THE FRENCH A CADEMY. 291 



his admiration from none. He is as enthusiastic an 

 admirer of the Druids as of the martyrs of the first 

 Christian Church, of Jeanne d'Arc as of Henri IY., of 

 the victories of Louis XIY. as of those of the First 

 Bepublic, of the First Empire as of the Convention. 

 For him it is France that is concerned, and her only 

 he sees. No restriction checks his patriotism, no cal- 

 culation diminishes it. Whatever be their opinions 

 or their beliefs, all those who serve and benefit France 

 are his friends. This is a fine example to recommend 

 and to follow. Woe to those peoples who, driven to 

 fanaticism by party spirit, mutilate their traditions, 

 not understanding that a nation is a being, never 

 ceasing to live, whose present cannot be separated 

 from its past without existence itself being arrested. 



" And from this past, so mournful and so glorious, 

 Henri Martin draws an invigorating lesson; a con- 

 fidence that nothing will repress, a hope that nothing 

 will discourage : ' The Frenchman who knows the 

 history of his country, 7 he says, ' will never lose hope 

 in the saddest days. This people is endowed with an 

 incomparable spring of life, with a power of renova- 

 tion which has never been met with to the same 

 degree in any other people.' 



"I am proud that you have thought of me to suc- 

 ceed to the man who uttered such words. This double 

 sentiment of pride in the past and of faith in the future 

 is as deeply rooted in my heart as it was in his. It is 

 by this community of hope that I am proudest of re- 



