GITIZOT'S xxsionts. * Tax new instalment of M. Guizot's Memoirs, if

somewhat heavy and essay-like, contains much interesting matter and some valu- able disquisition. Occasionally, a vivid presentment of a scene or transaction relieves the monotony of discussion. Incidental personal sketches or delineations of character, as in the case of La Mennais, Duo de Broglie, Auguste Comte, Jouffroy Ampere, Rossi, and other celebrities, attract attention, and often deserve it. The volume consists of seven chapters, and an Appendix of historic documents, made up chiefly of letters and reports. Of these documents, the longest (No. xii.) is a narrative of the in- surrection of Lyons, in April, 1834, written shortly after its occurrence by an eye-witness. Of the seven chapters, three re, late to education, as elementary, secondary, and superior ; one to academies and literary establishments ; one to historical studies; while the last describes and discusses the internal policy of the Government from 1830 to 1836 ; and the first treats of the cha- racter and object of the Cabinet of the 11th of October, 1832, the educational question, and Guizot's views and procedure as Minis- ter of Public Instruction. This important post Guizot filled for four years, discharging its onerous responsibilities, with tact,

zeal, and faithful diligence. The two great questions which assume an imperial significance

in modern politics are the distribution of wealth and the diffusion of knowledge. Inquiry into the principles which should regulate the former, and whose acceptance would preclude the unjust par- tition of material social, advantages, is not instituted by IL Guizot, in the present volume of his Memoirs, nor do we antici- pate any satisfactory discussion of this pivot problem in modern sociology, in any future volume of his work. The educational question, on the other hand, he estimates very fairly ; and many of his observations are well-timed, sensible, and even philoso-

phical. To improve the condition of men is now the avowed object of all thinkers,. philanthropists, and politicians. In order to effect this end, Guizot maintains that we must first purify, strengthen, and enlighten men's minds. Thus, in spite of the unworthier sentiments with which it is recommended, " in spite of its in- trinsic difficulties and of the uneasiness it still excites, popular teaching is not the less in the age in which we live, and both on principles of right and fact, an act of justice towards the people

and a necessary requisition of society.' Without denying inci- dental or collateral inconveniences, Guizot frankly accepts not only the duty but the necessity of educating. " When a new • Memoirs to illustrate the History of ify Time. By F. Guizot. Translated by J. W. Cole. Volume III. Published by Bentley.

and influential force, physical or moral, steam or intelligence, once enters "the world, itcan never be expelled," is his sagacious remark ; and he quotes approvingly the sentence of the Prince Bishop of Breslan,—that the diffusion of education among the masses will produce no danger, if religions feeling assigns its pro- per end, and that, moreover, " the question is no longer in debate, it is distinctly laid down. When the waggon is on the rails, what remains ? To guide it."

Guizot also thoroughly recognizes the effected secularization of intelligence. The learned world has become more laical than cle- rical. "Science has ceased to dwell habitually under the same roof with faith ; " she has " become a practical force, fertile in daily application for the use of all classes of society." Science will never again become essentially. ecclesiastical, nor will intelligence be satisfiedmithout an extensive field of free exercise." Educa- tion, however, must, says Guizot, be profoundly religious ; and for its diffusion and solid establishment the action of the Church and State is indispensable. " The only countries and times in which public education has really. prospered, have been those where the Church or State, or both in conjunction, have considered its ad- vancement their business and. duty ; " as in Holland, Germany, and the United States.

In France, the Ministry of Public Instruction is the most popu- lar of all the departments of Government, a good symptom, our author remarks, in an age when men are said to be exclusively

occupied with their actual and material interests. Parents it is pointed out are constantly and actively solicitous for the education of their children. This solicitude is an evidence of the truth of Guizot's encouraging assertion, that while in France legal and .political family ties are weakened, natural and moral bonds have increased in strength, so that parents never before lived so affec- tionately and intimately with their children. It is worth noting, too, that the influences of " Rousseau and his school" on mind and manners, has not, in our author's view, been profitless, and that salutary traces of that influence still remain.

