THE ENGLISH MISSION
I may as well put on record here a matter which I suppose
has never been made public. When in President Hayes's time
Mr. Welsh resigned the English Mission, Mr. Lowell, then in
Spain, was strongly recommended for the place. Mr. Evarts,
Secretary of State, was quite unwilling to have Mr. Lowell
appointed. I fancied that Mr. Evarts might have been influenced
somewhat by his reluctance to appoint a Harvard man. He was
an exceedingly pleasant-natured man, with no bitterness in
him. But he entered with a good deal of zeal into the not
unhealthy rivalry between the two famous Universities, Harvard
and Yale. Of course I did not like that notion. President
Hayes had an exceedingly friendly feeling for Harvard. He
had studied at the Harvard Law School, and later had the degree
of Doctor of Laws there. Mr. Lowell hesitated about accepting
the duty. I said to the President: "In the matter of the
English Mission, if Mr. Lowell declines, I have a suggestion
to make which Mr. Evarts, I am afraid, won't like very well.
But I wish to ask you to consider it, Evarts or no Evarts."
My relations with both of them made this familiar and half-
boyish style of dealing with so important a matter not unbecoming.
"I think President Eliot would be an excellent person for
such a service. It is understood that he is somewhat out
of health. I think if he should go to England for a year
or two, and take a vacation from his duties at the College,
it would reflect great credit on your Administration and on
the country, and he would return to his duties at Harvard
with renewed health and added reputation and capacity for
usefulness." Mr. Hayes did not quite commit himself. But
he expressed his very emphatic approval of the idea, and said
he guessed it might be brought to pass. But I had, at his
request, sent a cable to Mr. Lowell who was then in Spain,
urging him to take the place. He was then hesitating, but
finally, as is well known, consented.
I was on the friendliest terms with President Hayes. As I
have already said he was good enough to offer me the office
of Attorney-General, when the appointment of Devens to the
Circuit Court was under consideration.
I had already, before that time, received from Mr. Evarts,
Secretary of State, the offer of the English Mission, as I
have said in another place, when Mr. Welsh resigned.
I may as well state here, although it belongs to a later
time, that the offer was made to me again, by President McKinley.
I give the correspondence with President McKinley when he
made me that offer:
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D. C.
September 13, 1898.
HON. GEORGE F. HOAR (Confidential),
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.
It would give me much satisfaction to appoint you Ambassador
to London. Will it be agreeable to you?
WILLIAM MCKINLEY.
September 14, 1898.
TO THE PRESIDENT, WASHINGTON, D. C.
I am highly honored by your confidence, for which I am grateful.
But I believe I can better serve my country, and better support
your Administration by continuing to discharge the legislative
duties to which I have been accustomed for thirty years, than
by undertaking new responsibilities at my age, now past seventy-
two. If it were otherwise, I cannot afford to maintain the
scale of living which the social customs of London make almost
indispensable to an Ambassador, and I have no right to impose
upon my wife, in her present state of health, the burden which
would fall upon her. Be assured of my warm personal regard
and of my desire to stand by you in the difficult and trying
period which is before you.
GEO. F. HOAR