No. 114.
Mr. Read to Mr. Davis.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your four telegrams of the 18th and 19th instant, and to inform you that I have instructed all the consuls within my jurisdiction in accordance with the directions therein contained.
In fixing upon rates of discount, owing to the fluctuations from day to day and hour to hour, I have thought best to place them a trifle above the highest limits yet readied, as I would thus secure the Government against probable loss. Of course I will account rigidly to the [Page 147] Government for every centime received, and will turn over the small surplus, if any there be, to the Treasury Department.
The whole subject is a very delicate and harassing one, for the French people at this moment, very naturally, are in a similar state of excitement to that which prevailed in the United States during the rebellion, and they are prone to see in the smallest things infractions upon their honor as a nation, where no disrespect is intended or imagined. Thus, for example, they argue that for the United States Government to refuse to take silver or Bank of France notes, except at a discount, in this time of their sore distress, is to impugn their national honor. That the true plan is for the Government of the United States to receive silver and bank notes at par, and after the war is over to make a reclamation upon the French government for the amount lost by so doing.
I feel it my duty to state the exact situation of affairs, and to report the opinions expressed to me by many of the leading men here in commerce and public affairs. No explanation seems to them satisfactory, and I find myself placed in a very unpleasant position thereby, at a critical time, when it is desirable to cultivate the kindly feelings of the people. My instructions, however, are so clear and unmistakable that I have no hesitation as to the course which I will pursue.
I have to-day received from the consul general of the North German Confederation at London, a request to inclose to each of the United States consuls circulars asking them to forward immediately all information concerning German vessels and their crews, which may be brought into port by French cruisers. I have directed the consuls to communicate to me all such intelligence, and upon its receipt I will immediately advise the German consul general at London.
Trusting that the Department will approve my action in the above particulars, I have only to add that the dispatches this day received for the consul at Strasburg cannot at present be forwarded to him, as all communications are cut, and that city is besieged. It is reported this evening that the Prussians are in the vicinity of Chalons, on their way to Paris. It is impossible to ascertain the truth or falsity of this rumor, as no information can be obtained from the department, but I am inclined to doubt it for the moment.