that
comes from unwritten, unsealed instruments, as that from the convention,
signed and ratified with all formalities, is of vital consequence. We
make no political alliances, but we make an alliance with all our
sisters in sentiment and feeling, in the pursuit of liberty and justice,
in mutual helpfulness; and in that spirit I beg to return to you and to
your Government and the people of this splendid and wonderful country my
sincere thanks for the welcome you have given me and my country in my
person.

RECEPTION BY AMERICAN AND ENGLISH RESIDENTS

SPEECH OF MR. FRANCIS B. PURDIE

At St. George's Hall, August 16, 1906

Americans resident in Buenos Ayres and in the Argentine Republic are
sensible of the honor you have done them by accepting their invitation
for this evening, and they appreciate most highly the courtesy of the
Argentine Government, whose distinguished guest you are, in allowing
them this coveted privilege. As Americans we welcome you to Buenos
Ayres, and it is our earnest hope that your visit here will bind more
closely the ties of friendship which unite the great republics of the
North and of the South, and that the knowledge you will gain of this
great country and of its magnificent resources will lead to more
familiar intercourse and to that good understanding which should exist
between nations governed by like principles, living under constitutions
framed in a like spirit, and having similar national aims.

This gathering is the result of a public meeting called immediately
after it was learned that you had accepted the invitation of the
Argentine Government to visit this city. It was a meeting typically
American, which had no dividing line on the question that our Secretary
of State was a man whom we would all delight to honor. The executive
committee of the North American Society of the River Plata was intrusted
with the arrangements. We believe you should know something of that
society. Organized only last November, it embraces in its membership
practically every American in Buenos Ayres. For its age, I am not afraid
to say that it is the most flourishing social organization that has ever
been established in this country. What is the object of the society?
Not, I conceive, such as will arouse antagonism or jealousy in the mind
of any man. As set forth in the preamble to its constitution, it is: "To
keep alive the love of country and foster the spirit of patriotism,...
and for such other