It found life and activity everywhere and for a long time; the twenty-
two universities in France previous to the Revolution, although
disfigured, stunted and desiccated, preserved many of its features,
certain visible externals, and, in 1811,[16] Cuvier, who had just
inspected the universities of lower Germany, describes it as he found
it, on the spot, confined to superior instruction, but finished and
complete, adapted to modern requirements, in full vigor and in full
bloom.
There is no room in the France to which Cuvier returns for
institutions of this stamp; they are excluded from it by the social
system which has prevailed. - First of all, public law, as the
Revolution and Napoleon comprehended it and enacted it, is hostile to
them;[17] for it sets up the principle that in a State there must be
no special corporations permanent, under their own control, supported
by mort main property, acting in their own right and conducting a
public service for their own benefit, especially if this service is
that of teaching; for the State has taken this charge upon itself,
reserved it for itself and assumed the monopoly of it; hence, the
unique and comprehensive university founded by it, and which excludes
free, local and numerous universities.
Pages:
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374