TWEMTY-SIXTH CONGKESS, 1839-41. 221 



•detailed description of the observatory itself, was commu- 

 nicated by Mr. Arago to the National Institute of France ; 

 and the reporter of this discourse of Mr. Arago, in one of 

 the periodical journals of Paris, observes that its details 

 would be read with interest, and give an idea of the exer- 

 tions made in that land of serfs for the progress of the 

 sciences. We acknowledge, adds the journalist, that the 

 reading of this article would have been very little flattering 

 to our national self-love, if the Honorable Mr. Arago had 

 not immediately informed us that, by the accomplished 

 labors of Mr. Gambay, the observatory of Paris has no 

 reason to shrink from a comparison with this new model of 

 observatories at Pulkowa. 



The committee of the House cannot but consider these 

 circumstances as indicating, in an eminent degree, that 

 intense and ardent thirst for the increase and diffusion of 

 knowledge which, among all the nations of Christendom, 

 however politically governed, forms one of the most re- 

 markable characteristics of the age in which we live. Here 

 is the sovereign of the mightiest empire and the most abso- 

 lute government upon earth, ruling over a land of serfs, 

 gathering a radiance of glory around his throne by found- 

 ing and endowing the most costly and most complete estab- 

 lishment for astronomical observation on the face of the 

 earth. This is undertaken and accomplished under hyper- 

 borean skies — in the region so proximate to the pole, that 

 it oft'ers to the inspection of the human eye only a scanty 

 portion of the northern hemisphere, with an atmosphere so 

 chilled with cold, veiled with clouds, and obscured with 

 vapors, that it yields scarcely sixt}^ days in the year when 

 observation of the heavenly bodies is practicable. And 

 this event is honorably noticed in the National Institute of 

 France, one of the most learned and talented assemblies of 

 men upon the globe — noticed as an occurrence in the 

 annals of science — noticed for honor and for emulation. 

 The journalist of a free country, applauding the exertions 

 of a land of serfs to promote the progress of science, avows 

 that he should blush for his own country, had he not at 

 hand the evidence of her exertions not less strenuous for 

 the advancement of the same cause. 



The committee of the House, in applying to their own 

 country that sensibility to the national honor which the 

 French journalist attributes to self-love, would gladly seek 

 for its gratification in the same assurance that she is not 

 lagging behind in the race of honor ; but that, in casting 

 their eyes around over the whole length and breadth of 



