y nature, will not
raise exciting questions of national pride is that of a meridian
having a character of absolute neutrality. If the adoption of such a
meridian was admitted in principle, I am certain that a discussion
based upon pure science, and following the best conditions which it
should realize, would conduct us rapidly to a practical settlement of
the question.

In such a discussion the arguments which ought to prevail should be,
before everything, drawn from science, the only source of truth which
alone can enlighten us, so as to permit us to form a sound judgment,
and to decide solely upon considerations of a purely scientific
nature.

In addition to these considerations, I am not ignorant that there are
others. I refer to questions of economy of which it is necessary to
take count. As to political interests, if there are any, our eminent
colleagues who represent so worthily the diplomatic element in this
assembly would see that they had due weight, and, thanks to this
assembly of men distinguished, some in science and others in
diplomacy, there was every reason to hope that the final practical
solution of the question which we are seeking would not be long in
being made clear to us all by the discussions.

Moreover, this practical solution appears to me already to follow from
what our honorable colleague, M. JANSSEN, has told us on that subject.
The principle of the neutral meridian once adopted, there would still
to be discussed the conditions which it should fulfil and the
determination of its position. Two things must be considered, either
the meridian will be exclusively over the ocean, and then, by its very
nature, it will be neutral, or it will cut some island, and in that
case nothing would prevent an international diplomatic convention
making neutral the plot of land on which it was desirable to establish
an observatory, which would in reality be a very small matter. Of
these two solutions, both of which satisfy the conditions which the
meridian ought to fulfil in its character of neutrality and by the
requirements of science, I prefer the second. I wish merely to suggest
by what I have said how it would be possible to arrive at a practical
solution of the question, since now I am only speaking of the adoption
of the principle of the neutral meridian.

I conclude, gentlemen, by declaring that I shall vote in favor of the
adoption of a meridian with a character of absolute neutrality, and in
doin