The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-19 00:00:00

EDUCATION IN FRANCE.

- -
The Monifeur contains a report from the Minister
of Public Instruction, occupying no less th n fourteen
columns, on the state of primary instruction in France
ap to the end of 1840. We make the following ex-
tracts :
The :total number of the communes of France is
37,295. According to the last statistical report, in
1837, there were then 29,613 single or united com-
munes provided with schools. In 1840 there had been
additions of 3,486, making an amount of 33,099
schools, leaving the number of communes unprovided
with schools 4,196. In the departments of the Ar-
dennes, Doubs, Nord, Haut Rhin, Seine, Somme, and
Vosges, there is at least one public school in every
commune. Other departments are very near being in
possession of this advantage. Thus, in 1840, in the
Hautes Alpes there was only one commune out of 180
without a school ; in the Bas Rhin three out of 543 ;
in the Oise five out of 698 ; in the Meuse
five out of 570 ; in the Pas de Calais eight of
903 ; in the Haute Saone seven out of 651 ; in
the Meurthe eight out of 714 ; in the Aveyron
three out of 256 ; in the Aube six out of 447. The
departments, which last year were most in want of
schools were the Allier, where there were 141 com-
munes out of 323 without any ; the Corveze 137 out
of 202 ; the In dre 124 out of 249 ; Morbihan 111
out of 228 ; Finisterre 121 out of 281 ; Cotes du
Nord 140 out of 374 ; Dordogne 184 out of 585 ; Saone-
et-Loire 170 out of 593 ; Charente 107 out of 453 ;
Puy-de-Dome 115 out of 445 ; Haute Garonne 138
out of 596 ; Eure 125 out of 791.—The progression
in the numbr of scholars has been equally remarkable.
In 1837 there were in the communal and private schools
under a master 1,547,194 boys and 412,636 girls, and in
those under a mistress 23,350 boys and 707,511 girls.
In 1840 there were in the communal and private
schools under masters 1,607,013 boys and 444,356
girls, and in those under mistresses 34,394 boys and
795,916 girls. In 1837 the superior communal and
private primary schools received 9,414 scholars, and at
present 15,285, being an increase of 5,871. These
scholars are not admitted until they have shown on
examination that they have acquired the instruction
given in the primary elementary schools. They gain
in the superior schools more extended lessons in the
French language, history, geography, and arithmetic ;
are taught book keeping, linear-drawing, perspective,
and receive considerable instruction in geometry, natu-
ral history, physics, and experimental chemistry. This
general education is in most of these schools divided into
three annual courses, and is completed with studies in
some of the living languages. Moral and religious
instruction is given in these and in all the schools.
Among these schools there are one hundred and
nicety.four in which the system of instruction is com-
plete, that is to say, affords the scholars all the various
branches, some of which are especially calculated for the
peculiar wants of the district. Several of them have in
this respect attained a remarkable degree of importance
and utility. Those of Nantes, Caen, Lille, Rennes, and
some others, are cited as examples. In 1837 there
were 26,370 schools exclusively appropriated to Catho-
lics, 563 to Protestants, 28 to Jews, and 2,059 were
mixed. In 1840 there were 28,018 Catholic, 677 Pro-
testant, 31 Jewish, and 2,059 mixed schools. The
number of schools under communal masters, which in
1837 amounted to 29,313, is now increased to 30,785.
Among these, those confined to boys amount to 12,486,
and those common to both sexes 18,299. Besides the
regular schools, the administration has also turned
its attention to adult classes for the evenings and
Sundays, for the instruction of men whose early edu-
cation has been neglected. In 1837 there were 1,856
adult schools in 1,547 communes, giving primary in-
struction and some practical notions of the sciences to
36,966 workmen of all trades and employments.
In 1840 the number of adult classes spread over 3,090
communes amounted to 3,403, being nearly double, and
had 68,508 attendants. This instruction, however, is
too much neglected in many of the departments. There

