New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-04-01
l. Paris. March l6.

This letter was partly written when the Anarchist
bomb explosion OF yestcrday-the latest at the time
Of wrltng-took place in the fashionable Church o'
| the Madeleine BY a happy chance. instead of the
| thousand hearers who were expected shorty aiter
for the Lenten sermon only the bearer OF the bomb
became a victim lie has already been ideh'hieu"
Amhdee Pauwels another friend. correspondent,
and even, so 1t is said. protected guest OF fau'
Reclus. In The Tribune of Tuesday FEBRUARY ~
IL letter OF protest against Identifying this latter
gentleman whom the writer seems TO thlnk ohy
an obscure Socialist with the celebrated physician
OF the same name. Nov, in reality faui hecluS
the man who seems mixed up In all these Anar-
chist attempts I'm France. and whom the ponce
would give much to lay hands on-is nether an op-
scure nor an uneducated Socialist living In the
workingmen's pat of Paris. but a scholar OF as
tlnctlon I'm the sciences and nephew OF the physi-
clan In question. II the Reclus family mas come
Into unpleasant notorety In connection Win 'ie
practical outcome of their teachings they nave "'
| ono to thank for 1t but themselves NO one mas
ever doubted the brilliant talent which mas won
distinction for every member OF the family. But II
| is time that even Americans should learn that
Anarchy red-handed with murder as 1t 49, mas 10
vulgar origin and Is not a mere stupid scheme OF
bloodthirsty criminals.
A FAMILY OF SCIENTIFIC ANARCHISTS
The elder Refuses 0ivc brothers and sister, are
the children Of d Protestant pastor OF the dirohue'
Ellie. the eldest who is the father OF PAU, the
present refugee, Is the author OF works on prihi-
| tive ethnology which have been translated into
! English Ellsee who comes next Is beyond DOUBT
! the most eminent of living geographers. beslues
his well-known book on The Earth long since pub
| shed in English. ne has now finished the seven
teen huge volumes OF a complete work on universal
geography He had recently returned from Sou'h
America TO which the last volume IS devoted, wheh
| the crime OF Valiant drew attention. first TO MS
nephew Paul and then to the connection OF the
whole family with the Anarchist movement. IL
was this which caused the free and free-thihklhg
University Of Brussels to suppress the course OF
lectures which he to give the present season.
! The consequent rebellion of the students ana OF
norton OF the faculty including the rector anu their
persistence In demanding that Professor heclus
should give his course in Brussels, as ne IL no"
actually doing, n Sign that may well puzzle
/ those who are unwilling to acknowledge the exist
ence OF literary Anarchy. Their action Is not 10 DE
COMPOUNDED with mere respect for distinguished tai
ent which was the few years ago, when
Elise Reclus candidate Tor the plehnid
prize Of the French Academy. He was then OPP
posed and eventually defeated. on the ground OF
his notorious political opinions. But the eight votes
he actually received were due to the eloquence OF
no less a parsonage than Melchoir de Vogue. the
leader Of the neo-Christian movement ana or the
| reaction of young France against scepticaI reNo-
tuition. This Academician whose life and literature
are at the opposite pole from all the Recluses' re-
fused to hold the of science responsible Tor
the acts of the revolutonst In fact the two elder
Refuses have nearly half century OF radical
revolution TO their account. Both had to take
refuge I'm England from Napoleon ILL., and both
took an active part in the Cummune. for when they
were sentenced to transportation Ellie escaped
again to England. and President Theirs comnuted
the sentence of F.see to Punishment out OF defer
ence TO a petition signed by such Englshmen OF
science as Professor Williamson Lord Amberey
and Charles Darwin. Meanwhile Onesime Recus'
the third brother began writing books on geog-
raphy. which have won general esteem; the iour'h
brother became distinguished engineer, ana the
fifth (whom the writer of the letter In The Tribune
deprecates associating with young Paul Reclus) Is
q physician of great merit who Is recognized as a
medical authority on tuberculosis. The sister mar
ried Professor Dum6n, who succeeded Michelet ana
Edgar Ouinet I'm the chair of history In the Uni
vers.ty OF France.
| "A 70 Paul Reclus who Is man OF thirty
two wears Of age he was graduated first In his class
nj the Ecole Centrale Until last year he directed
a soda factory near Nancy. Thither Pauwels the
dead Anarchist of yesterday. who had already been
expelled from Belgium. France and Luxempours'
came secretly and found employment He AFTER
ward went to Spain, where 1t is reasonably sup
nosed that he had 10 DO with the Barcelona eXplo-
sion Paul Reclus had just accepted an important
post as professor of physics in Constantinople when
attention was so forcibly drawn to him and ms
friends that he found II necessary to go into hiding
II is hard to say that the scientific Anarchy or
the Recus family is responsible directly for Anar-
chistic crime: but a singular light is thrown on the
connection between the two from the early history
OF the movement Anarchy as political creed was
Matched in the brain Of Bakunn. who was also the
father OF Russian Nihilism. Prince Krapotkn IAN
other defender OF scientific Anarchy. whose brill
! liant summaries Of recent progress In science are
published by no less a respectable authority than
the English Nineteenth Century Review') Is an
immediate disciple of Bakunn. From the death Of
the latter in 1876 he was an associate of Elisee
Reclus In the direction Of the Anarchist movement
Together they published the "Revolte" in Geneva.
and then in Lyons. where almost the first violent
manifestations OF the new spirit appeared. This
was over a dozen years ago; and Prince krapotkin
after a long Imprisonment at the hands OF the
French Government, took final refuge in England
the alma mater OF all conspirators against the
peace OF the rest OF the world.
ANARCHY AND NIHIr.IsM
An ATTEMPT has recently been made to establish
n wide distinction between Nihiliss and Anarchists
Rut apart from the fact that the Nihilists were
first in the field II is certain that their principles
agree I'm substance with recent Anarchy. Lavron
another disciple OF Bakunin. and leading mind OF
the Nihlists took his stand on distinctly Anarchist
grounds In essay published at Geneva under the
title THE Social Revolution and the Problems OF
Morals In this he openly professed hatred of all
actual forms Of social organization: and he just-
fed his scorn OF socalled Liberals. Radicals Nation
alists from their opposition to the destruction OF all
social order and to the setting up In It's place OF
Bakunin's reign of Justice" on the Continent It
was the Nihilists who led In the campaign OF dyna
mite Is It their example or is II the philosophy
common to both which s responsible for the MUIR
derous violence of practical Anarchists?
! The condemnation a few days go Of Jean Grave
because Of his book dying Society and Anar
chy" has drawn general manifestation OF
opinions that may help to make plain the real bear
ngs of scientific philosophic. or. as IT had best
be called literary Anarchy. Grave IS the latest
editor OF Elise Recuss "Rkvote." which has taken
the place In Paris OF the old "Revoe." He has
been sentenced to long imprisonment on the
ground that his book inctes to murder and sedi-
ton The protest IN his favor is signed by more
than one hundred grown men, all OF some distinc-