either by communication or by personal inspection, the actual condition of the schools; to address, at least, one meeting of parents, teachers, and school offi cers in each county; to edit and superintend the publication of a journal devoted to education, and to present to the board and the Legislature a report of his various observations, with suggestions as to the management of the great interests intrusted to him.

His first annual report was presented in 1839, exhibiting a vast array of facts, the result of a diligent and intelligent performance of these various duties. It called forth the admiration of the late Chancellor Kent, who pronounced it, in his Commentaries on American Law, "A bold and startling document, founded on the most painstaking and critical inquiry, and containing a minute, accurate, comprehensive, and instructive exhibition of the practical condition and operation of the common school system of education." Four reports of this character covered the period of Mr. Barnard's secretaryship, when the board was abolished by some untoward political action in 1842. During this period, Mr. Barnard also issued four volumes of the "Connecticut Common School Journal." The compensation allowed by the State for these services, over four thousand dollars, was generously expended by the secretary in promoting the work of

education.

Mr. Barnard next made a tour throughout the country,* collecting material for a "History of Public Schools and the Means of Popular Education in the United States," from the preparation of which he was withdrawn to the work of setting on foot a comprehensive system of school education in Rhode Island. He was instrumental in introducing a bill providing for the appointment of an agent or commissioner to examine into and further this work of instruction in the State; and, on the act being passed, became such commissioner. He performed these new duties from 1843 to 1849, creating a system of organization, exact in detail, thorough and efficient in all its regulations. His published writings during this time include "A Report on the Public Schools of Rhode Island," (1845;) "Documents Relating to the Public Schools of Rhode Island," (1848;) "Documentary History of the Public Schools of Providence from 1800 to 1849," and "Journal of Rhode Island Institute of Instruction," 3 vols., (1845-9.) At the close of his services, which he was compelled to relinquish from ill health, Mr. Barnard received the unanimous thanks of the Senate and House of Representatives of the State for "the able, faithful, and judicious manner in which he had, for five years, fulfilled his duties as Commissioner of Public Schools."

Returning now to his home in Connecticut, and the enjoyment of the mansion which he had inherited from his father, he resisted various offers of professorships and other responsible situations connected with education, to advance this good work in his own State. In 1849, he saw his favorite project successful, of the establishment of a State Normal School, and he was placed at the head of it, in its general conduct, with the duties added to this office of principal, of Superintendent of Common Schools. On the 4th of June, 1851, he delivered

During this tour which occupied over twelve months, and included every State then in the Union, Mr. Barnard addressed six Legislatures, had interviews with the Governors and leading members of the government of most of the States, and of several of the large cities in each, and established a correspondence, which in subsequent years led to the building of school houses, the introduction and modification of systems of public schools, and the employment of teachers in nearly every State.

the dedicatory address on the completion of the building provided by the citi zens of New Britain for the accommodation of the State Normal School.

In 1852, he published a “Discourse in Commemoration of the Life, Character, and Services of the Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudet," delivered at the request of the citizens of Hartford, with an appendix, embracing a "History of Deaf Mute Instruction and Institutions in Europe and the United States, and particularly of the American Asylum at Hartford." He again edited the "Connecticut Common School Journal" from 1850 to 1855. In 1854, he published a volume of nearly nine hundred octavo pages, an elaborate view of “National Education in Europe,” a repository of valuable facts which was declared by the "Westminster Review" "to group under one view the varied experience of nearly all civilized countries." Mr. Barnard resigned his official duties as superintendent in Connecticut, in 1854; but he did not, however, relinquish the purpose of his life in his devotion to the cause of education. He began the publication, at Hartford, of a quarterly review, the "American Journal of Education," in 1856, and it has since been continued and conducted by him. Its pages embrace all that relates to the history, the philosophy, and practice of the work of instruction.

