Mr. Soteldo to Mr. Bayard .
Washington, D. C. , December 12, 1885.
Most Excellent Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of October 16th and of that of the 17th instant, both of them referring to the unfortunate circumstance of the delay that has occurred in the payment of the second installment ($3,000 in United States money) as payment in full of the $6,000 agreed to be paid in final settlement of the claim of Mr. John E. Wheelock.
I expected to receive the sum required from my Government before this, so as to be able to deliver it simultaneously with my reply to the first of the two notes above referred to, and I was still expecting it, since my Government is very desirous to send it, when I received the second, to which I reply without delay.
The settlement made, which provided for the payment of $6,000, in two installments, in three and six months, by menus of bills of exchange at sixty days, did not reach Caracas before The adjournment of the National Congress, in consequence of which the amount stipulated could not be inserted in the budget which governs the disbursements of the public treasury. My Government was therefore compelled to make the payment out of the sum appropriated in said budget as a contingent fund; the first payment ($3,000) was made on the 3d day of July by means of a draft at sixty days. The fund appropriated to disbursements of this character having, however, been subsequently exhausted, owing to unforeseen circumstances, the present delay in the payment of the second [Page 938] installment has occurred, to the great regret of my Government. The balance due will, nevertheless, soon be paid, because, according to the latest advices received by me from the ministry of foreign relations the urgency of the case has been brought to the notice of the President of the Republic, as has the necessity of making the payment in question with as little delay as possible.
I sent a copy of your excellency’s note of October 16th to my Government by the next mail thereafter, and I yesterday sent a copy of that of the 7th instant. I do not doubt that the money necessary for the payment will be sent me so as to enable me to satisfy your excellency’s just demands.
Accept, &c.,