Ohio History Journal

John Hay in London, 1897-1898

 

By Louis MARTIN SEARS*

 

 

 

The mission of John Hay to London, 1897-98, was among the

most successful in his country's annals. Time and the man had

met. The Venezuelan incident happily was past, leaving few

scars. The Boer War, while looming larger as a portent, had not

yet terminated Britain's golden age, yet forces were already casting

the diplomacy of Great Britain and America as well into a new

mold. The two leaders of the Anglo-Saxon world, formally at peace

since 1814, were only just entering that period of close cooperation

which was to determine the destiny of mankind for the half century

to follow. It was even while Hay was at St. James that the Spanish-

American war provided America's debut, as it were, into the mature

society of nations.

It is worthy of remark that Hay's mission coincided with the

jubilee of Queen Victoria, when half the world was tendering

its homage to a great personality and an epochal reign. To represent

his country at such a time and such a place put in requisition Hay's

peculiar talents. He was in the ripeness of his powers. Long a

member of the governing class, deeply involved in the history of his

party and his country, man of letters, philosopher, and wit, John

Hay could cope as a man of the world with the best that Britain

offered. Brief though his mission was, it provided the cement for an

enduring structure.

From the advent of his mission, British hospitality provided Hay

with an endurance test. As he whimsically complained to Henry

Adams, "I get no comfort except in refusing invitations to dinner.

 

* Louis Martin Sears is professor of history emeritus at Purdue University. He is

the author of A History of American Foreign Relations and other books and articles

on American diplomacy.

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JOHN HAY IN LONDON             357

 

I am getting to be quite a dab at it."¹ To Henry Cabot Lodge a

few weeks later he was even more emphatic. "I have declined

twenty-six invitations to eat dinner and make speeches. I trust

my action in the matter meets with your approval."² On May 3,

1897, the ambassador was presented by Lord Salisbury to the queen

at Windsor Castle. In his report of the occasion, Hay added that

her Majesty "afterwards received Mrs. Hay, to whom she was

equally gracious and kind. Our reception was altogether most

gracious and hospitable."³

The business of the mission, as projected before the Spanish War

lent added complications, concerned protection for the seals in

North Pacific waters, and an examination and discussion of

bimetallism. Great Britain felt no commensurate enthusiasm for

either cause. She refused to admit the fisheries were endangered

and was not inclined to alter existing arrangements in their regard.

On monetary issues there was some disagreement. The gold standard

was upheld in London; bimetallism found its chief advocates in

Lancashire.⁴

The mission was scarcely launched before the proper illumination

of the embassy for the queen's jubilee became a subject of com-

munication. In 1887 Phelps had been allowed $100 for a similar

purpose, but he was a minister, whereas Hay was an ambassador,

and besides the house was larger. More accordingly was expected.⁵

"I am aware," he informed the department, "that it is not in the

traditions nor in the habits of our country to compete with other

powers in matters of display or ceremony. At the same time it

might not be advisable to pass by without notice an event of so

much interest and significance, and one which so strongly engages

the feelings of all the people of the British Empire."⁶ The

 

1 Hay to Henry Adams, April 8, 1898, in Letters of John Hay and Extracts from

Diary (Washington, 1908), III, 83. Cited hereafter as Letters.

2 Hay to Henry Cabot Lodge, May 6, 1897, in Letters, 83-84.

3 Hay to Secretary of State John Sherman, May 5, 1897. Unless otherwise noted, the

diplomatic communications referred to herein are in the files of the department of

state (Great Britain) in the National Archives.

4 Hay to Sherman, May 1, 1898. See also despatch, May 7, 1897, enclosing the

D'Arcy-Thompson report, 1896.

5 Despatch, May 11, 1887.

6 Despatch, May 12, 1897.

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358    THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

ambassador went on to inquire whether a warship would be

despatched for the occasion with a high naval officer as special

ambassador, or whether Hay would himself be designated.⁷ The

warship was indeed despatched, but the special emissary was

Whitelaw Reid, owner-editor of the New York Tribune, a solution

which Hay found perfectly agreeable.⁸ He contributed much, in

fact, to the success of the Reid mission.

Contemporaneous with the Reid mission to the queen's jubilee

was the more specifically diplomatic undertaking of General John

W. Foster to win support in Great Britain and Russia for a more

humanitarian consideration of the seals. Hay reported to the de-

partment that he would escort Foster to a state concert at Buck-

ingham Palace, would introduce him to the Prince of Wales and

other royalties, but that he would talk no official business until

the general's return from Russia. Meanwhile, he enclosed a Times

article of the morning's date "which seems to have been officially

inspired." A hint was offered that new arrangements might be

contracted if Canadian sealers were compensated "for the damages

they would suffer through the suspension of pelagic sealing."⁹

On the literary and social side of his mission, the ambassador

had just been making a signal contribution of his own, in his

address on May 21, 1897, at the unveiling in Westminster Abbey

of a bust of Sir Walter Scott. Reminding his distinguished audience

of the immense popularity of Sir Walter in America, where a

people still preoccupied with the building of its own new civilization

could nevertheless appreciate the tales of chivalry "which Walter

Scott was pouring forth upon the world with a rich facility, a

sort of joyous fecundity like that of Nature in her most genial

moods," Hay added that "there was none too sophisticated to

appreciate, none too lowly to enjoy those marvelous pictures of a

time gone forever by, pleasing and stimulating to a starved fancy

in the softened light of memory and art, though the times them-

selves were unlamented by a people and an age whose faces were

set toward a far different future."

