They are not thinking of us. I am not criticising them for not
thinking of us. I dare say if I were in their place neither would I
think of us. They believe that they are struggling for the lives and
honor of their nations, and that if the United States puts its interests
in the path of this great struggle, she ought to know beforehand that
there is danger of very serious misunderstanding and difficulty. So that
the very uncalculating, unpremeditated, one might almost say accidental,
course of affairs may touch us to the quick at any moment, and I want
you to realize that, standing in the midst of these difficulties, I feel
that I am charged with a double duty of the utmost difficulty. In the
first place, I know that you are depending upon me to keep this Nation
out of the war. So far I have done so, and I pledge you my word that,
God helping me, I will if it is possible. But you have laid another duty
upon me. You have bidden me to see it that nothing stains or impairs
the honor of the United States, and that is a matter not within my
control; that depends upon what others do, not upon what the Government
of the United States does.
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