vortex in Europe, the balance of power between its several parts, the preservation of which has so often drenched Europe in blood, America is sufficiently remote to contemplate the new wars which are to afflict that quarter of the globe, as a calm if not a cold and indifferent spectator. In relation to those wars, the several parts of America will generally stand neutral. And as, during the period when they rage, it will be important that a liberal system of neutrality should be adopted and observed, all America will be interested in maintaining and enforcing such a system. The independence of Spanish America, then, is an interest of primary consideration. Next to that, and highly important in itself, is the consideration of the nature of their governments. That is a question, however, for themselves. They will, no doubt, adopt those kinds of governments which are best suited to their condition, best calculated for their happiness. Anxious as I am that they should be free governments, we have no right to prescribe for them. They are, and ought to be, the sole judges for themselves. I am strongly inclined to believe that they will in most, if not all parts of their country, establish free governments. We are their great example. Of us they constantly speak as of brothers, having a similar origin. They adopt our principles, copy our institutions, and, in many instances, employ the very language and sentiments of our revolutionary

papers.

But it is sometimes said that they are too ignorant and too superstitious to admit of the existence of free governments. This charge of ignorance is often urged by persons themselves actually ignorant of the real condition of that people. I deny the alleged fact of ignorance; I deny the inference from that fact, if it were true, that they want capacity for free government; and I refuse assent to the further conclusion, if the fact were true, and the inference just, that

we are to be indifferent to their fate. All the writers of the most established authority, Depons, Humboldt, and others, concur in assigning to the people of Spanish America great quickness, genius, and particular aptitude for the acquisition of the exact sciences, and others which they have been allowed to cultivate. In astronomy, geology, mineralogy, chemistry, botany, and so forth, they are allowed to make distinguished proficiency. They justly boast of their Abzate, Velasques, and Gama and other illustrious contributors to science. They have nine universities, and in the city of Mexico, it is affirmed by Humboldt, that there are more solid scientific establishments than in any city even of North America. I would refer to the message of the supreme director of La Plata, which I shall hereafter have occasion to use for another purpose, as a model of fine composition of a state paper, challenging a comparison with any, the most celebrated, that ever issued from the pens of Jefferson or Madison. Gentlemen will egregiously err, if they form their opinions of the present moral condition of Spanish America, from what it was under the debasing system of Spain. The eight years' revolution in which it has been engaged, has already produced a powerful effect. Education has been attended to, and genius developed.

PAN-AMERICANISM1

ROBERT LANSING

MR. PRESIDENT, AND GENTLEMEN OF THE CONGRESS:It is an especial gratification to me to address you to-day, not only as the officer of the United States who invited you to attend this great Scientific Congress of the American Republics, but also as the presiding member of the Governing Board of the Pan-American Union. In this dual capacity I have the honor and the pleasure to welcome you, gentlemen, to the capital of this country, in the full confidence that your deliberations will be of mutual benefit in your various spheres of thought and research- and not only in your individual spheres but in the all-embracing sphere of Pan-American unity and fraternity which is so near to the hearts of us all.

It is the Pan-American spirit and the policy of Pan-Americanism to which I would for a few moments direct your attention at this early meeting of the Congress, since it is my earnest hope that "Pan-America" will be the keynote which will influence your relations with one another and inspire your thoughts and words.

Nearly a century has passed since President Monroe proclaimed to the world his famous doctrine as the National policy of the United States. It was founded on the principle that the safety of this Republic would be imperiled by the extension of sovereign right by a European power over territory in this hemisphere. Conceived in a suspicion of monarchical institutions and in a full sympathy with the re

1 Address of welcome by the Secretary of State, December 27, 1915, at the Second Pan-American Scientific Congress.

publican idea, it was uttered at a time when our neighbors to the south had won their independence and were gradually adapting themselves to the exercise of their newly acquired rights. To those struggling nations the doctrine became a shield against the great European powers, which in the spirit of the age coveted political control over the rich regions which the new-born States had made their own.

The United States was then a small nation, but a nation which had been tried in the fire; a nation whose indomitable will had remained unshaken by the dangers through which it had passed. The announcement of the Monroe Doctrine was a manifestation of this will. It was a courageous thing for President Monroe to do. It meant much in those early days, not only to this country, but to those nations which were commencing a new life under the standard of liberty. How much it meant we can never know, since for four decades it remained unchallenged.

During that period the younger Republics of America, giving expression to the virile spirit born of independence and liberal institutions, developed rapidly and set their feet firmly on the path of national progress which has led them to that plane of intellectual and material prosperity which they to-day enjoy.

Within recent years the Government of the United States has found no occasion, with the exception of the Venezuela boundary incident, to remind Europe that the Monroe Doctrine continues unaltered a National policy of this Republic. The Republics of America are no longer children in the great family of nations. They have attained maturity. With enterprise and patriotic fervor they are working out their several destinies.

During this later time when the American Nations have come into a realization of their nationality and are fully conscious of the responsibilities and privileges which are theirs

as sovereign and independent States, there has grown up a feeling that the Republics of this hemisphere constitute a group separate and apart from the other nations of the world, a group which is united by common ideals and common aspirations. I believe that this feeling is general throughout North and South America, and that year by year it has increased until it has become a potent influence over our political and commercial intercourse. It is the same feeling which, founded on sympathy and mutual interest, exists among the members of a family. It is the tie which draws together the twenty-one Republics and makes of them the American Family of Nations.

This feeling, vague at first, has become to-day a definite and certain force. We term it the "Pan-American" spirit, from which springs the international policy of Pan-Americanism. It is that policy which is responsible for this great gathering of distinguished men, who represent the best and most advanced thought of the Americas. It is a policy which this Government has unhesitatingly adopted and which it will do all in its power to foster and promote.

When we attempt to analyze Pan-Americanism we find that the essential qualities are those of the family - sympathy, helpfulness and a sincere desire to see another grow in prosperity, absence of covetousness of another's possessions, absence of jealousy of another's prominence, and, above all, absence of that spirit of intrigue which menaces the domestic peace of a neighbor. Such are the qualities of the family tie among individuals, and such should be, and I believe are, the qualities which compose the tie which unites the American Family of Nations.

I speak only for the Government of the United States, but in doing so I am sure that I express sentiments which will find an echo in every Republic represented here, when I say that the might of this country will never be exercised