Ambassador Griscom
to the Secretary of State.
American Embassy,
Petropolis, August 31,
1906.
No. 23.]Sir: I have the honor to give, for the records
of the department, the following short account of Mr. Root’s stay in Rio
de Janeiro and São Paulo from July 27 to August 7, 1905.
The United States cruiser Charleston, with Mr.
Root and his family on board, arrived at Rio de Janeiro at 7 o’clock on
the morning of July 27. Mr. Root’s party consisted of Mrs. Root; his
daughter, Miss Edith Root; his son, Mr. Edward Root; Mr. Doyle, his
private secretary; and Lieutenant Palmer, his aid-de-camp. On entering
the harbor the Charleston exchanged salutes with
the fortress at Santa Cruz and anchored between the Argentine cruiser
Buenos Aires and the German cruiser Bremen.
At 10 o’clock I went on board, accompanied by the staff of the embassy,
and was shortly afterwards followed by his excellency Dr. Joaquim
Nabuco, the Brazilian ambassador at Washington, and by the
representatives of the ministry for foreign affairs, Mr. Gomes Ferreira,
minister plenipotentiary, and Mr. Domicio da Gama, minister resident.
Mr. Root also received on board a committee of Brazilian students, one
of whose members welcomed him by a short speech in English. At 11
o’clock Mr. Root, accompanied by his family, his naval aid, by myself
and Mrs. Griscom, and by Dr. Joaquim Nabuco, were rowed ashore in the
old Portuguese galley Dom João VI, propelled by
64 oars. The picturesque galley was surrounded and followed ashore by
many craft crowded with students and other enthusiastic spectators.
On landing Mr. Root was met and cordially welcomed by Baron Rio Branco,
the Brazilian minister for foreign affairs, and by other distinguished
representatives of the Government. After another short speech by one of
the students and a reply by Mr. Root, the whole party entered carriages
and proceeded on a long drive through the city to the house which had
been placed at Mr. Root’s disposal during his stay in the city. This
procession, which lasted for two hours, was received in all quarters
with great cordiality and enthusiasm. On arrival at the Palace Abrantés,
Mr. Root’s temporary home, the enthusiasm was so great that Mr. Root was
obliged to make a short speech.
[Page 125]
At 3 o’clock in the afternoon I accompanied Mr. Root on his formal visit
to the President of the Republic. The conversation between the two was
most cordial and lasted for over twenty minutes.
In the evening Mr. Root gave a dinner to the principal members of the
Government and chief senators and deputies of both parties, and later in
the evening attended a brilliant reception in his honor in the
presidential palace.
On Saturday, July 28, Mr. Root held a reception in his house, to which
were invited the highest society of Rio de Janeiro, the principal
members of the Government, and the American colony. It was very
gratifying to see the Brazilians of all shades of opinion fraternizing
together to do honor to their distinguished guest.
In the evening a great banquet was held in Mr. Root’s honor by the
minister for foreign affairs in the foreign office, to which, besides
Mr. Root and the staff of this embassy, were invited the American
delegates to the Pan-American Congress and the chief political leaders
of the country.
On Sunday, July 29, Mr. Root and his party went up to Petropolis, where
he was lodged in the presidential summer palace. In the evening he gave
an informal dinner, at which I was present with the members of this
embassy.
On Monday, July 30, an informal luncheon was given to Mr. Root in the
summer home of the minister for foreign affairs, and in the evening I
entertained the members of the diplomatic corps at a dinner in his
honor, which was followed by a small reception.
On the afternoon of Tuesday, July 31, as the guest of the minister of
finance, Mr. Root and his party went down to Rio de Janeiro and in a
special steamer cruised about the bay. Tea was served on “Ilha Fiscal,”
or government custom-house, an island lying in the bay not far from the
city, after which he proceeded to the Palace Abrantés.
