and hospitals, in the bureaux of charity, their resources are no longer
inferior to their needs, while Christian charity and philanthropic
generosity are constantly operating in all directions to fill the empty
drawers; legacies and private donations, after 1802, authorized by
the Council of State, multiply; we see them swelling the pages of the
"Bulletin des Lois."[31140] From 1800 to 1845, the hospitals and asylums
are thus to receive more than 72 millions, and the charity bureaux over
49 millions; from 1800 to 1878, all together will thus receive more
than 415 millions.[31141] The old patrimony of the poor is again
reconstituted piece by piece; and on January 1st, 1833, asylums and
hospitals, with their 51 millions of revenue, are able to support
154,000 elderly and the sickly.[31142]
Like public charity, public education again becomes effective; Fourcroy,
after 1806,[31143] lists 29 organized and full lycées; besides these,
370 communal secondary schools and 377 private secondary schools are
open and receive 50,200; there are 25,000 children in the 4500 schools.
Finally, in 1815,[31144] we find in France, restored to its ancient
boundaries, 12 faculties of Law or Medicine with 6,329 students, 36
lycées with 9000 pupils, 368 colleges with 28,000 pupils, 41 small
seminaries with 5233 pupils, 1255 boarding-schools and private
institutions with 39,623 pupils, and 22,348 primary schools with 737,369
scholars; as far as can be gathered, the proportion of men and women
able to read and to sign their name is raised under the empire up to and
beyond the figures[31145] it had reached previous to 1789.
In this manner are the worst damages repaired. The three new
administrative services, with a different set-up, do the job of the old
ones and, at the expiration of twenty-five years, give an almost equal
return.--In sum, the new proprietor of the great structure sacked by
the Revolution has again set up the indispensable apparatus for warming,
lighting and ventilation; as he knows his own interests perfectly,
and is poorly off in ready money, he contributes only a minimum of the
expense; in other respects, he has grouped together his tenants
into syndicates, into barracks, in apartments, and, voluntarily or
involuntarily, he has put upon them the burden of cost. In the meantime,
he has kept the three keys of the three engines in his own cabinet, in
his own hands, for himself alone; henceforth, it is he who distributes
throughout the building, on each story and in every room, light, air and
heat. If he does not distribute the same quantity as before he at least
distributes whatever is necessary; the tenants can, at last, breathe
comfortably, see clearly and not shiver; after ten years of suffocation,
darkness and cold they are too well satisfied to wrangle with the
proprietor, discuss his ways, and dispute over the monopoly by which he
has constituted himself the arbitrator of their wants.--The same thing
is done in the material order of things, in relation to the highways,
dikes, canals, and structures useful to the people: here also he repairs
or creates through the same despotic initiative,
* with the same economy,[31146]
* the same apportionment of expense,[31147]
* the same spontaneous or forced aid to those interested,
* the same practical efficiency.[31148]
Summing it up and if we take things as a whole, and if we offset the
worse with the better, it may be said that the French people have
recovered the possessions they had been missing since 1789:
* internal peace,
* public tranquility,
* administrative regularity,
* impartial justice,
* a strict police,
* security of persons, property and consciences,
* liberty in private life,
* enjoyment of one's native land, and, on leaving it, the privilege of
coming back;
* the satisfactory endowment, gratuitous celebration and full exercise
of worship;
* schools and instruction for the young;
* beds, nursing and assistance for the sick, the indigent and for
foundlings;
* the maintenance of roads and public buildings.
So that of the two groups of cravings which troubled men in 1800, the
first one, that which dated from the Revolution, has, towards 1808 or
1810, obtained reasonable satisfaction.
*****
[Footnote 3101: Roederer, III., 334 (August 6, 1800).]
[Footnote 3102: The word means "what is beyond the Alps" but refers to a
number of doctrines favoring the Pope's absolute authority. (SR.)]
[Footnote 3103: Stanislas Girardin, "Mémoires," I., 273 (22 Thermidor,
year X): "The only craving, the only sentiment in France, disturbed for
so many years, is repose. Whatever secures this will gain its assent.
Its inhabitants, accustomed to take an active part in all political
questions, now seem to take no interest in them."--Roederer, III., 484
(Report on the Sénatorerie of Caen, Dec. 1, 1803): "The people of the
rural districts, busy with its new affairs,... are perfectly submissive,
because they now find security for persons and property.. .. They show
no enthusiasm for the monarch, but are full of respect for and trust in
a gendarme; they stop and salute him on passing him on the roads."]
[Footnote 3104: Rocquam, "l'État de la France au 18 Brumaire." (Report
by Barbé-Marbois, p. 72, 81.) Cash-boxes broken open and exclamations
by the officers "Money and fortune belong to the brave. Let us help
ourselves. Our accounts will be settled at the cannon's mouth."--"The
subordinates," adds Barbé-Marbois, "fully aware of their superior's
drafts on the public treasury, stipulate for their share of the booty;
accustomed to exacting contributions from outside enemies they are not
averse to treating as conquered enemies the departments they were called
upon to defend."]
[Footnote 3105: Ibid. (Reports of Barbe-Marbois and Fourcroy while on
their missions in the 12th and 13th military divisions, year IX., p.158,
on the tranquility of La Vendée.) "I could have gone anywhere without
an escort. During my stay in some of the villages I was not disturbed
by any fear or suspicion whatever.... The tranquility they now enjoy and
the cessation of persecutions keep them from insurrection."]
[Footnote 3106: Archives nationales, F7,3273 (Reports by Gen. Ferino,
Pluviôse, year IX, with a table of verdicts by the military commission
since Floreal, year VIII.) The commission mentions 53 assassinations, 3
rapes, 44 pillagings of houses, by brigands in Vaucluse, Drôme, and
the Lower Alps; 66 brigands taken in the act are shot, 87 after
condemnation, and 6, who are wounded, die in the hospital.--Rocquain,
ibid., p. 17, (Reports of Français, from Nantes, on his mission in the
8th military division.) "The South may be considered as purged by the
destruction of about 200 brigands who have been shot. There remains only
three or four bands of 7 or S men each."]
[Footnote 3107: Three classes of insurrectionary peasants or
marauders.--Tr.]
[Footnote 3108: Archives Nationales, F7, 7152 (on the prolongation of
brigandage). Letter from Lhoste, agent, to the minister of justice,
Lyons, Pluviôse 8, year VIII. "The diligences are robbed every
week."--Ibid., F7,3267, (Seine-et-Oise, bulletins of the military police
and correspondence of the gendarmerie). Brumaire 25, year VIII, attack
on the Paris mail near Arpajon by 5 brigands armed with guns. Fructidor,
year VIII, at three o'clock P.M., a cart loaded with 10,860 francs sent
by the collector at Mantes to the collector at Versailles is
stopped near the Marly water-works, by 8 or 10 armed brigands on
horseback.--Similar facts abound. It is evident that more than a year is
required to put an end to brigandage.--It is always done by employing
an impartial military force. (Rocquam, Ibid, p. 10.) "There are at
Marseilles three companies of paid national guards, 60 men each, at a
franc per man. The fund for this guard is supplied by a contribution of
5 francs a month paid by every man subject to this duty who wishes to
be exempt. The officers... are all strangers in the country. Robberies,
murders, and conflicts have ceased in Marseilles since the establishment
of this guard."]
[Footnote 3109: Archives Nationales, 3144 and 3145, No.1004. (Reports
of the councillors of State on mission during the year IX, published by
Rocquam, with omissions, among which is the following, in the report of
François de Nantes.) "The steps taken by the mayors of Marseilles are
sufficiently effective to enable an émigré under surveillance and just
landed, to walk about Marseilles without being knocked down or knocking
anybody else down, an alternative to which they have been thus far
subject. And yet there are in this town nearly 500 men who have
slaughtered with their own hands, or been the accomplices of
slaughterers, at different times during the Revolution.... The
inhabitants of this town are so accustomed to being annoyed and
despoiled, and to being treated like those of a rebellious town or
colony, that arbitrary power no longer frightens them, and they simply
ask that their lives and property be protected against murderers and
pillagers, and that things be entrusted to sure and impartial hands."]