is not a siogie adult class in the Aisne, Basses Alpes,
Ardennes, Ariege, Aude, Aveyron' Centel, Charente,
Charente-Inferieure, Cher, Creuse, Doubs, Gets, Let,
Lozero, Haute-Marne, Nievre, Puy de Dome, Pyrenees-
Orienteles, Haut-Rhin, Somme, Var, and La Vendee. In
other departments, on the contrary, they are numerous.
There are 190 adult classes in the Gironde, 120 in the
Indre et Loire, 194 in the Isere, 194 Loir et Cher, 188
in the Loiret, 183 in the Msine et Loire, 188 in the
Meuthe, 303 in the Meuse, 219 in the Orne, 240 in
the Seine et Oise, 149 in the Deux Sevres, and 155
in the Viene. The city of Paris expends annually in
the maintenance of adult classes a sum of 57,744 francs
—an example which is imitated by communes in
several department. Thus the Municipal Councils have
voted for this purpose in the Pas-de-Calais, 7,100 f. ;
Gironde and Marne, 3,4001. ; Indre-et-Loire, 2,830 f. ;
Loire-Inferieure, 2,600 f. ; Mense, 2,2421.; Nord and

„ - -
Oise, 2,100 f ; Seine-et-Oise, 2,800 f. Several Coun-
cils-General have made sacrifices for the instruction of
adults, and the aggregate of their votes in 1840 for this
object was 31,796 f. In 1837, there were in 172 com-
munes 261 asylums receiving 29,214 children. There is
now to be found in 352 communes,ss3 infant schools (sal-
les d'asile), receiving in all 5,986 children. There are,
therefore, at this time, 294 infant schools receiving
21,474 children, more than there were in 1837. The
communes have devoted to these humble establishments

the sum of 245,631 f. The Chamber of Deputies added
a credit of 200,0001. for the same object to the budgets
for 1841 and 1842. This sum is distributed as an en-
couragement among such communes who have been at the
expense of purchasing ground and erecting buildings
for these schools, and has been a means of increasing
their number. It has already produced a good effect.
Independent of several recent establishments, there
are at this time seventy-nine proposals for new
ones laid before the Royal Council of Public In-
struction for its examination. The number of commu-
nal teachers who receive fixed salaries not amounting
to 300 f. a-year each, is 25,031. Of these, 23,048 re-
ceive only 200 f. each, and 2,003 have salaries between
200 f. and 299 f. The total number of persons employed
in primary schools is 62,859—namely, lay teachers
(male), 38,368 ; religious ditto, ditto, 2,136. Lay
teachers (female), 11,984 ; religious ditto, ditto, 10,371.
The number of persons employed as Inspectors of
Schools is 168. Besides the 76 Normal schools, 4of
which are directed by Ecclesiastics, and 2 entrusted to
brethren of the doctrine Chretienne, there have been es-
tablished 3 schools of the same order, specially appropri-
ated to non-Catholic communions, and directed by Pro-
testant pastors. The maintenance of those Normal schools

causes an annual expenditure of 1,538,203 f., borne by
families, by the Departments, and by the State in the fol.
lowing proportions—namely, by families, 268,5201. ; by
communes, 23,890 f. ; by the departments, 1,081,348 f. ;
and by the State, 164,445 f. In 1837 the Normal
schools gave instruction to 2,406 persons intended for
teachers ; a number increased -at the present day to
2,684, which are thus divided :—Free boarders, 311 ;
free out-boarders, 37 ; bursars of the State, 208 ; com-
munes 81 ; departments, 2,054. In 1837 the Normal
schools sent out 860 masters. In 1840 the number was
not greater on account of the length of time employed
by some of the schools in more extended studies, a great
many of them having been detained for a third year.
Nevertheless, the supply of new teachers has increased,
since, out of the 860 students who were qualified in
1837, only 671 have been placed ; while out of the
860 qualified in 1840 there are 713 at the heads
of schools. This proves that Normal instruction is pro-
ducing more and more immediate results. Of the 860
sent out in 1840, diplomas of capacity for giving supe-
rior primary instruction have been granted to 130, and
for giving elementary primary instruction to 730. The
713 normal students who have been placed are thus
divided, 660 in communal schools and 53 in private
schools. The average number of places vacant for
communal teachers was, three years ago, 2,356, but at
present they are no more than 2,308. The Normal
schools provide for about one third, the other two-
thirds are filled from other candidates. Endeavours

have been made for forming on a regular system female
teachers, independent of the religious corporations of
women, and several schools have been in consequence
established."

