Proclamation 451—Announcing the Death of John Sherman

To the People of the United States:

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. Whetherin 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.

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.