An effort is being made among scientific men in England
to obtain, if possible, a commutation or remission of the sentence passed upon M. Elie& Reelus, the great French physical geo- grapher, —the English translation of whose profound and very graphic book on "The Earth" we reviewed with hearty appreciation in these columns not very many months ago. It is a book showing great imaginative intimacy with the Earth. M. Eliseo Reclus has been sentenced to transportation to a penal colony, for the crime of being found in arms under the Commune and against the Government. It does not appear to be doubtful that in this matter he could hardly have helped himself, if he would ; that he was in fact acting under compulsion ; nor that he had not struck a
blow nor fired a rifle on behalf of the Commune. His real crime was that, with the raw political judgment which purely scientific men often show, he undoubtedly sympathized with the Commune, and worse etill,was found to be an enrolled member of that dreaded society, the Internationale. It is, however, quite beneath the Government of France to make war on great scientific men of feeble political judgment who have not really contributed any- thing whatever to the success of the rebellion, and whose services to Science have been great. Poor Reclus is now so ill with his im- prisonment and poor diet, that be cannot stand without assist- ance. All the scientific societies of France have, with one voice, asked for his pardon, and now English science is likely, we are happy to hear, to unite in the same entreaty. After all, it would be pitiful for M. Thiers' Government, in their resentment against the French Commune, to take their revenge on the very Earth ; and they will do so, if they cause the death of one of the few of the Earth's true intimates.
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