Aire-sur-la-Lys--Local objections to a national railway--A visit to a councillor-general--Pentecost in Artois--The Artesians in 1789--Wealth and power of the clergy--Recognition of the Third Estate long before the Revolution--The English and the French clergy in the last century--Lord Macaulay and Arthur Young--Sympathy of the cures with the people--Turgot, Condorcet and the rural clergy---The Revolution and public education--M. Guizot the founder of the French primary schools--The liberal school ordinance of 1698--The Bishop of Arras, in 1740, on the duty of educating the people--The experience of Louisiana as to public schools and criminality--The two Robespierres saved and educated by priests--What came of it--A rural church and congregation in Artois--The notary in rural France--A village procession--'Beating the bounds' in France--An altar of verdure and roses--The villagers singing as they march--Ancient customs in Northern France 44-52 CHAPTER IV IN THE PAS-DE-CALAIS--(_continued_) Aire-sur-la-Lys--Local and general elections in France--A public meeting in rural Artois--A councillor-general and his constituents--Artois in the 18th and 19th centuries--Well-tilled fields, fine roads, hedges, and orchards--Effect of long or short leases--A meeting in a grange--French, English, and American audiences--Favouritism under the conscription--Extravagant outlay on scholastic palaces--Almost a scene--A political disturbance promoted--Canvassing in England and France--Tenure of office in the French Republic--'To the victors belong the spoils,' the maxim not of Jackson but of Danton--'Epuration,' what it means--If Republicans are not put into office 'they will have civil war'--'No justice of the peace nor public school teacher to be spared'--'Terror and anarchy carried into all branches of the public service'--M. de Freycinet declares that 'servants of the State have no liberty in politics'--The Tweed regime of New York officially organised in France---Men of position reluctant to take office--The expense of French elections--1,300,000_l._ sterling the estimated cost of an opposition campaign--A little dinner in a French country house--The French cuisine national and imported--An old Flemish city--Devastations of the Revolution--The beautiful Church of St.-Pierre--A picturesque Corps de Garde--The tournament of Bayard at Aire--Sixteenth-century merry-makings at Aire--Gifts to Mary of England on her marriage to Philip of Spain--The ancient city of Therouanne--Public schools in the 17th century--Small landholders in France before 1789. 53-72 CHAPTER V IN THE SOMME