To-day is the twelfth day since the bombardment of the city and the forts of the south commenced, and as it is generally supposed with all the power of the besieging forces. The Official Journal of yesterday has an official report of the results of the bombardment of the city from the 5th to the 13th instant. This report shows one hundred and eightynine victims, fifty-one killed and one hundred and thirty-eight wounded. Of the fifty-one killed there were eighteen children, twelve women, and twenty-one men. Of the one hundred and thirty-eight wounded there were twenty-one children, forty-five women, and seventy-two men. The public edifices that have been struck are the Val de Grâce, the Sorbonne, the Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève, the churches of Sainte Etienne du Mont, Sainte Geneviève, Sainte Sulpice, and Vaugirard; the prison de la Santé, the barrack of Vieux Colombier, the hospital de la Pitié, the prison St. Pélagie, l'Ecole Polytechnique, l'Ecole Pratique de Médecine, the convent of the Sacré Coeur, the hospital of Salpêtrière, the normal school, the Institution for the Blind, the hospital of the Infant Jesus, Maternité, and de Loureine, and the ambulances of St. Perine and of the Dames Augustines. The number of private buildings struck is about three hundred and fifty, but many of them but little damaged. No building of any great value has yet been burned. No bombs have yet fallen on the right bank of the Seine. When the length of time is considered that the bombardment has been going on, and the enormous quantity of material that has been expended, the small number of killed and wounded and the small amount of actual damage is surprising. The bombardment so far has not had the effect of hastening the surrender of the city. On the other hand it has apparently made the people more firm and determined. In the presence of a common danger the feeling of hostility to the government, which was so openly manifested some two weeks ago, has been greatly modified. So much in regard to the bombardment of the city. It is hard to tell what the real state of facts is in regard to the damage done to the forts. The forts of the east have been bombarded for twenty, and the forts of the south for twelve, days, and one thing is certain that no fort has been either taken or silenced. How long any or all of these forts can hold out I have no means of judging. With the possession of one of these forts the besiegers would have a much larger part of the city immediately under their guns, and a bombardment from such a point can only be contemplated with horror. And with the spirit now manifested by the people of Paris I do not believe the city would then yield. In the event of the city not yielding to bombardment or assault, the question always is, how long before it will have to yield to famine? I am reluctant to speak further on that subject, as my predictions have so often failed of verification. I saw yesterday the gentleman who has charge of rationing the people of the arondissement in which I live, and he assured me they had enough provisions for two months yet. While the amount of flour was running short, he said they had a great quantity of grain, and the only trouble was in making it into flour fast enough to supply the demand for bread. I met last night a gentleman in a high official position, and whose duty it has been to gather all the information possible in regard to the amount of food in the city, and he says there is enough to last easily till the first of March. The bread will be of a poor quality, but there will be enough of it. Of rice there is a very large quantity, and an unlimited supply of wine, coffee, sugar, &c. Another man, claiming to be equally well informed, will positively assure you that there are not more than provisions enough to last more than two weeks longer at the outside. You will see, therefore, how widely the opinions of people differ on this most vital question. We are again having cold weather, and the suffering of the people has been intensified. The number of deaths is steadily increasing, and last week it amounted to thirty-nine hundred and eighty. My dispatch-bag which left London on the 30th ultimo, only reached me on Tuesday night the 10th instant. It brought me home-papers to the 17th, and London papers to the 30th ultimo. The bag which undoubtedly left London on the 6th instant has not yet arrived. I have, &c., E. B. WASHBURNE. SIR: For some days past a large number of shells, coming from positions occupied by the besieging troops, have entered the interior of Paris. Women, children, and sick persons have been struck. Among the victims there are many who belong to neutral states. The lives and property of persons of all nationalities, residing in Paris, are in constant danger. These things have happened without the undersigned (the greater part of whom have no other mission for the present at Paris, except to watch over the security and interests of their countrymen) having been enabled by a preliminary notice to warn against the dangers which menaced them, those of their countrymen who had been hitherto prevented by "force majeure," and especially by the impediments placed in the way of their departure by the belligerents, from placing themselves in safety. In presence of events of so grave a character, the members of the diplomatic corps present at Paris, with whom are associated in the absence of their respective embassies and legations, the undersigned members of the consular corps, have thought it necessary, with a full sense of their responsibility toward their respective govern ments, and of their duties toward their fellow-countrymen, to concert upon the measure to taken. Their deliberations have led the undersigned to the unanimous resolution to request that, in accordance with the recognized principles and usages of the law of nations, steps be taken to permit their countrymen to place themselves and their property in safety. Expressing with confidence the hope that your excellency will interpose your good offices with the military authorities, in accordance with the object of this request, the undersigned take this opportunity to beg you will receive the assurances of their very high consideration. PARIS, January 13, 1871. [Here follow the signatures of the diplomatic corps present in Paris.] His Excellency the COUNT BISMARCK-SCHÖNHAUSEN, Chancellor of the North German Confederation, Versailles. No. 348.] No. 97. Mr. Washburne to Mr. Fish. