Mr. Gresham to Mr. Tavel.
Department of State , November 5, 1894 .
Sir: Referring to the note of January 11 last from your legation, I have the honor to apprise you of the receipt of a dispatch from the United States minister at Petropolis, numbered 298, of the 1st ultimo, written in reply to the Department’s instruction to use his good offices for the protection of the Lecoultre estate.
Mr. Thompson states that while the Swiss Government has no diplomatic representative in Brazil, Mr. Rafford, the Swiss consul-general, has always been recognized in questions of interest to that country, not excepting the Lecoultre case. For this reason, and also because the French minister has used his good offices in the same case, Mr. Thompson decided to await further instructions from the Department.
As it thus appears that the official intervention of the Swiss consul-general will be admitted by the Brazilian Government in behalf of Swiss citizens in Brazil in default of a regularly accredited diplomatic [Page 677] agent, and as Mr. Rafford’s attention has been already given to the matter of the Lecoultre estate, it is not thought needful to give Mr. Thompson specific instructions in that regard or general authority in respect to the informal protection of Switzers.
Accept, etc.,