10 M. Arago's Historical Eloge of Joseph Fourier, 



nishment, not without reason I admit, when I mention that he 

 was elected for Saint Florentin, and that Auxerre appeared in- 

 sensible to the honour of being represented at Paris by the most 

 illustrious of her children. But this indifference will be under- 

 stood, and those calumnies which were its cause will disappear 

 for ever, when I state that after the 9th Thermidor, the capi- 

 tal, and especially the departments, were a prey to a blind and 

 reckless reaction, as political reactions always are ; that crime 

 (its change of party did not make it less hideous) usurped the 

 place of justice ; that excellent citizens, and pure, moderate, 

 and conscientious patriots, were daily pursued by bands of hired 

 assassins, before whom the populace remained struck dumb with 

 terror. Such are, gentlemen, the formidable causes which, for 

 a short time, deprived Fourier of the votes of his fellow coun- 

 trymen, and converted into a partisan of Robespierre, the man 

 whom Saint Just, alluding to his mild and persuasive eloquence, 

 called a Patriote en musique ; him whom the Decemvirs so often 

 cast into prison ; him who, when the reign of terror was at its 

 height, gave, before the revolutionary tribunal, the assistance of 

 his extraordinary talents to the mother of Marshal Davoust, 

 who had been guilty of the crime, at that time unpardonable, 

 of sending some sums of money to emigrants ; him who, at Ton- 

 nerre, had the incredible audacity to lock up at the inn an 

 agent of the committee of public safety, whose secret he had 

 discovered, and thus found time to warn an honourable citizen 

 that they were going to arrest him ; him finally, who, boldly at- 

 tacking the bloodthirsty Proconsul, before whom all Yonne 

 trembled, made him appear a madman, and obtained his recall ! 

 These are, gentlemen, some of the acts of patriotism, devoted- 

 ness, and humanity, which signalized the early youth of Fourier. 

 They were, as you have seen, repaid with ingratitude ; but 

 ought we to be astonished at it ? To hope for gratitude, which 

 could not be shewn without danger, would be to exhibit igno- 

 rance of human weakness, and to expose one's self to frequent 

 disappointments. 



In the normal school of the Convention, debates sometimes 

 followed after the ordinary instructions. On these occasions 

 the parts were reversed, and the pupils questioned the profes- 

 sors. Some words spoken by Fourier in one of these curious 



