Latin America and the United States Part 12

RECEPTION AT THE MUNIc.i.p.aL COUNCIL

SPEECH OF DOCTOR FEDERICO ELGUERA

MAYOR OF LIMA

September 10, 1906

The citizens of Lima welcome you and are glad to have you amongst them.

You arrive at the capital of Peru, after visiting the leading cities in South America and receiving the greetings so justly due the great American nation and your own personal merits.

You are an amba.s.sador of peace, a messenger of good will, and the herald of doctrines which sustain America's autonomy and strengthen the faith in our future welfare.

The wake left by the vessel which has brought you hither serves as a symbol, indicating union, fraternity, and friendship between the northern and southern states of this continent.

You have been able to form a general opinion as to the present state of the political, economical, and social development of Latin America. You also know now what her resources are and to what conditions the growth and progress of this southern continent are due.

After visiting prosperous countries, whose peaceful labor on behalf of civilization has not been disturbed by the sorrows of war, you reach a land where once flourished the greatest empire which ever arose in America.

You have arrived at the ancient metropolis of Spanish America; you are now at the heart of a nation which attracted the world's attention in former days on account of its greatness and the treasures it possessed--a nation which fought the final battles for independence; and, more important than all, a country which, having been shaken and convulsed by dissension, has risen once more to a life of well-being through a supreme effort of will and a firm belief in its future.

The Peru you are visiting is not only the country of olden times, which tradition has made known for its fabulous wealth, but it is a modern country, versed in the principles of order, industry, and labor.

Nations which live exclusively on the wealth given them by nature make no effort to become greater, nor do they consider their future welfare, but perish, crushed by those whose envy and greed they excite.

On the other hand, those countries whose prosperity is based on the principles of justice, trade, and peace attain success and incite others to follow, contributing thus to the great work of universal civilization.

Unfortunately, this peace, based on those principles, must be sustained abroad, following the example of the Old World, by the acquisition of elements of warfare only useful for the destruction and ruin of men and progress, wasting the national vitality and prosperity, earned by dint of the labors of the citizens and the products of the resources that nature has given.

To change this system for another which will insure to our nations the tranquil possession of what lawfully belongs to them, allowing them to devote their efforts fearlessly to their own advancement, is the n.o.ble work to which the endeavors of the great nation which has risen up in the New World should be directed, just as the sun rises in the celestial dome to give light, heat, and life; to maintain the equilibrium and prevent the collision of lesser stars.

Such ideals of civilization and fraternity have always guided the conduct of Peru, whose influence and predominance in other times enabled her to watch over justice, to render a.s.sistance to the weak, to fight oppression, and to defend the rights of America.

For this reason we heartily sympathize with the doctrines you proclaim; for this reason we extend to you, with sincere regard, the hand of friendship; for this reason we feel satisfaction and pride when we behold the marvelous progress of your country.

When nations succeed in reaching the degree of prosperity at which yours has arrived they do not excite envy, but emulation; they do not inspire fear, but confidence.

Ere long the vigorous arm of your people will tear away the strip of land which still keeps us apart; and in the union of the two oceans surrounding our hemisphere may we hope that the spirits of Washington and Bolivar will watch the maintenance of peace and justice and follow the destinies of the republics they created.

Mr. Root, may the days you are about to spend amongst us be happy and agreeable, and may their memory ever accompany you, as ours will ever retain the grateful impression of your visit.

REPLY OF MR. ROOT

I beg you to believe that I appreciate most highly your kind welcome and the friendly terms with which you have greeted me. I did not feel as though I were coming among strangers when I entered Peru; I do not feel that I am treading on unknown soil when I set foot upon the streets of your famous and historic city. I think no city in the world, certainly no city in the western hemisphere, is better known in the United States of America then the city of Lima. Almost every schoolboy in the United States has read in the books of our own historians the story of the founding of this city. We all know the wonderful and romantic history of your four centuries of life; we all know the charms, the graces, and the lovable qualities of your people.

We know that you are the metropolis of a people who carry the art of agriculture to the highest degree of efficiency, a people frugal, industrious, and of domestic virtue. We have seen with gratification that you are becoming also the metropolis of a people capable of winning from your mountains the inexhaustible wealth they contain, the metropolis of a great mining people; and within the past few years we have rejoiced to see that you are also on the road to become the metropolis of a great manufacturing people.

We have read, too, the story of your struggles--first for independence, then for liberty, then for justice and order and peace; and with the memory of our own struggles for liberty and justice, with the experience of our own trials and difficulties, rejoicing in our own success and prosperity, Mr. Mayor, the feeling of sympathy and rejoicing in your success in overcoming the obstacles that have stood in your way, in your growth in capacity for self-government, in the continuing strength of all the principles of justice and of order and of peace, is universal in my country and among my people.

So I come to you not to make friends, but as a friend among friends. I thank you with all my heart, both for myself and for my people, for the kindness of your welcome and for what I know to be the sincerity of your friendship.

RECEPTION BY THE SENATE

SPEECH OF SENATOR BARRIOS

At an Extraordinary Session, September 13, 1906

The Senate of Peru, honored by your official visit, greets you as the representative of a great democratic people, whose juridical methods, founded on liberty and equality, are a model for all the American parliaments.

