Latin America and the United States Part 3

What we desire--what the Brazilian people desire--what we hope, is that in your case, the same prophecy may be made and the same prophecy may be realized in relation to the results we expect from the Pan American Conference, strengthening with indissoluble bonds of harmonious concord and a very lasting peace, American brotherhood; banishing from the lands of the New World all ambition of conquest and the b.l.o.o.d.y strife of fratricidal wars.

To the American people, our brothers, our friends, and our companions, the Brazilian nation, treading the same paths and controlled by the same great desire to attain its destinies in the history of the world, sends through you its most affectionate, its most fraternal, its most hearty salutation.

ADDRESSES IN THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES

SPEECH OF DOCTOR PAULA GUIMARES

August 2, 1906

The Chamber of Deputies feels itself honored by the presence of Mr.

Elihu Root, Secretary of State of the United States of America.

The distinguished member of the Government of our great sister republic, whose coming to this country is a mark of regard and esteem which is very flattering to us and which will never be forgotten, has already had opportunity to ascertain how deep and sincere are the sentiments of sympathy which the people of Brazil feel for the North American republic, in the extraordinary demonstrations of joy and grat.i.tude which have everywhere attended him, and which are an eloquent proof of the sincerity and cordiality of our traditional friendship and disinterested admiration.

The entrance of Brazil into the family of republics of the American Continent has resulted in closer ties of confraternity among the nations of the New World. As a result of the policy of approximation, happily adopted by the Government of Brazil, we have the meeting in this capital of the Pan American Congress, where the distinguished delegates of the sister republics have been given a warm and hearty welcome. From the White House, where President Roosevelt firmly maintains the traditions of great American names, there has come to us on a mission of peace an eminent and highly esteemed statesman, bringing us political ideas of a new mould and the frank diplomacy of modern democracies. In words of the highest significance, which are unsurpa.s.sed for precision and frankness, the far-seeing statesman has revealed to us the ideal of justice and peace to which humanity in the near future is to attain, because the rule of force "is losing ground," and "sentiment, feeling and affection are gathering more and more sway over the affairs of men."

The words of the distinguished American are familiar to the whole world, but here they are firmly engraved on our loyal hearts.

Differences disappear before the great historic fact at which it is our good fortune to be present at this moment, the beginning of a new era which is bound to bring great benefits to our country. The students, full of hope and enthusiasm, the orderly working people--all cla.s.ses of society, in short, unite with public officials in unanimity of approval.

Gentlemen, it is to confirm these sentiments which every Brazilian feels, to proclaim the national aspirations of harmony, conciliation, and union, that I arise to thank, in behalf of the Chamber of Deputies, the representatives of the popular will, Mr. Elihu Root, for his presence among us, and to greet in his person the great and glorious republic of the United States of North America, greater for the example it gives us of liberty, energy, and order than for its extraordinary material strength. Glory to the Stars and Stripes!

REPLY OF MR. ROOT

I beg you to believe in the depth of sensibility with which I have received the honor you do me, and the honor you do my country. The similarity of our inst.i.tutions is such that I come into the presence of this august body with full appreciation of its dignity and its significance. I feel that I am in the presence of the great lawmaking body to which is intrusted, by its representation of the separate states of Brazil, the preservation of local self-government throughout this vast empire; so that the people of each one of your twenty states, and each one of the many states to be erected hereafter, as your population increases, may govern itself in its local affairs without the oppression which inevitably results from the absolute rule of a central power, ignorant of the necessities and of the feelings of each locality; and so that also, consistently with that local self-government, the nationality of Brazil shall be preserved and the principle of national power, the dignity and power of the nation that protects all local self-governments in their liberty, shall never be decreased. I feel also that I am in the presence of the body from which must come, not only in the present but in the great future of Brazil, that conservative force which is so essential to regulate the action of a democracy. By your const.i.tution, by the necessities of your existence, it will be your function to prevent rash and ill-considered action, to see that all the expedients of government, all the theories that are suggested, are submitted to the test of practical experience and sound reason.

And so, with the deepest interest in the continued success of the Brazilian experiment in self-government, I am most deeply impressed with the honor you have done me. The encomiums which have been pa.s.sed here upon my country are such that to know of them must in itself be an incentive to deserve them. I hope that every word which has been spoken here about that dear republic from which I come, may go to the knowledge of every citizen of the United States of America, and may lead him to feel that it is his duty to see that this good opinion of our sister republic is justified.

