New-York tribune., 1907-12-29
THE INSTITUTE
OF FRANCE
TE4T THE FAMOUS OR.
G4NIZATTON INCLUDES
Recent Election Thereto of an Amer-
ican and It's Relation 10 the
Academie Franccise.
.copyrsght, 1907, by the Brentwood COMPANY. All
rghs TeservedD

tCopyrsght. 1907. by Brentwood Company All
rghs Teserved.)
J. Lcubat's election and installation the other
Gay as a foreign member Of the Institute of
France constitute distinction SO rarely ac-
corded TO Americans that few words of ex-
PLANTATION as TO the nature Of the honor bestoweI
by the most famous organization of its kind in
the world may be of timely interest 1t is all the
more necessary since good deal of confusion
prevails as to the difference between the
called Academic Francaise with its Forty Immor-
tails and that Institute of France to which the
late Due d'Aumaie at his death bequeathed his
beautiful palace Of Chantilly with all the price
Jess art treasures with which it was filed and
the stately park by which X is surrounded.
The confusion is all the more natural when it
is borne In mind that the particular branch of
the institute to which ]. Loubat-a duke by the
grace Of the Pope-has just been elected is
known the Academy of Inscriptions and of
Belles-Lettres which, like the great academy
founded by Richeieu, is composed of forty
members So that the impression might readily
be conveyed that Americas only duke had been
admitted to the Academic Francaise were it not
for the fact that the latter. unlike the other
branches of the institute. does open its doors
TO foreigners.
The Academic Francaise. like the Academy of
Inscriptions and of Bellies Lettres forms part of
the Institute Of France The latter as now con-
stituted. Is composed Of five academies. Each of
them was founded at different time the oldest
end the most important of them all. as well as
that enjoying the greatest amount of fame both
home and abroad. being the Academic Fran
caise. The second is the Academic des Inscrip-
tions et Belles-Lettres. The third is the Acad-
enie des Sciences. The fourth is the Academic
des Beaux Arts and the fifth is the Academic
6eS Sciences Morales ct PoIitiQues
With the exception of the Academic Francaise,
the other four have foreign members those
of the Academic des Inscriptions ct Belles-Let-
tres being limited to eight. The Duke of Loubat
Is the only American who has ever been ad-
mitted 10 this particular academy. The painter
John S. Sargent. is the sole American member
of the Academic des Beaux Arts. while Pro-
fessor Newcomb, of Washington. and Pro-
fessor Alexander Agassiz, Of Cambridge, Mass.
belong to the Academic des Sciences. AS far as
the native membership is concerned, ii is re-
stricted to forty in each academy save that of
-he Academic des Sciences, which has sixty
three members. Let me add that all the members
OF the various academies entitled wear
the same kind of uniform. consisting of dark
green coat and trousers, the coat covered with
embroidered palm leaves. With this goes a
cooked hat and court sword.
DATES BACK TO 1895.
The Institute of France virtually dates from
1875, when the Republican Convention in def
erence TO the pressing recommendations of Car
not called il into existence in order take the
place of the Academic Francaise Of the Acad-
emie des Beaux Arts, of the Academic des In
scrptions ct Belles-Lettres, and of the Academic
oes Sciences, which had been suppressed by the
convention in an edict dated April s, 1913. The
institute played it may be remembered, an i'm
portant role in connection with NapoIeons
Egyptian campaign, and it is 10 the members of
tine National Institute Of France attached to his
staff that the world is indebted for the opening
UP Of that science of Egyptology which has
brought within the range of modern study the
history of the Pharaoh dynasties and of a mar |
vellous civilization that until then unbeknown to
US, was in existence many thousands of years
before the birth of Christ
Napoleon was so much impressed with the i'm |
portance of the discoveries made on the banks |
of the Nile by the members of the institute |
among his suite that he attained SUI |
preme power First Consul he took upon him |
self TO reorganize its constitution the leading |
features Of his reforms being redivsion of the |
body into four classes and the adoption of by |
law exacting the approval Of the head OF the /
state by his sign manual to the election of the |
members. At the same time he decided that the |
institute, which had until then been quartered |
in the Louvre, should cross the Seine and |
take possession Cf the stately building until
known as the College of the Four Nations /
founded by Cardinal Mazarin.
When that prelate on his deatht ed he de- |
termined to endeavor to atone in the sight of |
history for his inconcevable greed, gross
ruption and shameless dishonesty by devoting |
portion of his colossal wealth TO the establish
ment Of college where the sons of gentlemen /
Of birth and breeding should receive educa-
ton. His idea was that the pupils should be
recruited not much from France but rather
from the four nations added to the kingdom in
the course of his administration, in the expecta-
tion that the students thus educated in Paris
would afterward return to the lands of their birth
and by spreading the knowledge which they
had acquired the banks of the Seine would
strengthen Gallo influence in the conquered ter
ritories and confirm upon the latter the hold Of
France
COLLEGE OF FOUR NATIONS.
He anxious that the school should be
known the college of MaZarin." But the
foreign character Of the pupils led TO its being
dubbed the College of the Four Nations MAJ
arin left specific instructions 10 the site
of the college, and number Of years were vast |
tlaar