The highest functionaries live in a very modest way; each keeps body and soul together on a small salary which he earns by moderate work, without notable increase or decrease, in the expectation of gradual promotion or of a sure pension at the end.
There is no waste, the accounts being well kept; there are no sinecures, even in the libraries; no unfair treatment or notorious scandals.

Envy, notions of equality scarcely exist; there are enough situations for petty ambitions and average merit, while there is scarcely any place for great ambitions or great merit.

Eminent men serve the State and the public cheaply for a living salary, a higher rank in the Legion of Honor, sometimes for a seat in the Institute, or for European fame in connection with a university, with no other recompense than the satisfaction of working according to conscience[6321] and of winning the esteem of twenty or thirty competent judges who, in France or abroad, are capable of appreciating their labor at its just value.[6322] The last reason for accepting or tolerating the University; its work at home, or in its surroundings, develops gradually and more or less broadly according to necessities .-- In 1815, there were 22,000 primary schools of every kind; in 1829,[6323] 30,000; and in 1850, 63,000.

In 1815, 737,000 children were taught in them; in 1829, 1,357,000; and in 1850, 3,787,000.

In 1815, there was only one normal school for the education of primary teachers; in 1850, there are 78.