Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880).

The War of 1870. He asks for news. ‘The certainty here in Rouen that Paris is holding firm has restored confidence.’ His parents in Champagne have sent him a letter full of dread: ‘They are preparing to evacuate, just as in 1815. – But thank God we are not there yet.’ […] The stupidity and inertia of the Rouen authorities leave nothing to be desired. On the initiative of my brother and Raoul-Duval, the city is to send a battalion of 500 men to the Ministry of War, which it will maintain at its own expense. The worker is like the authorities: he sleeps. Oh, what stupidity! What a lesson, my dear!”… Correspondance (Pléiade), vol. IV, p. 224.