be most unsatisfactory that he should permanently depend for his lodging on public or private charity,"* (the italics are ours.) We are disposed to add: nor for any necessary, consequently not for his children's education. It is scarcely ever distinctly maintained, that, even though parents be willing to do their duty to their children, they cannot afford to bear the whole of their schooling, though, certainly, past legislation would seem to have been framed on some such assumption. It does seem not a little anomalous to call a thing a duty, and yet, in the same breath, pronounce it not performable. There must be something wrong somewhere, if this be the real state of the case. That labour is greatly underpaid, is, we fear, only too true; but it is doubtless also owing to the delinquencies of others, that the honest labourer is either called upon to pay a higher fee than he can conveniently afford, or to accept a portion of his children's education as a boon. In either case, the upright man's position should be improved. If it be decided that a certain amount of knowledge is an essential qualification for a subject, it would be no more than fair, by prohibiting the employment of all persons not thus qualified, to secure to all who submit to the imposed conditions, an equitable return for their outlay. If there be parents who do not submit, and thereby throw the burthen of maintaining an establishment on a smaller number than need be, it were just, though, we are afraid, not feasible, to enforce their co-operation. Be this as it may, we feel very confident that parents should be able to educate their children in a becoming manner at their own expense. It would seem self-evident that the establishment of a school system by Government or some other central power, would, by simplification and the removal of loss involving competition, contribute to the same end; and when anything is made a national requirement, the adoption of national measures is quite justifiable. It must, doubtless, ever be the primary concern of a Government to guard the interests of the people; and its duty towards class-interests consists merely in the doing them no wrong. Its mode of working in the matter of schools should, we think, partake of the following characteristics :-The adoption of a minimum standard of acquirement; of a maximum as also of a minimum rate of emolument; of a maximum number of pupils; and of a maximum and minimum fee.

The standard of acquirement fixed by competent judges, would restrict the Government in its selection of teachers within certain bounds. The rate of emolument, deduced in the case of the maximum from a consideration of what would have been deemed liberal under the old system, would secure the people against an undue application of a kind of monopoly; while the minimum rate, fixed so as to yield a competency, would prevent the exposure of the teacher to utter want. The limits assigned to the number of pupils and the corresponding fee would mutually check each other, and prove a protection, the one to the pupil's interest, the other to the parent's purse. As circumstances alter, the above limitations might be revised-indeed, a periodical revision should be insisted on.

The practical operation of such enactments would be something like the following: Duly qualified teachers would be appointed to every locality, rich and poor, thinly and densely populated alike, with permission to derive from its inhabitants as much remuneration as possible, provided only such do not exceed an amount fixed upon as being liberal, and that it be so derived, neither by too heavy demands on such inhabitants, nor by too great an undertaking on the part of the teacher. In districts well supplied both with pupils and the means of paying for them, by enrolling the maximum number, and charging the maximum fee, the teacher would

The Charities and the Poor of London. Quarterly Review, cxciv., September, 1855.

become possessed of the maximum salary. In poor and densely populated localities, again, it might be necessary to lower the fee in order to induce the attendance of the maximum number of pupils, whereby the teacher's income would suffer; while in rich and thinly populated districts, not the smallness of the fee, but the scantiness of the pupils would produce a like effect. In neither instance, however, would the result be very disastrous. This would only be the case in districts, poor not only in resources, but also in pupils, such, for instance, as some of our Highland parishes. There, indeed, it would perhaps be impossible to gain a livelihood, and it would be difficult to prevail upon a duly qualified teacher to run the risk. To meet these exceptional cases, some expedient would have to be devised, and a supplement, in the shape either of money or of pupils, would seem the most reasonable.

But it may be said, how is it to be expected that teachers will submit to such restrictions? why should the principles of free trade be departed from? Our answer is, if compulsion be to any extent an element in the adjustment of a matter, it removes it from the sphere of principles applicable to matters not so dealt with; and therefore, as in the case before us, the nation's insisting on the fulfilment of a certain demand, involves its taking steps to render such fulfilment possible; so this again includes the necessity of making arrangements for the performance of its own part; and we will now show what these are and how they affect the teachers.

