No. 62.
Mr. E. B. Washburne to Mr. Fish.
Sir: I have to-day received the dispatch of Mr. Davis, relative to the credit to be placed at my disposition by the Prussian government in aid of their subjects expelled from France. I have also received an authoritative dispatch to the effect that 50,000 thalers will be placed to my credit for that purpose. This credit has come none too soon. Five hundred subjects of the North German Confederation have been to the legation to-day to get their passports to leave French territory. Among this number have been many persons of extreme poverty, and whose condition was in every respect most deplorable. Since the breaking out of the war no Germans have been able to get work, and the poorer classes have already exhausted the very little they had in store. They are, therefore, to-day without work, without money, without credit, without friends, without bread. Pinched with hunger, terrified by threats of violence, with no means of leaving the country, they have come to me to save them. Women with little babes in their arms, and women far gone in pregnancy, bathed in tears and filled with anguish, have come to our legation as their last hope. I feel immeasurably thankful that the liberality of the Prussian government has enabled me to afford these poor people some relief. I give each one 30 francs, which is enough to enable them to reach the German frontier, where I have no doubt they will be taken care of. I shall do all in my power to assuage the miseries of these people whose cruel situation must challenge the profoundest sympathy of every generous heart.
You must excuse this hastily written dispatch, finished at midnight after a day of incessant labor.