The first direct news that has reached London from Paris since the
capitulation, arrived this evening. For a whole week a black veil seemed to
have fallen between that city and the outer world. The advices so far are
meager, but they are sufficient to show that the sufferings of the
population during the siege, and particularly at its close, from want of
food and fuel, were really terrible. Nothing more truly awful has occurred
since the siege of Jerusalem by Titus. Starvation had actually set in, and
the proud capital fell, not before the military prowess of Prussia, but
before the sappings of famine.
Politically, things are much confused in France. Mr. Gambetta’s course is
doing mischief. Many regard him as a despot. He is not disposed to carry out
fairly that clause of the convention of the 28th of January which relates to
the elections. He proposes to exclude all but republicans from the polls. In
other words, he advises not to consult the whole nation, but to try to get
an assembly elected only by one section of French society, and that probably
not the majority. An object of this kind was foreseen by Count Bismarck and
M. Jules Favre, as indicated [Page 434] by
the second article of the convention of the 28th of January. Mr. Gambetta’s
decree is in violation of that article. Count Bismarck protests against the
decree, and declares that only freely elected deputies, as stipulated in the
convention, will be recognized by the Germans as representatives of
France.
A translation of the convention appeared in The Daily Telegraph yesterday
morning, and I have the honor to inclose a copy herewith.
Much has been said in the newspapers about the German terms of peace; but the
conditions reported from Berlin a few days since, and generally believed
here at the time, are pronounced inaccurate in so far as concerns Lorraine,
Pondecherry, and the cession of twenty men-of-war. The demand for a war
indemnity of about four hundred millions of pounds will probably be
persisted in. Some excitement exists here in consequence of the alleged
demand for Pondecherry, it being very properly remarked that the surrender
of that settlement cannot be needed to promote “German unity,” any more than
the cession of Martinique, Guadaloupe, or Corsica.
That peace will result from the armistice, is doubtful. But, after all, the
exhausted state of France may lead the people—for they are to decide the
question—to come to terms now, rather than go on fighting a hopeless battle,
in which they must at last be the losers.
[From the London Daily Telegraph, February
3, 1871.]
Full text of the convention.–The occupation of the forts.
The following is a translation of the full text of the convention between
Count Bismarck and M. Jules Favre, transmitted to us in the original
French by our special correspondent at Berlin yesterday:
Convention between M. le Comte de Bismarck, Chancellor of the Germanic
Confederation, stipulating in the name of His Majesty the Emperor of
Germany, King of Prussia, and M. Jules Favre, minister of foreign
affairs of the government of the national defense, both furnished with
regular powers, have been determined the following arrangements:
Article I. A general armistice over all the
line of military operations in course of execution between the German
and the French armies shall begin for Paris on this very day, and for
the departments within the term of three days. The duration of the
armistice shall be for twenty-one days, dating from to-day; so that,
unless it shall be renewed, the armistice will terminate on the 19th of
February, at noon. The belligerent armies will preserve their respective
positions, which will be separated by a line of demarcation. This line
will commence from Pont Evêque, on the coast of the department of
Calvados, and he continued upon Lignières, in the northeast of the
department of the Mayenne, passing between Briouze and Fromentel.
Touching the department of the Mayenne at Lignières, it will follow the
limit which separates that department from the departments of the Orne
and of the Sarthe, to the north of Morannes, and will be continued in
such a way as to leave in German occupation the departments of the
Sarthe, Indre-et-Loire, Loir-et-Cher, Loiret, and Yonne, as far as a
point at which, to the east of Quarréles-Tombes, the departments of the
Côte d’Or, the Nièvre, and the Yonne touch each other. Setting out from
this point, the tracing of the line will be reserved for an
understanding which shall take place as soon as the contracting parties
shall be informed as to the actual situation of the military operations
which are being executed in the departments of the Côte d’Or, of the
Doubs, and of the Jura. In any case the line will pass through the
territory composed of these three departments, leaving to German
occupation the departments situated to the north, and to the French army
those situated to the south, of this territory. The departments of the
North and of the Pas de Calais, the fortresses of Givet and Langres,
with the territory which surrounds them to a distance of ten kilomètres,
and the peninsula of Havre as far as a line drawn from Etretat in the
direction of St. Romain, will remain outside the limits of the German
occupation. The two belligerent armies and their advanced posts on
either side will remain at a distance of at least ten kilomètres from
the lines drawn to separate their positions. Each of the two armies [Page 435] reserves for itself the right
of maintaining its authority in the territory that it occupies, and of
employing the means which its commanders may judge necessary to attain
that end. The armistice applies equally to the naval forces of the two
countries, adopting the meridian of Dunkerque as the line of
demarcation, to the west of which the French fleet will remain, and to
the east of which, so soon as they can be warned, will withdraw the
German ships of war which find themselves in western waters. The
captures which are made after the conclusion, and before the
notification, of the armistice, will be restored, as well as the
prisoners who may be taken in the interval indicated. The military
operations in the territory of the departments of Doubs, Jura, and Côte
d’Or, as well as the siege of Belfort, shall continue independently of
the armistice, until an agreement shall be arrived at regarding the line
of demarcation—the tracing of which through the three departments
mentioned has been reserved for an ulterior understanding.
