secretary, but the Swiss, finding it impossible to resist the assault of 6000 men, re-enforced by two cannon, capitulated. The people renewed their demand of the five propositions, and allowed the Pope one hour to answer it, declaring at the same time that if it was not granted, they would put to death every inhabitant of the palace except the Pope himself. The Pope yielded, and the next day Mamiani and his five associates were proclaimed as the new ministry.

The business of the government was then conducted by the ministers thus appointed, but in the name of the Pope, who remained a cypher and a prisoner in the palace of the Quirinal. On the 24th, however, he effected his escape to Gaeta in Naples, which he reached on the following night. He succeeded in eluding the vigilance of his keepers by the friendly agency of Count de Spaur, the Bavarian envoy, whose footman the Pope assumed to be, and whose livery he wore. He was immediately visited by the King and Queen of Naples, and two regiments were sent from Naples to attend him as a guard of honour.

Three days after the Pope's arrival at Gaeta, he issued a manifesto to the people of Rome, in which he states that the outrages committed against him personally had compelled him to separate himself from them for a time. He denounces in strong terms the wickedness of those who have brought about this necessity, and threatens them with the anger of Heaven. He formally protests against all their acts. He nominates commissioners to act as a temporary executive: he enjoins on his subjects the preservation of tranquillity and order; and he requires daily prayers to be offered for his safety.

The commissioners thus named lost no time in disclaiming the dangerous honour; and the manifesto was promptly answered by a proclamation from the chamber of deputies, in which they deny the Pope's constitutional power to issue such a paper; and recommend that the present ministry should continue to manage the affairs of the country; that a deputation from their body should wait on the pope, and request his return to Rome; that the upper house should be invited to join in the deputation; and that the national guards should be invited to preserve order.

AFRICA AND ASIA.

Having now noticed at some length the interesting occurrences of America and Europe, we pass to the other quarters of the world, which will not detain us long.

In Africa, Algeria remains tranquil, and, to all appearance, a permanent colony of France, under all the changes of its government. Ali Pacha, of Egypt, who was emphatically the maker of his own fortunes and celebrity, after a protracted state of disease and utter helplessness, has at length paid the debt of nature, and has been succeeded by his son, Ibrahim Pacha, who was, by late accounts, also suffering from ill health.

Liberia continues gradually to advance in numbers, prosperity, and in the estimation of mankind. Its President, Roberts, has lately visited Europe for the purpose of obtaining the recognition and favour of the leading nations there, and he seems to have been every where received with favour and distinction. Although this settlement seems less and less likely to make any important reduction of the slaves in the United States, the chief purpose for which the colonization society established it, it does bid fair to exercise an influence, perhaps a great one, on the destinies of Africa itself.

The unequal contest between the British government and the indigenous Africans near the cape of Good Hope, has been revived, but it has, probably, ere this, been terminated by Sir Harry Smith.

It is somewhat remarkable that the only instances of war of which we have any accurate knowledge at this time on these great continents, are carried on by England. These are, that in Africa, which has been just mentioned, and the war against the Sikhs in India, and their allies. Without doubt they will soon share the fate of one hundred millions of their countrymen, but their subjugation will scarcely bring more money into the treasury of India, than it will cost to keep them in subjection. The obstinate valour of these people seems to indicate that whenever the British empire in India is subverted, it will be affected by its north-western inhabitants.

In the early part of the year, there was an insurrection of Chinese labourers in Siam, against their Siamese task-masters, and the insurgents were finally overpowered, but not until there had been some hundreds of lives lost on both sides.

A collision similar to those which have of late so frequently occurred between the Chinese at Canton, and the English, took place some months since with the Americans at Canton, and which had very nearly ended in the bombardment of the city by the American squadron then before it. It is attributed by some to an undue importance attached by a Chinese mandarin to some frivolous points of etiquette, and by others to a want of discretion in the American consul.

Christianity seems to be making its way slowly but surely in that vast empire, and the intercourse between its ports and the territories of the United States on the Pacific, will be very conducive to the same great result.

NOTE. The next number will contain a continuation of our history, commencing with the first of January, 1849.

By referring to the quarterly chronicle of the present number, the reader will find a record of the most important events that have occurred within the current quarter.

