Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 October 1889 — MR. BLAINE SPEAKS [ARTICLE]

MR. BLAINE SPEAKS

Tp tile Members of tfce Anatan Utter* ....’ *. national Congress. ■ Abbot noon Wednesday, the delegates to the International American Congress called at the Department of State, and Secre tary Blaine delivered the following address of welcome : Gentlemen of the International American -Congress—Speaking for the Government of tne United States, I bid you welcome to this capital. Speaking for the people of the United States, I bid you welcome to every section and to every State of the Union. You come in response to an invitation extended by the President on the special authorization of Congress. Your presence here is no ordinary event. It signifies much to the people od all , NwA’tis.'a, to-day. It may signify far more in days to come. No conference of nations has eVer assembled to consider the welfare of territorial possessions so vast, and to contemplate tne possibilities of a future so great and so inspiring. Those npw sitting within these walls are empowered to speak for nations'whose borders are on both the great oceans, whose northern limits are touched by the Arctic waters for a thousand miles beyond the straits of Behring, whose southern extensions furnishes human habitations further below the equator than is elswhere possible on the globe. :r While considerations of this character must inspire Americans, both South and North, with the liveliest anticipations of future grandeur and power, they must also impress them with a sense of the gravest responsibility touching the character and development of their respective nationalities. The delegates whom lam addressing can do much to establish permanent relations of confidence, respect and friendship between the nations which they represent. They can show to the world an honorable and peaceful conference of seventeen Independent American powers, in which all shall meet together on terms of absolute equality; a conference in which there can be no attempt to coerce a single delegate against bis own conception of the interests of his nation; a conference which will permit no secret understanding of any subject, but will jrankly publish to the world all its conclusions; a conference which will tolerate no spirit of conquest, but will aim to cultivate an American sympathy as broad as both continents; a conference which will form no selfish alliance against the older nations, from which we are proud to claim Inheritance; a conference, in fine, which we seek nothing, propose nothing, endure nothing that Is not, in the general sense of all the delegates, timely and wisely peaceful. And yet we cannot be expected to forget that our common fate has made us inhabitants of the two continents which, at the close of four centuries, are still regarded beyond the seas as the new world. Like situations beget like sympathies and impose like duties. We meet in the firm belief that the nations of America ought to and can be more helpful each to the other than they now are. and that each will find advantage and profit from an enlarged intercourse with the others. We believe we should be drawn together more closely by the highways of the sea, and that at ro distant day the railway systems of the North and South will meet upon the isthmus and connect by land routes the political and commercial capitals of all America. We believe that hearty co-operation, based on hearty confidence, will save all American States from the burdens and evils which have long and cruelly afflicted the older nations of the world. We believe that a spirit of Justice, of common and equal interest between the American States, will leave no room for an artificial balance of power like unto that which has led to wars abroad and drenched Europe in blood. We believe that friendship avowed with candor, and maintained with good faith, will remove from American Stated the necessity of guarding boundary lines between themselves with fortifications and military: force. We believe that standing armies, beyond those which are needful for public order and the safety, of internal administration, should be unknown on ‘both American continents. We believe that friendship and not force; the spirit of the law, and not the violence sf the rhob,should be the recognized rule of administration between American nations and in American nations. To these subjects, and those which are cognate thereto, the attention of this conference is earnestly and cordially invited by the Government of the United States. It will be a great gain when we shall acquire that common conference on which Ml international friendship must rest. It will be a greater gain when we shall be able to draw the people of all American nations into closer acquaintance with each other—an end to be facilitated by more frequent intercommunication. It will be the greatest gain when the personal and commercial relations of the American Btates, South and North, shall be developed and so regulated that each shall acquire the highest possible advantage from the enlightened and enlarged intercourse of all. Before the conference shall formally enter upon the discussion of the subjects to be submitted to It. lam instructed by the President to invite all the delegates to be the guests of the Governmen t during a proposed visit to various sections of the country, with the double view of showing to our friends from abroad the condition of the United States and of giving to our own people in their homes the privilege and pleasure of extending the warm welcome of Americans to Americans. Mr. Blaine then withdrew and he was then named as President of the Congress. Several committees were appointed. The Congress then called at the White House and were given a reception by the President.