7 Ibid.

8 Cipher telegram, May 22, 1897; telegram, May 25, 1897.

9 Despatch, May 28, 1897.

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JOHN HAY IN LONDON         359

 

To summarize Scott's achievement, Hay said in conclusion, "His

work is a clear, high voice, from a simpler age than ours, breathing

a song of lofty and unclouded purpose, of sincere and powerful

passion, to which the world, however weary and preoccupied, must

needs still listen and attend."¹⁰ Here was honest, manly praise

from a fellow craftsman. Scott was great, but so was the America

that loved him. Hay was no Reverdy Johnson, shaking hands with

the Civil War builder of Laird rams.

The colonial premiers being gathered for the jubilee, the occasion

was seized for initiating those policies of imperial preference

which have characterized the half century ensuing and which seem

to be surviving the more formal severance of imperial ties. Hay

was alert to the new trends. He noted the extreme cordiality

shown Sir Wilfred Laurier in recognition of Canadian intention

to remove trade barriers against England, and he discerned a

similar inclination elsewhere, which all departments of the

government were intent upon encouraging.11

It was, indeed, a fruitful time. If imperial trade relations seemed

to be changing, America's own aspirations toward imperialism were

being etched more sharply. The London Times for July 17, 1897,

included in a penetrating analysis of President McKinley's proposal

for the annexation of Hawaii, the trenchant comment that "modifica-

tions deep and far-reaching in the external relations of the Republic

must inevitably succeed her adoption on any considerable scale of

a colonial policy."12

The second major purpose of Hay's mission, progress toward an

understanding on bimetallism, was meanwhile not neglected. On

July 7 the ambassador reported the arrival of General Charles J.

Paine and Adlai E. Stevenson as members of the bi-metallic com-

mission. He said he would introduce them to Lord Salisbury, to the

chancellor of the exchequer, Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, to the first

lord of the admiralty, G. F. Goschen, and to Lord Rothschild and

other financiers. In due course they would be presented to the

queen.13

10 Addresses of John Hay (New York, 1907), 55, 59.

11 Hay to Sherman, June 15, 1897.

12 Hay to Sherman, June 17, 1897.

13 Hay to Sherman, July 7, 1897, No. 67.

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360    THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

Whatever might be the outcome of the monetary conference,

there was no indication that Great Britain would modify her stand

regarding the seal herd. A further interview with Salisbury led

to no commitments and it was Hay's judgment that the British

government was concentrating almost exclusively upon improving

colonial relations and would accordingly do nothing that might

offend Canadian sentiment. The prime minister admitted that

England was acting as a trustee, not as a principal.14 He accordingly

approved Hay's taking up the matter with Joseph Chamberlain, the

colonial secretary, and Sir Wilfred Laurier, the premier of Canada.

From these approaches Hay derived some modest hopes.15

That Hay's difficulties as well as his accomplishments were fully

understood at Washington appears in a personal letter of this period

from President McKinley. Courteously he wrote: "Your last letter

to me was delightful as all your letters are. I do not need to be re-

assured that you are using untiring energy and tact to help along

two of the administration's greatest efforts--Bimetallism and

Bering sea negotiations--but the details which you present are

interesting and instructive." Hay's self-effacing attitude toward the

special mission of Whitelaw Reid also was noted appreciatively

by the president. "Mr. Reid will I suppose soon be back here and

will probably tell me personally of his experiences. The generosity

and delicacy with which you have treated him could not have been

exceeded by anyone and will in the end I am sure strengthen your

own position with the people of both countries, if this were possible

or needed, which it is not."¹⁶

Before we dismiss entirely the queen's jubilee, a line from Hay

to Henry Adams will bear quotation, as well as a more extended

passage from one of the ambassador's more serious addresses. To

Adams he remarked:

 

The jubilee is gone like a Welsh-rabbit dream. It was an explosion of

loyalty that amazed John Bull himself. What a curious thing it is; that

there has been no King in England since Elizabeth of special distinction;

most of them far worse than mediocre; only the foreigner William III of

 

14 Hay to Sherman, July 7, 1897, No. 69; Hay to Sherman, July 19, 1897.

15 Despatch, July 17, 1897.

16 McKinley to Hay, July 27, 1897. John Hay Papers, Library of Congress.

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JOHN HAY IN LONDON             361

