Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1854-11-07
UNITED STATES LEGATION,
LONDON, Oct. 4, 1854.


UNITED STATES LEGATION,
LONDON, Oct. 4, 1854.
SIR: Having returned to London after q
temporary absence, now desire to recall your
attention to certain portions Of your letter to
the Boston Post of the 10th of August, ulti-
mo, which seem to bear construction deroga-
tory to myself
After reading your communication to the
press attentively it is impossible for me to re-
sist the conviction that throughout this affair
you have most strangely misconceived your
position towards the legation, and myself as a
member of it.
You appear to imagine, indeed you strive to
convey this impression, that /, a guest at q
private dinner-party, having no reason to be
dissatisfied with the entertainment, chose to
treat with unprovoked rudeness one of the
toasts proposed to the company; and then,
leaving the table, went to nv desk, and penned
an anonymous criticism for an American news
paper, ungraciously denouncing your banquet
disparaging your patriotism. How are the
facts?
There had been several projects started
among the Americans in London with refer
ence to the celebration of the Fourth. Yon
discouraged these, and insisted that the initia.
tive belonged to you, as you had for several
years received your friends at dinner on that
day. 1t was objected by some persons that to
private table none could come except your
own acquaintance. To this you answered
that you did not regard your Fourth of July
dinner in that light; that it was national
day that yours would be national celebra-
ton; and that you would be glad TO see there
any Of your countryTnen who might be in Lon
M natl linz ham
sonally or not. You will remember that you
desired the legation to invite the Americans
then in town, and not known to you, to be
present on the occasion, and that number of
such invitations were given.
In the next place, you seem entirely to for
get that your agent, Mr.. Somerby-a gentle
man appointed by you to get up the dinner
came TO the Legation repeatedly to confer with
us in regard to the programme of the celebra-
ton. He came there in your name to discuss
the toasts TO be proposed, the order in which
they should be given, who should be invited to
respond 10 them, what national songs should
be sung and what national airs played, Ameri-
can and English; whether the "Star Spangled
Banner" and "Hail Columbia" should be prun-
ed and abridged so as to exclude any alusion
to which an Englishman might be sensitive
whether the British Sovereign ought to be hon.
ored by the company before or after the Chief
Magistrate of the United States; and whether
an application TO the officials at the palace for
the loan of the Queens and Prince Albert's
likenesses would be authorized by Mr.. Bucha-
nan, &c.
/ demonstrated most earnestly with Mr. Som
erby against the English tone that was to be
given to an occasion which above all others
ought to be American. besought him TO
urge upon you that it was in vain for Mr.. Pea.
body or any one else to attempt to bury the
Revolution that this was not at American
idea; that the great object of celebrating the
4th of July, l77G, was to keep alive forever the
hatred Of tyrants and the love Of hberty-all
the passions Of that conflict in which the Re.
public came into existence; and that, besides,
nothing was more erroneous than the notion
that this sort Of diluted nationality would com
mand the respect Of Englishmen, for If they did
not suspect it to be insincere, they would GER
tainly regard it as contemplate. Nor did /
fail to assure Mr.. Somerby that it could not be
expected that Mr.. Buchanan and the members
of the Legation would consent, By their pres.
ence, to countenance such n mode Of celebra-
ting the anniversary Of American Independ-
ence.
The result Of these interviews was that a
programme was agreed upon at the Legation ;
The proposed mutilation Of our national songs /:
the indiscreet attempt to give precedence to the
successor Of George III. over the successor Of
Washington the British tone to be given TO
the affair, in Difference to Sir Emerson Tenant
and few English gentlemen whom you had
invited-all these Objectionable features were
distinctly abandoned by Mr.. Somerby, in your
name, and, as he declared, with your sanction,
although with reluctance on your part Then,
and not until then, did the American Minister
md he NM ~ ba H..
cept your invitation TO be present. These cir.
cumstances, the negotiation, the agreement,
the. comprehensive plan Of invitation, the day.
the presence Of the Representative Of the Uni
ted States at London, all impaired to the occa-
sion the attributes Of national celebration.
Bearing these facts in mind, my surprise at
the dinner can be imagined when, besides lis
tening to fragments Of American patriotic songs,
observed in the order Of toasts not the Chief
Magistrate OF cur own nation, but the Sever.
eIgn OF another accorded precedence The
next loyal demonstration was the performance
Of "God save the Queen" during which Il
seemed to be expected that everybody wonld
stand up. Nor was my surprise at these viola.
fions of the agreement made at the Legation nj
all mitigated by the reason insnuated in your
speech for the ovation to her Majesty, viz that
she had sent the portraits Of herself aad her
consort las If spontaneously and without solicf-
tation) to grace the occasion for | know 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 an express application made
TO Col. PhippsI
Then it was that deemed it right and pro-
per, in view Of all that had occurred, to make
my Interpretation Of what was going on.
Whether to do this in the course Of some oh.
seryations TO be addressed TO the company, as
was done by Mr. Buchanan, or 10 remain seated