Article II.—The armistice thus agreed upon has
for its object to permit the government of national defense to convoke
an assembly, freely elected, which will pronounce upon the question
whether the war shall be continued, or on what conditions peace shall be
made. The assembly will meet in the city of Bordeaux. Every facility
will be given by the commanders of the German armies for the election
and the meeting of the deputies who will compose that assembly.
Article III.—There shall be immediately
surrendered to the German army by the French military authorities all
the forts forming the perimeter of the exterior defense of Paris, as
well as their material of war. The communes and the houses situated
outside that perimeter, or between the forts, may be occupied by the
German troops as far as a line to be drawn by military commissioners.
The ground between this line and the fortified enceinte of the city of Paris will be interdicted to the armed
forces of the two sides. The manner of surrendering the forts, and the
drawing of the line already mentioned, will form the object of a
protocol to be annexed to the present convention.
Article IV.—During the armistice, the German
army shall not enter the city of Paris.
Article V.—The enceinte
shall be disarmed of its guns, the carriages of which will be
transported into the forts designated for that purpose by a commissioner
of the German army.
Article VI.—The garrisons (army of the line,
mobile guard, and marine) of the forts of Paris shall be prisoners of
war, excepting a division of 12,000 men, which the military authorities
in Paris will preserve for service inside the city. The troops who are
prisoners of war shall lay down their arms, which will be collected in
the places designated, and given up according to arrangements made by a
commissioner, in the usual manner. These troops shall remain in the
interior of the city, of which they will not be allowed to pass the enceinte during the armistice. The French
authorities bind themselves to take care that every individual belonging
to the army and to the mobile guard shall remain in the interior of the
town. The officers of the captured troops shall be designated in a list
to be delivered to the German authorities, and at the expiration or the
armistice all the combatants belonging to the army confined in Paris
will have to constitute themselves prisoners of war to the German army,
if before that time peace is not concluded. The officers made prisoners
will retain their arms.
Article VII.—The national guard will retain its
arms. It will be charged with the protection of Paris and the
maintenance of order. The same will be the case with the gendarmerie and
the assimilated troops employed in the municipal service, such as the
republican guard, the douaniers and the pompiers, the whole of this
category not exceeding 3,500 men. All the corps of francs-tireurs shall
be dissolved by ordinance of the French government.
Article VIII.—Immediately after the signature
of these presents, and before the taking possession of the forts, the
commander-in-chief of the German armies will give every facility to the
commissioners whom the French government will send, whether into the
departments or abroad, to take steps for the revictualing, and to bring
to the city the commodities which are destined for it.
Article IX.—After the surrender of the forts,
and after the disarmament of the enceinte and of
the garrison, stipulated in articles 5 and 6, the revictualing of Paris
will be effected freely by transit upon the railroads and the rivers.
The provisions intended for this revictualment shall not be drawn from
the districts occupied by the German troops, and the French government
engages itself to obtain provisions outside of the line of demarkation
which surrounds the position of the German armies, except in the case of
an authorization to the contrary effect given by the commander of the
latter.
Article X.—Every person wishing to quit the
city of Paris must be furnished with regular permits, delivered by the
French military authority, and submitted to the visa of the German authorities. Free passes will be granted,
in right of their position, to candidates, to the provincial
deputations, and to the deputies to the assembly. The free movement of
the persons who have received the authorization indicated will be
permitted only between six in the morning and six in the evening.
Article XI.—The city of Paris shall pay a
municipal contribution of war amounting [Page 436] to two hundred millions of francs. This payment must
be effected before the fifteenth day of the armistice—the mode of
payment to be determined by a mixed German and French commission.
Article XII.—During the armistice nothing shall
be taken away from the public objects of value which may serve as
pledges for the recovery of the war contributions.
Article XIII.—The transport into Paris of arms,
of munitions, or of articles entering into their manufacture, is
forbidden during the term of the armistice.
Article XIV.—Immediate steps shall be taken for
the exchange of all prisoners of war made by the French army since the
commencement of the war, For this end the French authorities will hand,
as promptly as possible, nominal lists of the German prisoners of war to
the German military authorities at Amiens, at Le Mans, at Orleans, and
at Vesoul. The liberation of the German prisoners of war will be
effected upon the points nearest to the frontier. The German authorities
will deliver in exchange, on the same points and in the briefest
possible time, to the French military authorities, a like number of
French prisoners of war of corresponding grades. The exchange will
extend to civil prisoners, such as captains of ships of the German
merchant navy, and the civilian French prisoners who have been interned
in Germany.
Article XV.—A postal service for letters not
sealed will be organized between Paris and the departments, through the
medium of the headquarters at Versailles.
In faith of which, the undersigned have appended to the present
convention their signatures and their seals.
Done at
Versailles, the 28th of January,
1871.
BISMARCK.
FAVRE.
