No. 92.
Mr. Hitt to Mr. Fish.

No. 1457.]

Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a translation of a letter, just received from Mr. Krantz, the general commissioner of the Universal Exhibition at Paris of 1878, in reply to one from Mr. Washburne of the 20th instant, communicating to Mr. Krantz the information given in your dispatch No. 878, of February the 7th, that the proper committee of the Senate and House had been addressed upon the subject of the participation of our government in the Universal Exhibition at Paris in 1878, and stating that questions of unusual importance had for some time occupied the attention of Congress, but that recent intelligence indicated that they would soon be disposed of.

I am, &c.,

R. R. HITT.
[Inclosure.—Translation.]

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the letter which you kindly wrote me, of date the 20th of February.

I appreciate the gravity of the questions which agitate your country, and I respect the weighty reasons which divert the attention of Congress from questions relating to the Universal Exposition of 1878.

Should the United States stand aloof, it would take away from the grand solemnity which is in preparation too notable a part of its interest and of its splendor for me to admit for a moment so unwelcome an hypothesis. The space reserved for your countrymen, as exhibitors, is still kept, as you were notified last year; and I could not consent to change its location, although the time at which we have arrived in our preparations authorized me to do so in the case of the few countries which have not yet come to a decision.

Everything leads me to believe that in a few days the United States of North America will be the only nation behindhand; but, as I have said before, the sympathy which has ever existed between the two countries makes it the duty of those organizing the exposition to accord to you every delay and every facility compatible with the exigencies of the common enterprise.

Please accept the assurance of the high consideration with which I have, &c.,

J. B. KRANTZ.