REPORT ON EXCHANGES. 61 



In accordance with instructions received in respect to the letter re- 

 ferred to, the first two boxes of documents were sent to Vienna, and are 

 now deposited in the Imperial Eoyal Library. Subsequent transmis- 

 sions, however, were refused by the imperial lej^ation at Washingtoti 

 as being too bulky. 



It is now desired by the Congress of the United States of America 

 to resume relations of exchanges with the Emi^ire of Austria, this 

 being the only Government required to complete the exchange serv- 

 ice with the United States of all the European monarchies, and in this 

 connection I beg to remark that the Smithsonian Institution, as the 

 authorized agent of the Government, has now ready for transmission, 

 (in addition to the boxes of documents already received into the Impe- 

 rial Eoyal Library), eighteen (18) boxes, each of about six cubic feet, 

 containing several thousand volumes, and to which about two boxes 

 will be added each year. This entire accumulation would, upon ac- 

 ceptance of the terms and conditions of the exchange on the part of 

 His Imperial Majesty's Government, be delivered at once and free of 

 cost to any agent the Imperial Government might be pleased to appoint 

 at any seaport of the United States, while the returns on the part of 

 His Imperial Majesty's Government should be placed, free of cost, in 

 the hands of Dr. Felix Fliigel, 49 Sidonieu Strasse, Leipsic, the agent 

 of the Smithsonian Institution for Europe. The boxes or parcels thus 

 sent should be marked, "To the Smithsonian Institution, for the Library 

 of Congress," and both these establishments be informed of the sending 

 by letter, together with a list of the documents sent. 



In obedience to instructions I have the honor to submit this proposal 

 of exchange to you, and to request your excellency to lay the same 

 before the proper authorities of His Imperial Majesty's Government 

 and to kindly advise me of any action taken or any results derived 

 from this application. 



From his excellency the Count SziJgyenyi, chief of section of Ministry of 

 Foreign Affairs, to Hon. John M. Francis^ ambassador^ Vienna, Octo- 

 ber 20, 1884. 



Sir : In conformity with the desire expressed in the esteemed note 

 of the 9th instant, F. O. No. 8, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has made 

 known to the respective imperial and royal central stations the mis- 

 sion of Mr. Boehmer, chief of Congressional Bureau of the United 

 States for International Exchange, who proposed making an agreement 

 whereby a regular exchange of official publications may be established 

 between the Governments of Austria-Hungary and the United States. 



The Imperial Koyal Ministry of the Interior has already expressed its 

 approval of such an agreement as far as its department is concerned, 

 and observes in this connection that it deems it most advisable to con- 

 line itself to the regidar communication of the reports of the sessions of 

 the Austrian Parliament and of the official paper known as the Legal 



