Upon receiving your excellency within the confines of our heroic and
glorious Cartagena, I present to you a cordial greeting of welcome, in
the name of Colombia, of his excellency the President of the Republic,
and in my own.
You return to your own country to enjoy merited honors and laurels after
a long tour, giving a hearty embrace of friendship to our sisters, the
republics of the South; and in breaking your journey upon our burning
shores we receive you as the herald of peace, of justice, and of concord
with which the great republic of the North greets the American
continent. I trust to God that these walls, the austere witnesses of our
glory, will serve as a monument whereby this visit may be noted in
history.
The honorable Minister Barrett, the worthy and estimable representative
of your excellency's Government, has just completed a journey through a
large part of our vast territory; he, better than any one, will be able
to tell your excellency what he has seen in our beautiful and fertile
valleys and mountains, in our flourishing cities and fields, and among
our five millions of lusty, high-minded, peace-loving, and hard-working
inhabitants, who today think only of peace and useful and honest toil.
This is the nation that greets you today and with loyalty and frankness
clasps the hand of her sister of the North.
Mr. Secretary, upon thanking you for the honor of this visit, I
fervently pray that a happy outcome may crown your efforts in the great
work of American fraternity, and I drink to the prosperity and greatness
of the United States, to its President, and especially to your
excellency.