In an age and a country thus spontaneously demanding educa- tion, the question, who is to be the educator ? is the first that occurs. Contrasting France with England, and commending Eng- lish opinion for its opposition to any scheme of instruction that would subordinate this great social interest to "the direct authority of the civil and central power," Guizot contends that the differing circumstances of France require a different policy. There the old " establishments of public instruction have disappeared ; the own- ers and the property, the corporations and the endowments." A general system of education, founded and supported by the State, thus becomes an absolute necessity in France ; " the condition imposed on her by her history and national genius." Accordingly we find that " from 1789 to 1800 three celebrated bodies, true sovereigns of their time, the Constituent Assembly, the Legisla- tive Assembly, and the National Convention, undertook to bestow on France a grand system of public instruction." Arrived at this point, M. Guizot briefly characterizes the histo- rical evolution of the educational idea in France. Under the Constituent Assembly, M. de Talleyrand was commissioned to draw up a report. In this report public instruction is treated as "a power which embraces everything from the games of infancy to the most imposing fetes of the nation " ; all studies, including theology, are to be directed by the state ; and the Institute is imposed as the supreme school, "the administrative organ of all other scientific and literary establishments." In the report of M. -de Condorcet to the Legislative Assembly, the realization of equality is declared to be the primary object of national instruc- tion, and this instruction, it is ruled, must be entirely gratuitous, in order to effect the desired end. " In the report of M. Daunou to the National Convention, liberty assumes a larger share than aplenty." The " academic church" of his predecessor is little to his taste ; he desires no public organization of scientific or lite- rary instruction, and limits state intervention to elementary and professional teaching. M. Daunou, however, was a passionate republican, and in his view a system of public instruction could only be ce,rried on, in conjunction with a republican government, and most extensively, under its empire, through the establish- ment of national festivals. In all these three reports, says Guizot, "man alone reigns supreme in the world, and the revolu- tion of 1789 is the date of his accession to the throne."

In accordance with revolutionary recommendation education universal, elementary and gratuitous was decreed ; central schools were created, important associations arose, the Institute was founded, and mathematical and physical science was magnifi- cently cultivated, " but no great and effective combination of public teaching replaced the departed establishments." The Con- sular Government followed, and was more successful in its edu- cational schemes ; notably so, in the reintroduction of " a well- based system of secondary education, under the name and foster- age of Lyceums." Finally, the Emperor Napoleon created the 1 University, founded on the principle that education belongs to the . . State, and embodying a system of absolute power, so that, while has always sought to modify opposing rights, it has conceded no liberty to the citizens and admitted no responsibility of the authorities to the country. Consequently the free legis- lation laid down by the Charter seriously embarrassed both the University and the Government. The former was in jeopardy ; but the efforts of Royer-Collard, envier, and other superior men, continued from 1815 to 1821, saved its life, "without, however, solving the question of its constitutional existence." Under M. de -Mile, the University was subordinated to the Church ; under ,

the Martignao Ministry (in 1827), it was emancipated ; under M. de Polignac, it again fell into the hands of the Church, to re- cover freedom and assert precedence by the appointment of a Minister of Public Instruction and Worship, after the revel!** of 1830.

Such was the social and educational position of France when Guizot accepted office in the Cabinet of 11th October 1882. His first requirement was the separation of the Ministry of Public Instruction from that or Worship ; the administration of which was then blended with the duties of the Minister of Justice, in- stead of being formed, as in Guizot's opinion it should have been, into a distinct department. In 1833, the bill on elementary education demanded the new Minister's most assiduous attention. The system which he advocated and succeeded in esteb • may be described in a few words. It admitted of free competi between government and private individuals ; it was not coercive, as in Prussia and other German states ; it was not absolutely gratuitous, but free only to those who had not the means of pay- ing for it, and it was religious, resting on "the prepondeeafang and combined action of Church and State." The education of

teachers was another distinguishing feature in the system; and

the forty-seven primary normal schools, which voluntary local effort had created, were formed by Guizot into "a general com- pulsory institution." There is one other characteristic to which

we would advert—the adaptation of instruction to social Want*. In the bill which he proposed, Guizot indicated two degrees of primary instruction, one rudimentary "for the remote rural flier

tricts and for the humblest of social conditions ; the other more elevated and destined for the working population, who in towels and cities have to deal with the necessities and tastes 'of til-

vilization, more complicated, wealthy, and exacting." In a Far liminary educational regime, and amid the opposing intereste of classes and the constant displacements in society, the application of the principle involved in this distinction would satisfactorily meet the reasonable reclamation of Anti-educationists, since the instruction afforded would. be always suitable, useful, and necessary.

To return: The results of the Law of 28th June, 1833, are so- ducible to a numerical estimate. At the end of about fifteen years, terminating with 1847, the number of elementary. for boys had augmented from 31,420 to 43,514; that of the pu from 1,200,715 to 2,176,079.

In the matter of secondary education, Guizot• was less swam- ful. " Here again it was necessary to establish the freedom

promised by the Charter." The university reposed on its double basis of privilege and absolute power. Guizot was " called upon to introduce liberty to an institution where it had no riagerol existence, and to defend that institution at the same time against

formidable assailants." Between "the liberals who taxed it with despotism and the devout who accused it of irreligion; " between the classicists and " the frivolous innovators whose wishes he did

not utterly reject," Guizot was sore put to it. Thinking to cos& duct himself as a liberal conservative, he prepared a bill, the prin- ciple of which was " liberty of general education, with the de- velopment of intermediate teaching." It passed in the Chamber of Deputies ; but a few days after the cabinet fell, he left office, and the bill subsided with him.

As Minister of Public Instruction, Guizot found his office mote agreeable when the subject under debate was superior educatiiii.

