of her life she remains the servant of the neces- sitous and of the alllicted. This sustained religious character secures to her the unfeigned respect of the connnon people, and cikiMc- her to render invnlunblc services to society. AtU'lched to tlu- -aim i -i.ii.n-iiiiH m 1- .111 •,.-(<•- om'n>ii\ or needlework sch(X)l, which I visited. These schools are «)pen after or between the ordinaiT school- hours ; they are attended by girls from mixed schools under mastei>, t«) which they are ofte?i annexed ; by girls from ordinary girls* schools, of which the teacher is not particularly skilled in needlework; finally, by girls who attend no other school at all. For the benefit of the latter a little instniction in reatling, arithmetic, and religious knowledge is added to the lessons in sewing, knitting, and marking. F^mbroideiy and orna- mental work jue proscribed by law, exccjjt in those districts of France where they f(»nn :in important IXTKLl.ECTl'AI- AM) MOIJAL (OXDITIOX OF HDl'CATIOX. J0.5 l)r;UK'li 1)1" Iriiuilr iiidustiy. vXs the schools are ()|)en only I'or a lew Jiours in each day, the services of skilfid teachers can be secured lor a very moderate remunera- tion. These establishments, whic-li are of great use, and which have had no small share in giving to French needlewomen their superiority, are unknown as a school institution in England. The next day I visited two establishments kept by Brethren of the Christian Schools. The first, situated in the Eue St. Lazare, contained 250 boys, and was conducted by three of the brethren. It is not a pubhc, but a private school (ccole Ubre) ; but it is a private school in a condition in which many private schools in France actually fmd themselves, and therefore I mention it. It was founded by private subscriptions, and it was intended to be a kind of parochial school, under the superintendence of the local clergy. Sid}scriptions fell ojB', and the city of Paris at the present moment pays the j-ent of the building where the school is held, and will sooner or later end by taking upon itself the whole expense of the institution, and b}^ converting it into a commmial school. Hardly anywhere in France, (in this the reports of all the inspectors concur), can the ])rivate boys' schools, whether they be lay or con- greganist, hold their own in the competition with the public schools. The [)rivate girls' schools kept by the Sisters are more fortunate. 15ut for their boys — although even in the private school the teacher has the inihs])ensable guarantee of the certificate of capacity, without which, in France, no man may teach— parents undoubtedly ])refer the public school with its additional guarantees of a ])ul)lic character and a more detailed hispection. To k^tate inspection all ])rivate schools are subject ; but only in what concerns their provision for ICKi ( HAITI. U A. I K\.N< I.. iIr* Ixxlily licallli and foinlort cil" ilic [>u|)ils, uiid llieir inaiutc'iKincc of due mondity. So strongly do lliesc eJ5UdJli^llnlc'nts feel llie advanta^'u conferred by the publicity and stimulant of thorough iiL^pection, that they coiLass on from it to another .school kejjt by the Brethren, which I saw on tlic same morning, a public sch(x>l in the Kue du Kochcr. Hcix; not less than four Brethren were employed ; one for each of the four classes into INTKI.LKrri'Ai. AND MORAL CONDITION OF EDUCATION. 107 \\iiii'li this huge sc1kk)1, coiilainiii!^- -lOU boys, wus divided. The Schools of tlie Brethren liiive a decided iidvantage over tlic lay schools in the niunber of their teachers. A lay school in Paris has a master and an adjoint, two efficient teachers ; a school of the Brethren has never less than three ; always, when the school is large, a greater number. For the evening or adult school a fresh relay of Brethren is ready, while the lay teacher has the toil of evening and day alike. A sick or over- Avorked Brother is sent to recover, iii perfect rest of b( )dy and mind, at one of the houses of residence of his order, while another of his community is sent to take his place, witliout disturbance or detriment to the school. The illness of a lay schoolmaster agitates him with apprehension, midcts him in salary, and deranges his school. Such are the advantages wliich a great association like that of the Brethren confers on its mem- bers. But even such an association is not numerous enough to supply to elementary schools an adequate force of teaching poAver. It supplies more than its lay competitors in France ; it has thus a great advan- tage over them. ]jut what were even four teachers among these 400 boys of the Eue du liocher, with 110 boys to be controlled and taught in a single room by one brotlier, 80 In' a second, tlie remainder in two other rooms by the third and foui'th ? I here tcnich tlie weak point of the French schools. The Ihvthrcn, it is true, do not employ monitors; but the value of monitors is by this linic ])retty accui'ately appreciated. Under certain circumstances the employment of them is indi>pen>able. M. de Lasalle. in his M>rnin(/*. laid "* Si'o his riniarkal)le words quoted l>y M. Aiiil)n>isi.' limdu in his Essai sur riitiih-uction jinl/liipie, vol. i. p. 81. 108 I IIAITr.U X.— FRA.\(E. down a plan fur llic division and .subdivision of tlie scliodl-work l)y menus of tlic use of nionitoi-s, and is, in truth, the earliest inventor of llie mutual or monitorial system. In the war between the simult^uieoiis and mutual systems, whieh niged s) hotly in Fi-ance from ISl') to 1830, the Brethren, like the cler into a single school, than by libraries of discussion u|K)n the mutual and simultaneous .systems. Pupil-teachers — the sinews of English jirimary in- struction, whoso institution is the grand merit of our English ^Uitc system, and its chief title to public respect ; this, and, I will boldly say, the honesty with which that system has been adminiMered. Pupil-tenchei's — the concei)tion, for England, of the founder of English jx>pular education, of the admini>ti'ator whose conccjv INTI-LLECTUAL AND JIOKAL CONDITION OF EDUCATION. 109 tioiis liave been as friiiirul as liis services Averc un- "worthily maligned, of Sir Jumes Slmttleworth. In naming them, I pause to implore all friends of educa- tion to use theii' best efforts to preserve this institution to us unimpaired. Let them entreat ministerial eco- nomy to respect a pensioner who has repaid the outlay upon lihii a thousand times;. let them entreat Chan- cellors of the Exchequer to lay their retrenching hands anywhere but here ; let them entreat the Priv}^ Council Office to propose for sacrifice some less precious victim. Forms less nndtiplied, examinations less elaborate, in- spectors of a lower grade — let all these reductions be endured rather than that the number of pupil-teachers should be lessened. K these are insufficient, a fiir graver retrenchment, the retrenchment of the grants paid to holders of our certificates of merit, would be yet fiir less grave than a considerable loss of pupil-teachers. A certificate, indeed, is properly a guarantee of capa- city, and not an order for money. There is no more reason that it should entitle its possessor to 20/. than that it should entitle him to a box at the opera. Private liberality can repair the salaries of the schoolmasters, but no private liberality can create a l)ody like the pupil-teachers. Neither can a few of them do the work of many. " Clas-es of twenty-five or thirty, and an ellieient teacher to eacli class :" — that .school- system is the best which inscribes these words on its banners. The overwlu'lmiiig size of tlieir classes has iialmally an exhausting effect on l-'iciicli teaelu-is. In none of them is this effect more apparent than in the Ihcthren, originally in many cases the feeblei- and less robust members of a poor family, who have .sought in the career of tuition not only a field of i)ious labour, but no (UAITKK X. riJANCK. anexemptum from niilitary service* and from the nule life of a tiller of the {^roiuul They have often, the 3'ounger ones more especially, a lansed no such obligation. One often finds, therefore, in one of tliC'^e schools, a great difli-rence between the vigour, confidence, and acquirement's of the chief teacher, and those of his assist,'uit.s. But tliey live very harmoniously together, and the youthful lirother, in time, obtains his certificate, and (jualifies himself to take the princij)al charge of a school. The superior of the house of residence which furnishes t<»achers to a sciiool exerci.ses very constantly and very thoroughly his right of insj>cction of it. • Ever ninco 1818 the cngngoniont to ri'innin for trn years in the fton-ice of public instniction fn«c« him vrho Unkcs it from the obliga- tion of military aervico. i.\Ti:iJj:cTUAr. and .moral conditiox of educatiox. in In tlie Schools of the Bretlireii tliere is the same want of maps whicli is observable in the lay scliools, but the nakedness of the walls is generally relieved by religious pictures and religious sentences. The instruction differs in no important particular fi'om that of lay schools. That of the best lay schools, however, is unquestionably, on the whole, somewhat more advanced.* In lay and congreganist schools alike, drawing and music are more systematically taught than hi our schools, and taught, in general, by special masters. The communities of the Brethren furnish them with a suppy of trained labour ill all departments of teaching. I was greatly struck witli the appearance of the young Brother who taught drawing in the school of the Eue du Rocher ; he had a genuine vocation for his art, and his fiice expressed the animation and happiness which the exercise of a genu- ine vocation always confers. I visited him and his brethren in their house of residence ; their chapel liad been elaborately decorated by his sole industry : it must have been a labour of months, but a labour of love. The Brethren arc far less constant than the Sisters to the relii,dous life. For the Sisters the religious life is the principal object of their association, the profession of teaching but the accessory: for the Brethren the career of teaching is the principal, the rest the accessory. Their vows as members of their own connnunity are for three or five years; l)ut as jjublic functionaries in the • As long ago as 1818, the Koctor of the Academy of Strasboiu-g gives as a reason wliy tliere were no schools of the brethren in Alsace, then as now one of the best-educated districts in France, that " dans les endroits plus popideux et plus riches, on exige un enseignenieut supericur h celiii des Frcres." — See Essai sur I'Tn- .'itniction puh/i'tpir, vol. iii. p. 213. 112 CIIAITi-.K X. — FILVNCK. scn'icc of jnihlic instruction, and, as sucli, exonij)t fi-oni tlie conscript it )n, their engagement is for ten yeai*s, and for this term they actually serve in schools. At the cud of this time it is nt)t unusual for tlu-m to depart at once out of the career of teaching and the pale of their com- munity, and to return to the gjirb and professions of civil life. S«mie of them many and hectmie fathers of famiHes. Their association, therefore, is l)y no means invested in the eyes of the people with the sune religious and sacred character as that of the Sisters. This is true ; and it is probably true, also, that the motives which determine their entrance into their order are often not religious. It is probably true that, as the best-informed j)ersons assi>rt, many a young pejuJant be- comes a Brother of the Chri>tian Schools because he can conunence his duties and cciise to be a charge to his j):irents two years sooner than if he embrace the career of a lay teacher. He caimot be atlmitted into a normal school before the age (»f 18; the fraternity will receive him at 10. If slow at learning, he dre^ids the certificate-examination ; ])ut without the certifiaitc he cannot earn his bread as a lay teacher, while the fraternity can employ him a.s one of their numennis under-mastei-s though he be uncertificated. Many of the French ins])ectoi's, therefore, eye the schools t)f the Brethren a little severely. They regard them, cer- tainly, with far less indulgence than the schools of the Sistei^s; they regard their teachei*s as wearing a character of religious voaition which often really belongs to them no more than to the teacher of a common lay .school; they are fond of maintaining that the congreganist boys' schools afford to parent,"? no better guarantee than the lay sihools for the religion and mondity of their children ; they are eager to prove that parents have IXTELLKCTL-AL AND MORAL CONDITIOX OF EDUCATION. 113 really no piviVreiicc for \\io rornior o\er the latter. Tlie Brethren, on the otlier hand, are not unwilling to liuve it understood that they siilTer from the hands of authority unmerited obstruction ; that their Christian devotedness has its difficulties to contend Avith ; that if tlieir success is great, it is because their merits are irre- sistible. Conscious, upon this question, of the most absolute impartiality, I sliall franldy state the conclusion at which I liave arrived. On the one hand, it is unquestionable that the rehgious associations have hitherto had ratlier to bless the favour than to complain of the obstruction of tlie ci\al authorities. If they sometimes have the jirimary inspector a httle against them, they almost always have had the primary inspector's masters, the ])ivfect and the Mnister, on their side. From the day when a Protestant Minister, M. Guizot, offered to tlie !Su})erior* of the Christian Schools the decoration of tlie Legion of Honour — a disthiction which its proposed object, with a modesty not less prudent than pious, respectfully declined — to tlie present time, when Mnis- ters say to a functionary, who reports some infi^action of school law by the Sisters, Vans me faites des diffl- cultt's : lais-sez cela — wlien inspectors tell mc with their own lips, *S/ noii.'^ avons quelqae chose a reprocher aux jW're.s, Jioiis y recjardons a deux fois avant de la dire ; cela nous attire rait des uiiseres ; c'est extremement re- doutable — the religious associations have been to all governments an object of favour and respect, sometimes sincere, sometimes interested. Of this tlu iv can be no question. On the (jther hand I am profcjinKlly convinced that • The Pere Anaclct, in lb33. I 114 CIIMTKIl X. — FRANCK. ill the quartoi-s wliere tlu-y :irc numerous, and terUiiii districts which may l>e called great centres of lay feeliiiLT — Xornumdy, Ix)rniine, Alsace — being excluded, the |)<)|)ulation generally prefeiN tlie si*hect to girls' schools there cannot be a moment's doubt ; the Sisters' ailvantage is utterly beyond the reach of competition. With respect to the lirethren's schools also, however, I feel entire certainty. In Paris it is even a bad sign of the respectability and religious character of a family when it prefei-s for its boys a lay school to a congreganist. In the count ly. wherever 1 had the means of making pei"sonal inquiry, 1 found the same thing; if a school of the IJrethri'U was accessible, the more decent, the betU'r conducted a family was, the more cerUiinly it sent its boys there. It wius conunonly thought that there the children would l>e under a better inliuenct? ; that the moral tone, as it is culled, of such a school was superior.* I add, with some hesitation on this point, which is not so easy of pnM)f, that I believe the ct^mmon opinion was right. • Comparisons have often Won institute*! Ix-twoon the lay aiul congreganist ticlnKils a.s to thrir sijcce-ss in combating tlie revohi- tionary tendency ; htit it (iceniH impotwiljle to arrive at any clear conclnwon. At Bordraiix, in 184H-9, the youth tniinoerfectly orderly. It vntu thotight to be the rc- latiouH of the rich with the poor in any loc.ililv. (at Bordeaux these are particularly good,) which made the difference a«to the behaviour of the working j>eI.s arollier of tlie cflebrateil writer of that uanie, who ;isalle, meeting after the toil of the day in their common home, a society for themselves in the most unsocial spots, at once a solace to each other, and a salutary check ! If the luiglish reader must not think that this excel- lent association can reach all the p(V)r of Fmnce, so neither must he think that to jnit instniction in it.s hands is, so far as it,s action extends, to put it entirely in the hands of the clerg)'. Their schools are public schools, a> the lay scliools are ; they are subjected to the same authorities as the lay schools; the clergj-man ha,s no by tho profiTt, an»l all the authority left to the «»ciet)- is n right of in.Hpoction, niul of drawing up for their »cliofgrammc of in- wtniction, which, liow«»ver, cannot Ix* adf.pted unless approved by the acadcniy-in!*p<>ctor of the district. • I found in the department of Pinistere but twenty-one primary whooln conducte1s in the hands of the parish clergyman, and a system of ])ublic schools in the hands of a religious association and of the State. ]iut I hasten to add, that were the religious associations of France a thousand times more devoted to the clergj' than they are, the population would still continue to prefer their schls ; and yet the clerical inlluence would not be a whit the giiiner. It is to morality and religion that the French ]M'o])le, in sending its children to the congreganist schools, does homage*, not to any ultramontane theories. For the supremacy of a clerical ])arty in the Stat<' it has not the slightest favour ; nor, indeed, since the devolution, do(^ it even (beam of such supremacy as possible. I liave sjiid this elsewhere, when to many it seenuil a matter of question ; I repeat it more boldly now, when facts have come to give to it their confwmation. The clergy have no deep-nM)ted inlluence with the French masses. They may agit^Ue families. They may frighten * " The rcli'jieuT nml rtlif/icusea arc the natural p-opK' to tcacli the young; " — I found thin wnlinu-nt alniuM evcn-wliere. At the Hanic time the superiority ot'tl..' l:.v Im.vs.s. 1,.«.K m >- .nl.jr insirnr- tion waM generally adniiltpse a school to visit, and a country school, for myself. A map of the department hung upon the wall, and they told me to choose where I would. I fixed upon Blanque- fort, a place sl\ or seven miles from Btn'dcaux, and recalling by its ca.stle the memoiy of the mediieval wars and of the Black Prince. They assured me I could not have chosen more liappily ; that the sc]ux)lsof Blanque- fort were neither belter nor worse than the schools of most places of the same clas«* ; and that they presented an instructive vanely. A little after twelve, accord- ingly, M. Benoit and I set out in an open carriage for Blanquefort. The day was beautiful ; our road lay, at fn>t, among gardens and count ly houses, but after a SCHOOLS I\ Tin: I'ltoVlN'CES. 121 mile or two passed into a ([uk'l and rural eouutiy. The environs of Bordeaux have not the movenient of those of Manchester or Lyons ; it is a rieh and stately, but somewliat stagnant city. As we drove along, M. Be- noit told me what his life was, and liow a French inspector in I lie Gironde passed his year. lie had ser\ed in ihe army when almost a Ixy, had been ])re- sent with his lather at the battle of Vimieiro, and had been included m the Convention of Cintra. At tlie peace of 1815 lie found himself a heutenant on half- pay, with small jn'ospect of mihtary advancement : having some turn for teaching, he had opened a private school, had been tolerably successful, and finally had been made a prmiary inspector. It is from the func- tionaries of secondary instruction, from the princii)als and professors of communal colleges and of [)rivate schools, that the majority of the primary inspectors are taken. They must have either the degree of bachelor of arts, or the complete certificate embracing all the subjects, both obligatory and fticultative, of primary instruction ; they must also have exercised some educa- tional function for two years. Unless this function has been of a certain rank, they have fiiilhcr to undiM'go, pre- vious to their actual a])[)ointni('iit. a special ixanunation in the laws which regulate French primary instruction, and in pedagogy ; this examination takes place before a commission nominated by the rector to whose aca- demy the school-district assigned to the new inspector belongs. A certain number of inspectorships is resen'ed for the most successful of the primary schoolmasters, and of the lecturers in normal schools; the director of a normal school would not accept tlie ofTice. Ilis post is worth considerably more than that of a primary in- spector, and is the highest prize to which a.sclioolmaster 122 fllAITKH XI. — niANCK. am a^piiv.* A few uf ihc hr^i ui the jiriinan* inspec- tors are advanced io the rank uf academy-iiiJ?p«-*ctor : it is the acaileniy-inspcctor who, in each department, is at the Jiead of primary instruction ; who receives the re|)ort.s of the j)rimary in>i)ec-tors, advises the prefect, receives the insj)ector-general on his ruunds, and com- mmiicates with liie central authority in Tariii. Among the most efficient of tlie.se functionaries arc those pro- moted from primary inspectoi^ships, ^I. 15enoit seemed Siitisfied witli his j)resent position ; he had, as most Frenclnnen have, some little property of his own ; and the department of the Gironde, like other licli depart- ments, gives its primary inspectoi*s a yciirly allowance f in addition t«^ their salary from the Stjite. lie had \mder his inspection not less than G4G schools, with 38,250 children ; but he Hved in Bordeaux, and great part of his work was either in the town itself or in the inunediate neighbourhood. While M. Benoit w:ls tell- ing me all this, the airriagc rolled on, and presently he ])ointed out to me the church and village of Blanque- fort, niKMi its \'ine-covered hill. We tlrove to the boys' school, and reached it just as the children were assem- bled for their afternoon lessons. It was the only boys' school of the pliico. wliich is a large, well-built village of about 2(HI() inhabitants. The miLster told me that he had CO boys in onlinaiy at- tendance; I found present but 43. M;my are absent • The tsil.iry of a normal bcIumiI director of the higJioM class in fmm 2800 fr. to 30(X>. fr. a year ; of tlie lowest cl.uw froiu 22tH) (r. to 3000 fr. a year. Loctureni have from 1000 fr. to 1800 fr. .Sco Ih'crel (III 26 Ih'cembre 18.').'>, Art. 1. t In the Gironde this allowance is 100 fr. a yivir. In 18.'»7 a *\\m of 29,'>38 fr. 87 c. vran thus i-im iit la- ihc (Irpartnicnls in pra- ttiitiefl to primary inspector?. SC'llOllLS IX TIIK I'UOVIXCKS. US 111 tills season, (just, the old stoiy in England), for licld labour; but the lield labour of Medoc, not of England — to elear the vineyards of snails and caterpillars, and to gather the strawberry harvest. The schoolroom wtis large, clean, airy, and well lighted ; it was fitted with desks on tlie old British plan, and the children were at work luuler monitors. On the walls was one large map of France, and several small ones of other coimtrics. The highest class was reading a lesson on the ostrich, similar to the lessons on natiu'al history in the third Ii'ish reading-book ; they read well. We sat do\\Tti among them, and M. Benoit questioned them in a natural kindly manner, w^hich proved his long experience of children. At his request I examined them m gram- mar ; they parsed a sentence well, better than I should expect to lind it parsed hi a country school in England. Then I questioned them in geography; they could name the capitals of Europe, its principal mountains, its principal lakes, the seas connected by the Straits of Giljraltar, &c. The cliief to^v^ls of the French de- partments they also gave with perfect readiness and accuracy. Of histoiy they knew nothing. In arithmetic ^[. Benoit examined them, setting them problem after problem ; and I really hardly knew which most to admire, the goodness of the examination or the quick- ness of the children. Their writing was such as in an Englisli scliool an inspector would describe as veiy fair. AH ])ut fourteen of those })resent were reading in books. The school-books were of the kind ordinarily used in French lay schools ; not good, but not, ]ierhai)s, worse than ours. The Brethren, who publish their own school-books, and sell them to all but their poorest scholai-s, who receive them gratuitously, are not more successful. I generally found their cla.sses reading a 124 CIIAITER XI. — FMIANCK. scries of moral lessons, witliout substance and without style, and repulsive by their sterile monotony. Aoeoixl- ing to strict rule all Ixjoks used in the French scliools oujiht to be chosen from a list sanctioned by the Minister of Public Instruction; l»ut there is much laxity. In fact, with them, a.s with us, there exists n«» tlioroughly good school-series to choose.