No. 168.
Mr. Bancroft to Mr. Fish.
Sir: In your letter of July 22 to Baron Gerolt you express your hope that the Government and people of the United States may soon be gratified by seeing the principle of exempting private property on the high seas from seizure universally recognized.
Mr Delbrück informs me that when the time shall come for negotiating a peace with France, one of the conditions to be proposed and insisted on will be the recognition of this principle.
The treaty relating to consulships and inheritances, which I am to close as soon as the incidents of war will admit, may contain references to the former treaties of the United States with Prussia, confirming them in part. Will you authorize me to propose on your part a recognition in the pending treaty of the principle which you affirm in the letter I have referred to? I am sure it will find acceptance here.