One of the latest and most important distinct publications of Mr. Barnard is a volume, the first of a projected series, entitled "Educational Biography, or Memoirs of Teachers, Educators, and Promoters and Benefactors of Education, Literature, and Science." One of its subjects, the precursor of a long line of American worthies, has also furnished a separate theme for the author in his "Biographical Sketch of Ezekiel Cheever, with Notes, on the Early Free Schools and School Books of New England," of which a second edition was published at Hartford, in 1856. There are other works of Mr. Barnard relating to the topic of education, of which we may mention a volume, of which the large number of one hundred and thirty thousand copies have been sold, entitled "School Architecture," and in an abridged form, "Practical Illustrations of the Principles of School Architecture."

The value of such labors speaks for itself. It is of a practical character, and a reputation like that of Dr. Barnard-(he has received the degree of doctor of laws from Yale College, from Union, and from Harvard, founded upon it)-can only be supported by manifest ability.*

[In the Spring of 1852, after several interviews with several leading members of the Board of Regents, as to the policy on which the State University of Michigan should be reorganized, but without reference to his being associated with it, Mr. Barnard was tendered the appointment of chancellor, and would have accepted but for a shock to his nervous system from being thrown from his carriage, that, in the opinion of his physician, required the cessation of all mental effort for several months, which were spent in England and France. On his return he was tendered the presidency of the State University of Indiana, which he declined, but in 1858 he accepted the chancellorship of the State University of Wisconsin, on condition that he might at the same time act as agent of the Board of Normal Regents, and in that capacity inaugurate a system of Teachers' Institutes, County Teachers Associations, Normal Classes in all Colleges, Academies, and Public High Schools, and one Normal School at the capital of the State to give development and efficiency to the professional raining of teachers, and make the University felt in the educational movements f the State.]

We give below a few notices of Mr. Barnard's labors and publications in the cause of public schools and popular education.

"I can not omit this opportunity of recommending the reports which have emanated from this source, as rich in important suggestions, and full of the most sound and prac tical views in regard to the whole subject of school education." Bishop Alonzo Pot ter, in the School and Schoolmaster, p. 159. New York ed., 1842.

The report, [for 1838,] contains a laborious and thorough examination of the con dition of the common schools, in every part of the State. It is a bold and startling document, founded on the most painstaking and critical inquiry, and contains a minute, accurate, comprehensive, and instructive exhibition of the practical condition and oper ation of the common school system of education." Kent's Commentaries on American Law. Note-Fifth Ed. 1845. Vol. II., p. 196.

"The several reports of Henry Barnard, Esq., Secretary of the Board of Educa tion-the most able, efficient, and best informed officer that could, perhaps, be engaged in the service-contain a digest of the fullest and most valuable information that is readily to be obtained on the subject of common schools, both in Europe and the United States. I can only refer to these documents with the highest opinion of their inerits and value." Do., Fifth Ed., p. 196.

"His labors in Connecticut are characterized by great sobriety of thought, patient application to details, and the highest practical wisdom, as well as by the enthusiasm of a generous heart" New York Review for April, 1843.

"Here, [R. I.,] in the short space of four years, he created and thoroughly estab lished a system of popular education, which, under the wise and careful administration of his successors in office, has become a model for general imitation." Appleton's New American Cyclopædia, Vol. II., p. 645.

"Henry Barnard, of Connecticut, has devoted his life to the promotion of education, and has contributed more than any other person in the United States to give consistency and permanence to the efforts of enlightened men in behalf of this great cause. He is eminently practical, and, at the same time, by his various writings, he has largely diffused, among all classes, true views of the nature and necessity of thorough instruction, especially in a country where the political institutions rest upon the people." Recollections of a Life Time. By S. G. Goodrich, Vol. I., p. 541.

"His name is associated, in both hemispheres, with those far-extending and success ful efforts for the foundation of education, in the largest sense, and for the elevation, upon higher planes of life, of the great masses of men, which so illustrate our advanc ing civilization." Dr. Humphrey's Life and Labors of T. H. Gallaudet.

