OBITUARIES, FOREIGN. 



619 



appointed Grand Vizier again when the present 

 Sultan came to the throne, and inaugurated 

 the Ottoman Parliament. Suddenly he was ar- 

 rested with several others, tried for the mur- 

 der of the Sultan Abdul Aziz, convicted, and 

 condemned to banishment. 



Mignet, Francois, a French historian, born in 

 Aix, in 1796 ; died in Paris, March 24, 1884. 

 He was a precocious student, and soon after he 

 was called to the bar, in 1818, won a prize of 

 the Academic des Inscriptions for an historical 

 essay. With his friend Thiers, he entered on 

 a journalistic career in Paris. They each set 

 to work about the same time on a history of 

 the French Revolution. Mignet's appeared in 

 1824, and at once attained a striking success, 

 but brought upon its author the enmity of the 

 Bourbons. It was the first successful vindica- 

 tion of the Revolution, and, as Guizot said, 

 brought the dead to life again to contend 

 against the restoration in conjunction with the 

 Liberals of the new generation. He attacked 

 them again under the veil of historic parallels 

 in public lectures, until the hall was closed by 

 ministerial order. After the Revolution of 

 1830, Mignet conducted a delicate diplomatic 

 mission in Spain, receiving as the reward 

 free access to all the state archives in Madrid. 

 This enabled him to write the " Negotiations 

 relative to the Spanish Succession," which 

 contained the history of Louis XIV's reign. 

 An admirable epitome of the work was pub- 

 lished in his " Historical Memoirs," the other 

 essays describing the conversion of the Ger- 

 mans to Christianity, the development of the 

 French monarchy, and the establishment of 

 Calvinism in Geneva. His " History of Anto- 

 nio Perez " has the fascination of a novel. He 

 was engaged in his " History of Mary Stuart " 

 when the Revolution of 184.8 occurred and when 

 he lost his post of Archivist of the State De- 

 partment, the only reward he would accept for 

 his services in bringing about the July revolu- 

 tion. His dismissal was an act of petty resent- 

 ment on the part of Lamartine. In 1854 ap- 

 peared the " History of Charles V's Abdication, 

 his Sojourn and Death at the Monastery of St. 

 Yuste." His last published work of impor- 

 tance was the "Rivalry of Francis I and 

 Charles V" (1875). About 1830 he began a 

 great work on the " History of the Reforma- 

 tion," to which he gave all his attention in the 

 last years of his life, leaving it in manuscript 

 still unfinished. Mignet's style in his earlier 

 works was lucid, vigorous, melodious, and high- 

 ly finished, in his later ones somewhat dry and 

 careless. Engrossed in study, he shunned so- 

 ciety, neglected his opportunities to t-tke a part 

 in politics, and cared little for popularity. His 

 comradeship with Thiers was kept up until his 

 friend died. As an historian he was fond of 

 generalization, and took a sweeping view of 

 the development of civilization, which caused 

 him to depreciate the results of practical politi- 

 cal combinations the Third Republic as well 

 as the Third Empire. Mignet was elected to 



the French Academy in 1836, and was the old- 

 est member when he died. 



Mohammed Sultan Pasha, President of the Egyp* 

 tian Parliament, died in Gratz, Aug. 18, 1884. 

 He was a fellah, and acquired a large landed 

 estate. He first became prominent when he 

 led the opposition of the Notables to Mahmoud 

 Sami and Arabi Pasha in 1882. He died sud- 

 denly while returning from a trip to Europe. 



Moigno, Abbe Francois Napoleon Marie, a French 

 mathematician, born in Gu6men6 - sur - Scoil 

 (Morbihan), April 15, 1804; died at St. Denis, 

 July 13, 1884. He studied at the College of 

 Pontivy and under the Jesuits at Ste. Anne 

 d'Auray. His remarkable talents and great 

 ability as a mathematician were early devel- 

 oped ; but, pleased by the austere and labori- 

 ous life of the Jesuits, he applied for admission 

 to the order, and in 1822 began his theological 

 studies at the seminary of Montrouge. Six 

 years later, after a brilliant examination, he 

 received the degree of Doctor of Theology, 

 and was assigned to the professorship of Phi- 

 losophy and Theology. During the following 

 years he was able to gratify his early fondness 

 for the exact sciences, and studied under the 

 most eminent teachers. His religious duties, 

 however, were not neglected, as many brilliant 

 discourses delivered at different seasons and in 

 various churches testify. In 1836 he was called 

 to fill the chair of Mathematics at the Jesuit 

 College (Rue des Postes) in Paris, and soon 

 afterward, a normal school having been es- 

 tablished for the clergy, mathematics and 

 physical sciences were placed under his direc- 

 tion. During this period he published his 

 " Lecons de Calcul differentiel et integral," 

 " Le Calcul des Variations," " La Mecanique 

 analytique," and " Le Repertoire d'Optique 

 Moderne." His work, although of such char- 

 acter as to win the respect of the scientific 

 world, failed to secure the approbation of his 

 ecclesiastical superiors, and in 1843 he with- 

 drew from the order of Jesuits. Days of want 

 followed, and his only means of support were 

 the few scientific articles that he wrote from 

 his little apartment in the Quartier Latin. 

 In 1845 fimile de Girardin, having recently 

 established "L'Epoque," commissioned Moigno 

 to prepare a series of scientific articles for 

 that journal, and in consequence he traveled 

 throughout Europe, meeting at the different 

 capitals the most prominent scientists of his 

 time. Returning to Paris, he published the 

 4k Traite de la Telegraphie electrique," the first 

 work of this kind to appear in France, and 

 one that for a long time remained the stand- 

 ard authority on the subject. Several years 

 of religious difficulty followed, during which, 

 for short periods only, was he allowed to hold 

 positions in the Church. His writings con- 

 tinued, however, and he was connected with 

 various short-lived scientific publications. In 

 1852 M. de Monfort founded a weekly scien- 

 tific journal entitled "Cosmos," the editorship 

 of which was at once intrusted to Moigno, 



