dren finishes at the age of twelve or thirteen years; and that in thinlypeopled districts where the schools are far apart, many do not attend until they are seven or eight years old. Mr. Hoffman, after surveying these and similar circumstances, concludes that nine-tenths of all the children who can fairly be regarded as capable of instruction, were actually at school.

Würtemberg, Baden, and Saxony, may probably now be regarded as quite on a par with Prussia as to the number of the instructed, the ratio being about one in six of the population. In Bavaria, HesseCassel, Hesse-Darmstadt, and Hanover, the ratio may be one in seven or eight.

Austria has long since decreed that no village in the hereditary dominions shall be without its elementary school. In the first publication of the Central Society of Education, it is estimated that, excluding Hungary and Transylvania, one in thirteen of the population were under elementary instruction, in 1837. The author of "Austria and the Austrians," in the same year, quotes documents which make the ratio rather more than one in ten, the population, exclusively of the above provinces, being 22,500,000, and the number in the schools 2,313,420. The discrepancy may arise from the latter estimate including the scholars in private schools.

Switzerland, as we learn from the Helvétie, can now boast of having one scholar for every five inhabitants, in some parts of the Confederation: the cantons of Zürich, Berne, Argau, Vaud, and St. Gall, are especially named. In Soleure, the ratio, in 1837, was stated to be one in nine.

In Holland, the proportion receiving primary instruction was estimated, in 1838, at one in eight of the population. At present, it is said that scarcely a person beyond childhood can be met with who does not read and write.

an

In Belgium, according to M. Ducpétiaux,* there was, in 1837, enormous amount of adult ignorance. The proportionate number of scholars had remained stationary for about twelve years. Out of every hundred of the population above two years old, fifty-five persons were destitute of instruction.

In France, a considerable impulse has been given of late years to national education. From M. Boulay's Report to the Society of Elementary Instruction, and that of the Minister of State for this

Sur l'Etat Actuel de l'Instruction Publique en Belgique.

department, it appears that in 1841, the number of children in the communal and private schools, amounted to 2,881,679: in the adult evening schools and in Sunday schools there were 68,508 persons; and the infant schools contained 50,688. The normal schools instructed 2,684 masters. The number of boys and girls who ought to attend primary schools was calculated at 5,000,000. Including all schools, about 3,000,000 attended in winter, and 1,800,000 in summer. Out of a population of some 34,000,000, it was reckoned that, in 1820 one person in twenty-seven, in 1830 one in twenty, and more recently one in eleven or twelve, nominally or really received some sort of schooling.*

In Sweden, elementary education is widely spread. It appears that, in 1839, not one in a thousand of the population was unable to read and write. In Norway, the scholars were about one in seven of the population. The ratio in Denmark is quite as high: few are unable to read and write.

In the Venetian States, there were, in 1837, 1,957,600 inhabitants, and the number of children at school was 78,000. The male children in attendance were as one to 11.5 of all the male population.*

In Spain attempts have been made to introduce the system of elementary instruction; but amidst the distractions of that ill-fated country, it is no wonder if little progress has been made. The difficulty is increased by the fact that it has been necessary to intrust the management of the schools into the hands of the clergy, who are generally hostile to the new order of things. In Cadiz there were attending schools, in 1838, about one in every 16.5 of the inhabitants, or 6 per cent. nearly.

Russia has also made efforts to redeem herself in some measure from the barbarism of ignorance. So long ago as 1835, there were 2,481 schools supported by the state: and 1,058,000 children were in attendance in all schools out of a population of 48,000,000; or about one in every forty-five persons.

In the United States of America, the population, as given in the "American Almanac" for 1844, amounted by the census of 1840 to 17,063,353 souls. The Secretary of the American "Common School Society" estimated the total number of children between the ages of four and sixteen years at 3,500,000; and stated that there were still 600,000 souls who did not enjoy the benefits of a common

* M⭑Culloch. + Stato dell' Istruzione Elementare delle Provincie Venete.

