No. 136.
Mr. Outrey
to Mr. Evarts.
Washington, January 14, 1878.
Sir: It appears from a report of the governor of French Guiana, addressed to the minister of the marine, that the captain of an American [Page 193] brig refused, in the month of October last, to carry to Salem, Mass., certain condemned persons who have been liberated from our colony, basing his action upon a law passed by the State of Massachusetts which forbids the landing in its ports of persons belonging to this class. The United States consul at Cayenne having been unable to inform the director of the penitentiary service on this point, the minister of foreign affairs requests me to inform him as to the provisions on this subject which may be found in the Federal or State laws of the Union.
I therefore desire, Mr. Secretary of State, to have recourse to the accustomed kindness of your Department, begging that I may be enabled to reply to Mr. Waddington; and I gladly avail myself of this occasion to reiterate to you the assurances of my very high consideration.