THE FRENCH ACADEMY. 287 



but men of mark prelates, generals, and great 

 nobles, whose high position was a substitute for elo- 

 quence, and sometimes even for knowledge. Was this 

 why the speech delivered in such cases was reduced to 

 the narrow proportions of returning thanks? Possibly. 

 In any event, seeing that you have revived for me 

 the first part of this tradition, allow me to benefit by 

 the second; and seeing that you have been good 

 enough to let a man of tetters in partibus enter, as 

 formerly, your society, do not be surprised if he con- 

 fines himself, as formerly, to a simple expression of 

 gratitude. 



" The chair I noVr occupy is the one successively 

 occupied by M. Thiers and M. Henri Martin. Both 

 were friends of mine which is tantamount to saying 

 that I am not ignorant of the dissimilarity between 

 them and me, or of the distance which separates us. 

 They were chiefly men of study ; I am chiefly a man 

 of action. They were historians, and I am a geo- 

 grapher after a fashion. But if I differ from them 

 on many points, there is one on which I claim to 

 resemble them. Both passionately loved their country, 

 and in that respect at least I do not feel myself un- 

 worthy to succeed them. Like them, I have devoted my 

 entire life to my country. For more than sixty years, 

 in various situations and with various fortune, anxiety 

 for its interests and glory has been my ruling idea, 

 the constant aim of my labours, and finally, as I am 

 confident, the cause of my success. 



