The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-03-14
VACANT CHAIRS IN
FRENCH ACADEMY
Filling Vacancies Most
important Event
IN PARIS LITERARY WORLD

The Academy the Most Eminent OF
the Five Academies Constituting the
Institute Of Paris-Iimited to Forty
Members, known the World Over
a. the, Forty Innfortals.
BY W. W. SCOTT.
Paris. Feb. 9.-The filling of the.
four vacant chairs in the French
Academy is a great event in the liter
ary and social world Of Paris. Inc
French Academy UAcademie Fran
caise) is one of the five academies. and
the most eminent, constituting the
Institute of France. The other tour
Academies. are that of inscriptions
and Bells-Lettres, with 40 members.
of Sciences with 68 members, of Fine
Arts with 40 members, and of Moral
and Political Science with 40 mem
bers. The members of the nNe
academies are elected for life.
There are 40 members Of the great
academy. who are known the world
over as 1.-The forty immortals,' and in
spite of some sour grape criticism,
a chair GauteniD among them is the
highest ambition of most literary
Frenchmen. The Academy meets
twice weekly, at the Palace MaZa-in,
G3 Qud1 StHll, DC O6S IHC DAIuSC VI
Arts from the Louvre, Inc is deemed
appertaining to the niceties Of the
French language, to grammar, rhe-
toric and the publication of the
French classics"
It's great work upon which it has
been engaged almost since its foun-
dation, is the preparation OF the
Dictionary AS far as it has been
cnron1otad fitha DjefinpaYy', &c cojS
to be the most learned and compre-
hensive compilation of the kind in
the world, but the act that it has
not arrived at a point half way down
the length Of the alphabet furnishes
4 peg upon which iH-natured critics
hang their gibes and sneers.
The Academy was founded in 1886
by Cardinal Richelieu and for a few
years thereafter vacancies were filled
by voting viva voce upon nominations.
A member would say: L regard Mr..
X as a suitable person to fill the
Nacancy caused by the death of Mr..
Y; / move his election" This plan
was soon abandoned, the secret ball
lot being substituted for it and a ma
jority of the votes east constituting
an election. One of the rules is that
an applicant for membership must
make a formal call upon ach mem
Der and solicit his suffrage. This is
pail VI Tie cIiAuSllc- lid NOulo
happen if the forty immortals should,
Of their own motion, elect to mem
bership a person who had made no
application is another story and raises
a hypothetical question that is moi of
record. Il Office does not seek the
man.
The French Academy may be de-
scribed as being of conservative ten
dencies-less conservative, perhaps,
than formerly. when to be "~conserva-
tive" in France meant loyalty to the
Vatican and to one or another OF the
Bourbon, Orleanist and Bonapartist
monarchies. After Waterloo none but
a statesman Of genius could have con-
jured with the name of Napoleon in
France, and. though Napoleon the
Third was such a statesman, in spite
of the imputation of charlatanism
brought against him by Victor Hugo
and his followers. it is doubtful if he
Woul ever have succeeded in reviving
the empire but for Louis Phillipe's
faulty in bringing the ashes of
great Corsican from ST. Helena and
depositing them with pomp and cere-
mony in a sacred place in Paris, to be
kept as a patriotic relic. After Sedan
there was a strong sentiment still sub
siSting IN France in favor Of the claims
Of the Prince Imperial to succeed his
father. This sentiment, backed by
the great wealth of the ex-empress
and of his fathers cousin. the Princess
Mathilde, might AVE put him on the
throne if he had developed sufficient
strength Of character to give the
French people confidence In him. But
his tragic death in Zululand ended all
probability of realizing BonapaFtist
p~retensions to rule in France, for the
simple reasons that all the repre-
sentatiyes Of the family in Europe
lack eminent ability and that the glo-
rious but somber shade of the 1nya-
ildes is no longer a family fetch. but
a national inspiration. Relationship to
u own Washington is no longer a
political asset to the credit of any one
possessing hat enviable distinction.
The Comte de Chambord. head of the
B~ourbons. had a powerful backing in