* Tile IMan(|uefort boys were well disciplined, and their api)earance was cheerful and liealthy. Five or six of them wen- without shoes and stockings; but Al. lienoit told me, (and tlie look of the children confirmed what he said.) that this was not because these children were poorer than others ; many parents in the South of Fnmce, he said, the well-circumstanced as well as the j)oor, let their children go barefoot in the hot weather for the sike of coolness. There wits some poverty, however: «)f the sixty children in ordinaiy attendance, one-sixth had free .'schooling bec^uise they were poitr ; they were chosen by the mayor and cure, aj>])roved by the municipal council, and their admission finally sanc- tioned by the prefect. The rest pay a uniform fee of two francs a month. From April to November the attenut a few ])aces. The reader will remember that the law does not impose upon communes the obhgation of providing girls' schools. The one in question was held in a bad, ill-ventilated building, without playground, and was taught by the master's wife. Forty-eight girls had their names on the books; twenty-eight were present. The girls of Blanquefort were distinguished by wearing no coveruig on their hair ; the countr}^ girls from the neighbourhood wore a handkerchief. None of them, I was told, (and they themselves confirmed it to me,) were likely to become domestic servants. For service they avowed a great distaste ; their ambition was to live by their needle. For this they are well prepared at school, two hours in eveiy afternoon bemg devoted to needlework. They read very well indeed, and worked problems in arithmetic with much cleverness and facility. Their stock of general information was small. Fifteen of them were fi*ee scholars on the ground of poverty, the rest paid from one to two fi'ancs a month. The mistress has a salary of 800 francs a year ; 200 francs of this the commune pays — volun- tarily, the reader will remember : the school-fees come to (iOO francs. The schoolmaster of Blanquefort, therefore, has from his own and his wife's salarj' an hicome of 80/. a year. He is besides secretaiy to the numici])ality, an ollice almost always held by the village schoolmaster*, and • lie is oAen, bcsiilcs, clerk and organist, lie is tluis at once the man of the mayor and the man of the cure. Wlicn they get on well together his position is comfortable ; when they (luanel, as they often do, it is difHcult enough. 126 (iiAni'i: XI. — KiiANci:. wliich tlio autliorities encourage liim to accept. This gives liiiii oOO francs (12/.) more, lie lias also a gcxKl house aiid garden. There is general ease among the population of the Gironde, and its villages and incomes mu>t not ho taken its samples of villages and incomes in the Cantal or the Creuse ; but Blanqucfort is a fiiir sample of the villages or little towns of its class in any thriving French department, and the reader will, I think, be struck, as I was, to remark how many things practically here come in to ameliorate the meagix' part created for the teacher by the law, and in remote and indigent districts* actually sustained by him. We had not yet done with Blanqucfort. !M. Benoit told me that there was a girls' schwol kept by the Sisters, which I ought to see ; and thither, accord- ingly, we repaired. These Sisters, six in number, bel(Mig to a local order ; they rent the houses which they occujn*. The commune gives them nothing, but the department gives them 100 francs (4/.) a year towards the expenses of their infant .«ichool. Two Sisters have charge of the infant school, four of the girls' school. The moment 1 approaclu'd the ])remises, which steautiful ; floweix stood everywhere, and the open windows admitted the sweet air of the countr}' • Even in tlic«»o di»>trict« hiii pogition in now nomcwhat bettor than the law of IS.'iO niado it. On the fiivonrable report of the prefect, the Minister of Public In«tnJction \n now authoriHcd to augment, from the public fundis the anntml aalaricfl of deserving school- masters to 700 fr. after si-x years' wrA-ice, and to 800 fr. after ten years' aervicc. Sec Df'cret du 31 Dc'cembre 1853, Art. 5. SCHOOLS i\ Till-: imiovixces. 127 in Mav. Tlu' runiiliirc and scliool-llltinu-s wciv as iVi'sh as those of the lay girls' scliool were shabby and worn. The walls were well furnished with boards and maps. The girls were at their needlework, whieli M. Benoit told me enjoyed a high reputation ; I saw their copy- books, and I heard their reading, and in any English school I should have highly commended both. Forty- three girls were present, seventy-live had their names on the books. Of these, fifteen are admitted free, as indigent children ; the rest pay from one to two francs a month. We passed into the infant school ; this school-room also was brilliantly clean. The infants, forty-eight in ninnber, (eighty were on the books,) were arranged on the gallery, the girls, even here, being separated from the boys. Boards and Bible-pictures covered the walls as in a well-provided infant school in England. From one of the pictures a Sister was giving a gallery lesson on the story of Joseph. Her little pupils in the gallery looked clean and happy, and the treatment of them was evidently affectionate and even tender. Their instruction did not go fiir — why, in- deed, should it ? — but they knew their letters well, they went through their exercises and their singing regularlj^ and ])rettily, and their discipline was perfect. Play- ground, passages, and offices were as neat and as !)eautifully clean as the schoolrooms themselves. 1 have just touched on the rehgious instruction ; I may add that in the Frencli schools generally, lay as well as congreganist, I Inund ihe children Wfll in- structed in the catechism and well acquainted with Scripture history. Sunday schools teacii them these ; they teach them little besides, but they teach tliem these very fairly. I passed an hom* or two at Toulouse in going from chapel to chapel in tlie cathedral church of I'.'** (iiaiti'f; xi. — franck St. Stojjhen, to watcli tlie Sunday daii>c> under llicir priesLx; tliey were crowded l)ut orderly, and work was carried on very dilij^'ently. Tlie>e catechism classes in tlie churches are, in fact, tlie French Sunday school ; the Protestants have airrieil the institution somewhat further; but, as an instrument of secular as well :ls of reli'rious iiistiu* li"ii. it i- ii<»l nf nunli iniiM.rtaiici- in Fnm«r. I do not know it iiic rc:i(itr win iihiik. if^ ] (i<>. tii;,i this visit made without notice to the schools of a country place of my own selection was very salisfactoiy. I would not have exchanged it for a week of visit*? made at the choice of the local inspectors. It sliowed me the cveiyday life of thousands of spots in the many departments of France ; in her thriving departments certainly, hut not more thriving than Warwickshire and Lincolnshire arc thriving. Of this life it left me with a pleasiiut impression ; an impression which, amidst the many mournful sights and mournful stories of the • 'eneral life of humanitv, I shall not easily lose. We left the Sbters, to whose door the schoolmaster, who. like eveiy one else in the })lace, lived on good teniis with them, hatl come to join us. I ent-ercnl the church ; there, too, were flowers eveiywhere, and grateful c(K)1- ne.*^ and shade. We sent the carriage round by the road, and the schoolmaster guided us uji and down sloj)es of grass and vineyards, across a clear brook, to the old castle. The masoctorn. In the B-is Khin (a vor}' wcll-oducitcd diRtrict) (roc whooling Ih In'ing prndually RupprcssiMl, with tho ac«|uie«:euce of the jxin-nts; and in thin dciKirtnicnt tluro wen* in \HUh but 750 children, of an ap«' to aftmd «:1uh»1, who did not attend it. In the adjoining d«'i>artnic'nt of tin- llaut Khin, there were 1000. Hut in the academy-district of Besancon, (aluo welNeducated,) the in«i»ec- tors declare that the attendance at schools which have InH'n made free has doubh-d, triplel.H, the pot^r arc carele-ss :ilK>ut their children's attend- ance and progress in them, and '* value little what they f»ay nothing f..r." sciiooL^^ i.\ Tin: i'rovixces. i.m do not bt'^iu to work i\;uiil;irly till llie age ol" tliirteiii, ])iit in snnnneT tlicir occasional lielp is often wanted by their ])arents. The instruction in this scliool was better than I expected iVoni its uiipiomising aspect; the reading was very iair, thongh sing-song, like iiistic reading in England ; there was little geography (thongh the walls Avere not ill fm-nished with maps) and less history ; the grammar and arithmetic were good ; the handwriting and dictation very good indeed. The latter lesson amused me ; the master Avas dictating to his pnpils, from thg Journal des Institute urs, M. Kou- land's letter to tlie Ijisliops desiring their prayers for the success of France in the Italian war. This news- paper, pnbhshed under the auspices of the Minister of Pubhc Instruction, and taken in by almost every school- master in France, by no means confines itself to scho- lastic information. A copy of it hes before me * : (jf fourteen pages Avhich, exclusive of those occupied by at in the world pc'tlagugic. We smile: it is thus tliat M. Koulaml fulfils the duty of government to "enlightin public- opinion, and not to leave it at the mercy of per>onal passions and party hatredti." * Yet, perhaps, nothing is wholly riilieulous, which tends to foster that admirable unity of patriotic spirit which pervades France from one end to the other, and which is the great force of the nation. The master's wife had a class of six little boys in an adjoining room. i!^he had formerly taught the girls of the village, but tiie Sisters had t>pened a sch(H)l, and, as almost always happens, all the girls had been drawn ofl* to them. This scluuil of the iSistei-s had present, on tlie day of my visit, forty scholars. Before quitting elementaiy schools, I must ct^nduct the reader to a genuine ])rivate school. I could not select a better example than the British school in Paris. This is entirely supj)orted by voluntaiT contributions, and all the St4ite has to do with it is to exercise its legal right of inspection, cxtcMuling only to mattei-s of what our neighbours call '* hygiene, salubrity, and morality. "f The boys' school had forty-two children j)resent <»n the day of my visit ; they were very young, the children of British j)arents. but many of them sj)eaking French better than English ; the liritish school • course is followe>il)l(' lo Ibi-hcar smiling. I had intended to desci-ibe a Protestant puMir school in Prance ; but really such a school dilleis .-o little from a lx(mian Catholic lay school in the same locality, that I forbear. Yet the grown-up Protestant pi~>]nilation has certainly throughout Prance a gene- K 3 1.14 ClIAlTKi: Xl. — rUAMi;. ml supcrioiity over the Rnmaii Catliolic, in comlucf, iiulusirv, ami siicvciis in lifi*. To what is thfir sujk*- riDiity owiiij^? It is in great measure, I believe, owing to this, tiiat tlu' Freiu-h rn>te>tants have the unspeiik- al)le advantage, lor the choi'actcr, of finding themselves a small minority in presence of a va^t majority ; and in order to hold its own and tosneeeed in life, the minniily has to put forlii its strength and to do its best. 13^ CHAPTEE XII. rRESENT INTKLLECTUAL AND MORAL CONDITION OV TOrULAU EDUCATION IN FRANCE. —NORMAL SCHOOLS. From elementary I })ass to normal schools * ; and be- fore I speak of the ministerial orders which regulate these I will describe what I actually saw in them. Strange to say, in Paris there is no public normal school for primary teachers ; there is an institution at Courbevoie for the training of Protestant teachers, and at Versailles tliere is a departmental noimal school ; but tlie ca])ital trusts to the provinces for its supply of teachers, and so })owerful are its attractions tliat it never fails to obtain the best of them. I saw the most efficient, perhaps, of the provincial noniml schools ; that ot" Ijordeaux, that of Nancy, that of Strasbourg. I will describe that of Bordeaux. The department of the Gironde and that of the Lot and Garonne unite to maintain this institntion, each es- tablishing scholarships in it for its own students. The director lias been very successful, and has recently been rewarded with the decoration of the Legion of * In 18.j9 there were in France seventy normal schools for laymen, witli L'JoO stiulent.s in training in them. There were thirty-four normal institutions lor the training of lay .schoolmistrc.s.ses ; but the Department of Public Instruction pos.sesscs no returns of the present number of students in these. There are, besides, the noviciates in which the religious arc trained. 136 ( iiArTi:K Ml. — ii:.\N( i;. lliUKUir. Ill Ills training .sclioul lliere are fifty-onc studi'iils. Tlie coui>c is iiuw fur thrcv yeai*!*, having proviuiisly lo 1851 been fur two years only; and ani- yitlering lliat tlie student^ arrive (juite witliuut tlie previous; training of the j)Upil-teaeliei's by wliuni our normal schools are peopled, considering that they often have almost eveiything to learn, three years is not a longer i)erioil than is rccjuired to form them. Tile students whom I saw were certainly more rustic and undeve]oj)ed than ours; later in life the experience of the world and the natural quickness of their race enable tlu-m to jjresent themselves with at lea^'t as much ailvantage as our schoolmasters. Most of them are the sons of country teachers ; hardly any of them were town-bred. The class of the third year, consisting of thirteen students, was receiving a mathematical lecture when I visited the institutitm. They do not go far in mathematics ; no student in the institution was advanced as high as quadratic equations, no .'itudent was reading Euclid ; they were taught, how- ever, tlie elements of practical geometiy. The object is to teach them what is needed for a primaiy school; the programme of the normal college exactly corre- sponds to the programme of the primaiy .'jchool ; the student is not allowed {o pa.ss at the end of his fii-st year, from the oi)ligatory mattei-s of primaiy in.>k-lwiriiii)g into our normal school coui-sc tlial the student, unless a very ahle man indcctl, is left at the eiulof it stupefied rather than deveh)]>ed ; not in the condition of one traine(l to hrin^', for all his future work, his faculties into full and easy l)lay, but of one crammed so lull aiul so fast, that, in order to begin his real intellectual life, he must, like Themistocles, seek to learn how to forget. Perhaps, in this matter of normal sc1k>o1 training, as in othei*s, connnon sense, usually the hist voice suflered to make itself heard, will be heard at last ; will suggest some middle way between the tenuity of the French programme and the extravagance of ours ; will devise, for the future masters of our village-schools, some Goin*se which neither stints them to the beggarly elements of reading and writing, nor occupies them with the diflerential calculus and the pedigree of Scsostri>^. The stair of a French tiaining school consists of a dinrtor, two lecturers, and a chajdaiii. The director i-^ personally charged with the main part of the tuition. The system of accounts is very exact, and rigidly in- spectotl ; so vast and complicated is the machine of public instruction that it can be kept from falling into disorder only by perfect precision on the ])art of its lower functionaries, and, on the part of the Minister, by unsj)aring severity to irregularities. The economy of the Bordeaux establishment was austere ; the students all slept in one vast common dormitory, but the neat- ness and cleanliness, in France so far ln'tt4?r practised in public establishments than in private, were exemplar}*. The dictaiT is regulated by a ministerial decree. Stu- dents of the first year pay from their own resources 100 francs, one fourth of the yearly charge of a student here* ; • The annu.ll v.iluc of an entire .'•cltclaj-sliip, or stu'lent's fee, i» in no French training schiwl higher tJian 100 fr., in none lower than 300 fr. .XORMAL SCII(in|,>. 139 nt'tcr the lirst year and the examination ^vhieh follows it the best students complete their training free of charge, the rest continue to pay then- foiu"th. About one-third of the whole mnnber are thus free students. The de- partment supplies the funds for the whole or partial scholarships thus bestowed. A good garden is attached to the establishment; and lessons in horticulture and agriculture, an idle pretence in most of the elementary schools which profess them, are in most of the normal schools of France a reality, and are greatly enjoyed by the students. Under the legislation of M. CUiizot, the admission to nonnal schools was by competitive examination. In the suspicion which fell on these establishments in 1848, not only the competitive examination, but all examination at entrance, was abolished ; and the prefect in departmental council admitted candidates by his own nomination, on their production ofcertilicates of morality and good conduct. It was soon found that candidates who could })i< xluce excellent certificates of morality often turned out utterly incapable students.* The normal si'hools gradually recovered themselves in public esti- mation, and the jealousy of their over-ambitiinis studies abated. The Minister, M. Fortoul, found himself con- strained to re-establish some examination at entraiuvf ; but that which he instituted was no longer competitive, and bore only on the most elementary branches of know- led'^e. This examination still subsists: it is conducted * " iJcaiicouj) anivaiiiit jHissodant ii j)c:ine k-s priinicrs t'-lt-iiu'nt.s (le I'instnicfion, ct nullfincnt piY'iuircs pour suivre avec fruit Ics cours lie Tocole. II en resultait un afrail»Iis.scinent des etudt-.s daiigcrcux pour ravcnir de rinstruction primairc."' — Mtrimcl de Li'ijisladmi el irAdniinistnttion dc VTiistntcdoit prii)niin\ p. 157. t Sec his circular to the rectors, February 2nd, 1S.j5. uo (iiAiTKi: xii. — n:A.\( K. by the naukMny-inspwtor of tlie district, and excludes IVuin tlu' noniijil scliool tlio utterly inrompeteiit. Tln)se avIjo pa^s it successfully, who are nut less tluui eighteen yi'Ui-s old and not more than twenty-two, who prcHluce good certificates of conduct, and who take an engage- ment to continue for at least ten yeai-s in the ser\ice of ])uhlic |)riniary instructit)n, are then, as before, nomi- nateil by the prefect if he thinks fit, within the limits of the numbers fixed by the Minister for each normal school. It is the j)refect, also, who nominates to scholar- shij)s and to ])ortions of scholai*ships on the favounible i-ejH)rt of the ('(niimission dc Surveillance^ which, named by the rector on the proi)osilion of the departmental council, has in each normal school the special charge of the discipline and progress of the studi-nts. A student who at the end of the year is judged unfit to pass in tin* course of the following year, is discharged* from til" li:i!:i;ii'_' M'Ji.M.l. ' >1 examinations arc not those which (in-counnission f named by the dejiartmcntid council, and consisting of seven members, of whom one must be a |)rimaiT in- .'^pcM'tor of the department, one a minister of the same religious jH'i'suasion as the candidate, and two function- aries of public or private instniction. The examination, like the nonual school coui"se, is limited to the j)n>- gnimme of primaiy school instruction. Any pei*son • The prefect dinniaMas *ur tavit du dt'recteur, la commission ilf furrrillanre entendu(. 8cc DScrtt du 2G Dccembrt 1855, Art. 24. 25. t I^wofM.irch 15th, \f<'M\ .\rf. M\. Regulated by a minirteria! cirrular of February 15th, I860. NOK.MAl. SCHOOLS. Ml MU"(.'(1 iii)t U'ss lliaii (.'iu-liU'c'U yrai's nuty appear as a cau- (.lidate, giviuLi' a luoniirs notico of sucli intention. The examination is oral and written. Exercises in dictation and j^n-amniar, liandwritinL;'. tlie four rules of arith- metic (including vulgar and decimal fractions), and in the comjX)sition of a narrative or a school-report, are performed by the candidates. For each of these four exercises is allowed a space of time not exceeding three-quarters of an liour. The commission collects and judges these written exercises ; the candidate who has failed in them is not allowed to continue his exam- inalion any fm'ther. Those who have performed them satisfactorily are called up in turn before the commission, and examined orally in reading, religious knowledge, grammar, and arithmetic. The religious examination is always conducted by the minister of the candidate's own persuasion. A quar- ter of an hour is allowed for each of these oral exercises, and the proper certificate-examination is concluded.* Those who desire to be examined in all or any of the optional (n- facultative branches of primary instruction, now make known their wishes. A candidate Avho has passed the obligatory examination with difliculty is not allowed to be examined any further. The others are examined in those subjects which they select. Teachers who have obtained the simple certificate on a former occasion may ])resent themselves for examination in the facultative subjects ; but they must take all of them. In each subject the examination is oral, and lasts but a quarter of an liour. When all is concluded, the coin- * Womon-candidatcfl are also cxamincil in iifedlcwi^k by latlii-s dclogatctl for this office by the rector. Tlic oral examination of men is jmblie. that of women private. 142 rilAITKU XII. — I'KAN't I!. missioiiers ihaw up a list, in order of merit, of the ciindiilates who have satislied them ; if tliey (.lilVer in opinion resj)ecting a cundidate, the majority decides. Tliis list is then forwarded to the rector, who issues the certificiite. There is hut one f,n-ade of cert ifi cute ; but on the simple instrument is entered a spedal men- tion of those facultative subjects in which the candidiite may have elected to be examined, and of the degree of satisfaction which he has given to the examiners. Fortiliecl with this document, the future teacher, if a meml)er t)f a rehgious association, awaits his appoint- ment to a public school t)f his order by the prefect, on the presentation of his su])erior. If a layman, he has his name entered on the list of admissibihty*, drawn Uj) yearly for each dej)artment by the departmental council, mimI fiom which the prefect makes his nomina- tions to lay schools. This list contains notes respecting each name biM'ue on it, and here the students of normal sclmols rea}) the benefit of favourable reports on tlu-ir ability and conduct '"v '' ..>....L.;.>.. ,.r t),,;.- iinnn:il scho<»l. The legislation of 1 >')'), m ii> hu^llllly lu ihe nnrmal schools and their high training, providedf that a certifi- cate of stafjt\ issued by the departmental council to persons who had taught satisfactorily for three yeai^s as as>e (]isaj)))ointed in our elementary schools. In trutli, we inij)ose an examination for honours as our schoolmasters' only access to a bare degree. 145 CHAPTEE XIII. THE rori'LAR EDUCATION OF FRANCE AND ENGLAND COMrAllED. LEGISLATION. I iiAvr: \u>\v liric'lly t<) sum up the main points of the French system ; and I will then in conclusion iittempt, altiiougli with great didideuce, to give some estimate of its effects upon the French people. Fii-st, then, ^vith respect to a question which meets cvciy system of education upon the threshold — the great question, shall it be secular, or shall it be rehgious ? The French system is religious ; not in the sense in which all systems profess to be more or less religious, in inculcating the precepts of a certain universal and indisputable morahty : it hiculcates the doctrines of morahty in the only way in which the masses of man- kind ever admit them, in their connection with the doctrines of rehgion. I beheve that the French system is right. When I come to speak of Holland I sliall liave more to say of this matter, and shall perliajis be able to give some important information concerning it ; at pre- sent I content myself with saying that this side the French system has chosen. Here it coincides with the systems of England and Germany. Moi-ality — but digni- lied, but subhmed by being taught in connection witii ri'ligious sentiment; but legalised, but empowered by being taught in coimcction with religious dogma — this L 116 (Haiti:!: mii. — n:\N( i:. is what the Frcncli system makes tlie indis[)eiisable basis of its juimaiy instruction. But wliat doiriua? Secular education is one; it would l)e well it' ivligioits education could be one also. It wouKl be well, unquestionably, if there reigned everywhere one truly catholic religious faith, embracing all the faithful in a ctHunion lK)nd. lUit the spirit of sect exists ; it has connnitted its ravages ; it is necessary to take account of them. Forcibly to repress it is im- possible, except by evoking a spirit more noxious than even the spirit of sect — the spirit of religious pei-secu- tion. ]iut the French system does not seek divisions ; it accepts th«>se that are nidical, irreconcilable. All minor shades of division that are not incurably separate, that may without violence to their nature combine, it leaves to combine, it does not deepen by distingui.shing them. IVotestantism and Ixoman Catholicism, the great rival systems of authority and inquiry : — Judaism, inveterate in lis fated isolation ; — these it recognises as necessary, irreconcilable, religious divisions in a modern State of Western luuope. It recognises these, but it recognises no other. In an empire of thirty-six millions it recog- nises no other. Here the English system diverge.