Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward
Sir: I have had the honor to receive your printed circular of the 29th of March last, relative to diplomatic uniforms.
This matter is of trifling importance, excepting in so far as it may affect the usefulness of the public servants abroad.
So far as I can gather the sense of the joint resolution of Congress of the 29th of March, to which it requires them to conform, it means that no dress is to be worn by them on state ceremonial occasions that varies materially from the customary costume used in the United States, unless it be such as may be previously authorized by Congress.
Inasmuch as no dress has been authorized, and as the regulations established at the court of Great Britain absolutely require that all persons should wear on state occasions some dress different from the only one left permitted, no exception ever having yet been made, it necessarily follows that conformity to these directions must operate as an exclusion of the diplomatic representatives of the United States from participation in all the occasions of court ceremonial which take place here during the year.
The season for such things having passed for the present year, there will not probably be occasion for any action on my part until the opening of Parliament some time in February next. If it should happen to me to be still occupying this post at that time, I think it will not be difficult to come to an amicable understanding to relieve this legation from attendance altogether without giving rise to any unfavorable interpretation as to the state of the relations between the two countries.
So far as I am personally concerned nothing would be more agreeable to me than such an arrangement. Court attendance, with the annoyances resulting from numerous applications for presentation, have always proved here the most annoying and irksome of my public duties. Neither do I see how the strictly official efficiency of a foreign representative can be materially impaired by his taking no part in mere ceremonies. His social influence only is likely to be affected, which is perhaps a matter of more consequence to himself than to the country he represents. If, therefore, he accepts the position with a full understanding of the conditions, he can have no cause for reasonable complaint.
There is one mode open of avoiding even this personal inconvenience to the minister. That is by selecting exclusively for this class of appointments persons entitled by law, from former service in the army, to retain the right to wear a military uniform. This form of dress serves as a passport in all the courts of the Old World, and thus furnishes a ready way of solving these small difficulties. Should any public inconvenience be found ultimately to arise, this will prove at any time an easy remedy.
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington D.C.