Vous vouliez bien me faire connaître que la Conférence se réunirait, le 3 Janvier, puis s'ajournerait probablement à une semaine. Prévenu le 10 au soir, je ne pouvais profiter de votre invitation en temps opportun. De plus, en me la faisant parvenir, M. le Comte de Bismarck n'y a pas joint un sauf-conduit cependant indispensable. Il demande qu'un officier Français se rende au quartiergénéral Prussien pour le chercher, se prévalant de réclamations qu'il aurait adressées à M. le Gouverneur de Paris à l'occasion d'un fait dont un parlementaire aurait eu à se plaindre le 23 Décembre; et M. le Comte de Bismarck ajoute que, jusqu'à ce que satisfaction lui ait été donnée, le Commandant en chef Prussien interdit toute communication par parlementaire. Je n'examine point si une pareille résolution, contraire aux lois de la guerre, ne serait pas la négation absolue des droits supérieurs que la nécessité et l'humanité ont toujours fait maintenir au profit des belligérants. Je me contente de faire remarquer à votre Excellence que M. le Gouverneur de Paris s'est empressé d'ordonner une enquête sur le fait relevé par M. le Comte de Bismarck, et, en le lui annonçant, il a porté à sa connaissance des faits de même nature beaucoup plus nombreux imputables à des sentinelles Prussiennes, sur lesquels cependant il n'avait jamais songé à s'appuyer pour interrompre les échanges de relations ordinaires. M. le Comte de Bismarck semble avoir admis, en partie au moins, la justesse de ces observations, puisque, aujourd'hui même, il charge M. le Ministre des Etats Unis de me faire savoir que, sous la réserve d'enquêtes respectives, il rétablit les relations par parlementaires. Il n'y a donc plus aucune nécessité à ce qu'un officier Français se rende au quartiergénéral Prussien, et je vais entrer en communication avec M. le Ministre des Etats Unis pour me faire remettre le sauf-conduit que vous avez bien voulu obtenir. Dès que j'aurai cette pièce entre les mains et que la situation de Paris me le permettra, je prendrai la route de Londres, sûr, à l'avance, de ne pas invoquer en vain, au nom de mon Gouvernement, les principes de droit et de morale que l'Europe a un si grand intérêt à faire respecter. Veuillez, &c. (Signé) (Translation.) JULES FAVRE. My Lord, Paris, January 10, 1871. I HAVE only received to-day, the 10th of January, at 9 o'clock in the evening, through the Minister of the United States, the letter which your Excellency did me the honour of addressing to me on the 29th of December last, and in which you announce to me that you have requested Count Bernstorff to cause to be placed at my disposal the safe-conduct necessary to enable me to pass the Prussian lines, and to attend as the Representative of France the Conference which is about to be opened at London. I thank your Excellency for this communication and for the care you have taken to enable me to carry out the duty which has been assigned to me. It is, however, difficult for me to absent myself at this moment from Paris, which for the last eight days has been a prey to the horrors of a bombardment commenced on its inoffensive population without the notice which it is usual, according to the law of nations, to give. I feel I have no right to abandon my fellow-citizens at the time when they are the victims of this outrage. Besides this, the communications between Paris and London have been made by the Commander-in-chief of the besieging army so slow and uncertain, that I cannot, in spite of every wish on my part to do, answer your appeal in the terms of your despatch. You were so good to inform me that the Conference would meet on the 3rd of January and would probably adjourn for a week. Having received this intimation on the 10th in the evening, I was too late to avail myself of your invitation. Besides this, in transmitting it to me, Count Bismarck sent no safe-conduct, which is indispensable. He demands that a French officer shall present himself at the Prussian head-quarters to fetch it, taking advantage of complaints he made to the Governor of Paris on the occasion of an incident of which a Parlementaire had cause for complaint on the 23rd of December; and Count Bismarck adds, that until he receives satisfaction for this, the Prussian Commander-in-Chief forbids all communications through parlementaires. I do not examine if such a resolution, contrary to the laws of war, would not be ar absolute denial of the superior rights that necessity and humanity have always upheld to the benefit of belligerents. I content myself with remarking to your Excellency that the Governor of Paris hastened to order an investigation into the incident noticed by Count Bismarck, and