^. In Great Britain, in a ])opulation of 2 1,000. 000, it recognises no less than seven religious incompatibilities. If it folK)wed the Freni-h example, it wouUl accept, as denominations essentially distinct, at m«)st only Anglicanism, non- Anglican Protestantism, Eoman Catholicism, Judaism. As it is, it distinguishes Anglican rrotestantism, the liiblicnlism of the British and Ft»reign Sch add. liowevcr. tliat in oiu' m(>>t im- [)ortaiit parlicular, its luovisioii for toacli el's, the Fiviuli system has recoiled^ througli fear of expense, from making adequate use of tlie maeliineiy at iti> dij*!posal. The best autliorities are all agreed that tin* fixed salary of the teaeher was put by the law of 18.'53 too low, and that the law of 1S')() ought to have raised it di- reetly, instead of attempting, in a circuitous manner, to j)rovide a palliative for its insufliciency. At present the lay teachers tend to quit their profession as soon as they can for some more profitable career; if it weix; not for the inducement oHered by the exemption from military senice, it would be diflicult to recruit their lanks. It is in \:iin tliat the Stiite ofTei-s to them the lure of honourable mentions, medals of bronze and of silver*, and even the rank «)f academic t)flicer, with the |)rivilege of wearing an official coat with a jialm embroidered on the collar f; these public distinctions to the teacher are excellent, but they are of no avail so long as he is utterly undeipaid. The State has ])rovided schools and tea<^hers ; under what authority shall it place them!'' Of inspection, the givat guarantee of efliciency, it has abundance : it has lirst inspectoi-s-general, then rectoi-s and academy-in- spectoi*?, then primary inspectors, then cant«Mial dele- gates, then the parish authorities, the mayor and the minister of tlie pei'suasion followed by the scholars. But what authonty shall give eflect to the representa- tions of all this inspection? I>ocal school-committees, said the law of 1833; rectoi-s of acad<'mies, represent- ing the Department of Public Instniction, said the law • In the year 1857 (ibe 1afe»t for which I have any retunw), the enm ppont by ihe State on medalH for teachers was 2728 fr. 70 c. t Ih'crrtdu 9 Di'crmbrt 1850. SCHOOL-SYSTEM OF FllANXE AND ENGLAND CO^ITARED. I.jl of 1852 ; the prelect, representing the ILnne Depart- ment, says the present liiw. The local scliool-comniit- tees had undoubtedly performed their work ill. Perhaps in England a well-chosen county committee might safely be intrusted with tlie functions which in France, under the law of 1833, the district committee performed so unsatisfactorily ; but to give them to the more narrowly local body, to the coumiunal committee, to the parish vestry, woidd be to destroy your school-system, how- ever promising. The Canadian report which I just now quoted says that another of the great difficulties with which the pubhc school-system of Canada has to con- tend, is the utter unfitness of the local school-commis- sioners for their functions. To superintend the actual expenditure of money voted, to inspect, and to report to a higher authority, is the proper province of the parochial committee. It cannot safely be trusted witli fidl powers over the teacher. The most liberal persons in France consider it proved, by the Avorking of the law of 1833, that, for pubhc schools, it is exiDedient to give tlie ulthnate power of confirming or dismissing the teacher to some central authority. With us, indeed, the central Government has no power to get rid of a schoolmaster, tlie most destructive or the most negU- gent. It can dismiss a school inspector, but it cannot dismiss a scliool teaclier. Our system j)rovides its cliief educational shepherd Avith abundant resources against his own watch-dogs ; witli none against the wolf In France, tlie local committees no longer retain powers which they showed tliemselves unfit to exercise. IJut iVoin the local committees to the prefect is a prodigious step. The prefect and the Home Department, stem authorities of police and public order, are scarcely the proper autliorities for dealing with schools and L 4 152 (HAITKII XIII. 1K\N( i:. lia«liC'i"s, uiiK'Ss jjoine actual lut-acli of the law lia.s been roiuinitU'il. The Ministry uf Public Instruction, with its acadi'inii's and rcctoi>«, is in stane sort a literary dejiart- nu'iit of ^tat*.' ; and with this character it has sonicthing ()f the humanity of K-ttcrs. The teachers themselves would prefer the government of the rector to that of the prefect. It is true that the prefect generally acts on the advice of the rector's represenUUive, the academy-inspector; but the rector himself, and the Minister his superior, are much the fittest pei^^ons to act upt)n this advice, and Wduld act upnn it with quite sullicient stringency. The machinery <»f French inspection is ])erhaps a little redundant. It is found imi)os>ible to obtain from the cant«)nal delegates, unpaid and with occupations of their own, that regular intervention m the deUiils < •! ])rimMry instruction which the Oovenuuent solicits from tlniii. Tossibly, if they gave it. it might be found to bring with it as many dKliculties as advantages. A general supervision, with the office of keeping the higher .school-authorities infonned, so that the t-eacher may feel that neither his efforts nor his negligence e>cai»e notice, — this is, jK'rhaps, all that can 1)C judi- ciously asked of the local authorities, or that they can j)r(^]H'rly give. All above the amtonal delegates is excellent. The primaiy inspectors are the veiy life of the school-system ; their insj)ection is a ivality, because made when not expected : the Nancy inspector who went mund the sc1uk>1s of that town with me, had a pass-key by which he let himself into any one of them when he jileased, and he told me that he entered every ])id>lic school in the town fifty times in the year. The academy-inspectoi^, receiving the rej)orts of the primaiT inspectors, and tliemselves in connection witli SCHOOL-SYSTEM OF FRANCE AXD EXCLAXU COMFAKED. 153 the sixteen neadcinies of Fi-ance, .su])])!}' local centres for dealing with the mass of details received from the primary inspectors, and thus relieve the central office in Paris. The lour inspectors-general, in personal com- munication ^vith the school-authorities, the primary- inspectors, and the j\Ihiister, preserve the latter from the dano;er of fallmsr a victim to the routine of liis OAvn bureaux, while he also obtains from four picked and superior men a unity of appreciation of school-matters which he would seek for in vam from the 275 primary inspectors, chosen necessarily with less advantage of selection. If I were asked to name the four deficiencies most unanimously remarked in our sj^stem by the most competent foreign judges whom I met, they would be those : — first, the want of district-centres for managing the current details of school business, and the conse- ([uent inundation of our London office A\4th the whole of them ; secondly, the inconceivable prohibition to our primary inspectors to inspect without ]jrevious notice; thirdly, the denial (^f access into the ranks of the ])ri- mary inspectors to the most capable public school- masters ; fourthly, and above all. the Avant of inspectors- general. Having estabhshed schools with due safeguards, does the Frencli system compel tlie children of France to enter them ? It does not ; in France, education is not compulsoiy. A few advocates for making it so I met witli ; but, in the opinion of most of those with whom I conversed, the difficulties are insuperable. Pei-haps, for a govermnent to be able to force "Its people to school, that people must either be generally well-oil', as in America; or placid and docile, as in Germany; or ardently desirous of knowledge, as in Greece. Jhit the masses in France, like the masses in England, arc by 154 ri!AI'Ti:K Xlll. — FKANn:. no means well-oflj are stirring and self-willed, are not the least in the worKl l)()oki>h. The padual rise- in their wealth and eonifort is the only t>bligation which can be sjil'ely relied on to draw such people to school. What Government c;in do, is to ])n>vide sulhcient and proper schools to receive ihcni as liny arrive. 155 CILVPTEE XIV. THE rorULAR EDUCATION OF FRANCE AND ENGLAND COMPARED. RESULTS ON THE PEOPLE. Ix ^vll^lt numbers has the population yet, in France, actually arrived in the public schools ? What propor- tion of it remains wholly untaught? Wliat sort of education do those who are taught carry away A\nth them ? These are questions which, as I have already said, cannot all of them at present be satisfactorily answered. I believe, however, that the great mass of the population now passes, at some time or other, through the schools. It is an indisputable fact that the attendance hi the schools for adults has been for some time foiling off, because the actual adult popidation has grown up in possession of the ele- mentaiy knowledge which these schools offer. It is a great thing that the primary schools do actually exist ahiiost eveiyvvhere in France ; they are there, they are always at the population's service, without long journeys, without high fees, without unjust conchtions. It is something that the demand for children's labour is as yet considerably less in agricultural France than ill manufacturing England. But I should be deceiv- ing the reader if I led liim to suppose that the French people exhibits any real ardour in seeking education for its children, or that the bait of the gain to be drawn from his child's labour is, wlien offered, 15G rilAlTKK .\!V. — rKAN( r. one whit better resisted by a French llian by an En*rli.'rs rejiort tliat the mill-sflifKiU are fjir Uk) (Vw in number, .ind that the manufac- tnrtT8 fxploitent Us cn/anis, in defiance of tlie law. But in the G.inl I fi>und that the eonii>nnies cttrrj-ing on works had verj' generally entablislied schools for their workmen's children. There are very prof»d schools of this kind at Alais. They am private «»cJiool» (ecoles lif/ren), and the schooling is free ; nt»ne of the children arc half- timers, as they do not go to work till they are fourteen. The teachers are well-paid, receiving 70/. or 80/. a year ; and the best teachers quit the public scliools to take charTpe of these scIukiIs of private companies. t I have great pleasure in saying that M. Magin mentioned to me, as a signal exception, a mantifactory at Coudekerke-Branche, near Dunkirk, belonging to an Englishman, in which there is an excellent school for both the girU and the boya employed on the establishment. ItK.SUI/fS OF rorUI.AK EDL'CATIOX OX THE I'EoPLE. lo7 llic same cuinplaiuts from the Freiicli inspectors us IVom tlie English, of the desertion of schools in summer and aiitunm. I liave looked through the returns, for a nimiber of departments, of the declarations made by- conscripts ^\■]\(•l\ drawn lor tlio army, as to their own ability to read and write ; the number of those declaring themselves unable to do either is remarkable *, and con- trasts strangely with the alleged attendance of the priniar}' schools. It is true that conscripts show almost always an impulse, upon these occasions, to cheapen themselves as much as possible, and to acknowledge nothing which may make them more eligible objects for a service which they try to escape. Officers have assured me that men often turned out to be able to read and write perfectly well, who when draM'u had declared themselves incapable of doing either. But it is true, also, that many a peasant-boy does actually lose * Even here, however, there is progress. In the Dronic (academy of Grenoble) 42 per cent, of the conscripts drawn in 1842 dechired themselves undble to read and write ; of those di-awn in 1855, only 20 per cent. In the Aiibe (academy of Dijon) the conscripts de- claring themselves unable to read and -\nite were 21 per cent, in 1845, 13 per cent, in 1854. In the Haute Marne (in the same aca- demy-district) they were 27 per cent, in 1828, only 7 per cent, in 1855. In the Doubs (academy of Besanyon) they were, even in 18.^7, but G percent. ; in 1855 they were 3 per cent. In the Haute Saone, 21 per cent, in 1835, 9 per cent, in 1855. In the district of the Academy of Paris, there were drawn in 1835, for the department, of the Eiire and Loir, 738 conscripts unable to read and write; in 1855, 522. For the Seine and Marne, 727 in 1835, 380 in 1855. Even in the must backward part of the Paris district, the depart- ment of the Cher, the number of schools has more than doubled in thi^ last twenty years, the number of scholars more than trijjled ; tlie number of girl-scholars has .sextupled. In the most backward de- partment f)f all France, the Nicvre, the number of inhabitants alile to read and write is declared to liave nearly tripled in the twenty years from 1835 to 1855. 138 CHAITKR .\IV. — FKANt studious by nature, and his elaxs arc not the least studious ; they have an ineorrijzible pre- I'erence for the knowledge to be acquired at the cabaret, at the village-ball, in the great world, over that to be acquired in soUtude and from books. Kven when fully retained, the instruction carried away from a French primary school is also, undoubtedly, m(»st elementary; althougii, as I have before said, not quite so elementary as one ^vho merely reads the progranune in the law would think*, and although not, in my opinion, more elementary than, at i)resent, the instniction oflered by a stati' like France or like England to all its i>eople, ought to be and must be. iStill, unquestit)nably, as regards the actual school-learning of the French i)e}usant, the merit of the French system is moie hi iu« probable future than in its actual past or pre>ent : — the schools arc there. Yet — and I now come t«) the la>t of the tc»pics which I undertook to treat — lam convinced that, small as may be the result yet j)roduced in actual sc1km)1 learning by the school legislation of France, the result which it has produced upon the temper and intelligence of the popidation has not been unimportant. But I shall have need of all the reader's indulgence while I attem])t to exhil^it this important but s<.)mewhat im- palpable result. • Taking at hnz.iril 42 communal Hrhrxils in the department of the Ilauto Garonne, I foun«l that, of the famUative mattem of primary instniction, historj* and geography were tnuglit in 37 of them, geo- metry in 28, drawing in 23, winging in li>, physical f«cicnce in 1, agriculture in none. Much ic Raid in France about agricidtural instruction for the elementary- and normal schools; but up to the l>n»8ent time next to nothing has been done. KESL'LTS OF TOrULAR EDUCATION OX THE TEOPLE. 159 The iutdligeiice of tlie French people is weU known ; ill spite of tlieii' serious ftiiiUs, in spite of their almost incredible ignorance, it places them among the very foremost of ancient or modern nations. It is the source of their higliest virtue, (for the bravery of this people is rather a physical than a moral vii'tue), of a certain na- tm'al equity of spirit hi matters where most other nations are intolerant and fanatical. I suppose that this intelli- gence is a thing not altogether peculiar and hmate in the ])eople of France ; if it were, the upper classes, adding high cultm'e to this exclusive natm-al gift, woidd exhibit over the upper classes of other nations a supe- riority of which they certainly have not given proof. If it is cidture wliich developes this intelligence in the higher ranks of aU nations, then of some culture or other the French masses, in spite of their want of book- learimig, must be feeUng the beneficent operation, if lliey show an intelligence which the masses of other nations do not possess. This cidture they do actually receive ; many iniiuences are at work in France which tend to impart it to them ; amongst these influences I number their school-legislation. This works partly by its form, partly by its si)irit. / By its form it educates the national intelligence, no otherwise than as all French legislation tends thus to educate it ; but even this is worth noticing. It is not a light thing that the law, which speaks to all men, should speak an intelligible human language, and speak it well. Iteason dehghts hi rigorous order, lucid clear- ness, and simple statement. Reason abhors de\-ious intricacy, confased obscmity, and prohx repetition. It is not iniim[)ortant to the reason of a nation, whether , the form and text of its laws present the characters j/ whitli rcn^^on dcliopularity which makes half the nations of Europe desirous to adopt it. If English law breathed in its s])irit the wisdom of angels, its fonn would make it to foreign nations inac- cessible. The style and diction of all the modern legis- lation of France are the same as those of tlic Code. Let the English reader compare, in their style and dic- tion alone, M. Gui/ot's education-law, ])rinted at the end of this volume, with the well-known bill of a most sincere and intelligent friend of English education, Sir John Takingtou. Certainly neither was the French law drawn by M. Guizot himself, nor the English bill by Sir John Takington ; each speaks the current language of its national legislation. But the French law, (with a little necessary formality, it is true,) speaks the language of modern Europe ; the English bill speaks the language of the Middle Ages, and spe^iks it ill. I asseii that the rational intelligible speech of this great public voice of lier laws has a directly favourable effect upon the gene- ral reason and intelligence of France. ,' From the fonn I pJiss to the spirit. With still more confidence I say — It is not a light thing for the reason and equity of a nation that her laws should boldly utter \j prescriptions wliich arc re«sonable and ecjuitable. It is not a light thing for the spread, among the French ma.sses, of a wise and moderate spirit on the vital and vexed questions of religion and edueation, that the law of 1833 should say iiimly, L' vmi des junr^^ defamille ^' rct.'(l m a nnn-iiiitr- ference agreeable to its indej)endent spirit, and in great measure unposed by its mistrust. Doubtless, the vigoiu* of the national diameter has under this state of things greatly benefited. Yet it has its inconveniences. The State in England adniuiisters so little, so much dreads the susi)icion of undue usurpation, that, when occasion- ally called upon to administer on a great scale, it linds its organi-in nainiKd l>y disuse and apprehension; it • To gi\i , .... ;.c.'»l iiihtancc. In Corsica, the condition of the ■nt.Binn liad for years been that of a mere hea.'^t of burden. In onler to raise it, the Freneli Government detemiiner ita support. Wher- ever it was possaiblc, tlic charge of Uie jtrimary school was given to a mistress. At first the men strentjously resiste>d for their children the di^gradation of being taught by that inferior creature, a woman ; but the Government sto<>ial. In the hope of creating in the young generation a better sentiment, the Government haa, in all the schools of the island, covered the walls with texts inculcating forgiveness of injuries, aud against private rereiiige. KKSULT.S OF rorULAR EDLTATIOX OX TIIK Pl'OPl.K. 1(J3 moves ns a man, avIiosc limbs had been bound for years, -would mo\e when first set free and told to walk. The people, with no help from a power greater than its own, with no siis;c;estions from an intelli on a ground which it imagines solid and secm-e. \\"\\\\ the moral and >piiitual interests of a N 2 164 I lIArTKR XIV. - rUANCK. nation, governments iim\ tliemselvcs less imperiously calletl to deal ; and here, besides, tlie En«rlisli i?tate is on a ground wliieli it imaginc's shifting and un.safe. It deals witli llieni as little as it ean ; it sometimes deals Nvith them ;i> if it wa.s tlu' organ of the i)opular elamour wliieh shouts one thing to-day and another to-moiTOW ; it iiariUy ever deals with them as if it was the oiynn of the ndtiotidl rea.^on. It even appears unconscious or incredulous that on these mattei-s a national reason exists. It treats all opinions as of an equal value, and seems to think that the irrational, if expressed as loudly as the nitionaJ, nuist weigh with it as much. It seems not to believe that an opinion has any inlierent weakness by virtue of being absurd; or that, in confronting it, the strength of superior reason is really any strength at all. Its proceedings in this respect are in very remarkable contrast with those of the State in France. I will give an example of what I mean, and to fnul it I will not go beyond the .^^ubject of education. In dealing with education, a govenmient must often meet with questions on which there are two opjiosite opini<|)eclable sentiment in the mass of the French people. Happy for liini liad lie always re- nienihereil his own words ! Llappy if he had not pui*sued an extnivagant and personal pohcy till he made all the rational sentiment of France warmly hos- tile to him, or coldly indillerent ! But what he said is true ; it is impossible for the w^tiite, in modern France, to go counter to a great current of rational sentiment. It must, in its acts, have its stimd upon some ground of reason, and it can afford to treat cheaply only unreason. When a priest demands to rebaj)tise dissenters ad- mitted to a pubHc school, when a dissenter demands to be exempted from school-taxation because it hurts liLs conscience' to help to maintiiin schools in wliich may be tiiught a religion which he dislikes, such ])retensions as these the French State treats as [)hantoms which it iii.ty conlideiitly disdain — for they are irrationaL 1 say, then, that by its form and by its contents, by its letter and by its spirit, by its treatment of reason and by its treatment of prejudice, in what it respects and in what it does not resj)ect, the school-legislation of modern Fiance fostei-s, encouiages, and educates the popular intelligence and tlie popul:ir equity. This is a gi'cat national advant^ige. But there are some national disiid vantages which sometimes fU)w, or seem to Ihjw, from national education ; disatlvantagcs which those who never inquire beyond tlie scIkmjI it- self are apt to overlook, but which all those to whom .♦H:hool8 are interesting mainly as instruments of general civilisiition, will certainly dcjflrc to find noticed by me. Some alleged di.sadvantages there are, which, in France as in England, hardly meiit discu.ssion. Eminent \m-y- RESULTS OF POITLAR EDUCATIOX OX THE TEOPI.E. 1G7 sonages complained to ine thai already popular educa- tion in France was carried so far that society began to be dislocated by it ; that the labourer would no longer stay in his field, nor the artisan in his workshop ; that eveiy labourer would be an artisan, every artisan a clerk. This is the language wliich we have all heard so often, from those who think that the development of society can be arrested because a farmer's wife finds it hard to get a cookmaid. It is sufficient to say to those who hold it, that it is vain for them to expect that the lower classes will be kind enough to remdn ignorant and unbettered merely for the sake of saving them in- convenience. But there are other disadvantages which are more serious. I say boldly, that an English or a French statesman might well hesitate to estabhsli an elaborate system of national education, if it were proved to him that the necessary result of such a system must be to produce certain effects which have accompanied it elsewhere — to Prussianise his people or to American- ise it. I speak with respect of an impoitant nation, which has done great things with small means, and with which rests the fiitin-e of Germany. To what I saj" of it, I cannot here give due development ; I must leave it to the judgment of the best European observers. But I say that the Prussian people, under its elaborate system of education, has become a stuthous people, a docile pei^ple, a well-informed people, if you will — but also a somewhat pedantic, a somewhat sophisticated peo})le. I ?