Speech of Dr. Márquez Bustillos, Governor of the Federal District, at the Municipal Council, Independence Hall, Caracas, March 23, 1912, in welcoming Mr. Knox.
Excellency: The municipality and the people of Caracas, in the name of whom I, as Governor of the Federal District, have the honor to address you, feel great and singular pleasure in welcoming you to this spot, a place of cherished remembrances in the struggles which form our political history. In you we greet the illustrious statesman who brings us as a pledge of friendship words from the country of the immortal Washington, he who was, and with justice is called, “the first in peace, the first in war, the first in the hearts of his countrymen.”
While thanking your excellency for the honor you confer upon us by your visit to the Government and to the municipality of the Federal District, we pray for your personal happiness and for that of all the persons of your distinguished party, and hope that the impressions which you take away upon parting may be pleasant and lasting.