American independence. Such is the finding of
the most accurate of Argentine historians.

On March 8, 1882, President Monroe sent to the Congress of the United
States his celebrated message proposing the recognition of the Argentine
independence. In that message the President renewed his assurances of
sympathy for the cause of Buenos Ayres, and confirmed the entire
disinterestedness with which his Government espoused the cause of the
political integrity of the youthful nation. The House of Representatives
voted the recognition of Argentine independence unanimously, except for
one vote--that of Representative Garnett, who declared that he did not
object to the recognition, but that he considered it unnecessary, and he
cited in support of his view an opinion of Rivadavia. The United States
was, then, the first country after Portugal (which through motives of
special interest had recognized our independence), to make a similar
recognition; and England, which followed the United States, did not do
so until three years later, January 1, 1825.

Even after the recognition of Argentine independence by the United
States, conferences continued to be held in Europe to establish the
rйgime of the dominion of the mother country over the already
independent colonies. Then new conferences took place with Canning, in
which the minister of the United States confirmed anew the policy of his
country in the matter of the final recognition of the independence of
this republic. During that period, a document appeared that emanated
from John Quincy Adams, addressed to Rush, in which he declined to enter
into the plan for convoking a congress intended to treat of the
questions of South America, and stated that the United States would
never attend such a congress unless the South American republics were
first invited.

To accentuate the attitude of his Government, Mr. Adams adds that if the
congress were to take place, with intent hostile to the new republics,
the United States would solemnly protest against it and its calamitous
consequences.

The systematic and persistent action of the United States ended by
determining in Canning a policy favorable to South American
independence, and opposed to the intervention of any foreign power in
the destinies of the new republics.

Great Britain and the United States once in accord, after negotiations
in which Jefferson and Madison united their counsel to that of President
Monroe, these two patriots expressing themselves in terms of moving
eloquence in favor of the cause of emancipation, the question was
settled forever.

Some months afterward, December 2, 1823, President Monroe consummated
his action by sending to Congress the message that contains the
enunciation of his famous doctrine. "America for the Americans", Mr.
President, was a formula that, as I understand it, meant the final
consecration of the independence of the American nations; it was the
voice of the most powerful of them all, proclaiming to the world that
conquest in the domain of this America was at an end; it was
notification to the conquering powers of Europe that they should not
extend themselves to these continents because this extensive territory
was all occupied by free nations, outside of whose sovereignty not an
inch was vacant.

The independence of these republics having been settled on the field of
battle by the sole force of the republics, the declaration of the
American President was the culminating act of that grand epic. For the
United States it is a record of honor; for Europe it is an ultimatum.

The Monroe Doctrine exists today with all the force of a law of nations,
and no country of Europe has dared to dispute it.

It is fitting, Mr. President, to appreciate exactly the meaning of this
great act, of the splendid attitude, more fertile for the peace of the
earth and for its progress than all the conventions that European
nations have arranged from time to time in order to determine their
quarrels. The American President, in formulating this doctrine, decreed
peace between Europe and America, which seemed destined, the former to
assault always for conquest, the latter to fight always to defend its
frontiers. In short, the Monroe Doctrine has been the veto on war
between Europe and America; in its shadow these youthful nations have
grown until today they are sufficiently strong to proclaim the same
doctrine as the emblem on their shield. And the most glorious
characteristic of this doctrine is that it is a dictate of civilization,
in the nature of a magnificent hymn of peace, which can be chanted at
the same time by the European and the American nations, because it
avoided that permanent contention which would have subvened if the
system of conquest that Europe has developed in regard to certain
nations had been implanted here in the territory of South America.

Well, Mr. President, he who is coming to visit us is a conspicuous
citizen of that nation, and brings, as it is said--and I believe the
Foreign Office already is informed in regard thereto--a message of peace
and fraternity of utmost interest to our progress. We ought to take
advantage of this opportunity to give this envoy a reception worthy of
his people and worthy of himself.

I have privately communicated to the Minister for Foreign Affairs the
idea of this project, and I have had the pleasure to hear from his lips
the most complete adherence to my declaration that in addition to a bill
authorizing the expenses, there was the intention of preparing for Mr.
Root a manifestation emanating spontaneously from the Argentine
Congress. The Minister believes this demonstration to be the necessary
complement of the demonstration the national government is preparing for
this envoy from the great republic.

The historic facts I have recalled are a brief synthesis of an epoch
sufficient to warrant the Argentine people in associating themselves
with the Government and lending to the event their warm interest. I am
doubly pleased to have recalled this noble history on the Fourth of
July, the anniversary of the independence of the great republic of the
North.

I believe that for these reasons, gentlemen, you will lend your support
to this idea and fulfill the purpose for which it is presented.


