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Mr. Washburne to Mr. Bancroft.

PARIS, May 31, 1871. MY DEAR COLLEAGUE: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 22d instant. I thank you for the copy of the dispatch. I had Colonel Hoffman see Mr. Jules Favre on last Monday, and Mr. F. informed him that France was now ready to resume diplomatic relations with the German Empire, and that they were only waiting to find the right man to send to Berlin as minister. He thought that would be in the course of a week or two. While I should be very glad to be relieved of my charge, yet I shall take pleasure in acting for the German government until their minister shall come to my relief. Some few Germans, and a large number of Alsacians, have been arrested in these latter days, and I am occupied in getting them discharged. By good fortune the Prussian embassy has escaped all damage, and I so telegraphed Prince de Bismarck the other day.

I remained here during the whole period of the infernal insurrection, and I saw it go out in fire and blood, and amid scenes which have no parallel in the history of civilization. No consideration on earth, except one of the highest, that of the discharge of a sacred public duty, could ever induce me to go through what I have passed through for the last nine months, and more particularly the last ten weeks. But it is a pleasure for me to know that I have been able to protect the lives and property of all the Americans, and I believe all the Germans, in Paris, but it has been at a fearful risk. The greater part of my labor and responsibility has been in regard to the Germans and Alsacians, and which will, in due time, be made by me the subject of an official dispatch.

The suppression of the insurrection brings with it a military rule (perhaps necessary) of terrible severity. No persons are permitted to leave Paris at present, and I do not know how long people are to be shut in.

As soon as things get quieted down here, and as soon as I am relieved of my German charge, I propose going to Carlsbad for six weeks to recruit my health.

Believe me, &c.,

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Berlin, June 12, 1871. (Received June 29.) SIR: All Berlin is alive with preparations for the triumphal entry of the Emperor into the capital of Germany on Friday next, and between two and three hundred thousand people from abroad are expected here on the occasion. The most interesting business before the Diet relates to indemnity for losses during the war, and the indemnification is to be carried further than ever before.

Ship-owners whose ships were detained in foreign ports are to receive relief for the extraordinary expenses to which they were exposed. Everything destroyed in Alsace and the German part of Lorraine is to be paid for or rebuilt.

Four millions of thalers are to be set apart for distribution among the generals who have most distinguished themselves in the late war, and this appropriation will be voted by parliament out of the moneys to be received from France. The chancellor of the empire, lately raised to the rank of a prince, will receive a forest in the duchy of Lauenburg, esteemed to be worth one million of thalers. This donation will be made by the King of Prussia as duke of Lauenburg; and the property is so situated that no act of parliament will be needed to confirm the grant. The diplomatic relations of the new empire are receiving some extension in the east and in the west.

A chargé d'affaires from Japan appeared here not long ago,, and fifty

five young Japanese, as he informs me, are now distributed through Germany, diligently engaged in making themselves masters of the German language and culture. The chargé manifested a particular wish to place himself on the best terms with the American legation here. He brought me, however, nothing from your department. The republic of Colombia has sent here Mr. Santa Maria as consul general, with a contingent appointment as chargé. He came immediately to me before presenting himself to the government, declaring that he was instructed to do so by his own government, and appeared to take very great pleasure in representing the close analogy between the constitution of the United States of Colombia and our own. But he brought me no letter whatever from any one, and I have no instruction respecting him from you. His manner implied a very hearty sympathy with our government, and a disposition to lean upon it for moral support.

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I have already written you that diplomatic relations between Berlin and Versailles will soon be opened by the mutual appointment of chargés d'affaires. Viscount Gabriac-not he whose wife is an American lady, formerly of New York-is expected before many days. This government has appointed for Versailles Count Waldersee, who was formerly military attaché to the Prussian embassy at Paris. Very few days will elapse before this arrangement will go into effect. So soon as Count Waldersee enters upon his duties, Mr. Washburne can give up his duty of protecting Germans in France. I keep him informed of what passes here on the subject. Count Waldersee leaves for France to-morrow.

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Berlin, June 20, 1871. (Received July 15.)

SIR: Four days of sunshine intervening between periods of incessant rain gave brilliancy to the military entry of the Emperor of Germany into his capital.

The via triumphalis was about three miles long, through streets as wide and in some places thrice as wide as Broadway. Lines of cannon captured from the French were ranged in close order on each side of the way, and the whole line of march was through an allée of flag-staffs garlanded and festooned with oak-leaves and evergreens. The flags, as they represented Germany and its several States, were of all colors, and all harmoniously contrasted and blended. The best talent of the sculptors and painters of Berlin was called into requisition, and, under the hands of men of genius, the coarsest linen, stuffed with straw and covered with gypsum, produced in the distance the effect of marble, and, near at hand, that of casts of beautiful statues. At the starting point of the march, a gigantic image, representing the city of Berlin, gave the welcome to the returning troops. Midway on the line of march a colossal victory, having on her right hand and left statues of Strasburg and Metz, in sitting posture, was much admired. At the end, a Germania receiving back into her arms Alsace and Lorraine, on a pedes

tal encircled by bas-reliefs, was generally thought a design worthy of being perpetuated in bronze or marble. In the street Unter den Linden skillfully executed historical and allegorical pictures, of enormous dimensions, hung across the avenue along which the army was to pass. The Academy of Arts was conspicuous by well-executed full-length portraits of the Emperor, Bismarck, and the generals. Altogether the decorations were never paltry or common-place, but the designs showed, on the part of the artists, felicity and fertility of invention. The Emperor, now in his seventy-fifth year, rode out to his troops at 10 o'clock, returned at the head of forty thousand men, and, in the scorching sun, received the salutations of all the regiments as they passed by him, and then superintended the unveiling of the statue of his father, remaining on horseback more than six hours, and in all that time showing no sign of fatigue. The spectacle was not inferior to the Roman triumphs of old, except, indeed, that prisoners did not form a part of the procession, and that no other spoils were exhibited beyond captured eagles and banners, and trophies gained in battle. The pageant had for its spectators, besides the citizens of Berlin, three or four hundred thousand strangers, gathered from Germany and almost every part of the civilized world.

The United States were much more largely represented than any other foreign country. In this latitude, where twilight lingers late into the night, the illumination was necessarily short, but very brilliant and universal. No inhabited hut was so poor as not to join in it. At the gala performance in the opera on Saturday evening, the Emperor and Empress appeared, surrounded by their children and the various branches of their family, and by many members of the regal and princely houses of Germany; pit, balcony, and boxes were filled, chiefly with the most distinguished generals who have taken part in the war, high officials of the kingdom and empire, and members of their families. Those of our sex glittered each in what Shakespeare calls "a mine of gold," those of the other sparkled in clusters and rivers of diamonds and precious stones. Of the two pieces that were performed, the first represented Justice as having done its work in the late war, and now introducing Peace attended by all the Seasons and all the Arts. The second showed Barbarossa spellbound in his cave, dreaming on till the empire should be restored, and seeing in his visions what the spectators saw in tableaux vivants, the epoch-making incidents of German history, from the crusades, and early humble fortunes of the younger branch of the Hohenzollerns, to the moment when its chief was upborne at Versailles as Emperor by the arms of the princes of Germany. Sunday was the day of thanksgiving. Two or three months ago a good deal was spoken of a fast in commemoration of those who had fallen in the war, but the feeling of joy could not be restrained; men thought the union and peace of Germany not too dearly bought by the loss of many of the best, and that it should therefore be celebrated not by mourning, but by a festival. The days of triumph being past, Berlin, after almost a full year of intensest excitement, falls back into its normal quietude in midsummer, only with a feeling of security such as it never had before. On the other hand, France still remains in an unsettled state, in danger of being torn by dynastic factions. As a republie, if its government were well established, it would again recover its influence. But almost the only French institution which has passed through the war unscathed is the organized Catholic church. The archbishops, bishops, priests, and inferior clergy are all there as before. The archbishop of Paris, who had fallen under suspicion, is venerated as an orthodox martyr. The liberal Père Hyacinthe pleads for hours together

for the civil dominion of the Pope, and the clerical party strains its influence for the restoration of the Pope in Italy and the Bourbons at home. But France will never submit to the rule of Jesuits. Any dynasty that might return to power would represent, not the country, but a faction or party. Nothing can so well unite France as a well-organized republic, and yet even a republic is not sure of support from a majority of the cultivated classes, or of the nation. Everything there is heaving and tossing in uncertain expectation, while here the world moves on in tranquillity which nothing now within view is likely to disturb. The Emperor, in his old age, finds himself happy in the love and confidence of his whole people.

I remain, &c.,

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SIR: I transmit to you herewith the draft of a note which, in conjunction with the representative of Her Britannic Majesty, you will present to the government of the Emperor of Germany, in pursuance of the thirty-fourth article of a treaty signed at Washington on the 8th of May, 1871, of which a copy is herewith sent, requesting that His Imperial Majesty will be pleased to act as arbitrator in a question which has arisen between the Governments of the United States and of Great Britain, in regard to a line of boundary between the Territories of the United States and those of Her Britannic Majesty, under the first article of the treaty concluded at Washington on the 15th of June, 1846, a copy of which is also sent to you. You will accordingly arrange with your British colleague for the simultaneous presentation of your respective notes.

I am, &c.,

HAMILTON FISH.

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Draft of note to be presented to the government of the Emperor of Germany,

The Government of the United States and the government of Her Britannic Majesty having agreed, by a treaty signed at Washington on the 8th of May, 1871, of which a copy is hereunto annexed, together with a copy of the previous treaty of June 15, 1846, herein referred to, to submit to the arbitration and award of His Majesty the Emperor of Germany the decision of the question set forth in the thirty-fourth article of the first-named treaty, in the following words: "Whereas it was stipulated by article I of the treaty concluded at Washington on the 15th of June, 1846, between Her Britannic Majesty and the United States, that the line of boundary between the Territories of the United States and those of Her Britannic Majesty, from the point on the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude up to which it had already been ascertained, should be continned westward along the said parallel of north latitude to the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island, and thence southerly through the middle of the said channel and of Fuca Straits to the Pacific Ocean; and whereas the commissioners appointed by the two high contracting parties to determine that portion of the boundary which runs southerly through the middle of the channel aforesaid were unable to agree upon the same; and whereas the government of Her Britannic Majesty claims that such boundary line should, under the terms of the treaty above recited, be run through the Rosario Straits, and the Government of the United States claims that it should be run through the Canal de Haro, it is agreed that the

respective claims of the Government of the United States and of the government of Her Britannic Majesty shall be submitted to the arbitration and award of His Majesty the Emperor of Germany, who, having regard to the above-mentioned article of the said treaty, shall decide thereupon finally, and without appeal, which of those claims is most in accordance with the true interpretation of the treaty of June 15, 1846;" and the high contracting parties reposing entire confidence in the spirit of justice and impartiality which distinguish His Imperial Majesty, the common friend of the two states, having agreed, in pursuance of the said treaty, to address themselves to His Imperial Majesty, and having further mutually engaged, in the event of His Imperial Majesty being willing to afford his good offices as arbitrator on this occasion, to consider the award of His Majesty as absolutely final and conclusive, and to give effect to the same without any objection, evasion, or delay whatsoever, the undersigned has received the orders of his Government to communicate to His Imperial Majesty the treaty which has thus been made on the part of the Government of the United States, and to express the President's earnest desire that His Imperial Majesty will be pleased to take upon him the office of arbitrator in the question. The undersigned has the honor to request His Serene Highness the Prince Bismarck to lay this communication before His Majesty the Emperor of Germany, and to be pleased to make known to the undersigned His Imperial Majesty's determination with regard to his acceptance of the desired arbitration.

No. 249.]

No. 178.

Mr. Bancroft to Mr. Fish.

[Extract.]

AMERICAN LEGATION,

Berlin, July 29, 1871. (Received August 18.) SIR: This day, at a quarter before 1, I took the British chargé in my carriage to the Foreign Office, where we delivered simultaneously formal notes, identical in terms, addressed to Prince Bismarck, chancellor of the empire, requesting the German Emperor to accept the office of arbiter on the northwestern boundary question, under the treaty of Washington. I annex a copy of the note.

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I remain, &c.,'

GEO. BANCROFT.

Mr. Bancroft to Prince Bismarck.

AMERICAN LEGATION,
Berlin, July 29, 1871.

The Government of the United States of America and the government of Her Britannic Majesty having agreed, by a Treaty signed at Washington the 8th of May, 1871, of which a copy is hereunto annexed, together with a copy of the previous treaty of June 15, 1846, herein referred to, to submit to the arbitration and award of His Majesty the Emperor of Germany the decision of the question set forth in the thirty-fourth article of the first-named treaty, in the following words: [Here follows verbatim the entire article thirty-fourth, of the first-mentioned treaty.] And the high contracting parties reposing entire confidence in the spirit of justice and impartiality which distinguishes His Imperial Majesty, the common friend of the two states, having agreed in pursuance of the said treaty to address themselves to His Imperial Majesty; and having further mutually engaged, in the event of His Imperial Majesty being willing to afford his good offices as arbitrator, on this occasion, to consider the award of His Imperial Majesty as absolutely final and conclusive, and to give effect to the saine without any objection, evasion, or delay whatsoever, the undersigned has received the orders of his Government to communicate to His Imperial Majesty the treaty which has thus been made on the part of the United States, and to express the earnest desire

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