"I remember, with fresh interest, to-day, [opening of the State Normal School of Connecticut, in 1851,] how my talented friend, who has most reason of all to rejoice in the festivities of this occasion, consulted with me, thirteen years ago, in regard to his plans of life; raising, in particular, the question, whether he should give himself wholly and finally to the cause of public schools. I knew his motives, the growing distaste he had for political life, in which he was already embarked, with prospects of success, and the desire he felt to occupy some field more immediately and simply beneficent. He made his choice; and now, after encountering years of untoward hindrance here, winning golden opinions, meantime, from every other State in the republic, and from ministers of education from almost every nation in the old world, by his thor oughly practical understanding of all that pertains to the subject; after raising, also, into vigorous action, the school system of another State, and setting it forward in a tide of progress, he returns to the scene of his beginnings, and permits us here to congrat ulate him and ourselves in the prospect that his original choice and purpose are to be fulfilled. He has our confidence; we are to have his ripe experience." Rev. Dr. Bushnell's Address on Opening of State Normal School in New Britain, 1851. "The career of Henry Barnard, as a promoter of the cause of education, has no precedent, and is without a parallel. He stands before the world as a na tional educator. We know, indeed. that he has held office, and achieved great success in the administration and improvement of systems of public instruction in particular States. But these efforts, however important, constitute only a segment, so to speak, in a larger sphere of his efforts. Declining numerous calls to high and lucrative posts of local importance and influence, he has accepted the whole country as the theater of his operations, without regard to State lines; and, by the extent, variety, and compre hensiveness of his labors, has earned the title of the American Educator." Massachu setts Teacher, Jan., 1858.

*

"Mr. Barnard, in his work on 'National Education in Europe,' has collected an arranged more valuable information and statistics than can be found in any one volum in the English language. It groups, under one view, the varied experience of nearl all civilized countries." Westminster Review for Jan., 1854.

"It is an encyclopædia of educational systems and methods." Massachusetts Teach er for Jan., 1858.

"The new school-houses in the United States, so well adapted to their objects, bath in their exterior and interior, are visible marks of his zeal. His 'School Architecture' has been widely influential in America; and, since the Edinburgh Review called attention to its merits, the results of his suggestions are already manifest in England. "I have often had occasion to admire the magic influence of Dr. Barnard, his brilliant powers of eloquence, and his great administrative talents." Dr. Wimmer's Die Kirche und Schule in Nord Amerika. Leipzig, 1853.

"Dr. Barnard, by his writings on school architecture, has created a new department in educational literature." Dr. Vogel. Leipzig.

"This change, [in the school-houses and schools of Rhode Island and Connecticut, especially the gradation of schools,] is to be ascribed to the labors of Hon. Henry Barnard more than to any other cause. This gentleman has dedicated his remarkable abilities, for many years, to the improvement of common school education. The results of his labors may be discovered in almost every town in Connecticut and Rhode Island.” Dr. Wayland's Introductory Lecture before the American Institute of Instruction, for 1854. "Under his administration, common schools advanced rapidly. Gentlemanly in his address, conciliatory in his manners, remarkably active and earnest, he combines more essential elements of character for Superintendent of Education, than any other indi vidual with whom it has been my fortune to be acquainted." Hon. John Kingsbury. "For carrying out these measures of reform and improvement, an agent was selected, of whom it is not extravagant to say that, if a better man be required, we must wait ai least another generation, for a better one is not to be found in the present." Mr. Mann, in Massachusetts Common School Journal, for 1846.

"There is no man whom our committee has consulted on this subject, for the last three years, who gives us so much satisfaction, who is so perfectly master of the subject, and so thoroughly practical in his views, as he. We regard him as deservedly the best and ablest guide on this subject in the whole country." Hon. J. G. Hulburd, Chairman of Committee on Colleges, Common Schools, &c., in the Legislature of N. Y., 1842. "The new system in Connecticut was most efficiently and beneficially administered under the auspices of one of the ablest and best of men." Hon. Horace Mann, Oration on the Fourth of July, in Boston, 1842.

