In the fullness of years and honors, John Sherman, lately Secretary of State, has passed away.
Few among our citizens have risen to greater or more deserved eminence in the national councils than he. The story of his public life and services is as it were the history of the country for half a century. In the Congress of the United States he ranked among the foremost in the House, and later in the Senate. He was twice a member of the Executive Cabinet, first as Secretary of the Treasury, and afterwards as Secretary of State. Whether in debate during the dark hours of our civil war, or as the director of the country's finances during the period of rehabilitation, or as a trusted councilor in framing the nation's laws for over forty years, or as the exponent of its foreign policy, his course was ever marked by devotion to the best interests of his beloved land, and by able and conscientious effort to uphold its dignity and honor. His countrymen will long revere his memory and see in him a type of the patriotism, the uprightness and the zeal that go to molding and strengthening a nation.
In fitting expression of the sense of bereavement that afflicts the Republic, I direct that on the day of the funeral the Executive Offices of the United States display the national flag at half mast and that the Representatives of the United States in foreign countries shall pay in like manner appropriate tribute to the illustrious dead for a period of ten days.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, this 22d day of October, A.D. 1900, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and twenty-fifth.
WILLIAM McKINLEY.
By the President:
JOHN HAY,
Secretary of State.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
It has pleased Almighty God to bring our nation in safety and honor through another year. The works of religion and charity have everywhere been manifest. Our country through all its extent has been blessed with abundant harvests. Labor and the great industries of the people have prospered beyond all precedent. Our commerce has spread over the world. Our power and influence in the cause of freedom and enlightenment have extended over distant seas and lands. The lives of our official representatives and many of our people in China have been marvelously preserved. We have been generally exempt from pestilence and other great calamities; and even the tragic visitation which overwhelmed the city of Galveston made evident the sentiments of sympathy and Christian charity by virtue of which we are one united people.