No. 11.
_Mr. Pageot to Mr. Forsyth_.
[Translation.]
WASHINGTON, _December 5, 1835_.
Hon. JOHN FORSYTH,
_Secretary of State of the United States_.
SIR: I yesterday evening received the letter which you did me the honor
to write to me on the 3d of this month. With it you return to me the
copy of a dispatch which I had transmitted to you two days before, and
the original of which was addressed to me on the 17th of June last by
his excellency the minister of foreign affairs.
I will not seek, sir, to disguise from you the astonishment produced in
me by the return of a document so very important in the present state of
the relations between the two countries; neither will I undertake to
reply to the reasons on which this determination of yours is based.
My intention in communicating this document to you in a form not only
sanctioned by the diplomatic usages of all nations and all ages, but
also the most direct which I could possibly have chosen, was to make
known the real dispositions of my Government to the President of the
United States, and through him to Congress and the American people,
conceiving that in the existing situation of the two countries it was
essential that each Government should fully comprehend the intentions
of the other. This consideration appeared to me paramount to all others.
You have judged otherwise, sir, and you have thought that whatever might
be the importance of a communication it was proper before receiving it
to examine whether the form in which it came to you were strictly
accordant with the usages necessary, in your opinion, to be observed in
diplomatic transactions with the Government of the Republic. I will not
insist further. I have fulfilled all the duties which appeared to be
prescribed for me by the spirit of reconciliation, in conjunction with
the respect due by me to all communications from my Government, and
nothing more remains for me than to express my deep regret that the
misunderstanding between the two Governments, already so serious, should
be kept up, not by weighty difficulties which involve the interests and
the dignity of the two countries, but by questions of form as uncertain
in their principles as doubtful in their application.
I have the honor to renew to you, sir, the assurances of my high
consideration.