No. 336.
Mr. Hoppin
to Mr. Blaine.
Legation of
the United States,
London, November 12, 1881.
(Received November 26.)
No. 219.]
Sir: I have the honor to give you an account of the
proceedings here on the 9th instant, the day on which the newly-elected Lord
Mayor went in state from the Guildhall to Westminster to take the oath of
office before the lord chief justice of England, and to claim certain
privileges which belong by prescriptive right to the city corporation. This
is the only public procession of importance in the year, and it is always
witnessed by hundreds of thousands of people whose numbers were increased on
Wednesday by the favorable weather.
The most novel and interesting feature of the display was the honor paid to
the flag of the United States, which had the most conspicuous place in the
line, being borne in front of the lord mayor’s carriage and escorted by a
chosen guard of staff sergeants of the city of London militia.
I did not see the procession on its route, but I am informed that the flag
was everywhere received with great cheering and applause. I preferred to
witness the scene in Palace Yard where it was brought, the only one of the
many which were borne in the line, within the inclosure and stationed
opposite to the entrance of Westminster Hall, while the bands of music which
were massed for the purpose played the “Star-Spangled Banner.” Nowhere could
the flag of the daughter republic have been displayed, as an object of
distinguished honor, in the midst of more significant and stately monuments
of the mother country. In front was the great hall crowded with a host of
noble and pathetic associations, and within which the clear stream of
English justice had flowed for so many generations without a suspicion of
impurity. On the other side of the open space was the palace of Westminster,
the imposing pile of the houses of Parliament. Near at hand, and almost
overshadowing the scene, was the venerable Abbey, full of the memorials of
heroes and statesmen and poets, whose greatness we claim also as a part of
our own inheritance. And it was interesting to remember that within a
stone’s throw of the spot where the stars and stripes, the symbol of the
power of the great republic, was stationed to be honored by all men, was the
site of that old St. Stephen’s Hall where the stamp act and the Boston port
bill and those other grave measures were adopted, which, contrary to the
designs of their promoters, resulted in the independence of the colonies and
all the important consequences which followed that event.
This striking contrast of circumstances was not, however, a cause for
exultation. It was rather an occasion for humble gratitude to God that He
had raised up two great nations and turned their hearts from strife and
animosity to the recognition of the ties of kinship and the cultivation of
mutual respect and affectionate regard.
It seemed to me proper to acknowledge the courtesy of the lord mayor in doing
this honor to our flag, and I have written him a letter, a copy of which I
inclose.
I also forward herewith an extract (in duplicate) from the Daily Telegraph,
which gives the best description I have seen of these interestin
proceedings. And I ask your particular attention to Lord Granville’s
[Page 551]
speech at the banquet in the
evening, which contains a very kind allusion to our country.
I have, &c.,
[Inclosure 1 in No. 219.]
Mr. Hoppin to Lord
Mayor of London.
Legation of the United States,
London, November 10,
1881.
My Lord: I take the earliest opportunity to
thank your lordship for the distinguished honor which you paid to the
flag of the United States yesterday, by causing it to he carried in a
conspicuous place in your procession, escorted by a chosen guard, and
saluted by the performance of one of our national airs.
I shall have pleasure in sending to the Department of State an account of
this graceful compliment to my country, and I am sure it will be
regarded by my fellow-citizens with the same gratification with which
they received the President’s order to salute the British flag at
Yorktown.
I may be permitted to add that there seems to be a peculiar fitness in
this interchange of kind feeling between the people of the United States
and the city of London.
American merchants, before the war of Independence and for some time
afterwards, had many and close relations with your city people, much
more frequent and intimate than with those living in a more western
quarter of the metropolis. I doubt not that many, like myself, have
looked with interest upon the invoices and bills of lading, now yellow
with age, which indicate the extent of the commerce a hundred years ago
between the traders of London and their brethren in the New World. We
had not then learned to make our own broadcloths, and axes, and plows,
and the multitude of other articles which were needed to build up a
great country. These were supplied to us by the manufacturers of England
through the intervention of the honest and punctual merchants of London
and Bristol. The intercourse, even in those early days, of Leadenhall
street, and Cheapside, and Bishopsgate with New York, Boston,
Philadelphia, and Charleston, was frequent and intimate, and many were
the friendships which were formed between the traders of the city and
their western correspondents.
We are now able to depend upon ourselves for our own clothing and our
industrial implements, hut not the less proper does it seem that we
should commemorate the close and honorable intercourse of those early
days, and welcome with peculiar pleasure such demonstrations as those at
Yorktown last month and in this city yesterday, which show that there
are still alive in our hearts, on both sides of the Atlantic, those
sentiments of cordial regard and sincere respect which we have inherited
from our forefathers.
