attendance upon them compulsory. But discord at home and wars abroad, during the years immediately succeeding, prevented the execution of this wise de

cree.

Having crowned himself emperor, Napoleon did not remain indifferent to the subject of general education. In 1806 he established a system of great compactness, which forms the basis of the excellent laws now in operation. He united all the teaching forces of the country into one body, which he called the University of France. This university, whose affairs were administered by a grand master, assisted by a university council, was divided into three branches: Primary instruction, provided in the elementary schools; secondary instruction, provided in the lyceums and colleges; and superior instruction, given by the faculties of arts, medicine, law, and theology. France was divided into a number of large districts called academies, which were presided over by a rector, assisted by an academic council. Schools under local supervision were to be established in each community. But Napoleon became too much absorbed in ambitious schemes of conquest to put his system into complete operation.

Under the Restoration, popular education languished. Though the system of Napoleon was retained in its essential features, it was administered with a narrow sectarian and monarchical spirit. Under the cover of zeal for moral and religious instruction, education was placed in large measure in the hands of priests. A priest, M. de Freyssinous, was called to the office of grand master of the university. In a circular announcing his appointment, he sets forth the principles directing his adminis

...

tration: "In calling to the head of public education a man invested with a sacred character, his Majesty declares to all France how much he desires that the youth of his kingdom be brought up in religious and monarchical sentiments. . . . The true Frenchman never separates love of his king from love of his country, nor obedience to magistrates from attachment to the laws and institutions which the king has given his people." While Germany was making vigorous efforts to retrieve its fortune through the intellectual development of its people, France, in the hands of a reactionary government, saw its educational progress effectually thwarted.

With the government of Louis Philippe after the Revolution of 1830, there came a change for the better. The system of Napoleon, as transmitted from the government of the Restoration, was administered with a vigorous and progressive spirit. The schools were emancipated from priestly control. Each district or commune was required to have a school, and, in order that qualified teachers might not be wanting, normal schools were encouraged and multiplied. School-houses were erected; scientific methods of instruction were introduced; an educational interest was awakened among the people. The basis of popular education was firmly established. For the encouragement of primary teachers in their unappreciated labors, Guizot, as Minister of Public Instruction, addressed them the following beautiful words: "I know full well that the care of the law will never succeed in rendering the simple profession of district teacher as attractive as it is useful. Society can not make a sufficient return to him who is devoted to

this work. There is no fortune to be won, there is scarcely a reputation to be acquired in the discharge of his onerous duties. Destined to see his life pass away in monotonous toil, sometimes even to encounter the injustice and ingratitude of ignorance, he would become disheartened, and perhaps succumb, if he did not draw his strength and courage elsewhere than in the prospect of an immediate and purely personal interest. It is necessary that he be sustained and animated by a profound sense of the moral importance of his labors; that the austere pleasure of having served men and contributed secretly to the public weal become the worthy reward which his conscience alone gives him. It is his glory to pretend to nothing beyond his obscure and laborious condition; to exhaust his strength in sacrifices scarcely noticed by those who profit by them; in a word, to labor for men, and expect his reward from God alone."

Under the second republic, the school laws were subjected, in 1850, to a comprehensive revision which, with recent minor modifications, resulted in the system now in force. There is a graduated and thorough system of superintendence. The highest educational authority is the Superior Council, which is presided over by the Minister of Public Instruction. The eighty-seven departments or counties of France are divided into seventeen districts, or academies, in each of which an academic council, under the direction of the Minister of Public Instruction, has charge of educational affairs. In each department or county there is another council composed of the prefect, the inspector of the academy, the inspector of primary instruction, and several others;

while in each canton or commune a local board, with the mayor at its head, has supervision over all the schools, both public and private. Each commune of five hundred inhabitants is required to have a public school in which the following subjects are taught: Moral and civil duties, reading, writing, the elements of the French language and literature, history and geography (particularly of France), arithmetic, the elements of natural science and its applications, the principles of designing, modeling, and music, gymnastics, military exercises for boys, and needle-work for girls. The schools are entirely free, and in 1882 the instruction of children between the ages of seven and fourteen was made compulsory. Any Frenchman twenty-one years of age, who has passed a satisfactory examination, is allowed to teach. Each department is required to have two normal schools, one for male and one for female teachers, with a course of study extending through three years. Since the humiliating defeat of 1870-'71, the French Government has been making vigorous efforts to promote popular education; and in no other country has there been, during the last decade, such marked educational prog

ress.

Secondary instruction is provided by the lyceums and communal colleges. Previous to 1852 the lyceums, which correspond to the German gymnasia, were exclusively literary, Latin and Greek being the chief subjects of instruction. Since that time they have undergone important changes which bring them into closer relation with the present age. The classes and studies of the lyceums are as follows:

In the superior division a system of bifurcation has been introduced, one course giving prominence to the ancient languages, the other to mathematics and the natural sciences. The studies common to both courses are French, history, geography, German or English, and logic. The communal colleges, which greatly outnumber the lyceums, differ from them only in having less extended curricula.

Superior instruction is given by the five faculties of theology, law, medicine, philosophy, and science. They are not united in one body, as is the case in the universities of Germany and the United States, but maintain a separate existence. The faculties of theology are established at Paris, Aix, Bordeaux, Lyons, Rouen, Montauban; those of law at Paris, Toulouse, Aix, Caen, Dijon, Poitiers, Rheims, Bordeaux, Grenoble, Douai, Nancy; those of science at Paris, Besançon, Rennes, Caen, Bor