414. Mirabeau (1749-1791). ВЂ” From the first days of

the Revolution, pedagogical literature abounds, and gives evi-

dence of the ever-growing interest which public opinion

attaches to educational questions. The Oratorians, of whom

La Chalotais said, " that they were free from the prejudices

of the school and of the cloister, and that they were citi-

zens," present to the National Assembly a series of scholastic

plans. On its part, the Assembly sets itself at work ; Tal-

leyrand prepares his great report, and Mirabeau embodies his

own reflections in four eloquent discourses.

Mirabeau's discourses, published after his death through

the good offices of his friend Cabanis, had the following

titles : 1. Draft of a Laiv for the Organization of the Teach-

ing Body; 2. Public and Military Festivals; 3. Organiza-

tion of a National Lycee; 4. The Education of the Heir

Presumjjtive of the Crown.

415. The Dangers of Ignorance. — With what brilliancy

the illustrious orator made appear the advantages and the

necessity of instruction !

"Those who desire that the peasant may not know how

to read or write, have doubtless made a patrimony of his

1 See the Dictionnaire de Pedagogic, Article France.

370 THE HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY.

ignorance, and their motives are not difficult to appreciate ;

but they do not know that when they have made a wild beast

of a man, they expose themselves to the momentary danger

of seeing him transformed into a savage beast. Without in-

telligence there is no morality. But on whom, then, is it

important to bestow intelligence, if it is not upon the rich?

Is not the safeguard of their enjoyments the morality of the

people? Through the influence of the laws, through that of

a wise administration, through the efforts to which each one

should be inspired by the hope of ameliorating the condition

of his fellows, exert yourselves, public and private citizens,

to diffuse in all quarters the noble fruits of knowledge.

Believe that in dissipating one single error, in propagating

one single wholesome truth, you will do something for the

happiness of the human race ; and whoever you are, do not

have the least doubt that it is only by this means that you

can assure your own happiness."

But through some inexplicable spirit of timidity, Mirabeau

did not draw from these principles the consequences that

they permit. He does not admit that the State can impose

the obligation to attend school.

"Society," he says, "has not the right to prescribe in-

struction as a duty. . . . Public authority has not the right,

with respect to the members of the social body, to go beyond

the limits of watchfulness against injustice and of protection

against violence. ..." " Society," he adds, " can exact of

each one only the sacrifices necessary for the maintenance

of the liberty and the safet}" of all."

Mirabeau forgets that the obligation to send children to

school is exactly one of those necessary sacrifices which the

State has the right to impose on parents.

Hostile to obligation, Mirabeau feels no greater partisan-

ship for gratuity : —

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 371

"Gratuitous education," he said, "is paid for by every-

body, while its fruits are immediately gathered by only a

small number of individuals."

416. Liberty of Teaching. — Like so many other gener-

ous spirits, Mirabeau cherished the dream of the most com-

plete liberty of teaching. 1

" Your single purpose," he said to the members, " is to give

to man the use of all his faculties, to make him enjoy all his

1 What is meant by " liberty of teaching " will be better understood from

the following quotations from the Dictionnaire de Pe'dagogie, Premiere

Partie, p. 1575 et scq. : —

" Liberty of teaching, in a country which has proclaimed obligatory in-

struction, is the equal right of all to give that instruction, or the prohibition

of every monopoly which would put that instruction into the hands either

of privileged individuals, or of corporations, or even of the State, to the

exclusion of every other teaching body."

" Under the old regime, the education of the masses was committed to

the hands of the Church ; the colleges, directed by a body of men who were

all ecclesiastics, gave 'a vain pretence of an education, where the memory

alone was exercised, and where the reason was insulted in the forms of

reasoning.' "

"The purpose of the men of the Revolution was, then, above all else, to

emancipate science, and to guarantee the right of free inquiry; and while

rescuing instruction from the tyranny of the Church, to assure to citizens

in general the opportunity to acquire the knowledge that is essential to

man. On the one hand, they would take precautions against the abuse

of power by a government which had always shown itself hostile to free

thought . . . ; on the other, in opposition to the old doctrine which con-

demned the people to ignorance, they proclaimed the duty of the State to

create a system of public instruction, common to all citizens."

" It is at this point of view that we must place ourselves in order to gain

a correct notion of the plans that were submitted to the Constituent Con-

vention and the Legislative Assembly. What Talleyrand and Condorcet

desired was, first, to organize, under the form of a public service, a system

of national education in which all mighl participate; and in the second

place, to take precautions against the Church ami the royal authority, and

so prevent despotic power from attempting to prevent the development of

new truths and tin' teaching of theories which it judged contrary to its

policy and interests. For them, liberty of teaching is the demand of phil-

osophic liberty against ecclesiastical and secular authority." (P.)

372 THE HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY.

rights, to develop the corporate life out of all the individual

lives freely developed, and the will of the whole out of all

personal wills."

