Mr. Sanford to Mr. Seward.
Sir: Solicitude has again been excited here by the knowledge that the Emperor Napoleon had intimated to the Prussian government a desire for some territorial modifications for the benefit of France, in return for the annexations to Prussia resulting from the war. It was felt that, in the present state of feeling in Germany, with its views for the future, the Prussian government would hardly yield, save to force, in permitting France to acquire German territory, and might, therefore, the more readily consent to her compensating herself from her weaker neighbors.
The Emperor’s sickness, which seems to have been serious, or the unyielding attitude of Prussia, would appear to have modified his views, and we now learn that the question, if not withdrawn, is at least indefinitely postponed; and on the other hand, a note by M. Drouyn de Lhuys to Lord Cowley, the British ambassador at Paris, gives still further relief here for the moment in the formal assurance it contains that the Emperor has not entertained, nor has now any thought of disturbing the integrity of Belgium, its government or dynasty, for which the note is represented to me as expressing the most friendly sentiments.
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I have the honor to be, with great respect, your most obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.