64 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF FRANCIS ARAGO. 



my power to mitigate a sorrow which she must experi- 

 ence before long. 



At the moment when I quitted Spain for Marseilles, 

 the Duchess confided to me two letters which I was to 

 forward in safety to their addresses. One was destined 

 for the Empress-mother of Russia, the other for the 

 Empress of Austria. 



Scarcely had I arrived at Algiers, when I mentioned 

 these two letters to M. Dubois Thainville, and begged 

 him to send them to France by the first opportunity. 

 " I shall do nothing of the sort," he at once answered me. 

 " Do you know that you have behaved in this affair like 

 a young inexperienced man, or, to speak out, like a 

 blunderer ? I am surprised that you did not compre- 

 hend that the Emperor, with his pettish spirit, might 

 take this much amiss, and consider you, according to the 

 contents of the two letters, as the promoter of an intrigue 

 in favour of the exiled family of the Bourbons." Thus 

 the paternal advice of the French Consul taught me that 

 in all that regards politics, however nearly or remotely, 

 one cannot give himself up without danger to the dictates 

 of the heart and the reason. 



I enclosed my two letters in an envelope bearing the 

 address of a trustworthy person, and gave them into the 

 hands of a corsair, who, after touching at Algiers, would 

 proceed to France. I have never known whether they 

 reached their destination. 



The reigning Dey, successor to the beheaded Dey, 

 had formerly filled the humble office of " epileur " * of 

 dead bodies in the mosques. He governed the Regency 



* An "eptteur" is a person who removes superfluous hairs. We 

 have been unable to ascertain what office of this kind is performed in 

 Mohammedan funerals. 



