Office of the Historian

Mr. Smythe to Mr. Gresham.

Legation of the United States,
Port au Prince, February 9, 1895. (Received Feb. 18.)
No. 118.]

Sir: The subject covered by instructions contained in your No. 35, of March 16, 1894,1 the alleged discrimination in tonnage dues as giving an undue advantage to sailing vessels as against steamships, has been frequently with the secretary of state for finance in the late ministry the subject of discussion, and I am just now in receipt of a long dispatch transmitted through the foreign office advancing a number of reasons why the existing law should not be modified.

I will forward by the next mail a translation of the late minister’s “opinion,” when you can determine whether the question shall be presented to the new ministry in the hope of a different result.

I am, etc.,

Henry M. Smythe.
  1. See Foreign Relations, 1894, p. 355.↩