54) {eo 
84 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF FRANCIS ARAGO. 
“The entire Senate, then, is to merge in the Insti- 
tute?” “Sire,” replied Lanjuinais, “it is the body of 
the state to which most time is left for occupying itself 
with literature.” 
The Emperor, displeased at this answer, at once quit- 
ted the civil uniforms, and busied himself among the 
great epaulettes which filled the room. 
Immediately after my nomination, I was exposed to 
. strange annoyances on the part of the military authorities. 
I had left for Spain, still holding the title of pupil of the 
Polytechnic School. My name could not remain on the 
books more than four years; consequently I had been 
enjoined to return to France to go through the examina- 
tions necessary on quitting the school. But in the mean- 
time Lalande died, and thus a place in the Bureau of 
Longitude became vacant. I was named assistant astron- 
omer. These places were submitted to the nomination of 
the Emperor. M. Lacuée, Director of the Conscription, 
thought that, through this latter circumstance, the law 
would be satisfied, and I was authorized to continue my 
operations. 
M. Matthieu Dumas, who succeeded him, looked at the 
question from an entirely different point of view ; he en- 
joined me either to furnish a substitute, or else to set off 
myself with the contingent of the twelfth arrondissement 
of Paris. 
All my remonstrances and those of my friends having 
been fruitless, I announced to the honourable General 
that I should present myself in the Place de ’Estrapade, 
whence the conscripts had to depart, in the costume of a 
member of the Institute; and that thus I should march 
on foot through the city of Paris. General Matthieu 
Dumas was alarmed at the effect which this scene would 