Government undertakes to maintain schools everywhere, which it may either work at its own risk by means of paid functionaries, or lease to duly qualified teachers. In either case the unconditional maintenance of the schools forms one of its obligations. Government, having no private interest to serve, but acting solely for the benefit of the nation, is at liberty to reduce the burthens it imposes to the smallest remunerative weight; while being possessed of unlimited resources, it is able to make experiments in this direction. The necessary consequences are, that Government will possess a monopoly of such schools as it pleases to maintain, and that the teachers of these schools, be they paid by the State or authorised to appropriate the revenue, will, under ordinary circumstances, enjoy exemption from competition. There may be extraordinary circumstances, e.g., denominational endowed schools, or the devotion of superior talent to the same work, for some special reason. In the former case, the competition might be lasting, in the latter it would be ephemeral-in neither, however, could the Government teacher fall below the minimum income; while the stability of his institution would prove a valuable ally. Furthermore, Government attributes to its schools the power of qualifying the pupils for active employment, but does not thus regard inferior institutions; thereby depriving them to a great extent of their value, and rendering them unprofitable instruments in the education of children. These inferior schools would likewise be very much given up, and thus also a diminution of competition would be induced. In the event of teachers becoming superannuated or infirm, or having rendered themselves obnoxious, there should be a properly constituted Board, endowed with discretionary power to depose or pension off such; however it is found, practically speaking, to be no easy matter to decide these cases. We have said that Government should reserve the power to pension off certain teachers-this is surely fair, for we have been supposing Government to adopt measures, which in some cases might only produce a livelihood, and this because actuated by a wish to bring the means of education within the reach of the public on as easy terms as possible. So long as teachers are actively engaged, they are not on a par, no matter whether regard be had to their merits or to their position; but so soon as they

have served their generation and been admitted to the pension list, they must be considered to possess equal claims upon their country. Nor does it affect this part of the subject in the least, whether they have done duty in religious or secular schools; and, therefore, whatever mode of payment may be adopted for teachers actively employed, and whatever difficulties there may be in the way of adjusting the burthens in their case, the advantage which we have pointed out should not be overlooked. Just as no sectarian rancour need be displayed, so long as merely the providing of the requisite amount of school accommodation is under consideration, none would apply here, as it only, in the one case, becomes a vexed question when proposals to fill the schools are made, and when, in the other, teachers are called upon to act. Government can thus erect new, or convert existing schools, and can also confer pensions on retiring teachers, without encountering the difficulties which beset its action in other stages of the subject, and we think it should do so in a different way from that proposed for the payment of salaries. School accommodation is a permanent outlay, and so (to a less exteut, it is true,) is the system of pensions. It would manifestly be unjust to make the present generation be at the whole expense of the former, or to make those who might be supporters of a school at the time a teacher was about to retire, or those who might succeed them, pay an additional sum towards his maintenance. As regards the schools, "the work should be done all at once for the sake of the nation; it should be paid for in a long time for the sake of the parties benefited." That is to say, a school will serve two or three generations, and, speaking generally, the third should contribute as much towards its construction as the first. Then, again, as to the matter of pensions, they should be paid out of the exchequer the common purse of the nation-because the teacher of every national school enjoys the same privileges irrespective of all nonnational considerations.

The provisions recommended above would give the teachers of national schools certain advantages, well calculated to induce submission, on their part, to some curtailment of their liberty of action. They would be in a great measure rid of competition, secured against bad times, and against the discontinuance of the schools, and be provided for in their old age or in the event of ill health; while all we have demanded in return, is, that they should pass an examination, cede their right of deciding how many children they will admit, and how much or how little they will receive in payment. If we be thought daring innovators and rash in new-fangled devices, we would deny the charge, and refer the reader to the armoury whence they have been drawn. We allude to the chapter of Railway Legislation and Railway Practice. There he will find fares and stoppages regulated by Act of Parliament, periodical revision, limited profits, and the establishment of monopoly by law; while on the other hand, there are to be seen instances of lower fares and profits, and of greater accommodation. It will also be apparent that in no case does the public suffer damage, although the railways have a virtual monopoly of the traffic. Still it has been suggested by practical men, that even more might be effected by the interference of Parliament; and the complete management of Railways by Government has been advocated on the ground of the advantages of a systematised scheme and of substituting a disinterested for an interested control; also on account of Government's possessing the means to experiment in reduced fares. We consider this no far-fetched analogy. While on the subject we may notice one other feature of resemblance. Our landed proprietors may prefer the privacy and selectness they attain by travelling in their own equipages-our wealthier classes may prefer to hire carriages for the same reasons-it were hard if they

Even so

were compelled to support railways which they did not use. may some families engage tutors, and others frequent select schools, and we do not see why such should contribute to the maintenance of common schools, otherwise than as forming a part of the nation.

