Mr. McLane to Mr. Bayard.
Paris, June 16, 1885. (Received June 30.)
Sir: Your dispatch No. 9, acknowledging receipt of Mr. Morton’s No. 774, in which he expressed confidence that the French Chamber would soon vote a law repealing the decree prohibiting the importation of American pork, substituting therefor a general system of inspection applicable to all countries, has been received.
I regret to say that I cannot share the confidence expressed by my predecessor. My conversations with the ministers of foreign affairs and other officials have led me to fear that the Chambers now in session will not pass the law in question. Should my impression in this connection prove well founded, I will press the matter upon the French Government after the general elections, which will take place probably in October, with a view “to induce an immediate termination of the existing prohibition by decree of the President, rather than to await the slow and uncertain action of the Chambers.
I have, &c.,