Let it be communicated to the Executive power in order that it may take the necessary steps for the compliance with it. Given in the Hall of Congress, while in session in Lima, on the 25th of October, 1903. TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC: Whereas the above law has not been opportunely promulgated by the Executive, in virtue of article 71 of the constitution, I order it to be printed, circulated, and communicated to the bureau of justice, worship, and instruction for the necessary steps to be taken for its observance. Hall of Congress, in Lima, on the 23d of November, 1903. NICANOR ALVAREZ CALDERÓN, VICTOR CASTRO IGLESIAS, Secretary of Congress. EMESTO L. RAEZ, Secretary of Congress. SIR: I have the honor to report as most satisfactory the result of the visit to this port of our European Squadron. * * The King, Queen, and the other members of the royal family of Portugal were exceedingly gracious to our officers, the sovereigns repeatedly expressing to me gratification at their visit. All the functions in their honor were attended by the entire ministry in a body. The banquet given by the Government was of unsurpassed magnifi cence. I have the honor to send herewith a copy of the speech made on that occasion by the minister for foreign affairs, as well as my answer, as given in the Paris edition of the New York Herald. I have great pleasure in reporting that every act of the commander in chief and of the officers of the fleet in furthering the end for which the visit was planned was such as to reflect credit upon themselves, the Navy, and our country. Rear-Admiral Cotton and staff, with Captains Knox, Walker, and Cornwell and Commander McCrea worked hard, assisted by all their officers, to make their errand the marked success it has proved in pleasing the Portuguese Government and people. By their dignified, yet cordial, bearing they have won many friends for our nation throughout all Portugal. I respectfully request that the Navy Department be informed of these satisfactory facts. I look with confidence to commercial benefits resulting as the practical issue of this increased friendly regard of the two peoples. I have, etc., [Inclosure 2.] CHARLES PAGE BRYAN. Speech of Portuguese minister for foreign affairs. GENTLEMEN: The United States of America are the most extraordinary creation of the spirit of liberty. Composed of men of intelligent action and energy, they have grappled with labor and conquered. From their soil and science, art and industry, they have wrested the colossal riches on which is founded the grand economy now the marvel of the world. In scarcely more than a century they have arisen to the dignity of a great nation, an energetic race, and an economical power of tremendous grandeur, which serenely and quietly assumes its proud position in the government of the world. The squadron of that powerful nation is now visiting us on a mission of peace and amity, bearing to His Majesty the King the salutations of friendship. We, likewise representing the ancient civilization of the world, salute the new star which so brilliantly shines upon international policy. Let it be the sign of peace and concord, light of civilization and of progress. From the closer blending of the older civilization of Europe with the civilization of America, so fraught with vitality and vigor, we hope for an increase of the treasures of the world and a better distribution of its wealth, and that the union of the energies of the world, old and new, in the same direction of civilization and peace may result in the lessening of social misery-the generous aspiration of the twentieth century. It was discovering the New World that sounded the death knell of feudalism and prepared the way of individual liberty. To-day the New World comes to us with tender of pacific understanding for the solution of social problems. May her entrance into the European concert, which is being converted into a better understanding of the whole world, become the beginning of an era of great prosperity and enterprise throughout all the peoples of the earth. Were it given to me to describe the people of North America I should say that they are distinguished by their faith and tenacity of purpose, from which they derive their enterprise and grandeur, as well as their inventive faculty and audacity, their joyousness in life, and their sentiment of fraternity and justice, tempering their intense impulses. And these characteristics of the American people, in their collective psychological attributes, are found embodied, are found incarnated, in the person of one man, in Roosevelt, the President of the North American Republic. The representative of a nationality, the incarnation of a people, we salute in President Roosevelt, the United States, the great North American people. [Inclosure 3.] [The New York Herald, Paris, Tuesday, August 4, 1903.] American officers fêted in Lisbon-Banquet given by Portuguese minister in honor of RearAdmiral Cotton and staff-Some cordial eloquence-Speech by minister of marine responded to by Mr. Bryan, the United States minister. LISBON, Thursday.