Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/398



was consecrated to reading the papers, which I had not seen since the 13th, in order to form an idea of the character, still very obscure, of the movement of the 18th of March. On Tuesday, the 21st, I presided as usual at the chambre des requêtes. At half past three, as I returned to my house, I was arrested, conducted to the Prefecture of Police, then to the dépôt, and later to Mazas, without being able to discover the motives which caused my arrest. To-day even, after forty-one days of detention, thirty-seven of them au secret, I know no more than on the first day, except from the vague information that I am held as a hostage.

"These, my dear Charles, in all their simplicity, are the facts which you wished to know. I abstain from all reflections which might be considered by my jailer as an obstacle to the departure of this letter.

"Well, my dear child—your age and your almost filial devotion authorize me to give you this title—what I have done I would do again, no matter what may be the unhappy results for my beloved family. In doing one's duty there is an interior satisfaction that permits one to bear with patience, and even with a certain suavity, the most bitter sufferings. It is the quotation of the Sermon on the Mount, of which I never before so well understood the sublime philosophy, 'Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'

"It is the same thought expressed by Sydney under another form, when beginning to laugh, while descending the steps of the Tower on his way to the scaffold, he replied to his friends, astonished at his gayety in such a moment, 'that one must do his duty and remain gay on the scaffold inclusively!'

"Far from discouraging you, let my example aid you to do your duty, no matter what may follow; for I can