BANQUET AT THE GOVERNMENT HOUSE


SPEECH OF HIS EXCELLENCY DR. J. FIGUEROA ALCORTA

PRESIDENT OF ARGENTINA

At a Banquet given by him, August 14, 1906

The American republics are at this moment tightening their traditional
bonds at a congress of fraternity whose importance has been indicated by
the presence of our illustrious guest, who passes across the continent
as the herald of the civilization of a great people.

The world's conscience being awakened by the progress of public thought,
the members of the family of nations are trying to draw closer together
for the development of their activities, without fetters or obstacles,
under the olive branch of peace and the guaranty of reciprocal respect
for their rights.

International conferences are a happy manifestation of that tendency,
because, in the contact of representatives of the various states,
hindrances and prejudices are dissipated, and there is shown to exist in
the collective mind a common aspiration for the teachings of liberty and
justice.

America gives a recurring example of such congresses of peace and law.
As each one takes place it is evident that the attributes of sovereignty
of the nations which constitute it are displayed more clearly; that free
government is taking deeper root, that democratic solidarity is more
apparent, and that force is giving way more freely to reason as the
fundamental principle of society.

The congress of Rio de Janeiro has that lofty significance. Its
material, immediate consequences will be more or less important, but its
moral result will be forever of transcendent benefit--a new departure
and a step in advance in the development of liberal ideas in this part
of the American Continent.

Mr. Secretary of State, your country has taken gigantic strides in the
march of progress until it occupies a position in the vanguard. It has
set a proud and shining example to its sister nations.

As in the dawn of their emancipation it recognized in them the
conqueror's right to stand among the independent states of the earth, so
likewise it later stimulated the high aspiration to establish a
political system representing the popular will, now inscribed in
indelible characters in the preambles of American legislation.

The Argentine Republic, after rude trials, has completed its
constitutional rйgime, gathering experience and learning from the great
republic of the North.

The general lines of our organization followed those of the Philadelphia
convention, with the modifications imposed by circumstances, by the
irresistible force of tradition, and by the idiosyncrasies peculiar to
our race. The forefathers who drafted the Argentine constitution were
inspired in their work by those who, to the admiration of the world,
created the Constitution of the United States.

Many of our political doctrines are derived from the writings of
Hamilton, Madison, and Jay; the spirit of Marshall and Taney are seen in
the hearings of our tribunals; and even the children in our schools,
where they learn to personify the republican virtues, the love and
sacrifice for country, respect for the rights of man, and the
prerogatives of the citizen, speak the name of George Washington with
that of the foremost Argentines.

Our home institutions being closely united and the shadows on the
international horizon having disappeared, the Argentine Republic can
occupy itself in fraternizing with other nations; and, like the United
States, she aspires to strengthen the ties of friendship sanctioned by
history and by the ideal philanthropy common to free institutions.

Your visit will have, in this aspect, great results. We have invited you
to visit our territory in order to link the two countries more
intimately; and your presence here indicates that this noble object will
be realized, inspired as it is by the convenience of mutual interests
and the sharing of noble aims.

You are a messenger of the ideals of brotherhood, and as such you are
welcome to the Argentine Republic.

I salute you, in the name of the Government and the people who have
received you, as the genuine representative of your country, with that
sincere desire for friendship which is loyally rooted in the national
sentiment of Argentina.

Gentlemen: To the United States of America; to its illustrious
President, Theodore Roosevelt; to the Secretary of State of North
America, Honorable Elihu Root!


REPLY OF MR. ROOT

I thank you, sir, for your kind welcome and for your words of
appreciation. I thank you for myself; I thank you for that true and
noble gentleman who holds in the United States of America the same
exalted office which you hold here. I thank you in behalf of the
millions of citizens in the United States. When your kind and courteous
invitation reached me, I was in doubt whether the long absence from
official duties would be justified; but I considered that your
expression of friendship imposed upon me something more than an
opportunity for personal gratification; it imposed upon me a duty. It
afforded an opportunity to say something to the Government and the
people of Argentina which would justly represent the sentiments and the
feelings of the people of the United States toward you all. We do not
know as much as we ought in the United States; we do not know as much as
I would like to feel we know; but we have a traditional right to be
interested in Argentina. I thought today, when we were all involved in
the common misfortune, at the time of my landing, that, after all, the
United States and Argentina were not simply fair-weather friends. We
inherit the right to be interested in Argentina, and to be proud of
Argentina. From the time when Richard Rush was fighting, from the day
when James Monroe threw down the gauntlet of a weak republic, as we were
then, in defense of your independence and rights--from that day to this
the interests and the friendship of the people of the United States for
the Argentine Republic have never changed. We rejoice in your
prosperity; we are proud of your achievements; we feel that you are
justifying our faith in free government, and self-government; that you
are maintaining our great thesis which demands the possession, the
enjoyment, and the control of the earth by the people who inhabit it. We
have followed the splendid persistency with which you have fought
against the obstacles that stood in your path, with the sympathy that
has come from similar struggles at home. Like you, we have had to
develop the resources of a