-The banquet given on Tuesday by the ministry to Rear-Admiral Cotton and the other officers of the American squadron was a most brilliant affair. The banqueting hall, where active preparations for the entertainment had been in progress for upward of a fortnight, presented a strikingly handsome appearance, the walls being half hidden beneath historical naval and military trophies and escutcheons bearing the names of world-famous Portuguese navigators. At one end of the hall, which is over 350 feet in length, a jet of sparkling spray, radiating with all the colors of the prism, shot toward the ceiling from the center of a tiny lake, while myriads of fairy-like electric lights, half concealed among the branches of tropical plants, enhanced the effectiveness of the scene. At the head of the table, which was beautifully decorated, was Counselor Gorjao, the minister of marine, with Rear-Admiral Cotton on his right and Conde de Paco Vieira, the minister for public works, on his left. Mr. Charles Page Bryan, the United States minister, sat opposite, between Counselor Wenceslau de Lima, the minister of foreign affairs, and Counselor Pimentel Pinto, the minister of war. Were I to give the names of the 200 distinguished guests who were present I am afraid I would take up more than my alloted share of the columns of the Herald. They included, however, Senhor Luiz Bivar, the president of the House of Peers; Dr. T. de Azevedo, the president of the House of Deputies; Vice-Admiral Conde de Paco d'Arcos, Conde de Sabugosa, lord high chamberlain to the King; Rear-Admiral Moraes e Sousa, commander in chief of the Portuguese naval reserves; Dom Fernando de Serpa, commander of the royal yacht Amelia, Duques de Palmella and de Loulé, and Visconde d'Alte, Portugese minister at Washington. Among the American officers who were present were Rear-Admiral Cotton, Capt. H. Knox, of the Brooklyn; Commander Cornwell, of the Chicago; Captain Walker, of the San Francisco; Commander H. McCrea, of the Machias; Lieutenant Hussey, Lieutenant-Commanders H. Bailey, J. H. Sears, H. Hodges, Griffin, R. Mulligan, A. N. Wood, J. Carter; Lieuts. C. M. Knepper, W. McGrann, H. Brumby, S. Wood, E. Moale, jr., G. W. Kline, G. Tarbox, J. M. Reeves, G. B. Bradshaw; Ensigns, A. E. Watson, E. L. Arnold, C. Hutchins, H. C. Cocke, G. W. Steele, jr., W. S. Miller, W. M. Hunt, S. W. Bryant; Midshipmen Fretz, Anderson, McNair, W. Pryor, Murdoch, A. Staton, Campbell, Norris, M. Simons, H. Coop; Capts. J. T. Myers and G. C. Thorpe, and Lieut. W. G. Powell, of the United States Marine Corps. Toward the close of the banquet Counselor Gorjao arose and, in an eloquent speech full of flattering allusions to the American nation, proposed the health of the President of the United States. A part of Mr. Bryan's response was as follows: "For the peacemaker throughout the world such reunions as this are the consummation of his brightest hopes. In such havens of good will as here exist there is happily found anchorage for friendship, the quest of nations as well as of individuals. The modern diplomatist finds no truer ally than the patriot sailor. Portugal has ever been a lover and a master of the sea. Portuguese navigators have left indelible inscriptions on the maps of the world and been recognized as beneficent conquerors. The civilization introduced and fostered by your valiant ancestors has been confined to no one continent, and has proved to be the gentle expression of noble aspirations. Whoever has availed himself of the open latch to contemplate your family life, whether at home or in your colonies, has been gratified with the conviction that there is none sweeter, none purer on this planet. On such a foundation of solid good a nation rises to a plane alike pleasing to God and beneficent to man. "My seafaring countrymen have come not only to pay respect to your sovereign in grateful recognition of civilities extended to our Navy, but also to offer the sympathy of the true-hearted to the true-hearted. Fresh from generous international courtesies at the north, they are happy to thus bask in the sunshine of southern hospitality. Already the lovers of peace in both continents are rejoicing in the better understanding that admirals and the captains of battle ships are effectively