Prussia had given a code of laws for the government of the schools of his empire, and in the royal proclamation he says, "We command our Council of War and Domain to see that all defects brought to their notice are remedied, all obstacles removed, all incorrigible teachers expelled and good ones put in their places, that all zealous school-inspectors, head priests, directors of seminaries, clergymen and chaplains, who deserve rewards for their exertions in the cause of education, are provided with better benefices whenever vacancies occur, and thus others may be encouraged to like zeal."

While both of these distinguished sovereigns held the interests of education of highest concern, and cherished them with their authority and healthful care, it was for the empress first to establish a supreme school board which should have the supervision of the whole school administration in all the royal domain. Of the three classes of schools then in operation, Normal, Principal, and Trivial, all which related to their successful management was entrusted to this National Council. Prior to this time, local and independent supervision of schools existed in cantons, cities, and boroughs, and was entrusted to the clergy; but the disjointed and disconnected elements needed unity, coherence and direction, which, in monarchical governments find the largest support, if not their highest success. The national department exercised to a certain extent the legislative as well as executive functions, and its recommendations were equivalent to legal acts. This National Council, which boasted of such fine ministers as Baron Von Humboldt, in certain matters exercised dictatorial as well as advisory power, over the whole school work of the empire. The details of the school laws and regulations were completely under its control,

and public and private institutions were alike the objects of its care. The establishment of normal schools, a thorough system of examination of teachers, and a full exhibit of statistical information, constituted the results of a systematic, energetic, and controlling supervision in the German States, and it has also secured, 1st. The universal education of the children, illiteracy being a thing almost unknown in many of the States. 2d. Teachers of mature age and good qualifications are found in the schools. 3d. Teachers' seminaries are found in sufficient number to educate all who are needed for the profession. 4th. The guards and securities of the teachers' profession exist in securing the competent, and in dismissing the undeserving. 5th. A complete system of graded instruction, from the kindergarten through the university. 6th. The regulation of school terms and hours, of school studies, methods of teaching, school books, school-houses and grounds, examinations and rewards, school morals and discipline, and, in fine, all that relates to well-conducted school work.

By the laws of Austria of 1868, the State exercises the supreme administration and inspection of all education through the Minister of Instruction. Private schools of every kind are equally the objects of scrutiny of the Prime Minister of Education, with those supported at the expense of the State. What seemed at first an imposition of authority, is now recognized as a beneficent and wise control. Secondly, collegiate, as well as primary education, with their adjuncts, in the form of technical and higher institutions, are alike under State administration. This plan, working out such admirable results, there suggests to us the query, - whether the colleges, seminaries, and all private instruction of America, should or would accept the advice of the State

in establishing a curriculum of study, or in the internal administration of its instruction and discipline. We imagine there would be a ripple upon the smooth surface of university affairs at Harvard, Williams, or Yale, should the able secretary of the board of the Commonwealth announce, "per auctoritate mihi commissa a civitate," that the doors of the honored institutions should swing freely for the admission of all qualified applicants irrespective of color, sex, or previous condition of life; and we can suppose a shaking primeval among the Granite Hills, and along the shores of the Narragansett, should the commissioner of each State issue this mandate, that the Bible should be cast out of the schoolroom, and that the prayer-book and the psaltery should be the daily spiritual food of the children of their public and private schools. The National Council, with the Minister of Education in Austria and Prussia, have so thoroughly reformed and advanced the school interests of those great nations, that they have become the great lights of Europe in learning, and in the cultivation of the arts; and so satisfactory has been the working of that National Department, that other nations of Europe have, in one form or another, adopted the national plan of supervision.

In our own country, the National Department of Education can not properly be said to hold a supervisory or an advisory relation, even, to education in the several States. In educational concerns our national government has claimed less authority than in political affairs. A free-school system has not been demanded as one of the elements of a republican form of government, to. entitle a State to a place in the national family, except in so far as the greater propositions of freedom, equality, and intelligence involves the lesser,

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of the teacher and common school. In the establishment of a National Bureau of Education, it was not the intention of Congress in any way to control or to interfere with State educational independency, or to hold any other than an assistant relation to the systems of the several States. Its most important functions are those of a bureau of exchange between the several States and between our own and foreign governments, to render all necessary aid to States and territories which were about to form and establish free-school systems, and by voluntary solicitation to gather such data and statistics upon educational topics as to form a basis by which to determine the relative rank of the States educationally, their condition of literacy and illiteracy, and their relative progress in the development of general, professional, and technical education.

While the enemies of the Bureau have charged its friends with an intent to centralize power and to exercise authority in State concerns, especially in those States where free schools are in their infancy, the Bureau has steadily avoided all such interference, and has acted in accordance with the law regulating its operation,-"in collecting such statistics and facts as shall show the condition and progress of education in the several States and territories, and the diffusing of such information respecting the organization and management of school systems and methods of teaching, as shall aid the people of the United States in the establishment and maintenance of efficient school systems, and otherwise promote the cause of education throughout the country." A report, if made in strict accordance with these requirements, would contain a full, accurate, and complete account of the yearly proggress of the American people in all matters directly and

remotely pertaining to education,-would be in effect a record of the nation's growth in intelligence and virtue. Having its headquarters at the national capitol, the office has a legitimate influence in matters pertaining to educational legislation, and several important measures which have become laws, and others yet under discussion before Congress, have been aided judiciously by the Bureau at Washington.

But perhaps the greatest value of a national superintendency is its moral influence as a stimulus to the various school-agencies, which, though diverse in their working and varied in their results, are surely working out a truer destiny for our republic. The very recognition, by our national legislature, of these educational forces, is an encouragement to their advancement, a stimulus to their hopes; and the appointment of the strongest men to the management of the interests of our National Bureau, is and will be a vast aid to every State in the Union, and every friend of education will welcome the aid thus conferred.

Passing from National to State supervision, we come to a most important department of school-work, and one which is recognized by an appointment in every State in our government. In 1836 the American Institute of Instruction presented a very able memorial to the legislature of Massachusetts, praying for the appointment of a superintendent of common schools. In this document, the advantages which have since followed the creation of the board of education, with the secretary devoting his whole time to the interests of public schools, were clearly set forth, and prepared the legislature and the public for the action which followed in 1837. The establishment of this board, and the appointment of Hon. Horace Mann, of Boston, as