began to be agitated with the excesses of the French Revolution, and
Pestalozzi, disappointed in the sanguine hopes which he had formed at
the commencement of that event, and disgusted with the scenes of
brutality and lawlessness which it had occasioned, wrote his _Inquiry
into the Course of Nature in the Developement of the Human Species_.
This work, published in 1797, marks a new epoch in the development of
his views. It was written at a moment when his mind was covered with
the deepest gloom, and he was almost ready to sink under the struggle
between the bright conceptions of improvement which he had formed and
the darkness which hung over the existing institutions of society. The
following questions, which he proposes to himself at the commencement of
the work, will give some idea of its plan and of the spirit in which it
was composed:
"What am I? What is the human species? What have I done? What is the
human species doing?
"I want to know what the course of my life, such as it has been, has
made of me? and I want to know what the course of life, such as it has
been, has made of the human species?
"I want to know on what ground the volition of the human species and its
opinions rest under the circumstances in which it is placed?"
The following portrait of himself, which he draws at the close of the
volume, is highly characteristic of his feelings at this time:
"Thousands pass away, as nature gave them birth, in the conception of
sensual gratification, and they seek no more. Tens of thousands are
overwhelmed by the burdens of craft and trade; by the weight of the
hammer, the ell, or the crane, and they are no more. But I know a man,
who did seek more; the joy of simplicity dwelt in his heart, and he had
faith in mankind such as few men have; his soul was made for friendship;
love was his element, and fidelity his strongest tie. But he was not
made by this world nor for it; and wherever he was placed in it he was
found unfit.
"And the world that found him thus, asked not whether it was his fault
or the fault of another; but it bruised him with an iron hammer, as the
bricklayers break an old brick to fill up crevices. But though bruised,
he yet trusted in mankind more than in himself; and he proposed to
himself a great purpose, which to attain he suffered agonies and learned
lessons such as few mortals had learned before.
"He could not, nor would he, become generally useful, but for his
purpose he was more useful than most men are for theirs; and he expected
justice at the hands of mankind, whom he still loved with an innocent
love. But he found none. Those that made themselves his judges, without
further examination confirmed the former sentence, that he was generally
and absolutely useless. This was the grain of sand which decided the
doubtful balance of his wretched destinies.
"He is no more; thou mayest know him no more; all that remains of him is
the decayed remnants of his destroyed existence. He fell as a fruit that
falls before it is ripe, whose blossom has been nipped by the northern
gale, or whose core is eaten out by the gnawing worm.
"Stranger that passest by, refuse not a tear of sympathy; even in
falling, this fruit turned itself toward the trunk, on the branches of
which it lingered through the summer, and it whispered to the tree:
'Verily, even in my death will I nourish thy roots.'
"Stranger that passest by, spare the perishing fruit, and allow the dust
of its corruption to nourish the roots of the tree, on whose branches it
lived, sickened, and died."
But a brighter day for Pestalozzi was about to dawn. He now became
sensible of the great error of his former plans, which made too much
account of external circumstances, without exerting sufficient influence
on the inward nature, which it was his object to elevate. His mind
gradually arrived at the important truth, which is the keystone of the
system he afterward matured: "That the amelioration of outward
circumstances will be the effect, but can never be the means, of mental
and moral improvement."
He had now succeeded in awakening the attention of the Swiss Government
to the importance of his plans for national education, and was invited
to take charge of an asylum for orphans and other destitute children,
which should be formed under his own direction and supported at the
public expense. The place selected for this experiment was Stanz, the
capital of the Canton of Underwalden, which had been recently burned and
depopulated by the French Revolutionary troops. A new Ursuline convent,
which was then building, was assigned to Pestalozzi as the scene of his
future operations. On his arrival there he found only one apartment
finished, a room about twenty-four feet square, and that unfurnished.
