372 Miscellanies. 
which has desolated so many countries, we have wines occa-— 
sion to lament over the losses we have sustained. 
_ Our regrets ought not to be restricted to those whom the race 
of birth had placed within the limited verge of our Canton. From 
the earliest period of the republic, Geneva has afforded a hospitable 
asylum to all the friends of letters and science, who have desired to’ 
avail themselves of it. She has given a fraternal welcome to all those 
whose feelings have sympathized with her own; all those whose tal- 
ents have gained the public approbation; she hes been indebted to 
this reception of learned strangers for a portion of our literary lustre. 
The present age is conforming to the habits of the past, and is at- 
taining from them analogous sree: among those whom the public 
sentiment places in the most elevated pos are men born in foreign’ 
countries, and adopted by our laws and our society. . Two of the 
most honorable have been removed from us during the present year, 
and I should fail in the duties which the academy has assigned me, if 
the names of Simond and Bonstetten were not found in the annie” ; 
scroll which I am obliged to enrol before you. 
Louis Simond was born in Lyons, in 1767 ; his father was a mer 
chant, and having destined his son to the same pursuit, he gave bim— 
an education strictly conformable to his views, and placed bim at an 
early age in a counting-room. . At the approach of the revolutions 
Simond, then about 21, set out for the United States, and soon be- 
came one of the most considerable merchants of the city of New= 
York. He travelled extensively through different States of the Un 
ion, and published fragments of his observations in the Bibliotheque 
Jniverselle, He acquired a handsome fortune, a portion of which 
he lost in consequence of his benevolent efforts in favor of his fellow- 
countrymen. His house was a rendezvous of the most distinguished 
Frenchmen, who were compelled to expatriate themselves on account 
of the troubles of their country. In their conversation, Simond was: 
strengthened in his taste for letters and useful knowledge, and at’ 
the age of 35 he undertook the difficult task of revising bis’ educa- 
tons, He made judicious extracts from all his readings, and took 
leasure in combating the negligence of his early instruction. A 
character firm and persevering, and a sincere love of truth, qualified 
him for the vanquishment of every obstacle. In 1809, he made 2 
vopre? to Aes. and wrote to his brother-in-law in mr 
“Charles Wilkes, Esq., of New York. 
