No. 561.
Mr. Cushing to Mr. Fish.

No. 21.]

Sir: I have the honor to report that my official presentation to the President of the executive power of the Spanish republic took place on Saturday the 30th ultimo, according to the usual forms practiced in Spain.

At the appointed hour there came to the legation two state coaches, drawn by four horses each, attended by outriders, in one of which was the chief clerk of the ministry of state, Señor Millan y Caro, discharging the duties of introducer of embassadors, to accompany me to the presidency; and, in the other, an adjutant of the Duque de la Torre, the Conde de Paredes de Nava, to accompany Mr. Adee.

On entering the presidency, as well as on leaving the same after the act of presentation, there were salutes from a company of artillery drawn up in front of the presidency.

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We were met at the foot of the staircase by two adjutants of the Duque de la Torre, Señores Carvajal and Sartou, who accompanied us to the hall of receptions, where awaited us the President, in the uniform of a captain-general of the army, having the minister of state on his left hand, and surrounded by his adjutants and by the Señores Nuñz de Arce, Boada, and Fernandez Miró, secretary general and officials of the presidency.

I then addressed the President in the following words:

Sir: I am instructed by the President of the United States of America to deliver to your excellency, the President of the executive power of the Spanish republic, letters accrediting me as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States to this republic.

I am further instructed to embrace the present occasion to say that the President of the United States earnestly desires to maintain unimpaired the relations of peace and amity between them and Spain, which commenced at the very epoch of the independence of the United States, and which, notwithstanding the many disturbing events of the century thus elapsed, have never ceased to prevail, thanks to the sentiments of reciprocal consideration which have at all times controlled the counsels of the respective governments.

On my part it is the dictate not more of duty than of pleasure to assure your excellency of my purpose, while sparing no effort in the proper assertion or defense of the interests of my country, at the same time to comport myself with the utmost personal deference and courtesy toward the national authorities and the people of Spain.

Permit me, in conclusion, to felicitate the republic over which you preside, and yourself personally, in view of the successes attained by the government in the promotion of domestic peace, and to express ardent hopes that, ere long, Spain, in the full possession of stable constitutional institutions, in the tranquil cultivation of her unrivaled territorial and maritime resources, and in the unembarrassed development of the high qualities of her national character, may re-occupy that proud historical position which pre-eminently belongs to her among the nations of Europe.

I now have the honor to place in the hands of your excellency the letters of credence intrusted to me for that object by the President of the United States.

The President replied to me as follows:

[Translation.]

Mr. Minister: While it is gratifying to me to receive these letters, by which the Government of the United States sanctions your merits and the confidence it reposes in you, still more satisfactory will be to all Spain the sentiments you express to us in the name of the President of that republic, and the recollections which, on delivering your credentials, you have so eloquently evoked.

Spain showed, in truth, a century ago, that neither her traditions in both glorious continents, nor the intimate signification of her history, could suffice to weaken her generous sympathy for your republic, even as they have not altered, in so long a course of time, the spontaneous consideration which our country faithfully observed toward all friendly governments.

This loyalty, of which our nation is proud, will animate the Spanish government in its efforts to preserve and draw closer in the future the good relations which happily unite us with the republic of the United States of America.

To aid such noble purposes and to insure their best result we shall have the concurrence, Mr. Minister, of your experienced knowledge, your distinguished endowments, and the very frankness with which you have expressed the convictions which are to be your guide in your important mission; and the executive power of the Spanish republic, solicitous like yourself to maintain the rights and interests of its country, deems this duty perfectly compatible with the mutual consideration and especial deference which two nations so long friends should observe toward each other.

I receive, Mr. Minister, with particular gratification and thank you with hearty earnestness for your congratulations upon the successes attained by our army in the direction of liberty and peace in Spain, and I too share your hope that, with God’s aid, the Spanish nation, freed within a brief time from the opposite and extreme tendencies which lately perturbed it, may tranquilly make use of all its resources and succeed both by its political institutions and its material progress in taking the rank it merits in the assemblage of civilized nations. In expressing confidently this aspiration of my soul, I cherish with the same sincerity and with no less earnestness the desire that your wide republic may continue to develop her manifold and incalculable riches, augmenting in every possible degree the remarkable prosperity it now enjoys, and attaining through the wisdom of its administrations the greatest good of all its citizens.

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Here the ceremony of presentation terminated. The President then advanced to shake hands, after which I presented Mr. Adee, who had not previously been presented to him, and he then invited me to be seated and to enter into conversation, which of course had no relation to public affairs, and therefore does not need to be repeated.

The minister of state, Mr. Ulloa, then advanced to participate in the conversation, at the conclusion of which he informed me that it would be unnecessary for me to make previous application for official interviews with him as to any ordinary business, seeing that he should be ready to receive me any and every day at 5 o’clock in the afternoon.

I then took leave of the President and Mr. Ulloa, and we returned to the legation in the same carriages and with the same ceremony as on going to the presidency.

I am, &c,

C. CUSHING.