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that is, if, instead of making criticisms and instituting comparisons, which, of course, are "odious," we should present our readers such educational information as the following: "Prof. J. B. Onos, Ph. D., of Pottville University, is quartered at the St. Nicholas Hotel. The Rev. Tobias W. Caulis, D. D., Professor of Mental Philosophy at Hattieville College, has taken rooms at the Metropolitan. Prof. G. D. Amathes, of Pumpkinville, Ind., has accepted the chair of Sanscrit at Ourestown University, Pa. The Rev. Dr. Erasmus L.. Pithon, now occupying the chair of Natural Sciences at Nancytown Seminary, has been invited to fill the presidential chair of Borealis College, Johnsonville, Mo. The University of Tompkins is soon to have a valuable addition to its Faculty, Prof. Homer A. Plekte, of Smithville, having accepted a call to its chair of Analytical and Applied Chemistry. There are now 430 students in Aurora College, Galaxytown, Ks. Thirty-five of these are to graduate at the next commencement; so that the institution may now be said to be in a very flourishing condition. The Trombone Professor in the College of Music, Palmyra University, Ill., has been persuaded by his numerous friends to accept the Violin chair of the University of Raphanusburgh, O. A very able address has recently been delivered before the Gamma Upsilon Omega Society of Cormorant University, by Prof. Archimedes B. Abrissos, Ph. D., Q. C. L., the eminent scientist, on the great question, whether there be spiders in the moon, and, if so, whether their style of weaving is similar to that of terrestrial spiders," etc., etc.

Now, in saying that did we confine ourselves to information of this kind, and abstain from criticism, we should consult our own interest, we would not be understood to compare the claims which the leading newspapers of our principal cities have on the patronage of our educational institutions, to the claims of eulogising catalogues and business directories, for such would, for obvious reasons, be an absurd comparison.

But, be this as it may, it is no new revelation to us that those who wish to profit by nine-tenths of our educational institutions must not even hint that they have any faults, but

proclaim that they are all as near perfection as any human institutions may be expected to be. Why, then, do we criticise? Why have we always persisted in doing so when we felt it was deserved? We can truly reply that it is because we prefer to do what is good and useful, rather than what is profitable. We prefer the good-will of one competent, faithful educator to that of a hundred who are not competent, and, therefore, could not be faithful as educators if they would. And when we discover this one out of a hundred, no one appreciates the services he renders to society more fully than we; to none does it afford more sincere pleasure than it does to us, not only to acknowledge his merits, but to commend them earnestly to the public as exemplary and praiseworthy. Were we a candidate at the hustings for some political office, then we might respect the majority principle, but when we are to receive our verdict from good educators, or bad and indifferent educators, then we decidedly prefer the minority, even though it be only one to a hundred; most cheerfully accepting the advice of Publius Syrus

"Non quam multis placeas, sed qualibus, stude."

for we are not merely pleased with the friendship of such men and such women-we are sincerely proud of it, regarding it as a veritable honor. And it will be our privilege to present to our readers new examples of such in this article, before we close, although, for lack of space, only in miniature.

But to return to our reasons for criticising. We do not pretend that our country is lower in its standard of education than other great nations have been. We know that it was not without much criticism, much effort. and much unpleasantness, the educational institutions of the countries alluded to were elevated to their present standard. Moreover, we bear in mind that not one of those countries had made so much progress in the cultivation of the intellect when only as young as ours; nay, not one of them had when five times as old.

In addition to this, we have noble examples before us; we read in history and biography of Englishmen, Frenchmen, Spaniards, Italians, and Germans, who had long battled for im

provements in the educational systems of their respective countries, and whose reward was, in general, abuse, and sometimes even the prison and the gibbet; but whose labors were gratefully appreciated long after their death. Thus, the famous Gregory of Tours never did any thing more unpopular than to take the warm interest in the great cause which prompted him to exclaim: "Malheur à nous! l'étude des lettres pèrit parmi nous, et il ne se trouve personne qui puisse raconter dans ses écrits les faits d' à present." The good Abbé de la Salle, founder of the Christian Brothers, was actuated by a similar sentiment when he deliberately relinquished all preferment in the Church, in order that he might devote his whole time and energies to the great cause, at the same time surrendering to it his whole patrimony as a member of the rich noblesse of France, retaining, at most, only the common necessaries of life. We have shown in a former article in this journal what imputations and accusations, nay, what persecutions, constituted his reward for the noblest of all labors and efforts.*

