WASHINGTON, December 23, 1850.
MY DEAR JAMES,—Prior to the receipt of your letter, dated at Ashland the 17th instant, I had addressed a letter to you containing some things not necessary to be repeated here. I have not yet had a good opportunity of conversing with either the President or Mr. Webster about you or your late mission; but the other night at Jenny Lind's concert, sitting by Mr. Webster, he broke forth in extravagant praises of you. I do not think that you ought to put an unfriendly interpretation upon any thing which occurred about your return to Lisbon. Your letter from Geneva of September did not contain an unconditional offer to return. You submitted some point of honor to Mr. Webster. I think he might have sent earlier instructions to you; but I suppose his absence from Washington and his indisposition formed his excuse. In his letter of the 5th November (which I hastily read) he seems to have been undecided whether you wished to return or not, but left it to you to determine. After you returned to the United States I do not think that you ought to have gone back to Lisbon for the temporary purpose of concluding the Convention. And, upon the whole, I have no regrets about it, considering how well and how strongly the President speaks of you, in his annual Message, and in what favorable terms, officially and privately, Mr. Webster speaks of you, and that the public ascribes to you the success of the negotiation. I wrote you that I think you are entitled to your salary up to the 20th November and a quarter beyond, and to indemnity for any loss in furniture, etc., in consequence of your sudden departure from Lisbon. I believe it is usual also to charge for stationery, postage, etc. If you will send me your account I will endeavor to have it settled.
I was in hopes that you would stay with your mother until my return, and that we would then talk about your future. As to your purchase of Ashland, I never desired that you should make it, unless prompted by your own interests and feelings. When I go hence it must be sold, and I have never feared that it would not command a fair and full price.
I should regret deeply to see you set down doing nothing. You must engage in some occupation or you will be miserable. The law, farming, or the public service, are the only pursuits which I suppose present themselves to you. You don't like the first, which is moreover nowhere in Kentucky profitable; and your decision must be between the two others. I had inferred that you were tired of diplomacy, unless you could get a higher grade than that which you lately held. At present there is none that I know of; but perhaps some vacancy may occur. As to elevating the mission to Lisbon, I have heard here of no proposal to that effect. It does not depend, you know, exclusively on the Executive; Congress must sanction it. Possibly after the conclusion of the Convention, if Portugal should desire to elevate the rank of her minister, it may be proposed to reciprocate it by the President; but I do not apprehend that a higher rank would be thought of than that of minister resident.
You did not say whether you were satisfied or not with my sale of your house and lot. I would not have sold it but for your great anxiety to sell. It was a good house, but I never liked its external appearance. The situation was one of the finest in Lexington.
You will direct what I shall do with the draft for $3000 when I receive it from New Orleans.
My love to Susan, Lucy, and the other children.
No comments:
Post a Comment