Minister, in which he dwelt upon the Constitution which had been adopted by the Spanish patriots. After expressing a regret at the union of Church and State, for which it provided and an aristocratic feature of the instrument which an American ought not to approve, he continued: "But there is one provision which will immortalize its inventors. It is that which, after a certain epoch, disfranchises every citizen who cannot read and write. This is new, and is the fruitful germ of the improvement of everything good, and the correction of everything imperfect in the present constitution. This will give you an enlightened people, and an energetic public opinion which will control and enchain the aristocratic spirit of the government. On the whole I hail your country as now likely to resume and surpass its ancient splendor among nations."

Jefferson's hopes for Spain's well-being were disappointed. One of the first acts of Ferdinand VII, when the so-called Holy Alliance again put upon his head a crown was to decree, on May 4th, 1814, that the Cortez should be abolished and that its acts should be considered null and void, and that the Spanish Constitution should be publicly burned.

Among Jefferson's correspondents as has been seen was the learned diplomatist and brilliant writer on questions of political economy and agriculture-Monsieur Dupont de Nemours. In 1772 this distinguished Frenchman, who had received various titles and decorations from foreign princes, was invited to Poland by King Stanislas Augustus, and made secretary of the council of public education and governor of the king's nephew-Prince Adam Czatoryski. Dupont, two years later, was recalled to France by Turgot, the Comptroller General who wished his learned countryman's assistance in the man

agement of the finances of France. It is said that most of the principles upon which the French Treasury is conducted to this day were derived from the measures which Dupont attempted to carry out. He it was who negotiated with the English envoy, Dr. James Hutton, the treaty of 1782, which recognized the independence of the United States. In 1786 he also negotiated a highly important commercial treaty. For these services the French Government conferred upon him high distinctions. He took a very interesting part in the French Revolution. In 1789 he was a member from Nemours to the States General and later he was a member of the Constituent Assembly. Twice he was elected President of that body. He, however, being opposed to the extreme revolutionists came near being executed-his life being saved by the downfall of Robespierre. As an illustration of the sad condition of affairs in the Assembly it may here be stated that when the learned Dupont arose to show the evil of a proposed measure respecting the finances of France, he was mobbed on leaving the Chamber and his life was. with difficulty saved. Although he declined honors offered him by Napoleon he was instrumental in bringing about the treaty of 1803 by which the vast territory of Louisiana was purchased by the United States. He wrote various papers on highly important scientific subjects for learned societies. In 1814 this distinguished man was Secretary of the provisional government of France and at the restoration he became Chancellor of the State.

About the time that Jefferson was President of the United States, Monsieur Dupont visited America. At Jefferson's especial request Dupont wrote and published a plan of national education for the United States. In the preface to his work he states that he had prepared

and published the work at the instance of, or to use his polite French expression, at the command of, Thomas Jefferson and in the closing lines of his volume he again alludes to Jefferson in a very complimentary manner and states that he had requested him to write the volume. This book is said to have exerted an important influence in France where its recommendations were partially adopted. Dupont enlarged with eloquence upon some of the principles which Jefferson had himself brought forward in the Assembly of Virginia in 1779. Dupont wished the President of the United States to add to his Cabinet a Secretary of Education, and had other plans which would be interesting to dwell upon. Some of the work which he probably would have had a Cabinet officer perform is, at the present day, accomplished by the admirable Bureau of Education in Washington, which was founded largely by efforts of General Garfield. Jefferson himself had a cherished plan for what may be called national education—a plan which it is proposed to unfold in another division of this volume-a plan which is designed to secure public education to all parts of even a continental republic.

In a letter to Dupont de Nemours, under date of April 24th, 1816, Jefferson wrote: "In the constitution of Spain, as proposed by the late Cortez, there was a principle entirely new to me, and not noticed in yours, that no person born after that day, should ever acquire the rights of citizenship until he could read and write. It is impossible sufficiently to estimate the wisdom of this provision. Of all those which have been thought of for securing fidelity in the administration of the government, constant reliance to the principles of the constitution, and progressive amendments with the progressive advances of the human mind, or changes in human affairs,

it is the most effectual. Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day. Although I do not, with some enthusiasts, believe that the human condition will ever advance to such a state of perfection as that there shall no longer be pain or vice in the world, yet I believe it susceptible of much improvement, and most of all, in matters of government and religion; and that the diffusion of knowledge among the people is to be the instrument by which it is to be effected. The constitution of the Cortez had defects enough; but when I saw in it this amendatory provision, I was satisfied all would come right in time, under its salutary oper ation. No people have more need of a similar provision than those for whom you have felt so much interest. No mortal wishes them more success than I do. But if what I have heard of the ignorance and bigotry of the mass be true, I doubt their capacity to understand and to support a free government; and fear that their emancipation from the foreign tyranny of Spain, will result in a military despotism at home. Palacios may be great; others may be great; but it is the multitude which possesses force; and wisdom must yield to that."

This letter of Jefferson's, there is reason to suspect, exerted an important influence in France. Dupont was accustomed in Paris to meet a circle of pleasant and distinguished statesmen and Academicians-among whom was the learned Guizot, who, although a Protestant was at a later period made Minister of Public Instruction in France, and was able to accomplish more in establishing schools in his native land than had perhaps any Frenchman before his time. This learned circle used to meet on Wednesdays at the home of the aged Madame d'Houdetot who received them at dinner. One might

almost fancy that Jefferson's letter was talked about at such a gathering. Guizot wrote a history of education in France. He also wrote a life of Jefferson in which he speaks in high terms of his devotion in the work of building up a school system in Virginia. Guizot before his death exerted his influence to induce France to adopt what are known as obligatory school laws. In March, 1852, the venerable Guizot, who had held peculiarly high stations in France, writing to his eldest daughter, said: "I shall certainly, if I live, allow myself the satisfaction of leaving a record, not only of what I did, but what I thought and proposed to do during the four years that I was Minister of Public Education. It is one of the passages of my life to which I attach the most importance, and I wish to leave a full and accurate account of it." Guizot must have been especially interested in the account which Dupont published in the year 1800 of the attention given to religious instruction outside of the schools of America. After paying a high compliment to the people of United States-indeed speaking of them too flatteringly--stating that there are not more than four people out of a thousand who cannot write legibly, and contrasting with their learning the astounding illiteracy of the people of Spain, of Portugal and of Italy and even of the people of Germany and France, and stating that in Poland not more than two men out of a hundred could write while in Russia not one out of one hundred could write, he remarks that the people of England, of Holland and of the Protestant cantons resemble the people of the United States because they read much in the Bible, and that parents consider it their duty to teach their children from its pages, and that youth are intellectually cultivated by sermons, by a liturgy in their own language, and by moral teachings and a worship