The adventures and difficulties of the latter were now only beginning. The political ferment caused by the entrance of the French into Spain extended to these islands, and the ignorant populace began to suspect that Arago’s movements and his blazing fires on the top of Mount Galatzo were telegraphic signals to the invading army. They became ultimately so infuriated that he was obliged to cause himself to be incarcerated in the fortress of Belver in June 1808. On the 28th July he managed to escape from the island in a fishing boat, and after an adventurous voyage he reached Algiers on the 3d August. Under the disguise of a strolling merchant he procured a passage in a vessel bound for Marseilles. A journey, however, of eleven months was before him ere he was destined to reach that port, for the vessel fell into the hands of a Spanish corsair on the 16th August, just as it was nearing Marseilles. With the rest of the crew, Arago was taken to Rosas, and imprisoned first in a windmill, and afterwards in the fortress of that seaport, until the town fell into the hands of the French, when the prisoners were transferred to Palamos. After fully three months’ imprisonment they were released on the demand of the Dey of Algiers, and again set sail for Marseilles on the 28th Nov., but when within sight of their port they were driven back by a southerly wind to Bougia on the coast of Africa. Transport to Algiers by sea from this place would have occasioned a weary stay of three months; and with his usual courage, Arago set out for it by land under conduct of a Mahometan priest, reaching it on Christmas day, after encountering many perils from lions, and having uncomfortable squabbles with natives on the way. A six months’ stay in Algiers gave him opportunity to note the manners and habits of the people, of which he gives some amusing and graphic accounts. Once again, 21st June 1809, he set sail for his native land; and, as by some strange perversity of fortune, he had to undergo a monotonous and inhospitable quarantine in the Lazaretto at Marseilles before his difficulties were over. The first letter he received, while in the Lazaretto, was from Humboldt at Paris, sympathising with him, and congratulating him on the termination of his laborious and perilous enterprise; and this was the origin of a connection which, in Arago’s words, “lasted over forty years without a single cloud ever having troubled it.”

Through all the vicissitudes of this long campaign Arago had succeeded in preserving the records of his survey; and his first act on his return home was to deposit them in the Bureau de Longitude at Paris. As a reward for his adventurous conduct in the cause of science, he was shortly afterwards (17th Sept. 1809) voted a member of the Academy of Sciences, in room of the deceased Lalande, at the remarkably early age of twenty-three, being, to the vexation of Laplace, elected by a large majority of votes over his friend Poisson. Before the close of the same year (1809) Arago was chosen by the council of the Polytechnic school to succeed Μ. Monge in the chair of analytical geometry; and about the same time he was named by the emperor one of the astronomers of the Royal Observatory, which was accordingly his residence till his death. He was also made one of the examiners in connection with the École d ’ Application for engineers and artillery at Metz. In all these situations he rapidly attained very great popularity, gaining the esteem of his pupils by the charming clearness of his style in lecturing and the personal interest he showed in their progress.

In 1816, along with Gay-Lussac, Arago commenced a monthly journal of science, the Annales de Chimie et de Physique, which soon acquired that high scientific reputation which it has always maintained. In the same year the two philosophers visited England, and made the personal acquaintance of some of the most eminent men of that country, meeting among others Dr Thomas Young, a memoir of whom was afterwards written by Arago. In 1818 or 1819, Arago proceeded along with Biot to execute, on the coasts of France, England, and Scotland, the geodetic operations which the Board of Longitude had directed. They also measured the length of the seconds’ pendulum at Leith, and in Unst, one of the Shetland isles; the results of the observations being published in 1821, along with those made in Spain. He was elected a member of the Board of Longitude immediately afterwards, and proved a valuable addition to the society, contributing to each of its Annuals, for about twenty-two years, most important scientific notices on astronomy and meteorology, and occasionally on civil engineering, as well as interesting memoirs of members of the Academy.

After his appointment to the Observatory, Arago had commenced, at the request of the Board of Longitude, a series of popular lectures on astronomy, which were continued from 1812 to 1845. His success as a lecturer was almost unparalleled, and can only be compared to that of Faraday. All ranks flocked to hear him, fascinated by his graceful eloquence and his crystalline clearness of explanation. He used to remark, what many lecturers often forget, that “clearness is politeness in public speakers.” His manner in lecturing is said to have been to fix his eye on some one of his audience, whose intellect had apparently the minimum of development, and to keep it fixed till the face should brighten up with intelligence.

When Buonaparte’s hopes of empire in Europe had begun to wane, and he was turning to America as a land of refuge, where he might still have scope for his ambition, he suggested to Μ. Monge that, with a scientific guide, he should explore the new continent from Canada to Cape Horn, study the great physical wonders of that territory, and leave behind him works and discoveries worthy of himself. Monge named Arago as the proper associate and assistant in the enterprise, and had even negotiated with Napoleon for a handsome allowance to be granted to Arago, and for a fund to be devoted to the purchase of a complete set of astronomical and physical instruments. But Arago would not for a moment entertain the proposal. He pointed the emperor to the march of the English and Prussian armies on his capital as a matter demanding more pressing consideration, and declined to leave the Old World to study science in the New, “when France might perhaps lose its independence and disappear from the map of Europe.” Subsequent events prevented a renewal of Napoleon’s scientific negotiations and projects.

