GE to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, Limpsfield, 25 August [1870]
Title
GE to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, Limpsfield, 25 August [1870]
Title
GE to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, Limpsfield, 25 August [1870]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon
Date(s)
- 1870-08-25
Place
Limpsfield
Letter Content
GE to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, Limpsfield, 25 August [1870]
MS: Mr. Philip Leigh-Smith. Mostly published: Cross, III, 119-121.
Park Farm | Limpsfield | August 25.
My dear Barbara
We shall return to town on Monday, various small reasons concurring to make us resolve on quitting this earthly paradise.
I am very sorry for the sufferings of the French nation, but I think these sufferings are better for the moral welfare of the people than victory would have been. The war has been drawn down on them by an iniquitous Government, but in a great proportion of the French people there has been nourished a wicked glorification of selfish pride, which like all other conceit is a sort of stupidity, excluding any true conception of what lies outside their own vain wishes. The Germans, it seems, were expected to stand like toy-soldiers, for the French to knock them down. It was quite true that the war is in some respects the conflict of two differing forms of civilization. But whatever charm we may see in the southern Latin races, this ought not to blind us to the great contributions which the German energies have made in all sorts of ways to the common treasure of mankind. And who that has any spirit of justice can help sympathizing with them in their grand repulse of the French project to invade and divide them? If I were a French-woman, much as I might wail over French sufferings, I cannot help believing that I should detest the French talk about the "Prussiens." They wanted to throttle the electric eel for their own purposes.
But I imagine that you and the Doctor would not find us in much disagreement with you on these matters. One thing that is pleasant to think of, is the effort made everywhere to help the wounded. All this scribble is mere fringe to the information I wished to send you as to our whereabouts.
With best regards to the Doctor,
Yours always
M. E. L.
MS: Mr. Philip Leigh-Smith. Mostly published: Cross, III, 119-121.
Park Farm | Limpsfield | August 25.
My dear Barbara
We shall return to town on Monday, various small reasons concurring to make us resolve on quitting this earthly paradise.
I am very sorry for the sufferings of the French nation, but I think these sufferings are better for the moral welfare of the people than victory would have been. The war has been drawn down on them by an iniquitous Government, but in a great proportion of the French people there has been nourished a wicked glorification of selfish pride, which like all other conceit is a sort of stupidity, excluding any true conception of what lies outside their own vain wishes. The Germans, it seems, were expected to stand like toy-soldiers, for the French to knock them down. It was quite true that the war is in some respects the conflict of two differing forms of civilization. But whatever charm we may see in the southern Latin races, this ought not to blind us to the great contributions which the German energies have made in all sorts of ways to the common treasure of mankind. And who that has any spirit of justice can help sympathizing with them in their grand repulse of the French project to invade and divide them? If I were a French-woman, much as I might wail over French sufferings, I cannot help believing that I should detest the French talk about the "Prussiens." They wanted to throttle the electric eel for their own purposes.
But I imagine that you and the Doctor would not find us in much disagreement with you on these matters. One thing that is pleasant to think of, is the effort made everywhere to help the wounded. All this scribble is mere fringe to the information I wished to send you as to our whereabouts.
With best regards to the Doctor,
Yours always
M. E. L.
Signature
M. E. L.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Barbara [Mme Eugene] Bodichon, Limpsfield, 25 August [1870], Complete George Eliot Letters(2026), George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://www.georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/92988