stinguished 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 ac