Cloudy with showers. Mr Dayton came to see me at the time appointed, and we had a frank conversatino and interchange of opinion respecting the question of the Paris Declaration. We compared our respective instructions and the action taken upon them. He confessed a reluctance to the measure, and he saw less and less need of it since the action of the different Powers excluding the privateers. He at least desired the interpretation of Mr Marcy’s amendment. Neither did the French Minister’s answer preclude all hope of obtaining195 it. It merely declined to act until the other powers could be consulted. I told him what I had done, under the repeated injunctions I had received, and with the information give me by Lord John Russell that the Marcy proposition was not admissible. He admitted that I had no alternative; but as to himself he should desire position evidence of such action of the British government to base any action of his upon. In view of my experience of his Lordship, I admitted the justice of the condition. He said he would write me an answer to my letter as son as he got back, which he though would be tomorrow. I drove out with Henry in the carriage to Twickenham, it being the close of Brooks’s term of school at Mr Scalé’s. A pretty ride through the day was not very cheering. There were no exercises. About a dozen of the parents of the boys with some children of both sexes came on the same errand that I did. We were ushered into a room where much the arrangement was made that I saw at Harrow. There was a table covered with books, the prizes to be distributed for various kinds of proficiency. The parents were seated in the row fronting the table, and the boys filled the back benches. As Mr Scalé announced each prize, the recipient came forward to received it. Brooks got a prize for history which I should have thought to be the favor of the teacher, if he had not been in competition with one of the best proficients of his age in the school, who took prizes in several other branches. Mr Scalé spoke very well of Brooks in many respects, but commented on his backwardness against which I had nothing to say. Brooks is very intelligent, but his faculty of application has never been well developed. I hope that this systematic teaching may correct the difficulty. At half past four, we returned with Brooks and his things for the vacation. The rest of the day and evening spent quietly at home.