417. Distribution of Studies. — In Mirabeau's plan,

public and national instruction depends, not on the executive

power, but on " the magistrates who truly represent the peo-

ple, that is to say, who are elected and often renewed by the

people," — in other terms, the officers of departments or dis-

tricts. Establishments for instruction ought not to form a

consolidated body.

Let us observe, finally, that by the side of the primary

schools Mirabeau established a college of literature for each

department, and at Paris, a single National Lycee, "в– designed

to secure to a select number of French youth the means of

finishing their education." In this he established a chair of

method, which, he said, ought to be the basis of instruction.

In conclusion, the work of Mirabeau is but a very imper-

fect sketch, and a sort of graduated transition between the

old and the new regime.

We do not yet find in it the grand ideas which are to

impassion men, and it is the Hajyort of Talleyrand which

constitutes the real introduction to the educational work of

the Revolution.

418. The Constituent Assembly and Talleyrand. —

The constitution of Sept. 4, 1791, announced the following

provision : —

"There shall be created and organized a system of public

instruction, common to all citizens, and gratuitous with re-

spect to those branches of instruction which are indispensable

for all men."

It was to put in force the decree of the Constitution that

Talleyrand drew up his Eapjwrt and presented it to the

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 373

Assembly at the sessions of September 10 and 11. The

entire bill contained not less than 208 articles. Having

reached the term of its troubled existence, the Assembly did

not find the time to discuss it, and, while regretting " not

having established the bases of the regeneration of educa-

tion," it referred the examination of Talleyrand's work to

the Legislative Assemblv.

The Legislative Assembly showed but little anxiety to

accept the legacy of its predecessor. Another report, that

of Condorcet, was prepared, so that the bill of Talleyrand

never had the honor of a parliamentary discussion.

419. Talleyrand (1758-1838). — The ex-bishop of

Autun, having become a revolutionist of 1789, before being

the chamberlain of Napoleon I. and the minister of Louis

XVIII. , scarcely deserves by his character the esteem of

history ; he too often gave a striking example of political

versatility. But at least, by his supple and acute intelli-

gence, and by the abundance of his ideas, he has always

risen to the height of the various tasks that he has under-

taken, and his Rapport is a remarkable work.

420. General Principles. — As Montesquieu has said,

" the laws of education ought to be relative to the principles

of government." It is by this truth that Talleyrand is

inspired in the long considerations that serve as a preamble

to his bill.

What was to be done in the presence of a constitution

which, limiting the powers of the king, called the entire peo-

ple to participate in political life? That constitution would

have remained sterile, would have been but a dead letter, if

a suitable education had not come to vivify it by causing it

to pass, so to speak, into the blood of the nation. In what

did the new regime consist? You have separated, said

374 • THE HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY.

Talleyrand to the members, } T ou have separated the will of

the whole, or the power of making the laws, from the execu-

tive power, which you have reserved to the king. But that

general will must be upright, and, in order to be upright, it

must be enlightened and instructed. After having given

power to the people, you ought to teach them wisdom. Of

what use would it be to enfranchise brutal and unconscious

forces, to turn them over to their own keeping? Instruction

is the necessary counterpoise of liberty. The law, which is

henceforth the work of the people, ought not to be at the

mercy of the tumultuous opinions of an ignorant multitude.

421. Education as related to Liberty and Equality.

— Talleyrand is pleased with his thought, and, considering

in turn the two fundamental ideas of the Revolution, the

idea of equality and the idea of liberty, he shows, not with-

out some length of analysis, that instruction is necessary, on

the one hand, to create free individuals, by giving to tbem a

conscience and a reason, and on the other, to draw men

together by diminishing the inequality of intelligences.

422. Rules for Public Instruction. — Instruction is

due to all. There must be schools in the villages as in the

cities. Instruction ought to be given by all ; there ought to

be no privilege in instruction. Finally, instruction ought to

extend to all subjects ; everything shall be taught which can

be taught : —

"In a well organized society, though no one can attain to

universal knowledge, it should nevertheless be possible to

learn everything.

5J

423. Political Education. — At the basis of every

educational system there is always a dominant and essential

thought. In the Middle Age — and the Middle Age is con-

tinued in the schools of the Jesuits — it is the idea of salva-

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION". 375

tion, it is the preparation of the soul for the future life. In

the seventeenth century it is the conception of a perfect

justness of spirit joined to uprightness of heart ; such

was the ideal of the solitaries of Port Royal. In 1792 poli-

tics became the almost exclusive preoccupation of the

educators of youth. Everything else — religion, accuracy

of judgment, nobility of heart — is relegated to the second

place : man is nothing more than a political animal, brought

into the world to know, to love, and to obey the constitution.

The Declaration of the Rights of Man became, in the sys-

tem of Talleyrand, the catechism of childhood. It is neces-

sary that the future citizen learn to know, to love, to obey,

and finally to perfect the constitution. We cannot help

thinking that Talleyrand himself showed a marvellous apti-

tude for loving and obeying the constitution. Unfortunately

this has not always been the case !