There is an omission of the vote of Michigan in the table on the fifteenth page of the history, which was overlooked until the form was struck off. A correct statement of the presidential vote is inserted under the statistical head.

STATISTICS.

We commence the articles under this head with a continuation of the Education Statistics from our second number.

The first in order is the contribution of Hon. H. Barnard on the Common Schools of New England, continued from page 433, Vol. I.

COMMON SCHOOLS OF CONNECTICUT.

Prior to 1650, the education of children in Connecticut was left to parents and the magistrates of the several towns, after making some "allowance" out of the common means of the town towards paying the schoolmaster. In 1646, Mr. Ludlow was requested to compile "a body of laws," which was done, and adopted by the colony in 1650. The enactments respecting children, or domestic education schools, were literal transcripts from the Massachusetts law on the same subjects, and need not be repeated in this place.

In 1838 official information respecting the condition of the common schools was, for the first time, laid before the legislature, in the form of returns from 104 out of 211 school societies in the state. As the particular attention of the General Assembly had been called to this subject by the Governor in his annual message, a select committee on the part of the House and Senate was raised, to whom these and other documents were referred. Among these documents were complete returns respecting every school society and district in one county, and letters from school visiters, teachers and friends of common schools in 105 towns, embracing nearly all which had made no returns to the Comptroller. In addition to this documentary and written information, one member of the committee had spent one month in visiting schools, and conferring with teachers and parents in three counties previous to the meeting of the Legislature; and several gentlemen interested in the improvement of schools were invited to present their views to the committee.

With these facts before them, the committee unanimously recommended a bill for a public act "to provide for the better supervision of common schools," which was passed into a law by the unanimous vote of the Senate, and with but a single dissenting voice in the House.

This act constituted the Governor the Commissioner of the School Fund, and one person for each county in the State, a "Board of Commissioners of common Schools," and aims to secure the better supervision of schools, by bringing their condition in the form of annual reports, first before the school societies by the local visiters, and afterwards before the Legislature and the State in the communications of the Board. To make these reports subserve the progress of the system, both the State Board and the local visiters are required to submit such plans of improvement as their observation and reflection may suggest. To enable the Board to ascertain the condition of the schools, and collect the material for sound legislative action, they are authorized to call for information from the proper local school authorities, and to appoint a Secretary, who shall devote his whole time, if required, under their direction, "to ascertain the condition, increase the interest, and promote the usefulness of the common schools."

In 1839 the Board submitted their first Annual Report to the Legislature, including a report from their Secretary, [Henry Barnard,] with minute statistical information respecting more than twelve hundred schools.

The following are some of the facts in the condition of the schools and of the public mind respecting them, as ascertained by the measures of the Board"That out of the 67,000 children between the ages of four and sixteen returned, not more than 50,000 attended the common schools in the winter of 1838-9, or more than 54,000 of all ages, and that the average daily attendance did not exceed 42,000; that there were in the State, 12,000 children in private schools at an expense of more than $200,000, which exceeded all that was expended on the education of the 54,000; and that 4,700 children of the proper school age were returned as in no school, public or private, and the whole number could not be less than 8000 in the State

That previous to the act of 1838 requiring annual reports, there was but one town or school society which had made provision for a written report from school visiters, as to their doings, or the condition of the several schools;That it was difficult to find any one who could give information of the common schools out of his own district;

That school meetings, both of school societies and school districts, were thinly attended;

That school officers were appointed at meetings, where, apart from the officers of the preceding year, there was not a quorum to do business;

That the length of the school varied with the compensation of the teacher, which was governed not so much by his qualifications, as by the amount of public money accruing to the district;

That there was not even a formal compliance with the law requiring teachers to be examined and approved, and schools to be visited twice during each season of schooling in regard to summer schools;—

In 1841 the laws relating to common schools were revised and consolidated in one Act, drawn up by Mr. Barnard, and among the visible and immediate results, not of compulsory legislation, but of the voluntary efforts of parents, committees, and districts, acting on the information and impulse given directly and indirectly by the measures of the Board, the following were specified in the fourth Annual Report of the Secretary of the Board, in May, 1842. "The attendance at society and district school meetings is more numerous." More than fifty new school-houses have been built, and a much greater number repaired after approved models, and more has been done in this respect within four years, than for twenty years before.