in announcing this to him, he mentioned to him occurrences of the same nature but much more frequent ascribed to Prussian sentinels, of which, however, he had never dreamt of availing himself to interrupt the exchange of ordinary relations. Count Bismarck seems to have admitted, partly at least, the justice of these observations, for to-day he commissions the Minister of the United States to let me know that, subject to respective investigations, he re-establishes communications through parlementaires. There is no longer, therefore, any necessity for a French officer presenting himself at Prussian head-quarters, and I am about to enter into communication with the Minister of the United States with a view to obtaining the safe-conduct that you have been so good as to obtain for me. As soon as that document is in my hands, and the situation of Paris will permit me to do so, I shall start for London, feeling certain beforehand that I shall not invoke in vain, in the name of my Government, the principles of law and morality which Europe has so great an interest in causing to be respected. I have, &c. (Signed) JULES FAVRE. No. 172. Earl Granville to Mr. Odo Russell. Foreign Office, January 17, 1871. Sir, I SHOULD wish you, if you can find any means of communicating with M. Jules Favre, to convey to him my thanks for his note of the 10th instant. It was a subject of regret to me that no French Plenipotentiary was present at the meeting of the Conference which took place to-day. You might, however, inform him that at that meeting we confined ourselves to discussing the general question of international law, and that we reserved the discussion of the Articles of the Treaty until we should meet again. We decided to postpone the next meeting till the 24th instant, in the hope that by that day M. Jules Favre might either be able himself to be present as French Plenipotentiary, or might appoint a substitute to represent France in his stead. M. Tissot has been duly informed of all that took place at to-day's meeting. I am, &c. My Lord, Foreign Office, January 17, 1871. FROM my late despatches on the subject your Excellency will have understood that it would not have been possible for me to resist the unanimous opinion of the Plenipotentiaries who are to take part in the Conference, against further delay, even if I had not myself agreed with them upon this point. I have now to inform your Excellency that the opening meeting took place to-day, and, in the absence of any Representative of France, I have made M. Tissot acquainted with all that passed at this meeting. It was arranged that any discussion in regard to the Articles of the Treaty of 1856 should be reserved until the next meeting of the Conference, which has been fixed for the 24th instant, in the hope that M. Favre may by that time be able to be present and join in its deliberations; or, if not, that he will appoint some other Representative in his place. I have received a letter dated the 10th instant from M. Favre, who it appears was at that time still unwilling to leave Paris for this country. I am, &c. My Lord, No. 174. Earl Granville to Lord Lyons. Foreign Office, January 17, 1871. M. TISSOT placed in my hands this day the letter from M. Jules Favre of which I inclose a copy,* in reply to the one which I addressed to him on the 29th of December. I told M. Tissot that I had to thank M. Favre for his letter, but that I could not agree with M. de Chaudordy in thinking that M. Favre was ready to leave Paris. The inference I drew from his letter was that there was no chance of our being able to reckon on his arrival at any definite date. I appreciated, I said, the honourable reasons of his reluctance to leave Paris, but I did not understand the impossibility of finding any other Representative of France to attend a Conference of which the French Government approved, and at which they acknowledged it would be advantageous for France for her Representative to be present. I added that I had fixed the next meeting of the Conference for the 24th instant, after some opposition, in the hope of M. Favre changing his mind or appointing some substitute. I added that the French Government must be aware, from all that had passed between them and Her Majesty's Government, how anxious the latter were to have the assistance and co-operation of a Representative of France. I am, &c. (Signed) GRANVILLE. No. 175. Sir, Earl Granville to Lord Lyons. Foreign Office, January 18, 1871. M. TISSOT was good enough to inform me, at an interview which I had with him on the 16th instant, that he had received a telegram from Count de Chaudordy dated the previous day, which stated