Amiens, Nov. 26, 1794.
The Conſtituent Aſſembly, the Legiſlative Aſſembly, and the National Convention, all ſeem to have acted from a perſuaſion, that their ſole duty as revolutioniſts was compriſed in the deſtruction of whatever exiſted under the monarchy. If an inſtitution were diſcovered to have the ſlighteſt defect in principle, or to have degenerated a little in practice, their firſt ſtep was to aboliſh it entirely, and leave the replacing it for the preſent to chance, and for the future to their ſucceſſors. In return for the many new words which they have introduced into the French language, they have expunged that of reform; and the havock and devaſtation, which a Mahometan conqueror might have performed as ſucceſſfully, are as yet the only effects of philoſophy and republicaniſm.
This ſyſtem of ignorance and violence ſeems to have perſecuted with peculiar hoſtility all the ancient eſtabliſhments for education; and the ſame plan of ſuppreſſing daily what they have neither leiſure nor abilities to ſupply, which I remarked to you two years ago, has directed the Convention ever ſince. It is true, the interval has produced much diſſertation, and engendered many projects; but thoſe who were ſo unanimous in rejecting, were extremely diſcordant in adopting, and their own diſputes and indeciſion might have convinced them of their preſumption in condemning what they now found it ſo difficult to excel. Some decided in favour of public ſchools, after the example of Sparta— this was objected to by others, becauſe, ſaid they, if you have public ſchools you muſt have edifices, and governors, and profeſſors, who will, to a certainty, be ariſtocrats, or become ſo; and, in ſhort, this will only be a revival of the colleges of the old government—A third party propoſed private ſeminaries, or that people might be at liberty to educate their children in the way they thought beſt; but this, it waſ declared, would have a ſtill greater tendency to ariſtocracy; for the rich, being better able to pay than the poor, would engroſs all the learning to themſelves. The Jacobins were of opinion, that there ſhould be no ſchools, either public or private, but that the children ſhould merely be taken to hear the debates of the Clubs, where they would acquire all the knowledge neceſſary for republicans; and a few ſpirits of a yet ſublimer caſt were adverſe both to ſchools or clubs, and recommended, that the riſing generation ſhould "ſtudy the great book of Nature alone." It is, however, at length concluded, that there ſhall be a certain number of public eſtabliſhments, and that people ſhall even be allowed to have their children inſtructed at home, under the inſpection of the conſtituted authorities, who are to prevent the inſtillation of ariſtocratic principles.*
* We may judge of the competency of many of theſe people to be official cenſors of education by the following ſpecimens from a report of Gregoire's. Since the rage for deſtruction has a little ſubſided, circular letters have been ſent to the adminiſtrators of the departments, diſtricts, &c. enquiring what antiquities, or other objects of curioſity, remain in their neighbourhood.—"From one, (ſays Gregoire,) we are informed, that they are poſſeſſed of nothing in this way except four vaſes, which, as they have been told, are of porphyry. From a ſecond we learn, that, not having either forge or manufactory in the neighbourhood, no monument of the arts is to be found there: and a third announces, that the completion of itſ library cataloges has been retarded, becauſe the perſon employed at them ne fait pas la diplomatique!"—("does not underſtand the ſcience of diplomacy.")
The difficulty as to the mode in which children were to be taught being got over, another remained, not leſs liable to diſpute—which was, the choice of what they were to learn. Almoſt every member had a favourite article—-muſic, phyſic, prophylactics, geography, geometry, aſtronomy, arithmetic, natural hiſtory, and botany, were all pronounced to be requiſites in an eleemoſynary ſyſtem of education, ſpecified to be chiefly intended for the country people; but as this debate regarded only the primary ſchools for children in their earlieſt years, and as one man for a ſtipend of twelve hundred livres a year, was to do it all, a compromiſe became neceſſary, and it has been agreed for the preſent, that infants of ſix years ſhall be taught only reading, writing, gymnaſtics, geometry, geography, natural philoſophy, and hiſtory of all free nations, and that of all the tyrants, the rights of man, and the patriotic ſongs. —Yet, after theſe years of conſideration, and days of debate, the Aſſembly has done no more than a pariſh-clerk, or an old woman with a primer, and "a twig whilom of ſmall regard to ſee," would do better without its interference.
