The Minister of Foreign Affairs to the French Minister in Washington.
M. LE Marquis: The Emperor recommends to you very particularly the contents of my despatch to you of this date.
In writing to you this despatch I have entered upon a course which Mr. Bigelow himself inaugurated some days ago. At the end of a conversation upon other subjects, that minister asked me, in his own name and without prejudging the opinion of his government, if [Page 698] I did not think that the recognition of the Mexican empire by the United States would facilitate and hasten the recall of our troops. The instructions which I forward you are the answer to that question.
Receive, &c.,