No. 164.
Mr. Evarts to Mr. Pierrepont .

No. 212.]

Sir: I am in receipt of a note, dated the 20th instant, from Her Britannic Majesty’s chargé d’affaires ad interim at this capital, informing me that he has been instructed by the Earl of Derby to invite the Government of the United States to take part in the international telegraphic conference which will meet in London on the 1st of July, 1878.

The last meeting of this administrative conference was held at St. Petersburg in 1875, and although the invitation to the United States to be represented on that occasion was at first declined, on the ground that the telegraphic lines in this country were managed by private individuals, and consequently not controlled by the government, it was finally determined, in view of the very earnest desire of the Russian Government that the United States should participate, to authorize Mr. Eugene Schuyler, chargé d’affaires ad interim at St. Petersburg, to be present at the conference, but not to commit this government to any policy which that body might adopt on the subject. There appears to be no reason for departing, in the present instance, from the attitude then assumed; and you are consequently authorized, in the same sense as was Mr. Schuyler on the former occasion, to be present at the conference for the purpose of observing its proceedings, but will be careful not to commit the United States to any declarations or line of policy.

I am, &c.,

WM. M. EVARTS.