John Jay to Hamilton Fish, April 11, 1873

No. 17. Mr. Jay to Mr. Fish.

Sir: Referring to that part of my No. 574, of the 2d of April, which related to the occupancy by the English commission under a written allotment by the Baron Schwarz-Senborn of an important part of the space which I had understood had been originally designated for the American department, and referring also to the diagram which accompanied that dispatch, I have the honor to advise you of the steps which were successfully taken for the maintenance of our rights in that matter. On the 3d of April I received a letter from Messrs. McElrath and James, acting commissioners at Vienna, submitting the correspondence which they had had on the subject with the secretary of the British commission, Mr. P. Cunliffe Owen, and the letters they had addressed to the Baron Schwarz-Senborn, to which they had been unable to procure a response, and asking me to take such action as in my judgment might best promote harmony and at the same time preserve our national rights and dignity.

The first letter in the correspondence submitted to me by the commissioners was one addressed by them to the Baron Schwarz-Senborn, advising his excellency that a grave question had arisen between them and the English commission, from the appropriation by the latter without the knowledge of the American commission, and in violation of the geographical plan of the exposition, of a large part of South America; all, in fact, except that occupied by Brazil; and also of the space in the main hall between the courts and transepts of North and South America, In violation, as the American commission submitted, of the baron’s early assurances, and with the effect of excluding our republic entirely from that hall, and making her space in the exposition simply a side adjunct of the English exposition.

While submitting the case to the baron, as the supreme arbiter, and praying him to submit it to the English commission, whose high character and great intelligence, they trusted, would enable them to appreciate at once the extent of the wrong which had been done to us, no doubt, without the smallest intention, they frankly advised his excellency that they could not consent to what they considered an unwarrantable absorption of our proper territory; and that if his excellency should be averse to an interference in a matter of such moment, they begged leave to express their readiness to leave the question of boundary and the rights of exhibitors in the Palace of Industry between the United States and England to the international arbitration.

The next note was one simultaneously addressed by the same commissioners to Mr. Philip Cunliffe Owen, the secretary of the English commission, communicating to him a copy of their letter to Baron de Schwarz-Senborn, and making directly the proposal for arbitration with the remark that they would be ready for an immediate hearing. “The rivalry,” they observed, “between English and American exhibitors will no doubt be a sharp one. The British commission, with His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales at its head, assisted by illustrious noblemen and gentlemen, whose names are a guarantee equally to both countries, will undoubtedly desire that the exposition should commence with the feeling on either side that each commission, however zealous for the interests of its own country, has been ready at all times to exhibit toward the other equal justice and a graceful courtesy.”

The third letter submitted was the reply of Mr. Owen, so short that it may be given entire. It was as follows:

66 Praterstrasse, April 3, 1873.

Gentlemen: I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of April 1, inclosing the copy of a letter which you addressed on the same day to His Excellency Baron de Schwarz-Senborn. I cannot enter into any discussion on the claims which it puts forward, and have only to state that the royal commission holds the official allotment of all the spaces referred to under the signature of Baron de Schwarz-Senborn, and that these spaces have long since been rented and paid for by British exhibitors. The royal commission have therefore no power to cede any part of them to others, nor can the rights under which they are held by private parties be a subject for arbitration.

I do not doubt that your communication has been made upon an imperfect knowledge of the official guarantees given to Her Majesty’s commissioners.

I have the honor, gentlemen, to be, your obedient servant,

P. CUNLIFFE OWEN.

Messrs. Thomas McElrath, Amédie James, Assistant United States Commissioners.

The last letter was one addressed by our commissioners, Messrs. McElrath and James, to the Baron Schwarz-Senborn, dated April 4, submitting to his excellency their note to Mr. Owen, and that gentleman’s reply, and remarking that that reply left them no alternative but to state to his excellency with perfect frankness the position of the United States. They then recalled the fact that by the geographical plan, as explained by the baron himself to the American envoy at Vienna, the western end of the industrial palace was appropriated to America, and that the crowd entering at the western portal were to find themselves at once in the American department; that the baron had promised to reserve space appropriated to our republic, as late as the 25th April, and that the cession of it before that time to English exhibitors, giving to the British empire our own position, as the great western power, must have been made in forgetfulness of that assurance, and could have no validity until after the failure of the United States to be ready at the appointed day; that the change was contrary to the understanding on which the American Government and people had accepted the invitation of the imperial and royal government, and that it would be necessary for them to remit the matter to the American minister for the immediate advice of the President.

After the receipt of this letter his excellency had made an appointment to receive Messrs. McElrath and James, but had been unable to meet them at the time appointed, and as the matter seemed of immediate importance, they submitted it to me without further delay.

The case was evidently attended with grave difficulties, arising from the fact that his excellency the Baron de Schwarz-Senborn had actually allotted the space to England under his hand; that the English commissioner had sold it to English exhibitors; who had been put into possession and were rapidly occupying it with their show-cases and arrangements.

The baron had paid me a visit within a day or two to speak of the presidencies and vice-presidencies assigned to the United States; but he had also alluded to the notes he had received from our commissioners, one of which he produced and seemed to wish me to understand, although I thought it best at that time to avoid any expression of opinion on the subject; that while he was extremely sorry that the commissioners were dissatisfied—and he wished they had applied in time, &c.—a change now was simply impossible, and that the English, being in possession, would never yield.

