_Chargé de Affaires of the United States_.
SIR: I have received the letter which you did me the honor to address to
me on the 24th of this month.
You are desirous to give your Government a faithful account of the
conversation which you had with me on the 20th. While communicating
to me a statement of that conversation you request me to indicate the
involuntary errors which I may remark in it. I appreciate the motives
which influence you and the importance which you attach to the exactness
of this statement, and I therefore hasten to point out three errors
which have found their way into your report, acknowledging at the same
time its perfect conformity on all other points with the explanations
interchanged between us.
In reply to your question _whether the King's Government would name any
fixed and determinate period at which it would be disposed to pay the
twenty-five millions_ you make me say:
"To-morrow, if necessary. When the Government of the United States shall
by a written official communication have expressed its regret at the
misunderstanding which has taken place between the two Governments,
assuring us that this misunderstanding is founded on an error--that it
did not intend to call in question the good faith of His Majesty's
Government," etc.
Now, this is what I really said:
"To-morrow, to-day, immediately, if the Government of the United States
is ready on its part to declare to us, by addressing its claim
(_réclamation_) to us officially in writing that it regrets the
misunderstanding which has arisen between the two countries; that this
misunderstanding is founded upon a mistake, and that it never entered
into its intention (_pensée_) to call in question the good faith of the
French Government nor to take a menacing attitude toward France."
By the terms of your report I am made to have continued thus:
"In the dispatch to M. Pageot we gave the views of our Government on
this question. Mr. Forsyth not having thought proper to accept a copy of
that dispatch, and having said that the Government of the United States
could not receive the communication in that form," etc.
That was not what I said, because such was not the language of Mr.
Forsyth to M. Pageot. On refusing the copy offered to him by that chargé
d'affaires Mr. Forsyth gave as the only reason _that it was a document
of which he could make no use_, and that was the phrase repeated by me.
Mr. Forsyth made no objection to the form which I had adopted
to communicate to the Federal Government the views of the King's
Government; in fact, not only is there nothing unusual in that form,
not only is it employed in the intercourse between one government and
another whenever there is a desire to avoid the irritation which might
involuntarily arise from an exchange of contradictory notes in a direct
controversy, but reflection on the circumstances and the respective
positions of the two countries will clearly show that it was chosen
precisely in a spirit of conciliation and regard for the Federal
Government.
Finally, sir, after having said, "If the Government of the United States
does not give this assurance we shall be obliged to think that this
misunderstanding is not the result of an error," I did not add, "and the
business will stop there." This last error is, however, of so little
importance that I hesitated to notice it. Receive, sir, the assurances
of my high consideration.