144 



JOSEPH FOURIER. 



served to support will fall to the ground as soon as I recall to mind, 

 that after the 9tli Tlieriuidor the capital, and especially the i)roYiuces, 

 became a prey to a blind and disorderly reaction, as all political reac- 

 tions invariably are; that crime (the crime of having changed opinions — 

 it was nothing less hideous) usurped the place of justice; that excellent 

 citizens ; that pure, moderate, and conscientious patriots were daily 

 massacred by hired bands of assassins in presence of whom the inhabit- 

 ants remained mute with fear. Such are, gentlemen, the formidable 

 influences which for a moment deprived Fourier of the suffrages of his 

 countrymen ; and caricatured, as a iiartisan of Eobespierre, the individ- 

 ual whom St. Just, making allusion to his sweet and ijersuasive elo- 

 quence, styled niyatnot in music ; who was so often thrown into prison 

 by the Decemvirs ; who, at the very height of the reign of terror, oifered 

 before the revolutionary tribunal the assistance of his admirable talents to 

 the mother of Marshal Davoust, accused of the crime of having at that 

 unrelenting epoch sent some money to the emigrants ; who had the in- 

 credible boldness to shut up at the inn of Tonnerre an agent of the com- 

 mittee of public safety, into the secret of whose mission he penetrated, 

 and thus obtained time to warn an honorable citizen that he was about 

 to be arrested; who, finally, attaching himself personally to the san- 

 guinary proconsul before whom every one trembled in Yonne, made him 

 pass for a madman, and obtained his recall ! You see, gentlemen, some 

 of the acts of patriotism, of devotion, and of humanity which signalized 

 the early years of Fourier. They were, you have seen, repaid with in- 

 gratitude. But ought we, in reality, to be astonished at it f To expect 

 gratitude from the man who cannot make an avowal of his feelings with- 

 out danger would be to shut one's eyes to the frailty of human nature 

 and to expose one's self to frequent disappointments. 



In the normal school of the convention, discussion from time to time 

 succeeded ordinary lectures. On those days an interchange of charac- 

 ters was effected : the pupils interrogated the professors. Some words 

 pronounced by Fourier at one of those curious and useful meetings suf- 

 ficed to attract attention toward him. Accordingly, as soon as a ne- 

 cessity was felt to create masters of conference, all eyes were turned to- 

 ward the pupil of St. Florentine. The precision, the clearness, and the 

 elegance of his lectures soon ijrocured for him the unanimous applause 

 of the fastidious and numerous audience which was confided to him. 



When he attained the height of his scientific and literary glory, 

 Fourier used to look back with pleasure upon the year 171»-l, and upon 

 the sublime eflbrts which the French nation then made for the purpose 

 of organizing a corps of public instruction. If he had ventured, the title 

 of pupil of the original normal school would have been beyond doubt that 

 which he would have assumed by way of preference. Gentlemen, that 

 school perished of cold, of wretchedness, and of hunger, and not, what- 

 ever people may say, from certain defects of organization, which time and 

 reflection would have easily rectified. Notwithstanding its short exist- 