424. Universal Morality. — One of the most beautiful

pages of Talleyrand's work is certainly that in which he

recommends the teaching of universal morality, and claims

the autonomy of natural laws, distinct from all positive

religion.

"We must learn to infuse ourselves with morality, which

is the first need of all constitutions. . . . Morality must be

taught as a real science, whose principles will be demon-

strated to the reason of all men, and to that of all ages. It

is only in this way that it will resist all trials. It has long

been a matter of lamentation to see men of all nations and

of all religions make it depend exclusively on that multitude

of opinions which divide them. From this have resulted

great evils ; for abandoning morality to uncertainty, and

often to absurdity, it has necessarily been compromised ; it

has been made versatile and unsettled. It is time to estab-

lish it upon its own bases, and to show men that if baneful

376 THE HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY.

divisions separate them, they at least have in morality a

common meeting place where they all ought to take refuge

and unite for protection. It is necessary, then, to detach it

in some sort from everything else, in order to reunite it at

once to that which merits our approval and our homage.

. . . This change is simple and injures nothing ; above all,

it is possihle. How is it possible not to see, in fact, that

abstraction being made of every system and of every opinion,

and by considering in men only their relations with other

men, they can be taught what is good and just, made to love

it, and made to find happiness in virtuous actions and

wretchedness in those which are not so ? "

425. Four Grades of Instruction. — The organization

of instruction, in Talleyrand's bill, was "to be combined

with that of the government," and to be modeled after the

division of administrative functions. The Rapport estab-

lished four grades of instruction. There was a school for

each canton, corresponding to each primary assembly. Then

came intermediate or secondary instruction, intended, if not

for all, at least for the greater number, and given in the

principal town of the district, or arronclissement. In the third

place, special schools, scattered over the territory of the

kingdom, in the principal towns of the departments, prepare

young men for the different professions. Finally, the select

intelligences find at Paris, in the National Institute, all that

constitutes the higher instruction.

The great novelty of this system was the creation of can-

tonal schools, open to peasants and to workmen, to those

whom, up to this time, improvidence or the purpose of the

great sent off to their plows or to their planes.

426. Gratuity of Primary Instruction. — Talleyrand did

not desire compulsory education any more than Mirabeau ;

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 377

but, in accordance with the constitution of 1791, he demands

the gratuity of primary instruction. Society is under obli-

gations to give elementary instruction, but not intermediate

and secondary instruction, and still less, special and higher

instruction. Gratuitous for the lowest grade, and in case

of that elementary knowledge which constitutes for every

civilized man a real moral necessity, instruction ought not

to be free to young men who aspire to a liberal profession,

because they have leisure, and who have leisure because they

have wealth. However, Talleyrand admits exceptions in the

case of talent. By the creation of national scholarships,

the doors of all the schools will be opened to select intelli-

gences whom the lowness of their condition would condemn

to remain obscure and unappreciated, did not society lend to

them a helping hand.

427. Programme of Primary Instruction. — Primary

instruction should comprise the principles of the national

language, the elementary rules of calculation and mensura-

tion ; the elements of religion, the principles of morals, the

principles of the constitution ; finally, the development of

the physical, intellectual, and moral powers.

428. Means of Instruction. — We shall not insist on the

details of the organization of the different parts of that

which Talleyrand himself called his " immense machine."

Let us notice only the last part of his work, where he dis-

cusses a certain number of general questions under this

arbitrary and unjustifiable title: Des moyens ^instruction.

The professors, carefully chosen, shall be elected by the

king. Talleyrand does not determine that they shall be

irremovable, but he requires that their situation shall be

surrounded by all possible guarantees. Prizes, and rewards

of every kind, shall encourage the teachers of youth to re-

378 THE HISTORY OF PEDAGOGY.

double their zeal and to find new methods. Talleyrand

counts on dramatic representations and on national holidays

to hasten the progress of instruction. Finally, let it be

added that he entrusts the supreme direction of public in-

struction to sis commissioners, chosen by the king and

obliged to make an annual report.

429. The Education of Women. — Talleyrand, in his

proposal, has not wholly forgotten women, and what he has

said of them is just and sensible. He discusses the question

of their political rights, and, in accord with tradition and

good sense, he concludes that the happiness of women, their

own interests, their nature and their proper destination,

ought to forbid them from entering the political arena.

What is particularly fit for them is a domestic education,

which, received in the family, prepares them for living there.

Like Mirabeau, he wishes woman to remain a woman. Her

function, said the great orator, is to perpetuate the species,

to watch with solicitude over the perilous periods of early

youth, and " to enchain to her feet all the energies of the

husband by the irresistible power of her weakness." With-

out being as gallant in his expressions, Talleyrand's thought

,is the same. He thought it necessary, however, in order to

respond to certain proprieties, that the State should estab-

lish institutions of public education destined to replace the

convents.

This desire sets right whatever was unreasonable in this

passage of his proposed law : —

" Girls shall not be admitted to the primary schools after

the age of eight. After that age the National Assembly

advises parents to entrust the education of their daughters

only to themselves, and reminds them that this is their first

duty."

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 379