There is only one possible standard by which to determine controversies
between the United States and other nations, and that is compounded of
these two elements: Our own honor and our obligations to the peace of
the world. A test so compounded ought easily to be made to govern both
the establishment of new treaty obligations and the interpretation of
those already assumed.
There is but one cloud upon our horizon. That has shown itself to the
south of us, and hangs over Mexico. There can be no certain prospect of
peace in America until Gen. Huerta has surrendered his usurped authority
in Mexico; until it is understood on all hands, indeed, that such
pretended governments will not be countenanced or dealt with by the
Government of the United States. We are the friends of constitutional
government in America; we are more than its friends, we are its
champions; because in no other way can our neighbors, to whom we would
wish in every way to make proof of our friendship, work out their own
development in peace and liberty. Mexico has no Government. The attempt
to maintain one at the City of Mexico has broken down, and a mere
military despotism has been set up which has hardly more than the
semblance of national authority.
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