Speech of His Excellency Dr. Manuel Castro Ramírez, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Salvador, at a banquet given in honor of Mr. Knox at the National Palace, San Salvador, March 11, 1912.
Gentlemen: Invested with the high character of Secretary of State of the Government of the United States of North America, the eminent jurisconsult and statesman His Excellency Philander C. Knox is now visiting us, the bearer of the messages of friendship and sympathy which the powerful Government of the White House sends us through the medium of its most distinguished representative.
A cause of veritable satisfaction is the visit of him who comes preceded by so conspicuous renown, for it involves the generous and noble idea that new bonds of friendship well understood must continue to bind these Governments closer together and because this is a happy occasion to evidence to our illustrious guest the pacific and progressive evolution which is going on in Salvador, thanks to the highly patriotic spirit of the Government presided over by Dr. Araujo and to the wisdom and high ideals of the Salvadoran nation, which in its internal political construction embraces lofty principles of liberty and order, and of peace and intimate communion with the sister nations of the Isthmus, under the symbolic aegis of its democratic institutions.
Salvador, like all the countries of Central America, has a great example to imitate in the American people, both for their untiring spirit of advancement in all spheres of human life and for their constant and gigantic industry, which has placed them on the pinnacle of greatness; or, rather, for their eminently republican doctrines, which have been sustained and vouched for by characters of the type of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Lincoln, who are the stars that shine by the side of others in the political sky of that marvelous center of modern civilization. Salvador, in a salutary communication of ideas, will have much to avail itself of and learn from the people who disseminate civilization by the currents of their material and intellectual culture, who owe their immense evolution to the well advanced and admirably defined progress of liberty and law: like a compass which marks a changeless route for the people who follow fruitful ideals in the realization of their immortal destinies in the immense trajectory of the centuries.
The Government of Salvador expects, as a pleasing reality, that the visit with which His Excellency Mr. Knox honors us so exceedingly to-day will have beneficial and practical results from the rapprochement and concord of both peoples and Governments, which [Page 1331] will open a new era in international friendship, as his courteous visit is in the nature of a frank refutation of the unfounded prejudices of those who have not had the fortunate opportunity, as we have, of hearing and admiring the most noble ideas of peace and friendship which he presents to us, ideas of which His Excellency the Forth American Secretary of State is the distinguished bearer, coming, with his words of fraternity and his honoring presence, on a mission of courtesy, bearing in one hand the olive branch of peace and in the other the heraldic emblem of the noble and just friendship of the American Government and people, who do us this high honor of sending us fraternal messages through the medium of their highest representative.
Let us drink, gentlemen, to the glories of the American people; to His Excellency President Taft; to the most worthy Secretary of State, Mr. Knox; to his most distinguished lady and brilliant suite—and on raising our glasses in their praise let us raise also our hearts, which burn with the sacred flame of pure patriotism, thus responding with frank cordiality to the homage which His Excellency the Secretary of State of the great Republic pays us by his visit.