Count de Bismarck to Monseigneur Chigi
Monseigneur: I have had the honor to receive the letter bearing date of the 6th of October last, whereby the members of the diplomatic corps still residing at Paris have been pleased to inform me that it would become impossible for them to maintain official relations with their respective governments, if the condition of only being able to address to them open dispatches was to be adhered to.
When the continuation of the siege of Paris was rendered inevitable by the refusal of an armistice by the French government, the government of the King notified, of its own accord, by a circular note from the secretary of state, Mr. Van Thile, under date of the 26th of September last, a copy of which I have the honor to transmit to you, the agents of neutral powers accredited to Berlin, that freedom of communication with Paris only existed so far as military events permitted it. On the same day I received, at Ferriéres, a communication from the minister of foreign affairs of the government of the national defense, which informed me of the desire expressed by the members of the diplomatic corps to be authorized to send dispatches to their governments by couriers leaving every week, and I did not hesitate acting in accordance with the rules established by international law, to make a reply dictated by the necessities of the military situation, a copy of which I likewise take the liberty of transmitting [Page 365] to your excellency. The present representatives of power have thought proper to establish the siege of their government in the midst of the fortifications of Paris, and to choose that city and its environs as the theater of war. If any members of the diplomatic corps, accredited to a former government, have decided to share with the government of the national defense the inconveniences which are inseparable from a residence in a besieged fortress, it is not the government of the King that is responsible therefor.
Notwithstanding our confidence that the gentlemen who signed the letter of the 6th of October would conform, in communications addressed to their governments, to the obligations which their presence in a city besieged according to the laws of war imposes on diplomatic agents, we must still consider the possibility that the importance of certain facts, in a military point of view, might escape them. It is moreover evident that they would be unable to furnish us the same guarantee for the messengers whom they should see fit to employ, and whom we should be obliged to allow to pass and repass through our lines.
A state of things has been created at Paris, in relation to international law, with which modern history shows no precise analogy. A government at war with a power which has not yet recognized it, has shut itself up in a besieged fortress, and is there surrounded by a portion of the diplomatic agents who were accredited near the government whose place has been taken by the government of the national defense. In the face of so irregular a situation, it will be difficult to establish, on the basis of the law of nations, rules which shall be incontrovertible in every point of view.
I think I may hope that your excellency will see the correctness of these observations, and will be pleased to appreciate the considerations which prevent me, to my great regret, from complying with the desire expressed in the letter of the 6th of October last. If, however, the signers shall not consider my remarks just, the governments which they have represented at Paris, and to which I shall hasten to communicate the correspondence exchanged with them, will give notice on their part, and will put themselves in communication with the government of the King to examine the questions of international law relating to the abnormal position which events and the measures of the government of the national defense have created at Paris.
Be pleased to accept, &c., &c.,