Ост. 160 Plan for Keeping in Ignorance the Poorer Classes. OCT. into execution. It was adopted by Buonaparte, on his accession to power, invested with the pompous appendages of an administration, a board of inspectors, &c. and unfolded to the legislative body by the public orators, with the customary profusion of promises and encomiums. The discourse pronounced by M. Fourcroy, the chief organ of the government, on the occasion, was sufficient to show the dispositions with which the scheme was undertaken. It was significantly stated, in relation to that part of it which authorized the government to select, and educate at the public expense, nearly seven thousand pupils, 'that those who could duly appreciate the circumstances of the times, would see how peculiarly well adapted to the conjuncture was this provision.' It was at the same time, bitterly deplored, that the government could lend no pecuniary aid to the maintenance of the primary or common schools of the empire, ' inasmuch as that object would require at least two millions of francs annually-an expense too heavy for the treasury to incur.' These were, however, the schools of most importance to the public. At the same time that the treasury could not afford them the sum mentioned, more than seven millions were allotted to the establishments in which the pensionaries of the government were to be educated. Vast domains were at this very period bestowed upon the legion of honour; the expenses of the civil list amounted to almost thirty millions of francs, and yet the public purse could not spare so small a stipend as two millions, to promote the instruction of the poorer classes of the empire! The plan provided for the erection of thirty-two lycées or colleges, a certain number of special academies, and a multitude of secondary and primary schools.' It was announced, that a complete, liberal education would be given in the lycées. The seeondary and primary schools were to be established in every district of the empire, and to communicate the rudiments of knowledge; the special academies were appropriated to law, medicine, and the military art. The treasury was to contribute to the maintenance of the lycées and academies. It was recommended to the municipalities of the various districts or communes of the empire, to organize the rest, and to draw the necessary supplies for their support from the parents of the children who might be sent to them. All the common schools throughout France, existing by whatever tenure, were classed under the denomination of primary and secondary, and committed to the superintendence of the prefects. No individual was permitted to undertake the business of tuition without an appointment from the municipality. No public instruction of any kind can now be given, in any part of the empire, but under the authority and immediate controul of the government. The The first feature that strikes the mind, in this outline of the new system, is that all-grasping and jealous despotism, which leaves nothing to individual enterprize, and usurps an absolute controul, even over that branch of the public education to which it denies pecuniary aid. The primary and secondary schools, although established by the municipalities, and maintained by the contributions of those who frequent them, are, nevertheless, compelled to adopt the course of studies, and the system of discipline prescribed by the government, and to submit to any regulations which the prefect may think fit to impose. The indifference of the French government about the education of the lower classes must be obvious, from the appropriation of funds for the maintenance of the colleges and academies exclusively. If the French treasury could not afford means for the support or assistance of all the branches of the system, it is to those, from which the common people were to derive instruction, that the sum granted should have been applied. Dr. Smith reprobates any kind of interference on the part of a government in the concerns of education. He questions the utility of erecting or maintaining with the public funds any institutions for the instruction of youth. But this great writer at the same time remarks, that a wise and beneficent government will always prefer, as the objects of its bounty and attention, the establishments for the education of the common people.* adduces, in support of this opinion, various reasons, which carry the fullest conviction, but which it would occupy too much space to detail. The French rulers were not unacquainted with this doctrine, but were naturally more attentive to the chapter of Montesquieu, which treats of the nature of public education under a despotism, than to the pages of Dr. Smith. He The situation of the lower classes in France, with regard to the means of education which they possessed, was such, on the accession of Buonaparte to power, as to claim, pre-eminently, his most strenuous exertions in their favour. They were almost wholly without common schools, and so far impoverished as to be unable to form or support them. The long disuse of public instruction had, moreover, created an apathy on this subject, which rendered it necessary to tempt them to seek instruction for their children, by disburdening them of at least a part of the expense. It was in vain, with a serious view to their advantage, to authorize the municipalities to appoint teachers, without providing at the same time a stipend for the latter. By interdicting also, all individual enterprize in the business of tuition, and organizing a particular police for the * Wealth of Nations, b. v. c. i. a. 9. inferior inferior schools, the professed object was impeded, and such, I have little doubt, was the real intention of Buonaparte. The accuracy of this reasoning is evinced by the result. Nothing can be more wretched than the state of the common people, at this moment, with regard to education. To read and write are rare qualifications among them, and their ignorance is not compensated by religious instruction. In a report made in 1806, by M. Fourcroy, director-general of the public establishments for education, the whole number of pupils belonging to the primary and secondary schools, is computed at seventy-five thousand one hundred and eighty-six. This statement probably contains an exaggeration, but admitting it to be correct, the proportion is miserably small, out of a population which was then estimated at thirty-two million of souls, and of which one fourth, at least, consisted of children.