matter which interests geography much more than hydrography, as most
sailors acknowledge, because there exist really but two initial
hydrographic meridians, Greenwich and Paris, a prime meridian has been
taken, the reign (practical influence) of which is principally over
the sea; and this meridian, instead of being chosen with reference to
the configuration of the continents, is borrowed from an observatory;
that is to say, that it is placed on the globe in a hap-hazard manner,
and is very inconveniently situated for the function that it is to
perform. Finally, instead of profiting by the lessons of the past,
national rivalries are introduced in a question that should rally the
good-will of all.

Well, gentlemen, I say that considerations of economy and of
established custom should not make us lose sight of the principles
which must be paramount in this question, and which alone can lead to
the universal acceptance and permanence of its settlement.
Furthermore, gentlemen, these motives of economy and of established
custom, which have been appealed to as a decisive argument, exist, it
is true, for the majority in behalf of which they have been put
forward, but exist for them only, and leave to us the whole burden of
change in customs, publications, and material.

Since the report considers us of so little weight in the scales, allow
me, gentlemen, to recall briefly the past and the present of our
hydrography, and for that purpose I can do no better than to quote
from a work that has been communicated to me, and which emanates from
one of our most learned hydrographers. "France," he says, "created
more than two centuries ago the most ancient nautical ephemerides in
existence. She was the first to conceive and execute the great
geodetic operations which had for their object the construction of