Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress with the Annual Message of the President, December 4, 1871
Baron Gerolt to Mr. Fish
The undersigned, envoy and minister plenipotentiary of the North German Union, has the honor, in accordance with instructions received, most respectfully to transmit to the Hon. Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State of the United States, copies of the following documents:
1st. A letter addressed by the Swiss envoy, Kern, and several other diplomatic agents, formerly accredited in Paris, under date of the 13th ultimo, to the chancellor of the Union, in which the adoption of measures is proposed which may allow the countrymen of the signers to go with their property during the siege to a place of safety.
2d. The reply thereto of Count von Bismarck, dated the 17th ultimo.
The undersigned gladly avails himself of this additional occasion to renew to the Hon. Hamilton Fish the expression of his most distinguished consideration.
Hon. Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State of the United States, Washington, D. C.
A 377.
Count: For several days large numbers of shells, from the localities occupied by the besieging troops, have fallen in the interior of the city of Paris. Women, children, and invalids have been struck. Among the victims, several belong to neutral states. The lives and property of persons of every nationality established at Paris are constantly jeopardized.
These facts have occurred without any previous notice having been given to the undersigned, (most of whom have, at the present time, no mission save that of watching over the safety and interests of their countrymen,) to enable them to warn their countrymen of the dangers with which they are threatened, and from which motives of vis major, particularly the difficulties placed in the way of their departure by the belligerents, have prevented them from escaping.
In the face of events of so grave a nature, the members of the diplomatic corps at at Paris, who have been joined by the undersigned members of the consular corps, in their respective embassies and legations, have thought necessary, in view of their responsibility to their governments, and with a keen sense of the duties incumbent upon them toward their countrymen, to come to an understanding in relation to the determination to be adopted.
These deliberations have led the undersigned to the unanimous resolution of asking that, in accordance with the recognized usages and principles of international law, measures may be taken to permit their countrymen to retire to a place of safety with their property.
Confidently expressing the hope that your excellency will be pleased to intervene near the military authorities for the furtherance of their request, the undersigned avail themselves of this occasion to beg you to accept the assurances of their very high consideration.
His Excellency Count Bismarck-Schönhausen, Chancellor of the North German Confederation, Versailles.
[Untitled]
Mr. Minister: I have had the honor to receive the letter of the 13th instant, signed by yourself and the American envoy, together with various other diplomats formerly accredited in Paris, wherein the request is made to me, with an appeal to the law of nations, to intervene near the military authorities to the end that measures may be taken to permit the countrymen of the signers to retire with their property to a place of safety during the siege which has been commenced.
I regret my inability to reach the conviction that the request which the signers have done me the honor to address me, is based upon international law.
The unusual measure, which stands alone in the history of modern times, of changing the capital of a great country into a fortress, and its environs, with nearly three millions of inhabitants, into a fortified camp, has certainly been followed by a very unusual and lamentable state of things. For this those persons are responsible, who have selected this capital and its environs as a fortress and field of battle, but it must be borne in every fortress by those who voluntarily take up their abode therein and retain it during the war. Paris is the most important stronghold in the country, and France has assembled her principal armies therein; these attack the German forces from their secure position in the midst of the population of Paris, by means of sallies and artillery-fire. In view of these facts, it cannot be expected that the German commanders should refrain from attacking the stronghold, or from conducting the attack in a manner suited to the object of every siege.
