HIS RETURN TO PARIS. 435 
only till the 1st of May. It has been alleged that he 
was recalled, because he refused to be accessory to the 
deeds of terrorism-which the minister of the hundred 
days enjoined him to execute. The Academy will al- 
ways be pleased when I collect together, and place on 
record, actions which, while honouring its members, 
throw new lustre around the entire body. I even feel 
that, in such a case, I may be disposed to be somewhat 
credulous. On the present occasion, it was imperatively 
necessary to institute a most rigorous examination. If 
Fourier honoured himself by refusing “to obey certain 
orders, what are we to think of the minister of the inte- 
rior from whom those orders emanated? Now this min- 
ister, it must not be forgotten, was also an academician, 
illustrious by his military services, distinguished by his 
mathematical works, esteemed and cherished by all his 
colleagues. Well! I declare, Gentlemen, with a satis- 
faction which you will all share, that a most scrupulous 
investigation of all the acts of the hundred days has not 
disclosed a trace of anything which might detract from 
the feelings of admiration with which the memory of 
Carnot is associated in your minds. 
Upon quitting the Prefecture of the Rhone, Fourier 
repaired to Paris. The Emperor, who was then upon 
the eve of setting out to join the army, perceiving him 
amid the crowd at the Tuileries, accosted him in a 
friendly manner, informed him that Carnot would ex- 
plan to him why his displacement at Lyons had become 
indispensable, and promised to attend to his interest as 
soon as military affairs would allow him some leisure 
time. ‘The second restoration found Fourier in the capi- 
tal without employment, and justly anxious with respect 
to the future. He, who, during a period of fifteen years, 
administered the affairs of a great department; who 
