Victor Duruy

Ill health forced him to resign, and poverty caused him to undertake writing an extensive series of school textbooks, which made him well known.

He devoted himself to secondary school education, holding his chair in the College Henri IV at Paris for over a quarter of a century.

[1] Another ministerial visit took place on 12 May of the same year, caused by the resistance to the projet de loi for special instruction[a] which was manifested in the parliamentary commission which had been appointed to examine the subject.

To overcome this opposition M. Duruy invited the members of the commission to accompany him to Passy, in order to demonstrate to them, as he expressed it, the successful realization of his project by the Christian Brothers.

He greatly improved the state of primary education in France, and proposed to make it compulsory and free of charge, but failed to obtain the emperor's support for this move.