George F. Hoar, 1897

A single letter with envelope dated 26 January 1897 from Massachusetts Congressman George F. Hoar to one of his constituents, Boston businessman S.S. Blanchard. The letter is typed, edited by hand, and signed by Hoar, and is a response to a request from Blanchard for him to “write something to be read to our Brethren at the Massachusetts Club concerning the Arbitration Treaty” between the United States and Great Britain, likely the failed Olney-Pauncefote Treaty argued before Congress that same year. Hoar’s position on the matter is clear: “An arbitration treaty,” he writes, “will be not only a good, but a glorious thing. It will doubtless be a great safeguard against war.” He reassures his potential audience that “it is to be remembered that this treaty is a treaty providing for the arbitration of matters sure to be arbitrated between the United States and Great Britain, even if there were no such treaty. There is but one territorial question possible now to arise. That is the question of the Alaskan boundary, and certainly neither nation is likely to go to war about that…” The date has been crossed out and replaced with “February 2” in shaky pencil quite different from the hand of the editor – as the postmark is for 27 January, this is possibly Blanchard recording the date of receipt.