Senator Ruy Barbosa has justly interpreted the meaning of my visit. I come not merely as the messenger of friendship; I come as that, but not merely as that. When democratic inst.i.tutions first found their place in the protests of the New World against a colonial government that bound us all hand and foot; when the plain people undertook to govern themselves without any Heaven-sent superior force to control them, how gloomy were the prognostications, how unfriendly were the wishes, how uncomplimentary were the expressions which, upon the other side of the Atlantic, greeted the new experiment--that we should have rule by the mob, that disorder and anarchy would ensue, that plain men were incapable and always would be incapable, of maintaining an orderly and peaceful government. Lo, how the scene has changed! The conception of man's capacity to govern himself, gaining year by year credit, belief, demonstration, in the new fields of virgin lands, north and south, has been carried back across the Atlantic until the old idea of a necessary sovereign is shaken to the base. No longer is it man's conception of government that it must be by a superior force, pressing down what is bad; but that the pressure shall be from beneath, with all the good impulses and capacities of human nature pressing upward what is good. I come here not only to hold out the right hand of friendship to you from my country, but also to a.s.sert in the most positive, the most salient way the solidarity of republican inst.i.tutions in the New World, the similarity of results, the mutual confidence that is felt by my country in yours, and by yours in mine; to a.s.sert before all the world that the great experiment of free self-government is a success north and south, the whole New World over. From the realization of this fact--this certain and indisputable fact--that republican inst.i.tutions are successful, will come that confidence which underlies wealth, the security of property that is the basis of our civilization, the certainty that the fruits of enterprise will be secure, which is the incentive to activity, the independence of the people from the hard stress of poverty--the independence that comes from ample means of support, and is a condition of growth and enjoyment in life. More than wealth, more than production, more than trade, more than any material prosperity, there will come with them learning, universal education, literature, arts, the charms and graces of life. I would think but little of my country if it had merely material wealth. I would think but little of my country if the conception of its people was that we were to live like the robber baron of the Middle Ages, who merely gathered into his castle for his own luxury the wealth that he had taken from the surrounding people.

A land of free inst.i.tutions, in which wealth and prosperity are made the basis upon which to build up the arts, graces, and virtues of life, and in which there is a n.o.ble and generous sympathy with every one laboring in the same cause--that, indeed, is a country of which one may be proud; that is a country which is the natural result of free inst.i.tutions.

So I come to you to say: Let us know each other better; let us aid each other in the great work of advancing civilization; let the United States of North America and the United States of Brazil join hands, not in formal written treaties of alliance, but in the universal sympathy and confidence and esteem of their peoples; join hands to help humanity forward along the paths which we have been so happy as to tread. Let us help each other to grow in wisdom and in spirit, as we have grown in wealth and prosperity.

Mr. Chairman, my poor words are all too ineffective to express the depth of sentiment and height of hope that I experience here. I believe this is not an idle dream; I believe it is not merely the kindly expression or enthusiasm of the moment, but that after this day there will remain among both our peoples a sentiment which will be of incalculable benefit to the great ma.s.s of mankind, which shall help these two great nations to preserve and promote the rule of ordered liberty, of peace and justice, and of that spirit, which underlies all our Christian civilization, the spirit of humanity, higher than the spirit of nationality, more precious than material wealth, indispensable to the true fulfillment of the mission of liberty.

SO PAULO

SPEECH OF THEODOMIRO DE CAMARGO

At a Ma.s.s-Meeting of Students of the Law School, in front of the Palacio Chaves, August 4, 1906

The Law School of So Paulo is the tabernacle of our proudest ideals, of our most grateful traditions. Thence departed the first champions of liberty for the holy crusade of the slaves' liberation; there expanded and strengthened the republican ideas that caused the fall of the monarchy; thence have come almost all our rulers and leading men.

It is in the name of that school, sir, that I salute you and give you welcome, not only as the eminent statesman but also and specially as the loyal and dedicated friend of Brazil.

I can a.s.sure you that common to all Brazilians are the sentiments of true sympathy and great admiration for the n.o.ble country which has in you so worthy a representative. This sympathy and this admiration, common to all Brazilians, are well deserved by the wonderful people which liberated Cuba with the precious blood of her sons; are well deserved by the generous nation which contributed so much in raising in the Orient the banner of peace, putting an end to one of the most sanguinary struggles registered in universal history. The deep joy with which you have been received since you set foot on Brazilian soil is sufficient to a.s.sert what I say.

