The Ecuadorean Minister to the Secretary of State.
Washington, D. C., May 25, 1906.
Mr. Secretary: Agreeably to the gratifying conference I had yesterday with your excellency, I take pleasure in confirming, in writing, the invitation extended to your excellency by the Government and people of Ecuador, kindly to honor the Republic with your visit after the Rio de Janeiro conference.
[Page 625]My country desires that your excellency, as Minister of Foreign Relations of the United States, be given opportunity of satisfying yourself, by personal observation, of the good will and sympathy of Ecuador toward the American Government and people.
The commercial relations between our two countries have been enlarged so much of late that your excellency will be able to estimate the grand future that is in store for the commerce between the two Republics when the much desired opening of the Panama Canal shall have become a fact and enhanced the luster of your excellency’s country.
Better acquaintance begets higher esteem among the nations; thus will your excellency’s visit to the Republics of the South be beneficial in every respect, since it will open the way to relations of perfect harmony among the States of this continent.
Your excellency was good enough to tell me that the time of which you could dispose for your long voyage was very limited, but you gladly accepted the invitation to go to Guayaquil, in any event, and hoped to proceed to Quito, if circumstances permitted, and gratify the wish of the undersigned that your excellency be enabled to form an accurate idea of the immense resources of the country, in both the coast and Andes regions.
The legations of Ecuador accredited to Brazil, Chile, and Peru shall be instructed by my Government to confer with your excellency touching the particulars of your voyage so that our chancellery may be advised of the date of your excellency’s arrival in the Gulf of Guayaquil, As the war ship that is to carry your excellency is a 10,000-ton vessel, an Ecuadorean cruiser will meet your excellency at the island of Puna and convey you to the city. The other details can easily be arranged at interviews I shall have hereafter with the Department of State.
I will not close this note without thanking your excellency, in the name of my Government and my own, for accepting the invitation I have the honor to tender to you with the assurance that your excellency’s high position, and the gifts of distinguished statesmanship with which you are graced, will contribute to draw close the bonds that unite Ecuador and the United States of America.
Hoping that your visit to my country will be enjoyable, I have the pleasure of expressing to your excellency the sentiments of high consideration of
Your obedient and true servant,