700 THE SCHOOLMASTER IN MUSCOVY", 



occupy a great number of professors in the other special schools. 

 The object of the oriental establishment, founded in 1828, is to form 

 good dragomans for the diplomatic relations of Russia with the cabi- 

 nets of the East ; while the school founded at Osenbourg is destined to 

 extend among the Muselmen of the empire the results of European 

 civilization. All the gymnasiums, to the number of 55, underwent, 

 in the reign of the last emperor, a complete re-organisation., and are at 

 present established on an uniform footing. 



There are, besides, 247 private boarding schools, all subjected to 

 the control of the university of the district in which they are 

 situated. The primary schools are the fewest in number, barely 

 amounting to 120; next in succession are the elementary or parochial 

 schools, their numbers are very far from being proportionate to the 

 wants of the population, in spite of all the efforts of the late emperor, 

 who at one time founded upwards of one hundred of them. The 

 total number of schools supported at the expense of the state, and of 

 private individuals, and placed under the immediate control of the 

 minister of public instruction, was,, in 1824, 1,411, in which 70,000 

 youth of both sexes received their education. In this estimate we do 

 not include the schools in the military colonies, which are very nu- 

 merous, nor those supported by the Russian clergy, which, in the 

 year quoted, amounted to 344. The Ecoles Normales of France, and 

 the pedagogic schools of Germany, have likewise been introduced, 

 and their numbers are daily increasing. The sum placed annually 

 at the disposition of the minister of public instruction, amounts to 

 nearly 3,000,000 of roubles. The foregoing exposition will we fear be 

 found dry and unamusing; but in order to form a correct estimate of 

 the present state of public education in the Russian empire, minute- 

 ness of detail and methodical distribution are absolutely necessary. 



Notwithstanding the rigid censorship established in Russia, the 

 press is beginning to lay its mighty grasp on the public mind, but 

 even now there are at present published throughout the empire only 

 seventy-three journals, and these are written in twelve different 

 languages. Compared with the rest of Europe, the intellectual re- 

 sources of Russia are yet insignificant, and the great mass of her 

 population are quite indifferent to the benefits of instruction. But 

 however disproportionate the number of those upon which it acts in 

 ratio to the whole population, it must be admitted that the govern- 

 ment has been unceasing in its efforts, and has spared neither labour 

 nor expense to secure to the people the elements of a good system of 

 education. "La Russie," says Madame de Stael, "a encore bien des pas 

 a faire," ere she attains the apex of civilization and we bow to this 

 opinion ; but she is at the same time advancing in her career with 

 gigantic strides. The invention of steam-boats will above all con- 

 tribute to accelerate her march. No other country, not even except- 

 ing the United States of America, presents so wide a field for the 

 operation of this mighty element as Russia; for her inland navigation 

 is magnificent, and connected in every part by an admirable system of 

 canals. In fact, when we reflect on the principles of improvement 

 that are so rapidly developing themselves in every part of the em- 

 pire, we can see no reason why Russia should not attain that general 



