No. 110.
Mr. Read to Mr. Davis.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch, No. 55, and I am happy that the Department so warmly approves of my administration of this responsible and laborious office.
At this time the labor and responsibility have greatly increased, Since the war broke out the daily number of invoices is very large, averaging above one hundred, and in some instances reaching two hundred and forty a day; while passports have averaged sixty per day. When the Bank of France suspended specie payment there was in the safe 6,000 francs in paper, which had been taken within the preceding three or four days for Government fees. To-day it is almost impossible to obtain gold, and it commands a premium of 5 per cent., while silver is at 1½. Under the circumstances, I telegraphed to you on the 16th instant as follows:
Paper depreciating daily. Also difference between silver and gold. Average daily receipts thirteen hundred francs. Very little gold in circulation. What am I to do?
[Page 145]I received the next day this reply:
Secretary of the Treasury says, take gold till further orders.
Anticipating this, I had ordered that morning that gold only be received, except for fractional sums, when silver would be taken. This regulation produced immediate difficulty, for it had become almost impossible to procure gold, and I accordingly telegraphed you again yesterday:
No gold to be had; only silver.
Receiving no answer, and finding that the excitement was increasing and the probability of obtaining gold becoming less every hour, I telegraphed this morning as follows:
Cannot get gold. Silver only can be had. Business clogged and people indignant. I stronly advise taking silver. Can I bank with Hottinguer, Barings’ correspondent here; unwilling to have reponsibility of funds at this time.
I am awaiting the reply with anxiety for several reasons. You are aware that I have been charged with the consular affairs of the North German Confederation throughout France. This has been and continues to be a very vexatious and troublesome charge, especially since the French government (who have been forced into it by the feelings of the masses of the people) have decreed the immediate departure of all North Germans from France. I have been obliged from day to day and hour to hour to send by telegraph and mails explicit instructions to all our consular officers to guide them in their new duties in this matter. Americans are just now extremely unpopular here, owing to the sympathy shown by the people of the United States for Germany. When, in addition, one identifies himself so far with the Prussians as to become their representative, he incurs an amount of dislike and even hatred which may prove not only disagreeable, but actually dangerous to himself and his surroundings in the present highly-excited state of the public mind. It becomes, therefore, extremely desirable not to give rise, if possible, to further ill-feeling.
The regulation of the Department to receive only gold has produced, however, another and additional cause of ill-will, and you will readily comprehend that I hope that my suggestion may be promptly adopted. We are receiving alternate accounts of defeats and successes during the retreat upon Chalons, and to-day General Trochu, just appointed governor of Paris, has issued his proclamation calling upon all good citizens to preserve their fortitude and prepare for the worst in the presence of a foreign foe. At the same time the journals are filled with accounts of the instructions issued for provisioning the city to stand a siege. In the light of the foregoing information, you will perceive that I must necessarily be unwilling to continue to be responsible for such public funds in my safe, and you will immediately recognize the propriety of giving me authority to bank with some responsible house.
The safe furnished by the Government is in peaceful times very insecure, and in times like these it affords no adequate protection whatever.
Many French citizens have applied to me for protection, and also have asked me to guard their valuables; but I have respectfully declined to receive anything into my keeping belonging to French subjects, feeling that unless I adopted this rule I could not do justice to my own countrymen and women. I have made one exception in favor of the grand-daughters of the Marquis de Lafayette, telling them, at the same time, that it must be at their own risk.