We rejoice to receive your visit because it is a proof that our feelings are reciprocated, and also because it will be a stronger link to bind forever the two great republics that are destined to lead their American sisters through the wide path of progress and civilization.

President McKinley wisely said: "The wisdom and energy of all the nations are not too great for the world's work"; so our earnest vows are that your voyage cooperates for the true fraternity of the American republics, that they may work together in the pursuit of the highest and n.o.blest endeavor of humanity, which is universal peace.

SPEECH OF MR. GALAOR NAZARETH DE ARUJO, OF THE NORMAL SCHOOL

"Be welcome, distinguished visitor!" This phrase, so often addressed to you during your voyage in Brazil, may now be said again to express the sincerity with which the people of So Paulo receive the visit of one of the greatest statesmen of modern America.

Amongst the inst.i.tutions of education of this city there is the Normal School, which has always tried to follow the methods and systems in use in your great country.

In the name of this inst.i.tution and representing my colleagues, I come before you, sir, to repeat, with all my heart, the words you have heard so many times in Brazil: "Welcome, Mr. Root!"

SPEECH OF MR. GAMA, JR., OF THE COMMERCIAL SCHOOL

A representative of a peaceful people is always welcome to Brazil. You know already our traditional policy. From the beginning of our existence as a nation we have accustomed ourselves to see in your glorious country the nation which, first of all, subst.i.tuted for military imperialism the beneficent and civilizing policy of free commercial expansion, joining producers and consumers without any link of dependence.

We followed with ardent sympathy your liberal and eminently humane action in the Chinese Empire, at the moment when that monarchy seemed doomed to dismemberment.

And you, sir, were the first to make understood the need of the maintenance of the administrative and territorial _status quo_ of that empire, to which, as well as to other nationalities of the Far East, you are today the securest guaranty of national integrity.

You come to us, therefore, with the credentials of a peaceful people, and of a people that respects the autonomy of other nations, no matter how weak they may be.

In this quality we open to you our arms, and we heartily meet your wishes in the a.s.surance that we contribute to the development of the ideas of peace and steadiness, without which the evolution of a people can only be accomplished imperfectly and at the cost of many centuries of hard effort.

The United States of Brazil acknowledged the advantages of a perfect communion of views in commercial matters with their great sister of North America. They were aware that essentially opposite points of view regarding commercial interchange separate them from some of the nations of the Old World.

So long as on the other side of the Atlantic an almost invincible barrier of customs duties impedes the entry of our products into markets naturally hostile to South American productions, our country has only two alternatives: either to continue the very irksome commercial relations with those markets, or to look for others with evident loss of a part of the harmony that ought to exist between nations affiliated by origin and for so many years united by the most intimate links of sympathy and intellectual solidarity.

Consequently, we adopted the legitimate defense of protectionism, while remaining faithful to those friendly feelings, and very naturally we turned to the continental nation that better understood the advantages of a free exchange of products; we looked unsuspiciously to the friendly people who conceived the idea of making in America, united and strong, a large neutral area devoted to peace amidst the possible divergencies that may perchance in time separate in aggressive antagonism a rejuvenated and martial Orient and the nations of the West.

We understood at once the difficult task to be accomplished, in order, by your side and with your aid, to secure the neutralization of America, so desirable and so necessary for the final reconciliation of nations still militarized, and for the establishment of a secure standpoint for the general fraternization of mankind.

All the enthusiastic appreciation of the twenty-one democracies that follow and love your deed, and all the facilities and cooperation that they can offer for its accomplishment, you will find, sir, should you visit them as you now do one of their number, in the corresponding twenty-one Brazilian capitals.

The Commercial School of So Paulo, from which very likely will come later commercial agents of Brazil, sincerely espouses your policy of peace and solidarity on the American continent; and in the person of its eminent chancellor salutes the n.o.ble North American nation.

REPLY OF MR. ROOT

I thank you, students of So Paulo, for your greeting and for your generous sympathy.

I am here upon a mission of friendship and of appreciation. I am here in order that my country may know more of the people of Brazil, and in order that the people of Brazil may learn more of my country, believing that the cause of almost all controversy between nations, the most fertile source of weakness and of war, is national misunderstanding and the prejudice that comes from misunderstanding.

I shall go back to my country and tell my people that I have found in this famous city of learning, So Paulo, a great body of young men who are gathering inspiration in the cause of learning and of human rights from the atmosphere of liberty and independence.