I can not pretend to give you the words
of it, but in substance it was a warm expression of his good feeling
toward the United States for the hospitality he had received there,
etc. ... "As to the convention," he said, "assure your Government that
unavoidable circumstances alone prevented its immediate execution, but
it will be faithfully performed. Assure your Government of this," he
repeated, "the necessary laws will be passed at the next meeting of the
Chambers. I tell you this not only as King, but as an individual whose
promise will be fulfilled."
_Mr. Livingston to the Secretary of State_.
[Extracts.]
PARIS, _November 22, 1834_.
* * * * *
I do not hope for any decision on our affairs before the middle of
January. One motive for delay is an expectation that the message of the
President may arrive before the discussion, and that it may contain
something to show a strong national feeling on the subject. _This is
not mere conjecture; I know the fact_. And I repeat now from a full
knowledge of the case what I have more than once stated in my former
dispatches as my firm persuasion, that the moderate tone taken by our
Government when the rejection was first known was attributed by some
to indifference or to a conviction on the part of the President that
he would not be supported in any strong measure by the people, and by
others to a consciousness that the convention had given us more than we
were entitled to ask.
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