The ſtudents of a more advanced age are ſtill to be diſpoſed of, and the taſk of deviſing an inſtitution will not be eaſy; becauſe, perhaps a Collot d'Herbois or a Duhem is not ſatiſfied with the ſyſtem which perfectioned the genius of Monteſquieu or Deſcartes. Change, not improvement, is the object—whatever bears a reſemblance to the paſt muſt be proſcribed; and while other people ſtudy to ſimplify modes of inſtruction, the French legiſlature is intent on rendering them aſ difficult and complex as poſſible; and at the moment they decree that the whole country ſhall become learned, they make it an unfathomable ſcience to teach urchins of half a dozen years old their letters.
Foreigners, indeed, who judge only from the public prints, may ſuppoſe the French far advanced towards becoming the moſt erudite nation in Europe: unfortunately, all theſe ſchools, primary, and ſecondary, and centrical, and divergent, and normal,* exiſt as yet but in the repertories of the Convention, and perhaps may not add "a local habitation" to their names, till the preſent race** ſhall be unfit to reap the benefit of them.
* Les Ecoles Normaleſ were ſchools where maſters were to be inſtructed in the art of teaching. Certain deputies objected to them, as being of feudal inſtitution, ſuppoſing that Normale had ſome reference to Normandy. ** This was a miſtake, for the French ſeem to have adopted the maxim, "that man is never too old to learn;" and, accordingly, at the opening of the Normal ſchools, the celebrated Bougainville, now eighty years of age, became a pupil. This Normal project was, however, ſoon relinquiſhed—for by that fatality which has hitherto attended all the republican inſtitutions, it was found to have become a mere nurſery for ariſtocrats.
But this revolutionary barbariſm, not content with ſtopping the progreſſ of the riſing generation, has ravaged without mercy the monuments of departed genius, and perſecuted with ſenſeleſs deſpotiſm thoſe who were capable of replacing them. Pictures have been defaced, ſtatueſ mutilated, and libraries burnt, becauſe they reminded the people of their Kings or their religion; while artiſts, and men of ſcience or literature, were waſting their valuable hours in priſon, or expiring on the ſcaffold.—The moral and gentle Florian died of vexation. A life of abſtraction and utility could not ſave the celebrated chymiſt, Lavoiſier, from the Guillotine. La Harpe languiſhed in confinement, probably, that he might not eclipſe Chenier, who writes tragedies himſelf; and every author that refuſed to degrade his talents by the adulation of tyranny has been proſcribed and perſecuted. Paliſſot,* at ſixty years old, waſ deſtined to expiate in a priſon a ſatire upon Rouſſeau, written when he was only twenty, and eſcaped, not by the interpoſition of juſtice, but by the efficacity of a bon mot.
* Paliſſot was author of "The Philoſophers," a comedy, written thirty years ago, to ridicule Rouſſeau. He wrote to the municipality, acknowledged his own error, and the merits of Rouſſeau; yet, ſays he, if Rouſſeau were a god, you ought not to ſacrifice human victims to him.—The expreſſion, which in French iſ well tuned, pleaſed the municipality, and Paliſſot, I believe, waſ not afterwards moleſted.
—A ſimilar fate would have been awarded Dorat, [Author of "Les Malheurſ de l'Inconſtance," and other novels.] for ſtyling himſelf Chevalier in the title-pages of his novels, had he not commuted his puniſhment for baſe eulogiums on the Convention, and with the ſame pen, which has been the delight of the French boudoir, celebrated Carrier's murders on the Loire under the appellation of "baptemes civiques." Every province in France, we are informed by the eloquent pedantry of Gregoire, exhibitſ traces of theſe modern Huns, which, though now excluſively attributed to the agents of Robeſpierre and Mr. Pitt,* it is very certain were authorized by the decrees of the Convention, and executed under the ſanction of Deputies on miſſion, or their ſubordinates.
* "Soyez ſur que ces deſtructions ſe ſont pour la plupart a l'inſtigation de nos ennemiſ—quel triomphe pour l'Anglais ſi il eul pu ecraſer notre commerce par l'aneantiſſement des arts dont la culture enrichit le ſien."—"Reſt aſſured that theſe demolitionſ were, for the moſt part, effected at the inſtigation of our enemieſ —what a triumph would it have been for the Engliſh, if they had ſucceeded in cruſhing our commerce by the annihilation of the arts, the culture of which enriched their own."
