GOVERNOR OF ANTWERP. 95 



CARNOT AN ACADEMICIAN. 



From 1807 to 1814 Carnot had lived in retirement ; 

 he scrupulously fulfilled his duties as an academician. 

 This title had been restored to him the 5th Germinal, 

 year VIII., after the decease of Le Roy. Nearly all the 

 Memoirs on Mechanics submitted to the judgment of the 

 First Class of the Institute, were referred to him. His 

 rare sagacity, with luminous clearness and remarkable 

 precision, pointed out and characterized the new and 

 salient portions. I could cite a certain author on ma- 

 chines, who did not fully conceive his own discovery, 

 until after it had had the good fortune to pass through 

 the filter of that learned critic. He had, besides, a sort 

 of merit that is not always the auxiliary of high science : 

 he knew when to doubt ; to his eye theoretical results 

 were not always infallible. 



EVENTS OF 1813. CARNOT APPOINTED TO THE COM- 

 MAND AT ANTWERP. 



We have now reached the events of 1813. Carnot 

 was not rich enough to subscribe to the newspapers. 

 Every day at the same hour, we see him come to the 

 Library of the Institute, approach the fire, and read with 

 visible anxiety the news of the progress of our enemies. 

 On the 24th of January, 1814, the interest he felt ap- 

 peared greater than ever ; he asked for some paper, and 

 as fast as the pen could trace, wrote the following letter, 

 which you will no doubt like to hear read : 



" SIRE, As long as success crowned your enterprises, 

 I abstained from offering to your Majesty services which 

 I did not think were agreeable to you ; now, that ill-for- 

 tune puts your constancy to a severe proof, I no longer 



