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OFFICIAL VISIT
[CH. X.
CHAPTER X.
Interview with the President.—Members of Congress.—The Archbishop.—State of the Church.
The next morning, the 18th May, I called on Don Marcial Zebadua, who, I understood, was minister for foreign affairs: he has been nearly two years in this country, as minister from the republic. On calling upon him there, I found that he had shortly before resigned in favour of Don Jose de Sosa, to whom he introduced me. We, afterwards, all went together to the president. Whatever I might have anticipated in regard to the attention and favourable consideration of his Excellency, the manner in which he received me was far beyond my most sanguine expectations. My official character was not strictly defineable; I had no credentials; and, although a Commissioner of inquiry, I had not about