Mr. Eustis to Mr. Olney.
Yesterday had an interview with the minister for foreign affairs. He had before him the Waller papers and the draft of a note he was writing me on the subject. He said that he was now well informed on all the circumstances of the case and that there could be no doubt of the guilt of Waller and as to his having been regularly tried with due regard to law and to the rights of the defense. He invited me to look over the papers and to satisfy myself that such was the fact, but declined to submit them to the examination of my Government, on the ground that such submission involved the abandonment of a principle which the French Government could not yield. I did not personally examine the papers. I had previously told him that such an offer was inadmissible, because a communication of the record to me and not to my Government was not a compliance with the request which I had made under instruction.
After earnestly arguing the case with him without being able to change his position, I stated that my Government would not accept his decision. He said that [he] regretted it very much, but could not do otherwise. This ended our official conversation. He then said that he had no objection to let me know as an individual that he was very anxious to settle this affair, and that it occurred to him this might be done on the following basis: Release of Waller on his part and acceptance of this on our part as a final settlement of the case. He added that he was not yet in position to make such a proposition, but that his desire to bring the matter to a satisfactory conclusion was such that he would spare no effort to bring the President and his colleagues to his [Page 286] views. I did not feel authorized to entertain this suggestion, but deem it proper to communicate it to you. This morning I am in receipt of his written reply confirming substantially what he stated to me yesterday.