No. 359.
Mr. Davis
to Mr. Langston.
Washington, June 4, 1883.
Sir: Your dispatch No. 551, of the 17th ultimo, has been received. You therein report the propositions made in the name of the Government of Hayti, by yourself and the other foreign representatives at Port-au-Prince, to General Bazelais, the leader of the insurgent force in possession of Miragoâne—that his troops should surrender their arms and military munitions on condition of being allowed to quit the island in safety.
However much the proposition may have responded to a natural sentiment of humanity, and expressed the desire of yourself and your colleagues to see a peaceful end put to the present unhappy disturbance of the tranquility and foreign trade of Hayti, the step taken cannot be regarded as one having the official sanction or support of this Government. The proposition itself is in terms a proffered mediation between the Haytian Government and certain rebellious citizens of Hayti, and it contains, moreover, a guarantee of certain future action of the Government of Hayti, the binding effect of which upon that Government, in the event of the acceptance of the terms by the insurgents, does not seem clear. The Haytian Government does not appear as a signatory party to the proposition, or as asking that it should be made, while the five gentlemen who signed it were of course incompetent to pledge the Haytian Government to any fixed terms, and equally incompetent, it is, conceived, to engage their respective Governments to enforce those terms.
The paper, therefore, can only be considered, so far as this Government is concerned, as the personal and unauthorized expression of your individual opinion. Even in this light, however, the failure of your good intentions is regrettable.
I am, &c.,
Acting Secretary.