School visiters are more strict in their examination of teachers, and regular and vigilant in visiting the schools as required by law.

A uniform set of books in all the schools of a society has been in some instances prescribed, and in others recommended, by the proper committee.

The evils of crowding children of different ages in a great variety of studies and in different stages of progress in the same study, under one teacher, have been obviated in more than one hundred districts, by employing a female teacher for the younger children and primary studies, and a male teacher for the older and more advanced scholars-and in a few instances, by the establishment of a central or union school for the older children of a society, or of two or more districts.

In 1844, Gov. Baldwin strongly called the attention of the legislature to the importance of more liberal and enlightened legislation in behalf of Common Schools, and that legislature authorized the Governor to appoint a committee to ascertain the condition of the schools, and to report plans to the next session.

In 1845, the committee on education, of which John T. Norton of Farmington was chairman, reported to the legislature a plan for the improvement of the common schools, according to which the state was to resume its supervision over the schools, the school societies were required to report to a state officer, or board, the condition of the schools every year, and a normal school for the education of teachers was to be established by the state. The plan was in

part adopted. The office of superintendence of common schools was established, but its duties were devolved on the Commissioner of the School Fund. School visiters were required to make annual reports, and were authorized to appoint "an acting school visiter," with a small compensation for the time devoted to the visitation of schools.

In 1846, Mr. James M. Buner of Hartford offered a premium of $100 "for the best Essay on the improvement of the Common Schools of Connecticut." The premium was awarded to an Essay by the Rev. Noah Porter, Jr., now Professor in Yale College. This essay was printed, and widely disseminated over the state, in a pamphlet form, and in connexion with the Annual Report of the Superintendent of Common Schools.

The essay, after pointing out in severe, but correct terms the condition of the schools, and rebuking the niggardly policy which had characterized the recent legislation of the state on the subject, recommends that teachers' institutes should be held throughout the state, and a normal school established for the education of teachers, that in the cities, and large villages, a graduation of schools, and especially a public high school to be established, and that the old doctrine of Connecticut, that the support of the common school is a proper charge on the property of the community, should be again revived. In the plan of operations which accompanied the essay, the formation of voluntary associations of teachers, and of the friends of school improvement; the publication of facts and suggestions by a journal or tract, &c., were recommended.

In the fall of 1846, a teacher's institute, or convention, was held in Hartford, which was attended by 256 teachers; and a school journal was started by Rev. Merril Richardson. In 1847, the legislature made provisions for holding the teachers' institute in each county in the state.

In 1848, a bill to establish a normal state school, passed in the House of Representatives almost unanimously, and was lost in the Senate by one vote. The outline of the school system as it now stands is briefly this:

The state is divided into school societies, (215,) which were formerly ecclesiastical corporations created without reference to the boundaries of towns, but to the convenient attendance and support of divine worship. They are mainly subdivisions of large towns. These societies have all the powers given in the other New England States to towns in reference to schools, viz. the power of creating school districts, establishing, supporting and regulating schools, and of appointing committees and laying taxes for this purpose. Each school society is divided into (1655,) small territorial corporations called school districts, with powers to build school-houses, appoint local committees, establish schools, lay taxes, and make regulations not inconsistent with those of the school society to which they belong.

The authorities intrusted with the administration of the system are, 1. A district committee of one or three persons, chosen annually by the legal voters of each district, with other district officers, such as clerk, collector and treasurer. 2. A school committee of three persons in each society, who take care of all the financial business, with a clerk, collector and treasurer. 3. A Board of school visiters or overseers, of not more than nine persons, also elected annually in each society, who theoretically are intrusted with the entire management of the schools. This board must examine teachers; visit all the schools twice during each season of schooling; annul the certificates of teachers whom they find unqualified, and make an annual report to the school society. 4. The commissioner of the school fund, who is intrusted with the management and distribution of the avails of the school fund. His duties are strictly financial. This board may appoint "an acting school visiter" to perform all the duties of visitation, examination of teachers, and make an annual report. 5. A superintendent of common schools, whose duty it is to collect, and dissemi