10 DECEMBER 1831, Page 18

REMAINS OF MARSHAL NEY — EDUCATION IN FRANCE.

THE following extracts from a French letter relate to two subjects of interest. We all know that the name of the Prince of MOSHWA was included in the list of King Louis PIVIT.IP'N newly.ereated Peers: it appears that, with a becoming spirit, he will not take his seat until the Government has consented to remove the stain upon his father's memory, by publicly transferring his remains to the receptacle of the ashes of the great men of France. The present French Government is bound to repair the errors of the baser BOURBONS, and ought never to have hesitated at this act ofjustice. We are not admirers of the latter years of Marshal Nev's life ; but his death was an injustice and an infamy, and the present men at least can consider it in no other light.

The more important part of the letter relates to the great subject of education. The circumstance of the change of the Principal at St. Omer College is an excellent sign. Edu- cation is in France immediately under the control of the Government : under a bad government, it is necessarily turned to the worst purposes : in the reign of the Restored Imbeciles, it was shackled with every sort of impediment, and the active powers which remained were directed in the most per- nicious course possible. Luckily the success was but partial ; for though the boys at school were only permitted to look into certain jesuitical productions, put into their hands by their masters, their concealed drawers and hiding-places were filled with others, which added the charm of stolen fruit to the sweet taste of wis- dom and liberality. The kind of exchange of the youth of the two kingdoms, proposed by the enlightened person who now pre- sides over the College of St. Omer, is a project well worth consi- deration; and in the mean time, surely no education can be had cheaper, of the quality, than that which is held out by the prospec- tus at twenty-two pounds per annum. The College of St. Omer, even under the Jesuits, was always admirably managed in point of discipline by those skilful men ;* and one part of their system, we perceive, is to be kept up, and its advantages are greater than may be detailed. Every scholar has a separate bed-room ; and in the old institution, and probably in the new, every room was locked at night, and a responsible person watched in the gallery, to attend to any wants or illnesses that might occur. They who are aware of the state of morals in our public schools, will know how to value such regulations.

EXTRACTS FROM THE LETTER.

"During my fourteen days' sojourn at St. Omer, I was introduced to the son of the late Marshal Ney, Prince of Moskwa, quartered there with his regiment, the 7th Hussars, a captain. Expecting to remain during the winter, and being passionately fond of hunting., he procured from England a pack of fox-hounds: shortly after their arrival, the regiment was ordered to march to Mons, and the Prince to Paris, being very recently raised to the Chambre des Pairs. I had a long conversa- tion with him last Friday: among other topics, he related the following circumstance. As I believe it is not generally known, it may possibly be of sufficient interestto find apiece in the Spectator. The friends of the late • All the public schools -a St. Omer ace good. The Convent of the Ursulines, the greatfemale school,. isadmirably managed; and the learning -sad diligence of the exceUeat nans axe not greater than. then liberality of sentiment. Marshal Ney have for a length of time been endeavouring to obtain per- mission of Louis Philippe to allow the Marshal's remains to be deposited in the Pantheon at Paris; which place was appropriated, after the Revo- lution, to the reception of the remains of the most distinguished charac- ters of France. Their wishes have hitherto not been acceded to ; but a circumstance connected with the project of the Ministers will, in all pro- bability, enable them to obtain that which supplication could not. The Prince of Moskwa having been called to the House of Peers, he has de- .dared that he will not take his seat until the King has granted him per- mission to have the remains of his father deposited in the Pantheon. This request, it is said, has at length been granted ; and the ceremony will take place in a few days, with every honour due to a Field-Marshal of 'France.

" A change in the matter of education has taken place at St. Omer, - which proves that the last Revolution has done some service. The head of the College, previous to the Revolution, was a Jesuit; of course every thing was conducted in the most illiberal and bigoted manner. The Je- suits being compelled to abdicate, M. Agnant, a person of more extended views and liberal sentiments, was appointed Principal of the College. The desire of M. Agnant is to open the College to young men of every country and of every religion, to endeavour at once to break down that -superstitious barrier which bigotry and ignorance have so long sustained, to the prejudice of society. His remarks on that point are so

• excellent, that I will give them, to the best of my memory. He says-9t would be useless to attempt to change the habits -and ideas of those who have been educated according to the -past confined usages; the only effectual method to bring about the desired change is for children of every country to be educated together during their youth; so that they may imbibe sentiments towards each other, which, when they return to their native countries, they would feel -a pleasure in cherishing. Further, every student ought to be allowed to cultivate the principles of the religion of his parents. A Ade and exten- sive field for the dissemination of liberal principles would thus be

• opened ; an effectual means of abolishing bigotry, the offspring of igno- rance, not only of things, hut of men and manners ' "Monsieur Agnant, under the sanction of the Government al' France, and with the permission of the Heads of the College at Paris, by whose mandates the College at St. Omer is directed and regulated, has caused to he published the purposed liberal changes."

Our correspondent has forwarded M. AGNANT'S Prospectus : any of our readers, feeling more than a general interest inthe sub- ject, may see a copy at the Publishing-office.