RECORDS. 493 



author, prompted by experience, proposed as best fitted to ob- 

 tain that aim ; and none whatever was given to the sound and, 

 in some capital respects, original theory set down by him, ac- 

 cording to which the ruler of a state must act exclusively as the 

 representative of that state, propose to himself no other object 

 than the good of it, ascertain the best means to accomplish it, and 

 apply these means intelligently and resolutely. While Machia- 

 velli was convinced that the task of forming a great Italian state 

 capable of preserving its independence could be carried out 

 only by one man, and not by a republic, he was also convinced 

 that it was for the people to consolidate and make fruitful the 

 work performed by the one man. But the coiner of the word 

 Machiavellism took no notice of this ; he ignored absolutely 

 Machiavelli's '* Discors," by which he taught the people how 

 to govern themselves, and in which he devised the program of 

 democratic government which is entirely modern. Nor was any 

 notice taken of the other fact that Machiavelli proclaimed the 

 necessity of an international code regulating the conduct and 

 results of war, as well as other mutual relations between states ; 

 or of the foundation laid by him upon which the philosophy of 

 history has in modern times been built ; or of the thoroughly 

 experimental method by which he arrived at his conclusions ; or 

 the blow inflicted by him upon the artificial literary form of his 

 days, ^nd the inauguration of the ordinary, direct, natural way 

 of discourse. In fact, Machiavellism, in its generally accepted 

 significance, represents what in Machiavelli's system was merely 

 transitory and dependent upon circumstances of place and time, 

 instead of representing what was original, characteristic and of 

 permanent value. 



The second paper was by Professor A. Cohn, entitled 

 Some Reforms in French Spelling. The needed reforms 

 in French spelling are those that consist in introducing more 

 uniformity, and correcting mistakes that have crept in through 

 misapprehension. In the word legs (legacy), for instance, the 

 g was introduced, in the sixteenth century, by grammarians 

 who thought this word came from the verb leguer, while it really 

 comes from laisser (to leave), a good reason for not pronouncing 

 the^. 



