196 



F. F. EOGET^ ON ERNEST NAVILLE's LIFE. 



and divinity do in themselves dominate the intellectual and 

 scientific activity of men, and should formally be allowed the 

 supremacy which is theirs intrinsically. To his mind, Geneva, 

 which had been the earthly station of Calvin, and the cradle 

 of Eousseau, v/as bound by her past to fulfil, in l^aville's time, 

 and to the utmost of her power, a mission : that of striking at 

 materialism under its pseudo-philosophic cloak, and of scattering 

 abroad the seeds of civil and religious liberty. For the defence 

 of national liberty, in 1838, he stood clothed in a soldier's 

 uniform. Militant to his very last breath, his motto might well 

 be this modestly -proud phrase of his : 



" Et moi je fus aussi sergent en Helvetic." 



In fact, he was but little seen, though most widely known, out 

 of his own country. He spent but little time in any European 

 town, except Florence and Paris. 



In 1844, he was appointed Professor of the history of 

 philosophy in the Faculty of Arts. Unfortunately, in 1846, 

 the political headship of Geneva passed from the Conservatives 

 to another class, much impregnated with French ideas of a type 

 abhorrent to the ancient church of Geneva, and inconsistent 

 with the ancient forms of the Republic. Naville resigned his 

 ministry in the Church, but continued his activity as an 

 educator, a writer and an orator. He gave at Geneva and 

 Lausanne a series of addresses under the title La vie eteroielle, 

 and, in 1860, accepted conditionally an appointment in the 

 Faculty of Divinity in the renovated Academy of Geneva. 

 But, under the new regime, such official posts proved untenable 

 for men of the old way of thinking. He had been dismissed 

 from the chair of philosopliy — at the same time that my grand- 

 father FrauQois Roget was compelled to vacate that of political 

 history. Now he resigned his connection with the Faculty of 

 Divinity. Yet he continued to teach in an unofficial capacity. 

 He remained Frofeasor Naville for all, and ultimately the 

 disqualification was removed. He was elected an honorary 

 member of the University, wdren it was realised how many 

 universities and learned societies in Europe had honoured him. 



His later discourses on Le Pere celeste (1863), Le prohUme du 

 mal (1867), Ze Christ (1877), were delivered before audiences 

 of 3,000 men. They were translated into eight languages. 



His first large philosophical work consisted in editing the 

 manuscripts of Maine de Biran. He was for twelve years 

 engaged upon this task. The recondite but admirable philoso- 

 pher of France (1766-1824) was neither an idealist in the 



