No. 139.
Mr. Lowell
to Mr. Frelinghuysen.
Legation of
the United States,
London, February 2, 1884.
(Received February 15.)
No. 704]
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that I have
just received a letter from Earl Northbrook, first lord of the admiralty, a
copy of which I inclose herewith, conveying, in behalf of the British
Government, the generous offer of the Alert as a present to our Government,
for the Greely relief expedition.
I now have the honor to inclose a copy of the note I were in reply to his
lordship.
I have, &c.,
[Inclosure 1 in No.
704.—Private.]
Lord Northbrook to
Mr. Lowell.
Admiralty, S. W., February 1, 1884.
My Dear Mr. Lowell: Commander Chadwick has
mentioned, in conversation with Sir Cooper Key, that Her Majesty’s ship
Alert might be of use to the United States Government in an expedition
to be dispatched in search of the expedition which is missing in the
Arctic regions.
I write a line to say that we have not forgotten the very considerate
conduct of the Government of the United States on the occasion of the
recovery of the Resolute, and that if you should be instructed, to make
any suggestions, through the usual official Channel, that the Alert
would be of any use to the United States Government, we shall be happy
to ask you to accept her as a present.
Yours, very sincerely,
[Inclosure 2 in No.
704—Private.]
Mr. Lowell to Lord
Northbrook.
Legation of the United States,
London, February 2,
1884.
My Dear Lord Northbrook: It is with an emotion
for which the diplomatic phrase “peculiar satisfaction” is altogether
too colorless that I hasten to acknowledge the reception of your private
note of yesterday, informing me of the offer by Her Majesty’s Government
of Her Majesty’s ship Alert as a gift to that of the United States, for
the use of the Greely relief expedition. As I think the terms of your
note more expressive than any that I could substitute for them, I shall
this morning send a copy of it to Washington.
In the mean while I beg thus, in advance, to convey to you, and through
you to Her Majesty’s Government, I she thanks of the President for this
particularly timely and graceful recognition of that international
courtesy which I trust will always characterize the intercourse of our
respective countries.
Faithfully yours,
