Mr. Rublee to Mr. Fish.
Sir: Up to the 9th instant, the government of France had reimbursed to the government of Switzerland five millions of francs on account of the expenditures of the latter consequent upon the internement of the French Army of the East. The aggregate expenditure of Switzerland in the transaction is placed at eleven millions of francs. The announcement is made that an arrangement has been effected between the two governments, in pursuance of which France is to pay to Switzerland, after the 15th of the present month, the sum of one million of francs every fifteen days until the claim of the latter is satisfied. At the same time, France reclaims the material of war which was surrendered with the Army of the East, and the Federal Council has given orders for its immediate delivery.
An extradition case is pending at Geneva, which excites considerable interest in diplomatic circles here. On the 17th ultimo, one M. Razona, who is alleged to have held a commission under the communal government [Page 885] of Paris, and to have had charge of the concern known as the Ecole Militaire during the reign of the commune, was arrested at Geneva, upon the demand of the French government. Among the charges brought against him, and upon which his extradition is asked, the one most relied on, I believe, is that which accuses him of having pillaged the Ecole Militaire. He remains in confinement at Geneva, a waiting the production of satisfactory evidence, on the part of the French government, that he is guilty of offenses which, under the existing extradition treaty between Switzerland and France, will justify his delivery to the French authorities. Meanwhile, the “Association politique ouvrière nationale,” of Geneva, has addressed a long petition in his behalf to the Federal Council, demanding a vigilant maintenance of the right of asylum for persons guilty only of political offenses, and strenuously urging the title of the communist authorities of Paris to be recognized and treated as belligerents in their struggle with the Versailles government.
I am, &c.,