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Secretary of State Hay reports about ongoing treaty negotiations. Concessions have been offered which favor the United States. Hay requests Roosevelt’s reaction. Note: There is a slight error in this text. Sir Robert Bond and Sir Michael Henry Herbert were involved in the treaty negotiations (not Sir Herbert Bond).
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-11-26
Ambassador Herbert Wolcott Bowen is working with Hermann Speck von Sternburg to limit Germany’s monetary demands against Venezuela. Ambassador Bowen, who is ill with influenza, has requested a meeting with Secretary of State Hay.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-02-28
President Roosevelt disagrees with several statements Secretary of State John Hay wrote. While Hay was one of the most “delightful characters” Roosevelt had ever met, he found Hay lacking leadership qualities as a Secretary of State. Roosevelt provides Senator Lodge with his view of the Alaska Boundary dispute in 1903. He includes copies of the letters Roosevelt wrote to Judge Oliver Wendell Holmes and Henry White to show to British Secretary of State for the Colonies James Chamberlain and Prime Minister James Arthur Balfour. Roosevelt explains why certain appointments were made following the death of President William McKinley and details for why Hay was not consulted on matters concerning the Russo-Japanese War and the acquisition of Panama.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-28
President Roosevelt enjoyed his visit with Viscount James Bryce and reminisces about when Bryce stayed at the White House several years prior. Roosevelt believes the question of disarmament is “full of difficulties” and wants to avoid raising “high anticipation as will ensure disappointment” with the upcoming National Arbitration and Peace Congress. He wasn’t impressed with Jamaica Governor James Alexander Swettenham’s message and compares his dealings with him to that of Henry Wolcott Bowen, former Ambassador of Venezuela. Roosevelt is pleased that the Santo Domingo treaty was ratified by Congress and is overall satisfied with the number of other legislative measures he managed to pass.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-02-28
President Roosevelt hopes that Arthur Hamilton Lee is not worrying about the incident between Governor of Jamaica James Alexander Swettenham and Rear Admiral C. H. Davis in the aftermath of the Kingston Earthquake. Roosevelt assures Lee that he has dealt with worse characters than Swettenham, including several former American diplomats.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-02-12
President Roosevelt confides to Sir George Otto Trevelyan the contents of several letters and reports regarding the diplomatic aftermath of the earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica. Trouble has arisen after Governor of Jamaica James Alexander Swettenham asked Rear-Admiral C. H. Davis to remove the marines he had ordered to assist with the relief effort. Roosevelt compares Swettenham to American diplomates Herbert Wolcott Bowen, B. Storer, and Maria Longworth Storer who had caused him trouble in the past.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-02-04
President Roosevelt extends his sympathy upon the death of Lady Herbert’s husband, Michael Henry Herbert, the British Ambassador to the United States.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-09-30
The Associated Press has reported the death of British Ambassador Michael Henry Herbert. If this is true, Ambassador Choate should convey the condolences of President Roosevelt and Secretary of State John Hay to the proper quarters.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903
Lyle A. McGeoch examines the state of relations between the United States and Great Britain when Lord Lansdowne served as Britain’s foreign secretary from November 1900 to December 1905. He highlights the negotiations concerning the Hay-Pauncefote treaty, the settlement of a boundary dispute between Canada and the United States, and a crisis stemming from Venezuela’s debt to Great Britain and Germany. McGeogh also looks at how Lansdowne struggled with the appointment of an ambassador to the United States, his difficulty at times in dealing with the personal style of diplomacy employed by President Theodore Roosevelt, and Lansdowne’s recognition of growing American power in the first decade of the twentieth century.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
1979
Theodore Roosevelt discusses the duties of the United States within this hemisphere. He also justifies the building of the Panama Canal, as well as highlighting problems with the Republic of Venezuela.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-04-02
Henry White informs President Roosevelt of the Prime Minister’s positive impression of new Ambassador to the United States H. Mortimer Durand. White mentions interactions with Joseph Hodges Choate and Lord Lansdowne, who spoke of Durand’s appointment as Ambassador following former British Ambassador Michael Henry Herbert’s recent death. White congratulates Roosevelt on the Hay-Herrán Treaty, actions regarding the Alaska Boundary dispute, and for his written appeal for the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church Centennial declaration.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-11-17
Secretary of State Hay sends President Roosevelt a typed extract from a letter written by First Secretary of the London Embassy, Henry White. Hay also sends comments made by Joseph Hodges Choate regarding negotiations to reconcile the Alaskan border dispute between Canada, the United States, and Russia. Choate and White praise work done by United States Commissioners Henry Cabot Lodge, George Turner, and Elihu Root, and the conduct of Lord Alverstone.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-10-29
Leila Belle Wilson Herbert thanks President Roosevelt for his kind words and sympathy upon the death of her husband, British Ambassador to the United States, Michael Henry Herbert.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-10-03
Joseph Hodges Choate writes to President Roosevelt regarding the funeral of Michael Henry Herbert in England.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-09-07
John W. Foster discusses the date for the Alaskan Tribunal Boundary meeting and explains why the date suggested by Clifford Sifton will not work.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-08-04
Henry Cabot Lodge informs President Roosevelt that he has received a letter from Senator White about a delay of the sittings for the commission in London because Lord Alverstone might go shooting. Lodge wrote to try to convince him otherwise. Senator Herbert spoke with Mrs. Nannie Lodge about a possible delay in the Tribunal meeting, which will conflict with other scheduled work. Lodge thinks the friends of the administration should be on hand in force for the “Cuban business,” but feels that he and Root should act on the commission. Lodge wonders whether the delay of the Tribunal is to force “us to resign” and get others who are more amenable. Lodge encourages Roosevelt to write himself to Lord Lansdowne to set things straight.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-06-23
Secretary of State Hay encloses a copy of the memorandum to the German government and a report of a conversation with Ambassador Michael Henry Herbert on the same topic.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-03-05
John Hay thinks that Bowen is doing well in the negotiations and Michael Henry Herbert, the British Ambassador, is trying to find a favorable result.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-02-10
Thomas St. John Gaffney assures President Roosevelt that any unofficial suggestion regarding Colonel Arthur Lynch given to Sir Michael Henry Herbert will be conveyed to Lord Lansdowne.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1903-01-25
The reception for Sir Michael Henry Herbert, the new British ambassador, is scheduled for Monday.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-10-11