Lord Sackville to Mr. Charles F. Murchison.
B.
Sir: I am in receipt of your letter of the 4th instant, and beg to say that I fully appreciate the difficulty in which you find yourself in casting your vote. You are probably aware that any political party which openly favored the mother country at the present moment would lose popularity, and that the party in power is fully aware of this fact. That party, however, is, I believe, still desirous of maintaining friendly relations with Great Britain, and is still as desirous of settling all questions with Canada which have been unfortunately re-opened since the rejection of the treaty by the Republican majority in the Senate and by the President’s message, to which you allude. Allowance must, therefore, be made for the political situation as regards the Presidential election thus created. It is, however, plainly impossible to predict the course which President Cleveland may pursue in the matter of retaliation should he be elected; but there is every reason to believe that, [Page 1669] while upholding the position he has taken, he will manifest a spirit of conciliation in dealing with the question involved in his message. I inclose an article from the New York Times, of August 22, and remain,
Yours, faithfully,