[Footnote 3110: Roederer, III., 481. (Report on the Sénatorerie of
Caen, Germinal 2, year XIII.)--Faber, "Notice sur l'intérieur de la
France"(1807), p.110, 112. "Justice is one of the bright sides of France
of to-day. It is costly, but it cannot be called venal."]
[Footnote 3111: Rocquain, ibid., 19. (Report of François de Nantes on
the 8th military division.) "For the past eighteen months a calm has
prevailed here equal to that which existed before the Revolution. Balls
and parties have been resumed in the towns, while the old dances
of Provence, suspended for ten years, now gladden the people of the
country."]
[Footnote 3112: Proclamation to the French people, Dec. 15, 1799.]
[Footnote 3113: See "The Revolution," vol. III., p.292. (Notes.) (Laff.
II, the notes on pp. 218-219.)]
[Footnote 3114: Decision of the Council of State, Pluviôse 5, year VIII
(Jan. 25, 1800).]
[Footnote 3115: Forneron, "Histoire générale des émigrés," II., 374.
In 1800, the army of Condé still comprised 1007 officers and 5840
volunteers.]
[Footnote 3116: Decrees of Brumaire 3, year IV, and of Frimaire 9, year
VI. (Cf. "The Revolution," pp.433, 460.)]
[Footnote 3117: Constitution of Frimaire 22, year VIII. (December 13,
1799), article 93. "The French nation declares that in no case will it
suffer the return of the Frenchmen who, having abandoned their country
since the 14th of July 1789, are not comprised in the exceptions made to
the laws rendered against émigrés. It interdicts every new exception in
this respect."]
[Footnote 3118: Opinion of the Council of State, Dec. 25, 1799.]
[Footnote 3119: Resolution of Dec. 26, 1799.--Two ultra-Jacobins, exiled
after Thermidor, are added to the list, Barère and Vadier, undoubtedly
by way of compensation and not to let it appear that the scales inclined
too much on one side.]
[Footnote 3120: Resolution of Dec. 30, 1799.]
[Footnote 3121: Resolutions of February 26, March 2, and March 3, 1800.]
[Footnote 3122: Thibaudeau, "Mémoires sur le Consulat," 199. (Stated
by the First Consul at Regnault at a meeting of the council of state,
Aug.12, 1801.) "I am glad to hear the denunciation of striking off
names. How many have you yourselves not asked for? It could not be
otherwise. Everybody has some relation or friend on the lists."]
[Footnote 3123: Thibaudeau. ibid. (Speech by the First Consul.) "Never
have there been lists of émigrés; there are only lists of absentees.
The proof of this is that names have always been struck off. I have seen
members of the Convention and even generals on the lists. Citizen Monge
was inscribed."]
[Footnote 3124: Thibaudeau, ibid., 97.--"The minister of police made a
great hue and cry over the arrest and sending back of a few émigrés
who returned without permission, or who annoyed the buyers of their
property, while, at the same time, it granted surveillance to all
who asked for it, paying no attention to the distinction made by the
resolution of Vendémiaire 28."]
[Footnote 3125: Sénatus-consulte of April 26, 1802.]
[Footnote 3126: Sénatus-consulte of April 26, 1802, title II., articles
16 and 17.--Gaudin, Duc de Gaëte, "Mémoires," I., 183. (Report on the
administration of the Finances in 1803.) "The old proprietors have been
reinstated in more than 20,000 hectares of forests."]
[Footnote 3127: Thibaudeau, ibid., p. 98. (Speech of the First Consul,
Thermidor 24, year IX.) "Some of the émigrés who have been pardoned
are cutting down their forests, either from necessity or to send
money abroad. I will not allow the worst enemies of the republic, the
defenders of ancient prejudices, to recover their fortunes and despoil
France. I am glad to welcome them back; but it is important that the
nation should preserve its forests; the navy needs them."]
[Footnote 3128: An arpent measures about an acre and a half.(TR.)]
[Footnote 3129: Stourm, "Les Finances de l'ancien régime et de la
révolution,"II., 459 to 461.--(According to the figures appended to the
projected law of 1825.)--This relates only to their patrimony in real
estate; their personal estate was wholly swept away, at first through
the abolition, without indemnity, of their available feudal rights under
the Constituent and Legislative assemblies, and afterwards through the
legal and forced transformation of their personal capital into national
bonds (titres sur le grand-livre, rentes) which the final bankruptcy of
the Directory reduced to almost nothing.]
[Footnote 3130: Pelet de la Lozère, "Opinions de Napoléon au conseil
d'état" (March 15th and July 1st, 1806): "One of the most unjust effects
of the revolution was to let an émigré; whose property was found to be
sold, starve to death, and give back 100,000 crowns of rente to another
whose property happened to be still in the hands of the government. How
odd, again, to have returned unsold fields and to have kept the woods!
It would have been better, starting from the legal forfeiture of
all property, to return only 6000 francs of rente to one alone and
distribute what remained among the rest."]
[Footnote 3131: Léonce de Lavergne, "Economie rurale de la France,"
p.26. (According to the table of names with indemnities awarded by the
law of 1825.)--Duc de Rovigo, "Mémoires," IV., 400.]
[Footnote 3132: De Puymaigre, "Souvenirs de l'émigration de l'empire et
de la restauration," p.94.]
[Footnote 3133: Pelet de la Lozère, ibid., p.272.]
[Footnote 3134: De Puymaigre, ibid., passim.--Alexandrine des
Écherolles, "Une famille noble pendant la Terreur," pp.328, 402, 408.--I
add to published documents personal souvenirs and family narrations.]
[Footnote 3135: Duc de Rovigo, "Mémoires," IV., 399. (On the provincial
noblesse which had emigrated and returned.) "The First Consul quietly
gave orders that none of the applications made by the large number
of those who asked for minor situations in various branches of the
administration should be rejected on account of emigration."]
[Footnote 3136: M. de Vitrolles, "Mémoires."--M. d'Haussonville, "Ma
jeunesse," p. 60: "One morning, my father learns that he has been
appointed chamberlain, with a certain number of other persons belonging
to the greatest families of the faubourg Saint-Germain."]
[Footnote 3137: Madame de Rémusat, "Mémoires," II., 312, 315 and
following pages, 373.--Madame de Staël, "Considérations sur la
révolution française," 4th part, ch IV.]
[Footnote 3138: Roederer, III., 459. (Speech by Napoleon, December 30,
1802.)--"Very well, I do protect the nobles of France; but they must
see that they need protection.... I give places to many of them;
I restore them to public distinction and even to the honors of
the drawing-room; but they feel that it is alone through my good
will.--Ibid., III., 558 (January 1809): "I repent daily of a mistake
I have made in my government; the most serious one I ever made, and
I perceive its bad effects every day. It was the giving back to the
émigrés the totality of their possessions. I ought to have massed them
in common and given each one simply the chance of an income of 6000
francs. As soon as I saw my mistake I withdrew from thirty to forty
millions of forests; but far too many are still in the hands of a great
number of them."--We here see the attitude he would impose on them, that
of clients and grateful pensioners. They do not stand in this attitude.
(Roederer, III., 472. Report on the Sénatorerie of Caen, 1803.)--"The
returned émigrés are not friendly nor even satisfied; their enjoyment
of what they have recovered is less than their indignation at what they
have lost. They speak of the amnesty without gratitude, and as only
partial justice.... In other respects they appear submissive."]
[Footnote 3139: Duc de Rovigo1 "Memoires." V., 297. Towards the end,
large numbers of the young nobles went into the army. "In 1812, there,
was not a marshal, or even a general, who had not some of these on his
staff, or as aids-de-camp. Nearly all the cavalry regiments in the army
were commanded by officers belonging to these families. They had already
attracted notice in the infantry. All these young nobles had openly
joined the emperor because they were easily influenced by love of
glory."]
[Footnote 3140: Madame de Rémusat II., 299 (1806): "He began to surround
himself about this time with so much ceremony that none of us had
scarcely any intimate relations with him.... The court became more and
more crowded and monotonous, each doing on the minute what he had to do.
