556 Moral Statistics of France. 



that the distribution of instruction can now be determined from better- 

 data. Since 1827, the Minister of War lias subjected all the young men 

 drawn for the army to an examination, which shows the number of those 

 who can read and write at the period of their being drawn. Taking these 

 results for three years as a basis, M. G. has constructed tables exhibiting 

 the relative state of instruction in the different departments. If to illus- 

 trate the same facts, we take a map of France, and shade it in proportion 

 to tlie scantiness of instruction, we shall find a strong line of demarcation 

 between the northern and southern provinces. When tlie line is drawn 

 from La Manche in the north-west, to the department of the Jura in the 

 east, it will be found tliat an almost uniform light tint overspreads twenty 

 departments in the northern part of the kingdom. Tbe most favourable 

 proportion in this division is presented by the department of the Meuse, 

 in which 74 out of 100 conscripts can read and tvrite ; and the lowest 

 proportion in this division is fouud in the " departement du Nord," where 

 only 45 out of 100 conscripts are equally advanced. 



The southern provinces are not (as has been supposed) those in which 

 ignorance most prevails, but rather the provinces of tlie west and centre. 

 Berry, Limousin, and Brittany. In the department of Finisterre, only 15 

 out of 100 conscripts could read and write, in Morbihan 14, and in Cor- 

 rfeze only 12, — this department being the lowest of all in the scale. 



In five departments of the west the amount of instruction is above the 

 average of the kingdom. In Corsica, where ignorance has been supposed 

 greatly to prevail, about half of the youthful conscripts can read and write. 

 In 60 departments the average is below this. 



The average amount of instruction throughout the 86 departments is 

 expressed by the proportion of 38 out of 100 conscripts, able to read and 

 write. There are 44 departments above this mean, 42 below it. 



Taking the facts as M. G. has stated them, we have now to advert to 

 his views on the important question, " How far is the state of crime in- 

 fluenced by the state of instruction ?" No question can be more interest- 

 ing to the philanthropist, none more important to the legislator. What- 

 ever h priori opinions we may entertain, it is not the less necessary we 

 should attend to the evidence of facts. In this way only shall we acquire 

 an energetic conviction of the utility of our labours, or find a safeguard 

 against undue confidence in certain processes and machinery, which may 

 delude us under the fair name of being that which it really is not. 



Some of M. G.'s conclusions on this subject are opposed to what is now 

 both the popular and (we hope to show) the only correct opinion : but we 

 must not give the less credit to his principles or love of truth, because a 

 more extended comparison of facts may lead us to differ from him. 



In proof of the position that ignorance is the principal cause of crime, 

 it is asserted that the departments in which instruction is least diffused, 

 are those in which most crimes are committed. But M. Guerry joins issue 



