]
When the invitation to be here to-night came to me, I was glad to accept
it,--not because it offered me an opportunity to discuss the program of
the League,--that you will, I am sure, not expect of me,--but because
the desire of the whole world now turns eagerly, more and more eagerly,
towards the hope of peace, and there is just reason why we should take
our part in counsel upon this great theme. It is right that I, as
spokesman of our Government, should attempt to give expression to what I
believe to be the thought and purpose of the people of the United States
in this vital matter.
This great war that broke so suddenly upon the world two years ago, and
which has swept within its flame so great a part of the civilized world,
has affected us very profoundly, and we are not only at liberty, it is
perhaps our duty, to speak very frankly of it and of the great interests
of civilization which it affects.
With its causes and its objects we are not concerned. The obscure
fountains from which its stupendous flood has burst forth we are not
interested to search for or explore. But so great a flood, spread far
and wide to every quarter of the globe, has of necessity engulfed many a
fair province of right that lies very near to us.
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