Nobody thought of venturing outside the brief series of ideas which are
generated within the restricted circle of the same duties.... Increasing
despotism,... fear of a reproof if one failed in the slightest
particular, silence kept by us all.... There was no opportunity
to indulge emotion or interchange any observation of the slightest
importance."]
[Footnote 3141: Roederer, III., 558 (January 1809).--"The Modern
Régime," ante, book I., ch. II.]
[Footnote 3142: Madame de Rémusat, III., 75, 155: "When the minister of
police learned that jesting or malicious remarks had been made in one
of the Paris drawing-rooms he at once notified the master or mistress of
the house to be more watchful of their company."--Ibid., p.187 (1807):
"The emperor censured M. Fouché for not having exercised stricter
watchfulness. He exiled women, caused distinguished persons to be
warned, and insinuated that, to avoid the consequences of his anger,
steps must be taken to show that his power was recognized in atonement
for the faults committed. In consequence of these hints many thought
themselves obliged to be presented."--Ibid., II., 170, 212, 303.--Duc
de Rovigo, "Mémoires," IV., 311 and 393. "Appointed minister of police,
said he, I inspired everybody with fear: each packed up his things;
nothing was talked about but exiles, imprisonment and worse still."--He
took advantage of all this to recommend "everybody on his list who was
inscribed as an enemy of the government" to be presented at court, and
all, in fact, except stubborn "grandmothers" were presented. (Note that
the Duc de Rovigo and the general Savary mentioned many times by Taine
is one and the same person. Savary was the general who organized the
infamous kidnapping and execution of the Duc d'Enghien. He was later
made minister of police (1810-1814) and elevated Duke of Rovigo by
Napoleon. SR.)]
[Footnote 3143: Madame de Staël, "Considérations sur la révolution
française" and "Dix ans d'exil." Exile of Madame de Balbi, of Madame de
Chevreuse, of Madame de Duras, of Madame d'Aveaux, of Madame de Staël,
of Madame de Récamier, etc.--Duc de Rovigo, Ibid., IV., 389: "The first
exiles dated from 1805; I think there were fourteen."]
[Footnote 3144: Roederer, III., 472. (Report on the Sénatorerie of Caen,
1803.) The nobles "have no social relations either with citizens or
with the public functionaries, except with the prefect of Caen and the
general in command.... Their association with the prefect intimates
their belief that they might need him. All pay their respects to the
general of division; his mantelpiece is strewed with visiting-cards."]
[Footnote 3145: Madame de la Rochejaquelein, "Mémoires," 423: "We lived
exposed to a tyranny which left us neither calm nor contentment. At
one time a spy was placed amongst our servants, at another some of our
relations would be exiled far from their homes, accused of exercising
a charity which secured them too much affection from their neighbors.
Sometimes, my husband would be obliged to go to Paris to explain his
conduct. Again, a hunting-party would be represented as a meeting of
Vendéans. Occasionally, we were blamed for going into Poitou because our
influence was regarded as too dangerous; again, we were reproached
for not living there and not exercising our influence in behalf of
the conscription."--Her brother-in-law, Auguste de la Rochejaquelein,
invited to take service in the army comes to Paris to present his
objections. He is arrested, and at the end of two months "the minister
signifies to him that he must remain a prisoner so long as he refuses to
be a second-lieutenant."]
[Footnote 3146: Sénatus-consulte of April 26, 1802: "Considering that
this measure is merely one of pardon to the large number who are always
more led astray than criminal... the amnestied will remain for ten years
under a special government surveillance." It may oblige each one "to
leave his usual residence and go to a distance of twenty leagues, and
even farther if circumstances demand it."]
[Footnote 3147: Thiers, X., 41. (Letter to Fouché, Dec.31, 1808, not
inserted in the correspondence.)--"The Modern Régime," book I., ch.II.]
[Footnote 3148: Rocquain, "État de la France au 18 brumaire," pp.33,
189, 190. (Reports of Français de Nantes and of Fourcroy.)--"Statistique
elementaire de la France," by Peuchet (according to a statement
published by the minister of the interior, year IX), p.
260.--"Statistiques des préfets," Aube, by Aubray, p.23; Aisne, by
Dauchet, p.87; Lot-et-Garonne, by Pieyre, p. 45: "It is during the
Revolution that the number of foundlings increased to this extraordinary
extent by the too easy admission in the asylums of girls who had become
mothers, along with their infants; through the passing sojourn of
soldiers in their houses; through the subversion of every principle
of religion and morality."--Gers, by Balguerie: "Many defenders of the
country became fathers before their departure.... The soldiers, on their
return, maintained the habits of their conquests.... Many of the girls,
besides, for lack of a husband took a lover."--Moselle, by Coichen,
p.91: "Morals are more lax. In 1789, at Metz, there are 524 illegitimate
births; in the year IX, 646; in 1789, 70 prostitutes; in the year IX,
260. There is the same increase of kept women."--Peuchet, "Essai d'une
statistique générale de la France," year IX, p.28. "The number of
illegitimate births, from one forty-seventh in 1780, increased to nearly
one eleventh of the total births, according to the comparative estimates
of M. Necker and M. Mourgue."]
[Footnote 3149: Rocquam, ibid., p. 93. (Report of Barbé-Marbois.)]
[Footnote 3150: "The Revolution," III., p.416 (note), P.471 (note).
(Laff. II. pp. 307-308, p 348.)]
[Footnote 3151: "Statistiques des préfets," Deux-Sèvres, by Dupin, p.
174: "Venereal diseases which thanks to good habits. were still unknown
in the country in 1789, are now spread throughout the Bocage and in all
places where the troops have sojourned."--"Dr. Delahay, at Parthenay
observes that the number of maniacs increased fright fully in the
Reign of Terror." (It should be remembered that the terminal stage of
untreated syphilis is madness and death. SR.)]
[Footnote 3152: Decrees of March 19, 1793, and Messidor 23, year
II.--Decrees of Brumaire 2, year IV, and Vendémiaire 16 year V.]
[Footnote 3153: "Statistiques des préfets," Rhône, by Verminac, year X.
Income of the Lyons Asylums in 1789,1.510,827 francs; to-day, 459,371
francs.--Indre, by Dalphonse, year XII. The principal asylum of
Issoudun, founded in the twelfth century, had 27,939 francs revenue, on
which it loses 16,232. Another asylum, that of the Incurables, loses, on
an income of 12,062 francs, 7457 francs.--Eure, by Masson Saint-Amand,
year XIII: "14 asylums and 3 small charity establishments in the
department, with about 100,000 francs income in 1789, have lost at least
60,000 francs of it.--Vosges, by Desgouttes, year X: "10 asylums in
the department. Most of these have been stripped of nearly the whole of
their property and capital on account of the law of Messidor 23, year
II; on the suspension of the execution of this law, the property had
been sold and the capital returned.--Cher, by Luçay: "15 asylums before
the revolution; they remain almost wholly without resources through the
loss of their possessions.--Lozère, by Jerphaniou, year X: "The property
belonging to the asylums, either in real estate or state securities, has
passed into other hands."--Doubs, analysis by Ferrieres: "Situation of
the asylums much inferior to that of 1789, because they could not have
property restored to them in proportion to the value of that which had
been alienated. The asylum of Pontarlier lost one-half of its revenue
through reimbursements in paper-money. All the property of the Ornans
asylum has been sold," etc.--Rocquain, p. 187. (Report by Fourcroy.)
Asylums of Orne: their revenue, instead of 123,189 francs, is no more
than 68,239.--Asylums of Calvados: they have lost 173,648 francs of
income, there remains of this only 85,955 francs.--Passim, heart-rending
details on the destitution of the asylums and their inmates, children,
the sick and the infirm.--The figures by which I have tried to show the
disproportion between requirements and resources are a minimum.]
[Footnote 3154: Abbé Allain, "l'Instruction primaire en France avant
la Révolution," and Albert Duruy, "l'Instruction publique et la
Révolution," passim.]
