The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France (Sharp)
1301. Your 1194, January 6. Please state to the Foreign Minister that this Government appreciates the efforts of the French Government to remove any possible cause of friction between France and the United States and that I received with great satisfaction his statement of the order which had been issued to the captain of the Descartes to desist from the practice complained of. Department believes that the principle of the Trent case denies to a belligerent the right to remove, from neutral vessels on the high seas even the paid agents who are not incorporated in the armed forces of its enemy.