Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 8.djvu/740

Rh 710 E IT R OPE Telegraphic Communication in Europe in 1875. LINES. AY IRKS. Stations. No. of instruments. Telegrams. Kilometres. English miles. Kilometres. English miles. Great Britain and Ireland 33,858-0 51,614-9 62,350-0 45,779-5 36,262-4 20,756-0 25,232-0 11,754-0 4,959-0 7,959-4 6,334-0 7,175-0 3,440-4 2,780-0 3,533-0 3.820-6 2,565-9 1,461-3 290-0 24,145 3-2,072 38,719 28,446 22,532 12,897 15,678 7,303 3,081 4.945 3,935 4,458 2,137 1,727 2,195 2,373 1,593 907 180 176,352-7 135,944-3 120,522-0 157,912-4 103,147-6 62,224-0 48,650-0 26,728-0 21,094-0 19,377-4 15,442-6 12,405-0 12,332-0 7,653-0 4,656-4 6,842-4 3,165-0 2,145-0 445-0 109,515 84,473 74,844 98,123 67,200 38,664 30,230 16,608 13,107 12,040 9,595 7,708 7,662 4.755 2,893 4,251 1,966 1.332 276 5607 4266 1615 5550 3099 1953 444 222 586 521 1002 172 330 203 147 167 60 37 38 11,988 5,069 1,754 6,429 2,956 3,200 1,240 385 1,088 475 1,349 297 379 233 225 212 120 52 26 21,062,978 10,951,863 3,777,541 13,895,925 6,803,549 5,571,846 1,210,756 1,283,907 4,117,437 1,387,717 2,896,925 781,482 2,374,926 912,310 461,971 977,269 249,673 165,256 62,809 Russia (1874), including Asiatic lines... Austria and Hungary Ttalv Turkey Sweden Switzerland Netherlands Portugal Rouniania Servia (1874) Within recent years fresh attention has been directed to the older canal-system, which was by many regarded as having had its day. Not only are the canals which had fallen into partial decay being in many cases restored, but new canals are either constructed or planned. With out entering into the details of the separate national systems, some idea may be formed of the extent of this means of communication by the following facts. We may pass from the Rhone to the Loire, and from either river to the Seine ; the Seine in its turn is connected with the Meuse and the Rhine ; the Rhine communicates with the Danube in the south, and with the Ems and the Weser in the north ; the Weser is already in communication with the lower part of the Elbe, and it is proposed to construct a line of canals to unite these rivers further inland; from the Elbe we pass by the Spree system to the Oder; the Oder, by means of its tributary the Wartha, gives access to the Vistula ; and the Bug, a tributary of the Vistula, brings us to the great Russian network of rivers and canals by which we can journey from the Baltic to the Black Sea or the Caspian, or from either of these to the White Sea in the north. Thus it appears in brief that water highways exist between all the great river systems and all the prin cipal seas. It was only in the summer of 1876 that the Dutch opened anew canal between Amsterdam and the sea ; in 1877 the senate of Finland voted 200,000 rubles for a canal between the Baltic and the White Sea; and very extensive additions are proposed to the German system. A scheme has even been started by an American engineer, H. C. Spalding, for connecting the Black Sea and the Caspian, and thus increasing the area of the latter at the expense of the neighbouring steppes ; and a less quixotic proposal contemplates a canal from the Don to the Volga across the ridge of nearest approximation. In France there is already a line of water-way between the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean, but it is only available for inland traffic ; and the proposal is now entertained of constructing nothing less than a ship canal. An earlier and more extravagant project to make such a canal through Spain from Bilbao to the valley of the Ebro has naturally remained a dead letter. Since the 18th century, there has been great advance in the general educationafcondition of Europe. That it is the duty of every state, if not to provide instruction for the rising generation of citizens, at least to see that it is provided, is a principle more and more thoroughly re- &amp;gt;gmzed and acted upon; and the obscurantist doctrine that the lower classes become more revolutionary and dangerous by becoming more intelligent and better in formed is less frequently employed as an open argument. Even in Turkey a law was at least passed in 1869 requiring the establishment of secondary schools and gymnasiums in the principal towns ; and education is one of the matters dealt with in the proposed reforms of 1S78. How slow the movement has been even in the more civilized countries is strikingly shown by the fact that England lias not yet realized the far-sighted schemes suggested more than a thousand years ago by her wise West Saxon king, Alfred. The educational reformers of almost every country have had a hard battle to fight in their endeavours after a satis factory organization, and compromise and half-measures have frequently been the order of the day. From time immemorial the clergy have had, and they certainly for a long time had a right to have, a predominant share in the control of all educational matters throughout Europe ; the sacred books of the various forms of religion or doctrinal compendiums of individual sects have been the most familiar manuals of primary instruction ; and even when the teacher has been a layman, ecclesiastical supervision more or less efficient has been added. The present ten dency, even in countries like Italy on the one hand, and Sweden on the other, where there is little difference of creed among the population, is decidedly in favour of the teachers being laymen and the instruction secular. That the clergy do not readily acquiesce in the changes that diminish their influence is excusable; but at the same time their demands have occasioned the most lamentable obstruction to educa tional progress. In order that primary education may be rendered univer sal, it has been found necessary to make it compulsory ; and this has been done either directly or indirectly in all the great countries of Europe. It is now easier to name those that have not adopted direct compulsory measures than those that have adopted them. The former list in cludes France, Russia (with the exception of the Baltic provinces), Finland, Belgium, Turkey, Servia, and Monte negro. In England, the gradual extension gf the school- board system practically involves the extension of com pulsory education, though the question is left in the hands of local authorities instead of being decided once for all by the central legislation. Owing to the differences existent between the organizations of the several countries, it is impossible to institute an exact comparison: but the fol lowing table, revised from Brachelli s. presents an approxi mate survey : a 1 The numbers for Great Britain represent those schools only which are under Government inspection, and do not include the statistics for Ireland.