Young, who, it will be remembered, accompanied the ex-president on his tour around the world, 'General Grant held the opinion that it was impossible for France to succeed. Results justified that opinion. General Grant had a strong aversion to the Bonaparte family, especially the first Napoleon. Until the battle of Sedan and the foundation of the republic, his sympathies, as far as I ever heard him express them, were with the Germans-not as against the French, but against the Bonaparte dynasty. After Sedan and the establishment of the republican government, France had no warmer friend than President Grant. My own impression is, from many conversations with General Grant, that any idea in the French mind that he was hostile to that country, or that he wished Germany to triumph over the republic, is a mistake. His dislike was to the Bonaparte family,

and that was so intense that when in Paris he would not even visit the Invalides to see the tomb of the emperor, and when the Prince Imperial intimated, through a third person, that he would like to meet General Grant, he declined.'

Thus, while Victor Hugo was refusing to open his door to General Grant, the latter was turning his back on the uncle and the son of him who had sent the former into exile. It is easy to understand why French imperialists should heartily dislike General Grant, but one would think that his pronounced antipathy to the Napoleons would secure him the friendship of every French republican.

The Hon. Hamilton Fish, who was President Grant's Secretary of State during the eight years of the latter's presidency, writes me as follows on this same subject: That he had much admiration for Germany and its people is undoubtedly true, but I am very sure that his admiration for France and her people was no less than that for Germany. I never saw or heard from him anything that indicated a preference for one over the other. During the war between the two countries, my interviews and conversation with him on the subject were, necessarily, frequent. He insisted upon the strictest and most impartial, but friendly, neutrality on the part of the United States toward both belligerents. He deeply regretted the outbreak of the war, which he may have thought, as all the world thought, had been precipitated by France. If he had any decided partiality for either of the belligerents, I failed to perceive it. He was, at the time, charged by some of the German residents in this country with an undue leaning toward France, in that France was allowed to purchase arms freely in the United States.'

'If the impression prevails in France that General Grant either hated France or loved Germany,' writes the Hon. J. C. Bancroft Davis, who was Assistant Secretary of State during the war of 1870, 'I am sure it is without cause. General Grant was essentially an American, and so far as concerned his sympathies or affections, they were given without stint to his own land, and nowhere else. As president, he was strictly neutral during the war of 1870-'71. If he erred at all during that period, it was in permitting the sale of surplus government arms to the agents of the French Government, and their shipment to France. Germany, however, did not complain of this, as it was not in reality a violation of a neutral's duties.

The foregoing letters have dealt in a general way with President Grant's private opinions and public acts concerning Germany and France. Those that follow will treat of a particular incident, and a very important one, in the controversy now under consideration. When I asked the poet-journalist, M. Auguste Vacquerie, the intimate friend of Victor Hugo and one of his literary executors, what message of General Grant's the poet referred to in the Année Terrible, I received this reply: The verses you speak of were not written in answer to the Message of February 7, 1871, but to the telegram of felicitation sent to the King of Prussia by General Grant after the disaster of Sedan.' If President Grant had penned letters or telegrams of such tenor, he would richly deserve all the censure he has received in France. But it is a curious instance of the inaccuracy of history that no letters or telegrams of this kind ever existed. These supposed congratulatory communications are always uppermost in the French mind whenever the name of General Grant is mentioned, and, in fact, they have envenomed the controversy.

'It is utter absurdity,' writes ex-Secretary Fish, in fact, it borders on idiocy, to suppose that "after each German victory he [General Grant] sent a congratulatory letter to King William." He would have been kept busy had he undertaken to write such letters. Until one such letter is produced, I shall hold to my firm conviction that nothing of the sort ever was written.

'The only letters that General Grant ever signed, addressed to the King of Prussia or to the Emperor of Germany, so far as my knowledge or belief extends, were the letters in acknowledgment of what are called the "dynastic " letters, addressed by the sovereigns of Europe to other sovereigns or heads of government, announcing births, marriages, deaths, etc., in royal families, or accessions to thrones, etc. I have before me at this moment a copy of the letter of the Emperor announcing his assumption of the title of Emperor. It begins: "William, by the grace of God Emperor of Germany, King of Prussia, etc., to his Excellency the President of the United States of North America. Great and good Friend." It states that the rulers and free cities of Germany having unanimously requested him to assume the title of Emperor at the close of the war, he had considered it his duty to the Fatherland to accept this title for himself and his successors on the throne of Prussia, etc., etc., etc. The letter is dated January 29, 1871, is signed "William," and countersigned "V. Bismarck."'

Referring to President Grant's reply, the text of which has already been given, Secretary Fish continues:

'Like all ceremonial letters of the sort, it was signed by General Grant. It differed in no essential respect of style, expression, or otherwise, from the hundreds of letters of the sort that the ceremonies and dynastic relations of the courts of Europe have found necessary, or at least have established. They are ever courteous in expression, and so far as the United States are concerned, our part of the correspondence is responsive, and usually expresses either congratulation or regret, according as is the announcement of the event, and we seek to do so

pleasantly and in a manner acceptable to the party addressed. Such, and such only, was this terrible letter of General Grant to the Emperor William. The telegrams and the letters congratulatory were not-they never existed.'

Speaking of M. Vacquerie's statement, Mr. Fish says, in this same letter: I have no recollection of any telegram, or communication of any kind or sort, sent by General Grant to the King of Prussia on the affair at Sedan. I have no idea that there ever was anything of the kind. Possibly M. Hugo's literary executor may be able to give his authority for alleging the existence of such a communication, but I doubt whether there will be found any authority whatever.'

