No. 365.
Mr. Hoppin to Mr. Evarts.
London, November 25, 1879. (Received December 6.)
Sir: Referring to my No. 111 of the 22d instant, I have the honor to acquaint you that, not having received a reply to my note of the 21st to [Page 564] the Marquis of Salisbury, I went to the foreign office yesterday to obtain in person the information you requested. Neither his lordship, nor Lord Tenterden or Sir Julian Pauneefote, were there; but I saw Mr. Barrington, one of Lord Salisbury’s secretaries, who said that a note was being written in answer to mine, to the effect that the claims of the Fortune Bay fishermen were under consideration, and that a reply to your instruction to Mr. Welsh on that subject would be prepared as soon as practicable. He intimated that Lord Salisbury would come to the office in the evening, and he would convey to him my request for more definite information.
Not having heard from Mr. Barrington at six o’clock, and not venturing to postpone any later my acknowledgment of your telegram, I sent you a cable message. Some time after that was dispatched I had a note from Mr. Barrington, of which I inclose a copy herewith.
You will observe that Lord Salisbury regrets the delay in answering our claims, which he ascribes to the necessity of sending to the governor of Newfoundland for a report that has only just been received, that the subject is having his best attention, but he fears some time must elapse before he can make a communication in regard to it.
I expect a more formal answer to my note, but I shall send you the substance of this by cable to-night, as the importance of the subject and the shortness of the interval before Congress shall meet justify the additional expense.
I beg to remind you of Mr. Welsh’s statement in his No. 347, that by reason of the want of time to make copies he was obliged to send to Lord Salisbury the appendix to the printed pamphlet, and also the original account of the owners of the New England and Ontario. These have not yet been returned from the foreign office, as we requested, and I think it is desirable that duplicates should be supplied to us from Washington in order that our records may be complete.
I have, &c.,