JOHN HAY, Acting Secretary to Max Outrey, October 23, 1880

No. 268. Mr. Hay to Mr. Outrey.

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 11th instant, in which, after stating that diplomatic relations are about to be re-established between the French Republic and Mexico, you express most cordially the gratitude of your government for the good offices which have been rendered by the officers of the United States to citizens of France during the absence of a French diplomatic representative at the city of Mexico.

In reply, I beg to say that such friendly assistance as this government has been able to give to French citizens in Mexico during the suspension of diplomatic relations between France and Mexico has been very cheerfully rendered, and it is very gratifying to this government to be assured by yours that those acts have been the means of still further strengthening the friendly relations which have subsisted without interruption between the United States and France ever since the existence of the former as a nation.

Accept, &c.,