Weekly national intelligencer., 1854-11-11

Madrid shall seize the earliest moment upon my return
(n about fifteen days to demand satisfactory retrac-
ton of these derogaory statements concerning myself
which cannot but suppose to have been written under
Misrepresentation of the facts but for which in your
munication you declare yourself responsible.
remain, sir, your very obedient servant,
DANIEL E. SICKLES.
GEORGE PEABODY, Esq
UNITED STATES LEGATION
LONDON, OCTOBER A, 1854.
SIR Having returned to London after temporary abb
sence now desire recall your attention to certain
portions Of your letter to the Boston POST of the 10th
of August utime which to bear construction de-
rogatory to myself.
lively is impossible for resist the conviction that
throughout this affair you have strangely miscon
ceyed your position towards the legation and myself
member of 1t.
You appear to imagine indeed you strive to convey
this impression, that guest at private dinner party
having to be dissatisfied with the entertain
men chose to treat with unproyoked udeness OF the
toasts proposed the company; and then leaving the
table, went my desk and penned anonymous crit-
csm for American newspaper, ungrasiousy denounc-
ing your banquet and disparagng your patriotism How
are the facts
There had been several projects started among the
Americans in London with reference to the celebrations
the Fourth You discouraged these and insisted that the
initiative belonged to you, you had for several years
received your friends at dinner that day was OBJ.
ected by persons that to private table none could
come except your acquaintance. To this you an
swered that you did regard your Fourth of July din
ner in that light that it national day. that yours
would be national celebrations and that you would be
glad to there any of your counrymen who might be
in London, matter whether you knew them personally
or not You viii remember that you desired the Lega-
ton to invite the Americans then town. and not known
you to be present on the OCCASION and that number
of such invitations given
In the place. you entirely forget that your
agent MIR. Somerby-a gentleman appointed by you to
get up the dnnercame to the Legation repeatedly to
.~l af
bration. He came there in your name to discuss the
be proposed the order in which they should be
given who should be invited to respond to them what
national songs should be sung and what nationa! airs
played American and English whether the Star Span
gled Banner and g Hail Columbia" should be pruned
and abridged to exclude any allusion to which
Engshman might be sensitive whether the British Sove
reign ought be honored by the company before after
the Chief Magistrate of the United States and whether
application the officials at the palace for the loan of
the Queens and Prince Aberts lkenesses would be
thorined by Mr.. Buchanan, Sc.
demonstrated most earnestly with Mr.. Somerby
against the English that to be given to
casion which above all others ought to be American
besought him to urge upon you that it was in vain for
Mr.. Peabody any else to attempt to bury the
Revolution; that this not American idea that the
great object of celebrating the 4h of July, 17I6
keep alive forever the hatred of yrants and the love Of
libertya the passions of that conflict in which the
Republic into existence; and that besides nothing
was than the notion that this sort Of d
luted nationality would command the respect of English
for if they did not suspect it to be nsncere they
would certainly regard it as contemplate Nor did fail
to Mr. Somerby that could not be expected that
Mr.. Buchanan and the members of the Legation would
consent by their presence, to counenance such mode
celebrating the anniversary Of American independence
The result of these interviews was, that programme
was agreed upon at the Legation the proposed muta-
tion of national songs the ndscreet attempt to give
precedence to the of George III the
of Washington the British tone to be given to the
affair." in Difference to Sir Emerson Tenant and few
En- VIII Won III
jectionable features distinctly abandoned by Mr.
Somerby in your name and as he declared with your
sanction, although with reluctance part Then,
and not until them did the American Minister and the
members Of the Legation formally accept your invitation
to be present These circumstances the negotiation the
agreement the comprehensive plan OF invitation the day.
the presence of the Representative Of the United States
at London all impaired to the occasion the attributes Of
o national celebration.
Bearing these facts in mind my surprise at the dinner
be imagined when besides listening to fragments Of
American patriotic songs observed in the order Of oasts
not the Chief Magistrate of our own nation but the
Sovereign of another accorded precedence The next
loyal demonstration the performance Of God save
the Queen during which it seemed to be expected that
every body would stand up Nor was my surprise at
these violations of the agreement made at the Legation at
all mtigated by the insinuated in your speech
for the ovation her Majesty, viz that she had sent the
portraits of herself and her consort as spontaneously
and without solcitaton) to grace the occasion for
knew from Col Lawrence that at the urgent request Of
Mr.. Somerby your agent, the Colonel had with difficulty
succeeded in obtaining the pictures for you through
express application made to Col. Phpps.
Then it was that deemed right and proper in view Of
all that had occurred mark my disapprobaon of what
going on Whether to do this in the of
observations be addressed to the company done
by Mr.. Buchanan or to remain seated while toast
being drunk which considered out of place, was the
| only alternative left to me-
The next incident is which introduces another Of
your agents. whose participation in this matter has
tributed mach place you in position hostile the
Legation allude to Mr. Adams the writer of the
ports OF the celebration for the London journals For
these you believed to be responsible That they
were gotten up under your patronage assured
by evidence which excluded every doubt They contained
gratutous insult to the President of the United States
in the false statement that Americans reluc
tant to rise when he proposed and, the ndivdu
ais were designated this calumny involved reproach
upon oil the Americans at the table, The sketch Of Mr.
Buchanan's remarks msrepresented what he said in
manner that was offensive to him. 1t Of course
peced that you would at these reports to be
corrected What, then, astonshment to learn
that not only had you not done but that you
and circulated several hundred copies of hem here and
in the United States. These facts rest upon authority
you will not be inclined to dispute to which may be
added one yet startling; that Mr.. Adams avowed
to YOU that his motive in making the allegation in regard
to the President in retaliation for my emitting rise
when The Queen" drunk anticipating that the i'm
preston might be conveyed to Washington that
Of those who SLOW to rse in response to the Pre-
sidenal toast.
Here, then sir, you have rapid outline of the cir
cumsances which preceded and prompted my letter
Col Greene private letter, not intended for publica
tionwriten to yndicats the President and the Legation
from aspersons which you had sanctioned and to enable
COL correct misrepresentation that might find
their way into the American press. That such the
character and object Of my letter appears from the
co1t that, r1aI H.