 

any merit; and yet the monarchical religion has grown day by day, till the

Queen is worshipped as more than mortal, and The Prince will be more

popular still when he accedes.17

The following year, with greater perspective and more occasion

for eloquence, in addressing the Easter banquet at the Mansion

House under the caption, "A Partnership in Benevolence," the

ambassador referred most feelingly to a dramatic moment in the

ceremonies when

 

the commander of the Brooklyn ran up the British and American colors,

and then at a given signal turned upon those two kindred flags the brilliant

rays of her searchlights. In that high illumination shrined in clear radiance

far above the obscurity that hid the engines of destruction and preparations

for war, those friendly banners fluttered, proclaiming to the navies of the

world their message of good will. The beauty of the scene lasted but a

moment; it passed away with much of the splendor and magnificence that

adorned the historic day; but may we not hope that the lesson and the

inspiration of that spectacle may last as long as those banners shall float

over the seven seas, carrying always in their shadow freedom and

civilization?18

This was oratory, of course, not the serious diplomacy of seal

conservation or bimetallism, but it was oratory at a high level, and

its message still holds good.

Of a routine character, but an amiable routine, was an offer to

extend the protection of the British consulate at Panama to some

seventy-two Liberian workers on the canal--the French canal, of

course, not yet the American--which Hay acknowledged with due

appreciation.¹⁹

Reverting to a major interest of the mission, Hay was not unduly

pessimistic over the monetary outlook. The closing of the Indian

mints had wrought great hardship in the subcontinent, and petitions

had been received from 350 labor groups urging British cooperation

with other powers toward an international agreement for a "stable

par of exchange between gold and silver."²⁰

17 Hay to Henry Adams, July 7, 1897, in Letters, III, 89.

18 Addresses, 79-80.

19 Hay to Sherman, August 7, 1897, No. 93. See also despatch, September 13, 1897,

for unsatisfactory character of Liberian workers, and their probable return.

20 Hay to Sherman, August 7, 1897, No. 94.

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362    THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

An early indication that the British were aware of a deteriorating

situation in Cuba was the subject of Hay's despatch of August

20, 1897. The Daily Chronicle of that day contained as lurid an

account of Spanish barbarities in Cuba as could have been found in

the Hearst press. British opinion was being slanted already toward

sympathy for the United States versus Spain.21 Such opinion was

not destined to be uniform, however, as appeared from an item

in the Times of October 15, wherein continuance of the rebellion in

the island was attributed to the United States, without whose inter-

ference Spain could have suppressed it in three months.²²

An ambassador in the heyday of Republican protectionism could

note with satisfaction the dawning realization among Englishmen

that American goods, not to mention German and Belgian, were

competing strongly in the colonies. Metal and machinery, tools,

cutlery, clocks, nails, and plated ware were not only cheaper but

were better packed. And this was the more surprising in view of

higher wages in America and of what Englishmen chose to call

"the paralyzing effects of a stringent protective system."²³

But if a base was being laid for Great Britain's later economic

troubles, and if the upsurge of her rivals might give pause to

British business, none of this was apparent in the haughty

attitude of the Salisbury government toward the controversy in

Bering Sea. Peculiarly exasperating was the absurd and belated

refusal to enter any conference concerning seals, wherein Russia

and Japan were represented--a trying stipulation where both had

been invited and had accepted. The pettifogging excuse for this was

that neither Russia nor Japan had "experts" in the matter, a

graceless gesture from a land that issued the report of D'Arcy-

Thompson. Her Majesty's government did make one concession.

The Russians and the Japanese might receive copies of the

proceedings.²⁴

Possibly it was irritation over governmental tactics that led Hay

 

21 Hay to Sherman, August 20, 1897.

22 Despatch, October 15, 1897. But see despatch, October 26, 1897.

23 Hay to Sherman, September 23, 1897, No. 23; Hay to Sherman, September 23,

1897, No. 24.

24 Hay to Sherman, September 25, 1897; despatch, October 6, 1897.

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JOHN HAY IN LONDON           363

 

about this time to a frank description of the British capital. "You

would love London," he confided to Henry Adams, "it is so

sweetly dull and dead. I think there is nothing in the sound of

Bow Bells resembling humanity."²⁵ To Henry White a little later

he reported, "We have got the B[ering] S[ea] business disposed

of for the time being. I have been amazed at the solid way in which

the Press of England has stood together around Lord S[alisbury],

and steadily refused to print the truth."²⁶ Of the reply on silver

anticipated soon, he could only say, "We have not yet received

our answer on silver, but I know what it is to contain--some

sinuosity of words, but the substance a categorical negative."²⁷

Concerning silver Hay was writing some informative despatches.