That evening a special meeting of the Pan-American Congress was held in
Mr. Root’s honor, where he made a memorable speech, which has doubtless
been reported to the department through other sources. Immediately after
the session closed he reviewed a torchlight procèssion composed of
thousands of students. The enthusiasm displayed that evening was
extraordinary and as the Secretary and his family were driving home the
students stopped his carriage and wished to unharness the horses and
pull the carriage themselves, but after much persuasion they
desisted.
On Wednesday, August 1, a military parade was held in his honor, in which
6,000 or 7,000 troops were reviewed by him. In the afternoon, as guest
of the minister for public works, Mr. Root went up Corcovado, a
celebrated mountain peak which towers over the city of Rio de Janeiro.
In the evening a gala performance took place at the theater.
On Thursday, August 2, Mr. Root visited the federal legislative chambers.
At the Senate he was seated at the right of the presiding officer, and
one of its members, Senator Ruy Barbosa, addressed him in Portuguese,
and Senator Alfred Ellis, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania,
addressed him in English. In the Chamber of Deputies he was welcomed by
the speaker, Mr. Guimares, and by a brilliant young deputy named James
Darcy, both of whom delivered eloquent addresses. Mr. Root made
appropriate speeches at both houses, and was
[Page 126]
the recipient of most gratifying ovations. Later
in the afternoon he attended the races, and in the evening was
entertained at dinner by the President, and later went to a grand ball
held in the ministry for foreign affairs.
On Friday, August 3, Mr. Eoot went over the celebrated Tijuca drive in an
automobile, and at 2 o’clock in the afternoon paid a farewell call on
the President, and shortly afterwards boarded the Charleston, where a reception to the leading government
officials and Rio society was held. In the evening the Charleston sailed on her way to Santos with Mr. Root, his
party, and myself on board.
On the morning of August 4 the Charleston arrived
off Santos. The party then landed, and was received by the secretary of
agriculture of the State of São Paulo. A special train was placed at Mr.
Root’s disposal and conveyed him to the state capital. About 3 o’clock
in the afternoon Mr. Root arrived in São Paulo, and was received with
great enthusiasm. A palace was set apart for Mr. Root and his family,
and during his stay in this city he received a most cordial welcome.
On the afternoon of the 4th a football game was held in his honor, and
the next day, Sunday, August 5, he visited the coffee plantation of
Saint Croix, a distance of about three hours by train from São Paulo. It
may be of interest to note that one of the stations of that railroad has
been named “Elihu Root.” Mr. Root returned to São Paulo late in the
evening.
The following day, Monday, August 6, was spent visiting different sights
of the city of São Paulo, and in the evening a dinner, followed by a
brilliant reception, was given in his honor by the President, Dr. Jorge
Tiberiçá.
On the morning of the 7th Mr. Root started on his return trip to Santos,
accompanied by the ministers of agriculture and finance of the State of
São Paulo, and several other distinguished Brazilians. On arrival at
Santos Mr. Root went on board and took leave of all who had accompanied
him. At 4.45 in the evening the Charleston left
for Montevideo.
I am now collecting the several speeches made by Mr. Root during his stay
in Brazil, and as soon as they are prepared I will transmit them to the
department.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1.]
speech of his excellency joaquim nabuco, ambassador
extraordinary and plenipotentiary from the united states of
brazil to the united states of america,
president of the conference.
[Translation from the
Portuguese.]
Sir: You do not come here to-night as a
stranger to take your place as an honorary president of this
conference. You were the first to express a desire that the
conference should meet this year; you it was who, in Washington,
brought to a happy conclusion the difficult elaboration of its
programme and of its rules. Neither can we forget that at one time
you even expected to be one of us, a plan you abandoned only to
divide your time among all the republics that claimed the honor of
your visit. The meeting of this conference is thus to a great extent
your own work. In nothing else since you came to your high post have
you taken a more direct and personal interest. You seem to divine in
the spirit that animates you with regard to our continent the mark
that your name will leave in history.
[Page 127]
I believe that you and the conference understand each other fully.
The periodical meeting of this body, exclusively composed of
American nations, assuredly means that America forms a political
system separate from that of Europe—a constellation with its own
distinct orbit.
