Bless thou thy lot. Thy simple strains have led The high and solemn accents of thy lyre!' Thy pointed shafts that never spared the throne, Three days, and rusty muskets, tamed its pride. Who but the muse of song the charge supplied?' Proud was thy share in that immortal strife, Guide thou their bark-point out the rocks below; Yes, gentle fairy, at the poet's door Thou tapp'st in time, and warn'st him to be gone. Haply some friends, old comrades in the fight, In thus leaving the arena while his powers are in their full vigour, and reserving to himself some space betwixt the theatre and grave,' Beranger probably consults his happiness and his fancy; though, on the part of the public, we cannot but wish the period of his retirement had been a little delayed. We bid adieu to him with admiration and regret, and, we ad mit, not without a hope that the announcement, in his preface, of his determination not to publish more, is not to be taken too literally. At lovers' perjuries,' they say, Jove laughs,' and Apollo, we suppose, is just as indulgent to the vows of poets. If, however, we must now take leave of him as a song-writer, we shall be truly happy to hail him in his new character of an historical annalist. He announces his intention of amusing the autumn of age in that peaceful and modest retirement to which he looks forward, by the composition of a species of historical dictionary, embodying the recollections of a life spent under circumstances which gave him access to almost every distinguished man of the time. He looks forward with pleasure to the idea that this task, the discharge of which, he says, requires neither profound knowledge nor talent for prose writing, may tend to correct erroneous opinions, to dispel calumnious accusations, and to remove from great names and actions that glaring or gloomy colouring with which the turbid atmosphere of party has invested them. He smiles at the thought, that one day perhaps his name may be known to the public only as the annalist, Le judicieux, le grave Beranger!' That contingency, however, is not very likely. That he may be known as a pains-taking and candid writer of history is possible; but his songs assuredly are immortal; and the name which will be inscribed over his niche in the Temple of Fame, will be that by which he has so often designated himself, Beranger le "Chansonnier.' ART. XIII. — Rapport sur l'état de l'Instruction Publique dans quelques pays de l'Allemagne, et particulièrement en Prusse. Par M. VICTOR COUSIN, Conseiller d'Etat, Professeur de Philosophie, Membre de l'Institut et du Conseil Royal de l'Instruction Publique. 8vo. Nouvelle edition. Paris: 1833. 2. Exposé des Motifs et Projet de Loi sur l'Instruction primaire, présentés a la Chambre des Députes, par M. le Ministre Secretaire d'Etat de l'Instruction Publique. Séance du 2 Janvier, 1833. T HE perusal of these documents has afforded us the highest gratification. We regard them as marking an epoch in the progress of national education, and directly conducive to results important not to France only, but to Europe. The institutions of Germany for public instruction we have long known and admired. We saw these institutions accomplishing their end to an extent and in a degree elsewhere unexampled; and were convinced that if other nations attempted an improvement of their educational policy, this could only be accomplished rapidly, surely, and effectually, by adopting, as far as circumstances would permit, a system thus approved by an extensive experience, and the most memorable success. Our hopes, however, that the example of Germany could be turned to the advantage of England, are but recent. What could be expected from a Parliament, which, as it did not represent the general interests, was naturally hostile to the general intelligence of the people? What could be expected from a Church which dreaded, in the diffusion of knowledge, a reform of its own profitable abuses? But, though unaided by church or state, the progress of popular intelligence, if slow and partial, was unremitted. The nation became at length conscious of its rights: the reign of partial interests was at an end. A measure of political power was bestowed upon the people, which demanded a still larger measure of knowledge; and the public welfare is henceforward directly interested in the moral and intellectual improvement of the great body of the nation. The education of the people, as an affair of public concernment, is thus, we think, determined. As the state can now only be administered for the benefit of all, Education, as the essential condition of the social and individual well-being of the people, cannot fail of commanding the immediate attention of the Legislature. Otherwise, indeed, the recent boon to the lower orders of political power, would be a worthless, perhaps a dangerous gift. Intelligence is the condition of freedom; and unless an Education Bill extend to the enfranchised million an ability to exercise with judgment the rights the Re VOL. LVII. NO. CXVI. 2 K form Bill has conceded, the people must still, we fear, remain as they have been, the instruments, the dupes, the victims of presumptuous or unprincipled ambition. A man,' (says Dr Adam Smith, who in this only echoes other political philosophers,) a man, without the proper use of the intellectual faculties of a 'man, is, if possible, more contemptible than even a coward, and 'seems to be mutilated and deformed in a still more essential part of the character of human nature. Though the state 'was to derive no advantage from the instruction of the inferior ranks of the people, it would still deserve its attention, that they should not be altogether uninstructed. The state, however, derives no inconsiderable advantage from their instruction. The more they are instructed, the less liable they are to the delusions of enthusiasm and superstition, which, among igno'rant nations, frequently occasion the most dreadful disorders. An instructed and intelligent people, besides, are always more decent and orderly than an ignorant and stupid one.