No. 368.
Mr. Hoppin to Mr. Evarts.
London, February 7, 1880. (Received February 24.)
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt yesterday of your dispatch in cipher relating to the great delay of the British Government in answering our claim for the Fortune Bay damages. I knew that the Marquis of Salisbury had been seriously ill for some time past at Hatfield, and I ascertained at the foreign office, where I made immediate inquiries, that his illness still continued and that he was not attending to business. I therefore made an appointment with Sir Julian Pauncefote, who is in charge of the foreign office, Lord Tenderden being absent, for an interview to-day. I have just returned from this interview.
I called his attention in the course of it to the fact that our claim was presented as early as the 13th of August; that the Marqius of Salisbury [Page 566] promised on the 16th that it should receive immediate attention; that his lordship assured us on the 24th of November that an answer should be sent at as early a date as possible, and that nearly two months and a half had now elapsed without our having been favored with one. I then expressed the chagrin you felt at this delay, and gave him a copy of the translation of your cipher telegram.
Sir Julian admitted the delay, and said that it arose in part from the importance of the questions involved in the discussion; that after the claim had been received it was thought advisable to consult the authorities in Newfoundland; that some time elapsed before their answer arrived, when the matter was placed in his (Sir Julian’s) hands to prepare a case upon it for submission to the law officers of the Crown; that these gentlemen had the case before them still, the reason for their delay being the great importance of the points involved, and also the accumulation of references in other matters which had been made to them during the recess of Parliament.
Sir Julian promised that he would communicate with them immediately and press for a report, and would send them a copy of your telegram to hasten their action. He said, also, that he should send a copy of this to the Marquis of Salisbury, notwithstanding his physician’s injunctions that his lordship should abstain from all business. Finally he declared that I might expect to receive on Monday, for communication to yourself, something more definite in relation to this matter.
I have, &c.,