In presenting this subject to the attention of our readers, we need offer no apology or explanation of our motives. Popular instruction is too necessarily and closely connected with all free government, ever to be neglected by those in whom that excites an interest; and the citizens of the United States, particularly those of New England, have a deep concern in the experiments instituted in other lands, as there is always a hope, that the results may be applicable or useful in their own. With such views, we should be happy to give an account of the general system of instruction in France, as existing at the present time; that system bears, as much as any, the marks of the labor of great men. Such an attempt, however, would be quite impracticable within the limits of this journal; to a certain degree, indeed, inconsistent with its object. The main features of the system may readily be found elsewhere. We propose, therefore, at present, to confine ourselves to the innovations more recently introduced by the agency of M. Victor Cousin, and the advances under M. Villemain.

The French system of education, as it now exists, is in a great measure the result of pure theory, having been framed by the various governments which have ruled France during the present century. It presents, therefore, some very advantageous points of view to the student, who is curious on methods of education. It is less trammelled with peculiar ancient customs, which, from the nature of the case, would have been suitable only to the place where they had their origin; and, although this very circumstance may sometimes prove an

evil to the institutions of instruction, placing them, as it does, more immediately under the influence of the experiments of every new theorizer, and depriving them of any favorable influence from ancient association, it gives a much more ready insight into their operations. The simple machine is much more readily understood than that which is more complex in its arrangement, though this, indeed, may produce a more beautiful fabric. The agency of the French system is easily seen, also, as its operations are constantly directed by one. responsible head; for the French government of the present time, like most of the later constitutional governments, numbers among its cabinet ministers, one of public instruction.

The very idea of this office is a pleasant one to the liberal mind. That arrangements of such importance as these, which belong to a country's system of education, should, instead of being left to the tardy care of somne person hardly interested in their operation, be intrusted to an officer with no other duty in charge, although a very simple plan, is not the less gratifying when we find it in actual operation. There will always be some men deeply interested in the welfare of the rising generations, and no less skilled than interested in the proper means to be taken to attain it. To such men, an appointment to such an office involves a pleasing task, while to their countrymen the advantage is incalculable. Under their charge, no schools will languish. A bad system, the worst of systems, with watchful attention and management, is better than the best of systems with none. The importance and utility of the office, indeed, cannot be better illustrated than by a reference to those who have held it in France. Montalivet, Salvandy, the Duke de Broglie, Girod de l'Ain, and Pelet de la Lozere, Villemain, Guizot, and Cousin, have at different times been appointed ministers of instruction, under the government of July, which has gained itself great credit by supporting itself by such men.

We are at present concerned only with the agency of M. Cousin during his recent tenure of office, as a member of the Thiers ministry, during a period of hardly eight months, [see Mon. Chron. vol. i. pp. 58, 515.] His general reputation, as a philosopher, and his works on the system of public instruction in parts of Germany, particularly in Prussia, on that of Holland, and on the Normal School, were strong proofs of his fitness for so important a station. He does not, indeed, need any commendation of ours. The strong common sense with which he collected and displayed the facts contained in the published volumes which we have mentioned, are well

* De l'Instruction publique dans quelques pays de l'Allemagne et particulierement en Prusse. 2 vols. 8vo. De l'Instruction publique en Hollande. 1 vol. 8vo. Ecole Normale. 1 vol. 8vo.

known, and that shown in his arrangements for carrying into effect his own already matured plans, will, we hope, be seen in the progress of this article. He was, indeed, more favorably situated than most learned men generally are, who have a favorite object in view. As we have said, the French system of instruction is not yet so consolidated as not to admit of ready alteration; and a man with the reputation, and in the situation of M. Cousin, has almost unlimited power in carrying his amendments into effect. Like all other ministers, he has to extort appropriations from the Chambers, but in other respects he has, in great measure, the power to take his own course. M. Cousin, although a theorist, was not such a theorist that he could not put schemes in practice. We give an instance of the ease with which he could effect an important reform, which will serve at the same time as an illustration of the judicious manner with which he viewed the different branches of study, and the watchful eye which he kept upon them. Having observed a defect in the organization of the department of law, he addressed the following

Report to the King.

"SIRE - Permit me to propose to your Majesty a remedy for a deficiency in the instruction of law.

rant.

"When young students enter our schools, jurisprudence is to them a new country, of whose geography and language they are alike ignoThey at once turn their attention to the civil and the Roman law, without fully comprehending what place in juridical science these branches hold, and in consequence they are easily disgusted by their dryness, or are unfitted for general views by their constant examination of details. Such a method of instruction is very unfavorable to valuable or profound study.

"For some time, Sire, those who have understood the case, have wished for a preliminary course, which should have for its object to introduce, in some degree, the young student, into the labyrinth of jurisprudence; which should give a general view of the branches of juridical science; should mark the distinct and special object of each of them, and at the same time their close dependence, and the intimate bond which unites them: a course which should establish the general method to be followed in the study of law, with the particular modifications suitable for every branch of it; a course, in fine, which should point out the important works which have marked the progress of the science. Such a course would raise the science of law in the eyes of young men, by the character of unity which it would impress upon it, and would exercise a happy influence on the labor of pupils, and their intellectual and moral developement."

The report proceeds to say, that the new chair is needed principally in the faculty of Paris, and to give the details of its proposed establishment there. A royal ordinance was at once issued, authorizing and ordering the establishment, and thus completing the whole transaction.

We have alluded to this particular instance to show the ease with which, under the organization of these affairs in France, the minister may carry his projects into effect, and the readiness, consequently, with which we may trace the operations of the minister in these respects. We would call attention to the document, also, as illustrative of the liberal, open, and sensible style of thought and action of M. Cousin. In the review which we propose to make of his amendments to the arrangements for public instruction, we shall meet with many documents quite as striking. We shall, of course, rely on none but the best authorities. A paper, written by himself, published in the Revue des Deux Mondes, and the official accounts of his various proceedings, with the reports of the examinations of some of the principal French colleges during his administration, will be our sources of information.

In his own article, M. Cousin speaks of the courses of instruction in France under the three heads of primary, secondary, and superior, the arrangement, indeed, under which they were established, and are kept in action. We shall, of course, speak of them in the same view. He avows, in his own account of his ministry, that during its passage he effected comparatively little for the primary instruction. By this avowal, the reader ought only to understand, that he made few changes in its system, and this is by no means singular, as that system was established in 1833, under his own advice. He certainly was not wanting in a zealous supervisorship of the primary instruction, and a watchful care for whatever night promote its interest. His principal action with respect to it was to secure a firm and just severity on the part of the boards who examined the candidates for instructerships; and, with the same view, to promote the interests of the primary Normal schools, and to raise, so far as was in his power, the consideration in which the instructers were held in the community.

For what he calls the superior primary schools, he took more earnest and active measures. "The superior primary schools," says he, "were the newest part of the law of 1833. I was as desirous as any one to establish a course of instruction between the elementary schools as they were under the restoration, and our colleges.

"In France, said I, in 1831, in my report to the minister of public instruction on Prussia, the primary instruction is comparatively trifling, and there is nothing between this and the instruction of our