We have frequently watched him during the progress of long, animated, and stormy discussions, in which he would take no part.

In the excitement of the debate he was forgotten by the speakers, but we have often neglected to follow the chain of their reasoning, to fix our attention upon the features of Chopin, which were almost imperceptibly contracted when subjects touching upon the most important conditions of our existence were discussed with such eagerness and ardor, that it might have been thought our fates were to be instantly decided by the result of the debate.

At such times, he appeared to us like a passenger on board of a vessel, driven and tossed by tempests upon the stormful waves, thinking of his distant country, watching the horizon, the stars, the manoeuvres of the sailors, counting their fatal mistakes, without possessing in himself sufficient force to seize a rope, or the energy requisite to haul in a fluttering sail.
On one single subject he relinquished his premeditated silence, his cherished neutrality.

In the cause of art he broke through his reserve, he never abdicated upon this topic the explicit enunciation of his opinions.

He applied himself with great perseverance to extend the limits of his influence upon this subject.