Mr. Bayard to Mr. Olney.
London, December 12, 1895. (Received Dec. 23.)
Sir: Observing the proceedings, as reported by telegraph in the public newspapers of this country, of the United States House of Representatives in relation to a paper read by me on the evening of the 7th ultimo before the Philosophical Institution of Edinburgh, I have the honor to inclose herewith for your inspection a printed copy of the address in question.
[Page 582]In the absence of precise information of the text of the resolution said to have been adopted by the House, and not proposing to anticipate the action of either or both Houses of the Congress, yet observing that in the course of the discussion reference was made to the personal instructions of the Department of State to the diplomatic officers of the United States, I respectfully advert to Article VII and its subsections in order that your attention may be drawn to the fact that the address in question was delivered before an institution purely literary and scientific in its character and wholly unconnected with political parties, which had honored two of my official predecessors with similar invitations, which in both cases had been accepted—subjects political in their nature (“Democracy” and “The law of the land”) having been respectively selected and treated with distinguished ability.
No political canvass was pending or approaching in this country when my address was made, and no interference or participation in local or party political concerns in this country was therefore possible.
The address consisted of my personal opinions upon governmental institutions in general, the moral forces and tendencies which underlie them, and the governmental policies which assist in the conservation of the freedom of the individual as an essential integer of human progress, and of the permanence of civilization.
The judgments so delivered were formed by me after careful deliberation, and, in their presentation, sundry historical facts and arguments tending to sustain them were advanced.
When the Congress shall have concluded its action on the subject, it is possible that I may desire to submit a further statement, but, meanwhile, I consider it proper to place before you the address itself in full and the facts connected with its delivery.
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,
P. S.—I find, upon reading over this note, that Mr. Lowell’s address on Democracy was delivered by him before the Midland Institute, at Birmingham, an association similar in its character and purposes to the Edinburgh Philosophical Institution.