By aiming, however, at a common civilization and by trying to make of
the space we occupy on the globe a vast neutral zone of peace, we
are working for the benefit of the whole world. In this way we offer
to the population, to the wealth, and to the genius of Europe a much
wider and safer field of action in our hemisphere than if we formed
a disunited continent, or if we belonged to the belligerent camps
into which the Old World may become divided. One point specially
will be of great interest for you, who so heartily desire the
success of this work. The conference is convinced that its mission
is not to force any nation belonging to it to do anything she would
not be freely prepared to do upon her own initiative; we all
recognize that its sole function is to impart our collective
sanction to what has already become unanimous in the opinion of the
whole continent.
This is the first time, sir, that an American Secretary of State
officially visits a foreign nation, and we all feel happy that that
first visit was to Latin America. You will find everywhere the same
admiration for your great country, whose influence in the advance of
moral culture, of political liberty, and of international law has
begun already to counterbalance that of the rest of the world.
Mingled with that admiration you will also find the sentiment that
you could not rise without raising with you our whole continent;
that in everything you achieve we shall have our share of
progress.
There are few rolls of honor so brilliant in history as that of men
who have occupied your high position. Among them any distinction on
the ground of their merits would be fated to be unjust; a few names,
however, that shine more vividly in history, such as those of
Jefferson, Monroe, Webster, Clay, Seward, and Blaine—the latter the
creator of these conferences—suffice to show abroad that the United
States have always been as proud of the perfection of the mold in
which their Secretaries of State have been cast and as zealous in
this respect as they have been in the case of their Presidents. We
fully appreciate the luster added to this conference by the part you
take in it to-night. It is with sincere gratification that we
welcome you. Here, you may be sure, you are surrounded by the
respect of our whole continent for your great nation; for President
Roosevelt, who has shown himself during his term of office, and will
ever remain, whatever position he may choose to occupy in public
life, one of the leaders of mankind; and for yourself, whose sound
sense of justice and whose sincere interest in the welfare of all
American nations reflect the noblest inspiration that animated the
greatest of your predecessors.
This voyage of yours demonstrates practically to the whole world your
good faith as a statesman and your broad sympathy as an American; it
shows the conscientiousness and the care with which you wish to
place before the President and the country the fundamental points of
your national external policy.
You are now exploring political seas never navigated before, lands
not yet revealed to the genius of your statesmen and toward which
they were attracted, as we are all attracted one to another, by an
irresistible continental gravitation. We feel certain, however, that
at the end of your long journey you will feel that, in their ideals
and in their hearts, the American Republics form already a great
political unit in the world.
[Inclosure 2.]
speech of elihu root, secretary of state of
the united states of america, honorary president of the
conference.
Mr. President, and Gentlemen of
the Third Conference of American Republics:
I beg you to believe that I highly appreciate and thank you for the
honor you do me.
I bring from my country a special greeting to her elder sisters in
the civilization of America.
Unlike as we are in many respects, we are alike in this, that we are
all engaged under new conditions, and free from the traditional
forms and limitations of the Old World in working out the same
problem of popular self-government.
It is a difficult and laborious task for each of us. Not in one
generation nor in one century can the effective control of a
superior sovereign, so long deemed
[Page 128]
necessary to government, be rejected and
effective self-control by tbe governed be perfected in its place.
The first fruits of democracy are many of them crude and unlovely;
its mistakes are many, its partial failures many, its sins not few.
Capacity for self-government does not come to man by nature. It is
an art to be learned, and it is also an expression of character to
be developed among all the thousands of men who exercise popular
sovereignty.
To reach the goal toward which we are pressing forward, the governing
multitude must first acquire knowledge that comes from universal
education, wisdom that follows practical experience, personal
independence and self-respect befitting men who acknowledge no
superior, self-control to replace that external control which a
democracy rejects, respect for law, obedience to the lawful
expressions of the public will, consideration for the opinions and
interests of others equally entitled to a voice in the state,
loyalty to that abstract conception—one’s country—as inspiring as
that loyalty to personal sovereigns which has so illumined the pages
of history, subordination of personal interests to the public good,
love of justice and mercy, of liberty and order. All these we must
seek by slow and patient effort; and of how many shortcomings in his
own land and among his own people each one of us is conscious.
