As chairman of a committee of the American colony, the pleasant duty
devolves upon me to welcome, in behalf of the colony, an illustrious
countryman, and a prominent member of the official family of the
President of the United States, the Secretary of State.
The opportunity has been afforded us through one of those many acts of
exquisite courtesy for which the Government of Mexico is noted in its
intercourse with those of us from north of the Rio Grande, and to which
unfailing courtesy we can all bear witness.
For the kindly spirit that actuated the Mexican Government in breaking
in upon the official program for the entertainment of its guest--our
countryman--and placing him in our hands for this occasion, we are
extremely grateful. For the graceful act of the Mexican Country Club in
permitting us the use of this magnificent building in which to entertain
our guest there is no lack of appreciation.
As Americans, knowing our own people and our own country as we do, and
keenly alive to everything that may obtain for its weal or its woe, our
very absence from it making our hearts grow fonder of it, the joy we
feel in welcoming one who has held the bright banner of our country full
high advanced, is greater than any words of mine can express.
We love our country; we love it as the blessed consummation of human
hopes. The world has been full of sorrow. The tearful eyes of humanity
have never been dry; but in this western world, on this new continent,
stretching from ocean to ocean, in the maturity of the ages has come
forth a nation whose institutions and example shall aid in lifting the
nations of the world into the sunlight of God's glorious liberty.
We have no king, no royal family upon which can be centered the loyal
emotions of a great people. To us the only representative of the whole
people is the glorious banner "thick sprinkled" with stars and striped
with vivid red and white.
You, sir, have held aloft that banner. You have added to the glory of
our country.
On the sacred field of Gettysburg, ground consecrated by torrents of
American blood, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, gave to
us a classic which will live while our country exists. You, sir, in your
exposition of the attitude of the United States toward other countries,
have enunciated a classic that also will live and be a bond of
friendship between us and all the nations of this hemisphere.
Gentlemen, I will read to you that classic:
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.
With such dignified sentiments resounding in our ears, have we not
reason to be proud of our guest?
And now, sir, in the name of the American colony of Mexico, I bid you
welcome. Yes, thrice welcome! May every choice blessing attend upon you
and those you hold dear.