Many think that teachers should be paid by the State; but it cannot be held that they occupy a position in any way analogous to that of other classes thus remunerated. They are not like clergymen whose office forbids mere mercenary competition, and who can make no distinctions in the quality of the services they render. With soldiers and sailors they have still less in common, for there is no opposition army or navy, nor indeed can be. There are no adventure corps-if there be adventure churches, they are not so avowedly. With schools the case is far otherwise; the principles of free trade are quite applicable to them, nor does this in any way degrade the teacher's office. It is a profession, quite true; but is there not a legal-is there not a medical profession-and do not lawyers and doctors engage in competition? Government might just as reasonably enter into some abstruse investigation to discover what would be commensurate pay for them, and on making provision for the legal and medical requirements of the nation, and endow all and sundry with these emoluments so deduced; as endeavour to make a like discovery in the case before us, and apply it to all the teachers it appoints. The effects of such a measure would assuredly be discontent on one side or other, on the part of the teachers or of the public; whereas if the teachers be willing to supply the demand for their services on advantageous, or, again, if only on disadvantageous terms, it remains a matter between them and the public. If it be reasonable that the rates should be low, opposition will be induced; but if that they should be high, the public will have to submit. It may be well to conclude our remarks on this subject, by reminding the reader that we have only advocated the limitation of the teacher's salary-as regards the maximum-to protect the public against the possible consequences of a monopoly; and the minimum-on account of the necessity of maintaining schools, even in unremunerative districts. In this case, however, a livelihood is the desideratum, while the margin between the extremes would leave ample scope for the influence of superior qualifications and greater merit.

SKETCHES OF GREAT EDUCATORS-PESTALOZZI.

(Concluded from page 130.)

WITHIN the castle of Burgdorf was begun that realisation of a true natural method of education which has endeared the memory of Pestalozzi to every lover of humanity. His simple intuitional genius was supported and aided by men of shrewd observation, deep reflection, and sound judgment, that willingly followed his diviner light. Such assistants were indispensably necessary to him, for they did work which his progressive spirit was apt to leave undone through oversight caused by excessive ardour. Niederer, in particular, served him and his method well, by counteracting his tendency to delay too long the developing of the mind to abstract thinking. Others, by their knowledge of things of which he was ignorant, and their criticism of his method from their varied intellectual standpoints, fenced in and strengthened it by making it more tangibly practical. The homage and obedience they paid to his genius is

remarkable; and as he was no ordinary man who possessed that genius, so were they, too, no ordinary men who recognised and attached themselves to it. Buss thus describes his first interview with him :

"I went to Burgdorf. I cannot describe the feelings I had at our first interview. He came down from an upper room with Ziemssen, who was just then on a visit with him, his stockings hanging down about his heels, and his coat covered with dust. His whole appearance was so miserable that I was inclined to pity him, and yet there was in his expression something so great that I viewed him with astonishment and veneration. This, then, was Pestalozzi! His benevolence, the cordial reception he gave to me, a perfect stranger, his unpretending simplicity, and the dilapidated condition in which he stood before me the whole man taken together, impressed me most powerfully. I was his in one instant. No man had ever so sought my heart; but none, likewise, has ever so fully won my confidence."

It was about this time that he wrote those valuable letters to his friend Gessner, a son of the poet, which he afterwards published under the title of "How Gertrude Teaches her Little Ones." They contain an account of his experiments up to this time, with the progress of his method.

The institution was prospering in all save its pecuniary department -the bane of many a noble enterprise. To complete its fate, the Central Government-the main source of its expenditure-was dissolved; and, though the Government of Berne, in which canton Burgdorf was situated, was rich enough to support it, so far from entertaining such a philanthropic idea, they ordered him to remove his establishment elsewhere. In this they acted from mainly political motives, Berne being aristocratic, and Pestalozzi having all along professed democratic principles. But the change turned out for the better. He received two invitations of settlement, one from the Government of the Canton de Vaud, the other from Emmanuel de Fellenberg, a noted patron of education. Willingly, and yet afraid to trust his establishment so near the influence of such a man, he determined upon settling chiefly in the Canton de Vaud for the present, and sending part of it to Munchen Buchsee, the estate of Fellenberg. result showed that he had acted wisely. Fellenberg's method would not suit with Pestalozzi's. So after a twelve months' trial, that part was united to the principal establishment which had settled at Yverdon.

The

The Government of the Canton was poor, and could only grant him the free use of the Castle of Yverdon. This affected the institution much at first, but gradually it became self-supporting as a boardingschool. In the end it operated towards its permanent establishment in making Pestalozzi and his friends concentrate their management upon this scheme alone, and leave out of consideration for the present his favourite schemes of an orphan asylum and a teachers' seminary.

The Castle of Yverdon was beautifully situated at the south end of the lake of Neufchatel. We cannot resist quoting Biber's beautiful description of its situation, and the use made of it by Pestalozzi and his pupils:

"The town is situated in a valley of from six to eight miles in breadth,