375. Expulsion of the Jesuits (1764). ВЂ” The causes of

the expulsion of the Jesuits were doubtless complex, and,

above all else, political. In attacking the Company of Jesus,

the Parliaments desired especially to defend the interests of

the State, compromised by a powerful society which tended

to dominate all Christian nations. But reasons of an edu-

cational character had also some influence on the condemna-

tion pronounced against the Jesuits by all the Parliaments of

France. From all quarters, in the reports which were drawn

up by the municipal or royal officers of all the cities where

the Jesuits had colleges, complaint is made of the scholastic

methods and usages of the Company. Reforms were de-

manded which they were incapable of realizing.

And it is not in France alone that the faults in the educa-

tion of the Jesuits were vigorously announced. In the edict

of 1750, by which the king of Portugal expelled the Jesuits

from his kingdom, it was said : " The study of the human-

ities has declined in the kingdom, and the Jesuits are evi-

dently the cause of the decadence into which the Greek and

Latin tongues have fallen." Sonic years later, in 1768, the

king of Portugal congratulated himself on having banished

"the moral corruption, the superstition, the fanaticism, and

the ignorance, which had been introduced by the Society of

Jesus."

342 THE HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY.

376. General Complaints against the Education of the

Jesuits. — Even in the middle of the eighteenth century the

Jesuits were still addicted to their old routine, and even their

faults were aggravated with the times.

At Auxerre, complaint is made that pupils study in their

schools only a few Latin authors, and that thej T leave them

without ever receiving into their hands a single French

author.

At Moulins, a request is made that at least oue hour a

week be devoted to the history of France, which proves that

the Society of Jesus, always enslaved to its immobile formal-

ism, did not grant even this little concession to the teaching

of history.

At Orleans, the necessity of teaching children the French

language is insisted on.

At Montbrison, the wish is expressed that pupils be taught

a smattering of geography, especially of their own country.

At Auxerre, it is proved that in the teaching of philos-

ophy the time is employed " in copying and learning note-

books filled with vain distinctions and frivolous questions."

At Montbrison, the request is made " that the rules of

reasoning be explained in French, and that there be a disuse

of debates which train only disputants and not philosophers."

It would be interesting to pursue this study, and to collect

from these reports of 1762, — real memorials of a scholastic

revolution, — all the complaints of public opinion against the

Jesuits. Even in religion, the Company of Jesus is charged

with substituting for the sacred texts, books of devotion com-

posed by the Fathers. At Poitiers, a demand is made in

favor of the Old and the New Testaments, the study of

which was wholby neglected. From time to time the Jesuits

were accused of continually mixing religious questions with

classical studies and of catechising at every turn. " The

ORIGIN OF LAY AND NATIONAL INSTRUCTION. 343

masters of the fifth and sixth forms in the College of

Auxerre dogmatize in the themes which they dictate to the

children." Finally, the Company of Jesus maintained in

the schools the teaching of moral casuistry ; it encouraged

bigotry and superstition ; it relaxed nothing from the sever-

ity of its discipline, and provoked violent recriminations

among some of its former pupils who had preserved a pain-

ful recollection of corrections received in its colleges. 1

377. Efforts made to displace the Jesuits. — The Par-

liaments, then, did nothing more, so to speak, than register

the verdict of public opinion everywhere excited against the

Jesuits. But while they heartily joined in the general rep-

robation, they undertook to determine the laws of the new

education. " It is of little use to destroy," they said, "if

we do not intend to build. The public good and the honor

of the nation require that we should establish a civil education

which shall prepare each new generation for filling with suc-

cess the differeut employments of the State." It is not just

to say with Michel Br6al, that "once delivered from the

Jesuits, the University installed itself in their establishments

and continued their instruction." Earnest attempts were

made to reform programmes and methods. La Chalotais,

Guy ton de Morveau, Rolland, and still others attempted

by their writings, and, when they could, by their acts, to

establish a system of education which, while inspired by

Rollin and the Jansenists, attempted to do still better.

378. La Chalotais (1701-1785).— Of all the parliamen-

tarians who distinguished themselves in the campaign under-

taken towards the middle of the eighteenth century against

the pedagogy of the Jesuits, the most celebrated, and the

1 See the pamphlet published in L764 entitled: M€moire& historiqucs sur

I'drbilianisnn t 1 It s com ctt urs des J€suites.

344 THE HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY.

most worthy of being such, is undoubtedly the solicitor-

general of the Parliament of Bretagne, Rene" de la Chalotais.

A man of courage and character, he was arrested and im-

prisoned in tbe citadel of Saint Malo for having upheld the

franchise of the province of Bretagne ; and it was in his

prison, in 17G5, that he drew up for his defence an eloquent

and impassioned memorial, of which Yoltaire said, " Woe

to every sensitive soul that does not feel the quivering of a

fever in reading it ! "

379. His Essay on National Education. — The Essai of

La Chalotais appeared in 1763, one year after the Emile.

Coming after the ambitious theories of a philosopher who,

scorning polemics and the dissensions of his time, had

written only for humanity and the future, this was a modest

and opportune work, the effort of a practical man who

attempted to respond to the aspirations and the needs of his

time. Translated into several languages, the Essai d'educa-

tion nationale obtained the enthusiastic approval of Diderot,

and also of Voltaire, who said, " It is a terrible book against

the Jesuits, all the more so because it is written with moder-

ation." Grimm carried his admiration so far as to write, "It

would be difficult to present in a hundred and fifty pages

more reflections that are wise, profound, useful, and truly

worthy of a magistrate, of a philosopher, of a statesman."

Too completely forgotten to-day, this little composition of

La Chalotais deserves to be republished. Notwithstanding

some prejudices that mar it, it is already wholly penetrated

with the spirit of the Revolution.