[Extract.]
Mr. Moran to Mr.
Seward
No. 33.]
Legation of the United States,
London,
May 19, 1868.
Sir: On the 9th instant Mr. Adams addressed a
note to Lord Stanley, her Majesty’s principal secretary of state for
foreign affairs, announcing his desire to deliver to the Queen at an
early day the letter of recall forwarded to him at his own request by
the President, and on the 11th
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instant he received his lordship’s reply. I now have the honor to
inclose copies of these notes. The Queen granted the audience on the
13th at 3 p. m., and Mr. Adams accordingly took his leave of her Majesty
at that time, as reported in his dispatch No. 1590 of that date.
I should be remiss in my duty both to him and myself if I were to permit
this occasion to pass without giving expression to my sense of the
courtesy I have experienced at the hands of Mr. Adams during the seven
years it has been my fortune to serve under him, and of the sincere
regret I feel at his retirement from a post he filled so ably and with
so much credit to his government and himself. * * * *
I have the honor to be, sir, your very obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
Mr. Adams to Lord Stanley
Legation of the United
States, London,
May 9, 1868.
The undersigned, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of
the United States of America, has the honor to inform the right
honorable Lord Stanley, her Majesty’s principal secretary of state
for foreign affairs, that he has been intrusted with the delivery of
a letter addressed to her Majesty the Queen by the President of the
United States, granting him the permission, which he had solicited,
to retire from the public service. In consequence thereof, the
undersigned, in transmitting to his lordship a copy of that letter,
would respectfully request that his lordship would be kind enough to
procure for him the honor of an audience of her Majesty for the
purpose of delivering the original and assuring her Majesty of the
sincere desire which has animated the President to foster and extend
the amicable intercourse subsisting between the two nations.
The undersigned has the honor to further acquaint Lord Stanley that
he has been instructed to leave the archives of the mission in
charge of Mr. Benjamin Moran, the secretary of legation, to whom,
for the present, such communications as may be necessary can be
addressed.
The undersigned, in closing the labors of a mission more arduous and
extended than has fallen to the lot of any one of his predecessors
at this court, would do violence to his feelings if he did not seize
this last occasion to express his high sense of the courtesy and
kindness he has uniformly experienced in his intercourse, as well
with the two eminent noblemen who have, during his residence,
successively preceded Lord Stanley as with his lordship himself.
The undersigned avails himself of this last opportunity to tender to
Lord Stanley the assurances of his highest consideration and
esteem.
The Right Honorable Loud Stanley, &c., &c., &c.
Lord Stanley to Mr. Adams
Foreign Office,
May 11, 1868.
Sir: I have had the honor to receive your
note of the 9th instant, in which you inclose copy of a letter from
the President of the United States to the Queen, granting you
permission to retire from the post of envoy extraordinary and
minister plenipotentiary of the United States at her Majesty’s
court, and you request an audience of her Majesty for the purpose of
delivering the original.
I shall not fail to take the Queen’s pleasure with regard to granting
you the audience which you solicit, and will hereafter have the
honor of writing to you on that subject.
But in the mean time I cannot delay expressing to you my unfeigned
regret at the approaching termination of your mission, and my high
sense of the manner in which, in a time of peculiar difficulty and
importance, you have fulfilled the arduous duties of your mission,
proving the sincere desire of the President to maintain and improve
the friendly relations which subsist between the two countries, a
desire cordially reciprocated by her Majesty’s government.
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I shall be happy to communicate with Mr. Moran, after your departure,
upon any matters relating to the affairs of the two countries.
I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your
most obedient, humble servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.
