No. 32.
Mr. Jay
to Mr. Fish.
Vienna, April 8, 1872. (Received April 25.)
Sir: It has occurred to me, in reference to the Centennial celebration at Philadelphia in 1876, that if it is proposed to invite the nations of the world to assist on that occasion, it is desirable that the United States should be properly represented at the Vienna World’s Exposition of 1873.
I find that this idea is so fully shown by the Hon. John V. L. Pruyn, of Albany, the commissioner for the State of New York, appointed by the President, that I have the less hesitation in suggesting it for the consideration of the Department and of the President.
I to-day accompanied Mr. Pruyn, who arrived in Vienna last week, to the grounds appropriated to the exposition, where he viewed the works in progress designed by Mr. Scott Russell, of which I am advised by the Baron Orczy that plans have been furnished to the Department through the Austrian legation at Washington. A copy of some of them, obligingly presented by the general manager of the exposition, Baron Schwarz Senborn, I have forwarded, for the use of the national commission, to Mr. Charles H. Marshall, of New York, the alternate commissioner for the State.
The Vienna Exposition, as you are aware, is intended in magnitude of its scale, and the extent of its scientific character, to be superior to the expositions of London and Paris, and it will probably be the only affair of the sort in Europe prior to the American Centennial at Philadelphia. I am therefore inclined to think that a generous appropriation by the Government, to enable the manufacturers and the artists of America (a separate building at Vienna is appropriated to the fine arts since 1862) to be fairly represented at the approaching exposition, apart from the advantages which might naturally be expected from bringing the products of the United States to the knowledge of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, would be the surest method of insuring a reciprocal courtesy on the part of the governments of Europe with reference to our Centennial of 1876.
I have, &c,