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ELOGE OF BARON GEORGE cuviER, delivered in the Chamber of 

 Peers on the \lth December 1832. By Barmi PASQUiERy 

 President of the Chamber of Peers, (Concluded from for- 

 mer Volume, p. S5S.) 



As President of the Committee of the Interior, an office which 

 he held during the last thirteen years of his life, the extent of 

 the business which he transacted, and the number of cases 

 examined, discussed, and despatched by his care and agency, 

 startle the imagination. It is known that they sometimes 

 amounted to 10,000 in the year. The art of dividing the work 

 to be performed among his fellow-labourers — a talent for manag- 

 ing discussion — a memory always ready to bring former deci- 

 sions seasonably to recollection — a profound knowledge of the 

 principles requisite for determining every case, and of the just 

 method of applying them, — such is a brief outline of the quali- 

 ties which rendered him so valuable in this office, and which 

 will perpetuate the remembrance of his labours in it, among all 

 who have had for an instant the opportunity of knowing and 

 reaping the advantages which flowed from them. To question 

 the great utility resulting from the labours of the Committee of 

 the Interior, would argue an entire ignorance of the form of 

 government in France, as well as to what extent the Council of 

 State proved to be the most valuable barrier against the encroach- 

 ments of arbitrary power. This truth he often demonstrated du- 

 ring the discussions which took place in the Chambers on the ex- 

 istence of this Council, and the importance of its duties. The 

 rules of government are not so determinate as those of the civil 

 or criminal law,and the personal integrity of those who administer 

 them is consequently of the first importance. But is not equity 

 the truth in all things ? And who was ever a greater or more 

 devoted friend of truth than M. Cuvier r* He could not be fully 

 known unless seen and heard at one of the sittings of Council, 

 or Committee, when business was transacting. Instead of show- 

 ing any eagerness to deliver his opinion, he appeared somewhat 

 absent, as if his mind was engaged with some other subject than 



