MEMOIR OP C. P. BEAUTEMPS-BEAUPRE. 129 



ban'assments of the times. The ordinance directing the immediate prepara- 

 tion of i\\e pilot of the coasts of France •^vai^ signed June 6, 1814, bvit the labor 

 could not be commenced till 1816. By an ordinance of the former date, M. 

 Beautemp.^-Beauprc was named hjdrographic engiuecr-in-chief* and joint 

 keeper of the general depot of the charts, plans, and journals of the marine. 



The condition of French hydrography at that time was an anomaly result- 

 iag from circumstances. The administration of Louis XIV had occupied itself 

 with the hydrography of the coasts of France, and the engineer Lavoye had 

 executed, about 1670, charts of the coasts of Brittany which were quite passa- 

 ble, or at least very much superior to those which represented the parts of the 

 coast comprised between the mouth of the Loire and the shores of Spain. A 

 century afterwards, in 1776, the government ordered a hydrographical recon- 

 naissance of the coasts of France under the superintendence of la Brettonniere, 

 captain in the navy, and Mechain, astronomer for the marine and member of 

 the Academy of Sciences ; but it would seem that those distinguished person- 

 ages were rather charged with the collection of materials for rectifying the 

 errors of the old charts, than Avith the execution of such a d •tailed and com- 

 plete survey as might meet the wants of the service under ali circumstances. 

 There remain in the archives of the depot of marine bui: few documents rela- 

 ting to their operations, which extended, however, from Dunkirk to tile Bay 

 of Cancale. • 



Since that time geography had made in France important advances with 

 which hydrography had by no means kept pace. Before the close of the 

 eighteenth century there were geographic charts of a great part of the globe, com- 

 petent to convey a general and sufficiently precise idea of the continents and 

 seas. France particularly had been enriched with the map of Cassini, known 

 also by the name of the map of the Academy, a work of great merit for that 

 time in point of execution, and of great utility. It may be said, however, with 

 truth, that towards the end of the last and in the first years of the present cen- 

 tury, the art of constructing geographical charts received improvements by 

 which it was essentially revolutionized. This amelioration was consequent 

 upon the establishment of the metric system, which had necessitated the meas- 

 urement of the meridian of France, from Dunkirk to Barcelona, and afterwards 

 to Formeutera. To the chain of triangles established in the execution of this 

 measurement a comprehensive triangulatiou was subsequently attached, ex- 

 tending over the whole of France, and in the sequel over considerable portions 

 of Spain, of Italy, and of Great Britain. In the prosecution of these vast and 

 difficult labors several members of the Academy have borne a conspicuous 

 part: MM. Delambre, Mechain, Biot, Arago, Mathieu, Puissant, in conjunc- 

 tion with most of the members of the corps of topographical engineers and 

 sundry officers of the military staff. On the triangles of the meridian has been 

 based the trigonometric system of the new map of France, published by the 

 depot of war. In England, savants of the highest merit. Colonels Mudge, 

 Roy, Sabine, and the most distinguished officers of the ordnance corps, have 



* It may occasion surprise that M. Beautcmjis-Bcaupre, employed and appreciated as he 

 was by tlie Emperor Napoleon I, should have retained till 1H14 the title of ingenicur-hydro- 

 graphe ordinaire; but this will be more easily understood from the following letter written 

 July 20, 18l'J, by M. le due Dccres, who had been minister of the marine under the empire: 

 "All the world appreciates the services rendered by M. Beautemps-Beaupre with a zeal, per 

 aeverance, and talent above all praise; but 1, who have maintained close relations with him 

 for many j'ears, cannot but refjard him with sincere attachment, and owe hiui many thanks 

 for the proofs of friendship which he has always given me. There are persons who, without 

 the least claim, are always soliciting; these are numerous. There are others, forming but a 

 small minority, who, with the most incontestable claims, never solicit anything. The fact is, 

 that during the eighteen years of my official relations with M. Beautemps-Beaupre, he ceased 

 not to occupy my attention by his labors, but never once invoked it by a solicitation. Since- 

 ho forgets himself, it is but right that justice and friendship should remember him." 

 9 s 



