Mr. Blaine to Mr. Reid.
Washington, January 27, 1892.
Sir: I have received your No. 177 of the 6th instant, accompanied by a memento of Washington, an eyeglass of his own, given by him to Gen. Lafayette, and now the gift to this Government of Count Octave d’Assailly, the great-grandson of Lafayette.
It is with much gratification that I convey to Count d’Assailly, through you, expression of the appreciative thanks with which his gift is accepted. Personal relics of Washington must of course always have an unique value in the eyes of his countrymen, but the value of this one is sensibly enhanced by the associations which are inseparable from it, and by the graceful manner of its return to America with such good will and active kindly feeling from the custody of a descendant of the brave, high-minded, generous Frenchman who held so warm a place in the heart of Washington and whose memory it is the grateful duty of our people affectionately to preserve.
This little memento will be placed with other personal relics of Washington in a cabinet in the library of this Department.
I am, etc.,