Mr. Loring to Mr.
Blaine.
Legation of
the United States,
Lisbon, October 21, 1889.
(Received November 4.)
No. 14.]
Sir: I most respectfully acknowledge the receipt of
a cablegram from the Department of State, dated 19th October, relating to
the death of the King of Portugal, in the following words:
Suitably express President’s sincere condolences upon His Majesty’s
lamented death.
This cablegram I communicated to the foreign office in a note dated 21st
instant, copy of which I transmit herewith.
I have also the honor to inclose copy and translation of a note, dated
October 19, from the minister of foreign affairs, informing me of the death
of His Majesty Dom Luiz I, and of the advent of Dom Carlos to the
throne.
I also inclose a printed copy of the proclamation of His Majesty Dom Carlos I
upon assuming the duties of his office, dated October 19, and a translation
thereof.
I transmit, also, the proclamation of the prime minister Luciano de Castro,
issued on the same occasion, with a translation thereof.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1 in No. 14.]
Mr. Loring to Mr.
Gomes.
Legation of the United States,
Lisbon, October 21,
1889.
Sir: The President of the United States has
learned with pain the death of Dom Luiz I, King of Portugal, and I am
instructed by cablegram from the Department of State, Washington, to
express the sincere condolence of the President on the lamented decease
of His Majesty. In giving expression to his own sympathy on this
occasion the President speaks also for the American people, who
appreciate the wisdom and dignity of the late King in his peaceful and
prosperous reign and the loss the Kingdom suffers in his death.
To the Queen also the President extends his warm sympathy in Her
Majesty’s severe affliction.
[Page 654]
I take this occasion to renew to your excellency my high consideration
and to express the earnest desire of the President for the prosperity of
the Kingdom under the reign which has just now commenced.
[Inclosure 2 in No.
14.—Translation.]
Mr. Gomes to Mr.
Loring.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Political
Direction,
Lisbon, October 19,
1889.
Oppressed with deep sorrow, I fulfill the sad and painful duty of
communicating to your excellency that to day, the 19th, at 11 o’clock
and 5 minutes in the morning, God was pleased to call to His holy glory
the King, Dom Luiz I, who succumbed after great and prolonged suffering
to the grave malady with which he was afflicted.
His most faithful Majesty the King Dom Carlos, in succession in
accordance with the terms of the constitutional charter, assumed the
Government, has been pleased to confirm the ministry which was found in
office, and resolved, in demonstration of his profound sentiment for the
irreparable loss of his greatly loved and esteemed father, the King
Senhor Dom Luiz, of most blessed memory, to seclude himself during the
space of eight days; determining, also, that general mourning shall be
assumed for a period of three months, half of that time deep
mourning.
His Majesty the King Dom Carlos will not delay conveying to the knowledge
of the Senhor President of the Republic this deplorable and sad
intelligence, in the conviction which he feels of the Senhor President’s
great interest in everything which concerns his royal family.
I avail, etc.,
[Inclosure 3 in No.
14.—Translation.]
Proclamation of Horn Carlos I.
Portuguese! God was pleased to put a premature end to the life of the
King Dom Luiz I, my esteemed and much loved father, after a reign of
twenty-eight years which will remain marked in the history of the
country as a period of peace, toleration, and liberty, of fruitful
changes in the fundamental and organic laws, and of the most ample moral
and material development.
In conformity with the political institutions of the monarchy I am called
to preside over the destinies of the kingdom and for the best
performance of the duties incumbent upon me I am sustained by the
tradition left to me by the late sovereign and the veneration with which
the Portuguese people regard his memory and partake with me and with the
royal family in the great grief which afflicts us all alike.
In the most faithful execution of our political institutions, in the
incessant effort to raise as far as in me lies the greatness and
prosperity of my country, I will exercise, as it becomes me, the most
conscientious diligence. In this way I will endeavor also to merit the
affection of the people, and thus imitate the monarch who so well knew
how to endear them to his person, and who was so early snatched from the
endearments of his family and the respect and love of the entire
nation.
Hastening then to fulfill a precept of the fundamental law of the
monarchy:
I swear to maintain the Roman Catholic apostolic religion, the integrity
of the kingdom, to observe, and cause to be observed the political
constitution of the Portuguese nation, and other laws of the kingdom,
and to provide for the general welfare of the nation as far as in me
lies; and I engage soon to ratify this oath before the General Cortes of
the Portuguese nation.
I declare also that it pleases me that the actual ministers and
secretaries of state continue in the exercise of their functions.
Palace,
October 19,
1889.
Dom Carlos I.
(Countersigned by the ministers of state.)
[Inclosure 4 in No.
14.—Translation.]
Prime Minister’s proclamation.
His Majesty the King, Senhor Dom Luiz I, having died this day at eleven
o’clock and five minutes in the morning, His Majesty the King, the
Senhor Dom Carlos I, resolves, in demonstration of bis great grief, to
seclude himself for the period of eight days.
[Page 655]
The same august senhor ordains as follows:
That there shall be observed general mourning for the period of three
months—deep mourning for the first half of that time, and light mourning
for the latter.
That for eight successive days, counting from to-day, all business shall
be suspended before the tribunals and public departments with the
exception of fiscal offices and all stations of public health.
That all theaters and public amusements shall be closed during these
eight days.
That the authorities shall order the observance of all demonstrations
customary on similar occasions.
That on the day of the interment of the deceased monarch, which shall be
solemnized as indicated in the programme, and which will be made known
in due season, all persons who assist at similar funeral solemnities
will present themselves either in their uniforms or in a dress of deep
mourning.
That all these orders be announced to the authorities and persons
interested, and to be put into force when printed in the “Diario do
Governo” without waiting for further orders, and that from this moment
all corporations and functionaries consider themselves as already having
received notice.
Palace,
October 19,
1889.
José Luciano de
Castro.
