 George Canning, however, bypassed diplomatic niceties and demanded answers directly from the French government in Paris.From the French side, François-Étienne de Damas was very apologetic and reassured the British side that Donzelot acted on his own initiative.On the other hand, another French respondent by the name of Jean-Baptiste de Villèle admitted that Donzelot acted, on orders from Paris, to help Spain with maintaining control of Cuba.