AS COMMISSIONER AT PARIS-1878 525 



interesting speeches from Victor Hugo, Tourgueneff, and 

 Edmond About. The latter made the best speech of all, 

 and by his exquisite wit and pleasing humor fully showed 

 his right to the name which his enemies had given him 

 ' ' the Voltaire of the nineteenth century. ' ' 



The proceedings of this convention closed with a ban- 

 quet over which Victor Hugo presided ; and of all the try- 

 ing things in my life, perhaps the most so was the speech 

 which I then attempted in French, with Victor Hugo look- 

 ing at me. 



There were also various educational congresses at the 

 Sorbonne, in which the discussions interested me much; 

 but sundry receptions at the French Academy were far 

 more attractive. Of all the exquisite literary perform- 

 ances I have ever known, the speeches made on those oc- 

 casions by M. Charles Blanc, M. Gaston Boissier, and the 

 members who received them were the most entertaining. 

 To see these witty Frenchmen attacking each other in the 

 most pointed way, yet still observing all the forms of 

 politeness, and even covering their adversaries with com- 

 pliments, gives one new conceptions of human ingenuity. 

 But whether it is calculated to increase respect for the 

 main actors is another question. 



The formal closing of the exposition was a brilliant 

 pageant. Various inventors and exhibitors received gifts 

 and decorations from the hand of the President of the 

 Republic, and, among them, Dr. Barnard, Story, and my- 

 self were given officers' crosses of the Legion of Honor 

 which none of us has ever thought of wearing; but, 

 alas! my Swiss- American friend who had pleaded so 

 pathetically his heroic services in ' ' Basting de vines und 

 peers " for France did not receive even the chevalier's 

 ribbon, and the expression of his disappointment was loud 

 and long. 



Nor was he the only disappointed visitor. It was my 

 fortune one day at the American legation to observe one 

 difficulty which at the western capitals of Europe has be- 

 come very trying, and which may be mentioned to show 



