128 MEMOIR OF C. F. BEAUTEMPS-BEAUPRE. 



cliargcd Mitli duties relating to military operations on the coast of Zealand, 

 where the English had made a descent. Recurrence to him was the invariable 

 rule in everything bearing on the afiairs of the Scheldt, and in the intervals of 

 his labors in Dalmatia he had been repeatedly required to return thither. His 

 indefatigable activity was equal to all demands. 



A new phase in his life now opened to him. The death .of his venerable 

 master and friend, JVI. dc Fleurieu, had left a place vacant in the first class of 

 the Institute in the section of geograjihy and navigation. JI. Bcautemps-Beau- 

 pre consented, with much distrust, to become a candidate. To make the report 

 on his titles to a nomination fell to the lot of M. Arago, who, observing the 

 number and variety of his labors, said to him : " Yov must have lived a hundred 

 years /" He had lived, however, but forty-four, and Avas nominated, September 

 24, 1810, by a large majority. One of his principal competitors was Admiral 

 dc Rosily, director of the depot of marine, his official chief and constant friend. 

 The transient rivalry produced no change in their feelings or relations. In our 

 peaceful contests, he who loses to-day frequently succeeds to-morrow, and the 

 merit of one aspirant places in higher relief the merits of others. Admiral 

 Rosily was himself an hydrographer of much experience and great knowledge. 

 In 17S7, during the voyage of la Perouse, he had executed, by order of the 

 King, on the frigate Venus, which he commanded, the hydrographic recon- 

 naissance of the Red sea. In 1816, zealously supported by M. Beautemps- 

 Beauprd, he, too, became a colleague of the Academy in the section of free 

 academicians. 



In 1811 the empire had been extended as far as Hamburg and Lubeck. M, 

 Beautemps-Bcaupre, who, at the beginning of his career, had labored on the 

 Baltic Neptune under M. r'leurieu, was now charged with the hydrographic 

 exploration of the northern coasts of the empire beyond the Scheldt. From 

 1811 to 1813 he made a series of surveys in the departments of Holland, as 

 well as at the mouths of the Ems, the Weser, and the Elbe, in view of the estab- 

 lishment of a great military port. The decision, founded on his investigations, 

 being in favor of the Elbe, he was charged, with the selection of the most 

 favorable site on the left bank of that river, and made a complete hydrographic 

 survey of its course. 



In 1815, during the hundred days, the Emperor, at a reception in the Tuil- 

 leries, stopping abruptly before M. Beautemps-Beaupre, said to him, with an air 

 of chagrin : " We are still very far from the Elbe — and your charts V " Sire," 

 replied M. Beautemps-Beaupre, "1 considered it my duty to send them to the 

 United States by an American vessel." " It is weU," rejoined the Emperor, 

 gratified at recognizing in this trait the man Avho had been the confidant and 

 faithful instrument of his great designs. At a later period the charts were 

 remitted to the government of Hanover, and M. Beautemps«-Beaupre was named 

 a member of the Royal Society of Sciences of Gottingen. 



Justly honored for so long a series of services, he might have now resigned 

 himself to a well-earned repose, but his was not the temperament for such an 

 indulgence, and at an age when many think of closing their career he com- 

 menced a new one. Since his return from the Cape of Good Hope in 1796, 

 he had been unable, by reason of. the war, to extend his labors beyond the 

 waters closed to the enemy, and, Avith the exception of his exploration of the 

 coasts of the North sea, after the peace of Amiens in 1802, he had been obliged 

 to confine himself to some of the rivers of Germany and the equally protected 

 inlets of Dalmatia. The return of peace again made the ocean free, and the 

 opportunity of revisiting it Avas seized Avith alacrity by M. Beautemps-Beauprd, 

 for Avhom it seemed to revive the brightest days of his eaily manhood. 



Admiral Rosily, director of the depot of marine, had the merit of imme- 

 diately comprehending Avhat the occasion required and alloAved, and Louis 

 XVIII that of entertaining his proposals Avith favox', notwithstanding the em- 



