On the advice of Iselin, Pestalozzi started a weekly newspaper, called the Swiss News, in 1782. In this he strove to make his views more widely known and better understood. His chief purpose was to show how education was the best means for dealing with the deepest elements of the national life, so as to secure its highest welfare and cure its worst diseases. He writes: "Governors and instructors have only to direct the progress of the enlightenments and the enjoyments of the time, with all the power and with all the wisdom they possess, in order that the people may lose nothing that is still good, may thoroughly understand what they ought to do, and willingly do that which brings them a livelihood". Again: "Human morality is nothing more than that which results from the development of the first feelings of love and gratitude which the nursling experiences".

As to the beginnings of education, he writes: "The first development of the child's powers ought to come. from his participation in the work of the paternal house; for this work is, necessarily, that which the father and mother best understand, that which most engages their attention, and that which they are best able to teach ". In a very characteristic passage-half rhapsody and half reason he says, in one number: "Summer day! teach to this worm who crawls upon the earth that the fruits of life develop in the midst of the fires and storms of our globe; but that to ripen they need the gentle rains, the glistening dew, and the refreshing rest of night. Teach me, summer day, that man, formed of the dust of the ground, grows and ripens like a plant rooted in the soil."

Essays are given on such subjects as: the abuse of

legal forms for defeating the ends of justice: one law for the rich and another for the poor: the hypocrity of liberal sentiments among the privileged classes and their indifference to the real sufferings of the poor; domestic economy among the lower classes: the influence of different occupations on the character of the people; the state of the peasantry and of the manufac turing classes; the best interest of landed proprietors; parochial administration; the corruption of high He; the destructive effects of quackery and superstition; the moral improvement of criminals; the defects of charity schools; the duty of society to secure to every individual the means of gaining an honest livelihood; medical police; and so on.

In this periodical he published a series of allegorical tales, under the somewhat fanciful title of Illustrations to my A B C Book, or to the Elements of my Philosophy. The deep insight and searching irony-in relation to the political and social conditions in the country (see pp. 3-9) —in them may be seen in the following selections:—

"The Flame and the Tallow.

"I am always ashamed to see myself so near to you,' said the flame to the tallow.

"The tallow answered: 'I thought you were ashamed of losing me, because then you always disappear'.

"Foolish grease,' replied the flame, it is true that I shine only so long as I live upon you, but I am ashamed of letting it be known.""

"The Oak and the Grass.

"One morning the grass said to the oak, under whose branches it grew: 'I should get on much better in the

open than under your shelter'. 'You are very ungrateful,' replied the oak, 'not to acknowledge the blessing, which you enjoy, of being protected from the frost in winter by the leaves from my autumn sheddings, with which I cover you.'

"But the grass answered: 'You deprive me, with your branches, of my share of sun, dew and rain; and with your roots my portion of nourishment from the ground; boast not therefore of the forced benevolence of your foliage, with which you foster your own growth rather than prevent my decay"."

"The Privilege of the Fishes.

"The fishes in a pond complained that they were, more than their neighbours in other ponds, persecuted by the pikes. Thereupon an old pike, who was the judge of the pond, pronounced this sentence: That the defendants, to make amends, shall in future permit, every year, two common fishes to become pikes'."

"Equality.

"A dwarf said to a giant: 'We have equal rights! 'Very true, my good friend; but you cannot walk in my shoes,' replied the giant.”

By calling these fables "Illustrations of my A B C," i.e., Leonard and Gertrude, Pestalozzi intended to draw attention to the fact that they were yet another attempt to make clear "the elements of my philosophy," i.e., the moral regeneration of the race, through education, as the only means to human happiness.

These writings show very clearly what was the real basis of Pestalozzi's work, viz., national regeneration through education aiming at the highest individual

development; and how his own mind was developing in his efforts to set forth his new gospel of social salvation. As he once said to Mrs. Niederer: "It is only by ennobling men that we can put an end to the misery and ferment of the people; and also to the abuses of despotism, whether it be of princes or whether it be of mobs

The Swiss News lasted for only twelve months, and its value was for posterity rather than for its own times. In its essays, short moral stories, dialogues, fables and verse are enshrined some of the most striking evidences of Pestalozzi's genius: his originality, depth, fulness and independence of thought-untinged and unhampered by any outside influence whatsoever-being seen at their best.

In 1787 he published the fourth volume of his Leonard and Gertrude; and again took up farming.

In 1797 appeared his Investigations into the Course of Nature in the Development of the Human Race. This was an attempt to find a philosophical basis for his views, and was undertaken at the suggestion of the great German philosopher Fichte. The following is a short outline of the plan and purpose of the book. He pro. poses, at the outset, to answer the following questions:

"What am I? what is the human species?

"What have I done? what is the human species doing? "What has the course of my life, such as it has been, made of me; and what has the course of life, such as it has been, made of the human species ?

"On what ground do my volition and my opinions rest, and must they rest, under the circumstances in which I am placed?

"On what ground do the volitions of the human species, and its opinions, rest, and must rest, under the circumstances in which it is placed ? "

To find an answer to these questions he reviews the "march of civilisation," and finds that :

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'By the helplessness of his animal condition man is brought to knowledge.

"Knowledge leads to acquisition, acquisition to possession. Possession leads to the formation of society. Society leads to powers and honours. Powers and honours lead to the relations of rulers and subjects, i.e., relations of nobles and commons to the crown.

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All these relations call for a state of law. The state of law calls for civil liberty. The want of law entails tyranny and slavery.

"Following the course of nature in another direction, I find in myself a certain benevolence, by which acquisition, honour, property and power ennoble my mind, whilst without it all these privileges of my social condition only tend to degrade me more deeply."

In other words, the race has developed through three great stages, viz., (1) an original, instinctive, innocent, animal state of nature. In this condition man is the creature and the victim of circumstances; "his hands are ever stained with the blood of his brother; like a tiger he defends his den, and roars against his own species; he claims the ends of the earth as his own; and perpetrates whatever he chooses under the sun," i.e., there are no laws except those of self-preservation and no morals save his own satisfactions. But the hardships of such a life lead him to desire, and then to seek, better conditions. Hence conflict with his fellows is changed for co-operation with them.