No. 710.
Mr. Preston to Mr. Bayard.
Washington , November 30, 1888. (Received December 1.)
The undersigned, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the Republic of Hayti to the United States, begs to call the attention of the Hon. Thomas F. Bayard to the recent incidents which have occurred in regard to the affair of the steamer Haytian Republic.
The dispatches which the undersigned has received this very day from his Government have informed him that on the 15th of this month the Hon. John E. W. Thompson, minister of the United States to Port an Prince, has informed the Government of the undersigned that the case of the steamer Haytian Republic was referred to the Government of the United States.
At the same time his Government has given instructions to the undersigned to examine and to arrange, if it were necessary, this affair in concert with the honorable the Secretary of State of the United States. [Page 1006] In this situation of affairs the undersigned declares himself ready to proceed without delay. He begs, therefore, that the honorable Secretary of State of the United States will inform him of the opinion of his Government upon the affair of the Haytian Republic, which, by the acts approved before a prize tribunal regularly constituted, has been duly condemned.
Confiding in the wisdom and moderation of which the honorable Secretary of State has given him so many proofs, the undersigned will receive and examine the observations of the honorable Secretary of State with all the attention that they deserve; and he will make it his duty on his part to pursue the affair with the most sincere desire to terminate promptly and in the spirit of justice which animates the two Governments.
The undersigned has the honor to renew to the Secretary of State the assurances of his very high consideration.