372- Miscellanies. 



which has desolated so many countries, we have nevertheless, occa- 

 sion to lament over the losses we have sustained. 



Our regrets ought not to be restricted to those whom the chance 

 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 has 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 results : among those whom the public 

 sentiment places in the most elevated ranks, 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 mortuary 

 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 him 

 an education strictly conformable to his views, and placed him at an 

 early age in a counting-room. At the approach of the revolution, 

 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 Bihliotheque 

 Universelle. He acquired a handsome fortune, a portion of which 

 he lost in consequence of his benevolent efforts in favor of his fellow- 

 countrymem 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 

 the age of 35 he undertook the difficult task of revising his educa- 

 tion. He made judicious extracts from all his readings, and took 

 pleasure 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 a 

 voyage to England, and wrote to his brother-in-law in America,* a 



Charles Wilkes, Esq., of New York. 



