Collected Letters of Elisée Reclus

To Mrs. F. Elisée Reclus,
Paris, 25 October, 1870,

I don’t know what news the newspapers are giving you from Paris, but it is certain that under the blow of despair, morality is accrued in astonishing proportions. We have become better and it’s therein which gives me hope for the final success. They tell me that this morning seemed the order of the day was for mobilization of a portion of our national guard. I go naturally and sign up with all the other volunteers, but it seems to me that I will be not understood in this explanation, since we mobilizing first those who are not married and who haven’t yet attained the quarantine.

Tomorrow, our battalion will guard the ramparts. Our bastion was formerly one of the most threatened, it is today one of the most sure, and since it is protected, not only by the forces but also by a series of doubts. The health of all is good.

Elisée Reclus