No. 483.
Mr. Schuyler to Mr. Fish.
St. Petersburg, Sept, 12, 1874. (Received October 1.)
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch No. 85, relative to the Brussels congress.
As the proceedings of the congress have been kept secret, and it has been impossible for me to communicate anything more than rumors of its actions and occupations, I have refrained from writing to you on the subject.
I now understand that the protocol of the sessions of the congress has been signed by the delegates of all the powers that were represented therein. The Belgian government has asked the Russian government if it would have any objection now to the publication of the protocol. To this the Russian government readily assents, especially as a French newspaper, La République, published a version of the results of the congress which was not strictly in accordance with the truth.
The congress agreed upon the draught of a declaration, which is to be submitted to the governments who were represented in the congress, and in which it is of course possible that alterations may be made before all the governments consent to sign it. The congress, however, is not adjourned, but merely suspended.
The declaration will be left open, so that any government which was not represented in the congress may at any time give its adhesion to the principles declared.
I have, &c.,