that a messenger would shortly arrive in London with the answer of M. Favre to my letter of the 29th ultimo, which letter had reached M. Favre through the United States' Legation: That M. Favre was about to ascertain if it were possible to obtain through Mr. Washburne the safe-conduct which had been announced to him, and which did not accompany his communication from the United States' Legation: That Count Bismarck had raised certain difficulties in regard to any communication with this object, and that it resulted from inquiries instituted by M. Favre that Count Bismarck's complaints were not substantiated, that this result had been communce d to Versailles, and that on the 10th instant Count Bismarck announced that he would resume intercourse. The telegram went on to say that the delay which had thus arisen could in no way be laid to the charge of the French Government, and M. Tissot was instructed, in consequence, to beg Lord Granville to postpone the Conference, seeing the delays which had occurred in the necessary communication for M. Favre's safe-conduct. In thanking M. Tissot for the above communication, I informed him of the answer which I had already returned through your Excellency to the Government at Bordeaux, on the question of the postponement of the Conference. I am, &c. (Signed) GRANVILLE. No. 176. Earl Granville to Lord Lyons. My Lord, Foreign Office, January 18, 1871. IN an interview which I had with M. Tissot on the 16th instant he was good enough to communicate to me the purport of a telegram which he had received from his Government dated the previous day. The telegram stated that despatches had on that day been received by the Delegate * No. 171. Government at Bordeaux from M. Jules Favre, dated the 9th instant, and in which he declared his readiness to proceed to London so soon as he should have received his invitation to the Conference and the necessary safe-conduct. In these despatches M. Favre made no allusion whatever to the conversation reported to have taken place between himself and the United States' Minister, which, the telegram went on to say, would appear to throw a doubt upon the reality of this occurrence, but, in any case, it would not bear the interpretation which Count Bismarck assigned to it; and, as regards M. Favre's alleged refusal to leave Paris, the telegram observes that it was not founded in fact. The Bordeaux Government had, it appears, received a solemn protest against the bombardment of Paris, the whole result of which, it was represented, could only be the slaughter of women and children and the destruction of public buildings and monuments; and M. Tissot was instructed to represent that this bombardment is an act of barbarism which should arouse the indignation of every civilized Power. In reply to the above communication I pointed out to M. Tissot, with reference to Count de Chaudordy's observations on the absence of any allusion by M. Favre to his reported conversation with the American Minister, that if M. Favre made no such allusion to this conversation, the inference which M. de Chaudordy draws can only be considered as a surmise. In regard to the protest against the bombardment of Paris, I assured M. Tissot that I would not fail to lay before my colleagues his observations. I am, &c. My Lord, Earl Granville to Lord Lyons. Foreign Office, January 18, 1871. I AM informed by Mr. Odo Russell that M. Jules Favre applied a few days ago to Count Bismarck for a safe-conduct to enable his wife, children, and family relations to pass out of Paris through the Prussian lines, adding that he had no right to ask for one for himself. I have, &c (Signed) No. 178. Earl Granville to Mr. Odo Russell. GRANVILLE. (Extract.) Foreign Office, January 18, 1871. I HAVE to request you to state to Count Bismarck that Her Majesty's Government hope that the Prussian authorities will, as far as they are concerned, give every facility that may be required to enable M. Jules Favre to leave Paris for the purpose of coming to this country to attend the Conference. My Lord, No. 179. Lord Lyons to Earl Granville.