John Welsh to William M. Evarts, November 22, 1878

No. 200. Mr. Welsh to Mr. Evarts.

Sir: Referring to my dispatch No. 169, of the 19th instant, I have the honor to acquaint you that, agreeably to the appointment I had made with Lord Salisbury, as indicated in that dispatch, I had an interview with his lordship yesterday, at one o’clock in the afternoon, at the foreign office. I handed to him my check on Messrs. Morton, Rose & Co. for five million five hundred thousand dollars in gold coin, in payment of the amount awarded by the Halifax Commission, and at the same time I delivered to him a notice, signed by me, the form of which was inclosed in your instruction No. 163. I found that form to be identical with the copy you had sent to me in cipher, the translation of which I forwarded to you in my No. 169. I now transmit a “press” copy of the notice itself which was delivered to his lordship.

Upon receiving the check and the notice, Lord Salisbury handed to me a note acknowledging the receipt of both, a copy of which I herewith inclose.

Immediately after this transaction I prepared and sent to you a full account of it by cable.

Several hours afterwards I received a telegram conveying to me your wishes in that respect, which I had thus already anticipated.

I inclose a slip from the Daily News in relation to this payment, which, I am happy to say, is fairer in its tone than many of the extracts I have had occasion to forward.

I have, &c.,