eir pupils. Consequently, Germany and France
are getting ahead of us, and unless we wish to be beaten in the
international race, it is asserted that we must bring our own
educational system up to the Continental standard.

Before going more deeply into this vital question, it is just as well to
consider what these education systems have really done for mankind.
There is a proverb, as excellent as it is ancient, which says that the
proof of the pudding is in the eating. No doubt learned theoretical
treatises upon the scope and aim of educational methods are capital
things in their way, but they tell us nothing of the effects of this
systematic teaching and cramming upon the world at large. If we wish to
ascertain them, we must turn to life itself, and judge by results.

To begin with, the dearth of great men is so remarkable that it scarcely
needs comment. People are constantly expressing the fear that the age of
intellectual giants has passed away altogether. This is particularly
obvious in political life. Since the days of Gladstone and Disraeli,
Parliamentary debate has sunk to the most hopeless level of mediocrity.
The traditions of men such as Pitt, Fox, Palmerston, Peel, and others,
sound at the present day almost like ancient mythology. Yet the supposed
benefits of education are not only now free to all, but have been
compulsorily conferred upon most nations. Nevertheless, even Prussian
pedagogues have never succeeded in producing another Bismarck; and
France has ground away at her educational mill for generations with the
result that the supply of Napoleons has distinctly diminished.

Look at the methods by which our public service is recruited.

Who are the men to whom the administration of all important departments
of Government is entrusted, and how are they selected?

They are simply individuals who have succeeded in obtaining most marks
in public competitive examinations--that is to say, men whose brains
have been more effectually stuffed with facts and mechanical knowledge
than were the brains of their unsuccessful competitors.

There is no question, when a candidate presents himself for a post in
the Diplomatic Service or in one of the Government offices, whether he
possesses tact, or administrative ability, or knowledge of the world.
All that is demanded of him is that his mind should be crammed with so
many pounds avoirdupois of Latin, Greek, mathematics, history,
geography, etc., acquired in such a