No. 13.
The President to
the Emperor of Austria.
Great and Good Friend: I have been much flattered by receiving, through Count Hoyos, your Majesty’s estimable minister to this Government, the kind letter of the 19th of last month, which your Majesty was pleased to address to me, offering congratulations in anticipation of the then approaching hundredth anniversary of the independence of the United States. It is peculiarly gratifying to be informed that the sovereign of one of the most ancient, renowned, and powerful nations of the Eastern Hemisphere recognizes the progress in well-doing which, in that interval, has been accomplished by this Western Republic, and infers that a continuous advance in the same direction may be expected from it.
The good wishes which your Majesty expresses for this country are heartily reciprocated, and I trust that during the residue of your Majesty’s reign the progress of the countries which are subject to your dominion also may be as signal as it has hitherto been in all that contributes to the happiness and prosperity of a people.
And so I pray the Almighty to have your Majesty in His safe and holy keeping.