Mr. Washburne to Mr. Fish
Sir: I have not been to Versailles since Saturday. As I wrote you in my No. 410, Colonel Hoffman went thither on Tuesday last. I intended to have relieved him before this, but I am reluctant to leave Paris in these troublesome and somewhat perilous times. We still have here a large number of Americans, and while I hope that they may not be molested or have their property injured, yet no one knows what may happen from hour to hour. Under such circumstances I deem it my duty to remain in Paris as much as possible, going or sending to Versailles to transact official business with the government there.
In my last dispatch I gave you an account of the military operations up to the date thereof, There has been almost constant fighting ever since outside the walls of the city, and in the direction of Versailles. The results have been uniformly unfavorable to the insurgents, who have lost large numbers in killed and wounded, and a great many prisoners. It seems to be understood that all of their forces are to be brought into the city under the pretext of reorganization. The greatest discouragement exists among the insurrectionary population of the city, and the most desperate things are not only proposed but are being [Page 325] accomplished. The archbishop of Paris, the Monseigneur Darboy, was arrested the night before last and carried to prison, while his palace was plundered. One of the employés of the legation has just come from there and verifies the fact. The insurrectionary national guard is still holding possession of his palace. The Abbe Deguerny, the curé of the Madeline, was also arrested and sent to prison on Tuesday night; his effects were seized, and seals were put upon his papers. Pour priests were also arrested during the same night and carried to Mazas. As you may well imagine, the greatest terror prevails among all these people who are now being hunted down. Their fate seems hard indeed. All of them remained here during the siege, suffering unheard of privations of cold and hunger, visiting the sick and wounded, and upholding the courage of the people of Paris. I am not certain as to what has become of the property of the members of the government, seized a few days since by order of the commune, but a gentleman informs me that the house of M. Thiers has certainly been robbed, and that he saw placed upon its walls “À vendre.” I presume it is the same with the houses of all the other members of the government.
There is greater uneasiness in Paris this morning than I have ever witnessed. The most sinister rumors prevailed. The Journal Officiel of the insurrection publishes this morning a most savage decree of six articles. The first decrees that every person accused of complicity with the government of Versailles shall be imprisoned. The second article provides for the institution of a jury to try these parties. The third provides that the jury shall act within forty-eight hours. The fourth, that all those convicted will be held as hostages of the people of Paris. The fifth provides that the execution of any prisoner of war or partisan of the regular government of the commune of Paris, will be immediately followed by the execution of three of the hostages found guilty by the jury. The sixth provides that all prisoners of war shall be brought before the jury, which will decide whether to set them at liberty or to retain them as hostages. I send you herewith, as cut from the official journal of the insurgents, an address from the commune to the citizens of Paris, also one of its decrees, a report of General Cluseret, a note of Pascal Grousset, member de la commune, délégué aux relations extérieurs, addressed to the representatives of the foreign powers; and further, a letter of General Bergeret to the executive commission of the commune. Rochefort’s paper, the Mot d’Ordre, this morning, takes a very discoursing view of affairs. It says that the disasters which have befallen the insurgents are the results of the incredible folly which presides at all the military operations. He also attacks the commune with great bitterness for the secret deliberations in the silence of the night, and earnestly demands that the doings of that body shall immediately be made public.
In my last dispatch I said, if the state of things existing continued, it was not unlikely that all the papers opposed to the commune would go under. My prophecy has since become history, for every paper that has been pronounced in its opposition to the commune has been suppressed, and we now have nothing but the insurrectionary sheets which I mentioned the other day. There should have been added to that list two other journals, La Cloche and Le Châtiment. Many Americans have called at the legation to-day to procure passports, and to seek advice in relation to leaving the city. All the gates of the city are closed, and the railroads leaving the south side of the town are also closed. The Northern, the Orleans, and the Strasbourg roads are, however, open. Their depots are all held by the national guard, and Frenchmen, [Page 326] excepting women and children, are not permitted to depart. Foreigners have no trouble in getting away on showing their passports. I send my dispatch-bag over to London to-night, one day in advance of its usual time.
I have, &c.,