Yet no student of our times can fail to see that not America alone
but the whole civilized world is swinging away from its old
governmental moorings and intrusting the fate of its civilization to
the capacity of the popular mass to govern. By this pathway mankind
is to travel, whithersoever it leads. Upon the success of this our
great undertaking the hope of humanity depends.
Nor can we fail to see that the world makes substantial progress
toward more perfect popular self-government.
I believe it to be true that, viewed against the background of
conditions a century, a generation, a decade ago, government in my
own country has advanced, in the intelligent participation of the
great mass of the people, in the fidelity and honesty with which
they are represented, in respect for law, in obedience to the
dictates of a sound morality, and in effectiveness and purity of
administration.
Nowhere in the world has this progress been more marked than in Latin
America. Out of the wrack of Indian fighting and race conflicts and
civil wars strong and stable governments have arisen. Peaceful
succession in accord with the people’s will has replaced the
forcible seizure of power permitted by the people’s indifference.
Loyalty to country, its peace, its dignity, its honor, has risen
above partisanship for individual leaders. The rule of law
supersedes the rule of man. Property is protected and the fruits of
enterprise are secure. Individual liberty is respected. Continuous
public policies are followed; national faith is held sacred.
Progress has not been equal everywhere, but there has been progress
everywhere. The movement in the right direction is general. The
right tendency is not exceptional; it is continental. The present
affords just cause for satisfaction; the future is bright with
hope.
It is not by national isolation that these results have been
accomplished, or that this progress can be continued. No nation can
live unto itself alone and continue to live. Each nation’s growth is
a part of the development of the race. There may be leaders and
there may be laggards, but no nation can long continue very far in
advance of the general progress of mankind, and no nation that is
not doomed to extinction can remain very far behind. It is with
nations as it is with individual men; intercourse, association,
correction of egotism by the influence of other’s judgment,
broadening of views by the experience and thought of equals,
acceptance of the moral standards of a community the desire for
whose good opinion lends a sanction to the rules of right
conduct—these are the conditions of growth in civilization. A people
whose minds are not open to the lessons of the world’s progress,
whose spirits are not stirred by the aspirations and the
achievements of humanity struggling the world over for liberty and
justice, must be left behind by civilization in its steady and
beneficent advance.
To promote this mutual interchange and assistance between the
American Republics, engaged in the same great task, inspired by the
same purpose, and professing the same principles, I understand to be
the function of the American conference now in session. There is not
one of all our countries that can not benefit the others; there is
not one that can not receive benefit from the others; there is not
one that will not gain by the prosperity, the peace, the happiness
of all.
[Page 129]
According to your programme no great and impressive single thing is
to be done by you; no political questions are to be discussed; no
controversies are to be settled; no judgment is to be passed upon
the conduct of any state, but many subjects are to be considered
which afford the possibility of removing barriers to intercourse; of
ascertaining for the common benefit what advances have been made by
each nation in knowledge, in experience, in enterprise, in the
solution of difficult questions of government, and in ethical
standards; of perfecting our knowledge of each other; and of doing
away with the misconceptions, the misunderstandings, and the
resultant prejudices that are such fruitful sources of
controversy.
And there are some subjects in the programme which invite discussion
that may lead the American Republics toward an agreement upon
principles the general practical application of which can come only
in the future through long and patient effort. Some advance at least
may be made here toward the complete rule of justice and peace among
nations in lieu of force and war.
The association of so many eminent men from all the Republics,
leaders of opinion in their own homes; the friendships that will
arise among you; the habit of temperate and kindly discussion of
matters of common interest; the ascertainment of common sympathies
and aims; the dissipation of misunderstandings; the exhibition to
all the American peoples of this peaceful and considerate method of
conferring upon international questions—this alone, quite
irrespective of the resolutions you may adopt and the conventions
you may sign, will mark a substantial advance in the direction of
international good understanding.
