if any, is against the government of that country, in which bis own sovereign will not interest himself. Such has been the doctrine and practice of the United States and of the great powers of Europe, and this Government, therefore, cannot intervene in behalf of Mr. Fougen, or of any citizen of the United States, under the same circumstances. I am, &c., HAMILTON FISH. No. 429.] No. 137. Mr. Washburne to Mr. Fish. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Paris, April 28, 1871. (Received May 12.) SIR: There has been but very little change of situation in Paris since I had the honor of addressing you my last dispatch. The Versailles troops have been vigorously bombarding the forts of Issy and Vanves for the past two or three days, but they have not yet taken possession of either of them. Constant fighting has been going on at Asnieres and the surrounding villages since Wednesday, but I can hear of no results. The applications for passes by the Alsatians and Lorrainers continue to be made in large numbers. I have already given more than fifteen hundred. Yesterday I ascertained that the authorities of the commune had, from a day or two before, been requiring a visa from the prefecture of police for all the laissez-passers I had given, and a fee of two francs for each visa. I immediately sent to the prefect to make a remonstrance, and he very promptly agreed to waive the formality which requires the holder of a pass to appear at the prefecture and pay the fee, and to put the stamp of the prefect upon such blank laissez-passers as I might send him. In my No. 427 I spoke of the interview of Mr. Malet and myself with Mr. Paschal Grousset, in regard to the protection of the apartments of foreigners. The Journal Officiel of the commune yesterday contained a notice on this subject from Mr. Grousset, a copy of which I inclose herewith, and which you will perceive goes as far as any one could ask. We are yet in the dark as to the design of the Versailles government, so far as regards the reduction of Paris-whether an attempt will be made to take it by assault or whether it will be besieged. It will be six weeks to-morrow since the insurrection broke out, and the prospect of its suppression seems as remote as ever. I propose to go to Versailles to-morrow, and to return on Monday. While there, I shall endeavor to present my letter of credence to Mr. Thiers. SIR: Cluseret, having "strutted his brief hour on the stage," was suddenly withdrawn from public view on Sunday night last, having been arrested by order of the commune and thrust into the Conciergerie. When his arrest became known yesterday, it produced a great deal of excitement in the city. There are various surmises in regard to the causes of this extraordinary arrest. The Journal Officiel of the commune of this morning says it is on account of his incapacity and his negligence, which had compromised the possession of the fort of Issy. There is another report that the late "delegate to the war department" was concerned in a plot to overthrow the commune; another, that he had sold himself to the Versailles government; and yet another, that he was a mere agent of the Orleans faction. At any rate, he is in jail, and a report is current to-day that he is to be sent to a military tribunal. Mr. Cluseret has been the leading figure in the insurrection for the past three or four weeks, wielding an immense power, and I am surprised that, having control of the army as he has had, he should have permitted himself to be thus "taken off." This arrest, together with a decree which appears in the insurrectionary Journal Officiel of this morning, organizing a committee of public safety, to consist of five members named by the commune, with the fullest powers and responsible only to the commune, has created a greater feeling of terror in the whole community than anything I have seen yet. Cluseret is succeeded by Colonel Rossel, who is a graduate of the polytechnic school, and an engineer officer in the regular army. He was in the army of the Loire, and, I believe, was recommended for a brigadier general, but the ap pointment was not made; whereupon he joined his fortunes to those of the commune. It was believed at Versailles, when I left there at 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon, that the fort of Issy was taken, but the papers of the commune this morning deny it, and claim that they yet hold it. There are indications of a more desperate energy than I have yet seen. If the fort of Isry shall fall into the possession of the government, the forts of Vanves and Montrouge must very soon thereafter follow suite. When that takes place, I think we may expect a breach soon to be made in the walls of the city, and an attempt be made to enter. In the madness which prevails here, I will not undertake any prediction of what will happen in the event of an attempt to take the city by assault. I found at Versailles yesterday that a more cheerful feeling prevailed in the military circles, and great confidence was expressed that in one week the government would be master in Paris. From what I see and know of the situation here, I must say I have great doubts on the subject. I regret to say that I consider the life of the archbishop of Paris in the most imminent danger. The report that Prince Bismarck had determined to intervene to save the life of the archbishop, having unfor tunately got out, caused great excitement. On Sunday last a party of the national guards made their way into the prison of Mazas, with the avowed purpose of shooting the