Office of the Historian

Mr. Thompson to Mr. Gresham.

Legation of the United States,
Petropolis, September 19, 1893. (Received October 18.)
No. 11.]

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your telegram dated September 8, and at the same time to confirm mine dated September 11, in reply thereto. Previous to the receipt of your telegraphic instructions I had, upon the application of Mr. Frank Norton and others, urged upon the foreign office the necessity for the immediate removal of the restriction. In response to my interview a note was received the following day, copy and translation inclosed (inclosure 1), denying the request.

I was again on my way to the foreign office, after receiving your telegram to renew the request, when I was advised that the restriction had been removed. The prohibition was again established on the 14th instant, owing to the disturbed condition of affairs, but from to-day’s [Page 50] Jornal do Comercio I clip an article (inclosure No. 2) showing that it has been modified.

I will use my best efforts to have the restriction renewed entirely at the earliest date possible.

I have, etc.,

Thos. L. Thompson.
[Inclosure 1 in No. 11—Translation.]

Senhor d’Mave to Mr. Thompson.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Rio de Janeiro, September 9, 1893.

I communicated to the minister of the foreign office the two letters in which Messrs. Frank Norton and Levering & Co. address themselves to the consul-general of the United States in order to obtain the necessary permission to deliver and accept telegrams in ordinary language. His excellency answered that he regrets much but that for the present it will not be possible for the Government to grant the request.

Returning to Mr. Thompson the above-mentioned letters, I have the honor to renew the assurance of my high consideration.

J. F. d’Mave.
[Inclosure 2 in No 11—Translation—Extract from the Jornal de Comercio—Telegrams.]

The Diario Oficial to-day published the following declaration:

In order to facilitate communications of purely business matters, the Government has resolved to permit the banks of this place to transmit telegrams relative to their transactions, with the understanding that they shall be visaed by the minister of the treasury.