Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Second Session Thirty-eighth Congress, Part III

Mr. Seward to Mr. Burlingame

No. 86.]

Department of State, Washington, October 15, 1864.

Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the 5th of July, No. 88, relative to the appointment of three Americans for the Chinese customs service, and in reply to enclose a copy of a letter which has been addressed to the Reverend Eliphalet Nott, D. D., president of Union College, to the Reverend Thomas Hill, D. D., president of Harvard University, and to the Reverend Theodore D. Woolsey, president of Yale College, requesting them to select from among the recent graduates of the colleges over which they preside such young men as, in their judgment, are capable of occupying the position with credit to the United States government. This course has been adopted as the one which seemed most likely to secure the fulfilment of the requirements named in your despatch and in Mr. Hart’s letter.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

Anson Burlingame, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

Mr. F. W. Seward to Mr. Hill

Department of State, Washington, October 14, 1864.

Sir: I am directed by the Secretary of State to transmit to you the enclosed extract of a communication received from Anson Burlingame, esq., minister of the United States in China, and to ask that you will name a suitable person, chosen from among the recent graduates of your college, to receive one of the appointments therein described.

The friendly spirit toward the United States manifested in the proposition made by the inspector general of customs in China merits an effort on our part to justify the confidence reposed in us, by sending out young men qualified to discharge the required duties with fidelity and with credit to our national character. Your aid is therefore invoked in the endeavor to make an impartial selection of candidates whose acquirements and capabilities shall not compare unfavorably with those of the young men selected from other nations.

I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,

F. W. SEWARD, Assistant Secretary.

Rev. Thomas Hill, D. D., President of Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

Same, mutatis mutandis, to the Eev. Eliphalet Nott, D. D., president of Union College, Schenectady, New York, and Rev. Thomas D. Wolsey, D. D., president of Yale College, New Haven, Connecticut.