No. 442.
Mr. Evarts
to Mr. Smyth.
Washington, January 27, 1880.
Sir: Your dispatch No. 58, of the 12th ultimo, communicating and commenting upon the recent message of the President of the republic to the legislature, has been received.
The statesmanlike views expressed by the President will, doubtless, commend themselves to the good judgment of his countrymen. This government cannot but regard with sympathetic interest the suggestion of wise and pacific measures to extend the foreign commerce of Liberia and to strengthen its material relations with the tribes in the interior; and shares in the desire, to which his excellency refers, of seeing a prosperous and happy negro state, capable of exerting a beneficial influence upon the great African continent, firmly established in Liberia, and meriting the confidence and good will of all Christian powers.
You are at liberty to say as much in conversation with the officers of the Liberian Government.
I am, &c.,