Mr. Tocornal to Mr. Nelson.
Sir: I have had the honor to receive the note which your excellency was pleased to address to me yesterday, to signify to me the profound regret caused in the mind of your excellency, and in that of your fellow-citizens residing in Chili, for the terrible misfortune occurring in this city on Tuesday, the 8th instant, which has carried grief into the minds of many families, and has covered the entire community with mourning. Your excellency likewise informs me that the government and people represented by your excellency will feel the deepest sorrow upon receiving the news of this catastrophe; and your excellency concludes, expressing to me your trust that the Lord may grant consolation to the afflicted and unprotected, and cause us all, in view of the uncertainty of life, to be ever prepared to obey the decrees of Providence.
My government has learned the foregoing with lively gratitude, and has discovered in your excellency’s communication an alleviation to the grief with which it has been afflicted by this public calamity, as well as a new evidence of the fraternal sentiments which animate your excellency and your worthy fellow-citizens in favor of our republic. The generous and active efforts which your excellency and they displayed on Tuesday to save the interesting victims from the frightful fire had already won the gratitude of my government, which has been revived by the present manifestation.
In communicating the foregoing to your excellency, I comply with a special charge of his excellency the president of the republic to assure the honorable representative and the citizens of the United States who have taken part in our public mourning that the noble conduct observed by them upon this sad occasion will be ever gratefully remembered by the Chilian people and government.
Will your excellency be pleased to accept the sentiments of my most distinguished consideration and regard with which I am your excellency’s most obedient servant,