Mr. Seward to Mr. Bigelow
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the 6th of April, No. 297. It is accompanied by a copy of the Moniteur, the official organ of the government of France, to the effect following: “That the Emperor has decided that the French troops shall evacuate Mexico in three detachments: the first to leave in November, 1866; the second in March, 1867; the third in November, 1867.”
You inform me that you learn from Mr. Drouyn de Lhuys that the decision mentioned in the Moniteur may be regarded as an official statement of the result of Baron Salliard’s mission in Mexico.
Presuming that we may expect very soon to receive a direct communication of the Emperor’s views on the subject of the proposed evacuation of Mexico, I think a discussion on our part of the newly presented points in the subject of the French intervention would at the present moment be premature.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
John Bigelow, &c., &c., &c., Paris.