The Minister of Foreign Affairs to the French Minister in Washington.
M. le Marquis: I have read with interest the message his excellency President Johnson has addressed to the Congress of the United States, of which you have forwarded me a copy. My attention has been more especially directed to the portions of this document which [Page 700] might bear upon questions interesting at once the policy of the cabinet at Washington and ours. Mr. Johnson, in a passage which seems to allued to our expedition to Mexico, dwells upon considerations this is not the place to discuss—upon the vicissitudes of monarchical and republican constitutions in the two hemispheres. I will merely point out to you that the pursuit of our complaints against Mexico has no connexion with the existence in that country of this or that form of government, and that it did not any more depend upon a question of geography. If at the time we required just reparation for our fellow—subjects the power which had refused it had been a monarchy, that circumstance would certainly not have caused us to abandon claiming our right; and in whatever part of the world a nation might dwell which had injured French interests, the protection of the Emperor, due to all his subjects, would have been legitimately extended all the same. I cannot think that the Chief Magistrate of the Union has entertained an idea of raising doubts upon points so evident.
The same passage of the presidential manifesto speaks of the provocation which would compel the American people to defend republicanism against foreign intervention, “of designs hostile to the form of government of the United States,” and lastly, of aggression upon the part of the European powers. We cannot feel ourselves affected by these expressions, for they in no way apply to the policy we have followed. It would be superfluous to remind you that the sentiments of constant friendship testified by the Emperor towards the United States exclude every supposition of provocation or aggression upon our part. As for threatening the form of government that country has adopted, and which France herself has contributed to establish at the price of her blood, nothing could be more foreign than such an undertaking to the traditions and principles of the imperial government.
I see, therefore, nothing in the language of Mr. Johnson really of a nature to arouse uneasiness as to the duration of friendly relations between France and the United States; and if some ambiguity prevails in terms employed with regard to the questions that preoccupy the two peoples, other portions of the message, by settling the bearing of the President’s words, happily dissipate all uncertainty. The placing of the federal army upon a peace footing, and the considerable reduction of its cadres, at the same time with the diminution of the naval forces of the Union, prove the peaceful intentions of the cabinet of Washington, and the announcement of these measures by President Johnson is a pledge to us of the reciprocal confidence which must continue to animate our two governments.