The rest of the building was occupied by the carpenters and masons; and
even had there been rooms, the want of beds and kitchen furniture would
have made them useless. In the mean time, it having been announced that
an asylum was to be opened, crowds of children came forward, some of
them orphans, and others without protection or shelter, whom it was
impossible, under such circumstances, to send away. The one room was
devoted to all manner of purposes. In the day it served as a schoolroom,
and at night, furnished with some scanty bedding, was occupied by
Pestalozzi with as many of the scholars as it would hold. The remainder
were quartered out for the night in some of the neighboring houses and
came to the asylum only in the day. Of course, under such circumstances,
anything like order or regularity was out of the question. Even personal
cleanliness was impossible; and this, added to the dust occasioned by
the workmen, the dampness of the new walls, and the closeness of the
atmosphere in a small and crowded apartment, made the asylum an
unhealthy abode.
The character of the children, too, was a great obstacle to Pestalozzi's
success. Many of them were the offspring of beggars and outlaws and had
long been inured to wretchedness and vice; others had seen better days,
and, oppressed by disappointment and suffering, had lost all disposition
to exert themselves; while a few, who were from the higher classes of
society, had been spoiled by indulgence and luxury, and were now
conceited, petulant, and full of scornful airs toward their companions.
The whole charge of the establishment thus composed devolved upon
Pestalozzi. From motives of economy and from the difficulty of procuring
suitable assistants, he employed no one but a housekeeper. The burden of
this task was increased by the caprice and folly of many of the parents,
whose children had been sent to the asylum. They were prejudiced against
him as a Protestant and an agent of the Helvetic Government, and spared
no complaints which their unreasonableness or ignorance could suggest.
Mothers who were in the daily practice of begging from door to door
would come on some silly pretext and take away their children because
they would be no worse off at home. On Sundays especially the whole
family circle, from parents to the remotest cousin, would assemble in a
body at the asylum, and, after filling the minds of the children with
their idle whims, would either take them home or leave them peevish and
unhappy.
Sometimes children were brought to the asylum merely to obtain clothing,
which being done they were soon removed and no reasons given. In many
instances, parents required payment for leaving their children, to
compensate for the loss occasioned by taking them off from their
begging. In others, they desired to make an agreement for a certain
number of days in the week, in which they could have permission to send
them out to beg; and this being refused, they indignantly declared that
they would remove them forthwith--a threat which was not unfrequently
executed.
Such was the character of the materials on which Pestalozzi was obliged
to commence his great experiments. He was deprived of the ordinary means
of instruction and authority; and thus thrown entirely upon his own
resources, the inventive genius, for which he was afterward
distinguished, was awakened within him, and the spirit of humanity
received a fresh impulse. One of the first benefits which he derived
from his apparently untoward circumstances was the necessity of
resorting to the power of love in the child's heart as the only source
of obedience. There was nothing either in the disposition of the parents
or the children to aid him in his efforts; on the contrary, a spirit of
contempt on the one side and of open hostility on the other placed those
obstacles in his way which a less original and energetic mind than his
would not have been able to surmount. The usual methods of punishment
could not be applied with any success; accordingly, he discarded them
all. He made no attempt to frighten his refractory troop into order and
obedience, but used only the instrument of an all-forbearing kindness.
Even when obliged to apply coercive measures, he employed them with such
a spirit as showed the children that he did not have recourse to them
through anger, but that their use occasioned no less distress to him
than to themselves.
His mode of instruction partook of the character of his discipline. Both
were marked with the simplicity of nature. He had none of the ordinary
apparatus of teaching, not even books. Himself and his pupils were all.
The result was that he abandoned the common artificial systems of
instruction and gave his whole attention to the original elements of
knowledge which exist in every mind. He taught numbers instead of
ciphers, living sounds instead of dead characters, deeds of faith and
love instead of abstruse creeds, substances instead of shadows,
realities instead of signs. He led the intellect of his children to the
discovery of truths which, in the nature of things, they could never
understand.
In the midst of his children he forgot that there was any world beside
his asylum. And as their circle was a universe to him, so was he to them
all in all. From morning till night he was the centre of their
existence. To him they owed every comfort and every enjoyment; and,
whatever hardships they had to endure, he was their fellow-sufferer. He
partook of their meals and slept among them. In the evening he prayed
with them before they went to bed; and from his conversation they
dropped into the arms of slumber. At the first dawn of day it was his
voice that called them to the light of the rising sun and to the praise
of their heavenly Father. All day he stood among them, teaching the
ignorant and assisting the helpless; encouraging the weak and
admonishing the transgressor. His hand was daily with them, joined in
theirs; his eye, beaming with benevolence, rested on theirs. He wept
when they wept, and rejoiced when they rejoiced. He was to them a
father, and they were to him as children. Seventy or eighty children,
whose dispositions were of the most unpromising character, were
converted, in a short time, into a peaceful and happy family circle.