* About two years after the institution of the secondary schools, a law was enacted, authorizing the government to introduce into each of them twenty-five pupils, the expense of whose education was to be defrayed out of the tuition money paid by the rest, and who were to be chosen from among the children of the military, and of the civil functionaries. This was a heavy stroke upon the teachers, whose scanty emoluments were thus materially curtailed; and an addi tional, and most atrocious act of violence, with respect to the individuals whose private seminaries had been forcibly incorporated into the new system. It also fell weightily upon those who educated their children at their own expense, by enhancing the price of tuition. At the distance of two years from the date of the creation of the primary schools, the director general, in one of his reports on the subject, was compelled to acknowledge, that this branch of the system had not encountered the success predicted. He then ascribed the tardiness and difficulty with which they were formed, to causes that now exist with tenfold aggravation. These were, first, the poverty of the rural communes or districts, which rendered them incapable of furnishing the teachers with a suitable dwelling, or of paying the fine prescribed in lieu of it; and second, the want of capable teachers. At the time of my residence in France, the impoverishment of the villages and agricultural districts was such, as to render it impossible for the peasantry to pay a price of tuition sufficient for the decent maintenance of teachers for their children. This circumstance, connected with other causes, created an extreme difficulty of finding competent persons disposed to en In the Statisque générale et particulière de la France,' the proportion of the population under twenty, is estimated at nine twentieths. Malthus also adopts this calculation. See Appendix to the third edition of the Essay on Population. gage gage in a career which consigned them to a state little short of absolute want, and to the condition of mere machines, in the hands of the civil functionaries. These evils, of which the government was compelled to acknowledge, and affected to deplore, the existence, in 1806, are, I am well informed, greatly increased, and still more visible in their consequences. The common schools, particularly of the interior, are but few, and most wretchedly constituted, both as to the number and character of the pupils, and to the moral and intellectual qualifications of the teachers. The middle classes, who are unable to pay the expense of educating their children in the lycées, suffer most severely from this state of things. The lycées constitute the most important branch of the present system of education in France. It is to their organization that the government has particularly directed its attention, and in them, that the youth of the country are moulded to its purposes. The whole design is striking, and the details are not a little curious. There are now forty-five of these colleges throughout the empire, all of them regulated by the government, which appoints the professors, fixes the price of tuition, inspects their accounts, &c. They were announced, at the period of their formation, as destined to afford a complete course of liberal studies, excluding whatever was superannuated or superfluous in that of the old universities. The Greek language is proscribed, while three years are allotted to the Latin. There must be at least eight professors for each college. The course of studies embraces the Latin, as I have mentioned, ancient and modern history, chronology, geography, the belles-lettres, natural philosophy, and the mathematics. These branches of knowledge are taught from their rudiments. No preliminary acquirement is necessary for the pupil, but the faculty of reading and writing. The secondary schools are thus rendered superfluous for those who are able to defray the expense of tuition in the lycées. It is, indeed, in the latter only, that any solid instruc tion can be obtained. A library, composed of fifteen hundred volumes, is allotted to each college. All the libraries consist of the same works, and no book can be introduced into any of them without the express authority of the minister of the interior. No work or elementary treatise can be taught by a professor, but such as is prescribed by a committee, appointed by the government, to make the selection. The internal discipline of these colleges is most minutely traced in the voluminous law enacted for the purpose. Nothing is left to the discretion of the superintendents, or to the professors; not even with regard to the hours of study, the modes of recreation, the forms forms of dress, &c. All corporal chastisement is interdicted. Arrest and imprisonment are the punishments inflicted upon delinquents. An officer, intitled l'officier instructeur, is attached to each college, and charged with the important business of instructing the pupils in the manual exercise, and in military evolutions. He is to be ready at all hours of the day, to head them in their various marches. They proceed to their exercises, of every description, by the sound of the drum, in regular order, and are divided into companies of twenty-five each. Each company has a sergeant and four corporals, selected from the pupils, and a sergeant-major, who discharges the functions of the officier instructeur, in his absence. The pupils are headed by the latter, in their public walks. On holidays, an additional hour and an half is allotted to military exercises. The same system, with respect to these exercises, prevails in the secondary schools. The pupils of the lycées are suffered to correspond with none but their relations or guardians, and their letters are subjected to the inspection of the proviseur or heads of the college. A stranger, in visiting the lycées, has constantly present to his mind the idea of a barrack, rather than of a college. I could not devest myself of this impression, when I heard the sound of the drum, and witnessed the regular marches of the pupils. Every thing about them is calculated to infuse the martial spirit. It is obvious, from every feature of these institutions, that such is the principal use to which they were meant to be applied. To create a slavish admiration of the character, and an entire devotion to the interests of the emperor, is another material purpose, which is betrayed even in the most minute details of the scholastic exercises, and to which the exhortations of the teachers, and the contents of the libraries are particularly directed. Latin and the mathematics are taught with most care and success. Much attention also is paid to such parts of ancient and modern history as conduce to the main design. The other branches of knowledge, enumerated in the list of studies, are but superficially cultivated. Three inspectors make a circuit once a year through the departments of the interior, in order to examine into the state of the lycées, and to report thereon to the government. I formed an intimate acquaintance with one of the gentlemen, upon whom this task had devolved, at the period of my residence in France. The result of his inquiry, as he circumstantially communicated it to me, presented a most unfavourable, and indeed disgusting picture, of the condition of these establishments. The buildings appropriated to the lycées, which, by law, are to be maintained and furnished by the cities to which they belong, were in a neglected and mouldering state; the number of pupils educated at their own expense comparatively |