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Paris, January 16, 1871. (Received February 17.) SIR: In my dispatch No. 321, dated November 19, 1870, I estimated that the amount to be paid out of the contingent fund of this legation, as connected with the expenses entailed upon it by virtue of our protec tion to the subjects of the North German Confederation, would not be likely to reach more than fifteen hundred dollars. That sum was independent of what I proposed should be paid to persons connected with the legation. At the time I had the honor of addressing you that dispatch, I supposed that my duties in that regard would have been ended before this time. Instead of that being the case, they have greatly increased, and no man can now venture to predict how long they are likely to continue. I am to-day furnishing aid to twenty-two hundred and seventy-six destitute Germans, and I have had to employ three additional persons in my legation to perform the service necessary to look after these people. Besides, it is necessary to consider the vastly enhanced prices of everything which we have to purchase, as incidents to the state of siege. For instance, I have had to pay at the rate of more than fifty dollars a cord for wood. There is besides quite an amount to pay for carriage-hire. Instead, thererore, of three thousand dollars (including extra compensation) which I estimated, it may in the end reach four thousand. I have thought proper to thus call this matter to your attention, in order that you might bring it to the notice of Congress, provided you should deem it necessary. I have, &c., No. 98. E. B. WASHBURNE. No. 350.] Mr. Washburne to Mr. Fish. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Paris, January 23, 1871. (Received February 17.) SIR: I have the honor to send you herewith a copy of a correspondence I have had with Count de Bismarck, (including one letter to Mr. Motley, and one to Mr. Moran,) on the subject of my dispatch-bag to and from Paris to London. I have, &c., [Translation.] E. B. WASHBURNE. VERSAILLES, December 6, 1870. SIR: The "Daily News" newspaper, of the 24th November, contains an article from its Paris correspondent, stating that the English papers arrive regularly by the dispatchbag which is sent you each week by the United States legation in England. He adds a detailed account of the eagerness of the French journalists to peruse the English papers, so as to reproduce their contents in the Paris papers. If the statement alluded to be exact, it would imply relations incompatible with the rules dictated by the interests of military operations during the investment of Paris. The military authorities cannot sanction that foreign papers of recent date should reach the besieged without having been previously examined. In obtaining for the United States legation the privilege of receiving closed dispatches within a besieged fortress, I allowed myself to be led by the conviction that we had not to fear any inconvenience liable to compromise our interest. I believed it to be understood that the authorization only applied to official communications between the Washington government and the United States legation at Paris. The King's ambassador at London is instructed to make the like remarks to your colleague, Mr. Motley, who will, doubtless, know on his side how to put an end to any abuse if there should be such. Receive, sir, the renewed assurance of my high consideration. Mr. WASHBURNE, Minister of the United States of America, Paris. V. BISMARCK. PARIS, December 12, 1870. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 6th instant, in relation to the reception of the London papers at this legation. I took it for granted that a few numbers of the London papers of an old date could do neither good nor harm to any interest, and hence I permitted them to lie upon my table to be perused by people who were sufficiently interested to come and look over them. But, as some of the Paris journals charge that they are sent to me by the Prussian authorities in the hope that the bad news they contain will discourage the French, and as you consider their reception incompatible with the rules dictated by your military operations, I shall decline receiving any more, and I have this day written to London to have no more sent to me. It is proper for me to say that I received some London papers in the bag which arrived on Saturday last. They will be seen by no person whatever, excepting myself, and I shall most strictly guard their contents. I hope you will find no objection to my receiving, through the bag, the papers from my own country, with the understanding that they are particularly for my own perusal. I would be very glad if you would instruct Count Bernstoff to consult with Mr. Motley on the subject. I shall write to Mr. Motley not to send me even the American journals without the assent of your government, signified by Count Bernstoff. The bag arriving on Saturday only reached here the sixteenth day after leaving London, and I am curious to know whether the great delay was on account of the French military authorities refusing to receive it. It ought not really to take more than four or five days for the bag to come from London here, and I wish that hereafter I might receive it within that time. I have, &c., His Excellency COUNT DE BISMARCK, &c., &'c., §'c. E. B. WASHBURNE. Mr. Washburne to Mr. Motley. PARIS, December 12, 1870. MY DEAR COLLEAGUE: Count Bismarck writes that my reception of the London journals is incompatible with the interest of their military operations before Paris, and he says you will be conferred with in the same sense. I desire, therefore, that no more London papers be sent to me. I find their reception only a nuisance. It seems now the Prussians object, and some of the French papers have charged that they are sent to me by Bismarck, in the hope that the bad news they contain will demoralize and discourage the Parisians. It is, therefore, best that I should receive no more Lon-· don papers, but I have written Count de Bismarck that I hope he will not object to my receiving our own home papers, and that he will instruct Count Bernstoff to consult with you on the subject, and if Count B. does not assent to it, you will be good enough not to send me the American papers. The Prussian authorities having granted me the privilege of having a bag, their understanding of what it should contain must be conformed to, and I do not wish that it should cover anything improper. Believe me, &c., [Translation.] E. B. WASHBURNE. VERSAILLES, December 15, 1870. SIR: I had the honor to receive the letter which you have kindly addressed to me under date 12 December, in relation to the English papers which reach you by the dispatch-bag forwarded from London, aud I hasten to assure you that you have misunderstood the bearing of my remarks. In addressing you my letter of the 6th December last, I only intended to call your attention to the abuse noted by the correspondent of the Daily News, convinced that you were unaware of it, and that this would be sufficient to put an end to it, if it had existed. But I had no intention to deprive you personally of the English or American papers which you wish to receive, and you are entirely free to have them come for your own private use. I am persuaded that you will take the necessary precautions, so that no inconveniences shall result incompatible with our military interest. The King's embassador at London is instructed to inform Mr. Motley that there is no opposition on our side to his continuing sending you the English and American papers which you wish to receive. Receive, sir, the assurance of my high consideration. His Excellency Mr. E. B. WASHBURNE, V. BISMARCK. Minister of the United States of America, Paris. Mr. Washburne to Mr. Moran. PARIS, January 1, 1871. DEAR MR. MORAN: Please send me no more London papers; only cut out the telegraphic dispatches from the United States, from day to day, and send them. It is too much to be the only person, in a city of two millions of people, who receives any ontside news. It has become a great annoyance, and I prefer being without news to being subject to it. I hope you will receive permission to send all my private letters. I expect you will send me all the American papers as usual. Yours, truly, E. B. WASHBURNE. PARIS, January 4, 1871. SIR: The reception of the London journals may involve me in trouble, and I write Mr. Moran by General Read not to send me any more, only inclosing me the telegraphic dispatches from the United States which appear in them. Some Paris papers represent that I have given out news; others say that I give out nothing, because the news is favorable to the French arms; and attempts have been made to bribe my servants to get hold of them. I conclude the only safe way is to receive no more English papers. I shall expect to receive my home papers as usual, and hope also to have permission to receive my private letters. I have the honor, &c., His Excellency COUNT DE BISMARCK, &c. E. B. WASHBURNE. VERSAILLES, January 15, 1871. SIR: I beg to inclose extracts of three letters addressed by persons residing in Paris to correspondents abroad. They are taken out of a balloon sent up in Paris and captured by our men. You will see from the copied passages that the facilities we have accorded to the correspondence of the American legation in London are known to private persons, some of them French, and made use of by them in order to carry on a clandestine correspondence with other people, some of them French. Those extracts further prove that Mr. Hoffmann is expected to lend a helping hand to an epistolary intercourse of that kind. I trust your excellency will effectually prevent the members of your legation from lending themselves to a practice, the continuance of which would make it imperative for me not to allow any letters to pass, except those bearing the seal of the State Department of Washington. It is the possibility of occurrences like these that makes the military authorities indisposed to favor a prompt expedition of your correspondence. Having reluctantly acceded to the whole arrangement, they would have preferred sending your dispatch-bag not to London, but directly to Washington; and now the question may be raised by them of cutting off any correspondence between you and London. In that case the best way, in my opinion, of obtaining a prompter expedition with the least inconvenience to you, would be to have the dispatch-bags for you made up and sealed, not in London, but in Washington, and to send private letters addressed to you personally together with, but not inclosed in, the bag. Please let me know if such an arrangement would eventually suit you. I remain, with the highest consideration, your excellency's, &c., His Excellency Mr. E. B. WASHBURNE, Minister of the United States at Paris. V. BISMARCK. VERSAILLES, January 15, 1871. SIR: I have the honor to transmit to your excellency the dispatch-bag received from London. In accordance with the wish expressed in your letter of the 13th instant, I have, on my personal responsibility, immediately forwarded your dispatch-bag to London. In so doing I acted against the principle adopted by the general staff, that no sealed packages or letters shall be allowed to pass through our lines in either direction without a stoppage of several days. The motive of this rule is the apprehension of the general staff that even the most scrupulous loyalty and attention on the part of the responsible chief might not always exclude the possibility of missives being, by irresponsible parties, introduced into an official cover. However much I may, from personal consideration, feel inclined to oppose this restriction in all cases where you are concerned, I cannot help perceiving that all my |