After the Restoration Arago took no very prominent part in the politics of the day, though he at all times maintained with boldness and ardour liberal opinione of the extreme republican type. By the revolution of 1830, however, he was summoned from the studies of the observatory and the laboratory to the field of political strife in the Chamber of Deputies, and in the Municipal Council of Paris. Elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies for the Lower Seine, he employed his splendid gifts of eloquence and scientific knowledge in all questions connected with public education, the rewards of inventors, and the encouragement of the mechanical and practical sciences. Many of the most creditable national enterprises, dating from this period, are due to the advocacy of Arago—such as the reward to Daguerre for his wonderful invention of photography, the grant for the publication of the works of Fermat and Laplace, the acquisition of the museum of Cluny (one of the sights of Paris), the development of railroads and electric telegraphs, the improvement of the navigation of the Seine, and the boring of the Artesian wells at Grenelle.

The year 1830 was a remarkable epoch in his life on account of several other offices to which he was appointed. He now received the chief direction of the Observatory, and from his position in the Chamber of Deputies he obtained grants of money for the rebuilding of part of the Observatory and for the addition of magnificent instruments, which raised it to be a model, in place of a public disgrace, as it had been before. In the same year, too, his zeal in the cause of science was rewarded with the highest honour any philosopher might aspire to—the perpetual secretaryship of the Academy of Sciences, in room of the distinguished Fourier. On the 7th June (1830) he was elected by 39 out of 44 votes. This appointment inspired new life into the Academy. Arago threw his whole soul into its service, and by his pleasing faculty of securing friendship and lifelong attachments, he gained at once for himself and for the Academy a world-wide reputation. As perpetual secretary it fell to him to pronounce historical éloges on the decease of resident or foreign members of the Academy; and for this duty his rapidity and facility of thought, his happy piquancy of style, and his extensive knowledge peculiarly adapted him. Some of his éloges are masterpieces of elegant biography. When Μ. Flourens pronounced Arago’s own funeral eulogy, he said, “In the eulogies of the eloquent secretary are found all the qualities of his spirit, d’une verve brillante, de la vigueur, de l ’ elan, un certain charme de bonhomie.”— (Comptes Rendus de l ’ Academie, t. xxxvii. p. 513.)

In 1834 Arago visited England for the second time, to attend the third meeting of the British Association, held that year in Edinburgh. From this time till the stirring events of 1848, Arago led a life of comparative quiet,— not the quiet of inactivity, however, for his incessant labours within the Academy and the Observatory produced a multitude of contributions to all departments of physical science, which make him one of the most voluminous of authors in this subject. But the change came. Louis Philippe, having failed to satisfy the extreme republican party, and to grant them those social advantages that they imagined a republic alone could yield, was swept from his throne, and Arago left his laboratory to join in forming an extempore government. His popularity was so great that he was entrusted with the discharge of two most important functions, that had never before been united in one person, viz., the Ministry of War and of Marine. Energetically and faithfully the philosopher of forty years’ standing applied himself to his new duties; and however ignominious may have been the ultimate failure of the Provisional Government, there can be little question that Arago struggled honestly in the cause of social liberty and improvement. While Minister of Marine he effected some salutary reforms, such as the improvement of rations in the navy and the abolition of flogging; he abolished political oaths of all kinds, and, against an array of monied interests, he succeeded in procuring the abolition of negro slavery in the colonies.

During the insurrection of June, Arago’s courage was conspicuously! displayed in his entreaties to the mob to stop their murderous outrages. For the first time in his life Arago failed, and he himself narrowly escaped with his life. With his mental and physical energies shattered by fatigue and disappointment, he terminated here his active political career, though he continued to the last to take an interest in the affairs of his country, and to watch for the dawn of a brighter future. Failing eye and trembling hand could now be of little use in the service of science; but warned by the disease (diabetes) that had attacked him, he determined to occupy his few remaining years in preparing for the press some MSS. of original researches which his political duties had prevented his communicating to the Institute.

In the beginning of May 1852 proclamation was made that the oath of allegiance to the Government of Louis Napoleon would be required from all its functionaries, including the Board of Longitude. Arago peremptorily refused, choosing to sacrifice his office and home of nearly half a century rather than violate the dictates of his conscience, which he would be doing if he complied, seeing that, as a member of the Provisional Government of 1848, he contributed to the abolition of all political oaths. In a letter to the Minister of Public Instruction, he intimated his resignation of his post as astronomer at the Bureau de Longitude, at the same time stating the services he had rendered to his country in the cause of science, and the grief which this separation from the scene of his labours of so many years would impose. To the credit of the Prince President, he respected the sentiments so boldly declared by the halfblind old philosopher, and made “an exception in favour of a savant whose works had thrown lustre on France, and whose existence his Government would regret to embitter.”

