The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1878-12-26

States government had not sooner 1ntmated that
this extreme course would be taken the interview was
quite ancable and the troops not allowed to sail
The following portrait of Macmillan. sketched
for Dr. Holmes in of Mr.. Motleys private letters,
written at the threshold of the Mexican expedition.
cannot fail to interest the public, especially when
viewed in the light OF the recent revelations made by
Mr. Masseras--
He is about thirty. has adventurous disposition
some imagination, turn for poetry; has voyased a
good deal about the world in the Austrian ships-of
war; for III one respect he much resembles that I'M
fortunate but anonymous ancestor OF his, the King
of Bohemia with the seven castles, who, accord
ing to Corporal Trim, had such passion for naviga
tion ana sea affairs, with never seaport IN
all his dominions." But now the present King OF
Bohemia has got the sway of Trieste and is Lord
High Admiral and Chief of the Marine Department
He has been much in Spain. also in South America
have read some travels. -Heise Skizzen,' OF his
printed not published. They not without talent.
and he ever and anon relieves his prose ogtrot by
breaking into canter OF poetry He adores bull
fights and rather regrets the hquisition and con-
siders the Duke of Ava everything noble and
chivarous and the most abused of men. Ii would
90 your heart good to hear his invocatons to that
deeply injured shade and his denunciations of the
ignorant and vulgar Prostestants who have DETAINED
him.
II is known that Mr.. Motleys diplomatic
at Vienna abruptly terminated by what he
deemed great indgnity inflicted upon him by Mr..
Secretary Seward. In letter addressed to President
johnson, purporting to be written from the Hotel
Meurce Paris. dated October %, 1866, and signed
George W. McCracken. of New York." grave
accusations were brought against various public
agents of the United States then in Europe, on the
ground that they abusing the privileges of their
official and diplomatic positions by ndulging in
we're anmadversons the Presidents policy"
and by otherwise acting the parts of Thorough
funkies in the presence of the "eGste m0sarchies "
Mr.. Motley singled out for special abuse under
this head. and the .McCracken letter. having been
circular letter to the gentlemen inculpated by the
writer that they might take such notice of the mat
ter as their sense of propriety should suggest The
nature and effect of this proceeding the part Of
Mr.. Seward described as follows by Dr. Holiness
The letter of Mr.. Seward to such like
buffet on the cheek of an unarmed officer. 1t stung
like the thrust of stiletto 1t reused resentment
that could not find any words to give it expression
He could not wait to turn the insult over in his mind
to weigh the exact amount of afron in each question:
take counsel to sleep it, and reply to it with
diplomatic measure and suavity.
DIR. Holmes is not at all satisfied with the excuses
put forward by Mr.. John Bigelow in defence of Mr..
Stewards conduct toward Mr.. Motley, being
duct dictated by the President and not by the
tary himself. He says
am willing to accept Mr.. Bgelow's loyal and hon
that could be said for Mr. Seward. but the best de-
fence in this case is little better than an impeach-
ment
Relieved from diplomatic duties Mr.. Motley re-
turned with his old zest to the historical studies
which had brought him such a revenue Of fame. In
1868 the two concluding volumes Of the History Of
the Netherlands published at the same time in
London and New York. But having taken an active
part the Presidential campaign of that year he
ceived President Grant in 1869 the appointment
Of Minister to England. 1t is well known that the
appointment made at the earnest instance Of Sen
ator Sumner who was thus able to realize in behalf
of his friend the high aspirations he had cherished
for him at the beginning Of Mr.. Lincoln's admins
tration.
The esclandre which attended the recall OF Mr..
Motley from the highest of diplomatic posts is
too fresh in the memory of all to require that we
should retrace the ambages Of the painful history.
The sources of the complaints formulated against
Mr. Motley's conduct in connection with the British
Mission are recapitulated by Dr.. Holmes under the
following heads
The letter of Mr.. Fish to Mr. Moran, Of December
80, 1870.
Mr. Bancroft Davis letter to the NEW York HERALD
of January 4, 1873 entitled Mr.. Sumner, the Ala
bama Claims and their Settlement
g. The reported conversations of General Grant, as
found in the NEW York HERALD.
L. The conversations Of Mr.. Fish, reported by
the same journal.
and critical DR.. Holmes argues that the bitter
may be sufficiently read in 1.-THE most undignifed
comparison" with which he 'startled every wellbred
reader" when, in defence of Motley's recall, he
pointed jibe at the relation assumed by Mr. Motley
to have existed between his recall and Mr. Summers
defeat of the st. Domingo Treaty. This letter,
indeed seems TO DR.. Holmes $50 Objectionable in its
tone and expression that he says lit has been gener
ally doubted whether the paper could claim anything
more Of the Secretarys hand than his signature. by
which. we suppose, it is meant to intimate. in ac-
cordance with a common impression. that the body
Of the letter written by the Assistant Secretary of
State, Mr.. Bancroft Davis. As some readers may
have forgotten the offensive passage (which seems to
Dr. Holmes so indecorous grave State paper that
he refused to quote it. here reproduce the pre-
else language of Mr.. Fish. which the biographer
characterizcs with much severity
The coincidence which Mr.. Motley stamps as IAN
historical fact is not the only the most remarka
bic one which has been the subject of history. 1t
finds its parallel in that recorded by another Illus
trious author. who tells us of two old women who,
TRACING things back from effects to causes naturally
reverted to their deceased husbands respecting whose
lives deaths and burals they compared notes and dis
covered sundry circumstances that tailed with Won
derfl exactness such Barbaras father having been
exactly four years and ten months older than Kit 3
father, and one OF them having died on Wednesday
and the other Thursday and both Of them hav-
ing been of very fine make and remarkably good
looking, with other extraordinary coincidences
That 1.-THE Old Curiosity Shop" should thus figure in
diplomatic paper IL surely something which Dickens
could not have foresecn when he first began TO wind
up Master Humphreys clock.
With regard to the reported conversations of presi
dent Grant and Secretary Fish in justification of Mr.
Motley's removal. DR.. Holmes remarks that 'thcy
sound natural enough to have come from tho
speakers who are said to have uttered thcm." and,
after critcisng their purport. he comments them
as follows:-
It is not strange that the spurs of the who had
so lately got out OF the saddle should catch in the
scholastic robe Of the the floor of the Senate
But wo should not have looked for any such antago-
nsm betewccn the Secretary OF State and tho Envoy
Great Britain.
DIR. Holmes doesnot scruple to trace Mr.. Motley's
premature death to the wounds inflicted on sensi-
tive soul by this last GROWING act of wrong