Thus he reminded the department that the decline of a penny in

the value of an Indian rupee meant additional taxation of ??1,000,000

to meet gold payments in London. An eight pence decline already

was saddling India with added taxes of ??8,000,000 for this purpose

alone.²⁸ And he found interest, if not satisfaction, in the admission

of the chancellor of the exchequer that there was no assurance of

India's ability to maintain the gold standard; no assurance that

bimetallism could survive waves of public sentiment and the "un-

reasoning panic, to which that public sensitiveness might give rise."²⁹

Such were some of the repercussions in the financial capital of

the world to a very general agitation over currency which reached

a climax in the United States in the Bryan-McKinley campaign of

the preceding year. They may also have been influenced, at least

remotely, by the obvious transfer of the world's industrial leader-

ship to Germany and the United States. Certainly Hay made an

interesting point in a despatch marked confidential and to be omitted

from his printed correspondence, when he presented statistics of

a remarkable decline in British exports to America coupled with

a vast increase in British imports from America, leading in the

 

25 Hay to Henry Adams, September 28, 1897, in Letters, III, 95.

26 Hay to Henry White, October 16, 1897, in Letters, III, 99.

27 Hay to Henry Adams, October 20, 1897, in Letters, III, 99.

28 Despatch, October 27, 1897.

29 Hay to Sherman, October 29, 1897, quoting Sir Michael Hicks-Beach at Bristol

on the previous day.

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364     THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

current year alone to an adverse balance of ??80,000,000. To dry

statistics he added the even drier comment that "of course it is

impossible for an English publicist to acknowledge that the cause

of this serious state of affairs lies in the systematic protection of

American industry by legislation. They are therefore forced to

the lame conclusion that our increased sales and diminished pur-

chases are due to our poverty and our bad credit."³⁰

For reasons of health, Hay applied for two months' leave at his

discretion after January 1.31 He planned a trip to Egypt and hoped

that Henry Adams would make up his "alleged mind" to go along.³²

His departure would be signalized by considerable finished business

if any settlement of the seal fisheries prior to that of 1911 could

be described as finished. For in his assaults upon the citadel of

Lord Salisbury's complacency Hay had been indefatigable.³³ Nor

had he been remiss in forwarding the voluminous statistical reports

which marked the decline of an aging British industry confronting

the mighty strides of steel tonnage in America, with the auxiliary

gains therein implicit.³⁴

As usual the not quite extracurricular activity of speaking absorbed

much energy. Here Hay, as on previous occasions, was jealous of

his country's honor, being careful to pair the great of Britain and

America where praise for each was just.³⁵ These occasions provided

Hay with access to the great in varied fields. Thus at a meeting

with Lord Acton he seized the opportunity to recommend his old

friend Nicolay for a section in the Cambridge Modern History.

"I told him you were a Republican, as I was, but that you could

be trusted absolutely with facts."³⁶

In a concluding and "confidential" despatch for 1897, Hay in-

formed the department of widespread rumors "in regard to a pro-

 

30 Hay to Sherman, December 1, 1897.

31 Hay to Sherman, December 8, 1897.

32 Hay to Henry Adams, November 19, 1897, in Letters, III, 103.

33 Hay to Sherman, December 10, 1897; also despatch, December 24, 1897; and

telegram, December 25, 1897.

34 Hay to Sherman, December 16, 1897.

35 Speech at the annual dinner of the Royal Society, November 30, 1897, in

Addresses, 84-85.

36 Hay to Nicolay, December 27, 1897, in Letters, III, 107-108.

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JOHN HAY IN LONDON           365

 

jected alliance between Great Britain and Japan, for joint action

in the East."³⁷ The year throughout had been pregnant for the

future.

An early despatch of 1898 gives the first hint in Hay's papers

of the Open Door in China. Quoting a recent speech by Arthur

James Balfour, whose "great influence in politics and in society"

lent pertinence to his views on public questions, Hay summed up

Balfour's thoughts on issues as diverse as the Greco-Turkish War,

Crete, India, Anglo-French relations in Africa, and the movements

of British-Egyptian armies in the Sudan. More significantly he

added of China that "the British government will do their best

to see that 'that equality of opportunity which is all they claim--

but which they do claim'--shall not be destroyed." Careful inquiry

revealed that the British government was prepared to guarantee a

loan to China of sixteen million pounds.³⁸

Unfinished business before the ambassador's departure for Egypt

as of January 19, covered a further quibbling note from Salisbury

anent the seals;³⁹ a survey of man hours lost in British strikes since

1893, culminating in 10,400,000 for 1897, much of the latter being

attributable to the twenty-eight weeks' strike of the Amalgamated

Society of Engineers and allied trades;⁴⁰ and a consideration of

Indian problems of finance and currency, which were leading to

extreme anxiety and restlessness in the subcontinent.⁴¹

The most serious business awaiting Hay's return from his two

months' holiday was the growing apprehension in regard to China.

British public men were seriously concerned with what appeared

to be the impending division of China into spheres of influence.

"They seem to think there is an understanding between Russia,

France and Germany to exclude, as far as possible, the trade of

England and America from the Far East, and to divide and reduce

China to a system of tributary provinces."42

 

37 Hay to Sherman, December 9, 1897.

38 Hay to Sherman, January 11, 1898. See also cipher telegram of even date; also

Hay to Sherman, January 17, 1897, No. 217.