"His task was to awaken a slumbering people, to tempt avarice to loosen its grasp, to cheer the faint-hearted, and awaken hopes in the bosom of the desponding. We are glad to see such men engaged in such a cause. We honor that spirit which is willing "to spend and be spent" in the public service, not in the enjoyment of sinecures loaded with honors and emoluments, but toiling alone, through good report and evil report, alike indifferent to the flattery or the censure of evil-minded men, and intent only on the accomplishment of its work of benevolence and humanity. To that spirit is the world indebted for all of goodness and greatness in it worth possessing. The exploits of the conqueror may fill a more ambitious page in history; the splen dors of royalty may appear more brilliant and dazzling in the eyes of the multitude; and to the destroyer of thrones and kingdoms they may bow, in terror of his power; but the energy and devotion of a single man, acting on the hearts and the minds of the people, is greater than them all. They may flourish for a day, and the morrow will know them not, but his influence shall live; and through all the changes and vicissitudes of thrones and kingdoms and powers on earth, shall hold its onward, upward course of encouragement and hope in the great cause of human progress and advancement." New York Review for April, 1843.

cation.

"We commend Mr. Barnard's Reports as valuable documents, ably and carefully prepared, and worthy the attention of all who feel an interest in the literature of edu * We can not take leave of the subject, without recording our admiration of that singular disinterestedness which crowns his other good qualities. In point of fact, he has devoted his whole time gratuitously, for the last three years, to this interest. We record this fact with pride and pleasure, in the thought that, in this age of loud profession and restless self-seeking, an individual has been found, with the magnanimity to enter upon, and a resolution to persevere in, this modest course of self-sacrificing usefulness. Let the State of Connecticut look to it that she pays to such conduct its proper meed of gratitude and respect. One such man is worth a score of selfsh politicians." North American Review for April, 1842.

"When I contemplate the picture of the immense mental labor accomp.ished in this way [by Mr. Barnard, in his labors to build up a system of public schools in Rhode Is land; when I think of what a mass of information has thus been spread, and how con. viction has, as it were, been made to force itself upon every home, every head, and every heart; when I behold a people awakened to the consciousness of a great public evil, and in a manner driven out of their houses to correct it; when I see all this, I con fess I am more affected by this crusade against dilapidated school-houses, inefficient schoolmasters, and faulty methods of instruction, than by many of the enterprises that are more lauded in history." Siljstrom's Educational Institutions of the United States Stockholm, 1852

REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION,

Washington, D. C., March 15, 1868.

Ar the close of the first year since he received from the President of the United States authority to organize and administer the affairs of this Department, the Commissioner of Education has the honor to submit his first or preliminary Report, "embodying the results of his investigations and labors, together with a statement of such facts and recommendations, as will in his judgment subserve the purpose for which this Department is established "-as is provided for in the following Act, approved March 2, 1867.

AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That there shall be established, at the city of Washington, a Department of Education, for the purpose of collecting such statistics and facts as shall show the condition and progress of education in the several States and Territories, and of diffusing such information respecting the organization and management of school systems, and methods of teaching, as shall aid the people of the United States in the establishment and maintenance of efficient school systems, and otherwise promote the cause of education throughout the country.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That there shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a Commissioner of Education, who shall be intrusted with the management of the Department herein established, and who shall receive a salary of four thousand dollars per annum, and who shall have authority to appoint one chief clerk of his department, who shall receive a salary of two thousand dollars per annum, one clerk who shall receive a salary of eighteen hundred dollars per annum, and one clerk who shall receive a salary of sixteen hundred dollars per annum, which said clerks shall be subject to the appointing and removing power of the Commissioner of Education.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Commissioner of Education to present annually to Congress a report embodying the results of his investigations and labors, together with a statement of such facts and recommendations as will, in his judgment, subserve the purpose for which this Department is established. In the first Report made by the Commissioner of Education under this Act, there shall be presented a statement of the several grants of land made by Congress to promote education, and the manner in which these several trusts have been managed, the amount of funds arising therefrom, and the annual proceeds of the same, as far as the same can be determined.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the Commissioner of Public Buildings is hereby authorized and directed to furnish proper offices for the use of the Department, herein established.

Approved, March 2, 1867.

After consulting State and City Superintendents of Public Schools,