Now, that is the kind of agreement that will have to be the
foundation of the future life of the nations of the world,
gentlemen. The whole family of nations will have to guarantee
to each nation that no nation shall violate its political
independence or its territorial integrity. That is the basis--the
only conceivable basis--for the future peace of the world, and
I must admit that I was anxious to have the States of the two
Continents of America show the way to the rest of the world as to
how to make a basis of peace.
Peace can only come by trust. If you can once get a situation
of trust then you have got a situation of permanent peace.
Therefore, every one of us, it seems to me, owes it as a
patriotic duty to his own country to plant the seeds of trust and
confidence instead of seeds of suspicion.
That is the reason I began by saying to you that I had not had the
pleasure of meeting a group of men who are more welcome than you
are, because you are our near neighbors. Suspicion on your part,
or misunderstanding on your part, distresses us more than we would
be distressed by similar feelings on the part of those less near
to us.
It is you who can see how Mexico's future must depend upon peace
and honor, so that nobody shall exploit her. It must depend upon
every nation that has any relation with her and the citizens of
any nation that has any relations with her keeping within the
bounds of honor and fair dealing and justice, because so soon as
you can admit your own capital and the capital of the world to the
free use of the resources of Mexico it will be one of the most
wonderfully rich and prosperous countries in the world.
And when you have foundations of established order and the
world has come to its senses again we shall, I hope, continue
in connections that will assure us all permanent cordiality and
friendship.