39 Hay to Sherman, January 17, 1898, No. 216.

40 Hay to Sherman, January 17, 1898, No. 218.

41 Hay to Sherman, January 18, 1898.

42 Hay to Sherman, March 25, 1898.

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366     THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

Interesting as showing where power lay in 1898 and its shift in

a half century was the refusal, duly reported by Hay, of the

chancellor of the exchequer to receive a labor deputation which

sought to protest British monetary policy because he thought their

attitude was disrespectful.⁴³

As of the same date, the London papers carried news of increasing

tension between the United States and Spain. Most supported

the United States, notably the Chronicle.⁴⁴ Prospective war was

deplored but there was general recognition of "the intolerable

features of the situation in Cuba."⁴⁵ Alfred Austin, the poet

laureate, burst into a song of Anglo-American fraternity:

 

Yes, this is the voice on the bluff March gale,

"We severed have been too long;

But now we have done with a worn-out tale,

The tale of an ancient wrong,

And our friendship last long as Love doth last,

And be stronger than Death is strong."⁴⁶

A similar good will could be noted in the financial circles of the

country, which were urging the United States to bring peace to

Cuba.⁴⁷ Official expression of this general good will was the offer

to take over American interests at Madrid, should the need arise.

When Hay called to express the thanks of the United States for

this courtesy, Balfour added that the British ambassador in Wash-

ington, Sir Julian Pauncefote, was directed to submit to the wishes

of the president of the United States "in any action he might take

or not take in the direction of any collective representation of the

diplomatic body in Washington."⁴⁸

Hay was of course aware that nations are governed by selfish

motives, but he was in no mood to question the sincerity of British

friendship, still less its importance in a world where "it is the

 

43 Hay to Sherman, March 26, 1898, No. 329.

44 Hay to Sherman, March 26, 1898, No. 331.

45 Hay to Sherman, March 28, 1898.

46 Hay to Sherman, March 29, 1898. See also despatch, March 29, 1898, trans-

mitting resolutions of the "Liberal Forwards," friendly to the United States.

47 Hay to Sherman, April 1, 1898; also telegram, April 7, 1898.

48 Hay to Sherman, April 6, 1898.

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JOHN HAY IN LONDON             367

 

only European country whose sympathies are not openly against

us." People at home had trials, no doubt, but Hay assuredly had his.

 

You may imagine [he confided to Henry Cabot Lodge] what it is to

me, absolutely without light or instruction [John Sherman had quit the

department], compelled to act from day to day on my own judgment and

at no moment sure of the wishes of the Department. What I should have

done if the feeling here had been unfriendly instead of cordially sympathetic

it is hard to say. The commonest phrase is here "I wish you would take

Cuba at once. We wouldn't have stood it this long." And of course no

power on earth would have shown such patience and such scrupulous regard

for law.⁴⁹

Naturally the despatches of this period were concerned primarily

with newspaper and other expressions of opinion toward the

oncoming war. These were, as previously indicated, for the most

part favorable.⁵⁰ The Chronicle, radical, even went so far as to

suggest an Anglo-American alliance for joint action in Cuba.⁵¹ A

less genial note was struck by Sir George Baden-Powell, who would

treat privateers as pirates -- something not agreeable to contemplate

by a nation that had declined assent to the Rule of 1856.52

Upon these theoretical considerations there burst with Dewey's

victory at Manila Bay a most impressive fact. Hay was overjoyed.

One more sea fight, he conceived, would usher in the end. "I detest

war," he wrote, "and had hoped I might never see another, but

this was as necessary as it was righteous. I have not for two years

seen any other issue."⁵³ Nor did Hay, like others who knew less

of what they talked and wrote, underestimate the country's leader.

It has been fashionable in his own day and since to minimize the

qualities of President McKinley. To Hay this seemed ridiculous.

To Henry Adams, not a hero-worshiper at best, he gave stern

admonition: "And don't you go making any mistakes about

49 Hay to Henry Cabot Lodge, April 5, 1898. John Hay Papers, Library of Congress.

Also printed in Letters, III, 119-121.

50 Hay to the Department of State, April 7, 1898; two despatches of April 8, 1898,

Nos. 349 and 350.

51 Hay to the Department of State, April 15, 1898.

52 Despatches, April 16 and 18, 1898.

53 Hay to Theodore Stanton, May 8, 1898, in Letters, III, 121-122.

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368     THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

McK-----. He is no tenderfoot--he has the habit of getting there.

Many among the noble and the pure have had occasion to change

their minds about him."⁵⁴

With victory assured, even though distant by some months, Hay

was receptive to information respecting the Sulu Archipelago and

the Philippines in general.⁵⁵ Meanwhile, assurances of affection had

become the order of the day, with effusive protestations from

Stepney Meeting House, in East London, and the "Primitive

Methodist Connexion" at Crowe, as well as the "Pastors and

Delegates of the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland."