[Footnote 3155: "Statistique de l'enseignement primaire" (1880),II.,
CCIV. The proportion of instructed and uninstructed people has been
ascertained in 79 departments, and at various periods, from 1680 down
to the year 1876, according to the signatures on 1,699,985
marriage-records.--In the "Dictionnaire de pédagogie et d'instruction
primaire," published by M. Buisson, M. Maggiolo, director of these vast
statistics, has given the proportion of literate and illiterate people
for the different departments; now, from department to department, the
figures furnished by the signatures on marriage records correspond with
sufficient exactness to the number of schools, verified moreover by
pastoral visits and by other documents. The most illiterate departments
are Cantal, Puy-de-Dome, Nièvre, Allier, Vienne, Haute-Vienne,
Deux-Sèvres, Vendée and the departments of Brittany.]
[Footnote 3156: One sou equals 1/20 of a franc or 5 centimes. (SR.)]
[Footnote 3157: Albert Duruy, ibid., p.25. (According to the report
of M. Villemain on common-school education in 1843.)--Abbé Allain, "la
Question d'enseignement en 1789," p. 88--A. Silvy, "les Collèges en
France avant la Révolution," p.5. The researches of M. Silvy show that
the number of high-schools (collèges) given by M. Villemain is much too
low: "The number of these schools under the ancient Régime cannot be
estimated at less than about 900.... I have ascertained 800.... I must
add that my search is not yet finished and that I find new institutions
every day."]
[Footnote 3158: Lunet, "Histoire du collège de Rodez," p. 110.--Edmond,
"Histoire du collège de Louis-le-Grand," p. 238.--"Statistiques des
préfets," Moselle. (Analysis by Ferrière, year XII.) Before 1789,
4 high-schools at Metz, very complete, conducted by regular canons,
Benedictines, with 33 professors, 38 assistant teachers, 63 servants,
259 day-scholars and 217 boarders. All this was broken up. In the year
IX there is only one central school, very inadequate, with 9 professors,
5 assistants, 3 servants and 233 day-scholars.]
[Footnote 3159: Albert Duruy, ibid., p. 25.]
[Footnote 3160: Lunet, ibid, p.110,]
[Footnote 3161: "Statistiques des préfets," Ain, by Bossi, p.368. At
Bourg, before the revolution, 220 pupils, of which 70 were
boarders, 8000 livres income in real property confiscated during the
revolution.--At Belley, the teachers consist of the congregationist of
Saint-Joseph; 250 pupils, 9950 francs revenue from capital invested in
the pays d'état, swept away by the revolution.--At Thoissy, 8000 francs
rental of real property sold, etc.--Deux-Sèvres, by Dupin, year IX,
and "analyse" by Ferrière, P. 48: "Previous to the revolution, each
department town had its high-school.--At Thouars, 60 boarders at 300
livres per annum, and 40 day-scholars. At Niort, 80 boarders at 450
livres per annum, and 100 day-scholars".--Aisne, by Dauchy, p.88. Before
1789, nearly all the small high-schools were gratuitous, and, in the
large ones, there were scholarships open to competition. All their
possessions, except large buildings, were alienated and sold, as well
as those of the 60 communities in which girls were taught
gratuitously.--Eure, by Masson Saint-Amand. There were previous to
1789, 8 high-schools which were all suppressed and destroyed.--Drôme,
by Collin, p.66. Before the revolution, each town had its high-school,"
etc.]
[Footnote 3162: Cf. Marmontel, "Mémoires," I., 16, for details of these
customs; M. Jules Simon found the same customs afterwards and describes
them in the souvenirs of his youth.--La Chalotais, at the end of
the reign of Louis XV., had already described the efficiency of the
institution. "Even the people want to study. Farmers and craftsmen
send their children to the schools in these small towns where living
is cheap."--This rapid spread of secondary education contributed a good
deal towards bringing on the revolution.]
[Footnote 3163: "Statistiques des préfets," Indre, by Dalphonse,
year XII, p.104: "The universities, the colleges, the seminaries, the
religious establishments, the free schools are all destroyed; vast plans
only remain for a new system of education raised on their ruins. Nearly
all of these rest unexecuted.... Primary schools have nowhere, one may
say, been organized, and those which have been are so poor they had
better not have been organized at all. With a pompous and costly system
of public instruction, ten years have been lost for instruction."]
[Footnote 3164: Moniteur, XXI., 644. (Session of Fructidor 19, year II.)
One of the members says: "It is very certain, and my colleagues see it
with pain, that public instruction is null."--Fourcroy: "Reading and
writing are no longer taught."--Albert Duruy, p. 208. (Report to the
Directory executive, Germinal 13, year IV.) "For nearly six years no
public instruction exists."--De La Sicotiere, "Histoire du collège
de Alençon," p.33: "In 1794, there were only two pupils in the
college."--Lunet, "Histoire du collège de Rodez," p.157: "The
recitation-rooms remained empty of pupils and teachers from March
1793 to May 16, 1796."--"Statistiques des préfets," Eure, by Masson
Saint-Amand year XIII: "In the larger section of the department,
school-houses existed with special endowments for teachers of both
sexes. The school-houses have been alienated like other national
domains; the endowments due to religious corporations or establishments
have been extinguished--As to girls, that portion of society has
suffered an immense loss, relatively to its education, in the
suppression of religious communities which provided them with an almost
gratuitous and sufficiently steady instruction."]
[Footnote 3165: My maternal grandmother learned how to read from a nun
concealed in the cellar of the house.]
[Footnote 3166: Albert Duruy, ibid., 349. (Decree of the Directory,
Pluviôse 17, year V, and circular of the minister Letourneur against
free schools which are "dens of royalism and superstition."--Hence the
decrees of the authorities in the departments of Eure, Pas de Calais,
Drôme, Mayenne and La Manche, closing these dens.) "From Thermidor 27,
year VI, to Messidor 2, year VII, say the authorities of La Manche,
we have revoked fifty-eight teachers on their denunciation by the
municipalities and by popular clubs."]
[Footnote 3167: Archives nationales, cartons 3144 to 3145, No. 104.
(Reports of the Councillors of State on mission in the year IX.) Report
by Lacuée on the first military division. Three central schools at
Paris, one called the Quatre-Nations. "This school must be visited in
order to form any idea of the state of destruction and dilapidation
which all the national buildings are in. No repairs have been made since
the reopening of the schools; everything is going to ruin.... Walls are
down and the floors fallen in. To preserve the pupils from the risks
which the occupation of these buildings hourly presents, it is necessary
to give lessons in rooms which are very unhealthy on account of their
small dimensions and dampness. In the drawing-class the papers and
models in the portfolios become moldy."]
[Footnote 3168: Albert Duruy, ibid., 484. ("Procès-verbaux des
conseils-généraux," year IX, passim.)]
[Footnote 3169: Ibid., 476. ("Statistiques des préfets," Sarthe, year
X.) "Prejudices which it is difficult to overcome, as well on the
stability of this school as on the morality of some of the teachers,
prevented its being frequented for a time."--483. (Procès-verbaux des
conseils-généraux," Bas-Rhin.) "The overthrow of religion has excited
prejudices against the central schools."--482. (Ibid., Lot.) "Most of
the teachers in the central school took part in the revolution in a
not very honorable way. Their reputation affects the success of their
teaching. Their schools are deserted."]
[Footnote 3170: Albert Duruy, ibid., '94. (According to the reports of
15 central schools, from the year VI. to the year VIII.) The average for
each central school is for drawing, 89 pupils; for mathematics, 28; for
the classics, 24; for physics, chemistry and natural history, 19;
for general grammar, 5; for history, 10; for legislation, 8: for
belles-lettres, 6.--Rocquam, ibid., P.29. (Reports of Français de
Nantes, on the departments of the South-east.) "There, as elsewhere, the
courses on general grammar, on belles-lettres, history and legislation,
are unfrequented. Those on mathematics, chemistry, Latin and drawing
are better attended, because these sciences open up lucrative
careers.--Ibid., p. 108. (Report by Barbé-Marboi on the Brittany
departments.)]