-ay that this pedantry, tliis formalism, takes away sometliing from a people's vital strength. I say that a people loses under them much of the genial naluial character, much of the rude jainiitivc vigour, wliich are the great elementaiy force of nations. M 4 168 (HAITF.K XIV. — FRANCE. 1 sjK'uk with iiiific than ivspect^ with warm int«M-(.'8t, of a givat nation of English blootl, and with which resLs, in hirge measure, the future of the world. With a boundless energy of character, with a boundless field for adventure, the American peoj)le has un(}uestional)ly not been enervated bycduration ; but under a univcrsjd system of comparatively advanced education, without certain coiTectives, the American people has become an energetic peo})le, a powerful people, a liighly-taught people, if you will — but also an overweening, a self- conceited peojjle. I say that this self-conceit takes away much from a nation's y\Ui\ worth. The two grand bancs of humanity, says Spinoza, are indolence antl self-conceit : self-conceit is so noxious because it arrests man in the career of self-imj)rovement ; because it vulgarises his character and sto))s the growth of his intelK'ct. The Greek oracle ])ronounced wisest of men him wjio was most convinced of his own ignomnce : what, then, can be the wisdom of a nation profoundly convinced of its own attainment? After all that has been s;iid, it remains immutably tnie tJiat "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing," unless he who pos- sesses it knows tliat it is a little ; and that he may know this, it is almost indispensable for him to have before his eyes obji-cts which suggest heights of gran- deur, or intellect, or feeling, or refinement, which he luis never reached. This is the capital misfortune of tlie American people, that it is a people which has had to grow up without ideals. The proud day of priesthoods and aristocracies is over, but in their day they have imdoubtedly been, as the law was to the Jews, schoohnastcrs to the nations of Euro])e, sclioolmasters to bring them to modem society ; and sus vigour of • Tl»o above was written at tlio hrpinning of last year, whon the importatit events now agitating the American States had not yet occurred. RESULTS OF TOrULAR EDUCATION OX THE I'EOrLE. 171 primitive man, \vli'n-li hook-leaniing may wholesomely temper, but will never van(|ui.sh. Against the second danger the preservatives which England possesses must be evident to every one. The most aristocratic people in the world, as one of the most eloquent of its admirers called it, has naturally the aristocratic virtue of not too easily admiring ; it has seen so much which is grand and splendid that it is not hkely to be unduly enchanted wdth a mediocre culture, even when that culture is its own. Democratic France, it might at first sight seem, can have no such safe- guards. But it must not be forgotten through what an education of hierarchies and grandeurs the French peo[)le has passed. The Eevolution is of yesterday ; the imagination of the French people was fashioned long before. For more than a thousand years France had the most brilliant aristocracy in Em'ope ; her common peo[)le were the countrymen of the Montmorencies, the Birons, tlie Eohans. She is the eldest child of the lioman Catholic Chm'ch, a church magnificent even in its decline. At the present hour, when her feudal magnates are gone, when her ecclesiastical magnates are shorn of their splendour, she has an ai^Lstocracy to meet the best demands of the modern spirit — an aristocracy the choicest of its class in the world : she has the Institute. The servihty which has degraded the scientific and learned societies of some other na- tions has, in the French Institute, not been allowed to tiiumpli. It is a true aristocracy of the intellect of France ; and, in worthily commanding naliiMinl respect, where great objects to awaken national re>pect are rai'e — in rigidly tempering, in the domain of iiitellect, science, arts, and letters, the natural self-confidence of a democratic society — in making impossible, for the 172 < HA ITr.lt XIV. — rilAVCK. intelli«rt'nt Fivncli (•oninum pi'oplo, a vulgar and pro- vincial selt-.sati>faction with a low rale of cullure, however gcnenil — the blessings which it confers on France lU'e incalculable. I confess that when 1 contemplate tlie probable C(»nimon immunity of KuLrland and France from two of the worst dangers which threaten the future progress of other nations, and when I call to mind other points in which the two peoples have at least an importiuit negative resemblance, the interest with which 1 regard, in France, the constitution and prospects of a gre;it national agent Like popular education, becomes un- bounded. The two peoples are alike in this, that they are each greater than all othei-s, each unlike to any other. It is in vain that we call the French Celts, and ourselves Teutons : when nations have attained to the greiitncss of France and England, their peoi)les can have no profound identity with any people beyond their own borders. Torrents of pedantry have been poured forth on the subject of our Germanic origin ; in real truth, we are at the present day no more Germans than we are Frenchmen. By the mixture of our race, by the Latiiiisation of our language, by the isolation of our country, by the independence of our history, wc have long since severed all vital connection with that great Gennan stem which sixteen centuries ago threw out a shoot in this island. France is equally dissociated, by lier own eminence, from her once fellow Celtic or Latin races. It is the same with the greatness of the ]ieoples ; each is unique, and has no adequate counteqiart but in that of the other. From Messina to Arcliangel, and from Calais to Moscow, there reigns a universal striving after Parisian civilisation ; the ideas which move the masses (I do not speak of aristo- RESULTS OF rOITLAPv EDUCATION OX THE PEOPLE. 173 cratic and loanied coteries) are, Avlieii ideas reach tliem at all, French ideas. Cross the Straits and yl civilised. Well, tlien, to two nations thus ahke in ixreatness, 174 lllAITi:i: .\IV.- FRANCE. and so constituted tliat ctluctition can only augment tlieir power and worth, wliat system of education do tlieirGoveniinents ofl'ei !" In France, a national system, wliicli, though veiy un])retending, is all that a govern- ment can prudently attempt to make universal — a system fixing a low level, certainly, of popukr instruc- tion, but one which the mounting tide of national wealth and well-being will inevitably jjush up higher. And this system is so framed as not only not to favour j)opular unreason or popular intolerance, but positively to encourage and educate popular reason and popular equity. In England, a system not national, which has undoubtedly done much for sujx'rior ])nmary instruc- tion, but which for elementary primary instructiiMi has done veiy httle. That it may accompUsh something impoj)ul:ilion. Tliis I could learn even though the schools were in vacation. B« >lli at Geneva and at I^uisanne I had the ad- vantage of consulting j)erst)ns among tlie best inftruction arc strietly hniited, and, if this iiislruclion is given by the teaclier at ail, it niu>t be at tiie recjuest and under the responsibihty of tiic minister of rehgion whose phice he thus eousentij to fdl. Tiiis Christian and demofratic education is genenilly, also, comj)ulsory and gratuitous. It embraces all young persons from their eighth to their sixteenth year. If children are i)rivately educated, the State must be satisfied that their education is sullicient. They are liable to be adled uj) for examination with the scholars of the public schools, and to iu' transferred by authority to a j)ublic school if their instruction is found inferior. A certificate of emancij)ation attest.s that the obligatory coui-se of learning has been duly fuhillc.l. The connmnio provide and maintain the public schools; but the J^tate assists them when their resources fall short. ICvery place with nu)re than twenty children of school-age is, as a general rule, boinul to have its school. When the number of scholars exceeds fifty or sixty, a second school must be ei^Ud)lished, a third when the second sclu)ol has passed this limit, and so on. Boys and girls attend the sjune school. Infant schools the communes are not comjK'lied to estiil)lish ; but the State ixK'ommends their establishment, and aids it. It is needlc^is to say that this j)ublic school system is under the control of the StaU». The supreme execu- tive of each Canton, the Council of State, delegates it,s ccmtrolling functions to a board of public in.struction, consisting of two or three members, and presided over by a C^juncillor of State. But on any grave matter an appeal lies from this body to the Council of State itself, rorULAR KDUCATJON IN Till: FIJEXCII CANTONS. IM and it is llie CV)iiiu'il alone Avliicli lias tlio ])OAver to dis- miss a teaclier. Three out of llu' li\c ('autous have scliool- inspectors. Where there are no school-inspec- tors, their finictions are diseharg'ed by tin- nu'iiihers of the board ot"piil)lie iii-lruction. or hy a local body, the connnnnal scliool-connnittee. This body, consisting generally of i'rom four to seven members, is named by the municipality. The minister of religion is not a member of it, unless the numicipahty choose to nomi- nate him. The local connnittee should visit the schools of its connninie not less than once a fortnight, besides holding a ])ublic general examination of them once a year. Teachers nuist be certilicated, and their examination for the certificate is conducted by the central board of public instruction. They are afterwards elected to their >ituations by competition, and have thus a second ex- amination to undei'go. This second examination is con- ducted by the local school-commission. Hieir salaries are fixed at about 500 francs a yi-ar, Avith a hoii>e and garden. The iiisti-uction given in ihc primary schools has two or even more degrees.* The subjects taught are reli- gi imi i.y iaw compulse MT ; in the other four Cantons it is. I wa.- anxious to ascertain exactly in what this compulsoriness of instruction consisted, and how far it w:is really made effectual. I read in the hiw that parents not sending their children to school were to be warned, sunnnoned, sentenced to fine or imprist)nment, accordin;_' to their various dcL^rees of negligence ; I found due j)rovision made for the recoveiy, by means of the ordinary tri- bunals, of such a fine ; for the execution, by their means, f)f such i\ sentence of imprisonment. I asked myself, as the Knglish readi-r will ask himself.— In the Cantons of Vaud, Fribourg, Xeufchatel, and the Valais, nnist every child between the agi-s of seven and fifteen actually be at school all tlu- year rouml. and, if he is not. are his parents actually punished for it? In the first place I soon discovered that he need not l)e at school all the year round. To take one of the jioorest of the Cantons, a Canton in which it seemed to me incredible that the compid.soiT j^rinciple should be fully carried out; the Canton Valais. The law of the Canton Valais jiroclaims that educjition is compid.soiy. liut it also proclaims that the sdiool-year shall not be of les^ than — what does the reader suppose? — five months.* It is for five months in the year. then, not for ten. that children in the Valais are oblitred to lto to • Loi sur r Instrvrlion puhliqne, Sion, ISJO ; .irt. G. — Riijlf- ment du f, ,Septn»brt 1849 mr 1(4 Ecoles primairts tlu Canton du Vn fat's: art. 29. rorui.AiJ i:i)i'CATi<».\" i.\ Tin: fki:.ncii cantons. is;3 si'liool. Again, I take the Canton • 4 184 niAlTKK .W. SUITZKHLANP. tioii of scluxil-attendance in llie Canton **( Vaud was perfectly illusory. When I mentioned this at I^msmne, it was indJLniantly denied ; I was told that tlie schools of Vaud were excellently attended, its population almost miiversiilly instructed, iiut of this I had no doubt : so they are cver}*where in the ])rosjK'roiis Swiss Cant<^)ns ; so they are in Geneva, where eiUication is not comi)ul- sory. What I wanteil to find out was whether the legal obligation was actually put in force to constniin the attendance of chiUhen who without such con- straint would not have attendetl ; whether in Vaud, where education is compulsory, children went to school, who in Geneva, where it is not com|)ulM>rv, would have been at home oral work. 1 could not find that tlu-y did. I was told that it was necessiry to execute the law with the Lrreatest tact, with the pn*atest forbear- ance ; but in i)lain truth 1 could not discover that it was really executed at all. IJut perhaps this is bwausc, in Vaud, the children so universally attend school that the executive has no cause of ctHuplaint auraiiist them, rmd no infriiiLTcment of the law ever occurs ? ]W the kindnos of the President I was furnished with a copy of the last publishtHl Annual Kej>ort of the Council of State of Vaud on all the branches of the Cantonal ad- ministration, Tn that ])art of the Keport which relates t«) schools, I find the following: — ''The mnnber of children attending school has stmiewhat diminisher,i 1857 3o,ni:. 1854 . .•H,72n 1858 . 30,ls| Sec Covipte rendu pur le Conscil clEtat dii Canton dc ]'iiiid snr r Advihiistrnfion pendant rinni.'e 1S.">,S. sirnttdr pnrtic, Ti. 12. 180 « IIMTlilJ XV. — SW rr/.KKLANli. law is powerless to prevent tiie inevitable cheek in- flictetl on eiluoation by their absence. Tlie school-law of French .Switzerland generally, j)rt\scribes that j)nniary instruclimi !ove this bare maintenancc-i>oint. Tliis is eflicted in Vaud, Neufchatel, and Fribourg, by levying .school fees U|K)n those scholai-s who can ailbrd toj)ay them : it isefl'ecled in Geneva by direct grant from the Jr^tate. 'J'he direct »StjUe-exj)enditure on education in the little Canton of Geneva, is on this account much greater than thes the Canton of Neufchatel adojits the best couixe, by leaving those who can aflord it to j)ay their schi sur I'lnstnictinn priumire, Xcufcluitc'l, IHoO; art. 50. \ Sclioolri open durinjr tlic winter niontlis only ; an institution common in Switzerland, and particularly succcssfuWn the Canton of Neufrln'itel. 188 (llAn'KU XV.- SWITZKKI.AM). hy *.> 1 stuilents, iu oi' thcin beiiij^ yuuug men, 37 young ^vonu'n. It is onKlucU'd I)y a diicrtor, to wlioin I had \\\v pleasure of paying' a Kmji visit, and l)y 11 masters. Tliere is a lady-superiiiteudeut, with an assisUuit, to take general charge of the young women, and to teach them needlework and domestic economy. The training school is held in a huilding which furnishes only lecture rooms and an ollice for the director; the students hoanl in the town, at hoarding-houses approved and insj)ect4-'d by the director. The coui'se for young men lasts three years, for yoimg women two years. There are no practising schools. 'J'he ex])ense of a young man's training is about 14/. a year, that of a young woman's about 12/. For the last six yeare the Stflte has on an average allowed to each student G/. a year towanls the expense of his (U' her training, the rest is paid by the students themselves. From 25 to 30 students go out every year to take charge of schools. The be-^^t gt) to Neufchatel and Geneva, •where the teachei-s are Ix'st ])aid, Fribourg will ])robably soon establish a tnuning school of its own ; at j)resent it trains it,^ French teachers in private establi>hment,<. it,s rnnnan teachei-s in the training scho(»ls of (iennan Switzerland.* The .scliool-law of every Canton requires the teacher to possess a certificate «>f capacity. But this require- ment is not always enft)rced. In Vaud, (ov instance, five yeaiV .service in a jniblic .^^chool legally exemjit.*: a teacher from the obIigati(»n of the certificate. But this is not all. I have said that teachers are aii]>ointed to schools after a competitive examination held by the local sch(K)l-committer. To thi< exnuiination no rnn- • Sec RegUiimtii /»""» "> A LiUKannr. 1810. rOPLf.AU HDLX'ATIOX IX TIIH i'lil^NClI L'AXToNS. 189 didate Ciiu properly be adinitted unless entitled by the certificate of capacity, or by the five years' service. But, where no such candidates present themselves, the law allows school-committees to examine and elect other persons, who may be provisionally continued without a certificate from year to year for five years, at the end of which term they are exempt, as I have mentioned, from the obligation of the certificate Nor is the ex- amination held by the school-committee any effectual substitute for the certificate-examination held by the Central Education Department. The inefiiciency of the examinations conducted by the local school-committees I found generally complained of; on the other hand, the certificates granted by the Central Education De- partment are real guarantees of capacity. The exam- ination for them extends, as in France, only to the sub- jects taught in the primary schools, and to the art of teaching ; but it is serious, and it is conducted l)y duly qualitied persons. In Vaud and in Xeufchatel the local seliool-cdiiniiil- tees are left to fulfil al-o tlic functions elsewhere dis- charged by inspectors: l.in ihcy supply the want of State-inspection as inefiiciently as tlieysu])plv tlie want of State-examination. Geneva, Fribourg, and the Valais have inspectors. There are not two ()pini(»iis as to the value of the services which may be rendered by these functionaries; and they will j)rol)ably soon be em])loyed by the two Cantons which arc now witliout thmi. The school-laws of Geneva and of Xciiirhalt-l appear to me to be superior to those of \ and and ot' Fiibourg in this, — that their framers had a more single regard to the welfare of primtiry instruction and to that only, than the framers of tlie others. TIic framers of the others undoubtedly had zeal for primaiy instruction; iDo tiiAiTKK w. — s\vitzi:i:lani». but zeal for tlic ascendancy of tlie democratic party was too stronirly present to their minds at the same time. Tlu'V have, therefore, omitted provisions for llic welfare of the schools which were of jjrreat importance ; they have introduced provisions to bind the individual, which on educational jxrounds have no necessity, and which sometimes defeat their own object, by making the law which sanctions them intolerable. This has been the case in Fribourg. FribourLT is a veiy powerful canton ; its population, though fanatical, is exceedingly vigorous. Until the war of 1847, it was in the hands of the clerical jiarty : the issue of the Sonderbund struggle gave full power to the enemies of the clerical party, to the democrats. The new govi-rn- ment, knowing its adversaries' strength, i)rocured its own nomination for a period of nine yeai^s, and, in order to indoctrinate the ])oj)ulation with liberal ideas, iii-litiilcd, by the law of 184S, a very developeil sy.s- ;.inn:ny instruction. 15ut nine years of Itadical ^n\riiiinent, ami the law of 1848, were insuflicient to convert the still-necked people of Fribourg. At the fii-st elections which took j)lace after tlie struggle of 1847 — the elections of 185G- the clerical party regaincnl its ascendancy, the democratic party fell, and the law <»f 1848 fell with ib* authoi-s instead of saving them. When the English reader is informed of some of its provisions, he will not. I think, be much suri>rised at its fate.* It provided — (in the countiy of the Tere Gimrd !) — that no religious society, under any denomi- nation whatever, should henceforth be allowed to teach. • Lni sur rinftnirlion puhlujuf, Frilwiirg, 1>^48; art. 8, 0, 41, 82, 6, 54, 5, 104. — Regkmcnt iwur ks Ecoles prhnarcn flu Canton (Ic Friboury, Fribourg, 1850; art. 180, 176, 177. 17S. 170. rOl'L'I.AR EDUCATION IX TUK TKHXCII CANTONS. 101 It provided that, for the future, persons educated by tlie Jesuits, or by any (^f tlie orders affdiated to tlic Jesuits, should be iueapable of lioIdiiiLr any office in Church or State. It proclaimed the object of primary schools to be " the development of man's moral and intellectual larulties in conformity with the principles of Christianity and democracy." It im[josed a political oath on the schoolmaster. It made instruction obh- gatory and gratuitous. Lest the rismg generati(jn shoidd still escape it, it directed, hrst, that no child living in the Canton should, under any circumstances whatever, be educated at home. Xext, that if it was proposed to educate a cliild in a private school, the parent must first submit the name of the private school to the in- spector and to the communal school-committee for their a[)proval. If this was obtained, the pupil was still bound to attend the public half-yearly examinations of the communal school. If he failed to attend, or if he attended and passed a bad examination. {\\c private school which educated him was to be closed. Finally, the resources of the religious, charitable, and grannnai- school f(3undations of communes were henceforth to be made available for the support of primary schools. This I call the very fanaticism of meddling. But, at the same time, the hiw instituted an undoubtedly good programme of school-instruction. The reaction swept away both the noxious meddling and the sound ])ro- gramme. By an order dated the 12th of January, 1858, the new Council of State restored fouiidatioiis to their original uses, relaxed the obligation of attendance at the ])ublic schools, gave parents lil)erty to eilucate their children at home or in private schools, made the clergyman a necessary member of the local school- committee, freed the teacher from the necessitv <>f vji (Haiti:!: xv. — switzkulam-. Uikiiig an oath, raUeil his sahirv, aiul rt'diiceil the pro- grainine of primary school-instruction. Rt'iU'tion and Obscurnntism ! cry tlic Libcnils. Ahis, tliat reaction and obscurantism should sometimes speak tlie language of moderation and Iil)erty, aiul that they sliould invariably ceiise to speiik it the moment they have the power to use, like their advei-saries, that of exaggeration and tyranny I For the clerical jwrty in Fribourg this moment has happily not yet arrived. IJnt the future, in Switzerland at any rate, belongs to democracy ; and one would gladly see Swiss democracy more rational and more etpiitable. It has undoubtetlly striven to deve'ope j»opular education ; but the spirit in which it luis striven for this object has not been without an unfavourable inlluence upon education itself. It is the spirit in which highly-instructed peoj)les live and w«)rk that makes them interesting, not the high in- struction itself. Placed between France and Germany, Switzerland is inevitably exi>osed to inlluences which tend to prevent her democracy fnim exercising, un- checked, the pulverising action which democracy ex- ercises in America. But the dominant teiuU'ncy of modern Swiss ilemocracy is yet not to be rcgaixled without disquietude. It i.s socialistic, in the sense in which that word expresses a principle hustle to the interests (if true society — the eliminatiou ofsupenorit'ws. The most distinguished, the most capable, the most high-minded ])ei-sons in French Switzerland, are jne- cisely those most excluded from the present direction ofaflaii's; they are living in retirement. Insti*ucti(li<>«»l for tlu- poor wliicli he had ever seen, or wliicli at tliat timt' was anywlierc to l)e seen out of Hulhiiul. For it was in ISll. Tilt* popuhir iiistruciioM of other countries has «)s>ible to pro*'ure it. I shall tlu'reforc repeat, as briefly as I am, the ac- count which it gives of the foundation of the excellent ])rimary instruction of Holland. Tli'uc- liou of the people — primary schools should by expUcit testimony be declared to luwe been, eighty years ago, thus inferior. We should pi'obably hear the same of the schools of Scotland at the same peri(jd, had there been any capable person to judge and to tell us of them. Not that the credit which Protestantism has received for its zeal in teaching the people is wholly undeserved ; Protestantism had, in truth, the zeal to found schools, but it had not the knowledge to make good schools. In Holland, eighty years ago, there were no schools for the poor, except schools in connection with the difTerent rehgious connnunions ; children whose parents were not em'olled members of some church could attend no school at all. But, at any rate, for the children of its < >wn communion Protestantism built schools ; there were Protestant schools in connection with the Protestant churches. In connection with the Eoman Catholic churches there were no schools whatever. But the I'rotestant schools were under the inspection of the church-deacons, who changed continually, and w ho had no fixed principles of management ; there was no })ro- vision for the training of fit teachers : the schoolmas- ters were ignorant, and the instruction beggarly. Such was the state of things wjien, in 1784, John Nieuvenhuysen, a Memnonite minister in Xortli Hol- land, fijunded, with the assistance of several friends, the Society for the Public Good. This society proposed, iirst, to ])repare and circulate among the common people useful elementary works, not only on religious and moral subjects, but also on matters of every-day life. This fu-st object it accom})lishe(l with such success, that in two or three years an hnpit>vt'd calendar published by the society beat the popular calendar. o 3 198 tHAITKi: XVI.