*The Evening Schools are much freque? are employed in this manufacture in the mor + We find from these statistics, that abo I believe, made still further progress through

Dissenting sects of the Mormonites, Ranters, &c., do, it is absolutely necessary that the poor should be educated, as in Holland and in Germany, so as to dispense with those assistances to religion, which to the ignorant are so necessary.

I shall here give three tables, showing the state of education in the canton of Berne, in 1843, and in the canton of Neuchatel, in 1838.

In FRANCE the education of the people is almost as far and as satisfactorily advanced as in Switzerland. After the revolution of 1830, this question received the serious attention of the Government; and in 1833, M. Guizot, then Minister of Public Instruction, introduced a great and comprehensive scheme of National Education, which received the assent of the Chambers, and was immediately put into operation. This comprehensive measure deserves the closest attention. Its completeness, its efficiency, and its fitness to the genius of that great people, are equally remarkable.

Many very unjust aspersions have been cast upon this measure by individuals in our own country, generally totally ignorant of its details, for its neglect of religion—the vital principle of a people's education. This reproach is wholly unfounded; but so inveterate are our anti-gallican prejudices, and so strong our own sectarianism and uncharitableness, that we have greedily seized upon these precious slanders, and accepted them as undeniable truths.

It was long debated in France how the difficulties arising from religious differences should be overcome. Whether they should attempt to establish separate schools for all the different sects of Christianity,

whether they should open the schools to all these various sects, and banish from them all religious instruction, or whether they should open the schools to the different Christian persuasions, and commit the management of each to a master chosen from the most numerous sect in the department or commune, of which it was the normal, or elementary school. They felt that if they adopted the first course, they would leave the education of many children, where there was not a sufficient number of some one sect in a commune to enable Government to establish a separate school for it, totally unprovided for. They felt also that, if they adopted the second alternative, they would leave the most deeply important part of education either wholly neglected, or at least most indifferently provided for; and that to deny the master the liberty of giving practical religious education in the school, was to deprive him of the most powerful means of improving the character of his children. They, therefore, adopted the third alternative, and resolved to place each of the Normal schools of the different departments, and each of the primary schools of the different communes, under the management of a teacher selected from the most numerous Christian sect in the department or commune in which the school was situated. They further arranged that the parents, who differed in religion from the master or director of the school, should have the power of requiring their children to absent themselves during the periods of religious instruction; but they ordained that it should be necessary for such parents to provide elsewhere for the religious education of their own children.

So far from the religious education being overlooked

in France, it is constantly referred to in the different decrees on the subject of education, as of the most deep and momentous importance; and the religious education and moral character of the candidate-master, are strictly examined into before they can receive their brevêts de capacité, enabling them to conduct primary schools. In the language of the statute of April 25, 1834, upon the elementary schools—

"Dans toutes les divisions, l'instruction morale et religieuse prendra le premier rang. Des prières commenceront et termineront toutes les classes. Des versets de l'Ecriture sainte seront appris tous les jours. Tous les samedis, l'evangile du dimanche suivant sera récité. Les dimanches et fêtes conservées, les élèves seront conduits aux offices divins. Les livres de lecture courante, les exemples de l'écriture, les discours et les exhortations de l'instituteur tendront constamment à faire pénétrer dans l'âme des élèves les sentiments et les principes qui sont la sauvegarde des bonnes mœurs et qui sont propres à inspirer la crainte et l'amour de Dieu."

And, in the words of M. Guizot, in his letter addressed to the directors of the Normal schools during the time that he was Minister of Public Instruction,

"Parmi les objêts de l'enseignement, il en est un qui réclame de moi une mention particulière; ou plutôt, c'est la loi elle-même qui, en le plaçant en tete de tous les autres, l'a commis plus specialement à nôtre zèle: je veux parler de l'instruction morale et religieuse. Votre action à cet égard doit être tantôt direct, tantôt indirect.

"Si par votre caractère et vos exemples vous êtes parvenus à obtenir dans l'école toute l'autorité dont je souhaite de vous voir revêtu, les leçons morales que vous donnerez seront accueillies avec déférence; elles seront quelque chose du plus qu' un enseignement pour l'esprit des élèves-maitres; elles agiront sur leurs sentiments et sur leurs dispositions intérieures; elles suppléeront a l'insuffisance de la première education, si incomplete, et souvent si vicieuse dans l'état de nos mœurs et de nos lumières. Ne négligez, Monsieur, aucun moyen d'exercer cette salutaire influence; faites-y-servir les conversations particulières aussi bien que les leçons générales; que ce soit pour vous une pensée constante, une action de tous les moments.

"Il faut absolument que l'instruction populaire ne s'adresse pas à l'intelligence seule; il faut qu'elle embrasse l'àine tout entière, et qu'elle éveille surtout cette conscience morale, qui doit s'élever et se fortifier à mesure que l'esprit se développe. C'est assez vous dire, Monsieur, quelle importance doit avoir à vos yeux l'instruction religieuse proprement dite. Ses instituteurs qui seront appelés à y prendre, dans les écoles primaires, une part active, doivent y être bien préparés, et la recevoir eux-memes dans les écoles normales, d'une manière solide et efficace. Ne vous contentez donc point de la regularité des formes et des apparences; il ne suffit pas que certaines observances soient maintenues, que certaines heures soient consacrées à l'instruction religieuse; il faut pouvoir compter sur sa réalité et son efficacité. Je vous invite à me faire exactement connaître ce qui se passe à cet égard dans