Office of the Historian

No. 274.
The President of France to the President of the United States.

[Translation.]

Jules Grévy, President of the French Republic, to the President of the United States of America:

Great and Good Friend: I have just received the letter which was addressed to me by your honorable predecessor, His Excellency Rutherford B. Hayes, informing me that in pursuance of a resolution of Congress he invited the French Government and people to unite with the government and people of the United States of America, on the 19th day of October next, in celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the battle of Yorktown.

I have accepted this invitation in the name of the Government of the Republic and in that of the entire French people. This evidence of the remembrance preserved by your fellow-citizens of the part taken by the French soldiers in those glorious battles which secured independence and liberty to the United States, has produced deep emotion in France, and I have felt happy to be the interpreter thereof, in replying to General Noyes, your worthy representative “that, having shared the toil, we would also share the honor.” The American nation, which has become so powerful and prosperous, consecrates forever, by fraternally inviting us to share in the celebration of this anniversary, that union to which free and noble aspirations, and a fortunate association in arms [Page 442] gave birth, and which our institutions, now of a similar character in both countries, must draw closer and develop for the welfare of both nations.

Offering you the assurance of my high esteem for yourself personally, and my best wishes for the glory of the United States, I desire likewise to thank Mr. Hayes for the cordial sentiments expressed by him towards me, and for his wishes for the prosperity of the French Republic.

Written at Paris, March 25, 1881.

Your good friend,
  • JULES GRÉVY.
  • B. St. Hilaire.