I acknowledge receipt of your note of August 5 in reply to mine
of August 2 asking information regarding the reasons for your
non-payment of the salaries for last July due to His Excellency
the President of the Republic, the secretaries, and state
councilors, and the palace interpreter.
I note the second paragraph of your letter, in which you say,
"In reply, etc."
I do not know by what authority the American Minister can have
given you such instructions or by what authority you
acquiesced. The non-payment of the salaries due the members of
the Government constitutes a confiscation vexatious for them
and for the entire country. It is not the function of this
department to judge the motives which led the American Minister
to take so exceptionally serious a step; but it is the opinion
of the Government that the Financial Adviser, a Haitian
official, was not authorized to acquiesce.
FLEURY FEQUIERE, Secretary of Finance.