ratified, and
confirmed, and by these presents, signed by our hand, we do accept,
approve, ratify, and confirm it; promising, on the faith and word of a
king, to observe it and to cause it to be observed inviolably, without
ever contravening it or suffering it to be contravened, directly or
indirectly, for any cause or under any pretense whatsoever.

Official information of the exchange of ratifications in the
United States reached Paris whilst the Chambers were in session. The
extraordinary and to us injurious delays of the French Government in
their action upon the subject of its fulfillment have been heretofore
stated to Congress, and I have no disposition to enlarge upon them here.
It is sufficient to observe that the then pending session was allowed to
expire without even an effort to obtain the necessary appropriations;
that the two succeeding ones were also suffered to pass away without
anything like a serious attempt to obtain a decision upon the subject,
and that it was not until the fourth session, almost three years after
the conclusion of the treaty and more than two years after the exchange
of ratifications, that the bill for the execution of the treaty was
pressed to a vote and rejected.

In the meantime the Government of the United States, having full
confidence that a treaty entered into and so solemnly ratified by the
French King would be executed in good faith, and not doubting that
provision would be made for the payment of the first installment which
was to become due on the 2d day of February, 1833, negotiated a draft
for the amount through the Bank of the United States. When this draft
was presented by the holder with the credentials required by the treaty
to authorize him to receive the money, the Government of France allowed
it to be protested. In addition to the injury in the nonpayment of the
money by France, conformably to her engagement, the United States were
exposed to a heavy claim on the part of the bank under pretense of
damages, in satisfaction of which that institution seized upon and still
retains an equal amount of the public money. Congress was in session
when the decision of the Chambers reached Washington, and an immediate
communication of this apparently final decision of France not to fulfill
the stipulations of the treaty was the course naturally to be expected
from the President. The deep tone of dissatisfaction which pervaded the
public mind and the corresponden