— IldLLAMi. •t' s a tisj^iie of abs-urditirs and Mipci-stitions, tlic Moor Almanack of Ilollaiicl, out of tlie fieUl. Tlie RK-iety's second object wjis to e^taljli>li intKlel and tenij>orary scliools, Avilli lihrarieyi, for the use of workpeople wlio liad left school. It j)ioj)osfd, thirdly, to conduct in- quiries into the true principles of the physical and moral educatit)n of children, and into school-method. The society i)rospered. In 1800 it numbered 7()((() membei-s, and had spread it.s operations as far as to the Cape of Good Hope. It formed departments in all the localities -where it had sub-scribei-s, and to the,t. M. Van der Palm, the agent for ])ublic instruction in the Katavian liepul)lic, drew up an elii/up en Ilnllnnilr, par M. Cousin. Pari:*, 1837; P. .'30. •2(»0 (HMTKIJ XVI. - H()LLAM». them all ; no toucher, puhlie ur private, can be ap- IHjintecl without his authorisation ; and he inspeclis eveiy school in his disli-ict twice a year. These |)ower- ful functionaries were to be named by the State, t)n the presentation, for the insj)ectorships of each jn'ovince, of the assembled commissitMi of inspectors for that jjro- vince. They were excellently chosen, amongst the lay- men and clergymen who had shown an intelligent interest in i)Oj)ular education. Following a practice not rare in Holland, wheie the public service is esteemed highly honcnnable, and where the number of pei'sons able and wilhng to take part in it is greater than in any other countiy, they gave their services nearly gratui- tously. They received allowances for their expeiLscs while engaged in the business of inspection, but no sjdaries. Either they were men with private means, or men exercising at the Siime time with their inspector- ship some other function, which provided them with an income. Their cost to the State was, therefore, very small. There were at hrst 50 ins})ectors, whose travel- ling allowances together amounted to 1840/. ; and this sum, with 820/. a year for an insjiector-generars sjdary, and with a small charge f^)r the ofhce and travelling expenses of this functinnaiy, was the whole cost to the State of the administration of primary instruction. Four general regulations accompanied and completed the law of 180G. The provincial and ctnnmunal ad- ministrations were charged to o(*(U])V themselves with pnniding ]»rojHT means of instruction in their loculitic^s, with insuring to the teacher a comfortable subsistence, with t)btaining a regular attendance of the children in the schools; but there were no provisions exacting from the commimes an obhgatoiy establishment of schools, a K'L'al ininimuni of sdaiT for teachers: none roiTl.AU I'.DrcATlOX rXI)!:K THi: LAW OF ISOG. 201 cxaetiiiu' t'lom tin." cliikhvii a compulsory school-attend- aiici'. Xcilla-r tlid the State enter into any positive undertaking as to its own grants. In general terms, it reserved to itself the riglit to take such measures as it should think tit, to improve the teacher's position, and to ])romote the good instruction of the 3'oung. It left the rest to the stimulating action of its inspectors upon provincial and communal administrations singularly Avell disposed to receive it. Its confidence was justified. The provincial govern- ments fixed the teacher's salary for each province at a rate which made the position of the Dutch school- master superior to that of his class in every other country. Free schools for the poor were provided in all the large towns ; in the villages, schools which taught the poor gratuitously, but imposed a small admission-fee on those who could afford to pay it. ^linisters of religion and lay authorities combined their efforts to draw the children into llic schools. The boards which distributed i)ubhc rehef, imposed on its recipients the condition that they should send their children to school. The result was a popular educa- tion, wliich, for extent and sohdity combined, has probably never been equalled. Even in 181 I. in the reduced Holland of the French Fm])ii-e. ]\1. ('u\icr found 14.')1 ])iiniaiy schools, with nearlv "J'Ml. ()()() scholars, one in ten of the })o]mlation being at scIkjoI. In the province of Groningen the prefect reported, as in 1840 tlic administration reported in the town of Haarlem, that there was not a child who could not read and write. In Amsterdam there Avere eleven schools for the poor, so well frequented that candidates for admission to thorn had to jnit down their names long beforehand, and scliolars who passed out of them 202 CHAlTKlt Wl. — IlnLI.ANP. were eagerly sought alUr a.s servants or apprentices. The deacons' scliools, ur private j)arisli schools in con- nection witli tlie churches and under the superin- tendence of the parisli deacons, were gradually giving way before the competition of tlie public schools. The Lutheran deacons' schools of Amsterdam had recently been closed when M. Cuvicr wrote. The village schools were, as at this day, even more prosjx^rous than the poor schools of the tt)wns ; for, being attended by children of a somewhat richer class, they gave a somewhat more advanced instruction ; the commune, however, paid for the schooling of the poor, and the school-fee of the rest was only about a penny a week. In tlie thriving villages of North Holland, M. Cuvier found large schools of 200 or 300 children, exciting his admiration by the same cleaidiness, order, and g(M»d instruction which he had witnessed in the towns. School was held for two hours in the morning, two hours in tlie aftenioon, two houi-s in the evening ; the evening school was for old scholars who liad gone to work, and was most numerously and diligently at- tended. Finally, and this M. Cuvier justly thought one of the grand causes of the success of the Dutch schools, tlie position of the schoolma.'^tei's was most advantageinis. Municipalities and i)arents were alike favourable to them, and held them and their jirofession in an honoin- which tlnn, probably, fi'Il to their lot nowhere else. Hardly a village schoolmaster was to be found ^^^th a salaiy of less than 40/. a year; in the towns many had from 120/. to 100/.. and even more than that sum; all had. bci>ides, a housi' and garden. The fruits of this comfort and considemtion were to be seen, as they are remarkably to be seen oven at the present day, in the gocxl manners, the good address, rOl'LLAK EDUCATION L'NDKK TIU: LAW OF 180G. '203 tlic self-ivsjxvt willioul })rcv-uiiii)ti(Mi, of tlic Dutch teacliers. They arc never servile, and never oflensive, Tlie tcaclier in lIoHand, in order to enter hi.s pro- fession, liad to ()l)tain a general admission. To exer- cise it, lie needed a special admission. The general admission was obtained by successfully passing the certificate examinati(Mi. There were four grades of certificate : to be appointed either a public or a })rivate schoolmaster in the towns it was necessary to liold a certificate of the first or second grade ; the first grade could be attained by no one who was not twenty-five years old. The third grade qualified a teacher to liold a village school. The fourth grade was reserved for under-masters and assistants. The exammation for the liigher grades was considerably higher than the certifi- cate-examination of France, considerably lower than ours, for which, indeed, with its twelve hours of written exercises in mathematics alone*, it would be diflicult to lind a parallel. ])Ut the Dutch regulation, instructing the examiners to admit to the highest grade those can- didates only who gave signs of a distiuguislied culture., assigned to the schoolmaster's ti-aining a humanising and educating direction, which is precisely what Ave, with our exaggerated demand for masses of hartl information, have comjjletely missed. School-methods, also, and pedagogic aj^titude, occupied more space in the Dutch examination than in the French or in ours. The teacher had now his general admission. 11" he wished to become a jjubhc teacher, he presented him- self as a candidate for some vacant ])ul)lic mastership, and underwent a competitive examination. This second examination I found in Switzerland also; it exists • Latflv rodiiccd, I am liapj)}- to say, to nine. 204 < I! Arn:i: xvi. — ikh.i.ani*. neither in Fnnice nor amon«jr>t oui-selves. If successful, the teacher then received his special admission. Of the judges who examined him for this, the law made the inspector of the district necessarily one ; if dis- satisfied with the decision of his colleagues, the in- spector had the right of appealing against it t*) the Ministei-. For sj)ecial admission as a private teacher no second examination was necessiry. But the candi- date required the authorisation of the municipality ; and tliis authorisation was not grant"'! .v. . i.i i^Itl, the insj)ector's concurrence. The legislation of 180G did not lu.-LUuic iiurmal schools. How, then, was an ellicient body of school- inastcTs formed ? It was formed hy permitting, in the schools of the Society for the l*ublic Go(h1, the best scholars to stay on at school for two or three yciu-s h)nger than usual, without paying, on condition that they acted as teachers: these became, fii>t, assistants ; then, imder-masters ; finally, head-masters. Great eagerness was manifested to be nominatetl one of these retained scholai-s. M. Cuvier found this system in oj)eration when he visited Holland, and he speaks warndy of its success. It was the fii^st serious attem|)t to f»)rm a body of regularly tniined ma.stci"s for primary .schools. In our eyes it should have a special interest : we owe to it the institution of i)Upil-teachers. Finally, under the legislation of ISOCi it was not j>er- nutted to i)ubhc schools to be denominational. The law required tiiat the ini»tniction in them should be such as to *' train its retian virtues," but no dogmatic religious instniction wiLs to be given by the tejicher, or was to be given in the school. Measures were to be tiiken, however, sidd tlie law, that the scholar should not go without the POITI.ATI I'DUCATlo.V UNDIOU TilK LAAV OF 180G. '205 dogmatic tcnching of tho communion to wliicli he belonged. Accordingly, the Minister for tlie Home Department exhorted by circular tlie ministers of the different connnunions to co-operate with tlie govern- ment in cariying the new law into execution, l)y taking upon tliemselves the religious instruction of the school children belonging to their persuasion. The religious authorities replied favourably to this appeal. They wilhngly took upon themselves the task required of them ; and nowhere, perhaps, has the instruction of the people been more eminently religious tlian in Hol- land, while tlie public schools have remained, by law, imsectarian. M. Cuvier found that the school children, in 1811, were taught the dogmatic part of their religion on Sundays, in church, by their own minister ; that on Saturdays, when Jews were absent, they were instructed in school by the schoolmaster in the New Testament and the hfe of Christ; on other days, in the truths common to all rehgions. M. Cousin foiiiid, in 1S;)(), the same avoidance of dogmatic teaching in the Dutch schools, the same prevalence of sound religious instruc- tion among the Dutch people. M. Cuvier concludes his report by pointing out the foundation on which the excellent school-system of Holland appeared to him to repose. It reposed, he said, ui)on three things; the comfoii of the schoolmaster, the effectiveness of the ins[)ection, the su[)eriority of the school-methods. To these three advantages the Dutch schools still owe their prosperity. M. Cou.-^in, in 1830, found two important modifica- tions introduced into the school-system of Holland since the visit of ^L Cuvier. M. Cuvier had noticed with approbation the mode of training schoolmiu^ters which I have above described ; in ii-uth, tlii< was a more care- 206 CIlAlTKlt XVI. — IKUJ.ANI*. fill iiioile of training them tlian any which at that lime was pui^ut'il fLscwhcre : but it loft somctlung to l)c dc'sirc'tl ; it was not yet tlie training of the Nonnal ^^ch(x>l. Nonnal schools were established in 1810, under the auspices of M. Van den Ende. One was placed at Haarlem, for Holland; another at Lierre, mar Antwerj), for the Hclgian provinces, at that time united with Holland. These two ini^titutions, however, sudiced but for a select number of students, the most |)romising subjects among the future schoolmasters of Holland ; for the ordinary majority the training which M. Cuvii-r had praised continued in use. The nonnal school at Haarlem became justly celebrated for its success, due to the capacity and character of its director, M. Prinsen. M. Prinsen was .^till at its head when M. Cousin visited Holland. He received M. Cousin at Haarlem ; and the vigour of the man, and the i)ersonal naturi' of his influence over his i)upils, is suHiciently revealed in his reply to M. Cousin's re<>1 : " T :im the regulations," was M. Prinsen's answer.* The other change was in tiie town schools. In the towns the public schools for the poor, well managed, well taught, regularly inspected, had become veiy supe- rior to the private schools, the oflsj)ring of individual sjieculation, which received the children of the lower middhng classes. The requirement <»f the certificate of indigence, in the public free schools of the towns, excluded these children from benefits which they could enjoy in the public j^aying sc1um)1s of the countiy ; and there was ;knt sciroMi, i.k(jislatimn ok hollanh. law •>>- i*":.:. What nmld Imve been the inducement to the Dutcli Gin'ernnieiit to alter a lefrislation which worked so well ? Why, when the law of 1806 was there, sliould the Chanibei-s have been Cidled upon to vote the law of 1857? I proceed to reply very briefly to these questions. In the fn>t place, in 1848, Holland had the disease iVoni which it seems that, since the French Revolution, no constitutional state on the Continent can escape; — it wrote down its constitution. The Constitution of 1848 proclaimed* liberty of instruction. The legislation of 1800 had fettered this liberty by n-quiring the private tracher to obtain a special authorisation Ix^fore he miirht open school. It was necessary to bring school- legislation on thi'^ pniiit info hrinnonv uiili tlic now Constitution. It was asserted, too, that the body d .>-clu".lnia>tei*s, sati>factoiy as was their jv^sition in general, were yet left too dependent on the will of the local numicipality for the amount of their salaries* ; that there were many eases in which thcMJ were quite insufficient ; and that it was desirabh' to establish by law a rate of salary below which 1o<\m1 parsimony might not descend. • Art. 11>J. PRESENT SCHOOL LEGISLATIOX. 200 It was snid, also, tliat tlie legislation of 180G had not (Ictennined with sunicient strictness the obligation of communes to provide schools, and that in some quar- ters popidar education was in consequence sufTering. Eeturns were quoted to show that the attendance of children in the Dutch schools, satisfactory as compared with that which man}- countries could boast, was yet unsatisfactoiy as compared with tliat which Holland coidd boast formerly. In 1835 the proportion of the inhabitants of Holland in school was 1 to 8-3 ; in 1848, when it reached its highest point, it was 1 to 7*78 ; but in January 1854 it had fallen to 1 to 9-35, and in July of the same year yet lower, to I to 9'83. The number of children attending no school, estimated at but 21,000 for 1852, was estimated at 38,000 for 1855. For Holland, this was a suffering state of popidar educa- tion. Many desired to try whether legislation coidd not amend it. Yet, after dl, these were light grievances to allege against a law Avhich had in general worked admirably. The special authorisation required for private teachers liad never in Holland been felt as a serious grievance, l^ecause in Holland it was almost always accorded or refused Avith fairness. The Dutch schoolmaster had, in general, reason rather for satisfaction than for com- plaint. The diffusion of instruction among the Dutch people was such as might inspire their rulers with tiiankfulness rather than disquietude. Another, a graver embarrassment, i)laced the legis- lation of 180G in question. It arose out of those very provisions of the law wliich had been supposed essen- tially to characterise it, and whicli observers had the most applauded. It arose out of the imposition on the schools of a non-denominational character, r 210 tllAITEU XVI! — IK.LLANl). M. C'ldisin'.s (•« evictions \vd liim to disajiprove an in- 6tnictii)n tor the people wliieli wui? either jmrely sccuhir or not diieetly anil tloginaticiilly religious ; but he liud not been able to refuse liis testimony to the success of the non-do«rinatic in.struetion of the priniaiy schools of Holland. He had seen, he dechuvd, in the great schools of Amsterdam, of Kotterdaiu, of the Hague, Jews, Catholics, and Protestants seated side by side on the siune benches, troubled by no religious animosity, re- ceiving haniKmiously a connnon instruction. But what struck him most was that this instniction seemetl to him " penetrated with the spirit of Christianit}', though not with the spirit of sect;" that it formed men "sin- cerely religious and in genend moral." This was high ])raise from such a (puirter,»and it tended to dissipate the objections most formidable to such a school system as the i»utch. If, in fact, religious training did not sufler in neutral or non-denominational schools, these schools were inevitably to be preferred to all othei-s ; for the advantages of their neutnility no one disputes, and the one supposed r, for of that word in a neutral school partisans arc sure to take sectarian advantage : but, even if the word remains, the law clearly i)ro- scribes all dogmatic teaching, clearly limits the Chris- tianity to be tiuight to morality only; execute the law, forbid the teacher to give any dogmatic religious in- struction wliatever, banish from the school the Bible, which contains dogma as well a.s moral i)reccj)t>i." The law was clearly on the side t)f the Cathohcs and they succeeded in having it strictly jnit in force. M. Van den Ende's own words to M. Cousin, which I liave quoted above, show that |)rol)ably the Catholics had ground for conij)laint, show tliat probably the teacher sometimes actually broke the law by taking ])art in teaching dogmatic formularies. But even though for- nudaries be excluded, it is hard not to impress a Prote.**- tant or Catholic stamp on the religious instruction of a sdiool, if a school admits any religious instruction at all. We have had this didiculty even in the national schools of Ireland, where religious teaching may be supposed to have been reduced to its unnintuin. In the excellent schools of the British and Foreign School Society religious teaching \\i\s a more con.'iidend)le place ; it much resembles* the religious teaching of the Dutch schools under the law of 1806. The British schools are unsectarian ; they profess themselves, they lionestly believe themselves, unsectarian. But if the Catholics in great numbei's had to use them, we should 8(X>n, I imagine, hear comjilaints that they were Pro- testant. No sooner wa.s the law of ISOG put strictly in force, • Tlic rxcluKinn of dogninlic lonimlaric« of religion fn:»nj the Briti.Hli school."* i.*, however, conipleto. rilESEXT SCHOOL LEGISLATION. 213 no sooner did llu- public scliools of llolhnid become really non-denoniiuational, than the high Protestants began to ciy out against thcni. They discovered that the law of ISOC) Avas vicious in principle. They dis- covered that the public schools which this law had founded were " godless schools," were " centres of ir- religion and immorality." The dissatisfaction of this formidable party was the real cause which made the revision of the law of 1806 inevitable. Either the government, wliile introducing into the school-law of Holland the lesser modifications necessitated by the Constitution of 1848 or by other causes, nuist obtain from the Chambers a fresh sanction for the imjiortant ])rinciple of the neutral school, or this principle must be publicly renounced by it. The law of 1857 raised the question. Never, perhaps, has it been better discussed than in the debates which followed the introduction of that law into the Dutch Chambers. It does houoiu: to Holland that she should have for her representatives men capable of debating this grave c[uestion of rehgious education so admirably. I greatly doubt whether any other i)arliamentary assembly in the world could have displayed, in treating it, so much knowledge, so much intelligence, so much moderation. These debates prove the truth of what I have before said, that in the upper classes of no country is the education for [)ublic aflairs so serious or so universal as in Holland ; they pi'ove, too, that nowhere does the best thought and informa- tion of these classes so well succeed in finding its way into the legislature. A most interesting accouiii*of the discussion has been })ublishc(l in the French lan- • Dcbnts sur rEnscijnement /)nV/ins, of fervent eloquence, and of pure and noble character. As a j)amphlelei'r and as an orator, M. Groen van rrin>terer attacked the neutral school with e<^jual pdWi'i'. "No education without religion!" he i-x- daimed, "and no religion excejit in connection with j^ome actual religious conununion ! else you fall into a vague deism which is but the fii"st step towards atheism and innnorality." If the (»])ponents of tlie non-denominational sc]i<»ol were one, its su])porters were many. First of all stood the Roman Catholics ; insisting, as in states where they are nt>t in ]K)wer they always insist, that the SUitc wliich cannot be of their own religion shall be of no religion at all ; that it shall be perfectly neutral between the various sects : that no other sect, at any nile, shall have the benefit of that State-connection which here it cannot itself ol)t4iin, but which, when it can obtain it, it has never refused. Next came the Jews and dis- senters ; accustomed to use the public schools, desiring I'KKSEXT SCIIOOl. LE(;iSLATIOX. 215 to niiikc them ewn iiioie neutral nitluT than less neutral, appreliensfive that of public schools, allotted separately to denominations, tlieii" own share might be small. Next came an important section of the Protes- tant party, the Protestants of the New School, as they are called, who have of late years made much progress, and whose stronghold is in the University of Gro- ningen; who take their theology from the German rationalists, and, while they declare themselves sincerely Christian, incline, in their own words, " to consider Christianity rather by its moral side and its civiHsing effect, than by its dogmatic side and its regenerating effect." For these persons, the general character of the rehgious teaching of the Dutch schools under the law of 1806, tlie " Clu'istianity common to all sects" taught in tliem, was precisely what they desired. Finally, the neutral sclu^ols \vere upheld by the whole hberal party, bent in Holland, as elsewhere, to apply on every pos- sible occasion their favourite principle of the radical separation of Church and State ; bent to exclude religion altogether fi'om schools which belong to the State, because with rehgion, they said, the State ought to have no concern whatever. The party which really triumphed was that of tlie Protestants of the New School. They owed this triumj)li less to their own numbers and ability than to the con- formity of their views with the language of the legisla- tion of 1806. That legislation was dear, and justly dear, to the people of Hohand ; a school-system had grown up under it of which they might well be proud ; they had not generally experienced any serious incon- venience from it. The new law, therefore, while it forbade, more distinctly than the old law, tlie school- master to take i)art in dogmatic religious teaching, while p 4 216 ( IIAITKI: Wll. -!l(»LLA.N'P. it expressly abandoned religious iustructioii tu the ministers oi' the diflerent reli^nous communioiLs, while it al)>tained IVoni })rue]ainunL', like the old law, a desire that the doLMuatic religious teaching of the young, thougli not given in the public school, might yet not be neglected, — nevertheless still used, like the old kw, the word C/iri.stisition with the purely lay charai-ter of the State; for the Stiite, a.s such, has no religion." Yet the Liberals accepted the new law as a compromise, and because, after all, it still repelled tlie introduction of the denominational school IJut the Catholics were less pliant. To the last they insisted on (.'xcluding the word i'lnistian^ because in practice, they said, this word signified ProkttUwt : and most of them voted Jigauist the law, because this word was retainesed, however, and by a large majority. Popular instniction in Holland i.s, therefore, still Christian. IJut it is Christian in a sense so large, so wide, from which evi-rything distinctive and dogmatic is so rigorously excluded, that it might as well, i)erhaps, have rested witislied with calling itself moral. Tho.se who gave it the name of Christian were careful to announce that by Christianity they meant " all those ideas which punfy the soul by elevating it. and which prepare the union ^^'( citizens in a common sentiment of • " Clmstclijke en m.n.atscliapjx'lijkc detigdeu.' PRESENT SCHOOL LEOISLATIOX. 