556 



MIOHELET, JULES. 



to Comanja, to facilitate the extraction of the abun- 

 dant products of its iron-mines, deserves notice, as 

 also the power given, the Executive to transfer to 

 another company the concession for a railroad be- 

 tween Puebla and Matamoras Iziicar, so important 

 for that rich district. 



The period granted to the company "which pro- 

 poses to establish interoceanic communication across 

 the Isthmus of Tehuantepec having been extended 

 for a year, there is a new hope of the realization of 

 so highly-interesting a project, and one recognized 

 as such by all the governments of the republic. 



The settlement of the new tariffs for the railway 

 from Mexico to Vera Cruz has been one of the prin- 

 cipal subjects to which Congress has devoted its in- 

 telligent attention. If in this important matter all 

 that could be desired was not accomplished, there 

 was at least obtained all that was possible for the 

 purpose of stimulating the exportation of our prod- 

 ucts. 



The revenue-cutters to be purchased, in virtue of 

 the decision of Congress, will be very useful for the 

 maintenance of order in our ports and the due pro- 

 tection of our fiscal interests. The conflict between 

 the powers of the State of Coahuila reached a point 

 which rendered the intervention of the Federal au- 

 thority indispensable. We may hope for much under 

 the auspices of the peace happily maintained through- 

 out the nation. We cherish nattering hopes that 

 public order will not be disturbed, resting upon the 



tood sense of the Mexican people, and its well-known 

 esire to devote itself to social progress. 



On March 2d a number of persons murdered 

 the Eev. J. L. Stephens, an American citizen 

 and 'missionary, at Guadalajara. Prompt meas- 

 ures were taken by the authorities for the ar- 

 rest and punishment of the criminals. Up to 

 April 15th seven of these had been tried and 

 sentenced to death, and more than a dozen 

 others of the accomplices were awaiting trial. 

 Those first condemned appealed to the Supreme 

 Court. 



President Lerdo, at an audience which he 

 granted to the Protestant missionaries resident 

 in the capital, declared his determination to 

 make every endeavor in his power to the end 

 that the guilty should receive condign punish- 

 ment, to protect the missionaries in the free 

 exercise of their labors, and. to maintain re- 

 ligious toleration in all parts of the republic. 



MIOHELET, JULES, a French historian, po- 

 lemic and essayist, a member of the Institute 

 of France, born in Paris, August 21, 1798; died 

 in that city, February 10, 1874. He was the 

 son of a printer employed by the French Ee- 

 public to print the government assignats or 

 bonds, and was intended at first for his fa- 

 ther's vocation, but his parents, seeing his fond- 

 ness for study, by great sacrifices maintained 

 him in the College Charlemagne, where, under 

 the tuition of MM, Villemain and Le Clerc, he 

 distinguished himself and graduated with high 

 honors. In 1821, after an unusually sharp 

 competition, he was called to the professor- 

 ship of History in the College Eollin, where he 

 taught also the ancient languages and philoso- 

 phy until 1826. His first work, " Synchronic 

 Charts of Modern History," was published in 



1825, and his translation of Vice's History in 



1826, and as a result he received the appoint- 

 ment of Master of Conferences at the Normal 



School. The Eevolution of 1830 having been 

 successful, he was appointed by Louis Philippe 

 chief of the historical section of the Archives 

 of the Kingdom, and soon after, M. Guizot, 

 finding himself unable on account of his official 

 duties to continue his lectures on history at 

 the Sorbonne, appointed Michelet as his sub- 

 stitute, and the King assigned to him the place 

 of instructor in history to his daughter, the 

 Princess Clementine. In 1838 M. Michelet 

 succeeded Daunou as Professor of Morals and 

 History in the College of France, and Count 

 Eeinhard as a member of the Academy of 

 Moral Sciences in the Institute of France. 

 The previous year the first volume of his " His- 

 tory of France " appeared. In his new pro- 

 fessorship M. Michelet soon became an active 

 propagandist of democratic ideas, and a for- 

 midable opponent of the Jesuits, against whom 

 he evoked the bitterest animosity. Aided \y 

 M. Quinet, he published in 1843, " The Jes- 

 uits;" in 1844, "Concerning the Priest, the 

 Wife and the Family ; " and in 1846, " Con- 

 cerning the People." In 1847 he published 

 the first volume of his " History of the Eevo- 

 lution." In 1848, after the revolution of that 

 year, he was nominated as a deputy to the 

 National Assembly, but declined to be a can- 

 didate, on the ground of the necessity for 

 devoting himself to the work of completing 

 his projected histories. He continued to give 

 to his lectures at the College of France the 

 character of democratic propagandism, which 

 they had previously maintained, till his course 

 was closed by the government of Louis Napo- 

 leon, in March, 1851. Eefusing to take the 

 oath to the empire, after the coup d'etat, M. 

 Michelet lost his place at the Archives Office, 

 and thenceforth devoted himself exclusively to 

 literary pursuits. While continuing his his- 

 torical labors, he indulged himself at intervals 

 in the preparation of a series of essays marked 

 by an exquisite beauty of style, a grace of im- 

 agination, and in some of them an evil sug- 

 gestiveness of sentiment covered by the most 

 dainty phrases, of which his previous career 

 and writings had given no promise. These 

 works were " The Bird " (1856) ; " The Insect " 

 (1857); "Love" (1858); "The Wife" (1859); 

 "The Sea" (1861); "The Sorceress" (1862) 

 this was seized and destroyed in France, but 

 was published in large editions in Brussels; 

 and " The Mountain " (1868). Of these books 

 it may be said with truth that the two, "Love " 

 and " The Wife," have been, by the beauty of 

 their style, and the insidious poison of their 

 free-love doctrines, among the most mischiev- 

 ous productions of the century. During this 

 period M. Michelet also brought out three more 

 polemic volumes, viz.: "Poland Martyred" 

 {1863) ; " The Bible of Humanity " (1864) ; and 

 " Our Son," a plea for compulsory education 

 (1869). M. Michelet, however, based his claims 

 to immortality as an author on his historical 

 works, which, though inferior in style and dig- 

 nity to those of Thiers and Guizot, were yet 



