Mr. Seward to Mr. Pruyn.
Sir: I have received your dispatch of the 6th of August, No. 19, with its accompaniment, which is a communication from Señor Villégas, minister for foreign affairs, in which that minister submits to the United States for their consideration a plan for a gradual liquidation of the fiscal obligations of the republic of Venezuela; the which plan, if found acceptable by foreign creditors, it is supposed may be put into execution when the present revolutionary embarrassments of the country shall have terminated.
The plan seems to have been conceived in a spirit of justice and patriotism. At this distance, however, from Venezuela, it does not yet appear that the provisional government established at Caracas has become either so comprehensive in its jurisdiction, or so well consolidated, as to enable it to guarantee the national consent to a final arrangement for the extinction of the public debt. Moreover, it may be expected that a national congress or legislature will soon be convened by the provisional government, for the purpose of reorganizing and reconstructing the constitution of the republic. Under these circumstances, this government thinks it expedient to delay, for the present, the definitive consideration of the plan submitted for its consideration by the provisional government at Caracas, and await the hoped-for close of the existing revolution.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Erastus C. Pruyn, Esq., &c., &c., &c.