These unexpected proofs of favour and confidence afforded little pleasure to our colleague, but he dared not refuse them, although he perceived very distinctly the immense gravity of the events in which he was led by the vicissitude of fortune to play a part.

“What do you think of my enterprise?” said the Emperor to him on the day of his departure from Lyons.  “Sire,” replied Fourier, “I am of opinion that you will fail.  Let but a fanatic meet you on your way, and all is at an end.”—­“Bah!” exclaimed Napoleon, “the Bourbons have nobody on their side, not even a fanatic.  In connection with this circumstance, you have read in the journals that they have excluded me from the protection of the law.  I shall be more indulgent on my part; I shall content myself with excluding them from the Tuileries.”

Fourier held the appointment of Prefect of the Rhone only till the 1st of May.  It has been alleged that he was recalled, because he refused to be accessory to the deeds of terrorism which the minister of the hundred days enjoined him to execute.  The Academy will always be pleased when I collect together, and place on record, actions which, while honouring its members, throw new lustre around the entire body.  I even feel that, in such a case, I may be disposed to be somewhat credulous.  On the present occasion, it was imperatively necessary to institute a most rigorous examination.  If Fourier honoured himself by refusing to obey certain orders, what are we to think of the minister of the interior from whom those orders emanated?  Now this minister, it must not be forgotten, was also an academician, illustrious by his military services, distinguished by his mathematical works, esteemed and cherished by all his colleagues.  Well!  I declare, Gentlemen, with a satisfaction which you will all share, that a most scrupulous investigation of all the acts of the hundred days has not disclosed a trace of anything which might detract from the feelings of admiration with which the memory of Carnot is associated in your minds.

Upon quitting the Prefecture of the Rhone, Fourier repaired to Paris.  The Emperor, who was then upon the eve of setting out to join the army, perceiving him amid the crowd at the Tuileries, accosted him in a friendly manner, informed him that Carnot would explain to him why his displacement at Lyons had become indispensable, and promised to attend to his interest as soon as military affairs would allow him some leisure time.  The second restoration found Fourier in the capital without employment, and justly anxious with respect to the future.  He, who, during a period of fifteen years, administered the affairs of a great department; who directed works of such an expensive nature; who, in the affair of the marshes of Bourgoin, had to contract engagements for so many millions, with private individuals, with the communes and with public companies, had not twenty thousand francs in his possession.  This honourable