[Inclosure in No.
8.]
Statement of Lord Sackville in connection
with the publication of his private letter to
Murchison.
I was induced to believe the Murchison letter genuine, as it came
from California, where I knew there were many English domiciled
as well as naturalized.
Under these circumstances, and as secrecy and privacy were
promised in the letter, I conceived that no harm could result
from describing the situation created by the [Page 1728] retaliatory message of the
President, which was generally regarded at the time as an act of
hostility to Her Majesty’s Government likely to produce
international complications.
Certain it is that my answer to the Murchison letter fell into
the hands of persons who used it for the purpose of making it
appear that President Cleveland was under English influence, and
in consequence to influence the Irish vote against him. In my
interview with Mr. Bayard after the publication of my letter, he
characterized the incident as a “campaign trick,” and after
having accepted my complete disclaimer of any intention to
impugn the action of the Executive, he proceeded to inveigh in
strong language against those who employed such means to
influence the Irish vote.
This interview took place on the 26th instant, and I had then no
reason to suppose that the matter had gone further than the
communication to Mr. Phelps of what had occurred, and I left Mr.
Bayard under the impression that it would drop. As I was
leaving, he said that he had seen in the newspapers a report of
what I had said to a newspaper reporter, and thought it would be
well if I could deny the accuracy of it. I said that I would do
so, as I never intended that any such meaning should be attached
to my words. On returning home I immediately wrote him the
private letter, copy of which was inclosed in my dispatch of the
31st ultimo, and I heard no further from him until my passports
were sent to me on the 30th.
But, although in possession of my letter, Mr. Bayard says in his
statement of the reasons for sending me my passports that
although ample time and opportunity had been given me for the
disavowal, modification, or correction of statements to which he
had called my attention, I had not done so through the channels
in which they had found publicity, meaning, of course, newspaper
reporters. But I considered that, after having written to him
disclaiming the meaning attached to my words, any communication
through the newspapers would have been undignified and would
have met with the disapproval of Her Majesty’s Government; and
for this reason I refrained from making any communications
through such channels. Mr. Bayard’s statement, therefore,
appeared to me to be an unjust attack upon the integrity of my
conduct after what had passed between us, and after I had done
all I could in the sense which I understood he desired, to
mitigate the effect which the unjustifiable publication of my
letter was intended to create. I was all along ignorant of the
precise grounds upon which my removal was sought and of the
nature of the communications made by Mr. Phelps to Her Majesty’s
Government, but I presumed that time would have been allowed me
to explain the situation and for Her Majesty’s Government to
pronounce upon it. But party exigencies overruled international
comity. Telegrams were being received at the White House to the
effect that the Irish vote in New York was slipping away from
the Democratic ticket, and that immediate action was necessary
on the question of my dismissal in order to conciliate it. This
action, involving as it did a want of courtesy which I venture
to think is unprecedented in the history of diplomatic
intercourse, was taken on the 30th without any intimation to me
from Mr. Bayard that the situation had in any way changed since
I had seen him on the 26th, when he had accepted my explanations
and had said that he bore me no ill-will. The question at issue,
moreover, had never assumed an international character as far as
I was aware until the moment it was decided to send me my
passports, when all adjustment was rendered impossible, and an
incident which concerned me personally was thus at once made the
cause of serious complications with Her Majesty’s
Government.
Sackville.
Washington
,
November 8, 1888.