The tenure of office thus granted did not prove of long duration. Arago was now on his death-bed, under a complication of diseases, induced, no doubt, by the hardships and labours of his earlier years. In the summer of 1853 he was advised by his physicians to try the effect of his native air, and he accordingly set out for the Eastern Pyrenees, accompanied by his affectionate niece, Madame Langier. But the change was unavailing, and he returned to Paris to die. After a lingering illness, in which he suffered first from diabetes, then from Bright’s disease, and lastly from dropsy, he breathed his last on the 2d Oct. 1853, at the age of 67. The day before his death he had been visited by Lord Brougham, his old and intimate friend, and the interview had excited him much. Μ. Biot also had an interview with him only three hours before his death. Arago said to his veteran colleague and collabor ateτιr, "I intend to resign my situation of perpetual secretary to the Academy, since I can no longer discharge its duties.” Biot’s reply must have smoothed the pillow of the dying savant, “If you do, we will all come to you in a body to bring it back to you, and reproach you for your ingratitude.” A public funeral was, with good taste, decreed to Arago by the emperor, notwithstanding his refused allegiance to the Imperial Government, and it took place on the 5th Oct. with all the pomp and parade of an Imperial act. A beautiful and eloquent eulogy was pronounced over his tomb by the distinguished Μ. Flourens, who succeeded him as perpetual secretary of the Academy, while Μ. Barral performed the duty entrusted to him by the young philosophers of the public schools of the metropolis of giving utterance to their last adieu.

Thus closed perhaps the most singular career in the annals of science. Of Arago’s moral character it is difficult to form a true estimate, extolled as it is on the one side by his countrymen, and too severely criticised as it often is on the other side by British writers. Allowance must be made for the Spanish blood that flowed in his veins. The ardour of his temperament, his quick and far darting intellect, the powerful love of country which his youthful vicissitudes had only intensified, all combined to produce a consciousness of power, which, in the Academy of Sciences or in the management of the Observatory, might stamp his bearing as dictatorial, and which, in questions of national priority of invention, might render his judgment partial. With the imperiousness, perhaps, of a powerful intellect, Arago was free from that selfishness that has so often been exhibited by men who have enjoyed such high offices of trust during times of national disorder. He cared for money only as it supplied the wants of his experimental researches and the means of educating his family; he lived a simple and a frugal life; his income never exceeded £500 a year; and, refusing to accept any reward for his four months’ services as Minister of Marine, he sacrificed fortune for the sake of his country and of science.

From he personal history of Arago we turn to his literary and scientific labours and discoveries. It has been already shown that, as editor of the Annuaire or Almanac of the Board of Longitude, he commenced, in 1822, a series of regular contributions of scientific articles to that Annual, remarkable for their lucidity of style, united with mathematical accuracy of detail; that, as perpetual secretary of the Academy of Sciences, his éloges alone would have secured him lasting reputation; and that, as director of the Observatory, he rapidly restored its efficiency and completely remodelled it. He has, indeed, been often accused of doing little or nothing for the practical advancement of astronomy; and of shrinking from the steady and regular drudgery of observation as too tame to be congenial to his versatile mind. To reproach a man who has done much, because he has not done more, or because he has not followed in the beaten track, is, to say the least, far from generous criticism. His applications of physics to astronomical research—such as to his photometric...

Previous to the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the political constitution of Aragon was the most liberal in Europe. Formally monarchical, its genius and maxims were purely republican. The kings, who were long elective, retained only the shadow of power; while the real exercise of it was in the hands of the Cortes, an assembly consisting of the nobility, the equestrian order, the representatives of the cities and towns, and the clergy. No law could pass without the assent of every member who had a right to vote. Without the permission of the Cortes, no tax could be imposed, war could not be declared, nor peace concluded. Besides these, and other extraordinary privileges enjoyed by the Cortes, the Aragonese possessed another safeguard against despotic power in the election of a Justicia, or supreme judge, who acted as the guardian of the people, and the controller of the prince. He was the supreme interpreter of the laws, and was accountable to the Cortes alone for the manner in which he discharged the duties of his office. See Robertson’s History of Charles V. vol i. § 3.

The history of Aragon before its union with Castile by the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella, when it was merged in the kingdom of Spain, will be found in the general history of that country. It had, before this epoch, a succession of twenty sovereigns, from the year 1035 to 1516. See Zurita, Annales de Aragon; Viaje de Ponz; Geografia de Don Isidoro de Antilion; Historia, de la Economia Politica de Aragon, por Don. Ignacio de Asso.