Legation of the United States,
London, February 27,
1880. (Received March 13.)
No. 156.]
[Inclosure in No. 156.]
Mr. Hoppin to
the Marquis of Salisbury.
Legation of the United States,
London, February 27, 1880.
My Lord: I have the honor to acquaint you
that I received from the honorable the Secretary of State, last
evening, a further telegram in relation to the delay of Her
Majesty’s Government in answering our claims for damages on account
of the proceedings at Fortune Bay.
Your lordship will be good enough to remember that on the 7th
instant, in the absence of your lordship, I had a conversation with
Sir Julian Pauncefote at the foreign office on this subject, and
gave him a copy of the cable dispatch I had received from Mr. Evarts
the day before.
Afterwards, on the 12th instant, I received from Sir Julian a note in
relation to this matter, a copy of which I sent to Mr. Evarts on the
14th, having already telegraphed the substance of it to him on the
13th instant.
During our conversation on the 7th of February, when I pressed Sir
Julian Pauncefote for an approximate statement of the time within
which we might expect your lordship’s reply to our claims, he
intimated that it would certainly be given within a month from that
date, and I so informed Mr. Evarts in a dispatch of the 10th of
February.
In the cable message which I have now received, Mr. Evarts states
that he learns with “increased chagrin,” from my dispatch to him
last mentioned, “of even a possible further delay of one month,” and
he instructs me to “urge its avoidance if possible.”
I lose no time, therefore, in bringing this subject again to your
lordship’s attention, and in expressing the disquiet which Mr.
Evarts feels that an answer to these claims which were brought to
the notice of Her Majesty’s Government so long ago as the 13th of
August last may possibly be still further delayed.
I have, &c.,
