a joint proposal drafted by Argentina's Sáenz Peña and co-sponsored by Brazil. Martí describes the tension as the outnumbered U.S. delegation began to weaken in its defense of Blaine's draft: "Discretion commands us to be quiet regarding some of the scenes which were nothing less than dramatic and which carried a strong dose of healthy arrogance. In one of them a white-bearded delegate who carries within him the power and refinement of his nation, ripped apart the weak attempts by the famous secretary of state to impose permanent arbitration and covert domination. In its stead he proposed an exemplary draft of possible and fair arbitration, written by Argentine hands; a fortunate accord coming from Spanish America which would not endanger either our independence or decorum..."). This was the Saénz Peña draft which ultimately won out over Blaine's: "And without anger or defiance, but with prudence, the union of the cautious and decorous peoples of Hispanic America defeated the Northamerican plan for continental and compulsory arbitration over the republics of America, with a continuous and unappealable tribunal resident in Washington. 'You must give up those dreams, Mister Secretary', it is said that Quintana (the Argentine delegate) told Blaine in a private conversation". Sovereignty and No Rights by Conquest Two issues closely related to the arbitration question were the sovereign equality of states and the assertion that military conquest should generate no territorial rights for the victory. Martí noted that the conference provided a forum for the Latin nations to lay out for the first time their position, later painstakingly affirmed in innumerable instruments of the inter-American system, that all sovereign nations in the Hemisphere are equal in the eyes of international law despite their size, population, wealth, or military power. The debate over the problem of what rights a victor would have after a war was a sensitive one. The formal written record is sterile and inoffensive. But Martí reveals how the debate was influenced by the U.S. conquests in the Southwest at Mexico's expense a half-century before (Mexican–American War, 1846–48), and more dramatically by Chilean conquests in the War of the Pacific (1879–81). Peru and Bolivia, supported by Argentina, wanted a strong condemnation of any right by virtue of military conquest, but there was a real threat that the Chilean delegation would withdraw if they felt they were being attacked. Martí records the drama of the long debate, with the