noon
Of one sentence he said : `` That will never do -- lacks formality '' ; and of another : `` Tut , they will laugh at that -- it is provincial and insolent '' , distracted between the work and his brandy glass . At last , about eleven , the three brains had produced a letter . Hogarth laid claim to the sea as his private property , and warned the nations . A gentleman -- a Permanent Under-secretary -- stood one noon , his back to a fireplace in a bright-carpeted room at the Foreign Office , letting his eyes move over some opened letters submitted to him , and presently came upon the following document , its crest a flag , containing in blue the letters `` R. F. '' : `` 17 LEADENHALL STR. , E.G. `` To the Most Hon. , `` The Marquis of Hallam , K.G. , `` Foreign Office , `` Westminster , S.W. `` MY LORD MARQUIS : `` I have the honour hereby to make formal announcement to Your Lordship that I am on the point of setting up in the midst of the world a new Power , whose relations with the King 's Government will , I trust , be relations of friendliness . `` It is my desire that Your Lordship forthwith convey to the King 's Most Excellent Majesty the announcement which is the subject of this Memorandum . `` My purposes and policy in the establishment of the new Power will hereafter appear ; and my properly accredited Ministers will , in due course , present themselves at the Chancelleries of the world . `` Hitherto a British subject , it is my will to acquire diplomatic recognition -- as soon as such shall comport with the dignity of the Great Powers -- as an Independent Sovereign , under the title of : ` Lord of the Sea ' .