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��THE GRANITE MONTHLY.
��HAMILTON FISH AND THE CITIZENS OF PORTSMOUTH, N. H.
��COMMUNICATED BY FRANK W. HACKETT, ESQ., OF PORTSMOUTH, N. H.
��The following correspondence has never before, I think, been made pub- lic. It deserves, however, to be put upon record ; and may not improperly be printed in this magazine, now that the two venerable citizens, who headed the numerous list of signers, have passed away. I refer to Messrs. Icha- bod Goodwin and William H. Y. Hack- ett.
The address speaks for itself. It may, however, be added, that a prime source of satisfaction to the citizens of Portsmouth was found in the conspic- uous ability with which Mr. Fish con- ducted the negotiations relative to the treaty of Washington, and especially those that so successfully disposed of the vexed question of "The Alabama Claims."
ADDRESS.
To the Hon. Hamilton Fish, Secre- tary of State, Washington, D. C. :
The undersigned citizens of Ports- mouth, New Hampshire, irrespective of party, can not allow you to termi- nate your connection with the Depart- ment of State without signifying to you our high appreciation of the able, dig- nified and effective manner in which, for so many years, and in the face of so many difficult and embarassing cir- cumstances, you have performed the duties of that department, in which you have maintained the peace, upheld
��the honor, and protected the rights of our country.
To that retirement which you are impatient to reach you will be followed by the respect and gratitude of your country.
March, 1877.
MR. FISH'S REPLY.
Washington, March 13, 1877. W. H Y. Hackett, Portsmouth, N. H.
My dear sir: — I avail myself of the first day of release from official duties to acknowledge your letter, and the very flattering address which it in- closed, signed by several business men of your city, irrespective of party.
I beg to return to you, and through you to them, my most grateful ac- knowledgement of their expression of approval of my conduct of the public affairs which was entrusted to me in the management, for the last eight years, of the Department of State. In the retirement, on which I am gladly entering, I shall cherish, among the most grateful rewards of a long and laborious public service, the assurance thus given me, that I have not, in the opinion of some good men, striven wholly in vain to render some service to my country.
With great respect, I am
Very Truly Yours, HAMILTON FISH.
��MOUNT LAFAYETTE.
��(SUMMER OP 1881.)
��FANNIE HUNTINGTON RUNNELS.
The mountains shake the goldlocks from their brow, Misty from dews of heaven, from earth-damps moist, And comb them by the shining bars of gold Escaping thro' successive-slanted boughs,
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