These beneficent results the Government and the people of the United
States of America greatly desire.
We wish for no victories but those of peace; for no territory except
our own; for no sovereignty except the sovereignty over ourselves.
We deem the independence and equal rights of the smallest and
weakest member of the family of nations entitled to as much respect
as those of the greatest empire, and we deem the observance of that
respect the chief guaranty of the weak against the oppression of the
strong. We neither claim nor desire any rights or privileges or
powers that we do not freely concede to every American Republic. We
wish to increase our prosperity, to expand our trade, to grow in
wealth, in wisdom, and in spirit, but our conception of the true way
to accomplish this is not to pull down others and profit by their
ruin, but to help all friends to a common prosperity and a common
growth, that we may all become greater and stronger together.
Within a few months, for the first time, the recognized possessors of
every foot of soil upon the American continents can be and I hope
will be represented with the acknowledged rights of equal sovereign
states in the great World Congress at The Hague. This will be the
world’s formal and final acceptance of the declaration that no part
of the American continents is to be deemed subject to colonization.
Let us pledge ourselves to aid each other in the full performance of
the duty to humanity which that accepted declaration implies; so
that in time the weakest and most unfortunate of our Republics may
come to march with equal step by the side of the stronger and more
fortunate. Let us help each other to show that for all the races of
men the liberty for which we have fought and labored is the twin
sister of justice and peace. Let us unite in creating and
maintaining and making effective an ail-American public opinion,
whose power shall influence international conduct and prevent
international wrong, and narrow the causes of war, and forever
preserve our free lands from the burden of such armaments as are
massed behind the frontiers of Europe, and bring us ever nearer to
the perfection of ordered liberty. So shall come security and
prosperity, production and trade, wealth, learning, the arts, and
happiness for us all.
Not in a single conference, nor by a single effort, can very much be
done. You labor more for the future than for the present; but if the
right impulse be given, if the right tendency be established, the
work you do here will go on among all the millions of people in the
American continents long after your final adjournment, long after
your lives, with incalculable benefit to all our beloved countries,
which may it please God to continue free and independent and happy
for ages to come.
[Page 130]
[Inclosure 3.]
speech of mr. mariano
cornejo, envoy extraordinary and minister
plenipotentiary from the republic of Perú to the kingdom of spain, former president of the chamber
of deputies, delegate from Perú.
[Translation from the
Spanish.]
[The President. There is before me a motion
presented by the Perúvian delegation. The motion was then read:
“The Perúvian delegation moves that the minutes of the grand session
of to-day, signed by all the delegates, be presented to the
Department of State at Washington as an expression of the great
pleasure with which the Pan-American Conference has received its
honorary president, the Hon. Elihu Root.]
Honorable Minister, Mr.
President, Honorable Delegates:
The delegation from Perú desires that there may remain a mark of this
solemn session, in which all America has saluted as a link of union
the eminent statesman who has honored us with his presence, and, in
his person, the great American who, for the elevation of his ideas
and for the nobleness of his sentiments, is the worthy chief of the
powerful Republic which serves as an example, as a stimulus, and a
center of gravitation for the political and social systems of
America.
Honorable Minister, your country sheds its heat and light over all
the peoples of the continent, which in their turn, advancing at
different rates of velocity, but in the same direction, along the
line of progress, form in the landscape of American history a
beautiful perspective of the future, reaching to a horizon where the
real and the ideal are mingled, and on whose blue field the great
nationality that fills all the present stands out in bold
relief.
These congresses, gentlemen, are the symbol of that solidarity which,
notwithstanding the ephemeral passions of men, constitutes, by the
invincible force of circumstances, the essence of our continental
system. They were conceived by the organizing genius of the
statesmen of Washington, in order that the American sentiment of
patriotism might be therein exalted, freeing it from that national
egotism which may be justified in the difficult moments of the forma
ton of states, but which would be to-day an impediment to the
development of the American idea, destined to demonstrate that just
as the democratic principle has been to combine liberty and order in
the constitution of states, it will likewise combine the
self-government of the nations and fraternity in the relations of
the peoples.
