New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-04-08
HIPPOLYTE CARNOT.
SON OF A GREAT FATHER AND FATHER OF
A GREAT son.

Inc ImprcoS Augusta uaS scno
letter Of coincidence TO Madam Garnet, the
widow Of Senator Carnot, for whose answering
rectitude and elevation OF soul and mind she
was full of sympathy and admiration. She
writes as one who has lost the dear and much
priced companion of sixty years TO a person in
the same situation, and assumes that while the
shadow of death was gathering over Madame Car
not's hearth there was the consoling feeling that
a higher life was about TO open. No happiness
could be greater than strongly grounded hope to
this effect; and in NJ Carnots case it would
have arisen from pure and good conscience,
faith in God as revealed to that conscience, and
that moral strength which life of duty brings
forth even when the decreptitude OF old age is
paralyzng the body and enfeeblng the mind.
The Empress wrote in French and with her own
hand which, to Judge from the writing guides
her pen with difficulty. But the date was writ
ten by amanuensis The Empress says that
as German she is proud to think that many years
of NJ. Carnot's life were-and that at an age
when the mind is most impressionable-spen in
Germany. She also says: = pray for spiritual
strength to be given you more and more and trust
you will ask for the same favor to be vouchsafed
to me by the God which | try to worship, and
VIII m know your husband worshipped in spIlt
and in truth
There were strong inducements offered to the
great Carnot when he was young man. Prince
Henry of Prussia. one Of the most amiable, the
most music-oving and intelligent members Of
his house, towards the close Of the century was
travelling in Burgundy, and went to hear
prize essay read at the Academy there by " an
artillery cadet named Carnot.' The Prince saw
in the essay mind of ordinary capacity.
He sought the acquaintance Of the author, and
struck with his modesy the luminousness
of his intellect, his great technical ability and
his extreme goodness Of heart. Prince Henry
reported to his Government on the military genius
he had discovered, and was authorized to ask him
to accept high post in the Prussian artillery.
The offer was tempting, for the French army
was Just then regarded Of furnishing
outdoor relief to the younger Of great aristo
cratic families. Cannot was very much alive to
this abuse which had become a cause Of serious
inferiority But he reflected that duty should
20 before self-1nterest. A presentiment warned
him that France would soon need his services,
and notwithstanding her faults. he loved his
country So lie declined the King of Prussia's
offer.
What is still more worthy Of remark is, that
in Carnots essay on Nauban was scheme for
turning the nation into army and so sup
pressing regular standing armies. This scheme
was taken up by Prince Henry and after the
defeat Of Jena was worked out by Schdrmhorst.
The genesis Of the military system of Prussia is
therefore to be traced to the essay read before
provincial academy hundred and twenty years
ago by an obscure cadet Of genius. France let
her armies fall from the honest direction Of
Carrot under the magnificent power of Bonaparte.
Prussia. owing to the hazard Of Prince Henry be-
ing at Dion, took up ultimately the young artillery
officers scheme, which to enable nations TO
preserve their liberties at home and the independ-
ence of their frontier. BOnaparteanism and
Carnotism met at Sedan The ideas Of the citizen
who organized the victories of tho revolution in
so far as they applied " the formation OF armies
overcame there the pretoranism Of Napoleon III.
The obseQues of Senator Carnot were celebrated
at the Church OF St. Philippe du Roub The
parish priest and the Archbishop of Paris no
doubt, overlooked the fact that he died without
receiving any ecclesiastical passport for the other
world. They were too glad TO connect q name
so honored as his with Roman Catholicism, to
which he wished for many years to be anch,red,
but with very loose cable. He discarded the
letter and attached himself to the spirit, and
rarely went into church of any kind in which
he did not realize the communion of saints and
a higher presence than that of mere humanity.
When he was i'll for the first and last time in
his life he asked for Sister Of Charity TO be
fetched to attend him, but did not wish to
see priest His funeral was of almost Protestant
simplicity. The hearse was fourth-cass one,
drawn by two horses. The hfth-cass hearse is the
lowest that there is. Daylight was not excluded
from the church. the black curtains which draped
the nave being attached few yards
from the ground 10 the pillars as window curtains
might be- There were not many tapers either round
the catafalque or the high altar, but the wreaths
grouped around the coffin were numerous. Those
not sent by private friends revealed the subjects
in which the Senator public man or citizen
took an interest. They were from the pupils or
the High Schools of Paris for young girls; from
the Ethnographic Society. from the society OF Re-
publican Instructor from the Alsace-Lorraine
Society, the Polish Refugees, the Philotechnic
Society and from the Girls Handicrafts School
The German Embassy was the first diplomatic
group to arrive 1t attended in full dress, which
was quite exceptional, every one tlSe coming in
street clothes The Embassies Of Great Britain.
Russia, Spain the Chinese Legation, clothed in the
Celestial STYLE the Persian, American and Portu-
guese legations followed Italy was lmperfectly
represented. When the Ambassadors and Minis
tiers had been shown to their seats the Carnot fam
ily arrived and were conducted to chairs In 'front.'
of the high altar the central place being given 20
the elder Madame Carnot She had on her right
the President Of the Republic and his wife and
children and on her left Adolphe Carnot, the engl-
neer her second son, and his children. The la
dies were in coarse black stuff, plainly made, lus-
treless and deeply trimmed with Grape. They
wore shaws and black bonnets from which long
thick wells depended which hid their faces and
almost touched their feet That part Of the nave
between the coffin and the portal was set apart for
the House of Deputies, the Senate the Council oil
State and the Judges. Diplomacy was granted
pews set up for the occasion in the sides oil the
chancel. Friends Of no official rank were given
the aisles thought it pity that there was not
finer music We had only the organ and the usual
singers of the choir. But as the coffin was being
taken from the catafalque TO the hearse the noble
Il .I.n.a srnlnnllllu nlaNel