LATOUR D’AUVERGNE. 109 
short, that it was requisite, from the character of gener- 
osity with which you are animated, that I should allow 
some gratification to my companions in travel and in 
fatigue!” ‘Be pleased to remember, Gentlemen, that the 
journey, the éclat, the gratifications amounted altogether 
to 13,320 francs; do not forget that it was one of the 
ministers, inspecting armies who was going to decide on 
the fate of his country, who spoke thus, and you will 
agree with me, I think, that if the world is improving, it 
is not in economy. 
The Treastiry did not know under what form to record 
the 10,680 franes returned by Carnot ; but it was not the 
first essay on the part of our colleague: by searching 
back to the epochs when he inspected the Republican 
armies, as representative of the people, the Clerks of 
Finance found in their registers the forms they sought, 
and these occurred as often as Carnot had executed simi- 
lar missions. 
The name of Carnot would still present itself to my 
mind if, after so many instances furnished by history in 
all countries, it were yet required to prove that an ardent 
mind can be allied to cold and reserved manners. Un- 
doubtedly, no one ever had a right to say of him, as 
D’Alembert said of one of the old secretaries of our 
Academy: He is a voleano covered with snow; but I 
may be allowed to show at least, that our colleague’s con- 
ceptions often had a certain something in them that went 
direct to the heart, touching, moving, electrifying ; some- 
thing, in short, stamped with an indefinable seal, never 
borne by the works of heartless men, of men whose facul- 
ties have no concentration of mind. Two more citations, 
and my thesis will be proved. | 
Latour of Auvergne, born of the Turenne family, did 