GREAT NORTII OF ENGLAND RAILWAY.
Traffic returns for the week ending Nov. 15, 1841 :
Passengers £684 6 11
Merchandize 504 2 10

Darlington, Nov. 17.

£l,lBB 9 9
D. O'BRIEN, Secretary.

The CorPont'n of Limerick, the third town
in Ireland in extent
tivity, was proved b, t
population, and commercial ac-
y
quiries to have been one eo result of Parliamentary in-.
even the Irish institutions the most notorious amongst
belonged. The appointment
the Chief Magistrate to the l
to all the civic offices, from
servants of the body, had been usamong the bailiffs and
present Viscounts Gort, who exeued by the late and
control in the nomination, as in thecirPsed, in fact, the same
e
domestic servants. The election under the
of their own
came on last week, and the result was Act of Victoria
candidates succeeded in the proportion thatof four the Liberal
and it only remained for the newly ohosonl 3°y to as-
sume to one ;
the civic functions given them by the Actd of Par-
liament. Accordingly, a deputation waited
u
Mayor—a Mr. Vereker, a relation of Lord Gori:onb e itthe
remembered—" respectfully to call upon him to i* ' up
gwe
to them, on behalf of the Council, the possessionoface
Exchange, and all books, records, and corporate property
under his controul, or that of any corporate officers under
him." The Mayor refuses to accede to this request, on
the (alleged) ground of the illegality of the proclamation
and other proceedings at the election; the consequence
of which will be an application for enforcing the law
against this recusant functionary.
EFFECTS OF AN EARTHQUAKE ON THE VE.
GETATION OF WHEAT.--II is a remarkable circumstance
that since the great earthquake in 1687, no wheat will
grow on the coast of Peru. In some places, indeed, a
little is raised, but it is very unproductive. Rice, on the
eontrary, yields a great return. Before the earthquake,
one grain of wheat yielded 200 grains.— York Courant.
GREENWICH, Nov. 16.—Richard Weeks, a
pensioner of the Royal Hospital, at present in the White
House Lunatic Asylum, Bethnal-geen (quite insane), has
been left the enormous sum of 120,0004

