Office of the Historian

Mr. Motley to Mr. Seward

No. 86.]
Legation of the United States, Vienna, December 12, 1864.

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 103, of date November 14, giving an account of the ceremonies performed at New York in honor of the deceased imperial royal minister resident at Washington, Count Giorgi, in conformity with the instructions issued by the State Department, and enclosing copies of two letters from the United States district attorney, E. [Page 5] Delafield Smith, esquire—the one to the Department of State; the other to the imperial royal consul general at New York, Mr. Loosey.

I have further to state that, immediately upon the receipt of the documents, I addressed a note to his excellency Count Mensdorff, imperial royal minister of foreign affairs, communicating the substance of your despatch, together with a copy of Mr. Smith’s letter to the department.

I also took the opportunity to express my own sympathy for the loss sustained by the imperial royal government in the death of Count Giorgi, and to add my own tribute to his personal worth.

I now enclose the translation of a note just received from his excellency Count Mensdorff, in which, as you will perceive, I am requested to express the high appreciation by the imperial royal government of the friendly and becoming spirit in which the United States government has thus paid these last and well-merited honors to the lamented deceased.

I have the honor to remain, sir, your obedient servant,

J. LOTHROP MOTLEY.

Hon. William H. Seward Secretary of State, Washington,

[Translation.]

Count Mensdorff to Mr. Motley

Vienna, December 7, 1864.

The undersigned, minister of the imperial household and of foreign affairs, has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the esteemed note of the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States of America, Mr. Lothrop Motley, of date the 2d instant, and to express his thanks for the official communication therein made in relation to the decease of the imperial Austrian minister resident at Washington, Count Giorgi, and to the solemn ceremonies at his funeral.

The undersigned takes the liberty also of expressing to the United States minister the great satisfaction with which he has perceived in that esteemed note and its accompanying documents, that the sincere grief which the imperial government feels at the loss of its representative at Washington is shared by the government of the United States, and that the latter issued such comprehensive directions in relation to the last honors to the deceased as exhibit a striking proof of its sympathy.

The imperial government values all the more highly the confirmation upon this occasion of the friendly sentiments of the United States government, since it recognizes therein a purpose to do honor to the power of which the deceased was a representative, and to give a worthy expression to the friendly relations between the two states.

The undersigned has the honor also to request the United States minister to express the sincere thanks of the imperial royal government to the United States government for its proceedings upon the occasion of the obsequies, so honorable both to the deceased, Count Giorgi, and to the Austrian imperial states, and embraces the opportunity to renew to the minister the assurance of his high and distinguished consideration.

MENSDORFF PONILLY.

Mr. Lothrop Motley, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America.