The correspondence reflects White's principal activity in these months, the preparations for leaving Ithaca and establishing a home in Berlin large enough for the social activities of an Ambassador. There are many congratulatory messages and invitations to dine and to speak. In response to political pressure White agreed to take the best qualified applicant for second secretary, George M. Fisk, for only two years, and to let Pullman's nephew have the place for the next two. There were reports from Batcheller and Holls about the failing memory of John Sherman. A letter from White's nephew Horace, a state senator from Onondaga County, expressed disenchantment with politics, ... instead of being surrounded by those anxious to improve conditions, the tendency is all the other way... White continued to receive comments from readers of his Warfare of Science, and he got a letter from Henry Algernon DuPont clarifying the role of his French ancestor referred to in White's Fiat Money in France. Wilder wrote on May 19 to protest that his recommendation of chloroform instead of hanging for the execution of criminals was not based on sentimentality but on moral and legal considerations.