of the Swiss cantons. The most improved plans, as those of Lancaster, and Bell, have been adopted, and comparisons have been instituted between these and the older methods, with a view to render education as efficient as possible.

In the Pays de Vaud, a few years ago, the amount of the population attending school was one-eighth part; which was considerably above the proportion of England, and even greater than that of Scotland, not to compare it with the neighboring country of France, where the ratio was only about one in twenty-eight.

The school of Pestalozzi, at Yverdun, was the first in Switzerland, into which the philosophical system was introduced which is now making progress in various parts of Europe, founded on the application of the fundamental laws of the human mind to the practice of education, and on the principle of cultivating the faculties of observation, association, and judgment, rather than loading the memory with indigested materials, according to the ancient method. It was found, on comparing the old and the new system together in this canton, that, as nearly as could be ascertained, out of an equal number of children, those who acquitted themselves well in several branches in which they were examined, were in the proportion of about twenty-seven to fifteen, in favor of the new method.

The School of Industry at Hofwyl, near Bern, was founded by Fellenberg, with the design of combining intellectual education with the pursuits of agriculture, as part of a system which might also be extended to manufacturing employments. Pupils have attended this institution from Germany, France, and England, who have afterwards been eminent for literature and science.

The exclusively academic or university institutions, are at Basle, Geneva, Zürich, Bern, and Lausanne:-and in this country in general, the sciences belonging to natural philosophy, and natural history, are much pursued.

ROAD FROM BASLE INTO FRANCE. ST. LOUIS.

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Departure from

LETTER XIX.

Basle. Huningen. St. Louis. Alsace. History. Douane. Müllhausen. Befort. Vesoul. Langres. Chaumont, Nogent. Provins, Nangis. Road to Paris. Military Operations and Events of 1814.

MY DEAR FRIEND:-We left Basle at an early hour in the morning, to proceed to Paris, having taken places as far as Chaumont, the chief town in the department of the Upper Marne, distant from Basle about sixty leagues.

On the left bank of the Rhine, and not far from the city of Basle, is the fortress of Huningen, celebrated during the invasion of France by the allied armies in 1815, in consequence of the resistance here made by a hundred and forty men, who were shut up within its walls, to a force of twenty-five thousand Austrians. When half the number of the defenders had been slain, the rest capitulated; and the fortifications were demolished by the victors. The town of Huningen itself, which had previously contained nearly eight thousand inhabitants, now possesses scarcely a thousand; such are the ruinous effects of war, and so disastrous is the glory acquired by its most applauded deeds!

At one period of the same memorable war, waged by the European powers for the dethronement of Bonaparte, the inhabitants of Basle itself were in much consternation, as shots were repeatedly exchanged between the fortress and the allied camp across some parts of the city. The allies afterwards marched through Basle to the number of eighty thousand, and entered France. We understood that some religious commemoration of this event was instituted, as an expression of the gratitude of the inhabitants to Providence for their preservation.

The first town in France is St. Louis, distant from Basle about a league, consisting chiefly of one long, wide street, and having a considerable air of poverty and misery, compared with places of equal size in the Protestant part of Switzerland. Here the diligence was detained about half an hour, and fresh passports were necessary for Paris. The luggage was also searched, for the first time since we had left Strasburg, but in a very lenient manner.

We were now in the department of the Upper Rhine, the Roman Alsatia, anciently inhabited by the Triboci. After the overthrow of the Roman dominion, this province became a part of Germany. Like other border countries, Alsatia has

experienced many changes; at one time belonging to the Franks, who under Clovis took it from the Germans, in 496; then in 752, being united with the kingdom of Austrasia; and subsequently forming a part of that large portion of France which fell to Lothaire, son of Louis le Débonnaire, and which was called the kingdom of Lotharingia, or Lorraine. In 896, this fertile country was united to the German empire, and was governed by dukes. When the line of these feudal lords became extinct, Alsatia was divided among several sovereigns of the empire; and by the peace of Münster, in 1648, a large portion of it was ceeded to France. In 1697, by the peace of Ryswick, Strasburg, and the whole neighboring country on the left bank of the Rhine, were added to the French dominions.

At the time of the revolution of 1789, several sovereigns of the empire had still considerable possessions in Alsatia, which the first National Assembly declared to belong naturally to France, as lying west of the Rhine. The difficulty of adjusting the opposing claims, was one principal cause of the war which took place soon after between France and Germany. By the peace of Paris, in 1815, Landau, which is north of the department of the Lower Rhine, was again separated from France, and united to Germany. During the reign of Napoleon, few parts of France were more attached to his government than the provinces of the Upper and Lower Rhine.

Alsatia is considered as one of the most fertile countries in Europe, abounding in the fruits of the earth; and containing many mines of different metals. The district through which we passed was rich, but not picturesque: the cattle were numerous; but the wealth of this part of Alsace is chiefly to be attributed to the manufactures to which the mines of copper, lead, and iron, have given rise, to the woollen and cotton stuffs,—and to the coal-mines, and the forests.

