If I have overlooked anything that ought to be done for the more
effective conduct of the war, your own counsels will supply the
omission. What I am perfectly clear about is that in the present session
of the Congress our whole attention and energy should be concentrated on
the vigorous, rapid, and successful prosecution of the great task of
winning the war.
We can do this with all the greater zeal and enthusiasm because we know
that for us this is a war of high principle, debased by no selfish
ambition of conquest or spoliation; because we know, and all the world
knows, that we have been forced into it to save the very institutions we
live under from corruption and destruction. The purposes of the Central
Powers strike straight at the very heart of everything we believe in;
their methods of warfare outrage every principle of humanity and of
knightly honor; their intrigue has corrupted the very thought and spirit
of many of our people; their sinister and secret diplomacy has sought to
take our very territory away from us and disrupt the Union of the
States. Our safety would be at an end, our honor forever sullied and
brought into contempt were we to permit their triumph.
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