Mr. Washburne to Mr. Fish
Sir: Since my dispatch of one week ago to-day, No. 328, no events of any importance have transpired in Paris. The extreme cold weather of the last week has prevented any military operations about the city. It is said that preparations are going on for another sortie, and if the weather be favorable, that it is likely to take place the last of this week. In the Paris journals that I have the honor to transmit you herewith, you will find the correspondence between Moltke and Trochu, which will explain itself. The news of the defeat of the army of the Loire, and the retaking of Orleans, as communicated by Moltke, seems to have made but a very little impression on the people of Paris. (General Trochu has been fully sustained in his refusal to send an officer to verify the facts, as suggested by Moltke. The government of the national defense and the people of Paris seem to have abandoned all idea of an armistice, or of a peace, and to have made up their minds to resist to the last extremity, and until every resource is exhausted. There are various opinions as to the length of time the city can hold out. Yesterday there was a great bread panic, but it is allayed to-day by the announcement in the official journal that there is bread enough, and that there is no necessity of any rationing for the present. I think the prevailing opinion is that it is possible for the city to hold out until the 1st of February, but that must be guess-work to a very considerable extent. A good many people think that the provisions will give out suddenly, to be followed by an irresistible clamor for a surrender. We shall see. You may infer from what I have written that I do not expect to see the siege raised by a successful sortie. Everything seems almost as bad as can be for the people of Paris as well as France. The suffering in the city is much aggravated by the extreme and unseasonable cold weather. The mortality last week was frightful, over two thousand. A great many old people and a great many children perish from the want of suitable food and from the cold.
I have, &c.,