Honorable Minister, your visit has given impulse to this undertaking.
The ideas you have presented have not only defined the interests,
but have also stirred in the soul of America all her memories, all
her dreams, and all her ideals.
It is as if the centuries had awakened in their tombs to hail the
dawn of a hope that fills them with new vigor and light.
It is the wish of Perú that this hope may never be extinguished in
the heart of America, and that the illustrious delegates who will
sign these minutes may remember that they are entering into a solemn
engagement to strive for the cause of American solidarity.
[Inclosure 4.]
speech of dr. francisco
león de la barra, envoy extraordinary and
minister plenipotentiary from the united states of mexico to the
kingdom of belgium, delegate from
mexico.
[Translation from the
Spanish.]
Mr. President, Honorable
Ministers, and Honorable Delegates:
The delegation from Mexico has the honor of seconding the motion just
presented by the honorable delegate from Perú.
The visit of the Secretary of State of the United States has for us a
very special significance. The eminent coworker of the illustrious
President Roosevelt, as we have just heard in the beautiful address
we have enthusiastically applauded, brings us the good wishes of the
First Magistrate of his country for the success of the labors of
this conference; and they will bear fruit, because they are based on
mutual respect for the rights of States.
[Page 131]
With these considerations the delegation from Mexico, in accordance
with the proposal made by the delegates from Perú, respectfully asks
the conference to carry it by acclamation.a
[Inclosure 5.]
speech of hon. a. j. montague, former
governor of the state of virginia, delegate from the united
states of america.
Mr. President and Gentlemen of
the Conference:
If in disparagement of our modesty, yet in recognition of our
gratitude, the delegates from the United States have just requested
me to express our profound appreciation of the extraordinary
courtesy you have extended to our country in the person of her
distinguished and able Secretary of State, whose wise and exalted
address we have all heard with delight and satisfaction.
However, the honors you have paid him, and which come so graciously
from a polite and hospitable people, convey a deeper meaning, for in
them we must see a gratifying evidence of that American solidarity
which unites our Republics in the common development of popular
government, energized by liberty, illumined by intelligence,
steadied by order, and sustained by virtue. The liberty of law, and
the opportunity for duty, and the dignity of responsibility come to
us by the very genius of our institutions. Therefore, in recognition
of the fraternity which inspires the greatest tasks which have yet
fallen to the lot of so many peoples, working together for a common
end, we receive your compliment to our country, and for this purpose
I have thus detained you to hear this imperfect expression of our
thanks.
[Inclosure 6.]
speech of his excellency baron do rio branco,
minister for foreign affairs of the united states of brazil,
honorary president of the conference.
[Translation from the
Portuguese.]
Gentlemen:
I have risen merely to make a statement which I am sure will be
received with pleasure by this illustrious assembly.
His Excellency the President of the Republic, in remembrance of the
visit paid by His Excellency President Roosevelt to this building in
St. Louis, and in order to perpetuate the memory of the coming of
the distinguished Secretary Elihu Root to this country, has resolved
by a decree bearing to-day’s date to give to this edifice in which
the International Pan-American Conference is now in session the name
of Palacio Monroe.b
[Inclosure 7.]
speech of his excellency baron do rio branco, minister for
foreign affairs, at a banquet given by him to mr. root at rio de janeiro, july 28,
1906.
Mr. Secretary of
State:
The enthusiastic and cordial welcome you have received in Brazil must
certainly have convinced you that this country is a true friend of
your own.
This friendship is of long standing. It dates from the first days of
our independence, which the Government of the United States was the
first to recognize, as the Government of Brazil was the first to
applaud the terms and spirit of the declarations contained in the
famous message of President Monroe. Time has
[Page 132]
but increased, in the minds and hearts of
successive generations of Brazilians, the sympathy and admiration
which the founders of our nationality felt for the United States of
America.
