[The Conference then adjourned.]
BANQUET OF THE MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Speech of His Excellency Baron do Rio Branco
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Rio de Janeiro, July 28, 1906
The enthusiastic and cordial welcome you have received in Brazil must certainly have convinced you that this country is a true friend of yours.
This friendship is of long standing. It dates from the first days of our independence, which the Government of the United States was the first to recognize, as the Government of Brazil was the first to applaud the terms and spirit of the declarations contained in the famous message of President Monroe. Time has but increased, in the minds and hearts of successive generations of Brazilians, the sympathy and admiration which the founders of our nationality felt for the United States of America.
The manifestations of friendship for the United States which you have witnessed come from all the Brazilian people, and not from the official world alone, and it is our earnest desire that this friendship, which has never been disturbed in the past, may continue forever and grow constantly closer and stronger.
Gentlemen, I drink to the health of the distinguished Secretary of State of the United States of America, Mr. Elihu Root, who has so brilliantly and effectively aided President Roosevelt in the great work of the political rapprochement of the American nations.