Mr. Sanford to Mr. Seward.
Sir: Parliament, which met in extraordinary session on the 19th, adjourned two days after, and now stands prorogued by royal decree. The officers of last session were re-elected, and nothing worthy of special note transpired save a reply of M. Rogier to an interpellation relative to the present situation of the question with Holland touching the barring of the Scheldt. The minister of foreign affairs stated to the house that the reports of the foreign engineers which this government had asked for had been presented, and would be laid before the chambers, and that they were now being examined and would be reported upon by Belgian engineers, when the period of examination would be definitely closed. He hoped, he continued, next session to furnish to the chambers more precise indications as to the course to be pursued by the government.
I send the documents referred to herewith. The dam across the entrance to the eastern Scheldt, which has been the cause of so much litigation, has, during the discussion, been completed, and now enters in the domain of accomplished facts.
The only practical result which seems likely to follow is the change of Baron Dujardin, the Belgian minister at the Hague, to another post, the acrimony caused by the correspondence on this question making his position there an unpleasant one.
I have the honor to be, with great respect, your most obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.