[Footnote 3171: "Statistiques des préfets," Meurthe, by Marquis, year
XIII, p.120. "In the communal schools of the rural districts, the
fee was so small that the poorest families could contribute to the
(teacher's) salary. Assessments on the communal property, besides,
helped almost everywhere in providing the teacher with a satisfactory
salary, so that these functions were sought after and commonly well
fulfilled.. .. Most of the villages had Sisters of Saint-Vincent de
Paul for instructors, or others well known under the name of
Vatelottes."--"The partition of communal property, and the sale of that
assigned to old endowments, had deprived the communes of resources which
afforded a fair compensation to schoolmasters and schoolmistresses. The
product of the additional centimes scarcely sufficed for administrative
expenses.--Thus, there is but little else now than people without means,
who take poorly compensated places; again, they neglect their,
schools just as soon as they see an opportunity to earn something
elsewhere."--Archives nationales, No. 1004, cartons 3044 and 3145.
(Report of the councillors of state on mission in the year IX.--First
military division, Report of Lacuée.) Aisne: "There is now no primary
school according to legal institution."--The situation is the same in
Oise, also in Seine for the districts of Sceaux and Saint Denis.]
[Footnote 3172: Albert Duruy, 178. (Report drawn up in the bureaux of
the ministry of the interior, year VIII.) "A detestable selection of
those called instructors; almost everywhere, they are men without morals
or education, who owe their nomination solely to a pretended civism,
consisting of nothing but an insensibility to morality and propriety.
... They affect an insolent contempt for the (old) religious
opinions."--Ibid., p.497. (Procès-verbaux des conseils-généraux.)
On primary school-teachers, Hérault: "Most are blockheads and
vagabonds."--Pas-de-Calais:" Most are blockheads or ignoramuses."]
[Footnote 3173: Rocquam, '94. (Report by Fourcroy on the 14th military
division, Manche, Orne, Calvados.) "Besides bad conduct, drunkenness,
and the immorality of many of these teachers, it seems certain that the
lack of instruction in religion is the principal motive which prevents
parents from sending their children to these schools."--Archives
nationales, ibid. (Report by Lacuée on the 1st military division.) "The
teachers, male and female, who desired to conform to the law of Brumaire
3 and to the different rules prescribed by the central administration,
on placing the constitution and the rights of man in the hands of their
pupils, found their schools abandoned one after the other. The schools
the best attended are those where the Testament, the catechism, and the
life of Christ are used.... The instructors, obliged to pursue the line
marked out by the government, could not do otherwise than carry out the
principles which opposed the prejudices and habits of the parents; hence
their loss of credit, and the almost total desertion of the pupils."]
[Footnote 3174: "The Revolution," vol. III., p. 81, note 2. (Laff. II.
pp.68-69, note 4.)]
[Footnote 3175: "Statistiques des préfets," Moselle. (Analysis by
Ferrière.) At Metz, in 1789, there were five free schools for young
children, of which one was for boys and four for girls, kept by monks or
nuns; in the year XII there were none: "An entire generation was given
up to ignorance." Ibid., Ain, by Bossi, 1808: "In 1800, there were
scarcely any primary schools in the department, as in the rest of
France." In 1808, there are scarcely thirty.--Albert Duruy, p.480, 496.
(Procès-verbaux des conseils-généraux, year IX.) Vosges: "Scarcely
any primary instruction."--Sarthe: "Primary instruction,
none."--Meuse-Inférieure: "It is feared that in fifteen years or so
there will not be one man in a hundred able to write," etc.]
[Footnote 3176: These are the minimum figures, and they are arrived at
through the following calculation. Before 1789, 47 men out of 100, and
26 women out of 100, that is to say 36 or 37 persons in 100, received
primary instruction. Now, according to the census from 1876 to 1881
(official statistics of primary instruction, III., XVI.), children
from six to thirteen number about twelve % of the entire population.
Accordingly, in 1789, out of a population of 26 millions, the children
from 6 to 13 numbered 3,120,000, of whom 1,138,000 learned to read and
write. It must be noted that, in 1800, the adult population had greatly
diminished, and that the infantine population had largely increased.
France, moreover, is enlarged by 12 departments (Belgium, Savoy, Comtat,
Nice), where the old schools had equally perished.--If all the old
schools had been kept up, it is probable that the children who would
have had primary instruction would have numbered nearly 1,400,000.]
[Footnote 3177: Saint Thomas, "Summa theologica," pars III., questio 60
usque ad 85: "Sacramenta efficiunt quod figurant.... Sant necessaria ad
salutem hominum.... Ab ipso verbo incarnata efficaciam habent. Ex sua
institutione habent quod conferant gratiam.... Sacramentum est causa
gratiæ, causa agens, principalis et instrumentalis."]
[Footnote 3178: Except priests ordained by a bishop of the Greek
church.]
[Footnote 3179: "The Revolution," I. 161.--Archives nationales. (Reports
of the Directory commissioners from the cantons and departments.--There
are hundreds of these reports, of which the following are
specimens.)--F7, 7108. (Canton of Passavent, Doubs, Ventôse 7, year IV.)
"The sway of religious opinions is much more extensive here than
before the revolution, because the mass of the people did not concern
themselves about them, while nowadays they form among the generality
the subject of conversation and complaint."--F7, 7127. (Canton of Goux,
Doubs, Pluviôse 13, year IV.) "The hunting down of unsworn priests,
coupled with the dilapidation and destruction of the temples, displeased
the people, who want a religion and a cult; the government became
hateful to them."--Ibid. (Dordogne, canton of Livrac, Ventôse 13,
year IV.) "The demolition of altars, the closing of the churches,
had rendered the people furious under the Tyranny."--F7, 7129.
(Seine-Infèrieure, canton of Canteleu, Pluviôse 12, year IV.) "I knew
enlightened men who, in the ancient regime, never went near a church,
and yet who harbored refractory priests."--Archives nationales, cartons
3144-3145, No. 1004. (Missions of the councillors of state in the year
IX.) At this date, worship was everywhere established and spontaneously.
(Report by Lacuée.) In Eure-et-Loire, "nearly every village has its
church and minister; the temples are open in the towns and are well
attended."--In Seine-et-Oise, "the Roman Catholic cult prevails in all
the communes of the department."--In Oise, "worship is carried on in all
the communes of the department."-In Loiret, "the churches are attended
by the multitude almost as regularly as before 1788. One-sixth of
the communes (only) have neither worship nor minister and, in these
communes, both are strongly desired."]
[Footnote 3180: Archives nationales, F7, 7129. (Tarn, canton of Vielmur,
Germinal 10, year IV.) "The ignorant now regard patriot and brigand as
synonymous."]
[Footnote 3181: Archives nationales, F7, 7108. (Doubs, canton of Vercel,
Pluviôse 20, year IV.) "Under the law of Prairial II, the unsworn
priests were all recalled by their former parishioners. Their hold on
the people is so strong that there is no sacrifice that they will not
make, no ruse nor measures that they will not employ to keep them
and elude the rigor of the laws bearing on them"--(Ibid., canton of
Pontarlier, Pluviôse 3, year IV.) "In the primary assemblies, the
aristocracy, together with spite, have induced the ignorant people not
to accept the constitution except on condition of the recall of
their transported or emigrant priests for the exercise of their
worship."--(Ibid., canton of Labergement, Pluviôse 14, year IV.) "The
cultivators adore them.... I am the only citizen of my canton who,
along with my family, offers up prayers to the Eternal without any
intermediary."--F7, 7127. (Côte-d'Or, canton of Beaune, Ventôse 5, year
IV.) "Fanaticism is a power of great influence."--(Ibid., canton of
Frolois, Pluviôse 9, year IV.) "Two unsworn priests returned eighteen
months ago; they are hidden away and hold nocturnal meetings. .. They
have seduced and corrupted at least three-quarters of the people of both
sexes."--(Ibid., canton of Ivry, Pluviôse 1, year IV.) "Fanaticism and
popery have perverted the public mind."--F7, 7119. (Puy-de-Dôme, canton
of Ambert, Ventôse 15, year IV.) "Five returned priests have
celebrated the mass here, and each time were followed by 3000 or 4000
persons."--F7, 7127. (Dordogne, canton of Carlux, Pluviôse 18, year IV.)