—If the principal monuments of art be yet preſerved to gratify the national taſte or vanity, it is owing to the courage and devotion of individuals, who obeyed with a protecting dilatorineſs the deſtructive mandates of government.
At ſome places, orangeries were ſold by the foot for fire-wood, becauſe, as it was alledged, that republicans had more occaſion for apples and potatoes than oranges.—At Mouſſeaux, the ſeals were put on the hot-houſes, and all the plants nearly deſtroyed. Valuable remains of ſculpture were condemned for a creſt, a fleur de lys, or a coronet attached to them; and the deities of the Heathen mythology were made war upon by the ignorance of the republican executioners, who could not diſtinguiſh them from emblems of feodality.*
* At Anet, a bronze ſtag, placed as a fountain in a large piece of water, was on the point of being demoliſhed, becauſe ſtags are beaſts of chace, and hunting is a feodal privilege, and ſtags of courſe emblems of feodality.—It was with ſome difficulty preſerved by an amateur, who inſiſted, that ſtags of bronze were not included in the decree.—By a decree of the Convention, which I have formerly mentioned, all emblems of royalty or feodality were to be demoliſhed by a particular day; and as the law made no diſtinction, it could not be expected that municipalities, &c. often ignorant or timid, ſhould either venture or deſire to ſpare what in the eyes of the connoiſſeur might be precious. "At St. Dennis, (ſays the virtuoſo Gregoire,) where the National Club juſtly ſtruck at the tyrants even in their tombs, that of Turenne ought to have been ſpared; yet ſtrokes of the ſword are ſtill viſible on it."—He likewiſe complains, that at the Botanic Garden the buſt of Linnaeus had been deſtroyed, on a preſumption of its being that of Charles the Ninth; and if it had been that of Charles the Ninth, it is not eaſy to diſcern how the cauſe of liberty was ſerved by its mutilation.—The artiſt or moraliſt contemplates with equal profit or curioſity the features of Pliny or Commodus; and Hiſtory and Science will appreciate Linnaeus and Charles the Ninth, without regarding whether their reſemblanceſ occupy a palace, or are ſcattered in fragments by republican ignorance.—Long after the death of Robeſpierre, the people of Amiens humbly petitioned the Convention, that their cathedral, perhaps the moſt beautiful Gothic edifice in Europe, might be preſerved; and to avoid giving offence by the mention of churches or cathedrals, they called it a Baſilique.—But it is unneceſſary to adduce any farther proof, that the ſpirit of what is now called Vandaliſm originated in the Convention. Every one in France muſt recollect, that, when diſpatches from all corners announced theſe ravages, they were heard with as much applauſe, as though they had related ſo many victories gained over the enemy.
—Quantities of curious medals have been melted down for the trifling value of the metal; and at Abbeville, a ſilver St. George, of uncommon workmanſhip, and which Mr. Garrick is ſaid to have deſired to purchaſe at a very high price, was condemned to the crucible—
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"——Sur tant de treſorſ "Antiques monumens reſpectes juſqu'alors, "Par la deſtruction ſignalant leur puiſſance, "Las barbares etendirent leur ſtupide vengeance." "La Religion," Racine. |
Yet the people in office who operated theſe miſchiefs were all appointed by the delegates of the Aſſembly; for the firſt towns of the republic were not truſted even with the choice of a conſtable. Inſtead, therefore, of feeling either ſurpriſe or regret at this devaſtation, we ought rather to rejoice that it has extended no farther; for ſuch agents, armed with ſuch decrees, might have reduced France to the primitive ſtate of ancient Gaul. Several valuable paintings are ſaid to have been conveyed to England, and it will be curious if the barbariſm of France in the eighteenth century ſhould reſtore to us what we, with a fanaticiſm and ignorance at leaſt more prudent than theirs, ſold them in the ſeventeenth. The zealots of the Bareboneſ' Parliament are, however, more reſpectable than the atheiſtical Vandals of the Convention; and, beſideſ the benefit of our example, the interval of a century and an half, with the boaſt of a philoſophy and a degree of illumination exceeding that of any other people, have rendered the errors of the French at once more unpardonable and more ridiculous; for, in aſſimilating their paſt preſentations to their preſent conduct and ſituation, we do not alwayſ find it poſſible to regret without a mixture of contempt.