THE POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL.
The “Central School of Public Works”--Bonaparte and the Polytechnic--The
College of Navarre--Formal Inauguration in 1805--1816--1832.
Behind the church of St. Stephen-of-the-Mount, from which it is
separated by the Rue Descartes, stands the Polytechnic School, founded
by a decree of the National Convention on the 14th of March, 1794.
The Convention had made a clean sweep of all the schools established in
the days of the Monarchy. Ere long, however, it began to revive the
scholastic institutions on a new plan. The Committee of Public Safety
began by decreeing the formation of a “Central School of Public Works.”
Fourcroy was commissioned to present a detailed report on the new
scheme; and the propositions contained in it were unanimously adopted.
The Palais Bourbon was chosen as the domicile of erudition; and here a
three years’ course of study, involving nine hours’ work a day, was
offered to aspirants. The youth of Paris and of the provinces hastened
in crowds to a school where every subject was taught by an eminent
specialist. Enthusiasm characterised the labours both of students and
professors, and rapid successes were achieved, despite the constant
struggle which had to be maintained with the Committee of Public Safety,
whether on account of the privilege which the school enjoyed of filling
all vacancies in certain departments of the public service, or because
the committee, at times when war had drained the national exchequer,
could not furnish the funds indispensable to the educational scheme. The
school, however, fought bravely through its difficulties, and presently
received that denomination of École Polytechnique which became and has
remained so popular. In the legislative tribunals, in the political and
scientific journals, the Polytechnic School was never mentioned without
being coupled with some formula expressing the high opinion entertained
of its utility and of what it might achieve. “The first school in the
world,” “the institution which Europe envies us,” “the establishment
without a rival and without a model”--in such phrases was it described.
Already the Polytechnic had been appointed to furnish officers for the
artillery; and by a state decree it was enacted that no pupils should be
received into the military and naval schools who had not first gone
through their course in the Polytechnic. In 1803, when the peace of
Amiens was broken and war burst out afresh between France and England,
the pupils of the Polytechnic School evinced their patriotism by paying
into the state coffers a sum of 4,000 francs which they had collected
amongst themselves.
Bonaparte, on his return from Italy, endeavoured to conciliate the
affection of men of learning and of letters. At that period nothing but
the lustre of power or the superiority of the mind could command
admiration. Having had himself admitted to the Institute, the First
Consul loved to join his academic title to the indication of his rank in
the army. He often visited the Polytechnic School, and even assisted
occasionally at some of the lessons. He enriched its library with a
number of costly works, and furnished its laboratories with all that
they needed.
During the four years (1801 to 1804) which preceded the turning of this
school into a barrack the people of Paris had returned to a state of
tranquillity. At the theatre, however, disturbances frequently occurred
in which Polytechnic students played a part. The reiterated complaints
of the Minister of the Interior and the arrest of several of the
disorderly students caused great vexation to the school authorities, who
remonstrated with the delinquents and imposed severe disciplinary
punishments upon them, but to little purpose. The classes began to
suffer, for the agitation of the pit penetrated into the school, and the
time which should have been devoted to work was frequently taken up with
eager conversations on this or that exciting topic. Bonaparte, who had
just taken the title of emperor, was apprised of these unfortunate
occurrences, and immediately decreed, on the 16th of July, 1804, a new
organisation by which the pupils would be formed into a military body
and put in barracks. General Lacuée, councillor of state, was appointed
governor, and Gay de Vernon took second command. The new organisation
included the union of the barrack and the school on one spot, and an
obligation on the part of the pupils to pay fees. General Lacuée formed
from his body of councillors a commission which repaired to
Fontainebleau, where the École Militaire was then established, in order
to obtain all particulars as to the working of the Paris institution;
and an active search was made for a building in which the school might
be adequately installed. At length the College of Navarre was fixed upon
as the fittest habitation. Napoleon in determining the funds necessary
for his new organisation showed himself sufficiently lavish. He felt
grateful to the students of the Polytechnic School for the patriotic aid
they had offered him during the war with England; which had indeed
evoked from him at the time some flattering words to the effect that he
“expected nothing less from a youth thirsting for glory, to whom
national honour was a patrimony.”
[Illustration: LIBRARY OF SAINTE-GENEVIÈVE.]
The school was inaugurated on the 11th of November, 1805, at the College
of Navarre, which it has not quitted since. This college had been
founded in 1304 by Jeanne of Navarre and her husband Philippe le Bel.
The chapel, now used as a tracing-room, is all that remains of the
original structure. Suppressed in 1790, the College of Navarre had been
a seminary for princes and other pupils either distinguished already by
their birth or destined to conquer fame: both Richelieu and Bossuet had
sat on its benches.
The pupils of the Polytechnic School showed in 1814 the same patriotic
feeling which had delighted Napoleon on a previous occasion. They
offered for the artillery eight horses fully equipped; and immediately
afterwards they petitioned to be admitted as combatants into the ranks
of the French army. Napoleon made a reply which has become famous--that
he was not reduced to such straits as to find it necessary to “kill his
fowl with the golden eggs.” He formed, however, out of the Paris
National Guard twelve batteries of artillery, three of which consisted
of pupils of the Polytechnic School. On the 28th of March the pupils
were entrusted with the service of twenty-eight pieces of reserve
artillery, and on the 30th, during the battle of Paris, this reserve,
placed across the avenue of Vincennes, held in check the enemy’s
troops, who were endeavouring to enter Paris on this side in order to
turn the position of the diminutive French army, fighting at Belleville
and at Pantin.
[Illustration: ST. STEPHEN-OF-THE-MOUNT.]
On the return from Elba the Polytechnic School was again formed into a
body of artillery; and it then received the only visit Napoleon paid to
it throughout the Empire. With all his admiration for it, he regarded it
as infected with the spirit of republicanism. Monge defended the pupils
against the bad opinion entertained by the emperor, saying that, ardent
Republicans when the school was first formed, they had not yet had time
to become zealous Imperialists; at which Napoleon is said to have
smiled.
Broken up in 1816 in consequence of some act of insubordination, and
reorganised towards the end of 1817 under a civilian administration, the
Polytechnic School was now placed under the Ministry of the Interior.
Five years later, however, in 1822, it was once more organised on a
military system. Like all the students of those days, the pupils of the
Polytechnic School were enthusiastic Liberals, and when the Revolution
of July, 1830, broke out they joined the people and acted for the most
part as officers. One of them, Vanneau by name, was killed in the attack
made on the barracks of the Swiss guards in the Rue de Babylone; and
afterwards, by universal desire, the name of the young man was given to
a neighbouring street, which still bears it.
Since then the Polytechnic has been mixed up with every important
political movement that has taken place in France. On the 7th of June,
1832, many students, in spite of orders to the contrary, went out to
assist at the funeral of General Lamarque, and took part in the outbreak
to which it led. In 1848 the school was called out in a body to support
the provisional government, which invited it, together with the Normal
School and the School of Saint-Cyr, to take part in all the celebrations
of the new Republic.
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF CHURCH OF ST. STEPHEN-OF-THE-MOUNT.]
Amongst the distinguished men produced by the Polytechnic School since
its creation under the First Republic may be mentioned Arago,
Gay-Lussac, Biot, Poisson, and Carnot. Foreign governments have often
asked permission to send young men of promise to this school; at once an
effect and a cause of its European reputation.