"The people are so attached to the Catholic faith, they walk fully
two leagues to attend mass."--F7, 7119. (Ardèche, canton of
Saint-Barthélemy, Pluviôse 15, year IV.) "The unsubmissive priests have
become absolute masters of popular opinion."--(Orne, canton of Alençon,
Ventôse 22, year IV.) "Presidents, members of the municipal councils,
instead of arresting the refractory priests and bringing them into
court, admit them to their table, lodge them and impart to them the
secrets of the government."--F7, 7129. (Seine-et-Oise, canton of Jouy,
Pluviôse 8, year IV.) "Forty-nine out of fifty citizens seem to have
the greatest desire to profess the Catholic faith."--Ibid., canton of
Dammartin, Pluviôse 7, year IV.) "The Catholic religion has full
sway; those who do not accept it are frowned upon."--At the same date
(Pluviôse 9, year IV), the commissioner at Chamarande writes: "I see
persons giving what they call blessed bread and yet having nothing to
eat."]
[Footnote 3182: Ibid., cartons 3144 and 3145, No. 1004, missions of the
councillors of state, year IX.--(Report of Barbé-Marbois on Brittany.)
"At Vannes, I entered the cathedral on the jour des Rois, where the
constitutional mass was being celebrated; there were only one priest
and two or three poor people there. A little farther on I found a large
crowd barring the way in the street; these people could not enter a
chapel which was already full and where the mass called for by the
Catholics was being celebrated.--Elsewhere, the churches in the town
were likewise deserted, and the people went to hear mass by a priest
just arrived from England."--(Report by Français de Nantes on Vaucluse
and Provence.) One tenth of the population follows the constitutional
priests; the rest follow the returned emigré priests; the latter have
on their side the rich and influential portion of society."--(Report of
Lacuée on Paris and the seven surrounding departments.) "The situation
of the unsubmissive priests is more advantageous than that of the
submissive priests.... The latter are neglected and abandoned; it is
not fashionable to join them... (The former) are venerated by their
adherents as martyrs; they excite tender interest, especially from the
women."]
[Footnote 3183: Archives nationales, cartons 3144 and 3145, No.1004,
missions of the councillors of state, year IX.--(Report by Lacuée.) "The
wants of the people in this way seem at this moment to be confined... to
a vain spectacle, to ceremonies: going to mass, the sermon and vespers,
which is all very well; but confession, the communion, fasting, doing
without meat, is not common anywhere.... In the country, where there are
no priests, the village schoolmaster officiates, and people are content;
they would prefer bells without priests rather than priests without
bells."--This regret for bells is very frequent and survives even in
the cantons which are lukewarm.--(Creuse, Pluviôse 10, year IV.) "They
persist in replanting the crosses which the priests have dug up; they
put back the ropes to the bells which the magistrate has taken away."]
[Footnote 3184: Archives nationales, cartons 3144 and 3145, No. 1004,
missions of the councilors of state, year IX.--(Report by Fourcroy.)
"The keeping of Sunday and the attendance on the churches, which is seen
everywhere, shows that the mass of Frenchmen desire a return to ancient
usages, and that the time has gone by for resisting this national
tendency... The mass of mankind require a religion, a system of worship
and a priesthood. It is an error of certain modern philosophers, into
which I have myself been led, to believe in the possibility of any
instruction sufficiently widespread to destroy religious prejudices;
they are a source of consolation for the vast number of the
unfortunate.... Priests, altars and worship must accordingly be left to
the mass of the people."]
[Footnote 3185: Peuchet, "Statistique élémentaire de la France"
(published in 1805), p.228. According to statements furnished by
prefects in the years IX and X, the population is 33,111,962 persons;
the annexation of the island of Elbe and of Piedmont adds 1,864,350
Total, 34,976,313.--Pelet de la Lozère, P.203. (Speech by Napoleon to
the council of state, February 4, 1804, on the Protestant seminaries of
Geneva and Strasbourg, and on the number of Protestants in his states.)
"Their population numbers only 3 millions."]
[Footnote 3186: Roederer, III., 330 (July 1800): "The First Consul spoke
to me about the steps necessary to be taken to prevent the (emigrés)
who had been struck off from getting back their possessions, in view of
maintaining the interest in the revolution of about 1,200,000 purchasers
of national domains. "--Rocquain, "État de la France au 18 Brumaire."
(Report by Barbé-Marbois on Morbihan, Finisterre, Ile-et-Vilaine, and
Côtes-du-Nord, year IX.) "In every place I have just passed through the
proprietors recognize that their existence is attached to that of the
First Consul."]
[Footnote 3187: Constitution of Frimaire 22, year VIII, art.
94.--Article 93, moreover, declares that "the possessions of the émigrés
are irrevocably acquired by the republic."]
[Footnote 3188: Law of Floréal 29, year X, title I, article 8. The
member also swears "to combat with all the means which justice, reason
and the law authorize, every enterprise tending to restore the feudal
régime," and, consequently, feudal rights and tithes]
[Footnote 3189: Organic Sénatus-consulte, Floreal 28, year XII (18th May
1804). Title VII., art. 53.]
[Footnote 3190: Roederer, III., 430-432 (April 4, 1802, May I, 1802):
"Defermon remarked to me yesterday, 'This will all go on well as long as
the First Consul lives; the day after his death we shall all emigrate.'
"--"Every one, from the sailor to the worker, says to himself, 'All
this is very well, but will it last?...--This work we undertake, this
capital we risk, this house we build, these trees we plant, what will
become of them if he dies?"]
[Footnote 3191: Ibid., 340. (Words of the First Consul, November 4,
1800.) "Who is the rich man to-day? The buyer of national domains, the
contractor. the robber."--These details, above, are provided for me by
family narrations and souvenirs.]
[Footnote 3192: Napoleon, "Correspondance," letter of September 5,
1795. "National and émigré property is not dear; patrimonies are
priceless."--Archives nationales, cartons 3144 to 3145, No.1004,
missions of the councillors of state, year IX. (Report by Lacuée on
the seven departments of the division of the Seine.) "The proportion of
value, in Seine, between national and patrimonial properties is from 8
to 15."--In Eure, national property of every kind is sold about 10 %.
off, and patrimonial at about 4 %. off. There are two sorts of national
property, one of first origin (that of the clergy), and the other of
second origin (that of the émigrés). The latter is much more depreciated
than the former. Compared with patrimonial property, in Aisne, the
former loses a fifth or a quarter of its value and the latter a third;
in Loiret, the former loses a quarter and the latter one-half; in
Seine-et-Oise the former loses one-third and the latter three-fifths; in
Oise the former is at about par, the latter loses a quarter.--Roederer,
III., 472 (December 1803). Depreciation of national property in
Normandy: "But little is bought above 7 %. off; this, however, is the
fate of this sort of property throughout France."--Ibid., III., 534
(January 1809): "In Normandy, investments on patrimonial property bring
only 3 %., while State property brings 5 %. "--Moniteur (January 4,
1825). Report of M. de Martignac: "The confiscated property of the
emigrés finds its purchasers with difficulty, and its commercial value
is not in proportion to its real value."--Duclosonge, former inspector
of domains, "Moyens de porter les domaines nationaux à la valeur des
biens patrimoniaux," p.7. "Since 1815, national property has generally
been bought at a rate of income of 3 %. or, at the most, 4 %.
The difference for this epoch is accordingly one-fifth, and even
two-fifths."]
[Footnote 3193: Treaty between the Pope and the French government, July
'5, 1801. Ratifications exchanged September 1, 1801, and published with
its articles April 8, 1802.--Article 13.]
[Footnote 3194: Ibid., article 14.]
[Footnote 3195: Articles organiques, 64, 65, 66.]
[Footnote 3196: Law of November 30, 1809, and opinion of the Council of
State, May 19, 1811.]
