The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-06-21
wAsHBURNE AND THE COMMUNE.

The American Minister and the American
Colony During the Perils of the Hour
What He Did to Amelierate sufferings
and Tone Down Outrages.
PARIS, June 6.-Mr. Washburne is the only
ambassador of a great power who has moved
between Versailles and Paris during all the
recent troubles, as he was the only one who
remained in Paris during the siege performing
the difficult task of providing for and protect
ing his own countrymen, caring for the deli
cate affairs of Germany, and yet maintaining the
most intimate and cordial relations with NJ
Jules Favre and the Government of the National
Defense.
1t is true that two or three journals, habtu-
ated to seeking out victims to whom they could
assign the disasters of France, pounced upon Mr..
Washburne for the readiness and success with
which he placed $4,000 Germans beyond the
fury of a Paris mob. But these journals,
fdgety after notoriety they partially achieved,
won q conspicuous failure in their crusade
against the American Minister. 1t is hardly
possible for reader 5000 miles away from the
scene of action to understand with what tnesSe
all diplomatic operations must be conducted in
France do not refer to what the French call
f1eSSe for that means intrigue and dissmula-
tion, but to the Jtnesse employed by Mr.. Wash
burne, explained as a bold and resolute course,
friendly alike to France and Germany, but inde-
pendent, manly, and outspoken.
MR.. wAsHBURNE's POSITION.
1t was not difficult for the most talented and
logical of FTenchmen to understand Mr.. Wash
burnes position. They perceived and praised
u
American character, and the exact attitude of
the United States toward a country suffering
terrible national modification. The other class
of victim seekers and recriminators could not
perceive and would not understand. The same
is true of the remarkable sixty days dating
from the dark 18th of March. Mr. Washburne
never for moment sympathized with the move
ment begun on that day. With q remarkable
clearness of vision he argued that though it might
be a revolution it was one headed by mon who
bad nothing at stake by putting their wild theo-
ries on the shoulders of France; one against
the popular sense and desire, and in every re-
spect revolt and an insurrection. At the same
time he was the Minister of the United States,
and acting in the interests of his countrymeu,
1t was necessary to have certain relations with
the Communists to protect life and property
jeopardized in the capital. His connections
with these men were not, however official, nor
even as decided as those of Prince Bismarck,
when the German Chancellor spoke of ian ar
rangement with the Commune"
HOW ARCHBISHOP DARBoY MIGHT HAVE BEEN
SAVED.
The world knows how, by employing little
tact, Mr. Washburne toned down many arbitrary
proceedings and undoubtedly saved many lives
Archbishop Darboy is example. Our minis
ter visited this good man, condoled with him
and softened the aggravations of the prison cell.
He held the instrument of deiverauce in his
hands, and it only needed policy on the part of
| NJ. Theirs to save the life of the eminent pre-
late. All the Commune desired was the rendi-
| tion of Blanqui-an old, sick, wasted, and fast
| dying reVOlutlOnlSt condemned to death Tor
| participating in the fasco of the 31st of October
| then Mr.. Darboy would have been set at
| liberty. But no. compromise, neverl and so the
| venerable Archbishop died.
| The Paris Journal of this morning, in an ar
| hcle full of bitterness, thus speaks of Mr..
| Washburne:-
| BITTER INsINUATIoNs.
| If it were not for the respect which we bear
| to the republic of the United States, we would
| make figure at the head of the devoted friend
nf q a
| Washburne himself, the official representative
| of his government near our government. The
| role which Mr.. Washburne played during the
siege of Paris by the German troops, and the
intimate friendship of his first secretary Colonel
| Hoffman, with our enemies, had already rem
dered these two gentlemen passably suspected.
! Thus the article goes on, stating that Mr..
| Washburne had addressed Grousset as ''nlon
cher amt" in several letters found, and that it
cannot be perceived how Mr. Washburne could
continue to represent the United States in
| France.
| This is the
| GRATITUDE
of the French people towards man who put
the fate of their Catholic Archbishop in the
hands of the Government when he (Mr. Wash
| burne) was Protestant; this is the thanks Mr.
| Washburne receives for having ameliorated, as
he did by his personal influence many of the
outrages of the Commune, when there was not
another living Ambassador who could have done
as much; this, in fine, is the meanness of the
French character. OF course there is no foun-
dation for the insinuatons contained in the
quoted paragraph, and give it not to reply to
it. but simply to illustrate the ignoble passions
of the hour. When the
HISTORY OF THE PAST TEN MONTHS
in Paris shall be written, there will appear nc
figure more conspicuous for integrity and force
of character than that of Mr.. Washburne. His
diplomatic duties have been overwhelming, his
success signal, and without stain. He has
been the only man who could hold at bay the
sapguinary criminals of the Commune without
improving them; the only man who could move
between the chateau of Louis AIVand the Hote
dc Vile without paying court at one or standing
in abject humility at the other.
The Famine I'm Persia.
The horrors of the Persian famine increase. 4
correspondent, writing to a Turkish journa
from Tabreez under date of April 80, Bays:-"Tht
details which reach us here OF the destitutior