ELISEE BECLUS AND HIS OPINIONS. 403 



the theorician than Reclus the eminent geographer, whose fasci- 

 nating books on geography have vivified a science too often pre- 

 sented in dull and lifeless shape before the world. As great a 

 geographer as Humboldt, he surpasses him in the fact that, like 

 all Frenchmen, and unlike most Germans (and Humboldt was no 

 exception), he is a fine stylist. His eloquent, graceful periods 

 make even dry dissertations pleasant reading. Had he not held 

 such extreme opinions he might have attained even greater fame, 

 if this be possible. In any case we might have had more scientific 

 books from his pen had he not given so much time to writing and 

 speaking on his hobby. As this hobby reveals the man, may we 

 expose it in these pages, without, however, on that account com- 

 mitting ourselves to any idea that we share them or wish to com- 

 mend them to our readers. But a psychological study is always 

 worth making, especially when the subject is so eminent and 

 world-known. Before laying before our readers Reclus's mature 

 opinions, let us cast a glance over his past. 



Elisee Reclus is the son of a French Protestant minister, one of 

 twelve children, of whom several have distinguished themselves 

 in various departments. With a father so overweighted with an 

 enormous progenj'" it is obvious that Reclus early made acquaint- 

 ance with the pinch of poverty, for to maintain such a family in 

 luxury would drain even the resources of purses deeper than 

 those of French Protestant pastors. Elisee was educated in Rhen- 

 ish Prussia, and his university studies were made at Berlin. It 

 was no doubt in that city that he became inoculated with rev- 

 olutionary ideas, for his student life fell in the time of ferment 

 that preceded the uprising of 1848. Owing to his extreme demo- 

 cratic opinions, he left France after the coup d'etat of December 

 2, 1851, and for several years traveled through Europe and 

 America. It was on his return from these that he first wrote 

 for the Revue des Deux Mondes and other periodicals the ac- 

 count of his journeys and geographical researches, which at once 

 placed him in the forefront of all living geographers. But side 

 by side with these geographical studies he continued to take an 

 interest in social politics. It was he who was the first to point 

 out in France the rights and wrongs of the American war of se- 

 cession. It was he who helped to enlighten French public opinion 

 concerning the cause defended by Lincoln. In consequence, the 

 minister of the United States in Paris proposed that, as an ac- 

 knowledgment of the great services rendered by Reclus, a consid- 

 erable sum of money should be presented to him. This money the 

 young learned man indignantly refused, although at the time he 

 was in great pecuniary straits. He stated that he wrote entirely 

 that right and liberty might triumph, and not for pecuniary per- 

 sonal recompense. Soon after this he published his magnificent 



