Note 294 — BOOK X[262]
Alexander Teixeira de Mattos translation
On the 11th of January 1827, Charles Lacretelle proposed to his colleagues of the Academy to draw up a petition to the King against the suggested Press Law. M. de Lally-Tolendal opposed the motion, and asked why they should make a request which was bound to remain unsuccessful. Chateaubriand replied that conscience is not determined by the more or less probable chances of a useful result. Eighteen of the twenty-nine Academicians present voted in favour of the proposed petition. The King refused to receive the petition, and the Academy decided not to publish it (Mesnard, Histoire de l'Académie française).—B.