school education.* This large defect is no doubt chiefly owing to the darkening and debasing influence of the slave system. In most of the States in which this system prevails, the instruction of slave children has been forbidden by law under severe penalties. In Louisiana, it is a capital offence. Laws of this kind have been enacted so late in the morning of the nineteenth century as 1830! † In some parts of the Union it has been illegal to educate even the free children of colour, witness Virginia, the Carolinas, Louisiana, and some other States. It would seem, at all events, that the slave-children must be regarded as non-existing, or nearly so, in the matter of day-school education. If then we deduct from the whole the estimated proportion of the slavepopulation, or 2,487,355, we have 14,575,998 remaining for the free population. Of these, very nearly one in every five were under elementary teaching; the number at school in the whole country, from the fifth year upwards, being 2,900,000: the proportion of one in five was also given by Mr. Buckingham, in 1841. In the State of New York, in 1838, the ratio was stated to be somewhat less than one in four of a population of 2,174,000; the number between five and fifteen years of age being 564,790, of whom 557,229 were in schools more recently it is given as one in every 4.7. In the New England States, the ratio is said to be one in rather less than four. In Massachussets, in 1838, about three in fourteen of the population were at school: more recently one in 4.5. In the New England States, generally, the ratio, about the year 1833, was one in five: it is now said to be one in rather less than four. In Pennsylvania the proportion was one in rather more than nine.§

*Combe's Notes on America in 1838, 39, 40.

† Stewart's Travels in America, vol. ii. p. 242.

A recent memorial of the Presbytery of Georgia estimates that not more than one in two hundred slave children and youth, are taught even in Sunday Schools. The number of slaves under ten years, is given as 813,731: from ten to twenty-four, the number is 811,544.-See Christian Witness, Nov. 1846. § Central Society; Publication of 1839; and M'Culloch's Dictionary.

CHAPTER III.

STATE EDUCATION ON THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE, AND IN THE

UNITED STATES.

In

ON the Continent, as is well known, the prevailing system of public instruction is strongly characterized by government - control. Germany we find education, either at home or at school, made compulsory. Government also decides what is to be taught; and requires such an examination of the candidate-teachers as shall insure their competency.

The origin of the German system of public instruction may be traced to the Reformation. The Reformers insisted on an acquaintance with the doctrines of Christianity in every person who professed to be a Protestant. In the course of time, the religious rite of confirmation came to be regarded as the sign and evidence that a certain religious and general education had been received; and Protestant governments made this religious act a passport to civil rights. Fourteen years of age was now fixed on as the time when confirmation might be obtained; and finally a certificate of education was necessary for every candidate. Neglect of confirmation came to incur various privations. None but those who had been confirmed were allowed to give evidence in a court of justice, or even to marry, or to obtain any situation of trust.* The very fact of the educational system of Germany being associated with despotic power, from its origin to the present time, tends to prevent Englishmen from seeing any merits which some parts of it may really

possess.

* Mr. Horace Mann states that the above prohibitions, in case of the neglect of confirmation, still exist.-Educational Tour in Germany. p. 233.

It is in PRUSSIA that we find the system of public instruction in its full development, with a complete and thorough unity of organization. So early as the fourteenth century, this part of Germany was distinguished for the institution of schools. Frederic the Great, three centuries afterwards, laboured earnestly in the same cause; and Prussia, and other States in which a similar system is pursued, have of late years been celebrated as the most educated parts of Europe.

However unadapted the Prussian system may be to the soil of England, where there is a different order of social and political relations, it is still a master-piece of its kind; and it well merits some attention. The Minister of Public Instruction is placed at its head. Under him, in every province, is the school-board, more composed of laymen than of the clergy. In every country-parish (gemeinde) is a school, with respectable inhabitants for managers, one of whom is the clergyman, who also acts as inspector. In city-parishes the magistrates preside. To every circle (kreis, a district with from thirty to forty thousand inhabitants) there is another inspector, generally clerical, who corresponds with the local inspectors and managers. Here the direct influence of the clergy ceases. The civil administration of a province connects itself with school-affairs by means of one of its members called the schoolcouncillor, a kind of sub-minister of public instruction in each department. Hence, under the minister of state, the school-system forms a part of the regular civil administration for each province, circle, and parish.

Every parish must support a school; and public education must be provided in precedence of all other claims: but poor neighbourhoods are aided by the provincial funds. All children must either be educated privately, or sent to the public schools, from six to fourteen years of age; no dispensation being granted unless the examiner attests that all the education required by law, according to the station in life of the individual, has been attained. Clothes are provided, when necessary, in order that poverty may be no obstacle to attendance; and children are not allowed to be employed in work so early as to interfere with their education. Fines, the refusal of parish relief, prohibition from holding any office in church or state, and even imprisonment, are the penalties for neglect. Parents may choose between different schools in the same town. Jews may have their own schools, but still under the regulation of government. Where there are different Christian sects, there are if possible separate schools in default of these, regard is had, in the appointment of the masters, to the faith of the majority;