William L. Dayton to Mons. le Marechal Comte Randon, May 26, 1861

E.

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge your letter of the 24th instant, calling my attention to the fact that my predecessor, on the 21th of September last, requested you to have the goodness to deliver to him, from the government arsenal, four fire-arms (4 armes à feu) and two other arras (armes blanches) for the State of Virginia, and that you authorized the said delivery, with the approbation of the Emperor, on the 22d of October, 1860; and that you informed Mr. Faulkner that the artillery board of Paris held those arms at the disposition of the Virginia delegates; that up to the date of your note to me the letter from the colonel of the artillery staff and your own despatches of the 21st of March last, addressed to Mr. Faulkner, have remained unanswered, &c.

I beg to say to your excellency that I am altogether ignorant of the causes of delay on the part of my predecessor in answering the communications referred to, and asking for the delivery of the arms in question.

I pray you, sir, to accept for yourself, and convey to the Emperor, my grateful acknowledgments, in behalf of the United States, for the courtesy extended in the expression of a readiness to grant the request of my predecessor; while I deem it proper to say at once that the request for the arms referred to will not, under existing circumstances, be renewed by me in behalf of the State of Virginia.

I beg to assure you, sir, of the high consideration with which I have the honor to be your obedient servant,