COLUMBIAN HISTORICAL EXPOSITION AT MADRID. 15 



Medal 5 Silver Medal 5 Honorable Mention. The diplomas will be 

 accompanied by a medal commemorative of the Exposition, which will 

 be the same for each premium. 7 



Under the provisions of these articles there were seventy- seven 

 awards to the United States, the grand premium of honor naturally 

 going to the United States Government. 



A full list of the awards is hereunto annexed. 



Article 7, of the royal decree, designated the monastery of Santa 

 Maria de la Rabida, at Huelva, near Palos de Moguer, as the place of 

 the meeting of the Congress of Americanists; and by Article 17, of 

 the same instrument, the celebrations (las fiestas) were to begin at 

 Huelva on the 3d of August and be continued from time to time until 

 November 3. One of the most interesting, and the spectacle most 

 worthy to be remembered, of all these fiestas was the ceremony attend 

 ing the unveiling of the monument which had been erected near La 

 Rabida to commemorate the Fourth Centenary of the Discovery of 

 America. This ceremony took place on the llth of October. All the 

 delegates in chief, with but few exception s, attended these various 

 fiestas, by invitation of the Spanish Government. One of the excep 

 tions was that of the delegate-in-chief of the United States. The 

 reason of this exception was obvious. The majority of the delegates- 

 in-chief held diplomatic relations with the Spanish Government, either 

 as ministers plenipotentiary or as charges d affaires. It was in their 

 diplomatic character that they were expected to take part, and -did take 

 part in the various festivities. The delegate-in-chief of the United States 

 having no diplomatic character was not expected to take part, and did 

 not take part no official part at least in several of the most interesting 

 ceremonies. Thus it happened that on certain occasions he was placed, 

 in respect to his colleagues of the Exposition, in a situation the reverse 

 of enviable. In any future representation which this Government may 

 send to a country where the rules of etiquette are inflexible, it would 

 be well to insure that the United States delegates are placed upon a 

 footing of official equality with those of other countries. 



It only remains to tender the cordial acknowledgments of the Com 

 mission to each and every expositor, both public and private, who, by 

 their aid and sympathy, contributed to the success of the United States 

 exhibit at the Columbian Historical Exposition in Madrid. 

 Very respectfully submitted, 



S. B. LUCE, 

 Rear -Admiral, V . 8. Navy (Retired), Commissioner- General. 



Hon. W. Q. GRESHAM, 



Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. 