Two thirds of the population of the Upper and Lower Rhine departments are Roman Catholics, and have the character of being greatly attached to their ancient customs. The neighboring Swiss have been much employed to do the work of the hay and corn-fields, and to manage the vintage, in some parts of Alsace: this may have occasioned the notion which has been entertained that the Alsatians have so rich and fertile a country, that they are disposed to indolence and inaction.

On the Swiss side of Müllhausen, the government officers again presented themselves at the door of the diligence; and on inquiring the cause, we were told it was pour faire une autre visite. The luggage was again, it seemed, liable to be searched; but, as before, very little trouble was given to us. The usual question that is asked in the French dominions, at the douane station is, avez vous quelque chose à déclarer? and when the re

ply in the negative is accompanied with freedom in giving up the keys, and facilitating the opening of the trunks and boxes, there is generally much civility, and little of rigorous inspection at least, this was our experience.

At Müllhausen, all appeared life and bustle, the streets and markets being quite thronged with buyers and sellers of various kinds of commodities, including great quantities of fine grapes and other fruit. It was easy, from the general appearance of this place, to perceive that it was by far the most manufacturing town, for its size, that we had seen since leaving England. It contains about twenty-one thousand inhabitants. Six or seven thousand are employed in the manufactories; which, about ten years ago, amounted to nearly seventy ;eleven being of cloth, seventeen of muslin, seventeen of printed calico, besides several leather works, and some founderies. Here is manufactured the scarlet muslin, the dye of which is so superior; and which is so much used in the neighboring countries for window-curtains and bed furniture. The time of our stay at Müllhausen allowed but of a very cursory view: the appearance of the town, however, was evidently that of a place into which the life of commerce had infused itself. The streets are tolerably regular, ornamented with several public buildings, among the finest of which is the Reformed Church.

Amidst the involution of interests and of governments that have been known in Alsatia, Müllhausen has had its share. It once constituted a little republic, struggling to maintain certain privileges which it had received, in the feudal times, from the German emperors, by uniting itself at different periods with other towns that were in a similar situation with itself, in Alsace, Suabia, and Switzerland. In 1515, it formed a league with the Helvetic Confederacy, and by this means, with a territory of not more than eight or ten miles in circumference, it long maintained its independence, against the encroachments both of the Empire, and of France; and like the Swiss republics it was governed by a Great and a Little Council,till the fortunes of war attached it to the French dominions.

Between Müllhausen and Béfort, on the western border of Alsace, and seventeen leages from Basle, we had once more to cross a branch of the Jura mountains, which here take the name of the Vosges. Near their base is Befort, or Bel-fort, so called from an old castle, crowning an elevated position, the origin probably of the vast fortifications that surmount the town, which is regarded as the strong-hold of France on this side.

After a dinner at the hotel at Béfort, consisting of the usual varieties of French cookery, we proceeded on the way to Chaumont, having as companions a Bernese young lady who was going to pay a visit near Vesoul, and a young German, on his way

to London. These, and a merchant of Müllhausen, who had gone no further than that place from Basle, and an old Frenchwoman who joined us at Befort without a bonnet, and travelled all the way to Paris, were the only passengers in the interior, excepting ourselves, during the whole distance. In another part of the roomy diligence were two or three military Frenchmen, fiercely whiskered, and almost ferocious in their appearance.

In the afternoon of the second day, we arrived at Langres, situated on a very lofty hill, which we were long in ascending. It is considered to be the highest town in France: the prospect from the tower of the principal church is said to be of immense extent, and in a clear sky Mont Blanc may be seen in the south-western horizon. In the evening we reached Chaumont, capital of the Upper Marne, a town of somewhat imposing aspect, appearing, long before we arrived at it, standing out, on an elevated site, in that peculiar relief which a very clear atmosphere gives to objects.

We had purposed to break the journey to Paris by staying here for the night; but a report had been spread along the road that the cholera had made its appearance in the town. On inquiry at Chaumont, it proved that five or six persons had fallen victims to a violent bowel complaint, though it was not pronounced to be cholera; and that a young man had died at the very hotel at which it was our intention to stay. This was sufficient to determine our party to continue the journey during the second night, and we proceeded to Troyes, and afterwards through Nogent sur Seine, Provins, and Nangis, to Paris.

The country, after crossing the Vosges, consisted chiefly of a series of vast plains, gently undulated, and having almost everywhere a boundless horizon. To judge by what appeared in the daytime, there was seldom a great deal of wood, very few châteaux, and by no means that cheerful intermixture of villages in the landscape, which always gives to it so great a charm; and almost all the towns had an appearance of discomfort and misery. During this long and unbroken journey of about a hundred and ten leagues, occupying three days and three nights, the greatest annoyance arose from the miserable places at which we frequently stopped during the night; generally, however, there was some refreshment to be obtained. The interior of the diligence itself was sufficiently roomy and comfortable to prevent the confinement from being so great a penance as it sometimes is in our smaller coaches; and we had taken the precaution, at Basle, to bespeak the four corners, by means of which rest and sleep were much facilitated. As it is common in France, as elsewhere on the continent, for each