The Express.
London, England, 1851-01-18 00:00:00

AMERICAN CONTRIBUTIONS.

The followingc7rre4ondauce,raiiitivet;Maling South-
ampton the port of arrival for the Tinsel which is to briug
the Anietivin contributions to the Grand Exhibition 01
Industry, has taken place between J. It. CrAiltiy, lyrq., the:
American consul et that port, and the lion. Abbott Law-
rence, the American ambeasador

U.S. CJasulate, Southampton, Dee. 21.18.50.
To his Ensltem Abbott Lawrence, American Minima,
London.
_ _ _

" Dear Sir,-1 beg leave to call your attention to an
address to the President of the United States, which was
adopted by the mayor and corporation of this town, and of
which a copy appears in the last page of the Bump/Aire
Independent of to-day, which I send you by this post.
You will perceive by the address itself and the report of
the proceeding. in reference thereto that it. abject is to
induce the government of the United States to adopt the
port of Southsmpton at the port of discharge (or the United
States line-o(•battle ship Pennsylvania, in the event of that
vessel Lein detailed to bring to this country the contribu-
tions of ours to the Exhibition of 1851, and that a depute-
, tion will wait upon you with a request that you forward thia
address to the President of the Uuited States.

The extraordinary hospitality with which this town re-
oelved the visit of the St. Lswrence in 1848, gins them a
great claim upon the consideration of our government,
which I trust will have its due weight with your Exc.llenzr,
and induce you to facilitate the accomplishment of their
present friendly wishes to the utmost of sour ability. Inde-
pendently of this claim, there breathes t►roughout the
addraes a leaser of friendship and respect towards the people
and the government of the United States, which at once
arrests the liveliest attention of the subject matter thereof,
and must elicit from the heart of every American the
warmest acknowledgment and appreciation.

"If the Pennsyliania should .v4it these waters, the design
of ow government in fitting her out and detailing, at such
cost, so large a vowel for the peaceful purpose of evincing
their sympathy for the greater design intended by the con.
caption of the Exhibition of 1851, will be fully illustrated
sad shown to the world, by sending her to this port, where
she will be received with acclamation, and form a most pro-
minent feature In the Exhibition itsel ,f. she will escape the
perils of the navigation from the Isle of Wight to the Thames;
she will avoid many of the inconveoiences attending the
crowded navigation of that river ; her crew will be under •
better discipline, and more removed from the loathsome
temptations of • metropolitan port ; her officers will find
their visits more rurresable • and the ship will become one
of the lions of the day. But in London she will, large as
she is, be lost in the maze of wonder which environs that
atmosphere. Here she will stand solitary and alone—the
sole attraction—amidst a population who have already
evinced their friendship for our country, and who would
regard her visit as • boron coiderred. If sent to London,
there will be no portion of the community who will feel
either complimented or benefited by her advent.
" It would doubtteu be • disappointment to the deputation
were they to wait upon you and find you bad left town, and
although they have not instructed me to communicate with
you on the subject, I take upon myself to ask of you that
you inform ma at your earliest convenience whether you are
likely to be in London during the course of the next week
or ten daye, beyond which time I do not think they will de.
far their visit. _ .

----
" I have the honour to be, dear sir, your moat obedient
servant, "Joe. RODNEY CROMEY."

" United States Legation, London, 23rd Dee., 1861.
" Dear Sir.—l have the pleasure to acknowledge the
receipt of your latter of the 21st inst., together with the
newspaper containing the printed copy of the address of the
corporation of Southampton to the President of the United
States. It is superfluous to say to you that I have, from the
beginning, taken • great interest in the coming ezooeition,
end have given it all the support in my power. For that
reason alone, even were there no other, I shall find a sincere
pleasure in receiving the gentlemen whom you say propose
to honour me with a visit, and in forwarding their address
to its high destination. But I cannot forget, in addition,
that Southampton has peculiar claims upon Americans,
arising loom the generous hospitality ins citizens have
shown to our national vessels in this waters, and from the
warm desire they have ever manifested to cherish and
inertias the friendly, and I might almost say, kindly rela-
tions,
now existing between the two countries. The views
you have so well presented strike me with much force ; bat
it seems to me that It is absolutely essential to the success of
the project that arrangements should be made for the free
transmission to and from London 01 all articles brought by
the Pennsjlyanis, or whatever vessel may be mint.
' "1 have the honour to be, dear sir, your obedient
servant, " ABBOTT LAVILINOB.
" Jeleph Crootoya BK., &F fm, tioutbateptim"