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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



of 1870 the condition of France had become well- 

 nigh desperate; when the passions, whether of 

 the people or of their leaders, still refused to ac- 

 cept even the slightest proposals of peace, it was 

 predicted by sagacious persons, both in France 

 and in England, that the difficulty of arriving at 

 any termination of that disastrous conflict was en- 

 hanced by the circumstance that any statesman, 

 who ventured so far to resist the torrent of na- 

 tional frenzy as to make overtures to Germany, 

 would be certain to forfeit every chance of future 

 political success. One man, however, in that ex- 

 treme emergency, was found sufficiently patriotic 

 to sacrifice the objects of his own ambition — vast 

 as it was — to what he believed to be the good of 

 his country. That man was Adolphe Thiers. And 

 what was the result ? All the predictions of which 

 I have spoken were signally falsified. The act of 

 pacification, by which it was believed that his 

 personal career was ruined, became the stepping- 

 stone by which, without dissent, and with almost 

 universal applause, he mounted to the highest 

 place in the government of his country. And 

 yet, once more, hardly had he been there seated, 

 when a second catastrophe overtook the nation, 

 before which, some of those who usually under- 

 took to inspire and lead the masses, turned and 

 fled in dismay. The Commune was in possession 

 of Paris ; the working-classes of that great me- 

 tropolis had seized the citadel of the state. Again 

 it was predicted that no minister who undertook 

 the terrible task of suppressing that formidable 

 insurrection could ever regain the confidence or 

 the affection of the mass of the Parisian people. 

 And yet, what was the result ? After a recon- 

 quest of the capital, accompanied by severities 

 which I do not presume to judge, but which cer- 

 tainly were not calculated to conciliate the regard 

 of those whose power was thus summarily broken, 

 the same statesman was conveyed to his grave — 

 lamented not merely by the upper classes of soci- 

 ety, which he had preserved from ruin, but with 

 a singular and mysterious silence and solemnity 

 of grief through the midst of the very population 

 which he had thus rudely vanquished. I repeat 

 that I do not refer to these incidents as an advo- 

 cate of that remarkable man — he has much to an- 

 swer for ; and I am not here either to defend or to 

 condemn — but these acts in the last great epoch 

 of his life are an encouragement to all those who, 

 in the spirit of Edmund Burke, are steadfast to 

 the dictates of their own consciences, confident 

 that they will reap their reward before God and 

 posterity, but not without the just hope that they 

 may even reap it in the gratitude of those whose 



folly they have resisted. These and the like acts 

 are lessons to us that the people have, at the bot- 

 tom of their hearts, more sense and more justice 

 than we give them credit for. We may trust that 

 the mass of our fellow-countrymen, if we have 

 had the courage in a good cause to thwart their 

 unreasoning frenzy, will acknowledge at last that 

 they were mistaken, and that we were right. This 

 is the education of public life, on which much 

 more might be said — on which I could not 

 say less ; but on which, perhaps, I have said 

 enough. 



9. There is one more general remark on the 

 education of experience which brings us back to 

 our college. We live in these days more rapidly 

 than our fathers did ; we see more changes ; we 

 live, as it is said, many lives in one. Now, of 

 this rapid growth and various experience, there 

 is one important lesson. It shows us how great 

 are the possibilities and capabilities of human ex- 

 istence. A friend of mine last year with singular 

 courage accomplished the rare and difficult task 

 of ascending Mount Ararat. Two days after he 

 had come down, his companion explained to an 

 Armenian Archimandrite at the foot of the moun- 

 tain what my friend had done. The venerable 

 man sweetly smiled, and said, " It is impossi- 

 ble." " But," said the interpreter, " this travel- 

 er has been up and has returned." " No," said 

 the Archimandrite, "no one ever has ascend- 

 ed and no one ever will ascend Mount Ararat." 

 This belief in the impossibility of what has been 

 done is uncommon, but the belief in the impos- 

 sibility of what may be done is very common ; 

 and it is one delightful peculiarity of the history 

 of Bristol that it enables us to bear up against 

 this natural prejudice. It might have been thought 

 impossible that there should have been discov- 

 ered a North America as well as a South America. 

 Yet it was discovered by a Venetian seaman, who 

 sailed from the harbor of Bristol. It was thought 

 that no steamer could ever cross the Atlantic. 

 Dr. Lardner proved to demonstration in this very 

 city of Bristol that such an event could never 

 take place ; and the late Lord Derby said that 

 of the first steamer which crossed he would en- 

 gage to swallow the boiler ! Yet such a steamer 

 started from the docks of Bristol, and safely 

 reached New York. It might have been thought 

 that there was something impossible in the idea 

 of a beneficent institution, living from hand to 

 mouth, supported by the indomitable faith of one 

 man, living on Providence. Yet this also has 

 been fulfilled on Ashley Down. It might have 

 been thought impossible that the rough lads of 



