No. 117.
Mr. Fish to Marquis de
Noailles.
Washington, February 15, 1873.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 25th ultimo, requesting, at the instance of the minister of foreign affairs of France, that proper steps may be taken by this Government to return to the United States one Charles Hamilton, of New York, who is at present an inmate of one of the asylums of the department of the Seine.
If you are able to inform me where the friends of Mr. Hamilton reside so that a letter can reach them, I shall be pleased to be the medium of communicating to them the wish of your Government respecting him, and to invite a favorable attention to it.
It has never been the custom of Congress to place at the disposal of this Government any fund for the purpose of assisting citizens of the United States situated as Mr. Hamilton is to return to this country, and no such fund is now available for granting your request.
We have been rather occupied in this country in providing for the necessities of the destitute and suffering of European birth, who have been made the subjects of our pity and charitable care in great numbers and at great expense, but we have not thought it our right to ask other nations to assume these burdens, except in cases where paupers, or persons incapable of supporting themselves, have been sent here by governmental or municipal aid.
Accept, &c.