The letter, too, of Mr. Owen, who was known to be on terms of intimacy with the baron, and who had been seen examining the space in company with Sir Andrew Buchanan, the latter having the note of our commissioners in his hand, seemed to indicate a fixed resolve on the part of the English commission, concurred in by the British embassador, to resist our claim, to ignore our original right, to treat with contempt our just claim to national equality, to decline arbitration, to avoid discussion, and to rest upon the fact of possession and of a written allotment from the chief manager.

This position on their part, and the necessity of a prompt decision, induced me to think that our best hope of success lay in a plain presentment of the facts and of their bearing on the United States; and in pressing for an immediate response—yes or no—to be submitted to the President for such action as he might deem proper.

With this view I prepared the draft of the letter, a copy of which, in its completed form, is hereto appended; and I secured an appointment with the Baron de Schwarz-Senborn for Wednesday, the 9th, at his office in the Prater.

His excellency received me with his usual courtesy, and assented to my request that he would allow me to read to him the draft of my note, to which he listened attentively.

At its close he said that he would be glad to have a copy of my note, and that he would reply to it. I said that a copy already nearly completed should be sent to him by the evening, and that I would with pleasure, transmit to the President the text of his reply; but that I hoped he would not think me unreasonable in asking the favor of an immediate verbal answer which could be transmitted to the President by the cable; that in case we were not to be restored to the position of equality, which we thought belonged to us, it might present a grave question for the consideration of the President; that I was utterly unadvised what view might be taken of it at Washington; but that if the President should hold the position now assigned us to be so materially different from that which had been anticipated by the Government and by Congress as to induce him to ask permission to withdraw the acceptance, which Congress had given of the imperial invitation, under a misapprehension of the footing on which the republic would be received, his excellency would see that inconvenience and expense would be saved were the vessels intended for the exposition, and now about arriving at Trieste, enabled to return at once before their cargoes had been unloaded and forwarded to Vienna.

The baron seemed unpleasantly surprised at this suggestion, and un-willing to believe that such a decision by the President could be possible. He alluded warmly to the anxiety he had shown from the beginning to meet the wishes of the American exhibitors, and the pleasure he had had in giving them the presidency of the two important groups of “education” and “the trade and commerce of the world.” I said in reply, that no one had appreciated more than myself the very friendly disposition he had constantly manifested, and which had been frequently alluded to in my dispatches; but that our exclusion from the main hall for the benefit of English exhibitors was another question; that his excellency knew sufficiently well the spirit of the American people to enable him to judge, without my assistance, whether they were likely to regard the new arrangement as consistent with the equal competition they had anticipated at the Austrian exposition, or how far they would be inclined to accept in an international assemblage so inferior a position.

After a few remarks, the baron said that with my permission he would do himself the honor to call upon me at the legation the next day at 1 o’clock, when he would render a decisive answer.

On leaving the baron, I drove to the Foreign Office. I had at first proposed to await the baron’s reply, and in case it was unfavorable, to submit it to the Count Andrassy before announcing it by cable to the Department, but on reflection I was inclined to think that it might be safest to invoke the influence of Count Andrassy at once, on the ground that it might be more easy to secure it while the question was still open than after a decision of the baron intended to be final.

I found that the count was engaged, but he sent me word that he would see me at half past 6 that evening. At that hour I called, and, in a pleasant interview, frankly explained to his excellency the situation. The count suggested that questions connected with international expositions should never be brought into diplomacy; that such questions had arisen during the Paris exposition; that there had already been a sharp one at Vienna between the French and the Germans, and that diplomacy could not stand if it were dragged into matters over which it had no proper control; that as Count Andrassy he would do what he could to arrange it, but as the minister for foreign affairs he could do nothing. I thanked his excellency for the assurance of his personal efforts, suggesting that while the principle he broached was generally sound, I thought cases might occur deserving of diplomatic attention from their close connection with international harmony.

He asked me to repeat what Baron de Schwarz-Senborn had originally told me about visitors entering at the western portal finding themselves on American territory and passing first through the American exposition; and he said that assurance had clearly entitled us to the space in the main hall between the transepts devoted to North and South America.

He made a note of the hour at which the baron was to see me the next day, and said he would see him before our interview.

As I was coming away the count said to me, with a smile, “Now, tell me, what is your minimum?” I said, “We think England should retire from all the American territory, which she has occupied without our consent.” He replied, laughingly, “Yes, yes, but what is the least you will take?” I said, that which is essential to our national equality, as, the space in the main hall between the American transepts and half of the space opposite our court.

The next day the baron called upon me and said that he had arranged to restore to North and South America all that part of the main hall lying between the transepts, and all that part of the South American transept which England had appropriated; that, to accomplish this, the imperial commission would have to inclose for the English exhibitors, thus displaced, one-half of the South American court. That in giving us this space he would ask the American commission to undertake the ornamentation of the western portal, as the commission from the Orient had undertaken that of the extreme eastern portal; and that they would also assume the placing of articles coming from other American states not represented by commissioners.

I cordially accepted this arrangement as satisfying our national dignity, and as in accord with the policy of our republic toward the other American states. I may add, that this arrangement gives us more space than we had expected to obtain, as his excellency the Baron de Porto-Sicuro, the envoy from Brazil, who had taken great interest in our reclamation of our rights, has offered us also half of the South American court, which had been appropriated to that empire.

The arrangement has given, I believe, entire satisfaction to the American commission in Vienna, and will enable a larger number of American exhibitors to send articles for the exposition; as the baron obligingly reminded me that he had long since consented to receive articles from America after the 1st of May, and that the juries do not commence their sessions until 15th of June.

I have, &c.,