Ambassador Tower to the Acting Secretary of State.

No. 714.]

Sir: Upon the receipt of Mr. Peirce’s telegram of the 1st of July, 1905, announcing the death of Mr. Hay, Secretary of State, on the 30th of June, I addressed a note to Baron von Richthofen, imperial secretary of state for foreign affairs, communicating to him this sad intelligence, and I now have the honor to inclose to you herewith a copy and [Page 14] a translation into English of a note which I have received from Baron von Richthofen in reply, in which he conveys the sympathy of the Imperial Government in the great loss which the Government of the United States has sustained through the death of so worthy a statesman as Mr. Hay and one possessed of such brilliant qualities.

I have, etc.,

Charlemagne Tower.
[Inclosure.—Translation.]

The Minister for Foreign Affairs to Ambassador Tower.

The undersigned has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the note, dated July 3, 1905, from His Excellency Mr. Charlemagne Tower, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the United States of America, which contained the confirmation of the sad news of the death, on the 30th of June, 1905, of Mr. John Hay, Secretary of State.

The undersigned cannot refrain from taking the opportunity to express to his excellency the ambassador the sincere sympathy of the Imperial Government in the great loss which the Government of the United States of America and the whole American people have sustained through the sudden death of so worthy a statesman and one possessed of such brilliant qualities.

The undersigned avails himself of this opportunity to renew, etc.

Richthofen.