Letter

Marquis de Noailles to Hamilton Fish, January 10, 1873

Author

Marquis de Noailles

Recipient

Hamilton Fish

Date

January 10, 1873

Type

Letter

Language

English

No. 116. Marquis de Noailles to Mr. Fish

[Translation.]

Legation of France, Washington, January 10, 1873. (Received January 11.)

Mr. Secretary of State: I have the honor to transmit to your excellency the inclosed dispatch, which has just been sent to me by the minister of foreign affairs of the French Republic.

The French section, which has been intrusted by the international meter commission with the preparation of the standard meters and kilograms which will be needed by the various governments represented in said commission, desires to know how many of these standards it must have made. The minister of agriculture and commerce therefore wishes to know the number of meters, both with and without subdivisions, as also the number of kilograms of iridized platinum which the Government of the United States requires.

The price of a cubic meter will probably not exceed four thousand francs, nor that of a kilogram fifteen hundred francs.

I shall be happy, Mr. Secretary of State, to place myself at the service of your excellency in order to transmit the reply which it may please your excellency to make on this subject to the department of foreign affairs of France.

Be pleased to accept, Mr. Secretary of State, the assurances of my very high consideration.

MARQUIS DE NOAILLES.

Topics

19th Century Diplomacy Reconstruction

Sources

FRUS u2014 Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the P View original source ↗

U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian. Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the P.