217 mutual good will ; " not " those theological subtleties which stille the natural afiectious, and perpetuate divi- sions among members of one commonwealth." They announced that the Christianity of the law and of the vi^tate was " a social or lay Christianity, gradually trans- forming society after the model of ideal justice ; " not " a dogmatic Christianity, the afiaii' of the individual and the Church/' They announced that this Chris- tianity did not even exclude the Jew ; for " the Jew himself will admit that the vulues enjoined by the Old Testament are not in opposition with the word of Christ considered a^ a sage and a philosopher." * The Jews, on their part, announced that this Christianity they accepted. " In a moral point of view," said M. Godefroi, a Jew deputy from Amsterdam, " I believe and hope that there is no member of this Chamber, be he who he may, who is not a Christian. The word Christian, in this sense, I can accept with a safe con- science." f The Jews might be satisfied, Ijut the orthodox Pro- testants were not. In a speech of remarkable energy, and wliich produced a deep impression upon the countiy, ^I. Groen van Prinsterer made a linal effort agauist the new law. " If tliis law passes," he cried, " Cliristianity itself is henceforth only a sect, and in the sphere of government its name must never more be pronounced. We shall have not only the ne plus idtni of the separa- tion of Church and State, but we shall have tlie separa- tion of State and rehgion." '"But the Constitution," retorted M. Groen's adversaries, '• but the Constitution • See tlie speech of M. SchbiimeliMnniiuk, in M. de Laveleye's Di'bats siir C Enseigneimnl pritnaire, &c. p. 23. ■}■ Di'bals snr C Ensciijnement primaire, vie. p. b'-'>. 218 (IIAITKK XVIl. — IluLLANb. is OH our side!" "If ilie CoiLslitulion," replied M. Groeii, " makes the irreligious school a necessity, revise the Constitutiou !" When the law passed, he resigned his seat in the Chamber and retired into i)rivato life. It is too soon yet to prDUounce on the working of the law of 1857, for it has been in operation but two yeai's. There seems at fn^st sight no reiison why the rehgious in>truction of the Dutch scIuxjIs should not follow the siime coui-se under the law of IS'u as under the law of 1800, for both laws regulate this instruc- tion ill marly the same words. But the question of tli>tinctive religious teaching has been raised ; the strict execution of the letter of the law has been enforced ; the orthodox Protestants have been made to see that, under that law, a rehgious instruction such as they wished could be given only whilst their ad- vei-saries slumbered — could be withheld the moment their adversjiries awoke. The able and experieuceil inspector who conducted me round the schools of Utrecht, M. van lloijtema, in p(jinting out to me a private elementary school, remarked that such schools liad a much greater imj)ortance in Holland now than a few years ago. I asked him the reason of this ; he replied that in the large towns, at any rate, there was an increasing dissatisfaction \vith the inadequate re- ligious insti-uction of the public .schools, an increasing demand for schools where a real definite religious in- struction was given, lie added that this was a grave state of things ; that in his opinion it was very unde- sirable that the .schools of the State, with their superior means of cflTicieucy, should not retain the education of the people • ; tliat Government would probably be • In Belgium, where the numhor of chiUlrcn attending tome school or oilier is pretty nearly the Hame as in Holland, but where, TKESENT SCHOOL LIXilSLATlOX. '219 driven to do something in order to try to remove tlie present objections to them. I was greatly struck by these words of M. van Iloij tenia ; his testimony is above suspicion ; lie is a Government ofFicial, and a man of great intelhgence, experience, and Aveight. At the same time that he is school-inspector of Utrecht, he is also fii^t judge of the Mihtary Court of the pro- vince. But I do not regard his testimony as decisively estalilishing the failure of the recent school-law of Holland ; on the contrary, the hour has not yet come Ibr judging this law decisively. But it is evident, at the same time, tliat the example of Holland cannot at this moment be appealed to as exhibiting tlie complete success of the non-denominational principle. In fiict, it may perhaps be doubted, whether any body of public schools any^vhere exists, satisfying at the same time the demands of parents for their chil- dren's genuine moral and rehgious training, and the demands of the partisans of a strict rehgious neutrahty. Secular schools exist, but these do not satisfy the great majority of parents. Schools professing neutral reh- gious teaching exist, but these do not satisfy rigid neutrals. They may profess to give " an instruction penetrated with Christianity, yet without any mixtm-e of Christian dogma," * but they have not yet succeeded in giving it. In America the prevalent rehgious tone of the countiy is the religious tone of Protestant Dis- sent, and this, secular as the Ameriom school-system of that luiiiiber, the proportion attending private, not public schools, is much gi'catcr, the instiiiction is incredibly inferior to that of Holland. See Di-bnts snr C Enseigncment primitive, (the autlior of which is himself a Belgian), p. 7. * See the Speech of the Minister of Justice, M. Van der Bruggcn, Debats snr V Enseignement primaire, &.c. p. 47. 220 (HAITI:!: .WII. — llnLLAND. may profess itself, becomes the relipous tone of tlie |)ul)lic education of the couiilrv, witliout violence, witliout opposition. In England, the religious tone of the schools of the British and Foreign ScIrk.)! Society is undoubtedly also the religious tone of Protestant Dissent ; liut in England Protestant Dissent Is not all- pervading and supreme. The British schools, there- fore, have to try to neutralise their religious tone, so far as they can do this without impairing its religious sincerity ; and, jirecisely because they have to trj' to do this, precisely because they have to attempt this im- possible feat, these excellent schools are not thoroughly succeeding. While they are tcMi biljlical for the secularist, they are yet far too latitudinarian for the orthodox. And not the orthodox only, but the great majority of mankind — the undevout, the indiflerent, the sceptical — have a deep-seated feeling that religion ought to be blended with the instruction of their children, even though it is never blended with their own hves. They have a feehng e^pially dee]>-seatelia|)e and positive formu- laries. The Mall- nui>i noi torgri this in legislating for public education ; if it does, it nnist exi)ect it^s legisla- tion to be a failure. The j)ower which has to govern men, must not omit to take account of one of the most powerful motoi*s of men's nature, their rcligious feeling. It i.s vain to tell the SUite that it is of no religion ; it is more tnie to .say that the State is of the religion of all its citizens, without the fanaticism of any. It is most of the religion of the majority, in the sense that it justly establishes this the most widely. It deals with PRESENT SCHOOL LEGISLATION'. 221 all. iiuloed, ns nn autliority, not as a partisan ; it deals ^vitll all lesser bodies contained in itself as possessing a higlier reason than any one of llieni, (tor if it has not this, what right has it to govern F) ; it allows no one religious body to persecute another ; it allows none to be irrational at tlie public expense ; it even reserves to itself the right of judging what rehgious diflerences are vital and important, and demand a separate establislnnent * ; — but it does not attempt to exclude religion from a sphere which naturally be- longs to it ; it does not eonnnand religion to forego, before it may enter this sphere, the modes of operation whicli are essential to it ; it does not attempt to im- pose on the masses an eclecticism which may be pos- sible for a few superior minds. It avails itself, to supply a regular known demand of common human natm-e, of a regular known machinery. It is not, therefore, uiu-easonable to ask of those •• liehgions of the Future " which tlie present day so prothgally announces, that they will equi]i tliemselves Avith a substantial shape, with a worship, a niinistr}', and a flock, before we legislate for popular education in accordance with their exigencies. But, when tliey have done this, their neutralism will be at an end, * It is wortliy of itiiiaik tliat in France a separate cstaMislinn'nt, in virtue of Art. 2 of the law of 1833, was conceded only to schools connecting themselves witli one or other of the three cultes reconnus par rEtat, the Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish. It was not thought expedient to recognise minor divisions as constituting sufTi- cient gro\uids for separating school-children. The difference between the religious tenets of a Baptist and a Roman Catholic, fnr instance, would in France he held suflicient to make their claim for sej)arate schools reasonable ; not so the difference between a Bajitist and a AVesleyan. See an interesting decision of the Coiuicil Koyal on this subject in M. Kilian's Manuel already quoted, p. 72. •222 CIlAlTi:!: Wll. — IKtl.l.AMi. c]onomiiiationali-«iii will have made them prisonei's ; the deij()iniiiati<)iiali«r TUhiuLreii, instead of that of Utrecht or Geneva. The prin(ii)al change nuule In* the law of 1857 is the establishment of greater liberty of instmction. The certilicates of morality and capacity are still demanded of every teacher, public or ])rivate : but the special authorisation of the municipality, formerly necessary for every pnvate teacher before he could open sc1uk)1. and not granted excej>t with the district-inspector's sjmction, is demanded no lt»nger.* This relaxation makes the establishment of private schools more easy. The j)rogramme of prinjary instructiiMi, and that of the certificate-examination of teachei-s, remain much the simie as they were under the law of 180G. Primary instruction, strictly so called, is pronounced by the law of 1S.')T to comprcliend reading, writing, arithmetic, the elements of geometry, of Dutch grammar, of geograjjhy, of history, of the natural sciences, and singing. 'J'his is a much fuller jirogramme than the corres))onding progranune of France or lii'lgium. The certificate-examination is proportionately fuller also. The new law expressly ])rescribi's f that primaiy schools, in each commune, shall be at the commune's charge. The law of ISOCi had contained no jiositive • A corfificatp fir>ni the municipality, to the cAVtI that they have neon the private teacher's certificates of morality and capacity, and found tliem in repular form, is still required. But if the munici- yaWty refu.'K' or delay the issue <»f such certificate, the teacher may apical to the States' deptities and to the King. Sec I^w of August 13th, 1857; Art. 37, 3H. A traaslation of the whole of this im- portant law (for which I am indchtctl to the kindness of Mr. Ward, the BritisJi Secretary of Legntiou in Holland), will be fouud at the end of this volume. t -Vrt. 31. PRESENT SCHOOL LEGISLATIOX. 223 prescription on tliis point. The schools are to be in suilicient number, and the States' deputies and the supreme government have the right of judging whether in any commune they are in sufficient niniiber or not.* Scliool-fees are to be exacted of those wlio can aflbrd to pay them, but not of " children whose families are receivuig pubhc relief, or, though not receiving public rehef, are unable to pay for their sclioolhig."f If the charge of its schools is too heavj^ for a commune, the province and the State aid it by a grant, of which each contributes half J The exact amount of charge to be supported by a commune before it can receive aid, is ncit fixed by the Dutch law ; neither is a machineiy established for compelhng the commune and the pro- \ince to raise the school-fmids reqidi^ed of them. In both these respects the French law is superior. But in the weakest point of the French law, ui the es- tabhshment of a minimum for the teachers' salaries, the Dutch law is commendably liberal. The minimum of a schoolmaster's fixed salary, placed at 8/. a year by the Belgian and by the French law, the Dutch law j)laces at nearly 34/.*J> I need not remind the reader tliat the sum actually received by a schoolmaster in Holland is much greater. An undennaster's salary is lixL'd at a minimum of 200 florins ; one-half of the .sdaiy fixed for head-masters. Under the law of 1857 the public schoolmaster is still appointed by competitive examination. The dis- trict-inspector retains his infiuence over tliis examina- tion. After it has taken place, lie and a select body of tliL- numicipahty draw u}) a fist of from three to six names, those of the candidates who have acquitted * Art. 17. t Art. 33. X Art. 35. § 100 florins. •2H CllAlTKK XVII. llnM.AM". themselves best. From this Hst the entire body of the coininunal council makes its selection. The communal comicil may also dismiss the teacher, but it nuist lirsl ol)taiii the concurrence of the insj)ect<)r. If the com- nnmal council refuse to pronounce a tlismissal which the inspector thinks a(lvisid)le, the States' deputies of the province may pronounce it up<»n the representation (»f this functionary.* The law fixes the legal stafl' of teachc-rs to l)e allowed to public schot)ls. When the number of scliolai"s exceeds 70, the master is to have the aid of a ])ui)il-teacher (lict'ckrlvu/^ from kiri'clm, to foster) ; when it excetHls 100, of an undermaster ; when it exceeds laO, of an undermaster and jmpil-teacher ; for every TiO scholai-s above this last number he is allowed another pupil- teacher, for cvciy 100 scholars another undermaster.f The head-master receives two guineas a year for each pu])il-teachcr. The law of 1857, like that of 1800, has abstained from making education com|)ulsoiT. But it gives legsd sanction to a pnictice already long followetl by many numicijialities, and which I have noticed above; it en- joins the municipal council to '' provide as far as pos- sildc for tlie attendance at school of all children whose parents are in the receipt of public relief" Great ('(Torts had been made, in the debates on the clauses of the law, to jirocun^ a more decided n-cognition by the State of the principle of compulsoiy education. It wa.s ])roposed at l«ist to make the pajnnent of the school- fee obligatory for cacii child of schn c»f • Art. 22. t Art. 18. I PRESENT .SCHOOL LEOISLATIOX. 225 payment {sc/i<)(>Lf('l(I-])//)/f/]/Iu'id) had already, it was said, been enforced by the governments of three provinces, Groningen, Drentlic, and Overyssel, w-itli excellent ef- fect.* Tlie usual arguments for compulsory education were adduced — that other countries had successfully established it — that ignorance was making rapid strides ibr want of it — that in China, where it reigns, all the children can read and write. It was rejJied that com- pulsory education was altogether against the habits of the Dutch people. Even in the mitigated form of the .■^rho(>lningcn the mimljL'r of cliildrou attending school liad risen from 20,000 to 30,000, in consequence of the adoption in 1830, by the provincial goverament, of a regulation requiiing the payment of the school-fee for every child of from 5 to 12 years of age, whether he attended school or not. Sec Debats sur VEn- si'ujnement primaire, p. r»7. t Art. 58. (I 9-20 (IIAITKK Wll. — HnM.ANh. The lOtli article of the law tleclare^s that children arc to be admitted into the coinniuual K-'hool without dis- tinction of creed. For the much-debated 23rd article the wording finally adopted was as follows : — "Primaiy instruction, while it impails the infonna- tion necessary, is to tend to dcvelope the reason of the young, and to train tliem to the exercise of all Christian and socitd virtues. " The tejicher shall abstain from teaching, doing, or permitting anything contrary to the respect due to the convictions of dissenters. " Iveligious instruction is left to the diflerent religious comnuniions. The sch to 10(1. and their instruc- tion. This instruction is organised somewhat diflerently from that of our jnipil-teachers ; in each town of Hoi- 228 (lIAPTIli: Will. HOLLAND. land tlu' whole body of public schoolmaster fonn- commuiiity, jointly giving instruction to the whole body of i)ui)il-teacher6, each master taking his own subject. In Holland, as in our own country, there are at the present moment many complaint.'^ that pupil- teaehei's are exceedingl\' hard to obtain. Th«)se whom I saw appeared to me in general admirably trained ; but yet more remarkable was the training of the princi- pal masters. Many of the pupil-teachers spoke a little French, one or two of them a little English ; but among the head-masters it is not rare to find men speaking Engli.sh or French well, and having a considerable ac- quaintance with the literature of l)oth languages. The external appearance of the children, in thi>^ sclionl at the Hague, and their diseipline, were excel- lent ; yet this wius one of the f»)ur free schools of the « :i|)it;il ; there is also one intermediate or paying schl. My ini|)erfe(t knowledge of the Dutch language ])re- vented me fioin oially examining tlu' scholars ; but 1 saw enough of their work on their slate.s and in their copy-books, to convince me of the solidity of their in struitioiL The school o])cns daily with general prayer, general enough (it is sujiposed) for all to join in it ; and the lu'ad-maNter teaclu's scrijjture hi^tolT as part of the school-coiu'se. Out of school-houi-s, between 12 and 1 o'chx'k, sjiecial instructors attend, to give, in the scliool- room, religious instruction to the Protestant .«K!holars ; neither Koman Catholics nor the Jews use the school- riMMn for this pmiiose. though at liberty to do so. I jusked if any inconvenience was exi>erienced from the mixture of boys and girls in one school ; I was told, none whatever; the practice is universal in Holland. The three large scho(»l-rooms were well lighted and air\-; thonrrh the weather was hot, and the rooms were PRESEXT LONDITIOX OE POPULAK EDUCATIOX. 229 soincwliat overcrowded, the ventilation was perfectly ;4()od. In Holland, as in France, it is common, when a school is wanted, to adapt existmg buildings to the ])urpo-e, instead of erecting new ; the adaptations which I saw Avere generally successful, and much ex- pense is thus saved. I visited Haarlem ; but M. Prinsen, the celebrated director of the normal school, is no longer there. The present director is M. Geerhgs, who is at the same time the scliool-inspector of the district. M. Geerligs oblig- ingly conducted me through the primary schools of the town. Here, as at the Hague, the pubUc schools for the i)oor are four in number. Of two of these which I visited, one had 500 scholars, under a head-master with a yearly salary of 1200 florins, five under-masters, and one pupil-teacher. The other, with a somewhat lower instruction, had a head-master witli a salary of 1000 florins, six under-masters, and three pupil- teachers, with an attendance of 600 scholars. Both schools were overcrowded. Of the two other public schools in Haarlem, one has 700 scholars, the other 500. The pupil-teachers here have from 12 to 25 florins a- year ; the rate of theu' payment diflers in dilVerent places. The ordci* and cleanliness in both the large ])Oor-schools which I \isited were quite exem- plary. The law of 1S57 is t(^ be completed by regulations reorganising the normal schools of Holland ; but these regulations liave not yet appeared. Meanwhile tlie normal school of Haarlem is provisionally continued. It contained. wIumi I visited it, 25 students. They are not boarded in ihc institution, but lodge in the town; this arrangement is undoubtedly faulty, and the new regulations will change it. The institution is tl 3 280 t Haiti:!: .\\ hi. ii«>llam). entirely at the charge of the State, which allows 200 llorins a-year for the maintenance of each student in it. Ailniis^ion is eagerly souglit for. The course lasts four ycai"?. Tlie students attend lectures frnni 8 to 9 in the morning, and from 5^ to 7^ in the evening: the first-year students attend lectures in the aflernoou also. But the mornings of all the student^ji, the morn- ings and afternoons (»f students of the second, thiixl, and fourth yeiu*, are spent in teaching in the different schools of Haarlem. They are practised in sc1kx)1s of all kuids ; schools for the poor, schools for the middle claims ; schools (without Greek and L;itin) for the rich. The children of the latter, at an age when in England they would probably be still at home, almost univer- sally attend school in Holland. A sc1kk)1 for the richer class of children is attached to the normal school, and belongs to the present dirc^ctor, M. Geer- ligs. The students commence in the \Kiov schools, and go gradually upwards, finishing their practice in schools for the richer class, where the attaimnent rtvjuiretl in the teacher is, of coui-se, more considerable than in the othei-s. In Holland this mode of training the future teaclier so as to fit him for any kind of primarj- school, is found convenient ; the superior address and acquirement of the best Dutch teachers is probably to be jittrii)ut(.il to it. It L«< possible that in other coun- tries it might be found t<> have disidvantages. ]iut. at any rate, the large part jussigned in the Dutch sj'stem of training to the actual practice of teaching, is excel- lent. Our nonnal .sehool authorities would do well to meditate on this great feature of the Haarlem coui-se. The reader will j>erceive that when I siid that, in HoUmikI. iIh' U.-iinin'' of ih.; fntur.' v,],,...!- rilESEXT CONDITIOX OF POPULAR I'DUCATIOX. 231 master was nmrh more strictly practical and profes^ sional than with us, it was not a vain fbrni of words which I was usiii^\ Holland has at present a population of 3,298,137 iuhal»itauts. For her eleven provinces, she has 11 pro- viuc-ial inspectors and 92 district inspectors. In 1857, her public primary schools were 2,478 in number, Avith a staff of 2,409 principal masters, 1,587 under- masters, 642 pupil-teachers, 134 schoolmistresses and assistants. In the day and evening schools there were, on the 15th of January, 322,767 scholars. Of these schools 197 were, in 1857, inspected three times ; 618, twice; 1,053, once. In 817 of them the instruction is reported as veiy good ; in 1,236 as good ; as middling in 367 ; in 55 as bad. There were, be- sides, 944 private schools, giving instruction to 83,562 scholars. There were 784 infant schools, receiving 49,873 young children. Boarding-schools, Sunday- schools, and work-schools, Avith the pupils attending them, are not mcluded in the totals above given.