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FRoar THE DAILY PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
GLOBE.—The Times yesterday devoted a long
article to enforce upon the country gentlemen of its
party the duty of feasting. Eating and drinking to
repletion have been found, it seems, most excellent
auxiliaries to Toryism. It is now feared by certain
gourmand:, that having effected the main purpose for
which they were employed, Conservative festivals are in
danger of fulling into disuse. " These admirable fes-
tivals must on no account be relinquished," is not only
the friendly admonition of the Times, but the fond hope
of many a rampant Tory, who was wont to be favoured
with a ticket at the Tory candidate's or Member's cost—
es the price of his sweet voice at the poll, and his voci-
ferous cheers when the party toasts were announced from
the chair, after the removal of the cloth from the din-
ner table, taking special care not to be betrayed into
any un-Toryfied expression of loyalty to the Sovereign
on the proposal of " her Majesty's health," should it be
deemed rather " too bad" to shirk that time-honoured
compliment to the Sovereign,by " Church and Queen,"
the new-fangled form which is now extensively used on
such occasions. The Times evinces considerable tact
in thus drawing attention to the influence of the
stomach on the principles, or, rather, the voles, of its
party. The Tories are universally good feeders. The
disposition evinced by the " respectables" of the party
to barter their suffrages for soup, and their consciences
for claret, has a due and appropriate influence upon
these who occupy a lower place in the scale of society.
STANDARD.—The Morning Chronicle perseveres
with commendable assiduity, if its case were a good one,
in the Anti-Corn-law controversy. The state of deser-
tion in which our respected Contemporary stands seems
rather to animate than to subdue its zeal, and day after
day it pours out its closely-packed columns, under the
disheartening testimonies from all sides that its labours
are but moderately approved of, or, worse, that they are
net read. It is an impression of the latter kind which
forbids our reply to the Morning Chronicle as often as
we could wish. This disheartening fear, that one
writes for a thankless public, that will not even con-
descend to the perusal of what has been written, has
been, at least since the days of Persius—" Quis leget
hen ? Nomo, Hercule, nemo"—the most powerful and
melancholy restraint upon the exercise of the pen ;
and the person who can expect readers for any long
article with the awful stigma, " Corn-law Question,"
in its front, must have a higher opinion of his pawers
than we are conscious of. Nevertheless we adhere to
the hope that toleration, and even a minute's attention,
is possible for a few words upon a very striking and
important fallacy. Under this impression we venture,
though still with diffidence of success in catching a
reader, to submit, and to notice in a few words, the
following extract from the Morning Chronicle of this
day :
" In another column will be found an account of an
important fi ea trade meeting at Sheffield on Monday
last, at which were present Earl Fit zwilliam, John
Parker, Esq., Sir Arnold James, and nearly all the most
influential merchants, manufactures, &c., of the place.
", Resolutions disapproving of legislative interference
to protect the manufacture or the growth of anything
in any national locality,' advocating free intercourse
between the nations of the earth for the various articles
of-manufacture and natural production,' and expressing
a readiness to abolish all protective import duties on
foreign manufactures,' were proposed and seconded by
masters and operatives, and carried unanimously.
" We had supposed that the manufactures of Bir-
mingham and Sheffield would'be the last to suffer from
the corn monopoly. But we regret to perceive in
the statements of some of the leading manufacturers ir-
refragible evidence that the trade of Sheffield has suf-
fered from it to an extent which we could hardly have
credited. Mr. Ibbotson observed that five-eighths of
the manufacturers of Sheffield go to the American
market, the severe prostrations of which has been of five
years' standing.
" What (said Mr. Ibbotson) is the reason of all this?
Because the Americans have bad nothing to give us in
exchange for our goods.—( Hear.) America has an
abundance of what our people are dying for—not lite-
rally dying, but wasting away for want of adequate sup-
port." _ .

The reason, then, of the stagnation of the American
trade during the last five years is to be found in the
Corn-laws ! Prima fade, this seems strange when we
remark that the trade, the temporary stagnation of
which is complained of, had grown up under the system
of protection, and had prospered beyond example and
beyond hope under the Corn-laws for at least 21 years.
COURlER.—Westated some time ago, that the con-
dition of the sister country was gradually and steadily im-
proving, as well with regard to the feelings and habits,
as to the material comforts of the great body of the
people ; and notwithstanding the atrocious crimes that
have recently been perpetrated there, disgracing the na-
tional character, and rolling back for a time the tide of im-
provcment,we see no reason to alter or qualify our opinion
in the slightest particular ; on the contrary, various
subsequent events have but served to strengthen
and confirm it. The land-hunger that obtains amongst
the Irish peasantry is almost incomprehensible, it is
the main source of instigation to the many savage and
brutal murders of which that unhappy country has
been the scene, embittered and aggravated by fierce
and furious agitation ; and by the lessons of contempt
for law and disregard for Lumen life which it inculcates
with such industrious malignity. Truthfully and gra-
phically does a late revolter against the desolating des-
potism of that system trace the close, the inseparable
connection subsisting between its preachings and the
murderous practices which pass in the sister country
under the designation of agrarian outrages.

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.

POST.—The Money Market was decidedly less easy
to-day, the interest demanded on the security of stock
ranging between five and six per cent. for temporary
purposes. A report has been current in the produce
market now for several days past of the Bank of England
being about to increase their present rate to six per cent.
per annum. This report has at length extended itself to
the Stock Exchange and other quarters, though, from all
we can learn upon the subject, there does not appear to be
any good foundation for it. The importations of
specie have been large of late, both from the Conti-
nent and the American States, and as the exchanges
continue favourable to this country, there is no visible
cause for any further action on the part of the Bank.
The stock of bullion has rather diminished during the
last two or three months, but the reason of this is well
understood, and there is no ground for believing that any
thing worthy of being called a drain is to be apprehended.
The probability seems to be, therefore, that the rate now
chargeable, will not, for the present, be disturbed. It is
not long since a reduction of interest was spoken of with
equal confidence, and the rumour at that time originated,
if we recollect rightly, as it has now done, with the spe-
culators in Mincing-lane.

