A letter from a man to his mother flown out of Paris by hot air balloon during the Prussian siege in 1870 has turned up in Australia』s National Archives, which said Tuesday it was keen to discover the family』s fate。
The Franco-Prussian War saw the Germans completely surround Paris for more than four months that year。
1870年普法戰爭期間,巴黎被德國軍隊圍城4個多月。
Balloon mail was the only way communications from Paris could reach the rest of France, with dozens of flights made and hundreds of thousands of letters delivered。
用熱氣球傳遞書信便成為了巴黎民眾與外界溝通的唯一方式。數十個熱氣球送出了千千萬萬封書信。
One has been discovered by the National Archives。 It was penned in French on December 6, 1870 by a man named Charles Mesnier (or Mesmier) to his mother, care of Monsieur Grussin (or Grossin) at 8 Place de la Ville, Pont-Audemer, in Normandy。
「We』re not sure how it ended up in Australia, but it would be fascinating to know more。 If people see this it would be interesting to have more context in relation to this record。」
The letter was transferred to the archive』s Brisbane office from the former Queensland Post and Telegraph Museum in 2001, but there is no information about its origin。 It came to light recently as part of a joint project between the National Archives of Australia and the Archives Nationales in France。 In the letter, which is full of fervor, the man assures his mother he is in good health。
「We don』t have meat every day and when we do get some it is not very much, but we can easily get by as things are and no one in our household is complaining,」 he wrote。
「我們不是每天都有肉吃,即使有也不是很多,但我們生活過得去,家裡沒有人抱怨。」
Mesnier added, 「The desire to repulse the Prussians is right now the solitary concern of Paris。 Any suffering can be borne rather than opening the gates of the capital to them。」