The French University, which has schools in every department of France, and academic examining bodies in seventeen (including Algeria), is one of those institutions of Napoleon I. which seem likely to last with his code. It answers to the desire in the middle classes for a widely-spread Latin and mathematical education. This education may be modified in future years without destroying the University.
Probable Permanent Character of Universal Suffrage.
Universal suffrage has always been so difficult to abolish that nobody has attempted it, though no institution can be more cordially detested by some influential classes. The universality of military service has greatly increased the strength of universal suffrage, as every man may be called upon to die for the country, and therefore thinks that he has a natural right to vote. We are familiar with the phrase “a stake in the country.” Every Frenchman has at least one stake in the country—his life. There is not the most remote probability that universal suffrage will ever be repealed.
Probable Permanence of Representative Government.
Many quite sober-minded and thoughtful Frenchmen are now of opinion that representative government, after several unsuccessful attempts, is firmly and finally established in their country. I dare hardly go so far as to assert so much, but I am fully convinced that, if not now, it will be ultimately the fixed form of government in France.
Abandonment of the Republican Calendar.
A Calendar ought to be International.
As an example of a reform which has not been preserved I may mention the republican calendar. It was both beautiful and rational in its observation of nature, and was certainly an improvement upon the old calendar in the choice of names, but it fell into disuse from its inconvenience. It was only national and not international as a calendar ought to be. In times like these, when the French decimal coinage is already an international system, it would be a reactionary measure to go back to a national calendar. It will only be revived if several other nations agree to use it at the same time, which is not likely to happen.
The Church of England.
Wonderful Change that led to its Establishment.