Mr. Morris to Mr. Seward.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of despatches Nos. 100, 101, 102, 103, and 104. The instructions of No. 100 relative to the negro troops raised in Egypt for the service of Maximilian will be executed, should the suggested occasion for their application arrive. As I observed in a previous despatch, the first expedition of negro troops from Egypt to Mexico was a surreptitious transaction between the Emperor Napoleon and Saïd Pacha, viceroy of Egypt, without the cognizance or consent of the Sultan. As such, it was in contempt of the authority of the imperial government, the suzerainte of which over Egypt France is bound by treaty to respect. The proposed second expedition, although brought to the knowledge of the Porte, after the present viceroy had been compromised by previous pledges, was regarded with marked disfavor by it.
The policy of the Sublime Porte in foreign affairs is a very cautious and sagacious one, and towards no government does it invariably exhibit a more friendly feeling than to that of the United States. Of this I have had occasion, in several instances during my residence here, to give practical proof. Nothing could be more significant in this respect than the unwonted energy it displayed, regardless of expense, and at the risk of provincial war, to bring to justice the assassins of the Rev. Messrs. Merriam and Coffing, and their abettors and protectors. Its action also, at my request, in excluding the rebel cruisers from the ports and waters of Turkey, notwithstanding the opposite course of other governments of Europe, was another striking example of its desire to gratify the government of the United States, and to entertain with it the most friendly relations.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.