People at the grass roots could distinguish readily enough between

St. George and the Dragon.⁵⁶

At the official level, Lord Brassey, the governor of Victoria, was

conveying the friendly sentiments of Australians.⁵⁷ And, warranting

a telegram in cipher, on May 8, a "member of British Government

asked unofficially last night whether war would cease if Spain

should offer through England to evacuate Cuba. I avoided direct

answer but thought I ought to report question to you.^"58 Such a

questioning might have been a "feeler" on the part of Spain, but

by telegraph the following day the ambassador expressed his

doubts.⁵⁹

War in the modern world inevitably raises questions as to contra-

band. That of 1898 was no exception. Coal was a case in point. Here

Hay was disposed to a liberal interpretation, but he did contend that

"coal sent to Cuba could have none other than a contraband

character, as it could not at present be put to any industrial use."⁶⁰

By mid-May, varied expressions reaching Hay of a more official

character than the "Annual Meeting of the Liberal Churchmen's

 

54 Hay to Henry Adams, May 9, 1898, in Letters, III, 122.

55 Hay to the Secretary of State, May 3, 1898, with enclosures; also despatch,

May 18, 1898.

56 Despatches, May 4 and 5, 1898. See also despatch, May 6, 1898, regarding the

"International Arbitration Society"; and May 14, 1898, by the "Congregational Union

of England and Wales."

57 Despatch, May 6, 1898.

58 Cipher telegram, May 8, 1898.

59 Telegram, Hay to the Department of State, May 9, 1898.

60 Hay to Secretary of State William R. Day, May 9, 1898.

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JOHN HAY IN LONDON            369

 

Union^"61 convinced him that if the United States desired, England

was prepared to urge on Spain the evacuation of Cuba.⁶²

As the war progressed, friendly comments came from people in

all walks of life, the royal family included, notwithstanding its

tradition of political aloofness. There was even rivalry between the

government and her Majesty's most loyal opposition as to which

could seem the friendlier to America, and Hay was continually

importuned to dine and speak. True, a negligible opposition led by

the Globe and the Saturday Review was "nasty," as Hay called it,

and a section of the smart set felt for the "Dear Queen" and the

"Nation of Gentlemen." But British sentiment in general was over,

whelmingly American. In the circumstances "a smashing blow in

the Caribbean would help wonderfully. But an enemy determined

not to fight can elude a battle a long time." Meanwhile, as Hay

quizzically added, "our hair is growing grey while we wait and

read the fool despatches."63

Whatever popular sentiment might be and no matter how many

dignitaries might vie for membership in the permanent Anglo-

American committee to strengthen the friendly relations between

Great Britain and the United States,⁶⁴ the government was careful

to maintain neutrality. It accordingly rejected an American appeal

to extend a new cable from Manila to Hong Kong.⁶⁵

The death at this time of William Ewart Gladstone was an

occasion for protocol, and President McKinley sent the Gladstone

family his personal as well as official condolences. These were

keenly appreciated and warmly acknowledged. As Herbert Glad-

stone remarked, "We see in it the recognition of the abiding interest

which my father cherished in the welfare and wonderful progress

of America, and we value it all the more because it has been sent

by the President at a time of inevitable pressure and absorption."⁶⁶

 

61 Hay to Day, May 19, 1898.

62 Hay to Day, May 12, 1898.

63 Hay to Henry Cabot Lodge, May 25, 1898. John Hay Papers, Library of Congress.

Also printed in Letters, III, 123-126.

64 Despatch, June 7, 1898.

65 Hay to Day, May 24, 1898; also cipher telegram, Hay to Day, June 1, 1898;

and despatch, June 1, 1898.

66 Despatch, June 5, 1898, with enclosure, Herbert Gladstone to Hay.

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370     THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

On June 6, 1898, Hay made unofficial and preliminary overtures

to Lord Salisbury outlining peace terms which the United States

conditionally might accept, and requesting the British government

so to act that the initiative toward peace might not seem too

palpably America's. Lord Salisbury thought that the best approach

would be through the British ambassador at Vienna, who might

impress upon the Austrians that better terms could be had now

than later. This, in fact, the government had done already, observed

Lord Salisbury, upon receipt of a despatch from Sir Julian

Pauncefote detailing the generous intentions of President McKinley.

But, regretted Lord Salisbury, it did not appear as yet that Spain

was ready to concede defeat.⁶⁷

The exchange between Hay and Salisbury created some appre-

hension in Washington that discussion had been premature and

was open to misunderstanding -- a position which Hay promptly

clarified in a cipher telegram, reaffirming that the conversation was

wholly confidential. It "has been and will be communicated to

nobody."⁶⁸

A further conversation with Lord Salisbury discussed the rapid

shifting of conditions in the Philippines and treated the insurgents

as a mounting problem. Disposition of the islands presented various

uncertainties. Rumor held that Germany was fomenting opposition

to any permanent foothold for Americans. But Salisbury disclaimed

knowledge on this point, the position of Great Britain being too

well understood to justify any overtures from Berlin. Austria alone

among the powers, and for reasons obvious enough, was endeavoring

to influence British policy adversely to the United States. French

attitude was "correct," whatever the Quai d'Orsay might actually

wish.⁶⁹

With the war drawing toward its close, Hay continued to report

 

67 Hay to Day, confidential, June 8, 1898, a communication of great length and

importance.

