No. 18.
Mr. Jay to Mr. Fish.
Vienna, June 6, 1873. (Received June 25.)
Sir: The successive visits to Vienna, by invitation of the Emperor, of the Crown Prince and Princess of Prussia, the Crown Prince of Denmark, the Prince of Wales and Prince Arthur, and the King of the Belgians—all of whom said something civil to me about the United States, the King of the Belgians adding that he hoped soon to come over and see a republic which he so much admired—were followed this week by the arrival of the Emperor of Russia, the Czarowich and his wife, the Princess Dagmar of Denmark. They were accompanied by Prince Gortchacow, to whom I was presented at the reception at the Russian embassy on the evening of their arrival.
The prince said, as he offered his hand, “We are a long way from each other, but we are very good friends.” He remarked that they had had a sad loss in the death of Mr. Orr, whom they had begun to know and to like, and then he asked, with some interest, who was to succeed him. I said I had seen the name of Jewell mentioned, but that I had no reliable advice. He said, “Mr. Fish wanted Pierrepont, but he declined; perhaps he was afraid of our climate;” and he added, “I don’t think any new appointment has been made.”
Yesterday the Emperor Alexander, after attending a review in the morning near Schonbrunn and lunching with the embassador of Germany, received the diplomats at the Burg a little before the grand dinner given in his honor by the Emperor. The time was short, so that the Emperor had but a word or two for each as he passed around the circle, and the chiefs of missions were severally presented to him by Mr. Novikoff.
The only noticeable remarks he made to me was his last words, “We are good friends, you know;” and presently, when saying to the Baron Porto-Seguro, the envoy of Brazil, who was next to me, “Your Emperor was very kind to my son,” he turned again to me and said, “Et vous aussi.”
The reception over, the secretaries and attachés retired, and their chiefs joined the party invited to assist at the dinner, the guests numbering one hundred and forty. Before its conclusion, His Majesty the Emperor of Austria rose and proposed the toast:
“To the health of our dear guest, my well-beloved friend, His Majesty the Emperor of Russia!”
The Czar presently responded with the words:
“To the health of His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, whom I cordially [Page 73] thank for his good words, and to the health of Her Majesty the Empress!”
The toast was drunk without any signs of applause.
After dinner the Emperor again spoke to me, and the Czarowich, on my being presented to him, alluded pleasantly to America and to the warm reception his brother Alexis had received there, and at the close of the interview shook hands cordially.
His Excellency the Prince Gortchacow did not assist at the fête given to his Emperor at Schönbrunn on Tuesday, nor at the gala dinner on Wednesday, nor at a grand ball by the Princess Hohenlohe on Thursday. His absence is, I hear, attributed to his reported indisposition.
The Viennese journals have generally hailed the coming of the Emperor and his son as a favorable omen for the future harmony of Russia and Austria-Hungary; and one sheet has suggested that Count Andrassy, Prince Gortchacow, and the German embassador might together arrange diplomatically the Eastern question. But there is not, I think, in diplomatic circles much confidence that such a plan is possible. The Czar’s response to the toast of his host, it is remarked, was less demonstrative than the language of Francis Joseph, and it is not believed that the course pursued by Austria in the war of the Crimea is yet forgotten at St. Petersburg.
As regards Germany, the affection of the Czar for his uncle is beyond question; but the Czarowich is looked upon as sharing the sympathies of that party in Russia which is less fond of Germany and the Germans.
I have, &c.,