In the future they will draw closer and closer to us because of
circumstances of which I wish to speak with moderation and, I hope,
without indiscretion.
We must prove ourselves their friends and champions upon terms of
equality and honor. You cannot be friends upon any other terms than upon
the terms of equality. You cannot be friends at all except upon the
terms of honor. We must show ourselves friends by comprehending their
interest whether it squares with our own interest or not. It is a very
perilous thing to determine the foreign policy of a nation in the terms
of material interest. It not only is unfair to those with whom you are
dealing, but it is degrading as regards your own actions.
Comprehension must be the soil in which shall grow all the fruits of
friendship, and there is a reason and a compulsion lying behind all this
which is dearer than anything else to the thoughtful men of America. I
mean the development of constitutional liberty in the world. Human
rights, national integrity, and opportunity as against material
interests--that, ladies and gentlemen, is the issue which we now have to
face.
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