Whatever could be done to preserve the neutral portion of the population of Paris from the ills and dangers of the siege, has been done by the Germans. By a circular of the secretary of the state, Mr. Von Thile, of the 26th of September last, the envoys accredited in Berlin, and by my communication of October 10, his eminence the Papal nuncio and the other members of the diplomatic corps still remaining in France at that time, Were reminded that the inhabitants of Paris would thenceforth be subject to the course of military events. In a second circular, of October 4, reference was made to the consequences which must arise to the non-fighting population, from a resistance carried to the utmost; and I communicated the contents of this circular, on the 29th of the same month, to the envoy of the United States in Paris, requesting him to bring the same to the notice of the other members of the diplomatic corps. There has, therefore, been no lack of warning to neutrals to leave the besieged city, although the issue of such warnings and the permission to leave the city are dictated by a feeling of humanity, and by consideration for the citizens of neutral and friendly nations, but by no means by a principle of international law. Still less is the obligation, founded upon law or custom, of giving previous notice to the besieged of the particular military operations which are contemplated, as I had the honor to state, in reference to the bombardment, in my letter addressed on the 26th of September last, to Mr. J. Favre. It was to be expected that the city would be bombarded if resistance was continued. Vattel says, although he had no instance of a fortified city like Paris before his eyes, with such great armies and munitions of war:
“The destruction of a city by bomb-shells and hot shot is an extreme measure which should not be adopted without very strong reasons. But it is nevertheless authorized by the laws of war, when it is otherwise impossible to reduce an important place on which the success of the war may depend, or which serves to inflict dangerous blows upon us.”
A well-founded objection to the bombardment of Paris is so much the less admissible, as it is not our intention to destroy the city, as Vattel considers allowable, but only to render the strong central position untenable, in which the French armies prepare their attacts upon the German troops, and in which they find shelter after having accomplished the same.
Finally, I take the liberty of reminding your excellency, and the other signers of your favor of the 13th instant, that in accordance with the above-mentioned notifications and warnings from us, all neutrals who desired it were allowed, for months, to pass through our lines without any conditions save the establishment of their identity and nationality, and that up to this day, not only have members of the diplomatic corps, but also other neutrals, when this was requested by their governments or envoys, received permits to pass our outposts.
Many of the gentlemen who signed the letter of the 13th instant were notified by us months ago that they could pass our lines, and they have long been in possession of the permission of their governments to leave Paris. Hundreds of citizens of neutral states are in a similar situation, men for whom permission to depart has been asked of us by their envoys. We have no official information why these persons have made no use of the authorization to leave which was so long since granted to them, and of which it has so long been in their power to avail themselves. I may, however, conclude, from reliable private correspondence, that the French authorities have for a long time refused permission to leave to the citizens of neutral states, and to the diplomatic agents of the same. If this is the case, it would be proper for those forced to remain in Paris to present their protest to the authorities there. At all events, I am justified, [Page 410] in view of the foregoing, in contradicting so far as the German army is concerned the assertion made in the letter of the 13th instant that neutrals have been prevented from escaping from the dangers by the difficulties placed in their way by the belligerents. The permission granted to the members of the diplomatic corps we shall continue, as a matter of international courtesy, however difficult and annoying this may be in the present state of siege. In order to free your numerous countrymen from the dangers which are inseparably connected with a state of siege, I have now, to my regret, no means left save the taking of Paris. We are in the painful situation of not being able to subordinate our military action to our feelings of compassion for the sufferings of the non-fighting population. Our course is distinctly marked out to us by the law of war and by the duty of protecting the German army against new attacks from the army of Paris.
That the German artillery does not intentionally fire upon buildings designed to shelter women, children, and invalids, it is scarcely necessary to assert, in view of the conscientiousness with which the Geneva convention has been observed by us, even under the most difficult circumstances. On account of the style of architecture in the city, and the distance from which the batteries still lire, a casual injury to such buildings is with difficulty avoided, as is also the wounding or killing of non-combatants, who, in every siege, are greatly to be pitied. The fact that painful and, by us, deeply-regretted events must be connected with a siege in a city like Paris to a greater extent than in other strongholds, should have deterred the authorities of the city from fortifying or from making an obstinate defense. But no nation can be permitted to make war upon its neighbors, and, in the course of the same, to endeavor to protect its main stronghold by pointing to the unarmed and neutral inhabitants residing therein, and to the hospitals, in the midst of which the armed forces, after every attack, may seek shelter and prepare for new attacks.
I most respectfully request your excellency to be pleased to bring this reply to the notice of your fellow-signers of the letter of the 13th instant, and to be pleased to accept the renewed assurance of my most distinguished consideration.
His excellency the envoy of the Swiss confederation, Mr. Kern, Paris.