Mr. Chapman Coleman, First Secretary of the American Legation at Berlin, writes me on this same subject as follows: 'It seems incredible to me that General Grant should have sent the telegrams imputed to him to Berlin. Nothing whatever respecting the subject can be found on our files. If any such telegrams were sent, the fact must have been known to the Hon. George Bancroft, then minister at this post. His denial that such had been sent, or even his statement that he had never heard of them while minister here, would, if obtained, I fancy, settle the question.'

Following Mr. Coleman's suggestion, I wrote Mr. Bancroft on the subject. Here is his reply, dated, 'Washington, December 5, 1885. The statement, by whomsoever made, that the late President Grant sent telegrams of felicitation to King William, whenever, in the late war between France and Germany, the Germans gained a victory over the French, is wholly without foundation. I was at the time Minister of the United States in Berlin, and know certainly that no such telegram was received at the office or forwarded through the office. Further, I have called at the State Department here and requested that an examination of the archives might be made relative to the statement, and I have received from the Secretary of State the assurance that there is in the archives of the department no authority for the statement whatever.'

It will have been seen, therefore, that not only Victor Hugo's celebrated 'Message de Grant' has no raison d'être, but that there is little, if any, bottom to what French journalists and biographers have said and still say about President Grant's relations with Germany and France. French writers and leaders of opinion are, consequently, in duty bound to revise their hasty judgments, formed in the midst of the smoke and intense excitement of 1870 and 1871, and persisted in ever since, to correct more than one gross misstatement, and thus to remove from a whole nation's mind a groundless, or at least an exaggerated, prejudice against a great citizen of a friendly people.

VOL. XXII.-No. 6.-35

THEODORE STANTON."

ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS

LETTER TO WASHINGTON FROM CHARLES CARROLL OF

CARROLLTON

FROM THE COLLECTION OF DR. THOMAS ADDIS EMMET

[The following letter to President Washington from Charles Carroll of Carrollton, in 1793. declining the President's appointment on account of his delicate health and age, reached us too late for the November issue.-EDITOR.]

DEAR SIR

ANNAPOLIS, 28th Jan.: 1793.

I received the 25th instant late in the evening, your letter of the 23d. Early in the morning of the 26th the post left this place, so that I had not sufficient time to make up my mind respecting the acceptance or refusal of the commission mentioned in your letter, nor to inform you by last Saturday's post of my determination.

I have seriously weighed the reasons urged to induce me to accept the trust. I feel their force, and am sensible, that the number of citizens, from which characters in every respect proper for the intended negotiation can be selected, is unfortunately too circumscribed. No one more ardently wishes, than I do, for peace with the hostile Tribes, upon terms not dishonorable to our country. My time I would cheerfully give and I would endeavour to exert what talents I may possess, and should be extremely happy in being instrumental in accomplishing an object of such importance to the United States. But the length and unavoidable difficulties of the journey deter me from undertaking it. The infirmities of age are coming fast upon me; I do not think I could endure the fatigue of so long a journey, part of it thro' the wilderness, without imminent danger to my health. I am very liable to take cold in changing my lodgings, and I never get cold without its affecting my breast, and leaving a troublesome cough, which seldom shakes off for a month or two afterwards; the anxiety too of mind I should experience from the responsibility of the station, & dread of not answering yours and the public expectation & wishes would also greatly contribute to derange my health, & really might disqualify me for the business. I hope these reasons which I have candidly assigned, will justify me, my dear Sir, in your opinion for declining the commission with which you wish to honor me. I am with sentiments of the highest esteem and regard-Dear Sir

Y'affectionate and most hum: ser.,

CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON

PRESIDENT WASHINGTON.

UNPUBLISHED LETTER FROM GENERAL RICHARD HENRY LEE

[CONTRIBUTED BY REV. HORACE EDWIN HAYDEN]

Chantilly 1st Sept 1790

My dear Sir

I arrived here monday afternoon pretty much fatigued with my Journey -We have sent for a few peaches having none on this plantation this year-The Bearers bring near half a bottle of Tincture of Bark for my dear daughter, and by the time that is used we shall have more prepared for her. Poor little John was taken last night with a fever that continues yet. We have just commenced the course of broken doses of Emetic Tartar which I hope will frequently remove the fever. If you can all come up in the Boat at her return, we shall be very happy to see you. the sugar plums are ready for my dear little Richard. I am dear sir most obediently

[The following is an exact copy-spelling, punctuation, etc.-of a letter addressed to my grandfather George King by his brother Stephen, both of whom served in the Revolutionary army under the immediate command of General Washington. History describes George King as follows: "a man of athletic power and courageous patriotic spirit. He was orderly sergeant and clerk of the Raynham (Mass.) company. He, in warning them, rode on horseback with his drummer and fifer, through the town, and at every house made proclamation, 'Rally, rally! the British are shooting down Massachusetts men; rally, and drive them out of the country.'" The letter was sealed with red sealing-wax and directed on the outside to George King, Raynham, Massachusetts. It bears no postmark.

WASHINGTON, D. C.]

HORATIO KING.

West Point June 26th 1780

Loveing Brother I embrace this Oppertunity to let you know that I am in health for which I Desire to thank God hopeing you injoy the same I might inform you that the enimy are makeing the most vigurous Exartion and Tis Janorally thought against this Post Janoral Clinton haveing Returned from his Sucsesfull Expadition att the Southard is Determined to Try the Second Expirement in Con