* The proportion of scholars to the population, not yet so satisfactory as in 1848, was nevertheless in 1857 more satisfactory than hi 1854 ; in January of tile latter year, but 1 in evciy 9-35 inhabitants was in scliool; in the same month of 1857, 1 in every 8-11 inhabitants. But, in truth, the suffering state of popular education in ILJIand would be a flourishing state in most other countries. In the debates of 1857 one of the speakers, who complained that popular education in Holland was going l^ack, cited, in ])roof of tlie jus- tice of his complaint, returns showing the state of in- * See Tables I. :in(l II. (compiled from oilicial sources) at the end of Oii.s volume. Q 4 ■23-2 ( IIAITKK XMII. — HdLl.A.M). St ruction of tlie conscripts of Soutli Ilolhmd in 1856. In this least favoured province, out of COSG young men tlrawn for the anny, (»('»U could not read or write. Fortunate countiy, "svhere ^uch an extent of ignorance is matter t)f complaint ! In the neighbouring; countiT of Belgium in the same year, out of GG17 conscrijit.s in the province of Ilrabant, 2,254 could not read or write; out of o'.llO conscripts in the province of \\'e>t Flandei*s, 2088 were in the same condition ; out of 7102 in East Flandei-s, 3153. And, while in East Flandei-s but 1820 conscript.s out of 7102 could read, write, and cipher correctly, in South Holland, in the woi-st educated of the Dutch j>rovinces, nn 1« « than 52G8 out of G08G ])ossessed this dcgii quirement.* Such, ill Holland, is the present excellent situation of jiriniaiy instruction. In IVussia it may be even some- what more widely difliised ; but nowhere iu'liably, liMs it such thorough sountoil to provide and watch over .Mjhools; for a j)<>])uhition which, hke the Dutch popuhition, can in the main safely l>e tru>lcHl to come tielf, than the St^Ue in France, where it is httle valued by them. It is the same in the other country of which I have de.'jcribed the .'ichool-systt'm — in Switzerland. Here and there we may have found, indeed, school-nile> in some ropects injudicious, in some respects extravagant ; but evciy- where we have found law, everywhere State-regulation. English readers will judge for themselves, whether there is anything which makes the Stite. in England, unfit to be trusted with such regulation ; whether there Is anything which makes the pe<^ple in England unfit to be sul)jected to it. They will judge, whether there is any danger in intrusting to a State-authority, the least meddlesome, the leju^t grasj)ing, the least prone to over-government in the world — to a State- autliority wliich, even if it wi.shed to change its nature in these respect*:, would be j)owerle!^ against the re- sistance which would confront it — the superintendence of an important concern which the State su])enntend8 in all other countries, and which J5urke, no friend to petty governmental meddling, would indisputably have PRESENT CONDITIOX OF TOrULAR EDLXATION. 235 classed with religion among the proper objects of State establishment*, had this qnestion of popular education come to the surface in his day. They ^vill judge, wlietlier there is any inherent quality in the English pe()})le, fitting it to regulate well by itself a concern which no other people has by itself well regulated. For a certain part of its education, undoubtedly, tlie Enghsh people is sufficient to itself. In the air of Enghuid, in the commerce of his countrymen, in the long tradition and practice of liberty, there is for every Enghshman an education which is without a parallel in the world, and which I am the last to inidervalue. If I do not extol it, it is because every one in England appreciates it duly. This education of a people governments neither give nor take away. This it receives, not by the disposition of legislators, but by the essential conditions of its own being. But there are some things which neither in England nor in any other countiy can the mass of a people have by nature, and these things governments can give it. 'J1ioy can give it those simple, but invaluable and humanising, acquirements, without which the finest race in tlie world is but a race of splendid barbarians. Above all, governments, in giving these, may at the same time educate a people's reason, a people's equity. These ai'e not the qualities which tlie masses develope for tliemselves. Obstinate resistance to oppression, omnipotent industry, hei"oic valour, all these may come from below upwards; but uiiprejuchced intelligence, but c'quital)lc moderation — never. If, then, the State * See the rcmark.-iblc passage in Thoughts and Details on Scar- city, Biirke's ITor^v, London, 1852, vol. v. p. 21U. 236 (IIMTKU .Will.— HOLLAND. disbelieves in ixuson, wIkii will reason ri-iuh the nioh ? In England the State is perhaps inelineil to admit t(M) readily its j)()\\erlessness as inevitable. It ttK) ea^jily resigns itst-lf to believe that there exists in the eountry no sueh thing as a party of reason, capable of nphold- ing a govrnnncnt whieh shonld b«)ldly throw itself u\nm it fur support. Perhaps such a party exists ; per- haps it is stronger than governments think. Xo doubt the Stiite has in this country to confront^ when it at- temjjts to act, great suspicion, great jealoiusy. P.ut in other countries, also, it has had its advei^saries to con- tend with : and it has sometimes, even when most de- spotic, relied for succe.ss not on superior brute force, but on an arm which the mo.st constitutional State might l)lamelessly wield — on su])erior reason. The C\>nsular legislation of 1 S02, which I have already mentioned, supplies a notable instance. In his great work of re- organising French society. Napoleon determined to revive, by the institution of the ju^te^t system of public recomjHMise.s ever f«)unded — the legion (»f Honour those distinctions of rank which are .'^dutary and nires- sary to society, but which feudalism had abused and anarchy liad abolished. Distinctions are in nature ; but there are the essential distinctions of Nature herself, and there are the arbitrary distinctions of accident or favour. The decorations «>f governments usually follow the latter. The Legion of Honour wjis instituted to do homage to the former. The fanatics of an impossible erpiality declaimed violently agjunst the Fir>t Consul's ])roject. He ])ei>evered and succeeded ; but both in the Tnbunate and in the Legislative Body his mea>ure en- countered strenuous resistance. " We have gone a little too fa.st," said Naiwleon to those about him. when he PRESENT COXDITIOX OF I'OITLAK KOLTATIOX. 237 lieard of tltis opposition ; " we have gone a little too last, that must be allowed. But we had reason on our side; and^ when one has reason on one's side, one should have the courage to run some risks.'' Noble M'ords of a ])rofound and truly creative genius, which employed, in administration, something solider than makeshifts ! APPENDIX L'41 FRANCE. DeCHET SUR l'OrGANISATION VE lTnSTRUCTION rRIMAlRE. 3 Bruraaire, An 4 (25 Octobre 1795). TItrr, 1. — Ecoles prima ires. Art. 1. II sera etabli dans chaque canton de la Republique vine uu plusieurs ecoles primaires, dont les arrondissemens seront determines par les administrations de departement. 2. II sera etabli dans chaque departement plusieurs jury s d'instructiou : le nombre de ces jurys sera de six au plus, et chacun sera compose de trois merabres nommes par I'adminis- tration departementale. 3. Les iustituteurs primaires seront examines par Tun des jurys d'instruction, et sur la presentation des administrations muuicipales ; ils seront nommes par les administrations de departement. 4. lis ne pourront etre destitues rofe8seiir8 des ^coles ocn- tniK's ct sjKTiales, cuinuler traitoment ct pensions. 8. Ia's inKtituti'iirs j>riniJiires recevront du cli.icun de leurs elt'Vt'S line rt'triliution annuolle, (|ui sem fixee pur radniiniij- tmtion de deixarteinent. 9. L adininistnition niimicipale pourra exenipter de cetle retriltutii)n un (puut des eleves de chaquc ecole priinaire poiir canst' d'indigence. 10. I^s rdglemens relatifs an regime des ecoUiS primairej* .•^erout arr^tes par les administrations de departement, et soumis a Papprobation du directoire executif. 11. Ia's administrations municipales survcilleront imme- diatement les ecole.s primaire.s, et y maintiendront IVxecution lies lois et des arretes des administrations superieures. FKAXCK. -245 Loi ih'(|ue. B 2 244 M'I'KNDIX. Titre 2. — De3 Ecoleft prlmaires privies. Art. 4. Totit iiidividii a«;t' dedix-lmit ftU8 accoinplis poiirra fxercer \i\ profession d'institutiMir priinaire et diri;^er totit I'taMisse- iiu'iit (juelcoiuiue d'instructiuu priinairc, wins autros conditions i|ue de presenttT pr^'alablenient au maire de la commune ou il voudra tenir «^colo, — 1. I'n brevet de capacity obtenu, apres examcn, selon le degre ile lecole cpi'il veut etablir. 2. I'n certificat constatant que rimptt ran test digne, par sa moralite, de se livrer a Tenseignement. Ce certificat sera delivre, sur Tattestation de trois conseillers mtinicijiaux, jwirlc maire de la comnnme ou de chacune des comunmes on il auni reside dej)uis trois ;iii<. Art. 5. > .Hi incapables de tenir ('•cole, — 1. Les coiidamnea a des peines afllictives ou infanianteK 2. Les condamnes pour vol, escr(K|uerie, banus de confiance ou attentat aux nururs, et les individus qui ati- ront «'t«' privrs par jugement de penal. n. T.. s individus interdits en execution de rorticle 7 de la Art. I'). t^unoiKjue aura ouvert une cVoJe pninauf m «Miitravention a Tarticle .'i, ou sans avoir sjitisfait aux conditions prescrites par Tarticle 4 de la presento loi, sera poursuivi devant le tri- Itunal correctionnel du lieu du delit, et eondanin^ a une amende de cinquante a deux cents francs ; I'ecole sera fermee. Kn Qi\n de recidive, le delinquant sera con«lamne a un empri- sonnement de quin7:c a trente jours et a une amende de cent a (luatir iiMifs franr . I'K.wri:. t>4.5 Art. 7. Tout iiistitutiMir ]>rivt', sur la (K'lnandc du coinite lueutinnue ilans I'artiele ID ile la preseute loi, on sur la poursuite d\iffice du ministere public, pourra etre traduit, pour cause d'iiicon- duite ou d'imnioralite, devant le tribunal civil de Tarroudisse- inent, et etre interdit de I'exercice de sa profession a temps ou a toujours. Le tribunal entendra les parties, et statuera sonimairement en cliambre du conseil. II en sera de meme sur I'appel, qui devra etre iuterjete dans le delai de dix jours, a compter du jour de la notification du jugement, et qui en aucmi cas ne sera suspensif. Le tout sans prejudice des poursuites qui pourraient avoir lieu pour crimes, di'lits ou contraventions prevus par les lois. Titre 3. — Des Ecoles 'primalres imhl'iques. Art. 8. Les ecoles primaires publiques sont celles qu'entretiennont, en tout ou en partie, les communes, les departements, ou TEtat. Art. y. Toute comnume est teuue, soit par elle-meme, soit cu se reunissant a une ou plusieurs communes voisines, d'entretenir au moins une ecole primaire elementaire. Dans le cas ou les circonstances locales le permettraicnt, le Ministre de Tlnstruction publique pourra, apr^s avoir entendu le conseil municipal, autoriser, a titres d'ecoles commuuales, des ecoles plus particulierenient affectees Ti I'un des cultes reconnus par I'Etat. Art. 10. Les communes chefs-lieux de departement, et celles dont la population excMe six mille ames, devront avoir en outre une ecole primaire superieure. r3 2A6 AIM'KNKIX. Art. 11. TiMit tlt'|virtoment sera tenu »reiitretenir une ecole normal"- primairts soil par lui-m^ine, s«jit en se reunissant u iin mh phisieurs departements voiwins. Les coQseils generaux dtMiW-reront hut les moyenn d'assurer rentrt'tien des ecoles nornialcs pritnaires. lis deliWreront egalenient sur la reunion de phisieurs deuse« reconnues nt'-cessaires h FRAXCM:. 217 rinstruction priinairo, et, en cas d'iusuffisance des fonds de- partcMneiitaux, par ime imposition speciale, votee par le con- scil general du departement, ou, adefaut du vote de ce conseil, etablie par ordonuance royale. Cette imposition, qui devra etre autorisee cliaque anuee par la loi de finances, ne pourra exceder deux centimes additionnels au principal des contribu- tions foncidre, personnelle et mobili^re. Si les centimes ainsi imposes aux communes et aux departe- nients ne suffiseut pas aux besoins de I'instruction primaire, le ^Ministre de I'instruction publique y pourvoira au moyen d'une subvention prelevee sur le credit qui sera porte annuelle- ment pour Tinstruction primaire au budget de I'Etat. Clia(|ue annee il sera annexe a, la proposition du budget un rapport detaille sur Temjiloi des fonds alloues pour Tannce precedeute. Art. U. En sus du traitement fixe, Tiustituteur communal recevra une retribution mensuelle, dont le taux sera regie par le con- seil municipal et qui sera per9ue dans la meme forme et selou les memes regies que les contributions publiques directes. Le role en sera recouvrable, mois par mois, sur un etat des eleves, certifie piU" I'instituteur, vise par le maire, et rendu executoire ])ar le sous-prefet. Le recouvrement de la retribution ne donnera lieu ([u'au remboursement des frais par la commune, sans aucune remise au profit des agents de la perception. Seront admis gratuitement dans Tecole communale ele- mentaire ceux des eleves de la connnune ou des communes reunies, que les conseils municipaux auront designes comme ne pouvant payer aucune retribution. Dans les ecoles primaires supcrieures im nombre de places gratuitea, determine par le conseil mimicipal, pourra etre reserve po\u- les enfanta qui, apr^s concours, auront ete de- signes par le comite d'instruction primaire, dans les families tjui seront hors d'etat de payer la retribution. r4 248 aim'i;niu\. Art. II scnx t'taltli tliiiis c'h:uju«' (lr|>:irteinent nne caisse d'epargiie ft «lf prrvityaiicc lmi fjiveiir des instituteiirs primaires coiu- uuuiuux. lAis statute de cea caisses d'^pargne seront determiueji par des ordouimnces royalcs. Cutte caisse sem formee par une retciiuo anmu'Ile dviii vinj:fti(^ine sur le traitemeiit fixe de cluupu' institiiteur ooin- muiial. Le iiumtant de la retenuc sera place an compte oiivert ail tresor royal pour les Ciiisses d'epargue et de prevoy- ance ; les iiiterets de ces fonds seront capitalises tous les six mois. Le produit total de la retenue exerc^e sur cliaque instituteur lui sera rendu a I'epojiue ou 11 >< r< firera, et, en aus de dec<>s dans Texercice de ses foncti iive, ou a ses lieritiers. Dans aucun cas, il ne pourra etre ajouto aucune subvention, sur les fonds de TEtat, a cctte caisse d'epjirgnc et de prevoy- ance ; inais elle pourra, dans les formes et selon les regies prescrites pour les etaMisscnients d'utilite publi(|ue, recevoir lies dons et legs dont reiiiploi, a defaut «le dispositions des (lonateursou des testateurs, sera regie i)ar le conscil general. Alt. IC. N«il ne pourra etre in>nune instituteur communal, s'il ne n-mplit les conditions tie capacite et ile moralite prescrites jtar I'artiole 4 de la prescnte loi, ou s'il »e trouve dans un des cas prevus par Tartii'lc .'». Tifi't' 4. — I)rn Antorlifs jiri'iiosi'r.fd rinstrnrdon i>rimairr. Art. 17. II y aura j>r^s de cbaqiie ^cole communale un comite local de suneillance compose du maire ou adjoint, president, du riJANCE. '240 OMii' iiu pastour, et (run ou plusieurs lial)itaiits notal)les (U'- sii^nes ])ar le comite crarroudissement. Dans les comninnes dont la population est repartie entre differeuts cultes reconnus par rEtat, le cure ou le plus ancien des cures, et un des miuistres de chacuu des autres cultes, designe par son consistoire, lerout partie du comite commu- nal de surveillance. Plusieurs ecoles de la meme commime pourront etre reiniies sous la surveillance du meme comite. Lorsqu'en vertu de Particle 9 plusieurs communes se seront reunies pour entretenir une ecole, le comite d'arrondissement designera, dans chaque commune un ou plusieurs habitants notables pour faire pai'tie du comite. Le maire de cbacuno des communes fera en outre partie du comite. Siu- le rapport du comite d'arrondissement, le Ministre de rinstruction public[ue poiu-ra dissoudre un comite local de surveillance et le remplacer par un comite special, dans le(|uel personue ne sera compris de droit. Art. 18. II sera forme dans chaque arrondissement de sous-prefecture un comite specialement charge de surveiller et d'encourager rinstruction primaire. Le Ministre de I'lustruction publique pourra, suivant la population et les besoins des localites, etablir dans le meme arrcjndissement plusieurs comites, dont il determinera la cir- conscription par cantons isoles ou agglomeres. Art. I'J. Sont memlires des comites d'arrondissement : — Le maire du chef-lieu ou le plus ancien des maires du chef- lieu de la circouscription. Le juge de paix ou le plus ancien des juges de paix de la circouscription. 250 ArrKNDIX. Ia: cure on le plus ancieu dcs curds de la circoiwKjriptiim. Vx\ ministre de cliaouu des autrcs cultes reconnus jiar la loi, ijui txercera daus la circuiwcription, et (jui aura ete de- sigiu* c«Jiiune il est dit au second jwiragraphe de Particle 17. Vn proviseiir, principal de college, pn>fesijeur, regent, chef d'institution, on niaitre de pension, designe par le Ministre de rinstruction puMique, lorsartement, (jui au- rout leur domicile reel dans la circonscriptiou du comite. Le prefet preside de droit tons les comites du departement, et le sous-prefet tons ceux de rarroudissement ; le procureur du roi est membre de droit de tous les comites de Tarrondisse- ment. Le comite choisit tous les ans son vice-prdsident et son secrur les comites communaux ; en cas de partage, le president aura voix preponderante. I^s fonrtions de n(»tables qui font partie des comites dure- ront trois ans; ils seront ind^finiment rdeligibles. FRANX'i:. 251 Art. 21, Le comito communal a inspection sur les ecoles publiques on privees de la commune. II veille a la salubrite des ecoles et au maintien de la discipline, sans prejudice des attributions du maire en matiere de police municipale. II s'assure qu'il a ete pourvu a I'enseignement gratuit des enfants pauvres. II arrete un etat des enfants qui ne refoiveut rin.structiou primaire ni a domicile, ni dans les ecoles publiques ou privees. II fait connaitre au comite d'arrondissement les divers be- soins de la commune sous le rapport de Tinstruction primaire. En cas d'urgence, et sm* la plainte du comite communal, le maire peut ordonner provisoiremeut que I'instituteur sera suspendu de ses fonctions, a la charge de rendre compte dans les vingt-quatre lieures, au comite d'arrondissement, de cettc suspension et des motifs qui Font determinee. Le conseil municipal presente au comite d'arrondissement les camlidats poiu* les ecoles publifpies apres avoir prealable- meiit i)ris Tavis du comite communal. Art. 22. Le comite d'arrondissement inspecte, et, au besoin, fait in- specter par des delegues pris parmi ses membres ou liors de son sein, toutes les ecoles primaires do son ressort. Lorsque les delegues ont ete clioisis par lui, hors de son sein, ils ont droit d'assi-ster a ses seances avec voix deliberative. Lors(|u'il le juge ncceasaire, il reunit plusieurs ecoles de la menie commune sous la surveillance du meme comite, ainsi ([u'il a ete present a Particle 17. II envoie cliaque annee au prefet et au ^Alinistre dc Tln- ^tructioii jtul)li"|ue lY-tat de situation de toutes les ecoles l^rimaires du ressort. ■252 AI'IT.MU.X. II (lonne win avis sur les secours et les encouragements :\ aoconler a PinstrJiction primaire, II provoqiie les rt'fornies et lea ameliorations n^ccssoires. II nomme le« institutenrs communaux snr la presentation (lu conseil municipal, procede a leur installation, et revolt leur sennent Ia»s instituteurs conuumwiux doivent etre institues par 1« Miiiistre ile rinstnu'tinn j»iil.li.nu'. Art. 23. Kn cas «le nej^'iigence habitutlle, ou ..i'i.> ".'»' 1,789.260 2: Priman- Instruction . 4,260 00 67,868 2< Inatitut. 307,466 00 400,000 00 386,o34 t>6 399.992 CoIK^. .1 . ...... , 124,744 00 128,000 00 113.120 00 107.692 0., Miwt^um of Natural History 299.683 00 300,000 00 226.141 56 280.000 0.. Bureau of Longitudes . 120,000 00 120,000 00 102,799 00 100.669 9< Inipcriid Libr.ir 174.434 00 200,000 00 163.814 74 200.000 0. Mazarine Libr..: •2\.vr,?, (10 cs.non 00 22.158 23 33.999 31 Anonal Library . 66 34.974 48 1 .Sto. Gcneriiro Lil.m, . -r,,ouu 00 21.376 30 32.999 am Acadfoiy of Medicine • ■ P School of OriaatalLHii. and AiJe dts Charts* 34.91fi 20 32,248 9C J Encouragoment to Sciences and Fine Art» . 14l.-.':>'.' I'o , ........... .... 87.671 62 74,564 63 Sulxirnptiona to important Lil«'n»r>- and Sciontillc Work/ .... 124,251 00 120,000 00 106.032 40 165,673 15 rayn"""'* '*> Arti»t» . 38.700 00 87.000 00 36,200 00 43.160 00 Total § 3.691,068 74 3.142.260 00 3,488.976 35 3.400.977 47 • "nii-* and the thr«» Table* followinc arc extracted from /> IJf/5 The expense of the centnil tulminii^tration is not shov^ii in tlie almve tahle. Tliis wan for 1835, 471,278 fr. 22c.; for 1845, 524,037 fr. 64c.; for 1855, 638,312 fr. 66c. 2^ ArriiMux. Tai.ik ..r Si \rK-lArEMiiTLRE on Pkimauy I.ViTnucTiox, from 1835 to 1855. I_. . OrdinuT ami Obll(atoi7 RslraoniiiuirT EspeiMUiur*. Espcndliurr. TouL c. Fr. c. Ir. c. 164 26 1,040,639 14 .til.803 39 182 82 982,590 62 . -.08.772 94 i^: -.06.222 56 1 H.'IS •.42 97 1.026,574 80 • vir, 7S.I .-is 612.570 34 982,557 49 .05.127 83 i^U 624.815 13 1.357.053 63 'S1.868 76 1842 636,112 97 1.365.670 06 01.683 03 18J3 665.147 74 1,423.814 17 "88.961 91 1844 728.686 65 1.670.348 63 -. 28 isi.-, 7:r,.it7.-, 7;t l.fil9,625 77 .09,984 38 - J 50 <09.808 94 1M7 Vi5.65o 65 1.4S3.962 55 09,616 20 1848 1.996.363 20 1.460,524 45 iai.886 85 1849 1,030.773 96 4.799.069 69 s 29, 823 66 18.5<» 996.991 96 4.324,487 92 39.048 17 6.359.643 06 18ol 3.443.705 80 1.842.190 29 38.175 83 6.324.071 92 1852 3.559,112 43 1.89.1.109 77 47.766 92 6,499.989 12 1853 3.589.567 63 1.719.563 82 33,6<8 65 6,842,800 00 ISM 3.595.564 '.'7 - 56 54.617 69 5..390.991 22 1856 3.581.814 s; ^ .T2 58.541 71 5.(»29.974 87 ITvANCK. 257 III. Tai;le of Di-rAitT^iENTAL Expenditure on PRurARY iNSTRirc TiON from 1835 to 1855. Years. Ordi.-.iry Expenditure. Extraordinary Expenditure. Arrears of Expenditure. Total. Fr. c. Fr. c. Fr. c. Fr. c. 1835 2,888,912 59 183G . . 3,231,162 63 1837 3,859,541 82 1838 3,873,412 46 1839 2.684,249 85 1,309,832 04 21,696 42 4,015,778 05 1840 2.094,661 72 1,387,039 71 18,704 37 4,100,405 80 1811 2,749,371 66 1,328,014 73 22,262 08 4,099,648 47 1842 2,753,521 73 1,326,638 70 26,230 75 4,106,391 18 1SJ3 2,760,351 57 1,231,747 50 48,381 14 4,040,480 61 ISJl 2,787,351 79 1,477,541 90 135,016 86 4,399,432 52 ISIJ 2,809,240 77 1,570,118 87 24,531 11 4,404,313 75 isjr, 2,852,387 61 1,477,063 87 49,022 39 4,378,528 50 1817 2,913,810 89 1,504,891 11 98,920 66 4,517,622 66 1818 2,898,545 39 1,440,029 97 86.960 02 4,425,535 38 1819 2,945,891 32 1,496,387 74 105,418 41 4,547,697 47 1S.50 2,877,364 14 1,541.864 (14 117,299 92 4,536,528 10 1851 4,015.381 47 720,131 75 116,154 04 4,851,667 26 1852 4,188,100 72 1,177.145 29 165,803 14 5,531,049 15 1S53 4.241,4(15 79 1,201,318 13 94,646 89 5,537,370 81 1851 4.2.T2,409 47 1,227,288 90 75,484 59 5,535,182 96 1855 4,134,418 18 1,088,828 77 189,619 71 5.412.866 66 258 ArPEXDLX. IV. T.VBLE .sliowiu^' SrMM.VUY of St.\TK, DKr.VKTMENT.M., aiici CoMMrNAL* K\V niTnii: on Puim.vuy I.NsnircTio.N for the Years 1837, 1846, 1850, Ih and ]x')'). Nueurp of Il.v,ll(...tid Ivi.. .... 1 Iv17. 1 1 IMO. \slO. l«C.2. IhSi. 1 Fr. c. Fr. c. Fr. c. Fr. c Fr. c Roccirc.p.irt- 1 3,859,641 82 4,378,528 50 4,636,628 10 6.531,049 16 6,412,866 nunts . J F.xpon»o« 1 chnr)jc»l on the State . J 1,835,567 15 2,898.yU 21 5.946.970 19 6,241,122 05 6,737,967 < «• ExDcntiod on tlio rv- !«>urr<'<» of y th,. I'rimarj- 1 Nonnal 1 .S-lux.Ut J TotaU . 655.280 77 482.854 65 439.059 00 51 - "'■ 21.788.304 91 26,068,232 4b 29.5b7.l70 23 31.696,322 40 32.210,819 • Thia TuI'Ip ii» inoomplptc «» rpganbt the Communoti. thdr extraordinary exjienditur' thi'ir '• L- ' ' u;! 'i:;i:> (.•t i • iti;: i!)i't\iil' .1 iii it. T',-- ■ x;-. iM^I'un' .n. nidi's six times I ho .ii. ! jiirr* eiron in the •-h pnmary inptnii y >iuuii.il .Viiwoi* are, hy liequest or eni! >*• 1 aftcnranls pays them back as a wparat* FRANCE. 259 V. Table* sliowiiig the Number of Criminals accused, acquitted, and condemned, in France, from 1826 to 1850. Years. Population accord- ing to the Census of each Period. Accuspd. Acquitted. Condemned. 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 31,857,961 32,561,463 33,540,910 34,230,178 3.3,101,761 6,988 6,929 7,396 7,373 6,962 7,606 8,237 7. 3 1.5 G.9.52 7,223 7,232 8,094 8,014 7,858 8,226 7,462 0,9.33 7,226 7,195 6,685 6,908 8,704 7,. 3.32 6,983 7,202 2,640 2,693 2,845 2,898 2,832 3,508 3,592 3,118 2.701 2,825 2,009 2.977 2.853 2,795 2,750 2.446 2,251 2,312 2,295 2,234 2,275 2,873 3,048 2,774 2,696 4,348 4,236 4,551 4,475. 4,130 21,740 4,098 4,645 4,197 4,161 4,398 21,499 4.623 5,117 5,161 5,063 5,476 25,440 5,016 4,702 4,884 4,900 4,451 23,953 4,633 5,831 4,304 4,209 4,506 IS.5,075 68,900 23,483 116,115 * Ext ractfil from the liapport prexinte an Prince Prv.tidott dcln IHptihliqur, par Ic Garde des Sccaitx, stir FAdminisiration dr la Justice Criiniiullc c,i France, pendant Us annica 1826 d 1850 ; Paris, September 1862. AI'I'KNDIX. K6GLEMENT JWlir les KCOLES COMMl SALES L-VIQCES dc GaR(,0.