-(Received January 19.) Bordeaux, January 13, 1871. THE Comte de Chaudordy told me this afternoon that he could speak to me with precision respecting M. Jules Favre's views with regard to the Conference, as he had a letter from him on the subject of as late a date as the 9th instant. M. Jules Favre had not, he said, up to that date received the letter which your Lordship had dispatched to him from London on the 30th ultimo, nor any other communication from your Lordship. It was to be presumed also that he had not received the letter stated to have been sent to him from the Prussian head-quarters on the 28th ultimo, to inform him that he would obtain a safe conduct on applying for one to the General in command of the Third Army. Certainly he made no allusion to any such document. He was however, when he wrote, in possession of the despatch which M. de Chaudordy had written to him from Bordeaux, to inform him that the Prussian authorities declined to send the safe-conduct to him themselves, on the plea that their last flag of truce had been fired upon, and no satisfaction yet given to them. This M. Favre considered to be a mere futile pretext. He informed M. de Chaudordy that, in consequence of the complaints made by the Prussians, the French military authorities had caused a searching inquiry to be made, the result of which had been to show that the French had far more reason than the Prussians had to complain of the flags of truce having been fired upon. The record of this inquiry had, he wrote, been forwarded to the Prussian authorities, but the negotiation had not yet led to a formal resumption of communications by flag of truce. M. de Chaudordy went on to say that M. Jules Favre persevered in his determination not to apply himself to the Prussians for a safe-conduct, but suggested that one might be obtained for him and forwarded to him through the United States' Legation. Finally, M. Favre expressed his willingness to accept the office of Plenipotentiary to the Conference, notwithstanding the difficulty of the task imposed upon him, and expressed his concurrence in the steps taken by the Delegation, here with respect to his appointment. He was in fact, M. de Chaudordy said, prepared to set out for London as soon as he should receive a safe-conduct. M. de Chaudordy told me, in conclusion, that M. Favre's letter contained an affecting and indignant protest against the bombardment of Paris, and that a powerful appeal to Europe against this cruel proceeding had been signed by the Government at Paris, and could be confirmed and published by the Delegation here. I have already had the honour to communicate to your Lordship by telegraph the substance of the present despatch. I have, &c. My Lord, Lord Lyons to Earl Granville.-(Received January 19.) Bordeaux, January 14, 1871. YOUR Lordship's telegram of the day before yesterday, informing me that you had fixed the 17th instant for the opening of the Conference, reached me late last night; and I went this morning to speak to the Comte de Chaudordy on the subject. He began the conversation by informing me that, since he had seen me the day before, he had received a despatch from M. Jules Favre, announcing the receipt of the letter your Lordship had written to him and inclosing the answer to it. He proceeded to tell me that your letter had reached M. Favre at half-past 9 o'clock on the evening of the 10th instant, but that no safe-conduct had accompanied it. He said that it appeared that the negotiations between the French and Prussian head-quarters respecting a return to the regular mode of communication by flag of truce, had not yet been brought to a conclusion. He added, however, that M. Favre expressed his intention to endeavour to come to an understanding with the United States' Legation, so as to obtain a safe-conduct by means of that Legation. Upon this I informed M. de Chaudordy that your Lordship had been much pressed to fix a day for the opening of the Conference, but that you had persistently declined to do so until you should know that your letter to M. Jules Favre had arrived at its destination. You had now, however, I said, been assured that your letter had reached Paris on the 9th instant, and you had consequently summoned the Conference for the 17th instant, having fixed that date in order to give time to M. Favre to arrive, if he were disposed to come. M. de Chaudordy answered that, even if your Lordship's letter had reached Paris on the 9th as you had supposed, and if the difficulties about the safe-conduct had not existed, it would hardly have been possible for M. Favre to get to London by the 17th. Since, however, your Lordship's letter had not in fact come into M. Favre's hands until late in the evening of the 10th, and no arrangement had been made about the safeconduct, it was materially impossible that he could arrive on the day now fixed for the opening of the Conference. It was to be hoped, therefore, that a further postponement would be made. full Hereupon I mentioned to M. de Chaudordy that the Austrian Government had conferred powers upon Count Szecsen, in order to enable him to take the place of the regular Plenipotentiary in Conference in case of need. I proceeded, in obedience to your Lord |