_Paris, January 16, 1935_.
Hon. J. FORSYTH, etc.
SIR: The wind being unfavorable, I hope that this letter may arrive in
time for the packet.
By the inclosed semiofficial paper you will see that a law has been
presented for effecting the payment of 25,000,000 francs capital to the
United States, for which the budgets of the six years next succeeding
this are affected, and with a condition annexed that our Government
shall have done nothing to affect the interests of France. It would seem
from this that they mean to pay nothing but the capital, and that only
in six years from this time; but as the law refers to the treaty for
execution of which it provides, I presume the intention of the ministry
can not be to make any change in it, and that the phraseology is in
conformity to their usual forms. At any rate, I shall, notwithstanding
the situation in which I am placed in relation to this Government,
endeavor to obtain some explanation on this point.
The packet of the 16th arrived, but to my great regret brought me no
dispatches, and having received none subsequent to your No. 43, and that
not giving me any indication of the conduct that would be expected from
me in the event of such measures as might have been expected on the
arrival of the President's message, I have been left altogether to the
guidance of my own sense of duty under circumstances of much difficulty.
I have endeavored to shape my course through them in such a way as to
maintain the dignity of my Government and preserve peace, and, if
possible, restore the good understanding that existed between the two
countries. From the view of the motives of the President's message
contained in the answer of the Globe to the article in the Intelligencer
I am happy in believing that the representations I have made to the
Comte de Rigny, as detailed in my No. 71, are those entertained by the
Government, and that I have not, in this at least, gone further than it
would have directed me to do had I been favored with your instructions.
I have no answer yet to my note to the Comte de Rigny, a copy of which
was sent by my last dispatch, nor can I form any new conjecture as to
the event.
The inclosed paper contains a notice that I had been received by the
King. This is unfounded, and shall be contradicted. I shall not in the
present state of things make my appearance at court, and only in cases
where it is indispensable have any communication with the minister.
I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient, humble
servant,