I have, &c.,
[Inclosure 2 in No. 219.]
[Extract.]
[The Daily Telegraph, Thursday, November 10, 1881.]
lord mayor’s day.
It would be saying too much to affirm that there never were such crowds
in the streets on any ninth of November in the past history of the
metropolis as thronged the City, the Strand, Whitehall, and the
Embankment yesterday, to view the ancient municipal pageant of lord
mayor’s show.
* * * * * * *
Two features made yesterday’s civic procession notable. One was the state
of the weather, which was all that could be wished even by the most
exacting, the sun shining
* * * * * * *
out all the morning as if it were June rather than
November.
The great unique and entirely unexampled characteristic of the occasion,
however, was undoubtedly the honor which was paid to the stars and
stripes, for the first time in London’s annals. The idea of carrying the
American banner in triumph along the streets, surrounded by a chosen
guard of honor, composed of staff sergeants of the
[Page 552]
city of London militia, was in itself an
inspiration. Nothing could have been better devised to accentuate the
feelings of cordiality and good-will now happily existing between the
two countries than this gratuitous work of popular esteem for our “heir
beyond seas.” No doubt the immediate cause of this unique ceremonial was
the fact that the United States Government had only a few weeks ago
ordered the British national ensign to be saluted with high military and
naval honors at Yorktown. In quick response to the honor done us, London
yesterday took upon itself to speak its thanks on behalf of the whole
nation to the great republic of the west, and to “return the
compliment.” Conspicuous, therefore, among all the banners that were
carried, belonging to the various companies and civic dignitaries which
took part in the procession, rose the banner of the United States of
America, borne aloft by three stout bargemen of Doggett’s foundation,
who wore the quaint red garb which is one of the prizes of the
successful Thames oarsman who gains the distinction of Doggett’s “coat
and badge.” It was immediately preceded by the drums and fifes of the
City of London Regiment, now known as the Fourth Battalion of the Royal
Fusiliers, and escorted by the guard of honor previously described,
belonging to the same martial corps. This was what the lord mayor and
the promoters of the show generally did to honor the American standard.
All the rest had to be done by the citizens of London, in public streets
assembled, on balconies, on the roofs of houses, on doorsteps, railings,
lamp-posts, and, in fact, in every conceivable place where the foot of
man could find resting place. Indubitably it was the cheers of the
populace which turned what was a civic, and municipal, and official
honor paid to America into a national one. At every point of the route
the appearance of the famous ensign of the States was the signal for
bursts of cheering, which were especially noticeable in the city, by St.
Martin’s Church, and the new law courts, at Charing Cross, and opposite
the houses of Parliament and Westminster bridge. Rumor had it that some
sort of military ceremonial would take place in Palace Yard, and that
the standard would be saluted; but no salute or “trooping of the
colors,” or anything of the sort, actually took place, It would have
been difficult, without burning powder, to have done more honor than was
done to the standard, and consequently the scene in Palace Yard,
Westminster, was less impressive than it might possibly have been made,
supposing that it were at all conformable to tradition to allow the
firing of musketry or cannon in the heart of the metropolis. Obviously
this was next door to impossible, so the chief ceremonial which took
place at Westminster was the carrying of the stars and stripes—sent
over, by-the-by, from America expressly for the occasion—into the sacred
precincts of Palace Yard, where it was grounded opposite the entrance to
Westminster Hall—the only flag which was yesterday allowed within the
inclosure. English people are said, as a rule, to be undemonstrative,
but, judging from the hearty and enthusiastic welcome which was extended
to the chosen symbol of the American Republic, there is nothing but
good-will on this side of the water felt for our go-ahead relatives.
This is due to the admirable manner in which that nation has lately
behaved towards us, extending towards this country an impressive
international courtesy and a gratitude for our sympathy in their recent
heavy trouble, which does equal honor to the givers and the recipients.
It was right and fitting that the citizens of the metropolis of Great
Britain should express, as they did unmistakably yesterday, their true
sentiment towards the men who sorrowed over General Garfield’s grave,
and who saluted the British flag at Yorktown, At intervals along the
route the bands struck up the well-known strain of “The Star-Spangled
Banner,” a compliment which was acknowledged by the waving of
handkerchiefs and other tokens of appreciation by a fair bevy of
American ladies gathered on the balconies of the American Exchange,
opposite Charing Cross.
* * * * * * *
