M. Arago's Biographical Memoir of James Watt. 287 



studied at one and the same time in Iceland and Van Diemen's 

 Land ; they are read in the little cii'cle of the humblest 

 cottage, and in the most brilliant saloons of palaces. The 

 author, the artist, and the engineer, are recognised and appre- 

 ciated throughout the world by all that is most noble and ele- 

 vated in man — by judgment, mind, and intelligence. That in- 

 dividual would be foolish indeed, who, occupying such a com- 

 manding position, should ever wish that his lineaments, traced 

 in marble or in bronze, even by the chisel of David, should 

 ever be exposed to the gaze of idle loungers. Such honours 

 as these, I repeat, a man of scientific or literary celebrity, 

 or an artist, cannot envy, although he can never admit that 

 he is unworthy of them. Such, at all events, is the decision 

 suggested to my mind by the discussion I am about to sub- 

 mit to your attention. 



It is a circumstance passing strange, that our opponents have 

 been led to advance such haughty pre tensions, precisely on the oc- 

 casion of the erection of five statues, which have not withdrawn 

 a single farthing from the public treasury. It is far, however, 

 from being my intention to avaU myself of this indiscretion. 

 I prefer to consider the question in the abstract, namely, as 

 already stated, the alleged superiority of arms over literature, 

 science, and the arts. And here we must not be deceived * 

 for, if magistrates and governors be associated with military 

 men, it is only that they may be a passport to them. 



The extreme shortness of the time I can now devote to this 

 discussion, impresses upon me the necessity of being concise and 

 methodical. That there may be no mistake, then, as to my 

 opinions, I very explicitly declare that independence and na- 

 tional liberty are, in my estimation, the first of human bless- 

 ings, — that to defend them against foreign and intestine foes 

 is the first of duties, and that to have maintained them — at 

 the price of one's blood — establishes the first claim to public 

 gratitude. Raise, then, splendid monuments to the brave 

 men who fell on the glorious ramparts of Mayence, on the 

 immortal fields of Zurich, and of Mai*engo, and assuredly my 

 offering will bo readily paid ; but, at the same time, do not 

 require that I shall do violence to my reason, and to those sen- 

 timents which nature has planted in every bosom, nor expect 



