the view of conferring on them the decorations of the legion of
honor--what was their answer? Permit me to read it, as extracted from
our papers, for it is one of those things that will bear a second
reading.

"_To the Secretary of War_:

"_General_--We come in the name of the Polytechnic school, to express
our gratitude on the subject of the crosses of honor awarded to us:
but the recompense appearing to us above our services, and, moreover,
no one of us deeming himself more worthy than his comrades to receive
it, we beg permission to decline accepting them.

"There is a favor, however, we desire to ask of you. One of our
comrades, Venneau, perished on the day of the 27th: We recommend to
your kindness his father, who is in the service of the government,
in the collection of the revenue. We recommend, farther, to your
kindness, General, another of our comrades, Charras, dismissed from
the schools by General Bourdsoulle on account of his opinions. We ask
that he may be restored to our ranks, in which he did good service
these few days.

"In the name of the Polytechnic school, the two scholars deputed by
their comrades,

J. DUPRESNE,
FERRI PISANI.

_August 7th, 1830._"

There is no parade here. It is the simple voice of nature, and goes,
at once, to the heart of every reader. Such is France: radiant with
taste and feeling and generosity in every department of her society:
"in war, the mountain storm--in peace, the gale of spring." Long may
the sun of liberty gild with his glories her vine-covered hills, her
laughing valleys and her splendid cities.

With no pretence of right, and no wish to interfere with the political
institutions of other countries, but, on the contrary, holding it to
be the right of all to pursue their own happiness, in their own way,
and under the form of government which they deem most conducive to
that end--yet believing, as we do, that civil and religious freedom
are essential to the happiness of man, and to the development of the
high capacities, mental and moral, with which his Creator has endowed
him, it is natural for us to rejoice when we see any nation, and more
especially one so endeared to us as France, coming, of her own accord,
into the fold of free governments. If there be any people who believe
that their peace and order and happiness require the curb of a
despotic government, be it so: their believing it, is proof enough to
us that it is so, with regard to them: And howev