FRANCE.

107

inspired  by  industry,  and  industry  has  repaid  the  outlay  with
bountiful  interest.  It  needed  only  a  stroll  through  the  art-hall,
however,  to  make  it  apparent  that  art  itself,  which  bas  always
been  at  the  Service  of  the  manufactures  to  a  much  greater  extent
in  France  than  in  Germany,  is  likewise  recognized  by  the  government
  as  an  important  factor  of  industry.  Nearly  two-thirds  of
the  1024  French  paintings  and  sculptures  were  marked  in  tlio
catalogue:  “  Belonging  to  the  state”  (“  Appartient  a  1’ft  tat  ”).
The  millions  expended  upon  them  are  abundantly  returned  to  the
coffers  of  the  state  through  other  channels; 1  and  this  policy  of
France  in  respect  to  art  can  only  be  recofnmended  to  other  States.
Let  the  laurel  decorate  not  only  the  sword,  but  also  the  lyre  of  a
nation,  and  let  us  remember  the  lesson,  already  demonstrated  to  '
us  by  antiquity,  that  art,  if  it  is  to  flourish,  must  be  fostered  by  the
government.  But,  at  the  same  time,  let  no  nation  neglect  to
educate  its  people  to  the  comprehension  of  art  —  a  problem  which
in  France,  quite  as  much  as  with  ourselves,  is  still  awaiting  its
solution.
1  The  statistics  of  commerce  showed  thirteen  hundred  niillions  of  francs  in
1851,  and  four  thousand  inillions  in  18ti9,  of  which  nearly  one-half  is  made  up
by  articles  of  luxury.