\8 de la ViLLE de Paris. Hzlrail (It la Migration du Conteil Academique de la Seine, en date ou 23 JuMt 1862. I. Tableau de l'Emploi dd Temps. 8.30 OUVERTURE DE L'^COLE, ARRIV^E DBS JLaItRES. Ia» 6lhxe» 8c iV'uniiwent dans lea pr^aux. LvsTBrcnosc moiulb bt bi:i OrBfSB. Toufl lea jours. LxNorB FnAN«,'AISE. Toils \e» jours. 10 1 Leitim Lujidi. McrcrctU. ^'cnd^edi. Jcudi. 8atncdi i'liiKRE : diviu Jitut. D/'jcunor et Ri^cr^ation dnns l| K* prdaux. O YMN ASTIQVB f ««*» foi f 1 PitiKni;: Vent£, Etpnt-.^i, : AidTiiMriTtQCB rr Stst^me- Mr.TUlQlE. Toujj lt» jour- Drmix I iMiAtUR : I.un.li. VoiidriMi. LucTtnE: Manli. S.imi^li. K> ."^iiu-ili. Chant : Lundi. M«Trm«li. Vcndredi. pRt^a: Pater, Art, Cn^o, Con- fileor. Chaxt nr DOA/IXE. tlVI'Al.'T I La pri^rp doit ottv no?r MORA I F rr bsu- -iiivantc*. .Mire pour \m plus IJ I i'hll lil. : f r.r-,,; ,l,M(e. I)«jounpr ct R<.^cn[pnt-S<2iHt. ^CBrrruB. I)R»?n« lik^airb ]>our Ira i\h\va Ics pluM aranc^. Lkctii PniiRB Pater. Arf, Credo, Confiteor. Cbavt do DOMDIE. KVES. lino foifi par jour, au moinK. . n.iilif* p.ir I'institutcur a la ) analogue c»t applicable FRAXCR. 2G1 IXDICATION DU TeMTS COXSACRI:, EN SOMME, A CIIAQUE ENSEIGNT.MENT, PAR SEMAINE. Ire Classb. 2rae Classe. Instruction morale et reli- gicnse .... Lecture .... Ecriture .... Langiie fran^aiso Arithmetique et Systeme metrique Dessin lin^aire . Chant .... HLstoire ct Geographic . Heurcs. a 4 3 6 5 3 3 3 Hcures. 6 11 11 5 ORTHOOnAPnE, 6 henrcs pour los elives les phis avanccs. 6 heiires pour les eleves les plus avanccs. 33 heiires 33 heures NoTA. — La gjinnastique a lieu pendant los recreations. II. — Mode i/En.seignement. Premiere Classe. La promit>re cla.s.se, cclle dcs el^ve.s avances, sera dirigeo selon le mode simultaue ; reii.st'i«,niement y sera donne directe- ment par Tinstitviteur. Cependant, pour plusieiirs facultes, dans lesquelles les el^ves sont ordiiiairement de forces inegales, et doivent faire des devoirs differonts, telles que rarithmetique et I'ortho- graphe, on formera plusieurs divisions qui recevrout succes- sivement le9on du maitre. s 3 262 ArrKNDIX. Avaiit son arrivre dans une division, on apr^s qn'il y aura dounc Iffon, Ic nmitrc sera reniplucc jjar un niuniteur. Seconde Classe. I'niir la partie la plus ^lenicntaire de renseignement donnd dans la seconde cliusse, ou classe des commenfants des nioni- teurs seront employes. On prendra, pour en remplir Ics fonctions, et i\ tour de role, les (?l»>ves de la classe avanc«?e. Cepend.'Uit des el<^ve8 non encore admis dans cette derniere classe seront utilises coninie moniteurs, s'ils sont capables de letre, et s'ils reftiiveut tons les jours, sur ce qu'ils enseignent, une lefon directe du maitre. L'autre partie de renseignement, dans la seconde classe, sera donnee par le niait?'' Ini-ini-im-. r, iniTm- il \ ■» .'tr.. .lit dans les articles suivant -. III. — rnocicnts nKNSEir.NKMKNT a srivnE dans la Seconde Classe. 1° Instruction morale et religieuse. I'n monitcur place a I'estrade r«'( itrcs <|in Icur senmt indii|iu'.s (prfiniere demi-heure). Kcriture sur le ttiblemi iioir, par le« eldves, des noinbreM (ju'ils i-ntendroiit t'noiicer jiar Ic inoniteur (st'Coiide deini- la'un*). Les el^ve.s passerout A rmldition tjuaud il.s sauront enoncer ft «'crire des iiornbresdecjuatre chiftres. Ensuitc, I'euseignc- ment de la numeration aura lieu conjoiutemeut avec celui des quatre regies. Enseignement des quatre Ragles. lAi moniteur ayant <5nonce les nombres sur lesquels il s'jigit d'operer, et un el^ve les a^ant «krits sur le tableau uoir, chaquo ek've du groupe, a son tour, avec Taide du moniteur, fera une partie ditferente de I'operatiun. On operera ensuite de menie sur d'l i^re-s (pre- nuere denii-heure). Des nonibres etant encore enonces i<>« Aleves opereront successivement, mais sans ^tre aide.- ^ . unde demi- beure). Independamment des groupes autour de la salle, on formera ;iux bancs, pour les eleves les plus avances, des divisions plus uu nioins nonibreuses, ovi le travail, en calcid, se fera sous la .liii-.fi..n ilii iM.'iitrc. >uiv;iiit la«ter. 80, 9(», niul 100. 70. Above that n second school 60 to 90. '9 to 90 in Catholic schoobi. 80 in I*ro- tcst&nt Bchools. 120 scholars. 60 to 60. Al>oveth*t a second school. 20 to 100 scholars and above. 10. Above that a second school • The teacher receivcm in addition, hmlf the school-fec«, amounting tn i; ■ \ 1 f. 60 c. to 3 f. a year wr scholar. t The jialarj- is' pai.l by the State. There is a school-fee of from 40 ccnt.«. u> If per month for each child. SWITZERLAND. 267 TiON in tlie following Cantons of SwiTZKitLANn, in 1859. Minimum of Salaries. Contribution of State to Salaries. Contribution of Com- munes to Salaries. Cantons. .320 f.; 581 f.;700f.; 8001'., and above.* 207,057 f. for primary instruction, of which 145.000 f. for pen- sions. ? Zurich. 500 f. Thoro are higher ■^iilaries. 270,696 f. 360,000 f. Bf.rne. 60(1 f. 25,000 f. Communes pay, as a rule. FuiiiorRO. Town.— from 2028f. to 2564 f. Country. — from 1000 f. to 1074 f. 40,011 f. t ? Basle-Toa\-n. 120 f.: 500 f.; up to looof., anclaliove. 25,000 f. Communes pay tlio salaries. St. Gall. Town.— 1857 f. Countr)-.- 528 f.and 682 f. 100,000 f. 270,000 f. Aroovia. 600 f. 2000 f. 251,329 f. for primary instruction, of wliich 64,690 f for pensions. Communes, . 67,595 f. School-fees, 56.567 f.l Other sources, 19,750f. Neufchatel. 1000 f, 1400 f., and a good c(i.tual {>aid by the State. 97,000 f. for primary instmction, of which 74.085 f. for pensions. Communes contribute a quarter or half. Geneva. 522 f., but half the salaries are under thin amount. 600 f ; 700 f; 800 f.; 1000 f. in the towns. 46,660 f 298.377 f. : Vatd. * 176 Communes arc authorisiKl to receive school-contributions. N.15. — In all these Cantons the teacher has, in addition, a house, aU'l a .small piece of gnwuud, or an oquivalent. 2G8 AI'I'KMJIX. I1<>1.I.AM». L\w OF Tirr. 13th ArcrsT 18'>7, "N I'kimart rxsinrcTioN. Wk William 111. l)y the Grace of God, Kiii^' of the Nether- lands, Prince of Orange-Nassau, Grand Duke of Luxem- burg, &c. Sic. To all who shall see or hear these, greeting ! WiiKRKA.s We have taken into consideration that Art, 194 of the Fundamental Law provides that the esta- blishment of public instruction, with due respect to every man's religioxis principles, shall l)e regulated by law; that throughout the kingdom sufficient public primary instruc- tion shall be given on the part of the authorities, and that e tlie children Cdilectively nf not more than three families shall still be considered ;is ])rivate education. Art. :b Primary .schools shall be distinguished a.s public and private schools. 270 AI'I'KNDIX. Public schools are those e«tiiblif;hed and maintained Itv the communes, the provinces, and the government, severally or in Common ; all others are private schoolB. Assiijtance may be granted to private schools on the part either of the commune or of the province under such con- ditions as the communal or provincial authority may deem necessary. Schools thus agisted shall be open to juiy chil- dren, without distinction of religious creetl. The 1st and 2ud clau»es of Art. 23 are apiilicable to these schools. Art. 4. No school instruction shall be ^iven in such buildinjfs as shall be pronounced detrimental to health by the district school inspector, or insufficient in point of room for the number of children attending the scliool. In the event of the decision of this officer not being acquie^^ced in, the matter shall be decided by the States Deputiu giving primai-y in>tructiMn willmiit iiring qiiiditicd, or in violation of the 1st clause of Art. 4, shall ior the firs-t offence be punished with a fine of twenty-five and not exceeding fifty florins ; for the second offence with a fin(! of fifty and not exceeding a hundred florins, and imprison- 272 Al'I'KNIUX. inent for fij,'lit nnd not exceeding fourteen djiys, cuinulu- tively or separately ; and for each su])set|uent offence with imprisonment for one month and not exceeding one year. Any ]K'rson giving primary instruction beyond the limits of his qtialiHoation, shall he liable to half the amount and duration of the above-mentioneil punishments. Assistant- teachers, temporarily plactnl at the heat! of a school, providetl the temporary occupation does not last longer than six months, are excepted from these provisions — Art. 403 of the Penal Code, and Art. 20 of the I aw of the 2yth of June, 18.'>4 (Staatshlad No. 102 >. :iiv aiiplicahle to these pro- visions. Ai;. U. On every judgment of fine it shall he declared l.y the judge that, on failure of payment of the fine and costs by the offender within two months after having been summoned to pay, the penalty inflicted shall be changed into imprison- ment for not more than fourteen days if the fine exceed fifty florins, and for not more than seven days if a fine not exceeding fifty florins has been imposed. Art. 10. Except in tin- ....-..- UMiitioued iKrtafter, the <|ualificati(»n to give primary instruction ceases for any person c»»ndemnetl by final wMit«'ni ■ . ((. for crime. It. for theft, .swindling, jnrjury, bnatli of tru.'^t, or im- moral condtict. Art. 11. Any i>erson having lost his f|ualificatioii t<>r giving jtrtmary instniction, cannot recover it. In the cases mention«*d in the 7th clause of -Art. 22, and in .\rt. 39, it can Ix; granted again by Us. Art. 12. For the education of teachers there shall be at least two IIOLLAXH. 273 Government training schools; and normal lessons shall be estahlished in connection with some of the best primary schools by the authority of the Government. The education of male and female teachers in the primary schools shall be promoted by Stat-e authority as much as ])ossible. Art. 13. I'^rom every decision taken by the States Deputies in virtue of this law, an a})peal lies to Us. Art. 14. The provisions of this law concerning male teachers are likewise applicaljle to female teachers, as far as it does not contain any exceptions for the latter. Art. 15. This law is not applicable ; — o. To those who give instruction exclusively in one of the l>ranches mentioned in the classes marked /, n, o, and ^5, of Art. 1, and to the schools destined for those purposes. h. To military instructors and the instruction given by them to military men. Title 11. — Of rnhl'tc Instruction. — § 1 . 0/ the Schools. Art. 10. In every commune, ])riniary instruction shall be given in a certain number of schools, suflicient for the nundjer and recjuirements of the population, and open to any children, without distinction of religious creed. The instruction shall include at least the branches classed from a to i in Art. 1. Wherever any want exists of exten- sion, such being practicable, all the branches classed from L- to j> in Art 1, or one or more of them, shall be included in the instruction. Two or more adjoining communes may, in conformity T 274 APPHNDIX. with Art. 121 of tlic Law of June 29, 1851 (Staat^^liJiMl No. 85), join in tlio I'stublishinent .and inaintenancf of united kcIiooIb. Art. 17. Thf CMuncil of the ooniinune shall fix the nuniltcr of schools. Its resolution ^' " ' lumunicntetl to the States Deputies. If the States Deputiis tliink tlic nunil>er insufficient, they shall order an augmentatiim. If it shall appear insufficient to Us, an augmentation may he ordered hy I's. The extension of instruction mentioned in the 2nd clause ..r fl... iM.t Artirl,. J,:.l] 1 ,fMl.liJ,..,1 in t1u. ^r,,n.. ur.v. If the numher of pujiils in one school shall exceed seventy, the head-master shall be a.'ssisted by one apprentice- teacher ; in schools not exceeding one luuidred, by one a.'isistant-teacher ; exceeding one hundred and fifty, b}- one assistant and one apprentice. Beyond the latter ninnber, he shall be assisted by one ap])rentice f«)r fifty, and by one assistant for one hundred pupils respectively. Art. If). A yearly salar}- shall be assigned to every head-ma>5ter, besides a house rent free, with a garden, if jjossiblc. In case no house rent free can be providcetween the council of the commune and the teacher ^nth respect to the amount of such compensa- tion, the question shall be decideix. the cornmuiie from a list containing three names preparemast<'r and couneillorp, in concert with the head- n)jb«ter and the district school-inspector. The heatl-niasters and assistant-teachers may be siispendcnl bv the burgomaster jujd Cdimcillors, after consultation with the school-inspector. The burjjomaster and councillors sliall give as soon as possibb' ■' ■ ' "t ..f their decision to the council of the comnuu. The head-masters and a i-iun-t. ;.. lu-rs may be dismissetl by the council of the commune on. the requisition of the burgomaster and the councillors, and the district sch<»ol- inspector. Resignations must be made to the council of the commune directly. If suspension or dismissal sbouM be nectssjiry, either according to the opinion of the local committee for schotd affairs, or i>f the district schoul-inspector, and the common council delay or refuse to proceetl thereto, such suspension or dismiss.'d may be effected by the States Deputies. Suspension shall never exceetl a term of three months, and the stilary may continue to lie ]•'. - ' • •: "• or entirely withheld during suspension. Those who arc dismissed on :i(<-. niit >er>'ice to one- sixtieth part of the yearly salary which during the last twelve months previous to an houounible discharge may have servetl as a basis for the jtayment of the contributions mentioneer cent, per annum of the yearly salary annexed to their appointment. This contri- bution shall be collected on l>ehalf of the .State, at the charge of the «)fficers <>*" tK.- r.>uv„uu,-. mi,,1 ;..-.•. .unted for to the public treasur\ . Art. li'J. Those commtuies in which any head-masters or assistant- teachers shall be pensioned by virtue of this law, shall make goo! the same cla.ss in any school. For two or more children of the same family, attend- ing school at the sjimc time, the rate of payment may be reduced. Art. 3(5. If, after inciuiry by tlie States Deputies, and after the report thereon of the States of the province, We shall juayment of ten florins for those of head-masters or heml-mistresses; five florins for those <»f assistant-teachers of either sex ; five florins for those of private-te^vchers, either male or female, in more than one subject; three florins for those <-t' ■ "■ - ♦"-tejvcher, either male or female, in one subject only. For the first record (as mentionetl in «i;ium - j and 3 of the preceding Art.), in the certificate of school-instruction, three florins shall be paid, and in that f«>r private ttiition in one sid)ject, only two flt)rins. The first record in the cer- tificate for private tuition in m<»re than one subject, and any further recorfls in general, shall be made gratuilotisly. The above-nientionetl sums are to provide for the expenses of the meetings of the boards, including the remuneration to the a8se8sor8. The surplus shall be paid over to the public treasury-. Art. JI. Certificates of capacity shall be valid for the whole kingdom. Certificates for school-instruction shall be also valid for private tuition. Certificat<^ for private tuition also qualify the holders 1m IIOr.LAXl). 285 give instruction in a school, in one or more of tlic sulijects niiirked b, c, and from / to p, inclusive, in Art. 1. Certificates of capacity as head-master or Ik ad-mistress qualify them equally to hold the place of assistant-teachers. In addition to the cases provided for in Art. 20, the cer- tificate of assistant-teachers may, under the conditions to be prescribed by Us, qualify the holder to be at the head of a ])ublie school. Title V. — Of the Superintendence of Education. Art. 52. The superintendence of education, subject to the super- ^ ision of Our ]\Iinister of the Interior, is conferred upon — a. Local committees for school affairs. b. District school-inspectors. c. Provincial superintendents. Art. o3. There shall be in every commune a committee for school affairs. In communes united by virtue of the 3rd clause of Art. IG, for the purposes of the erection and maintenance of joint schools, there shall be a joint committee. Art. 54. In communes of less than 3000 inhabitants, the duties of the local committee for school affairs are transferred to the burgomaster and councillors. In other communes the committees shall be ajipointed by the council of the commune. The office of member of the committee may be held with that of member of the council of the commune. Art. ').'). Every province shall lie divided by I > into school-dis- tricts. 286 AITKNIUX. Ever)' district shall he phiced under the charge of a Kchool- inspector. In cn.'«e of decease, Bicknew, or absence of the school-in- spector, provision may be made for the performance of his duties by Our Minister of the Interior. Art. .'»(}. The scljool-inspector shall l>e appointed by Us Air tlic period of six years. On the expiration of their period of service, they may be reappointed. They may be dismissed at any time by Us. Art. .07. The school -inspectors shall receive a certain sum from the public treasury, as compensation for their travellinji; expense^s and maintenance. Art. 5i^. In each province there shall be one superintendent (pro- vincial-inspector). The superintendents shall be appointed by U.<. They may be dismis.sed at any time by Us. They shall receive from the public trea.sury a yearly wdarv, and eompensiition for their travelling expenses and main- tenance. Art. .VX The superintendents shall be summoned to meet togeth«r once a year, by Our Minister of the Interior, for the purjM.sc of d«liberating »ij)on and promoting, under his autliority, the general interests of primary instniction. Art. GO. The stipcrintendcnl.^ sli.i]) 1,..ld n^ mHIk- (.r ••iii)il.i\ in. i,; without Our permissi- An. ration, and they shall make it their Viusiness to promote The school-inspectors shall take < > onstantly and fully ac«|uainted with the state of school at^airs in their dis- trict. They shall visit at lea.st twice a year all schools within it where primary instniction is given, and keep an accurate record of such visits. They shall take care that the regula- tions concerning primar>^ instruction be strictly obser\'ed. They shall commiuiicate with the local committees for school affairs, and with the councils of the commune ; they shall lay before them, as well as the provincial siiperintendent, such propi>sjds as they may think conducive to the interests of education. They shall give notice to the said stiperin- tendent of anything which in visiting the schools has ap- pearcKl to them of any imi>ortance, and provide him with all such inf»>rmation as he may recjuire. They shall deliver to the superintendent, Iwfore the Ist of May in every year, a report on the state of education in their district, with their remarks thereon, and send a copy thereof to the States Deputies. They shall heartily support the interests of the teachers, promote their meetings, and be present at them, as far as possible. Art. C>G. The school-inspector? shall have admittance to the meet- IKM.LAND. 289 iiig.s of all local coinniittees for school affairs in their district, :iiul they shall have cousultixtive voice in snch meetings. Art. G7. The superintendents siiall endeavour, both l)y visiting the schools and by oral and written communications with the local committees for school affairs, and with the councils of the communes, to promote the improvement and prosperity of the schools. They shall advise Our Minister of the In- terior on any questions respecting which their opinions may be asked. They shall prepare from the annual reports of the school-inspectors a report, accompanied with their remarks, concerning the state of education in their pro- vince, and send this report, before the 1st of July in each year, to Our above-meutioiR'd ^Minister. Title VI. — Transitory Provisions. Art. 68. Teachers of either sex, both public and pri\ate, and tutors and governesses who at the time of this law coming into opera- ti()n shall be lawfully engaged in such callings, require no reappointment nor acknowledgment to continue therein. After that time, any certificates of general admission of the 1st and 2nd rank obtained previously, shall be consi- dered as giving the same rights as certificates of capacity as head-master ; certificates of the 3rd rank as giving the same rights as certificates of capacity aa assistant-teacher ; those of school-mistresses as giving the same rights as certificates of ciipacity as head-mistress: but only within the province or comnume where such certificates have been delivered. Tutors and governesses who after that time ilesire to settle as such in another commune, are obliged to submit previously to the examination mentioned in Art. 18. Head-masters of private schools of the 2ii(l cl;uss in existence at the time of this law coming \uXo operati»jn, who hold at least the 2nd rank, niav in case of transfer of such 290 Al'I'KMMX. scho(»ls l»y tin' oitiiu-il <>( thf coinmuiir, in cucvrt with tlu- district Kohool-inKpectf»r, a« puMic primary schools, Ik.' ap- pointtxl JUS hea(l-ina.st4'rH «>f siich institutionK. The prt>visi(HiH of Art. 22, concerning the proposiil of names and the competitive examination, are not applicable to these cases. Art. C9. The yearly salaries of all public head-masters and head- mistresses in actual service at the time of this law nmiin^ int«» operation shall, as loiij; its they continue to hold their pla«es, in no case be fixed at an amount less than the income which they have been receiving yearly, at an average, during the five years next preceding the alx)ve date; or, for those who have been in service for a shorter time, during such slK.i-fer period. Art. 70, Tu carry into efTi-ct the [truvisions respecting the fixing of the nMnil)er of schctols in proportion to tlie population and their wants, and the extension of the instruction (-Arts. iGand 17), the fu'tsistance in teaching to be aflTordt-il to the head- master (Art, 18), the yearly salariefl and other emoluments of the head-masters and assistant-teachers, and the atldi- tional remuneration on account of the apprentice-teachers (Arts. 19 and 20), and the expenses of education (Arts. 31 — 35), — a term of three years at most is allowed, reckon- ing front the date of this law coming into operation. During such tI\ I. T.uti.K* sliuwiii.j ToTvi. NiMiir.u >>f I'iiim.vhy of Holland, rroTlncw. i 1 Poimlation on School nutrku. Local School Kumb«r of Irt Janiury Irt Janiurr 1847. 1 North BraLant n;i7.133 Qelilerlaml 7 .252 South Ilollnna . 7 7,367 North HoUaml 7 '564 Z.fliinJ . 1.495 Utrwht . . : '.441 KrioManil 249,769 Ovonssol 218.651 Oroninpen 189.178 Drentho 83.675 LimbuTR ."". n. 409.678 396.421 612.031 542,234 165.791 159,382 268.119 233.723 204,484 92.785 213.489 9 10 9 r. 4 8 4 11 1 2 4 42« 442 484 610 1«0 21'. 14C 226 ToUl . 1 "■■""'■'"■' 3.298.137 82 54 3422 • Thin and the following TaMc arc cxtnu^od from an official Roport on ^rf m Ijagrr* Schotrn in fut KoHtntfrijk d»r XfilrrlaHiicn oivr 1867 — 1858. H()L1>A.N'D. 293 Schools, Teachers, aud Scholars in eacli Province in 1857. Teacher!. Scholars. lath January. 16th July. Male, j Female. Total. Boys. Girls. Total, j Boys. Girls. Tot.al. 664 263 927 27,360 22,100 49,460 19,723 17,996 37.719 760 134 894 32,065 22,029 54,094 21,072 16.931 38.003 1,225 131 1,356 37,743 29,797 67,540 34,485 28,600 63,085 1,084 188 1,272 31,726 25,849 57,575 31.944 26,927 58,871 323 15 338 11,613 7,640 19,253 7,834 6,486 14.320 347 56 403 9.700 7.619 17,319 8,855 7,567 16,422 622 21 643 21,938 17.040 38,978 18,412 15,581 33,993 467 34 501 17,334 14,691 32,025 13,619 12.387 26.006 439 3 442 16,049 14,260 31,209 14,691 13,666 28,357 200 5 205 7,106 6,202 14,008 ! 4,900 4,659 9,559 349 61 410 14,119 10,749 24,868 10,186 1 8,097 18,283 6,480 911 7.391 228,353 177.976 406,329 185,721 158.897 .344,618 Public Education in Holland, Vcrslag nopens den Staat dcr Hoorje, Middlc- The Hague, 1859. 294 AI'I'liMMX. II. 'r.Mii.K showing the PnoroiiTKiN. iu H 116 1 88-7 86-4 Utmoht 1151 1087 109-2 103-0 Frioiiland . 15(V1 n:,. 130 1 126 8 Ot.tjwI . 116 5 1370 119 5 111-3 Oponingrn . lf>5 l.VJ (-, 1 »'.! 9 138-7 Dronthc . ir.7 1 1 12 1030 Limburg r2(i-5 110 5 1 88-6 86-0 McannumU-r . 136 1 123-2 116-4 1045 TIIK K.Mi (l< ST »rwTT l« w »(V«laKCT MK-*Ba AHMUr JF^'J' ^f.ttl»l RETURN EDUCATION-PSYCHOLOGY LIBRARY TO— #> 2600 Tolman Mali 642-4209 LOAN PERIOD 1 3 MONTH o J 5 6 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS NO RENEWALS Return to desk from which borrowed DUE AS STAMPED BELOW FACULTY lOANIDUE md SUBJECT TO RE DECEIVE JDU il988 LD'JC-P^KH. UBRVt MAR 2 1999 3tr AM ^!Y .N-RENEWA3LE FRSITY Of- r ALifQRNIA, BE^^ F ^ BfteK[LL' .A 94720 '^y< ■ 'M^ .'/A >c^:f i^mm •*^^^^^J; fi* '^- f!- vr- •- '?