A mysterious French letter written by Charles Mesner/Mesmier during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, to be delivered by a Hot Air Balloon mail to a place in Normandy to his mother, in the care of Monsieur Grossin/Grussin, dated December 06, 1870. The letter was recently posted in Australia’s National Archives. The Archives Nationales in France and the National Archives of Australia is conducting a collaborated research on the letter Charles mentioned his health and the days of the war.
Some excerpts are:
• “We don’t have meat every day and when we do get some, it is not very much, but we can easily get by as things are and no one in our household is complaining”
• “The desire to repulse the Prussians is right now the solitary concern of Paris. Any suffering can be borne rather than opening the gates of the capital to them”
• “We have taken their cannon and captured 1,000 prisoners – these days of good fortune have raised the morale of the fearful… We cannot succeed in all our attacks, but I have the firm conviction, my good mother, that the ultimate success will be for our just cause.”
Source: Guardian
By: Archa Dave
