The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-05-11
RENAN ON EDUCATION.
Lecture AT the Theatre du Prince Imperial in
Paris.
Palis lAp,il 21l Co,yespondenee London TiLees.

have more than once noticed the attractions
at the Theatre du Prince Imperial, of the lee
lures, or conferences as they are called of popu-
lar professors or writers. There was one an
nounced for Saturday last by NJ. Renan, on The
State and the Family" The theatre is capable
of holding 25O0 persons and on this occasion
it was nearly full. The prices of admission
ranged from five francs to ten sous. About one
tenth of the audience were women, and among
the occupants of the higher benches of the
amphitheatre were good many men in blouses-
The meeting was conVOked by the Society for
the Professional Education and instruction of
Women. The chair was taken by NJ. Car
not, for q short time Minister of Public lnstruc-
tion under the Republic, and son of the cele-
brated ConventiOnist and member of the Com
mittee of Public Safety, who used TO be called
'the organizer of victory" On his entrance
into the hall on Saturday evening, NJ. Renan
was accompanied by VI. CarnOt NJ. Ernest Pi-
card (both deputies for Paris), and others, who
were received with clapping of hands and loud
cheers. The audience were evidently prepared
to applaud to the echo all that NJ. Renan said if
they could only hear it. Unfortunately, scarcely
a sentence was audible, even to those in the i'm
mediate neighborhood of the lecturer. He sat at
| table in front of the stage, and occasionally
| endeavored to make up for the insufliciency of
his voice by the vehemence of his gesticulatiOns.
| Long before the lecture was over the remoter
seats had been evacuated by their occupants.
As very few persons among the audience really
heard what NJ. Renan said the address is pub
lshed at full length in the Journal deS DebatS
TO which he has for a long time been Il con-
tributor. 1t fills nearly six columns of that
paper | extract one or two passages. After
describing the system of instruction as practised
by the republics of ancient Greece and in the
| middle ages, coming down to modern times, he
said:-
Il will not recount the struggles which fol-
lowed, and which belong entirely to cOntempo-
raneous history; it is sufficient to say that sort
of concordat seems to be established between
those who wish the State TO be the sole instructor
| md WIN wis sh ShOuln ne
entirely left to private action. In this new sys-
! TEN the State takes the part of principal pro-
moter of studies. 1t makes pecuniary sacrifices
| for that object and so do the towns Finally,
| society occupies itself actively in matter which
! it deems to be of superior interest to it, but it
forces no one. 1t does not punish the father
who is guilty of not giving an education to his
| SON. The father who does not wish for the
| schools of the State has others at his choice.
do not examine whether that ideal is carried out
in practice, or whether the State carries into the
| direction of public instruction the liberal and
solid spirit requisite in such matters. / only
occupym myself with the general system; and this
SYSTEM for my part, | adopt as reconciing
well enough, if properly practised, the rights
of the family with the rights of the State. 1t is
quite clear that a system of education analogous
to that of Greek antiquity uniform, obligatory
on all removing the child from his family, sub
jccting him to a discipline which may wound
the conscience of the futher-such system, FAR
from being machinery of education, would be
sure to produce BRITISH ignorance and stupidity.
The conceptions of the time of the revolution
excepting Talleyrand's plan), and especially the
| University of Napoleon l, were marked in this
respect by an incurabc defect. Read the regu-
lation of studies in 1902 and you will find these
words:-"All that is relative to meals, to regula-
tiOns, to exercise and 10 sleep shall be done in
companies. In each l.yceum there shall be II
library containing 1900 volumes. All the Libraries
| shall contain the same works, and no other work
can be placed in them without the authorization
of the Minister of the Interior" And this is
NJ HYAa1 Vl,,FN-
of the reign of Napoleon l. / take the liberty
of not being of his opinion. That uniformity of
education, that official spirit, would be the in
tellectual death OF the ration. Mo- such is by no
means our ideal The State should maintain Il
level and not impose it. Even on the question
whether the State shall make certain minimum
of instruction obligatory, hesitate. That there
Is moral obligation on father to give his son
necessary instruction that instruction which
makes the man, is too evident to be insisted
upon. But hesitate when asked whether this
obligation should be made Il law and the
neglect OF 1t punishable. If "A father or q
mother will take upon themselves to give or
cause TO be given at home to their child an
education which appears best to them, how can
it be ascertained that this education is
equivalent to that which is given in n primary
schools; Must the child undergo an eXaminn-
tion? 1t is this examination which disquiets me
Who is TO be the examiner? And on what sub
iect is 1t to take place? Certainly if practical
persons assure me that law of the kind is neces-
sary to remove this load of Ignorance which
| crushes us, Iwoud consent to it, but do not be-
, lieye such to be the case. 1t is not the same
perhaps, with gratuitous primary instruction;
that is desirable; and it is necessary that the
father who does not give instruction to his son
should be held ineXcusable. Let the public
blame fall upon him. well and good but want
! nothing more. The real sanction in this, as in
all things of moral order, is TO allow strong
public opinion TO be freely formed against mis-
, deeds which the law can never reach.
: In conclusion, NJ. Renan said--'In all thingi
let US revert to the traditions which an enlight