archbishop. Most fortunately, a member of the commune made his appearance at the moment, and was able to prevent the purpose from being carried out. The regular keepers of the prison were very much alarmed, and removed the archbishop from the cell which he occupied to another in a different part of the prisonWhat was prevented on Sunday by the accidental presence of a member of the commune may happen any day. Having reason to believe that General Fabrice is charged by his government to do what he can to save the life of the archbishop, and charged as I am here with the protection of German interests, as well as in the interests of humanity, I have deemed it my duty to send him a confidential verbal message, by a member of my legation, advising him of the present critical position of the archbishop, to the end, if he have any instructions to intervene, that he may take such steps in the matter as he may deem proper. I have, &c., E. B. WASHBURNE. No. 433.] No. 139. Mr. Washburne to Mr. Fish. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Paris, May 5, 1871. (Received May 19.) SIR: I shall send a dispatch-bag to London to-night, but shall have nothing of very great importance to communicate to you. Military movements under the walls of Paris have been more active for the past few days than at any time since the insurrection began, but I cannot see that the Versailles troops have made any great headway. After all the talk, the fort of Issy has not yet been taken, but I consider it impossible for it to hold out much longer. The bombardment of all of our portion of the city, from Mont Valerien and the fortifications at Courbevoie, was much heavier yesterday than it had been any day previous. Shells came down the Champs Elysées as far as the Palace of Industry. Of course I have no knowledge of the plans of the government troops, or what the expectation of the Versailles people is at the present moment, as to how soon they will be able to suppress the insurrection; but I must say now, as I have before said, that I see no immediate prospect of a speedy termination of this frightful contest. While the government, for six or seven weeks, has been concentrating its troops and gathering strength, the commune has been strengthening itself in a greater ratio. With an army of seventy or eighty thousand effective men, well armed and equipped, with an abundant supply of cannon of every caliber, and of mitrailleuses, with more ammunition than could be consumed in a year, with gun-boats upon the Seine, with the possession of all the forts on the south side of the city, it can well be imagined that it is no small job to take Paris at the present time, with its enceinte, and prepared, as it has now become, by its interior barricades and defenses, to resist at almost every step. And the pecuniary resources of the commune are unbounded, for it holds in its own grasp all the wealth of Paris. only has to make its decrees, to be enforced by the national guard, to seize everything of value upon which hands can be laid. It not only lays under contribution every source of revenue, but it has now commenced an organized pillage. As I am writing, an Alsatian who has called upon me to ask my protection, as. being a German subject, informs me that night before last some national guards, armed with the authority of the committee of public safety, invaded the magnificent hotel of Mr. Martin, (du Nord,) one of the richest manufacturers in France, in the rue de Paradis, and carried off everything they could find-furniture, plate, jewelry, decorations, &c., &c. The sole allegation against him was that having been a colonel in the national guards, he had left Paris and gone to Versailles. As time runs on, these outrages will increase in number, and without the warrant of any pretended authority whatever. Nothing can be more terrible than the present prospect in Paris, and the discouragement of all the better classes has become complete. I continue to have the greatest anxiety for the large interests of our coun- 1 trymen here, as well as of those Germans who are under my protection, It and I propose to remain to protect them as long as my services can be of any value. The little that is to be done at Versailles at the present time can be attended to by Mr. Hoffman as well as by myself, and, as the interests which I represent are still so much more important in Paris, I have deemed it my duty, disagreeable as it is, to remain here most of、 the time. The subjects of Alsace and Lorraine continue to throng the legation from morning until night, seeking laissez-passers and protection. The number of persons to whom I have given passes now reaches twenty-five hundred. I wrote to Prince Bismarck of the action I had taken in this regard, and he has directed General Fabrice, in command of the German forces now stationed near Paris, to thank me for what I have already done, and to request me to continue to act in the same way. I propose to go to Versailles to-morrow and to pass the Sabbath with my family near Rambouillet, and to return here again on Monday. Our last dates are, from Washington, April 21, and from New York, the day following. I have, &c., No. 140. E. B. WASHBURNE. No. 437.]. Mr. Washburne to Mr. Fish. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, (Received May 26.) · SIR: The crisis seems to be really approaching. You will have seen the announcement of the capture of the fort of Issy by the Versailles troops, and the report this evening is that the fort of Vanves has also fallen. The government, having apparently completed the preparations, is now attacking Paris with great fury. The new and powerful battery of seventy-two guns of the heaviest caliber at Montretout has been firing for the past few days on the enceinte, and particularly on the gate of Versailles. Large numbers of the government troops have crossed the Seine at Sevres, and, through the village of Boulogne-sur-Seine, advanced into the Bois de Boulogne. It is said that they were yesterday establishing breaching-batteries at a point not more than two or three hundred yards from the ramparts. When a breach shall be made in that direction, there will be little difficulty in coming inside of the walls and taking possession of Passy-in fact, of all that portion of the city in the neighborhood of the Arc of Triumph. The insurrectionary force are said to have been withdrawn from these positions, and the resistance that will be made by the insurgents will be in other parts of the city. I thought a week ago that the opposition would be greater than I am now satisfied it will be. The continued hammering away of the government troops, the surprise and capture of the redoubt Moulin Sacquet, the taking of Fort Issy, and the inevitable fall of the fort of Vanves, have created great demoralization in the city. Yesterday was a day of panic. The announcement of the capture of Fort Issy, and the extraordinary letter of Rossel, the delegate at the war department, giving his resignation, (a copy which I send herewith as a sort of historic document,) created a great commotion. The desperate wrangles in the commune, and the quarrel between that august body and the central committee, which were all well known to the public, added to the general excitement. The members of the committee of public safety, as it was first organized, not having met public expectations, were suddenly discharged, and five other men of the most desperate character in the commune (one of them being a murderer) were appointed. Rossel, like his predecessors, Assi, Bergeret, and Cluseret, was arrested, and ordered to be sent to a military tribunal. It seems that he was put in charge for safe custody into the hands of one of the members of the commune, and it appears to-day that both the prisoner and his keeper have run away. Deleschuze, a notorious agitator, has been appointed to the war department in the place of Rossel, and if the Versailles troops do not come in, he may run a week before he finds a hospitable shelter within the walls of Mazas. Signs of demoralization and discouragement are everywhere visible. The national guard is being weakened every day, not only by its losses in actual combat and in prisoners, but by vast numbers of desertions. Almost every man who has the chance to do so with any degree of safety to himself is slipping out of the service, and instead of an army of sixty or eighty thousand, as claimed a week ago, I do not believe onehalf that number can be counted on to-day. A good many think that, in the present feeling of discouragement, the government troops could enter and retake Paris without any serious resistance; but others, of an equal number, look upon a desperate contest and the shedding of a great deal of blood as inevitable. The worse things grow, the more desperate the commune becomes. One of its last acts is a decree for the immediate demolition of the house of Mr. Thiers. Pillage, under the name of "perquisitions," is the order of the day. All the churches are either closed or converted into club-houses. That immense edifice, the old and historic church of St. Eustache, has been the favorite place of resort for the revolutionary and turbulent population of the central part of the city. All the convents have been shut up, and all the priests and a large number of the Sisters of Charity have been imprisoned. All of the valuables belonging to the churches and to the convents have been stolen and carried off. The archbishop is still in prison, and his situation is becoming daily more and more dangerous. I am interesting myself officiously in endeavoring to have him exchanged for Blanqui, who is under sentence of death for contumacy for his part in the attempted insurrection of the 31st of October last. The commune has once agreed to make the exchange, which Mr. Thiers declined, but the archbishop, who I saw in prison yesterday, thinks he may now agree to it, in view of the increasing dangers to which he is exposed. In addition to the letter of Rossel, I send you a copy of the proclamation of Mr. Thiers to the people of Paris, and also, as a curiosity, I send you some numbers of the insurrectionary journals published in the city. Of the papers I have been in the habit of sending you, all have been suppressed except the Siecle. Applications for laissez-passers for the Alsatians and German Lorrainers continue to be made in great numbers. We have given two hundred and forty-three to-day, making the whole number three thousand four hundred and seventyfour, and "the cry is, still they come." MAY 12, 1871.-Nothing new to-day of any importance. While the fighting continues very fiercely all around, we see no evidence of the Versailles troops coming into the city. The insurrectionary Journal Officiel of this morning contains a furious address to the people of Paris from the committee of public safety, charging treason and corruption in the ranks, the first fruit of which was the abandonment of Fort Issy. It says that the threads of the dark conspiracy have been discovered, and that the largest portion of the guilty have been arrested. It further |