[Footnote 3197: Articles organiques, 68.]
[Footnote 3198: Articles organiques, 71, 72.--Concordat, article
12.--Law passed July 26, 1803.]
[Footnote 3199: Councils of laymen entrusted with the administration of
parish incomes.]
[Footnote 31100: Law of December 30, 1809, articles 39, 92 and following
articles, 105 and following articles.]
[Footnote 31101: Law of September 15, 1807, title IX.]
[Footnote 31102: Concordat, article 15.--Articles organiques, 73.]
[Footnote 31103: Alexis Chevalier, "les Frères des écoles chrétiennes et
l'Enseignement primaire après la révolution," passim. (Act of Vendémiare
24 and Prairial 28, year XI, and Frimiaire II, year XII; laws of May 14,
1806, March 7, 1808, February 17, 1809, Dec. 26, 1810.)]
[Footnote 31104: Alexis Chevalier, ibid., 189.]
[Footnote 31105: Ibid., p.185 sequitur. (Decision of Aug. 8, 1803, of
March 25, of May 30, 1806.)]
[Footnote 31106: Decree of June 22, 1804 (articles I and
4).--"Consultation sur les decrets du 29 Mars 1880," by Edmond Rousse,
p.32. (Out of 54 communities, there were two of men, the "Pères du
tiers-ordre de Saint-François" and the priests of "la Miséricorde," one
founded in 1806 and the other in 1808.)]
[Footnote 31107: "Mémorial de Sainte-Héléne." Napoleon adds" that an
empire like France may and must have some refuge for maniacs called
Trappists."--Pelet de la Lozère, p.208. (Session of the council of
state, May 22, 1804.) "My intention is to have the house of foreign
missions restored; these monks will be of great use to me in Asia,
Africa, and America.... I will give them a capital of 15,000 francs
a year to begin with.... I shall also re-establish the 'Sisters of
Charity;' I have already had them put in possession of their old
buildings. I think it necessary also, whatever may be said of it, to
re-establish the 'Ignorantins.'"]
[Footnote 31108: Roederer, III., 481. (Sénatorerie of Caen, Germinal 17,
year XIII.) Constant lamentations of bishops and most of the priests he
has met. "A poor curé, an unfortunate curé,... The bishop invites you to
dinner, to partake of the poor cheer of an unfortunate bishop on 12,000
francs salary."--The episcopal palaces are superb, but their furniture
is that of a village curé; one can scarcely find a chair in the finest
room.--"The officiating priests have not yet found a fixed salary in any
commune.... The peasants ardently longed for their usual mass and Sunday
service as in the past, but to pay for this is another thing."]
[Footnote 31109: Decrees of May 31 and Dec. 26, 1804, assigning to the
Treasury the salaries of 24,000 and then 30,000 assistant-priests.]
[Footnote 31110: Charles Nicolas, "le Budget de la France depuis le
commencement du XIXe siecle;" appropriation in 1807, 12,341,537 francs.]
[Footnote 31111: Decrees of Prairial 2, year XII, Nivôse 5. year XIII,
and Sep. 30, 1807.--Decree of Dec. 30, 1809 (articles 37, 39, 40, 49 and
ch. IV.)--Opinion of the council of state, May 19, 1811.]
[Footnote 31112: These are limited (articles organiques, 5): "All
ecclesiastical functions are gratuitous except the authorized oblations
fixed by the regulations."]
[Footnote 31113: Articles organiques, 73.]
[Footnote 31114: Ibid., 74: "Real property other than dwellings with
their adjoining gardens, shall not be held under ecclesiastical titles
or possessed by ministers of worship by reason of their functions."]
[Footnote 31115: Opinion of the Council of State, January 22, 1805, on
the question whether the communes have become owners of the churches and
parsonages abandoned to them by the law of Germinal 18, year X (articles
organiques).--The Council of State is of the opinion that "the said
churches and parsonages must be considered as communal property." If the
State renounces ownership in these buildings it is not in favor of the
fabrique, curé or bishop, but in favor of the commune.]
[Footnote 31116: In 1790 and 1791 a number of communes had made offers
for national property with a view to re-sell it afterwards, and much of
this, remaining unsold, was on their hands.]
[Footnote 31117: Articles organiques, 26. "The bishops will make no
ordination before submitting the number of persons to the government for
its acceptance."]
[Footnote 31118: "Archives de Grenoble." (Documents communicated by
Mdlle. de Franclieu.) Letter of the bishop, Monseigneur Claude Simon,
to the Minister of Worship, April 18, 1809. "For seven years that I have
been bishop of Grenoble, I have ordained thus far only eight priests;
during this period I have lost at least one hundred and fifty. The
survivors threaten me with a more rapid gap; either they are infirm,
bent with the weight of years, or wearied or overworked. It is therefore
urgent that I be authorized to confer sacred orders on those who are old
enough and have the necessary instruction. Meanwhile, you are limited to
asking authorization for the first eight on the aforesaid list, of whom
the youngest is twenty-four.... I beg Your Excellency to present
the others on this list for the authorization of His Imperial
Majesty."--Ibid., October 6, 1811. "I have only one deacon and one
subdeacon, whilst I am losing three or four priests monthly."]
[Footnote 31119: Articles organiques, 68, 69. "The pensions enjoyed by
the curés by virtue of the laws of the constituent assembly shall be
deducted from their salary. The vicars and assistants shall be
taken from the pensioned ecclesiastics according to the laws of the
constituent assembly. The amount of these pensions and the product of
oblations shall constitute their salary."]
[Footnote 31120: Laws of Vendémiaire 16, year V, and Ventôse 20, year
V..]
[Footnote 31121: Decree of Nov. 6, 1800.]
[Footnote 31122: Decisions of February 23, 1801, and June 26, 1801.
(We find, through subsequent decisions, that these recoveries were
frequently effected.)]
[Footnote 31123: Law of Frimaire 7, year V (imposing one decime per
franc above the cost of a ticket in every theatre for the benefit of the
poor not in the asylums).--Also the decree of Dec. 9, 1809.--Decisions
of Vendémiaire 27, year VII, and the restoration of the Paris octroi,
"considering that the distress of the civil asylums and the interruption
of succor at domiciles admit of no further delay."--Also the law of
Frimaire 19, year VIII, with the addition of 2 decimes per franc to the
octroi duties, established for the support of the asylums of the commune
of Paris.--Paul Leroy-Beaulieu, "Traité de la science des finances," I.,
685. Many towns follow this example: "Two years had scarcely passed when
there were 293 Octrois in France."]
[Footnote 31124: Law of Messidor 25, year V.--Alexis Chevalier, ibid.,
p. 185. (Decisions of Thermidor 20, year XI, and Germinal 4, year
XIII.)--Law of Dec.. 11, 1808 (article 1.)]
[Footnote 31125: Albert Duruy, "l'Instruction publique et la
Révolution," p.480 et seq. ("Procès-verbaux des conseils-généraux de
l'an IX;" among others, the petitions from Gironde, Ile-et-Vilaine,
Maine-et-Loire, Puy.de-Dôme, Haute-Saône, Haute Vienne, la Manche,
Lot-et-Garonne, Sarthe, Aisne, Aude, Côte-d'Or, Pas-de-Calais,
BassePyrénées, Pyrénées-Orienta1es, and Lot.)]
[Footnote 31126: Alexis Chevalier, ibid., p. 182. (According to
statistical returns of the parent establishment, rue Oudinot.--These
figures are probably too low.)]
[Footnote 31127: "Recueil des lois et réglemens sur l'enseignement
supérieur," by A. de Beauchamp, I., 65. (Report by Fourcroy, April
20, 1802.) "Old schools, since the suppression of upper schools and
universities, have taken a new extension, and a pretty large number of
private institutions have been formed for the literary education of the
young."]
[Footnote 31128: Ibid., 65 and 71. (Report by Fourcroy.) "As to the
primary schools, the zeal of the municipalities must be aroused, the
emulation of the functionaries excited, and charitable tendencies
revived, so natural to the French heart and which will so promptly
spring up when the religious respect of the government for local
endowments becomes known."]
