1907.] 



ROSENGARTEN— FRENCH MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY. 89 



was elected; he returned to France and became a member of the 

 Institute, his book of travels was not nearly so kindly in its tone, 

 and he spoke harshly of his countryman Brissot de Warville for 

 advising Frenchmen to come here. Barbe de ^larbois on his return 

 to France was employed in the Foreign office and was an active 

 agent in the sale of Louisiana, — his ' Memoir ' was credited with 

 securing Napoleon's approval of the treaty that ceded that vast 

 region to the United States. 



In 1789 Quesnay de Beauregard, who had served in the Revo- 

 lutionary war, presented his elaborate Plan of the Academy of 

 Sciences and Belles Lettres, established by him in Richmond, Va. ; 

 it was a very broad scheme for a sort of exchange bureau and clear- 

 ing house of scientific and literary intelligence between the United 

 States and France and other European countries, — the French Revo- 

 lution put an end to it ; — he was a grandson of Quesnay, one of the 

 leaders of the French economists, — his son wrote on the Constitu- 

 tions of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, and his grandson was the 

 prosecuting attorney against Boulanger. 



Le Gaux was elected in 1789, no doubt in recognition of his 

 efforts to establish vineyards at Spring Mills, near Philadelphia. — 

 Du Ponceau, who was elected in 1791, began life as a student for the 

 priesthood, but came here at the suggestion of Beaumarchais, as 

 secretary and interpreter for Steuben, — he became a member and 

 later a leader of the Philadephia Bar, president as well as a fre- 

 quent contributor to the proceedings of the Philosophical Society, 

 and was elected a member of the French Institute in recognition of 

 his writings on Indian languages, etc. 



Many of the French exiles found, as Pontgibaud, one of them, 

 said, an ark of safety in Philadelphia, and most of those then or 

 later famous, were elected; at one time so many attended that they 

 addressed the society in French, and here at least there were repre- 

 sentatives of all the conflicting elements of French politics. Royal- 

 ists, Girondists, republicans of every opinion, and they met ap- 

 parently in great harmony in these peaceful halls, discussing scien- 

 tific questions. Dupont de Nemours had filled many important posi- 

 tions in France, had helped Vergennes negotiate the Treaty of Peace 

 with Great Britain, was a leader among the economists of France, 