* They 'feel themselves, each individually, more respectable, and more likely to obtain the respect of their lawful superiors, and they are therefore more disposed to respect those superiors. They are more disposed to examine, and more capable of seeing 'through, the interested complaints of faction and sedition; and they are, upon that account, less apt to be misled into any 'wanton or unnecessary opposition to the measures of Govern'ment. In free countries, where the safety of Government depends very much upon the favourable judgment which the The following paragraph we translate from an Austrian newspaper, (Observer,) of November, 1820. The writer is speaking of the disturbances which were then excited in many of the German towns against the Jews, but from which the provinces of Austria remained wholly exempt. In all that regards the education of the lower orders of the people, through national establishments of instruction, there is hardly a country in Europe that, in this respect, has the advantage of the Austrian States. The peasant in the country, the artisan in the town, must, throughout these dominions, have given due attendance at school. Without the certificate of education and adequate proficiency, no apprentice is declared free of his craft; and without examination on the more important doctrines of religion, no marriage is solemnized. Even the military receive all competent instruction in the elementary branches of knowledge through members who, for this purpose, are trained to the business of teaching in the normal schools. But in proportion as education is diffused, is the possibility diminished of the outbreakings of a rude ferocity; the more universal the instruction of the lower orders, the more harmless becomes the influence which the ill-educated can exert upon the sound judgment of those who thus virtually cease to be any longer a part of the popu • lace.' 'people may form of its conduct, it must surely be of the highest importance that they should not be disposed to judge rashly or capriciously concerning it.'-Wealth of Nations, B. v. c. l. Art. 2. Those (if there are now any) who argue against the expediency of universal education, are not deserving of an answer. Those who, admitting this, maintain that the supply of education should, like other articles of industry, be left to follow the demand, forget that here demand and supply are necessarily co-existent and co-extensive; that it is education which creates the want which education only can satisfy. Those again who, conceding all this, contend that the creation and supply of this demand should be abandoned by the state to private intelligence and philanthropy, are contradicted both by reasoning and fact. This opinion, indeed, has been rarely advanced in all its comprehension. Even those (as Dr Adam Smith) who argue that the instruction of the higher orders should be left free to private competition, still admit that the interference of the state is necessary to ensure the education of the lower. All experience demonstrates this. No countries present a more remarkable contrast in this respect than England and Germany. In the former, the state has done nothing for the education of the people, and private benevolence more than has been attempted elsewhere; in the latter, the government has done every thing, and left to private benevolence almost nothing to effect. The English people are, however, the lowest, the German people the highest, in the scale of knowledge. All that Scotland enjoys of popular education above the other kingdoms of the British Empire, she owes to the State; and among the principalities of Germany, from Prussia down to Hesse-Cassel, education is uniformly found to prosper exactly in proportion to the extent of interference, and to the unremitted watchfulness of government. The general conclusion against the expediency of all public regulation of the higher instruction, is wholly drawn from particular instances of this regulation having been inexpediently applied. Even of these, the greater number are cases in which the state, having once conceded exclusive privileges under well-considered laws, never afterwards interposed to see that these laws were duly executed, and from time to time reformed, in accommodation to a change of circumstances. The English Universities, it is admitted, do not, as actually administered, merit their monopoly. But, from this example, we would not conclude, with Smith, that all privileged seminaries are detrimental. On the contrary, by showing that in Oxford and Cambridge the statutory constitution has been silently subverted, we should argue |