cementing. No one who has dwelt among Portuguese can fail to profit by the lessons they are unconsciously teaching. Even in the midst of America's brilliant, stirring civilization, to which your excellency has so graciously referred, we will look back with unfeigned satisfaction to the contentment of a whole people we have witnessed here. "We will vividly remember the manly figure of a knightly sovereign passing to and fro among his loving subjects, unguarded and without need of guard, an exemption from danger that is a striking tribute to the character of the ruler and the people alike-happy civilization, happy country, favored with nature's lavished blessings, and with conditions where people and authority are in such accord. To the ruler who knows so to govern, surrounded by cabinet counselors of like administrative ability, I ask you, my countrymen and friends, to join me in pledging health to him and his most gracious consort, the Queen, the revered queen-mother, and the princess, with whom his house is blessed. "It means you, too, generous Portuguese, whether in this lovely land or in the great colonies, which we hope will become still greater. We bring you all a message of most cordial greetings from our brilliant young President and from all our countrymen, and we toast Portugal forever in that embodiment of what is truly and nobly Portuguese, His Majesty King Carlos." Other toasts, followed, including one from Counselor Wenceslau de Lima to RearAdmiral Cotton, which the latter acknowledged in a short speech replete with humor. As the evening wore on all traces of restraint vanished and the utmost cordiality marked the proceedings throughout. Finally, a proof of the unlimited popularity of the American minister was to be found in the fervor with which hosts and guests alike attacked the time-honored refrain, For He's a Jolly Good Fellow, which brought the banquet to a close. King Carlos is to visit the Brooklyn to-morrow, while Mr. Bryan has issued invitations for a garden party, to take place on Wednesday, at his country residence in Cintra. ROUMANIA. RECEPTION OF THE UNITED STATES MINISTER TO ROUMANIA. Mr. Jackson to Mr. Hay. [Confidential.] No. 2, Roumanian series.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, Athens, February 9, 1903. SIR: I have the honor to report that soon after my arrival in Athens I addressed a note to the Roumanian minister of foreign affairs, informing him of my appointment and stating that I intended to visit Bucharest at the earliest practicable opportunity and to seek an audience with His Majesty the King of Roumania in order to present to him the President's letter of credence, the office copy of which I duly inclosed. Yesterday I received a call from the Roumanian minister here, who told me that he had been instructed to inform me of the due receipt of my note, and to say that although that note was the first communication received at Bucharest which contained official information of my appointment, and although the King's "agrément" thereto had not been requested-His Majesty was ready to waive the customary formalities and to receive me, in view of my personality and of the report made about me by the Roumanian minister at Berlin. I replied that, so far as I was aware, it was not the practice of the United States Government to ask for the usual "agrément" in the case of its ministers; that the records failed to show that any request had been made in the case of my several predecessors, and that the American practice was understood and generally reciprocated by those countries which had ministers accredited to the United States residing in Washington. Mr. Ghica, the minister here, said that Mr. Bratiano, the minister of foreign affairs, was probably not acquainted with what I had just told him, and that he would communicate with him at once, but that in my case, in any event, no difficulty would be made. Mr. Ghica then went on to talk about the general relations between the United States and Roumania. He said that the King was especially desirous to have Americans know his, country better and that His Majesty hoped to see more of the American ministers in the future than has heretofore been the case. He referred to the feelings of the King and the Roumanian Government with regard to the American minister being instructed to reside at Athens. I explained that Greece was a maritime country, that American naval and merchant vessels visited Greek ports from time to time, and that Greece was the first of the Balkan States to which an American minister had been sent, and I called attention to the fact that Roumania had no representative, not even a consular officer, in the United States. |