No. 539.
Mr. de
Weckcherlin to Mr. Bayard.
New York, June 28, 1887. (Received June 29.)
Mr. Secretary of State:
I did not fail to inform my Government of the letter which you were good enough to address to me on the 22d April, to inform me that the President had suspended the tonnage dues on ships arriving in the United States from a certain category of ports of the Netherlands.
The minister of foreign affairs at the Hague received this information with pleasure, and desires me now to express to you how much he appreciates the decision of the United States Government in the matter in question.
In accordance with those instructions I have, therefore, the honor to offer you the thanks of Mr. Karnebeek, and I hope that you will permit me at the same time to inform you as regards the invitation to later negotiations, conveyed in your above-mentioned note, under section 12 of the shipping act of the 19th of June, 1886, that my Government will hasten to examine the question with all the interest it merits.
Accept, etc.,