Their tempers were meliorated, their manners softened, their health
improved, and their whole appearance so changed that it was almost
impossible to recognize them as the same persons whose haggard and
stupid faces had formerly been noticed by every visitor at the asylum.
He wished to give to his establishment the character of a family, rather
than of a public school. He often related to his pupils narratives of a
happy and well-regulated household; and endeavored to awaken their
hearts to a sense of the blessings which men may bestow upon each other
by the exercise of Christian love. He taught this, whenever he could, by
examples taken from real life. Thus when Altorf, the capital of the
Canton of Uri, was laid in ashes, having informed them of the event he
suggested the idea of receiving some of the sufferers into the asylum.
"Hundreds of children," said he, "are at this moment wandering about as
you were last year, without a home, perhaps without food or clothing.
What would you say of applying to the Government, which has so kindly
provided for you, for leave to receive about twenty of these poor
children among you?"
"Oh, yes," exclaimed his pupils; "yes, dear Mr. Pestalozzi, do apply if
you please."
"Nay, my children," replied he, "consider it well first. You must know I
cannot get as much money as I please for our house-keeping; and if you
invite twenty children among us, I shall, very likely, not get any more
for that. You must, therefore, make up your minds to share your bedding
and clothing with them, and to eat less and work more than before; and
if you think you cannot do that readily and cheerfully, you had better
not invite them!"
"Never mind," said the children; "though we should not be so well off
ourselves, we should be very glad to have these poor children among us."
But the prosperity which Pestalozzi here enjoyed proved to be of short
duration. Before the expiration of a year from the commencement of his
undertaking, Stanz was taken by the Austrians, and he was obliged to
abandon his experiment at the very moment of its greatest success. This
took place in the summer of 1799. He was now exposed to the ridicule of
many, who had always derided his plan as visionary and enthusiastic, and
to whom he was prevented, by this untimely removal, from giving the
evidence of facts in demonstration of its excellence. His disappointment
and sufferings on this account were severe. Depressed and unhappy, he
retired into the solitude of the Alps, and amid the rocks and the steeps
of the Gurnigal sought rest for his weary soul, and health for his
exhausted nerves. But he could not long remain inactive. The enjoyment
of the majestic scenes of nature among which he was placed, and the
kindness and sympathy of a friend named Zehender, soon restored him to a
cheerful state of mind; and he descended from the mountains, determined
to resume his experiment from the point where it had been cut short at
Stanz.
The Helvetic Government at this time made him a grant of about thirty
pounds a year, which in 1801 was raised to one hundred, but was stopped
entirely in 1803, by the dissolution of the Government. This was barely
sufficient for his own subsistence, and the small remains of his private
fortune were absorbed in the maintenance of his family.
In the autumn of 1799, by the advice of his friends, Pestalozzi removed
to Burgdorf, an ancient Swiss city, in the Canton of Bern, where after
several unsatisfactory attempts, on a small scale, to carry his plans
into execution, he at last succeeded by the end of the year in opening
an establishment which in 1800 numbered twenty-six pupils, and in 1801
thirty-seven. About one-third of these were sons of representatives of
different cantons in Switzerland, and a part belonged to wealthy
tradesmen and agriculturists, and the rest were children of respectable
families reduced in their circumstances, who were placed by their
friends under the care of Pestalozzi. The expenses of this undertaking
were defrayed, at first, by a loan, which he was afterward enabled, but
with great difficulty, to repay. But it would have been impossible to
continue the institution had not the Helvetic Government voted him, in
addition to the grant before mentioned, an annual supply of fuel, and a
salary of twenty-five pounds each to two of his assistants, Kruesi and
Buss, who, however, generously declined receiving it themselves, but
devoted it to the general funds of the institution, from which they
received nothing but their board and lodging.
