REPORT OF MR. ADAMS.
7
back to Vienna until the 7th of May. Mr. Hill and myself sailed from America on the 13th of April. Shortly after landing in Europe, I heard in Paris of the unfortunate difficulties which had arisen in the American department of the Exposition, and of the suspension of the United States commissioners by the authorities at Washington. Thereupon I at once went to Vienna, where I arrived on the evening of the 1st of May, the day upon which the formal inaugurating ceremonies had taken place. I immediately put my own services, and those of the other gentlemen composing the state commission, at the disposal of the American Minister and of those temporarily in charge of the American department, and, the occasion seeming to be one of a somewhat pressing nature, applied myself to the work of obtaining information as to the whereabouts of my colleagues. Certainly no circumstances could well have arisen in which a well organized and self-possessed state commission might have proved of greater service, or have more fully justified its formation, than were then presented. The condition of affairs in the American department was disgraceful, ludicrous and mortifying. The confusion was apparently complete. The work to be done was neither large nor difficult,—hardly equalling, indeed, the arrangements in this country of any ordinary Institute display or considerable County fair. Had any state commission been upon the spot, organized in advance, understanding itself and knowing both what ought to be done and how to do it, the conduct of the matter must inevitably and naturally have fallen into its hands. The difficulty would then at once have disappeared. Unfortunately, so far as the bringing about results was concerned, the Massachusetts commission was in a less effective state, if such a thing were possible, even than that of the United States. Just appointed and wholly unorganized, its members scattered over Europe and in no communication with each other, it illustrated with singular happiness the ordinary result of tardy public action. When, therefore, Mr. Jay and the gentlemen temporarily in charge expressed the utmost gratification at the prospect of having some organized body to relieve them from the embarrassing position in which they found themselves, it at once became evident that the Massachusetts commission was in no condi-