Mr. Bryan to Mr.
Hay.
Legation of the United States,
Lisbon, August 12,
1903.
No. 20.]
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 magnificence.
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.]
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.
[Page 697]
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.]
American officers fêted in Lisbon—Banquet given
by Portuguese minister in honor of Pear-Admiral Cotton and
staff—Some cordial eloquence—Speech by minister of marine
responded to by Mr. Bryan, the United States
minister.
[The New York Herald,
Paris, Tuesday, August 4,
1903.]
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 eSousa, commander in chief of the Portuguese
naval reserves; Dom Fernando de Serpa, commander of the royal yacht
Amelia; Duques de Palmella and de Louié,
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, [Page 698] 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 Rear-Admiral 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.