At this time Pestalozzi published a work at the request of his friend
Gessner, of Zurich, under the title of _How Gertrude Teaches her
Children_, in which he gave a historical account of his experiments up
to that period, and a general outline of his principles of education.
This book made a very favorable impression upon the public; it excited a
greater attention to his plans, confirmed the hopes of his friends, and
convinced many of the soundness of his ideas who had heretofore regarded
them as wild speculations.
The current of popularity now set so strong in his favor that he was
chosen in 1802 as one of the deputies to Paris, pursuant to a
proclamation of the French Consul, to frame a new constitution for
Switzerland. He now made his appearance again as a political writer, and
presented his views on the state of the country and the means of
improving it, in a pamphlet entitled _View of the Objects to which the
Legislature of Switzerland has chiefly to direct its Attention_. The
moderate and liberal opinions expressed in this publication, and the
wisdom of the proposals which it suggested, conciliated the best men of
all parties, and offended none but the few who cherished an extravagant
and bigoted attachment to the ancient order of things.
In all his labors Pestalozzi had a most efficient assistant in his wife,
who interested herself especially in cultivating the affections of the
younger pupils; while the different branches of domestic economy fell
upon his daughter-in-law and an old housekeeper who had been in his
family for more than thirty years and lived in it rather as a friend
than a servant. The domestic arrangements had for their object to form
habits of order, and to insure the enjoyment of good health to the
children. In the morning, half an hour before six, the signal was given
for getting up: six o'clock found the pupils ready for their first
lesson, after which they were assembled for morning prayer. Between this
and breakfast, the children had time left them for preparing themselves
for the day; and at eight o'clock they were again called to their
lessons, which continued, with the interruption of from five to seven
minutes' recreation between every two hours, till twelve o'clock. Half
an hour later, dinner was served up; and afterward the children were
allowed to take moderate exercise till half-past two, when the afternoon
lessons began, and were continued till half-past four. From half-past
four till five there was another interval of recreation, during which
the children had fruit and bread distributed to them. At five, the
lessons were resumed till the time of supper at eight o'clock, after
which, the evening prayer having been held, they were conducted to bed
about nine. The hours of recreation were mostly spent in innocent games
on a fine common situated between the castle and the lake and crossed in
different directions by beautiful avenues of chestnut and poplar trees.
On Wednesday and Sunday afternoons, if the weather permitted, excursions
of several miles were made through the beautiful scenery of the
surrounding country. In summer the children went frequently to bathe in
the lake, the borders of which offered, in winter, fine opportunities
for skating. In bad weather they resorted to gymnastic exercises in a
large hall expressly fitted up for that purpose. This constant attention
to regular bodily exercise, together with the excellent climate of
Yverdon, and the simplicity of their mode of living, proved so effectual
in preserving the health of the children that illness of any kind made
its appearance but very rarely, notwithstanding that the number of
pupils amounted at one time to upward of one hundred eighty. Such was
the care bestowed upon physical education in Pestalozzi's establishment;
and an equal degree of solicitude was evinced for the intellectual and
moral well-being of the children.
Successful, however, as the purposes of Pestalozzi were at Yverdon, the
scene which is most intimately associated with his name, and which was
the theatre of his brightest and most useful achievements, he was
destined again to meet with bitter disappointment, and finally to go
down to his grave in sorrow. After a series of embarrassments,
occasioned principally by the artifices of an unprincipled and
intriguing adventurer among his teachers, and having suffered in his
property, his happiness, and to a certain extent in his character, and
witnessed the gradual destruction of his establishment, he died at
Brugg, in the Canton of Basel, on February 17, 1827, at the advanced age
of eighty-two years.
CHRONOLOGY OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY
EMBRACING THE PERIOD COVERED IN THIS VOLUME
A.D. 1716-1775
JOHN RUDD, LL.D.
CHRONOLOGY OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY
EMBRACING THE PERIOD COVERED IN THIS VOLUME
A.D. 1716-1775
JOHN RUDD, LL.D.
Events treated at length are here indicated in large type; the numerals
following give volume and page.
Separate chronologies of the various nations, and of the careers of
famous persons, will be found in the INDEX VOLUME, with volume and page
references showing where the several events are fully treated.
A.D.
