The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-10-18
Mr.. Thomas Received by King
Oscar II.
raH ADDRESSES OF THE KING AND
MINISTER IN FULL.
Cordial Disposition of the King Towards
the Government and People Of the
United States.

The full text OF Mr.. Thomas speech to King
Oscar II is now published in the Swedish news
papers as we'll as the reply to His Majesty.
On the sixth OF September the Minister Of
the United States to Sweden and Norway was
waited on at the Legation of the United States
by the vice-master of ceremonies of the court,
and driven in one of the royal carriages in
great state to the palace. He was there pre-
sented to the chief marshal of the court and
conducted between files of soldiers, attend ants
and coartiers into the royal reception room
where he was warmly and graciously receiv ed
by King Oscar
His Majesty was clad in the uniform of a
general of the Swedish army and wore the star
and blue ribbon of the commander of the
Seraphim order, the highest order in Sweden,
and the star and tri-colored ribbon of the COM
mander of the order of ST. Olaf, the highest
order in Norway.
Mr.. Thomas addressed His Majesty in the
Swedish language. The following is an Eng
lish translation of his speech:
"Your Majesty 1T is my pie asant duty to
present to you my letters of credence as Minis
ter of the United States of America near
your government, and at the same time to ex-
friendship OF the President and people of the
United States for your Majesty aad the people
of The United Kingdoms-Sweden and Nor
way.
The great Republic on the other side the At
lantic is we'll aware that she owes an ancient
debt of gratitude to Scandinavia, whose gallant
sailors discovered our Continent five hundred
years before Columbus.
And there are greater obligations of later
date.
forgotten the spirit Of true humanity which
characterized the first Swedish colonization on
the banks of the Dslaware neither have they
forgotten that in the war for our independence
Sweden was the first land-after our ally.
France-that voluntarily recognized the new
born Republic.
Your Majesty: One hundred years ago this
very year the first treaty between Sweden and
the United States was ratified
The treaty is prefaced by pledge of peace
and friendship.
This pledge has been sacredly kept for
century, and it shall be my highest purpose
and endeavor, while fill the mission which
has been entrusted to me, to work in the true
spirit and meaning of this pledge, and draw
still more closely the bonds of friendship and
good will which unite us, and which have
never yet been broken.
l am impelled to this course also on personal
grounds. During former residence IN this
land, learned to honor and to love the two
peoples of the North, who are under your
Majesty's government and whose welfare, so
far as it is consistent with the best good of my
own country, shall be ever happy to pro-
mote"
The King then replied also in the Swedish
language. The following is an exact literal
translation of the reply of King Oscar II:
Mr.. Minister: 1 am happy to greet in you
the representative of great nation, which in
many departments of human activity has
achieved position of first rank.
am also happy to receive the greetings you
have brought from the President and people of
the United States.
That land, which takes to itself SO many of
the sons and daughters of the Scandinav ian
peninsula, and which is their second home,
has special claim upon our interest and re-
gard
1t is also my lively desire to- maintain and
draw more closely together the bonds of friend
ship, already a century old, between the Uni.
ted Kingdoms and the United States of Amer
ica; and / am confident that you, Mr.. Minister,
who come hither with love for the people of
Sweden and Norway founded on old acquaint-
ance will well and worthily fill your mission
among us.
Upon my cooperation to this end you may
ever. rely.
The Swedish newspapers, from which the
above addresses are taken are unanimous in
their commendation of Mr.. Thomas speech,
and make particular mention of the fact that
the Minister of the United States is the first
foreign ambassador to the Swedish Court
that has ever made his address to the Swed-
ish King in the language of Sweden.