I regard your visit to our young republic as one of most important and lasting effect in the history of the continent. When these peoples have reached the power and development which the United States of America enjoys; when the citizens and the public authorities keep within the bounds imposed by the legitimate demands of liberty and justice and the requirements of order and progress; when all this is obtained by means of social well-being, of economic strength, and the political predominance which pa.s.ses beyond the native land--then the legitimate and n.o.ble influence exercised on the life of other peoples is based, not on narrow schemes of national egotism, but on the broad and humane qualities of civilization.

This your government has understood in sending a full representation to these republics, in harmony with the American idea of union and progress, which the ill.u.s.trious statesman who today presides over the glorious destinies of the American people--to the admiration and respect of all--expounds and accomplishes by his thoughtful work.

In the dawn of the twentieth century may be seen in this part of the world communities of peoples who, with a.n.a.logous inst.i.tutions, must fulfill in history a single and great destiny. This part which the future reserves for us cannot be other than an effective and true realization of democracy at home and of justice in international affairs.

Such is the direction in which Peru is developing her energies, after her past and now remote vicissitudes. Such is the ideal that animates her in pursuing her efforts for reconstruction, because a people without an aim in the struggle are unworthy of victory. "It is no more than a scratch on the ground", using the words of your ill.u.s.trious President.

As the princ.i.p.al co-worker for the exalted international policy of the present government of the United States, receive, Mr. Root, the a.s.surances of the highest consideration and sympathy of the Peruvian Senate.

REPLY OF MR. ROOT

I feel most keenly the great honor conferred upon me by this distinguished legislative body. I thank you for your courtesy personally; still more I thank you for the exhibition of friendship and sympathy for my country,--an exhibition which corresponds most perfectly to the spirit and purpose actuating my visit to Peru.

I do not think, sir, that any one long concerned in government can fail to come at last to a feeling of deep solicitude for the welfare of the people whom he serves. He must come to feel toward them somewhat as the lawyer does toward his clients, as the physician feels toward his patients, as the clergyman feels toward his parishioners--the advocate, the friend of the people whose interests are committed to his official action; and, as a member of the government of a friendly republic, I feel toward you that sympathy which comes from a common purpose, from engagement in the same task, from being actuated by the same motive. The work of the legislator is difficult and delicate. Governments cannot make wealth; governments cannot produce enterprise, industry, or prosperity; but wise government can give that security for property, for the fruits of enterprise, for personal liberty, for justice, which opens the door to enterprise, which stimulates industry and commercial activity, which brings capital and immigration to the sh.o.r.es of the country that is but scantily populated; and which makes it worth while for the greatest exertions of the human mind to be applied to the development of the resources of the country. How difficult is the task!

As the engineer controlling a great and complicated machine does not himself furnish the motive power or do the work, yet by a wrong turn of the lever may send the machine to ruin; so the legislative body cannot itself do the work that the people must do, yet by ill-advised, inconsiderate, and unwise legislation, it may produce incalculable misery and ruin. The wisdom that is necessary, the unselfishness that is necessary, the subordination of personal and selfish interests that is necessary, has always seemed to me to consecrate a legislative body seeking to do its duty by its country and make it worthy not only of respect but of reverence.

Mr. President and Senators, in your deliberations and your actions, so fraught with results of happiness or disaster for the people of your beloved country, we of the North, the people of a republic long bound to Peru by ties of real and sincere friendship, follow you with sympathy; with earnest, sincere desire that you may be guided by wisdom; that you may work in simplicity and sincerity of heart for the good of your people; and that your labors may be crowned by those blessings which G.o.d gives to those who serve His children faithfully and well.

INSTALLATION OF MR. ROOT AS A MEMBER OF THE FACULTY OF POLITICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN MARCOS, LIMA SEPTEMBER 14, 1906

SPEECH OF DOCTOR LUIS F. VILLARaN

RECTOR OF THE UNIVERSITY

The University of San Marcos of Lima heartily shares in the national rejoicing consequent on your visit to us, and greets you as the representative of the great republic which holds so many claims to the high esteem and consideration of the Spanish-American states of this continent.

Your country, indeed, furnished valuable cooperation to the Spanish colonies in the establishment of their independence. With the example of your own emanc.i.p.ation, forming one of the greatest events of history, the longing for liberty deepened in their b.r.e.a.s.t.s. It gave them courage in the struggle by frank declarations of friendship and sympathy; bestowed prestige on their cause by recognizing them as free states at a time when their emanc.i.p.ation was not entirely accomplished; and finally added strength to their victory by declaring before the whole world that the independence and integrity of these republics would be maintained at all costs.

You, the Americans of the North, were the founders and defenders of the international and political liberty of these states. Washington, whose greatness has alone been given worthy expression in the inspired words of Byron--Washington, "the first, the last, the best of men", and the glorious group of ill.u.s.trious citizens who aided him in his work, were the apostles of democracy and of the republic. The American Const.i.tution is an admirable structure, built on the immovable foundations of justice and the national will, which will never be overthrown by social or political upheavals.

Half a century ago, Laboulaye, the ill.u.s.trious professor of the College of France, said: