Jules Favre to Elihu B. Washburne, October 18, 1870

Jules Fame to Mr. E. B. Washburne.

Sir and Bear Minister: Conformably to the desire which you have done me the honor to express to me yesterday, I transmit to your excellency the letter addressed to the minister of war, to notify him of the departure of your courier. I beg you to send it to him at, once, with notice of the precise hour of his departure.

As regards the permission solicited by a number of your countrymen to pass our lines to leave Paris, I have asked for it from the only competent authority, that is to say, from the governor of Paris. He was of opinion that the difficulties raised by this request, being political as well as military, the government ought to examine them. The government has done so, with a strong desire to be agreeable personally, and to give to your nation a new proof of its sincere cordiality. But however powerful are these considerations upon our minds, we have been checked by the absolute impossibility which we find ourselves in of satisfying the requests of a similar nature which are constantly made. The number of strangers who have not left Paris is very great; many of them have asked of us permission to leave Paris, which we have been obliged to refuse for reasons of defense, of which your excellency will, without doubt, appreciate the value. To grant them would be to annul our military operations; to make exceptions would be to create an unjustifiable privilege. I have therefore the regret to notify your excellency that the government is of opinion that permission to leave Paris during the siege can only be granted to persons clothed with a diplomatic character.

I beg your excellency to believe that it is extremely painful to me not to be able to be agreeable to you. It is one of the griefs which war imposes upon us, and it is one of those to which I can least easily reconcile myself.

I beg your excellency, &c., &c.,