No. 216.
Mr. Washburne to Mr. Fish.
Paris, August 30, 1873. (Received September 18.)
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch No. 522, in which you express the desire for certain information touching the number of American citizens resident or temporarily sojourning in France, together with the number of children born in this country whose parents claim to be Americans, &c. I will immediately set to work in this matter, and do the best I can, but I fear that at best I can but give you very unsatisfactory information, particularly as to the number of Americans who have been in France from year to year for a series of years back.
There is no place where any record is made of them except at the police, and the registrations there are imperfect, scattered along from day to day among the tens of thousands of other foreigners who enter France. It is therefore practically impossible to get anything satisfactory from the police, and we shall have to rely upon our own knowledge and that of the bankers and house-renters, as well as the newspapers.
The American Register, published in Paris, now gives us weekly quite accurate information as to the arrival of Americans in this city. It has always been my opinion that the number of Americans resident or temporarily sojourning in Paris and in France has been overestimated.
As to the births of children in this country whose parents claim to be Americans, they are never registered at this legation, but at our consulates. I have asked General Read for information on this subject.
It must take a good deal of time to procure even the meager information which I can obtain on this subject.
I have, &c.,