Chapter 4

Their fundamental principles as colonies were based on religious freedom. Their first charters embodied the essence of liberty in the British constitution. Their Federal Constitution is considered by the best judges as the highest product of political genius extant among mankind. The five years of their civil war constituted a most tremendous sacrifice, made by the superhuman heroism of a nation in the higher interests of humanity, for the principle of human freedom. Their international influence is frequently exerted in the great causes of Christianity and civilization, first struggling as they did against piracy in the Mediterranean; then opening the doors of Japan to the commerce of the world in the Pacific, or fighting for the Armenians against Ottoman despotism, or intervening in behalf of the Jews against the tyranny of the Muscovite; here sympathizing with South America against Spain, with Greece against Turkey, and with Hungary against Austria; there promoting that memorable peace between the Russians and Japanese at Portsmouth, which terminated one of the most horrible hecatombs of peoples on record in the history of warfare. The methods and rules of their teaching, the inspiration of their inventors, the penetrating nature of their institutions, the reproductive influence of their example, the contagious activity of their doctrines, the active proselytism of their reforms, the irresistible fascination of their originality, the exuberant florescence of their Christianity, all exert a profound influence upon European culture and on the morals, the politics, and the destinies of the world, and guide, improve, and transform the American nations.

Nothing, however, could be conceived which would more magnificently crown this miraculous career and assure forever to that nation the title, _par excellence_, of the civilizer among nations, serving the interests of its own prosperity as well as ours by a sincere, effective, and tenacious adherence to the doctrine announced by Mr. Root, namely the doctrine of mutual respect and friendship, of progressive coöperation among the American States, large or small, weak or strong; abandoning foolish race prejudices and admitting the superior power of imitation, science, and modern inventions, which are the moral factors in the development of peoples; and recognizing the natural truth that the growing evolution of the human race must embrace in its orbit of light all the civilized nations on this and the other continents.

Everything in the visit of Mr. Root, everything in his words, in his acts, in the impressions left among us by his person, everything speaks to us with absolute sincerity and resolute mind of devotion to this auspicious program. Our eminent guest has seen how Brazil receives the living message of the people of the United States; and, when he returns, a faithful witness of our civilization, which is so little known, so ill-treated, and so calumniated abroad, he will in all probability carry with him a conviction of having found in this disliked South America, between the Oyapoc and the Plata, the Atlantic and the Andes, a non-indigenous, although new sister of the United States, in which the opinion of public men and popular sentiment have but one ambition in regard to the policy now inaugurated--that it may become rooted for centuries and that it may shelter our future under its branches.

I wished, gentlemen--and all the members of this Senate wished--that Mr. Root might hear from the mouth of the man of experience, authority, and austere demeanor who is to preside over us, the most eloquent and highest of these expressions of good wishes.

For this purpose I move that the Senate do now resolve itself into a committee of the whole, and that the Secretary of State of the United States be invited to take the post of honor in this assembly. In this manner the proceedings of the Brazilian Senate and its traditions will preserve the memory of this date forever. For it is not one of those dates which flash and vanish into the past like falling meteors, but it is of those which seek the future by luminously furrowing the horizon of posterity like ascending stars.

And if the future is to be a substitution of right in place of might, of arbitration in place of war, of congresses in place of armies, of harmony, coöperation, and solidarity among the American peoples, in place of hostile rivalries, we may, on seeing seated here today at the right of our President, the Secretary of State of the United States, affirm to him, as Henry Clay did on the reception of Lafayette, with a different intention but just as truthfully, that he is seated in the midst of posterity.

SPEECH OF SENATOR ALFREDO ELLIS

The Federal Senators, representatives of the Brazilian nation, representing the people of twenty states of the Union and of the Federal District, here congregated to receive you, through me, salute you, and through you, salute President Roosevelt and the whole people of the United States of America. You are truly welcome amongst us, and you are welcome amongst us because we know your history; we know the history of your country; we know the history of your great men, from Washington to Roosevelt. You are truly and sincerely welcome amongst us, because you are the fortunate messenger, the happy harbinger of a coming civilization that is looming already in the not-far-distant future, bringing in your hands the snowy and brilliant credentials of brotherhood and peace. Though you come here, Mr. Root, amid the cannon's roar, or the din of popular acclamations, the echo in its grand unanimity that these words awaken in the hearts of the Brazilian people throughout all the land, from north to south, from east to west, should convince you that we, the Brazilian people, trust that the great work that is now being done through the delegates of the nineteen American republics assembled here for the Third Conference of the Pan American Congress, will bear fruit--that it will bear fruit just the same as that of which the basis was laid a long time ago in Philadelphia, on July 4, 1776, written by Thomas Jefferson and signed by the delegates of nine out of the thirteen colonies that had risen in arms against the mother-country. On that eventful and never-to-be-forgotten day, Pennsylvania's delegate--the great, the wise, the noble Benjamin Franklin--with his heart full of sad misgivings, full of sad forebodings about the final issue of the war, raising himself from the chair on which he had been sitting, observed on its back, embroidered on the tapestry, the figure of a beaming sun with its golden rays. "I do not know," he said, "if this is the image of a rising or a setting sun; please God Almighty that it may be that of a rising sun, enlightening the birth of a free and prosperous people!" And it was--and it was. His wish--his dear wish--was fulfilled; his prophecy was realized. The country you represent, Mr. Root, is now the wonder of the world for its greatness, for its power, for its prosperity.

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 bloody 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 GUIMARÃES

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 gratitude 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 unsurpassed 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 classes 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 institutions 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 constitution, 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 passed 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 institutions 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 assert in the most positive, the most salient way the solidarity of republican institutions 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 assert 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 institutions 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 institutions, 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 noble 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 institutions.

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 mass 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.

SÃO PAULO

SPEECH OF THEODOMIRO DE CAMARGO

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

The Law School of São 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 assure you that common to all Brazilians are the sentiments of true sympathy and great admiration for the noble 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 assert 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 coöperates for the true fraternity of the American republics, that they may work together in the pursuit of the highest and noblest 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 São Paulo receive the visit of one of the greatest statesmen of modern America.

Amongst the institutions 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 institution 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, substituted 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 assurance 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 coöperation 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 São 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 noble North American nation.

REPLY OF MR. ROOT

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