In regard to national intelligence, liberty, and morality, he we-

marked important deficiencies. He was slow, however, to emir= mence the reforms and innovations he proposed. To secure friends and fellow-labourers seemed the primary consideration. The course of events soon supplied natural opportunities. To the four vacant chairs in the C011ege of France he nominated four men of commanding abilities, Burnouf Jouffroy, Ampere, and Rossi. Active jealousies were excited by at least three of these appointments ; but with their ultimate results, Guizot seems to have been tolerably satisfied. A principal object with thie

minister was to uncentralize "not the government of public in= struction, but education itself, and particularly the higher de= partment." The attraction of intellectual life to the metropolii tends to enervate and extinguish it in the provinces. In a great nation varied and original spirits are wanted as well as cultivated and enlightened minds. Guizot accordingly demands the local activity and expansion of intellience ; and advises the esti- blishment in different parts of France of great centres of study, and intellectual life, regulated by the principle enforced in fibs Universities of Oxford and Cambridge,—discipline united with liberty. Passing over the chapter on "Academies, &c.," and that on " Historical Studies," in the former of which we notice only the reestablishment of the academy of moral and political sciences in the Institute, and in the latter the foundation of the Society for the history of France, we come to the closing chapter headed " In- ternal Policy," and prepare to take a rapid glance at the political aspects of the country during the period that elapsed between 1832 and " The first premeditated trial, says our autobiographer, of what has since been called Parliamentary Gdvernment is generally as- cribed to the cabinet of the 11th October, 1832.' With this question, he continues the members of that Cabinet, scarcely troubled themselves, at that time. Their wish was to " intro= duce a liberal system with the effectual guarantees of sound legis- lation—in one word to establish for their country political liberty. This was the sole principle in which was based the unity of the

'satinet. Those who accepted office " had not all adopted similar rattling, nor marched under one flag." Of the eight men who hrmed the new Government, four had belonged to the preceding cabinet ; four only were new ; some had supported, some had op- posed the restoration. " All, " however," were unanimously de- sirous that the monarchy and the charters should pass into a truth together." A policy of resistance had been inaugurated in 1830. In strug- gling against disorders, Guizot claims for the new Government the merit of having undertaken "to conquer by the laws alone, and by Iaws enacted and applied in presence of liberty. Louis XVIII. founded constitutional monarchy. Charles X. forcibly tore France from the old paths, to which his predecessor had brought her back. Louis Philippe, carried to the throne by violence, "restored and instructed her to march in them." Without "strong faith in the full development of the constitutional system in France" he was yet convinced of its necessity, and resolved to cooperate zealously in the task; interposing the law as " the safest buckler for the throne, as well as for the citizens."

In reviewing the past, M. Guizot concedes that on points of " time, place, manners, national age, geography and history, the French Parliamentary system has more than once fallen into error ; that it has at one time accorded, or refused too much to power, at another to liberty, and perhaps to both." With our author, however, the cardinal question is,—supposing the system to be as dead as the political anatomists hold—what will its suc- cessor be ? " What will be the true significance of this consti- tution and national representation which now occupy the scenes ? " What the influences of the people ? What its securities for its rights, possessions, repose and honour—in a word for all those moral and material interests which constitute its life ?

The last chapter of the " Memoirs " has more of narrative and less of exposition than the preceding six. It gives some account of the institution of various democratic clubs ; of the insurrection of Lyons in April, 1834 ; of the attempted assassination by Fieschi ; and of the resignation, return to power, and ultimate dissolution, of the cabinet of the 11th October, 1832. Throughout the volume, there is little to satisfy curiosity as to the writer's do- mestic life. The death of Madame Guizot, after giving birth to a son, is recorded in the second chapter. It was of this lady that Royer-Collard said, with an allusion to her then state of health : " She is one of those heroic natures that never suspect evil until it has conquered them." Any criticism on the policy of the Government which Guizot vindicates, and which he in part administered, is almost neces- sarily deferred till the completion of his " Memoirs," of which the third volume brings us down only to 1836. Meanwhile, we cannot better conclude this notice than with a quotation which embodies the opinion of so eminent a thinker as Guizot, on the common responsibilities and interests of two powerful nations. It should be premised that the offensive and defensive alliance between France

and England in 1833, which the King advocated, and the Duke de

Broglie opposed, is condemned by Guizot, who recognizes the de- sirableness of union " under particular circumstances to obtain specific results, but objects to all general assimilation in their policy, all binding and indefinite union," which, "far from as- suring mutual peace, would lead to complications and quarrels." After expressing a conviction that the Duke de Broglie was right, he continues :—

*Li No one attaches more value to a good understanding between France andEngland than I do ; no one honours more sincerely the English nation, or is more convinced that peace between the two States, and cordiality between the two Governments, are, for us, the true policy : our internal prosperity and interest in the world are equally interested in preserving both. Every important rupture, every war with England, even though it might be acceptable to national passions, and attended at first with bril- liant success, would become sooner or later a source of weakness to us, and would throw us out of the paths of great and true civilization."