In 1868, having been made a fellow of the University, he was sent to the lycée of Poitiers. At this place he manifested his sympathy for the common people by a course of lectures to workmen on moral subjects. About this time he received honorable mention from the Academy for an eloquent eulogy upon Rousseau, in which he carefully portrayed the influence of Rousseau upon the government of his country and upon methods of school instruction, giving him full credit for the reform in both.
From this time forward Compayré’s life has been filled with labors and with honors. In addition to his professional duties and philosophical writings, he has made careful study of the social and political questions of his country.
Promoted from one post of honor to another, on the 14th of July, 1880, he was appointed Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.
In 1874 he presented his theme for his doctor’s degree upon the Philosophy of David Hume, a work of the highest philosophical thought and language, which received a prize from the Academy.
Between 1874 and 1880 his lectures were largely devoted to the subjects most closely connected with modern thought. A Study of Darwinism, The Psychology of a Child, Educational Principles, are subjects that indicate the sweep of his investigations. The brilliancy of his style, the liberality of his opinions, and the extent of his learning have exposed him to bitter attacks from those who envy his powers and disbelieve his doctrines; yet his popularity has continually increased, and the young professor has become a great power in the party of the republic, to whose cause he early devoted himself.
The works which he published during this period were numerous. He translated with great care, adding valuable matter of his own: Bain’s Inductive and Deductive Logic, Huxley’s Hume, His Life and Philosophy, and Locke’s Thoughts on Education. His most considerable work is his History of the Doctrine of Education in France since the Sixteenth Century, a work of two volumes, published in 1879, which reached its fourth edition in France in 1883, has been translated entire into German, and from which numerous extracts have been made for the educational journals of England and America. If we add to these labors his work upon the Revue Philosophique, and the Dictionnaire de Pédagogie, we shall understand why he was called to Paris in 1881, by the Minister of Public Instruction, to aid in founding the École Normale Supérieure des Institutrices, de Fontenay-aux-Roses. He successfully arranged the course of instruction for this school. In the same year he assisted in the organization of a new school at Sèvres, which prepares young teachers for the course of instruction in the normal schools.
In 1880 he published his Manual of Civil and Moral Instruction, in two courses, or parts. This book has had a remarkable career. In less than three years more than three hundred thousand copies of the first part, and over five hundred thousand of the second part, were sold.
In 1882, in conjunction with a friend, M. A. Delplan, an author of merit, he published his Civil and Moral Lectures. In 1883 he published a Course of Civil Instruction for normal schools.
Compayré entered political life in 1881, having been elected deputy from the arrondissement of Lavaur in Tarn. He occupies a distinguished position among the men of to-day; his character, his talents, his popularity, and his devotion to the cause of civil and intellectual freedom, give him the assurance of a place no less important among the men of the future.
In his personal appearance Compayré combines the scholar and the man of the world. His dark hair, parted in the middle, is combed back from a forehead very high and very broad. His eye is bright and piercing, and his face, clean shaven except upon the upper lip, bears the impress of both his ingenuousness and his indomitable perseverance.