John Barlow to Faraday   9 October 1846¹

26 Rue de Rivoli | Paris Oct 9

My dear Faraday

I persuade myself that you will not be sorry to hear that our French effort has hitherto been singularly successful. We have had fine weather, and, thank God, good health. The sun shone beautifully on us as we sailed from Harve to Rouen, and lighted up the scenery of the latter wonderful town as we looked down on it from the chapel of Notre Dame de bon Secours. It gave a special glory to the finest painted glass windows in the world Those of St Patrice at Rouen. Then, afterwards, in our two excursions to Versailles (at one of which we saw Le Grandes Eaux) to Meudon, to Neuilly, to Fontainebleau, we had the most enjoyable weather. I only hope that every friend who visits France may have so much delight as has been experienced by Mrs. Barlow, myself, and our travelling friend, yours also, Miss Grant². I am much interested by the French nation. It would be superlatively absurd for any body who has never seen the shores of the country in his life till 3 weeks ago, to do more than speculate in the most cautious manner, but if I might speculate, it would amount to this - Le Peuple is the end & aim of everything that is devised here and religion, Institutions, laws, authorities are valued only as they bear on that end. That at a flower show at the Luxembourgh there was a bust of Louis Philippe with an inscription beneath it. In England such an inscription, so placed, would have been "God save the Queen" in France it was "Dieu garde la France"[.] On the same principle it is I suppose that La Peuple, not choosing to be bored, or to have their wives & daughters offended insist on a very strict municipal discipline, & so one never sees a beggar, or any women whose dress or manner indicates that she gains a livelihood by prostitution "mais le diable n'y perd rein", in the called particular at least, I suspect, & it is again that the King has scarcely any privacy at the Tuilieries, or indeed any thing like reserve in any of his country palaces except when he is actually occupying them. Fancy such a state of things in England! How furious the Queen wd be if she were told that, when she was at Windsor, any tradesman of Paris who took the trouble to write to the Comr. of Woods & Forests, might walk through all her most private rooms at Buckingham Palace, & vice versa! - There is however much that we cannot but be pleased with in the King sharing whatever he can share with his people.

We have seen Dumas - we called on him yesterday. He was extremely kind. He spoke with much enthusiasm of your late discoveries, and commended Grove's highly. He did not seem aware of the fact of his being a Foreign Member of the Royal Institution. Surely I cannot be wrong in my impression that he became one about six years ago, and that yourself proposed him & Liebig at the same time³. I am to meet Dumas on Wednesday next⁴, so I would almost ask you to take the trouble of sending me, by return of post, so that I shall receive it on that day, a list of our Foreign Associates. Hopping [sic] the number is not sufficient to engage you long in writing it. I shall then receive your note on the day I see Dumas, and will officially inform him of what Daniell⁵ in this, as in other instances, neglected. Pray tell me if I can execute any commission for you or Mrs. Faraday in Paris. We shall be at home in about 17 or 18 days from this time. All things are, I hope, going on in such a manner at the Institution as to give you no trouble. Of this at least you may feel quite certain, that now, as always, whatever you do on my behalf, I shall be but too happy to adopt. Before I left England, I wrote to Lord Prudhoe telling him that, in my opinion at least, the Library & Laboratory ought to be brought under the entire control of the Board of Managers, and that the system of separate officers ought to be abolished⁶. I added however that in this nothing could be done at present, but that I wished him to know my opinion, which certainly has not been hastily formed. I think that it is never fair to take those, who may be influenced by knowing one's sentiments before hand, by surprise.

Goodbye my dear Faraday

Mrs. Barlow's best regards to Mrs F. & yself & to Miss M. Reid ever yr J.B.