like his father's, may be rendered more pleasant, and,
perhaps, more profitable, by his espousing those solemn tenets
which make the name of a Freemason honorable throughout the
world.

MAY 25, 1858.

_Replies by His Majesty to the Hon. D. L. Gregg, Commissioner of the
United States, and to the Hon. James W. Borden, his Successor, upon his
Presentation as the new Commissioner._

His Majesty, turning to Mr. Gregg, replied:

From the renewed assurances of sympathy and good will towards
this Kingdom which, on the part of the President of the United
States of America, you have just expressed, I cannot but
derive the liveliest gratification, reminding me as they do of
the long course of years during which the successive Heads of
your Government have offered, through their Representatives
here, similar professions of amity, without one interruption
having occurred to mar the retrospect. I should be sorry were
the President, or you, to suppose for one instant that I
regard these professions merely as a civil form of words
called for by the occasion.

The Government of the United States has never flattered me or
my Predecessors with expectations of more than it intended to
perform; the action has always followed true to the word, and
we know by experience the value of such assurances as those to
which I have just listened with so much satisfaction.

It is, indeed, a fact worthy of notice and of remembrance,
that the relations existing between the two countries were
never more happy, or more calculated to inspire the smaller
nation with a sense of independence and an appreciation of the
fact that its future is in its own hands, than at this very
moment, when, after having faithfully watched the interests
intrusted to your care for more than four years, you are
resigning that honorable duty into other hands. You have shown
that strength of purpose may be united with courtesy of
manner, and have justified your appointment by proving that
their rights are best guarded, whose representative, being
honest in his own intentions, does not without cause doubt the
faith of the Government to which he is accredited.

Although I am afraid you over-estimate the actual value of the
marks of courtesy and atte