A slight interruption of diplomatic intercourse which occurred between
this Government and France, I am happy to say, has been terminated, and
our minister there has been received. It is therefore unnecessary to
refer now to the circumstances which led to that interruption. I need
not express to you the sincere satisfaction with which we shall welcome
the arrival of another envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary
from a sister Republic to which we have so long been, and still remain,
bound by the strongest ties of amity.

Shortly after I had entered upon the discharge of the Executive duties I
was apprised that a war steamer belonging to the German Empire was being
fitted out in the harbor of New York with the aid of some of our naval
officers, rendered under the permission of the late Secretary of the
Navy. This permission was granted during an armistice between that
Empire and the Kingdom of Denmark, which had been engaged in the
Schleswig-Holstein war. Apprehensive that this act of intervention on
our part might be viewed as a violation of our neutral obligations
incurred by the treaty with Denmark and of the provisions of the act of
Congress of the 20th of April, 1818, I directed that no further aid
should be rendered by any agent or officer of the Navy; and I instructed
the Secretary of State to apprise the minister of the German Empire
accredited to this Government of my determination to execute the law of
the United States and to maintain the faith of treaties with all
nations. The correspondence which ensued between the Department of State
and the minister of the German Empire is herewith laid before you. The
execution of the law and the observance of the treaty were deemed by me
to be due to the honor of the country, as well as to the sacred
obligations of the Constitution. I shall not fail to pursue the same
course should a similar case arise with any other nation. Having avowed