2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE \ LTIOA I/. UUSEl 1/. ?ol.3». 



The resolution was approved by President Johnson onMay 16, 1866. 



It was also decided to send a special envoy on a national vessel to 

 carry the resolution to the Emperor. For this task the Hon. Gus- 

 tavus Vasa Fox, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, was selected. 

 The mission set out in the two-turret monitor Mmntonomoh, escort ed 

 by the side-wheel steamship Augusta, on June 5, 1866, and reached 

 Kronstadt, the port of St. Petersburg and chief naval station of 

 Russia, on August 6. It was the first ocean voyage made by a mon- 

 itor. On August 8, Mr. Fox was received by Alexander II, to whom 

 lie then presented the resolution of Congress. The American mis- 

 sion afterwards visited, by invitation, the cities of Moscow. Nizhni- 

 Novgorod, Kostroma, and Tver, being everywhere received by the 

 authorities, as well as by the populace, with great enthusiasm, 

 several cities conferring on Mr. Fox honorary citizenship. 



A number of valuable books, atlases, albums, maps, and city plans 

 which were presented to Mr. Fox while he was in Russia were given 

 by him soon after his return, through the Department of State, to 

 the library of the Smithsonian Institution. 6 That portion of the 

 gifts received by him in Russia which recently came to the United 

 States National Museum by bequest of Mrs. Virginia L. W. Fox, 

 through her executors, Miss Ellen C. de Q. Woodbury and Mr. (list 

 Blair, are briefly described in the following notes: 



1. Gold snuffbox. Oval in shape and exquisitely chased. In the 

 cenler of the lid is a miniature of the Emperor, Alexander II in full 

 military uniform, surrounded by twenty-six diamonds, while six 

 larger diamonds are set, three on each side, at equal distances from 

 the inner circle. The bottom of the case is ornamented with blue 

 enamel. It was the principal gift of the Emperor to Mr. Fox.' 

 Height, H inches; length, 4£ inches; width, 3;^ inches. (Cat. No. 

 L'.'.r.ic.s, U.S.N.M.) 



2. Description du sacre et du couronnement de leurs map stes impe- 

 rhiles Vempereur Alexander II et Vimperatrice Marie Alexandrovna, 



MDCCCLV1. (Description of the coronation of their majesties the 

 Emperor Alexander II and the Empress Marie Alexandrovna, isf)6.) 



a For an account of the voyage of the American mission to and in Russia see Narra- 

 tive df the Mission to Russia in 1866 of the Hon. Gustavus Vasa Fox, from the Journal 

 and Notes of J. F. Loubat, edited by John D. (hamplin, jr. (New York, is::; ; and 

 Russian accounl of tin- official mission to Russia of Hon. <!. V. Fox in L866, translated 

 by S. X . Buynitzky for the Department of State (Washington, L867). 



'' Compare J. F. Loubat, Narrative of the Mission to Russia in lsiili, etc . pp 120-421. 



«■ "Snuffboxes are given by sovereigns, in lieu of den .rat ions, to those who can not 

 receive t he latter. There are three grades: Plain gold boxes, boxes set with diamonds, 

 and those having both diamonds and the sovereign's miniature. The latter are given 

 only to persons of the highest distinction.'' J. F. Loubat, Narrative of the Mission to 

 Russia, p. 359. 



