Mr. Da Costa to Mr. Blaine.
Received July 19.
Dear Mr. Secretary of State: I am very sorry to have to apprise your excellency that I just received an official cablegram couched on the following terms:
In the evening of the 15th to the 16th, after the imperial family left one of the theaters on their way home, a Portuguese shot at the carriage in which was the Emperor, who fortunately was not attained. The Portuguese was arrested.
I thought my duty to make your excellency acquainted with this painful case, that your excellency may inform the President about it.
The circumstance of being a foreigner, the person who perpetrated the terrible attempt, is a consolation for me in this most distressing event, as such a stain will not be attached to the Brazilian nation, which has an unlimited love and veneration for her glorious sovereign.
I have, etc.,