No. 4.
The Duke de Broglie to Mr. Barton.
[Translation.]
E.
PARIS, October 26, 1835.
T.P. BARTON,
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.