Mr. Hay to Mr. Townsend.

No. 44.]

Sir: I have to inform you that your dispatch No. 53, of the 8th ultimo, relative to the expulsion of one Paul Edwards, an American citizen, upon the ground that he was violating the hospitality of the country in which he was domiciled by the unlawful practice of thaumaturgy, has been received.

Whether the Belgian laws against Edwards’ mode of practice of the healing art are well or ill advised is not for foreigners to say. The Belgian Government, so far as shown, appears to have been clearly within its rights in the matter of the expulsion.

Your course in regard to the case is fully approved by the Department.

I am, etc.,

John Hay.