1716. Establishment of Law's bank in Paris in connection with the
Mississippi Scheme. See "JOHN LAW PROMOTES THE MISSISSIPPI SCHEME,"
xiii, 1.
Parliament passes the Septennial Act limiting the duration of a
parliament to seven years.
Unsuccessful invasion of Norway by Charles XII.
War on Turkey by Austria; Battle of Peterwardein; victory of Prince
Eugene.
1717. Occupation of Sardinia by Philip V of Spain.
Walpole resigns the English ministry.
A triple alliance formed between Britain, Holland, and France.
Battle of Belgrad; defeat of the Turks by Prince Eugene. See "PRINCE
EUGENE VANQUISHES THE TURKS," xiii, 16.
1718. Foundation of New Orleans, Louisiana, by the French.
Invasion of Sicily by the Spaniards; Austria joins the Triple Alliance;
the Spanish fleet defeated off Cape Passaro.
Another attempt on Norway by Charles XII; he is killed while besieging
Frederikshald.
St. Petersburg becomes the capital of Russia.
1719. Philip V submits to the alliance; the Spaniards evacuate Sicily
and Sardinia.
Ravaging of the coast of Sweden by the Russian fleet.
Great speculative craze in England.
1720. "BURSTING OF THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE." See xiii, 22.
Disastrous end of Law's financial schemes in France.
Sweden and Prussia arrange the Treaty of Stockholm; Prussia acquires a
large portion of Hither Pomerania.
Sardinia becomes a kingdom, raised out of the Savoy dominions.
1721. Walpole again First Lord of the Treasury (prime minister) of
England.
France becomes financially bankrupt.
1722. A patent granted Wood for the coinage of copper coin for Ireland;
this led Swift to write of the "wooden halfpence."
Persia conquered by the Afghans.
A Jacobite plot against George I of England discovered.
Founding of a Moravian brotherhood at Herrnhut, Saxony.
War on Persia by Peter the Great.
1723. Majority of Louis XV of France.
Large territories secured from Persia by Peter the Great.
"BACH LAYS THE FOUNDATION OF MODERN MUSIC." See xiii, 31.
1724. A professorship of modern history founded by George I at Oxford
and at Cambridge university.
Resignation of the Spanish crown by Philip V in favor of his son, Louis;
the latter dies after a short reign, and his father reassumes the
government.
1725. Treaty of Vienna between Austria and Spain, assenting to the
Pragmatic Sanction of Charles VI.
Treaty of Hanover between Great Britain, France, and Prussia.
Death of Peter the Great; his widow, Catharine I, succeeds to the throne
of Russia.
1726. Russia joins in the Treaty of Vienna.
1727. Spain makes an unsuccessful attempt to blockade and fails in her
siege of Gibraltar.
Death of George I; George II succeeds to the throne of England.
Persia freed from the Afghans by Nadir Kuli, Shah of Persia.
For having published the proceedings in the British House of Commons
Edward Cane is taken into custody by the sergeant-at-arms.
1728. Assembling at Soissons of a congress of the great powers.
Discovery of the strait bearing his name by Bering.
1729. Great Britain, France, and Spain arrange the Treaty of Seville.
Purchase of Carolina by the crown; two royal provinces instituted, North
and South Carolina; plot of the negroes in the latter to murder their
masters.
Revolt of Corsica against the Genoese.
1730. Introduction by Réaumur of his thermometer.
Baltimore, Maryland, founded.
Opening of the first railway, between Manchester and Liverpool, England.
1731. An earthquake convulses Chile for twenty-seven days; Santiago
nearly engulfed.
Origin of Methodism by the preaching of Wesley and Whitefield.
1732. Oglethorpe founds a settlement in Georgia. See "SETTLEMENT OF
GEORGIA," xiii, 44.
Franklin establishes the first subscription library in the United
Colonies.
Expulsion of the Protestants from Salzburg.
1733. Death of Augustus II of Poland; War of the Polish Succession
between Austria and France.
Invention in England of the fly-shuttle for weaving, by John Kay, aided
by Arkwright.
1734. Austrian campaign against France and Sardinia in Northern Italy;
Philip V enters Naples and proclaims himself king. Battle of Bitonto;
defeat of the Austrians, May 25; Capua falls in November.