68 Cipher telegram, June 8, 1898, herewith decoded.

69 Hay to Day, strictly confidential, June 15, 1898. Cipher telegrams of June 14

and June 15 were decoded and enclosed, covering the Philippines and a request by

Spain that Great Britain take Manila "to prevent destruction of the place. British

Government declined. Please regard this as strictly confidential as its publication

would cause me great embarrassment Hay."

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JOHN HAY IN LONDON          371

 

opinion as he found it. An expression of Catalonian separation,

a permanent phenomenon of Spanish politics, was a peace manifesto

of the Catalan Union. As Hay remarked, "Barcelona has been the

headquarters of the extreme colonial party, and the fact that this

movement in favor of putting a stop to a wasteful war should

originate there is very signficant."⁷⁰ In England there was mounting

irritation at the senseless prolongation of a hopeless struggle.⁷1 And

Lord Salisbury struck a popular note at the annual dinner of the

United Club in what Hay described as "the first recognition, I

believe, which has been made on the part of any great Government,

of the 'elevated philanthropy' which animates the United States in

this struggle."⁷² At the Fourth of July dinner of the American

Society, felicitations were extended by the marquess of Ripon, the

marquess of Dufferin and Ava, James Bryce, and the earl of

Kimberley. The United States was viewed as standing at the cross-

roads to empire, which in Lord Kimberley's opinion, would

redound to the advantage of Great Britain.⁷³ How right he was, but

in a sense undreamed of at the time!

One of Hay's most informative despatches reported a lengthy

and most confidential conversation with Count Hatzfeldt, the

German ambassador at London. The German position was clearly

stated. The United States ought to recognize that her conduct had

been correct. But Germany did have some few wants. Coaling

stations in the Philippines would be reasonable enough, and German

claims in the Carolines were strong. Hawaiian annexation was not

disapproved, but in Samoa it was otherwise. There German interests

were so great that German influence should predominate.

Hay did not leave these points unchallenged. Hawaii was, of

course, a fact accomplished. America's own interests in Samoa were

important. German friendship was "appreciated at its just value."

But to Hatzfeldt's complaint that European representations were

 

70 Hay to Day, June 20, 1898.

71 Despatch, June 25, 1898.

72 Despatch, June 30, 1898.

73 Hay to Day, July 5, 1898. The earl of Rosebery was quoted a few days later

in a speech of similar good will. See the London Times of July 8, 1898. Enclosed in

despatch, July 8, 1898.

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372    THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

unwelcome in America, Hay opposed his country's whole tradition

against collective pressures. In the present case he "thought it

improbable that we could admit the competence of others to assist

in the settlement of matters concerning the United States and

Spain." The contest was verbal, after all, for Hay was confident

the German government desired no serious disagreement with the

United States.⁷⁴

Polite representations, in no sense protests, were made by the

foreign office over cutting cables to or in Cuba.⁷⁵ By July 28 Hay

outlined in cipher his own conception of the terms of peace -- Cuba

and Puerto Rico to be ceded unconditionally, with a waiver of

indemnity for the former, and probably a coaling station in the

Carolines. "I may add that the British Government prefer to have us

retain Philippine Islands, or, failing that, insist on option in case

of future sale."⁷⁶

Transfer of the Philippines being likely, British investors were

alert to inform the prospective sovereign concerning rights and

interests as they viewed them. Thus the chairman of the company

operating cables in the islands, the marquess of Tweeddale, called

on Hay to express a hope for unified control of cables when peace

should be restored, even though the United States should retain

Manila only.⁷⁷ Also the rights of the sultan of Sulu were again

brought to Hay's recollection.⁷⁸

Hay's part in the war -- and it had indeed been notable -- was

over now. Day could be shifted to the peace conference and Hay

granted a just promotion to the department of state. Only details

needed confirmation. But until the day of his departure there would

of course be business. There was, for example, the mortifying

situation created by Senor Quesada, Argentinian ambassador at

London, who returned to the American embassy ??204 17s, namely

the $1,000 he received from the United States for his services as

 

74 Hay to Day, strictly confidential, July 14, 1898.

75 Hay to Day, July 26, 1898.

76 Telegram, personal and confidential, July 28, 1898.

77 Hay to Day, August 5, 1898. See also despatch, August 22, 1898, stating that

the Times had come out openly for United States retention of the Philippines.