The manifestations of friendship for the United States which you have
witnessed come from all the Brazilian people, and not from the
official world alone, and it is our earnest desire that this
friendship, which has never been disturbed in the past, may continue
forever and grow constantly closer and stronger.
Gentlemen, I drink to the health of the distinguished Secretary of
State of the United States of America, Mr. Elihu Root, who has so
brilliantly and effectively aided President Roosevelt in the great
work of the political approximation of the American nations.
[Inclosure 8.]
reply of mr. root.
Your Excellency:
I thank you again and still again for the generous hospitality which
is making my reception in Brazil so charming.
Coming here as head of the department of foreign affairs of my
country and seated at the table of the minister of foreign affairs
of the great Republic of Brazil, where I am your guest, I am
forcibly reminded of the change which, within the last few years,
has taken place in the diplomacy of the world, leading to a modern
diplomacy that consists of telling the truth, a result of the
government of the people by the people, which is in our days taking
the place of personal government by sovereigns. It is the people who
make peace or war; their desires, their sentiments, affections, and
prejudices are the great and important factors which diplomacy has
to consult, which diplomats have to interpret, and which they have
to obey. Modern diplomacy is frank, because modern democracies have
no secrets; they endeavor not only to know the truth, but also to
express it.
And in this way I have come here as your guest; not because the
fertile or ingenious mind of some ruler has deemed it judicious or
convenient, but because my visit naturally represents the friendship
which the eighty million inhabitants of the great Republic of the
North have for the twenty million people of Brazil; and it is a just
interpretation of that friendship. The depth of sentiment which in
me corresponds to your kind reception results from the knowledge I
have that the cordiality which I find here represents in reality the
friendship that Brazilians entertain for my dear country. Not in my
personal name or as representative of an isolated individual, but in
the name of all the people of my country and in the spirit of the
great declaration mentioned by you, Mr. Minister, the declaration
known by the name of Monroe, and which was the bulwark and safeguard
of Latin America from the dawn of its independence, I raise my
glass, certain that all present will unite with me in a toast to the
progress, prosperity, and happiness of the Brazilian Republic.
[Inclosure 9.]
speech of dr. james darcy.
[Translation from the
Portuguese.]
The same deep and profound emotion which I, as a Brazilian and an
American, feel in this hour is undoubtedly felt by all here on the
floor—representatives of the nation, and identical with the nation
itself. When the Chamber of Deputies sees the Secretary of State of
the United States of America in the gallery it can not go on with
its regular work for a minute longer even. So great and
extraordinary have been the demonstrations occasioned by the
presence in our country of the great envoy of the great Republic of
the United States that it is necessary that the Chamber, in this
hour unequaled in the whole life of the American Continent, manifest
without delay its feelings of sympathy with the work for the closer
approximation of the American nations.
In Scandinavia, the land of almost perpetual fogs and mists, there
died not long ago an extraordinary man. Ibsen, by some called
revolutionary, by others evolutionary, dreamed in all his works of a
new day of peace and concord for all mankind. This dream did not
exist in the poet’s brain alone, for it has
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imbedded itself in the mind and heart of a
great American politician—Elihu Root.
From the moment he set foot on Brazilian soil he has been received
with loud acclamations of joy, in which all Brazilians have joined.
The demonstration which the student body of Brazil made a short time
ago, which for enthusiasm and spontaneity of feeling has never been
equaled, manifested our feeling toward Mr. Root.
In his speech at the third conference of the American Republics, the
statesman, the philosopher, the sociologist, the great humanitarian
that Elihu Root is, opened up a new era for the countries of the
continent of such an order that the old standard of morality has
fallen to the ground in ruins. On the public buildings, on the
fortresses and masts of war vessels, waves the same flag—a white
flag, reminding the American people that a new epoch of fraternity
has risen for them.
