316 LOCAL FEELING AND PUBLIC OPINION 



a good father of a family — that is to say, be improving and not destroying 

 the heritage ; and it pertains to the prefeotoral authority — their tutor — 

 to regulate their enjoyment of the usufruct ; the abuse of this, then, is not 

 permitted, and ought to be withstood energetically." 



In the Session of 1867 the Commission of the General Conseil of the 

 High Alps reported with gra! eful expressions the efiB.oacious and productive 

 impulse which had been given to the service by M. Sequinard, and reported 

 thus of the work : " Experience has spoken, and if we decree to-day, or 

 have already decreed, the regeneration of the mountains, the success of this 

 great work is henceforward a matter of certainty. Eesults almost beyond what 

 were expected obtained on many spots permit us to reckon absolutely on 

 the final result. They permit us to foretell from the present the day 

 when, with means for adequate action being given, our grand slopes shall 

 be regenerated, the ground on steep declivities shall be consolidated, and 

 the main torrents which desolate our Alps shall be extinguished, or at least 

 repressed. 



" The ruling principle from this time forward in the operations of the 

 Commission des Beboisements is the substitution, wherever it may be prac- 

 ticable, of regazonnement for reboisement. Gazonnement cannot fail to 

 ameliorate in a not distant future the lot of the pastoral populations, while 

 boisement would deprive them for an age of the enjoyment of lands on which 

 it might be adopted with the most marked success." The Conseil voted a 

 subvention of 600 francs. 



In the Session of 1868 the report of the prefect established that " the 

 work of reboisement and gazonnement was making year by year great pro- 

 gress in the department, and that wheresoever works of this kind had been 

 undertaken the population of the localities, being enlightened in regard to 

 the design and object of the operations, and in regard to the means by 

 which this was being accomplished, had shown themselves satisfied." 

 And as for the Commission of the Conseil, their report rose to the height 

 of a lyric in praise of the undertaking. The Chief of the Service de Re- 

 boisement, M. Costa de Bastelica, had said in a report : " Come see, and you 

 will be satisfied and pleased." The Commissioners were taken to the 

 p6rim6tre of the Sapet, and reporting to the Conseil of this visit they ex- 

 pressed themselves thus : — 



" As for your Commission, the same who had seen the works in this 

 p^rimfetre in their embryotic state, they know not whether most to praise 

 the admirable harmonious bearing which is characteristic of the works as a 

 whole, or the marvellous results already obtained. . . . Thus are we able to 

 say with the same faith which animates our noble Conservator, ' After 

 such a baptism, the success obtained gives us the hope that henceforward the 

 worh of the consolidation and of the regeneration of the mountawu is assured. 

 We are certain that we shall save our country, if you second our endeavours, 

 and if we receive sufficient credits' " The Conseil raised the subvention from, 

 600 to 1000 francs. 



In this same Session of 1868 there were presented to the Conseil a good 

 many projects of extinction to be executed in the environs of Brian Qon. 

 These were the first projects submitted for consideration in this part of the 

 department ; so the local opposition was very keen. 



" In accordance with the apprehensions with which the p6rimfetres of 

 Chagnes, Vachferes, and Saint-Marthe, &o., at present in full course of being 

 restored, had been decried with all the violence of a passion by the popula- 