CHRONICLE.—Lord Monteagle has given notice to
the holders of unstamped Exchequer bills still outstand-
ing, to bring in their bills against Friday, the 19th instant,
at the latest, in order that the examination and stamping
may be completed, and the bills returned on or before
Saturday, Nov. 20, "when it is expected that the present
proceedings may be brought to a close."
On Friday last, the 12th inst., his Lordship informed
the public, that up to Thursday, the 11th inst., 25,709
bills, amounting in value to 15,865,3001., had been re-
ceived, examined, stamped, and re-issued, which left
3,605,7501. still outstanding and unstamped. If the whole
of these shall have been brought up to the Exchequer, and
have passed through the test of examination, stamping,
and re-issuing by Friday, then his Lordship's duty will
be " completed," and the proceedings alluded to by the
Comptroller-General " brought to a close." But we do
not believe that the whole of the outstanding kills will
be sent up by the time required. We have every
reason, indeed, to think otherwise, for there must be a
very general repugnance amongst the outstanding
holders, who received their bills in security for loans, to
trust them to the test of the counterfoils, when, if they
should not correspond with them, they are totally un-
certain whether they can ever get another look of their
property. Supposing there are some half a million only
of bills not sent up against Friday ; nay, sup-
posing there be only half-a-dozen of 1,0001. bills not
forwarded against the day specified, the holders, it
seems, are to be excluded from having them afterwards
examined and stamped ! Such is the inference to bo
drawn from the notice of the Comptroller-General; and
if that be the case, we have no hesitation in saying that
the notice is impotent, and cannot be maintained. The
Exchequer cannot compel the holders of the outstanding
bills to send up their bills against Friday. The notice,
indeed, does not attempt to do so. The framers of it
knew that they had not the power ; but they have sent
out the notice as a feeler, and in the shape of a threat,
by inuendo, to induce the outstanding bills to be confided
to their grasp, and so enable them to bring their labours
to a close. We scarcely think the manoeuvre will suc-
ceed to the desired extent, and we fear that his Lordship
may still be compelled to attend to office-hours for some
time longer. It is not every day that City people come
into such close contact with a Lord, and they are natur-
ally averse to part company so abruptly with the one
they have caught.

HOP INTELLIGENCE.
WORCESTER, Nov. 13.—There was a steady demand
for all descriptions of new Hops to-day at about last
week's prices, which are likely to remain stationary for
some time to come. The duty will be declared in a few
days, and is likely to fall between 13,0001. and 14,0001.
BOROUGH, Nov. 15.—Tlie Hop market is in a dull
result of oBfs.
state at present, as the official duty must come out in a
few days and set at rest all further doubts as to the
114 d., of hch theTihe dutyold
dutyyearlastatl 12-20 per
was only
1713:, furnished 34,001/. 16s. 11d. 4-20 ; the new duty at
R-20 per lb., 25,198/. ss. 10d. 16-20 ; and the addi-
tional ~!,itv of 5 per cent. 2,963/. 6s. 11 d. The prices
rule about f.. 1) same as in our last. Estimated duty,
140,0001. to 145,0001.
s

TATE OF TRADE AT MANCHESTER.—We
regret to say that, discouraging as the state of business
has been in the town for some weeks past, it was worse
yesterday than on any former occasion. Owing to the
present severe weather, there was an almost total cessa-
tion in the purchases of yarn for the Continent; and the
market was, consequently, exceedingly flat, with a
decline of id. to id. per lb. on many descriptions of yarn.
For goods, too, the demand was very trifling, and prices
of most descriptions continue gradually to dech,ne.—
Manchester Guardian.