File No. 894.001 M98/27A.

The President to the Emperor.

Great and Good Friend: Desiring not only to give evidence of the high personal esteem and regard which I entertained for His late Majesty the Emperor Mutsuhito, your dearly beloved father, but to show as well the friendship borne by the Government and the people of the United States for Your Majesty and the Japanese nation, I have made choice of the Honorable Philander C. Knox, Secretary of State of the United States of America, with the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary, for the special purpose of representing the President and people of the United States at the ceremonies incident upon the funeral of His late Majesty.

My knowledge of his high character and ability gives me entire confidence that he will perform this duty of respect in a manner entirely agreeable to Your Majesty.

I therefore request Your Majesty to receive him favorably and to give full credence to the expression of sympathy of the Government of the United States of America with that of Japan in the ceremonies, which I have charged him to convey to Your Majesty with the assurance of the best wishes of this Government for the welfare of Your Majesty and the prosperity of Japan.

Mr. Knox will be assisted by Brigadier General John J. Pershing, U. S. A., and Rear Admiral Alfred Reynolds, U. S. N., representing the War and Navy Departments of the United States, respectively, and will be attended by Mr. Ransford S. Miller as his Secretary.


Your Good Friend,
Wm. H. Taft.