[Footnote 31129: Ibid., p. 81. (Decree of May 1st, 1802, titles 2 and
9.--Decree of Sept. 17, 1808, article 23.)]
[Footnote 31130: "Histoire du collège des Bons-Enfans de l'université de
Reims," by abbé Cauly, p. 649.--The lycée of Reims, decreed May 6,
1802, was not opened until the 24th of September, 1803. The town was to
furnish accommodations for 150 pupils. It spent nearly 200,000 francs to
put buildings in order.... This sum was provided, on the one hand, by
a voluntary subscription which realized 45,000 francs and, on the other
hand, by an additional tax.]
[Footnote 31131: Law of May 1, 1802, articles 32, 33, and 34.--Guizot,
"Essai sur l'instruction publique, I., 59. Bonaparte maintained and
brought up in the lycées, at his own expense and for his own advantage,
about 3000 children... commonly selected from the sons of soldiers
or from poor families."--Fabry, "Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de
l'instruction publique," III., 802. "Children of soldiers whose wives
lived in Paris, the sons of office-holders who were prevented by
luxury from bringing up their families--such were the scholarships of
Paris."--"In the provinces, the employees in the tax--and
post-offices, with other nomadic functionaries--such were the communal
scholarships."--Lunet, "Histoire du collège de Rodez," 219, 224. Out of
150 scholarships, 87 are filled, on the average.]
[Footnote 31132: "Recueil," etc., by A. de Beauchamp, I, 171, 187, 192.
(Law of September 17, 1808, article 27, and decision of April 7, 1809.)]
[Footnote 31133: Ibid. Masters of private schools and heads of
institutions must pay additionally every year one-quarter of the sums
above fixed. (Law of Sept. 17, 1808, article 25. Law of March 17, 1808,
title 17.--Law of February 17, 1809.)]
[Footnote 31134: Ibid., I., 189. (Decree of March 24, 1808, on the
endowment of the University.)]
[Footnote 31135: Emond, "Histoire du collège Louis-le-Grand,"
p.238. (This college, previous to 1789, enjoyed an income of 450,000
livres.)--Guizot, ibid., I., 62.--This college was maintained during
the revolution under the name of the "Prytanée Français" and received
in 1800 the property of the University of Louvain. Many of its pupils
enlisted in 1792, and were promised that their scholarships should be
retained for them on their return; hence the military spirit of the
"Prytanée."--By virtue of a decree, March 5, 1806, a perpetual income of
400,000 francs was transferred to the Prytanée de Saint-Cyr. It is this
income which, by the decree of March 24, 1808, becomes the endowment
of the imperial University. Henceforth, the expenses of the Prytanée de
Saint-Cyr are assigned to the war department.]
[Footnote 31136: Alexis Chevalier, Ibid., p.265. Allocution to the
"Ignorantin" brethren.]
[Footnote 31137: "The Ancient Régime," pp.13-15. (Laff. I. pp. 17 and
18.)--"The Revolution," III., p. 54. (Laff. II. pp. 48-49)--Alexis
Chevalier, "Les Frères des écoles chrétiennes," p.341. "Before
the revolution, the revenues of public instruction exceeded 30
millions."--Peuchet, "Statistique elementaire de la France" (published
in 1805), p.256. Revenue of the asylums and hospitals in the time of
Necker, 40 millions, of which 23 are the annual income from real-estate
and 17 provided by personal property, contracts, the public funds, and a
portion from octrois, etc.]
[Footnote 31138: D'Haussonville, "l'Église romaine et le premier
Empire," vol. IV. et V., passim--Ibid., III., 370, 375. (13 Italian
cardinals and 19 bishops of the Roman states are transported and
assigned places in France, as well as many of their grand-vicars and
chanoines; about the same date over 200 Italian priests are banished to
Corsica).--V., 181. (July 12, 1811, the bishops of Troyes, Tournay and
Ghent are sent to (the fortress-prison of) Vincennes.)--V., 286. (236
pupils in the Ghent seminary are enrolled in an artillery brigade
and sent off to Wesel, where about fifty of them die in the
hospital.)--"Souvenirs", by PASQUIER (Etienne-Dennis, duc) Librarie
Plon, Paris 1893. (Numbers of Belgian priests confined in the castles of
Ham, Bouillon and Pierre-Châtel were set free after the Restoration.)]
[Footnote 31139: Decree of November 15, 1811, art. 28, 29, and 30.
(Owing to M. de Fontanes, the small seminaries were not all closed, many
of them, 41, still existing in 1815.)]
[Footnote 31140: Collection of laws and decrees, passim, after 1802.]
[Footnote 31141: Documents furnished by M. Alexis Chevalier, former
director of public charities. The total amount of legacies and bequests
is as follows: 1st Asylums and hospitals, from January 1, 1800, to
December 31, 1845, 72,593,360 francs; from January 1st, 1846, to
December 31, 1855, 37,107,812; from January 1st, 1856, to December 31,
1877, 121,197,774. in all, 230,898,346 francs.--2d. Charity bureaux.
From January 1st, 1800, to December 31, 1845, 49,911,090; from January
1st, 1846, to December 31, 1873, 115,629,925; from January 1st 1874, to
December 31, 1877, 19,261,065. In all, 184,802,080 francs.--Sum total,
415,701,026 francs.]
[Footnote 31142: According to the statements of M. de Watteville and M.
de Gasparin.]
[Footnote 31143: Report by Fourcroy, annexed to the exposition of the
empire and presented to the Corps Législatif, March 5, 1806.]
[Footnote 31144: Coup d'oeil général sur l'éducation et l'instruction
publique en France," by Basset, censor of studies at Charlemagne college
(1816),--p. 21.]
[Footnote 31145: "Statistique de l'enseignement primaire," II., CCIV.
(From 1786 to 1789, 47 out of 100 married men and 26 married women out
of a hundred signed their marriage contract. From 1816 to 1820, the
figures show 54 husbands and 34 wives.)--Morris Birbeck, "Notes of a
Journey through France in July, August and September 1814." p.3 (London,
1815). "I am told that all the children of the laboring classes learn to
read, and are generally instructed by their parents."]
[Footnote 31146: Madame de Rémusat, I., 243. (Journey in the north of
France and in Belgium with the First Consul, 1803.) "On journeys of this
kind he was in the habit, after obtaining information about the public
buildings a town needed, to order them as he passed along, and, for this
munificence, he bore away the blessings of the people."--Some time after
this a letter came from the minister of the interior: "In conformity
with the favor extended to you by the First Consul (later, emperor) you
are required, citizen mayor, to order the construction of this or
that building, taking care to charge the expenses on the funds of your
commune," and which the prefect of the department obliges him to do,
even when available funds are exhausted or otherwise applied.]
[Footnote 31147: Thiers, VIII., 117 (August 1807) and 124. 13,400
leagues of highways were constructed or repaired; 10 canals were dug
or continued, at the expense of the public treasury; 32 departments
contribute to the expense of these through the extra centimes tax,
which is imposed on them. The State and the department, on the average,
contribute each one-half.--Among the material evils caused by the
Revolution, the most striking and the most seriously felt was the
abandonment and running down of roads which had become impracticable,
also the still more formidable degeneracy of the dikes and barriers
against rivers and the sea. (Cf. in Rocquain, "État de la France au 18
Brumaire," the reports of Français de Nantes, Fourcroy, Barbeé-Marbois,
etc.)--The Directory had imagined barrriers with toll-gates on each road
to provide expenses, which brought in scarcely 16 millions to offset 30
and 35 millions of expenditure. Napoleon substitutes for these tolls the
product of the salt-tax. (Decree of April 24, 1806, art. 59.)]
[Footnote 31148: "Souvenirs", by PASQUIER (Etienne-Dennis, duc) Librarie
Plon, Paris 1893. "Scarcely two or three highways remained in decent
order. ... Navigation on the rivers and canals became impossible Public
buildings and monuments were everywhere falling to ruin.... If the
rapidity of destruction was prodigious, that of restoration was no less
so."]