Mr. Marsh to Mr. Seward.
Sir : I have the honor to enclose herewith a translation of a note from the president of the council of state announcing the death of Prince Otho, the youngest son of his Majesty, which ought to have been transmitted to you at an earlier date.
The late prince was a young man of rare moral and intellectual adornments, of a cultivated taste, a highly respectable amount of acquired knowledge, and great amiability of character and generosity of disposition.
He has suffered through life from a congenital, or at least early developed malformation, and the last few weeks of his life, during which he was unable to lie down or even remain for a few moments in any posture of repose, were marked by a persistence and severity of physical pain rare in any case except those where the constitution has been destroyed by vicious indulgences and excesses to which the prince was happily a stranger.
The protracted sufferings of his life, as well as the sharper pains of his dying hours, were borne with extraordinary patience, fortitude, and resignation, and the grief of the royal family at his departure at so early an age and under such distressing circumstances has been sincerely shared by the Italian people.
I of course anticipated the expression of the sympathy of my own government, and have received the royal thanks through the president of the council for my note to that effect.
I am, sir, very respectfully, yours, &c.,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.