Nothing has ever done so much for peace as this visit of Elihu Root
among us. It forms a spectacle that must mark an epoch in our
national life. The Chamber of Deputies, interpreting the unanimous
sentiment of the nation, from north to south, of old and young
alike, has suggested that I offer a motion, which is already
approved in advance, and make the request that Mr. Elihu Root be
invited to take a seat on the floor of the Chamber, as a mark of
homage in return for the honor he has done us in making a visit to
this House.
The memory of this visit will live forever in our hearts. He who
bestows all favors will undoubtedly reward those who have done so
much for American peace and fraternity by setting them up as models
for the whole world.
[Inclosure 10.]
reply of mr. root.
Mr. President and Members of
the Chamber of Deputies:
I thank you sincerely for the flattering expressions which, through
your able and happy spokesmen, you have made regarding myself. I
thank you still more deeply for the expressions of friendship for my
country. I beg you to permit me in my turn to make acknowledgment to
you, the representatives of the people of Brazil—acknowledgment
which I can make to the President of the Republic, which I can make
personally to your distinguished and most able secretary for foreign
affairs, but which I wish to make on this public occasion to the
people of Brazil. I wish to thank the Brazilian people for sending
to my country a man so able and so successful in interpreting his
people to us as my good friend Mr. Nabuco. I wish to thank the
people of Brazil—its legislators, its educated men of literature and
of science, its students in their generous and delightful
enthusiasm, and its laboring people in their simple and honest
appreciation—for the reception which they have given me,
overwhelming in its hospitality and friendship; for the courtesy,
the careful attention to every detail that could affect the comfort,
the convenience, and the pleasure of myself and my family; for the
abundant expressions of friendship which I have found in your
streets and in your homes; for the bountiful repasts; for the clouds
of beautiful flowers with which you have surrounded us; and, more
than all, for the deep sense of sincerity in your friendship which
has been carried to my heart. I wish to make this acknowledgment
directly to you, the direct and immediate representatives of the
people.
We, who in official life have our short day, are of little
consequence. You and I, Mr. President, Baron Rio Branco, the
President of the Republic himself—we are of little consequence. We
come and go. We can not alter the course of nations or the fate of
mankind; but the people, the great mass of humanity, are moving up
or down. They are marching on, keeping step with civilization and
human progress; or they are lapsing back toward barbarism and
darkness. The people to-day make peace and make war—not a sovereign,
not the whim of an individual, not the ambition of a single man; but
the sentiment, the friendship, the affection, the feelings of this
great throbbing mass of humanity, determine peace or war, progress
or retrogression. And coming to a self-governing people from a
self-governing people, I would interpret my fellow-citizens—the
great mass of plain people—to the great mass of the plain people of
Brazil. No longer the aristocratic selfishness, which gathers into a
few hands all the goods
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of
life, rules mankind. Under our free republics our conception of
human duty is to spread the goods of life as widely as possible; to
bring the humblest and the weakest up into a better, a brighter, a
happier existence; to lay deep the foundations of government, so
that government shall be built up from below, rather than brought
down from above. These are the conceptions in which we believe.
True, our languages are different; true, we draw from our parent
countries many different customs, different ways of acting and of
thinking; but, after all, the great, substantial underlying facts
are the same, humanity is the same. We live, we learn, we labor, and
we struggle up to a higher life the same—you of Brazil and we of the
United States of the north. In the great struggle of humanity our
interests are alike, and I hold out to you the hands of the American
people, asking your help and offering you ours in this great
struggle of humanity for a better, a nobler, and a happier life. You
will make mistakes in your council—that is the lot of humanity; no
government can be perfect—till the millennium comes; but year by
year and generation by generation substantial advance toward more
perfect government, more complete order, more exact justice, and
more lofty conceptions of human duty will be made.
God be with you in your struggle as He has been with us. May your
deliberations ever be ruled by patriotism, by unselfishness, by love
of country, and by wisdom for the blessing of your whole people, and
may universal prosperity and growth in wisdom and righteousness of
all the American Republics act and react throughout the continents
of America for all time to come.