78 Hay to Day, private and confidential, August 8, 1898.

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JOHN HAY IN LONDON           373

 

an arbitrator between the United States and Mexico. He had been

repaid by the distinction thus conferred and must decline a fee,

even one far greater than the present.⁷⁹ Here, it would seem, was a

regrettable example of American obtuseness. Why was he not con-

sulted in advance?

Telegrams of August 27 rendered the department au courant,

first with some Anglo-German, English, and Dutch moves toward

a customs syndicate for Liberia, before encouraging which the

British government would welcome American opinion and ap-

proval; and secondly with a German proposal for Anglo-German

representations aimed at terminating the armed peace -- cold war

in modern lingo -- between Argentina and Chile. Here again

American opinion was desired but on a highly confidential basis.⁸⁰

In separate despatches as of August 29 Hay enclosed leaders from

the Times noting in one case the rapid shifting of trade balances

between England and America;81 and in the other some tentative

proposals of the czar of Russia toward a peace conference. The

emperor's high purposes were recognized; their practicability was

doubted.⁸²

Likely to be of special interest to Day, departing soon for Paris,

was the hopeful opinion of an experienced administrator in Malaya,

General Sir Andrew Clarke, that the United States could readily

bring order in the Philippines. All that was needed was to enlist

native sympathy by justice and fairness, and to rule through native

agents under American supervision. Properly administered, the

prosperity of the Philippines would astound the world.⁸³

In the concluding despatches of a series numbering over five

hundred, Hay terminated his mission on a note of utmost cordiality.

He quoted an address by the marquess of Dufferin and Ava at the

inauguration of the Cabot monument at Bristol to the effect that

in the recent war, the United States owed much to the firm stand

 

79 Hay to Day, August 26, 1898.

80 Hay to Day, August 27, 1898, in each case. See also Hay to Day, September 6,

1898, which elaborates the latter point.

81 Hay to Day, August 29, 1898, No. 504.

82 Hay to Day, August 29, 1898, No. 505.

83 Hay to Day, August 31, 1898.

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374    THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

of Great Britain against "any attempt at coercion on the part of

the European Chanceries," without which "the ultimate settlement

of the contest between Spain and America might have been very

different from what it was."⁸⁴ The retiring ambassador was honored

in an address by the Anglo-American League presented by James

Bryce as chairman, in replying to which he boasted that "the re-

lations between the two countries have never before been so intimate

and so agreeable, and on both sides of the ocean the conviction is

almost universal that a clear and cordial and friendly understanding

between Great Britain and America is a necessity of civilization."⁸⁵

Finally he could report that at military maneuvers in the presence of

the commander-in-chief, the secretary for war, several members of

the royal family, the foreign military attaches, and a vast crowd,

the national flag of the United States flew side by side with the

British royal standard, the Union Jack, and the white naval ensign,

upon the principal marquee at the saluting point. These were the

only four. No other flags were so honored.⁸⁶

The queen equaled her subjects in kind attentions to the retiring

ambassador, the incoming secretary of state, and Mrs. Hay. At

a dinner for them at Osborne House, the conversation turned on all

sorts of things, the Curzons, the Chamberlains, Egypt, and colonies

in general. "She could not see why McKinley sh?? have ordered

us away so suddenly: and most amiably expressed her regret at

our going away, and her congratulations on the honor of our new

appointment."⁸⁷

In the light of their subsequent relationship, a word of praise from

Governor Theodore Roosevelt to John Hay may be included as a

final tribute to the mission. Roosevelt shyly admitted for himself

that he was getting on well with Senator Platt, and sounded

modestly, almost like the horns of elfland faintly blowing, a note

of something other than self-depreciation. "I am apparently

satisfying," he informed Hay, "the wishes of the best element of

 

84 Hay to Day, September 7, 1898.

85 Hay to Day, September 9, 1898.

86 Hay to Day, September 13, 1898.

87 Memorandum made at Osborne House, August 29, 1898, using her Majesty's

stationery. John Hay Papers, Library of Congress.

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JOHN HAY IN LONDON             375

 

our party; of course I have only begun [he was still at Albany] but so

far I think the State is the better and the party the stronger for

my administration." But we are here not to bury but to praise, and

it is fair at this point to quote the really generous praise of the New

York politician:

 

Just a few lines, to congratulate you on bringing to so successful an end

so great a work. Ambassador, and Secretary of State, during the most

important year this Republic has seen since Lincoln died -- those are

positions worth filling, fraught with memories your children's children will

recall with eager pride. You have indeed led a life eminently worth living,

oh writer of books and doer of deeds! -- and, in passing builder of beautiful

houses and father of strong sons and fair daughters.⁸⁸

To this contemporary estimate, perspective now may add that

a mission which in so distinguished a manner promoted Anglo-

American friendship must rank as creative statesmanship of the

highest order. For half a century the consequences of that friend-

ship have been decisive for the destinies of mankind.

 

88 Roosevelt to Hay, February 7, 1898 (misdated for 1899). John Hay Papers,

Library of Congress.

• 20