The first of the principal nations of modern Europe that ́established great educational institutions was France. Accordingly it was the first in power and greatness. This greatness had culminated in its intellectual aspect in the reign of Louis XIV. Many wonder why there has been a decline since in its higher order of intellectual activity, because they forget that most of the great schools, the foundation of which was commenced by Phillip Auguste in 1200, were destroyed while in their most flourishing condition. When the great Revolution broke out in 1789 there were twenty-three universities in France, besides that of Paris; but two years later (July 3, 1791), there was not one left in its integrity. The Constituent Assembly passed a decree declaring all suppressed. Nor are the rabble now in power content with destroying so many great seats of learning, for many learned men were put

*Educators of all denominations would do well to read his Les doux Vertus d'un bon Maître.

to death for no better reason than that they were learned. Suffice it to mention here, Lavoisier, the celebrated chemist, and the son of Buffon, the great naturalist. The fame of the former, for his discoveries in chemistry, had become universal, and he had but just published his principal work, the famous Traité Elementaire de Chimie, when he was guillotined. Michelet, Cousin, and Guizot have each affirmed, with regret and mortification, that France has never recovered from the loss of so many great seats of learning, not to mention the murder of so many of her learned and illustrious men. Napoleon I. was too wise a statesman not to deplore the calamity thus inflicted on France; he did much to retrieve the loss, but he was too constantly engaged in war to be able to devote sufficient attention to the great cause. Before the Revolution, the French universities were confessedly the best in Europe, and were attended by students from every other European nation. But, soon after the Revolution, Prussia began to take the lead, and she has maintained it to this day.

Before the Revolution, the German governments were in the habit of sending commissioners to France to seek information in regard to the system pursued at the universities, in order that they might render it available in the higher institutions of Germany; but after the Revolution it was the French government that had to send to Germany. Thus it was that Victor Cousin, the philosopher, was sent to Prussia in 1833, and published his well-known Rapport on Public Instruction in Prussia, a work full of interest even at the present day for the important information, and valuable suggestions which it contains.*

Seeing that France had profited largely from this report, and that it had a decidedly beneficial influence in England also, the British Schools Enquiry Commissioners, in 1865, charged Mathew Arnold with a task similar to that of Cousin, and

*Cousin's Rapport was translated into English by Mrs. Austin, in 1834. An elaborate, able, and instructive review of the original may be found in the Edinburgh Review (vol. Ivii).

that it was faithfully performed, all acquainted with his book entitled "Higher Schools of Germany," are aware. In this work the great superiority of the Prussian system is candidly admitted; and Mr. Arnold also admits that the French system ranks next to that of Germany; and, what caused more surprise, when the book was first published, he admits that the English system, including that pursued at Oxford and Cambridge is, in many important respects, much behind that of France as well as that of Prussia.*

Now, if the universities of Oxford and Cambridge are confessedly inferior to those of Germany and France, what can be said of the general run of our colleges and universities? Before this question is attempted to be answered, let it be remembered that there are thousands who graduate with high honors at nine-tenths of our colleges and universities, who could not obtain admission to the freshman class at Oxford or Cambridge, without some stronger influence than the amount or extent of their knowledge, as vouched for by their diplomas. For the truth of this no other than American authorities need be quoted. The books of Mr. Bristed and Mr. Hart are sufficient. The latter-entitled "German Universities"- -was published only a few months since, and it devotes a chapter to a 66 Comparison with American Colleges," which should be read in connection with its "Comparison with English Universities," the author's models being the educational institutions of Germany.

* It is universally admitted by the educated classes in England, that Dickens has deserved more of his countrymen by his exposures of the ignorant charlatans who called themselves head-masters of academies and seminaries, than by all his other writings. Lord Macaulay declared in a speech delivered before the Society for the Diffusion of Knowledge, at Birmingham, that the portraiture of Wackford Squeers, and Squeers Academy, Dotheboys Hall, in Nicholas Nickleby, not to mention that of Doctor Blimber of the private boarding school at Brighton, in Dombey and Son, merited the lasting gratitude of the British nation. And his lordship added that the shameful condition of education so justly and effectually satirized by Dickens, could not possibly have existed in Germany or France, where ignorance and imposture are forced to resort to other contrivances than teaching, to gull and swindle the public.

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