316 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



in which these blind forces meet, than favour in their 

 struggle towards existence all these obscure things 

 which groan, and weep, and suffer before being born ? 

 No disappointments shall stop us, we mean to be 

 incorrigible ; even amid our disasters works of uni- 

 versal importance still continue to tempt us. The 

 King of Abyssinia has said of you, < Lesseps is of the 

 tribe of light.' Truly, this king speaks words of 

 truth. We all belong to that tribe. It is a rule in 

 war to march in the direction of firing, from wherever 

 the sound comes. The duty of us civilians is to 

 march towards the light, often without quite knowing 

 whither it is leading us. 



"You have rendered such full justice to Henri 

 Martin, your illustrious predecessor, that I need 

 scarcely revert to the subject. He was an excellent 

 citizen, and in all things his thoughts were those of 

 France. When the country took a step forward in 

 that which appears to have been his favourite policy, 

 he followed it; sometimes he even preceded it; but 

 in all things he was sincere. The word of command 

 which he appeared to receive from without in reality 

 came from himself, for he was in perfect harmony with 

 the circle in which he lived. He espoused all the 

 prejudices of which common opinion is composed so 

 honestly that he came to mistake them for primitive 

 and increated truths. But as he was a true Liberal, 

 he experienced no regret when his firmest conclu- 

 sions were arrested for a stage. He desired that 



