Lt^". :fs itS'SSsST^ - 11 THE FOREIGN POLICY OF WOODROW WILSON ROBINSONand'WEST '*>SJ* ,<-'. '¦^i <--* w?. <^.< :>4J ¦> '.. *** *.5*-^ y*.-*'. 0CoUectfottin«j ©fllpDccccjCjCjciij® THE FOREIGN POLICY OF WOODROW WILSON 1913-1917 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NBW rOSK . BOSTON ¦ CHICAGO • DALLAS ATLANTA . SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., Limitkb LONDON . BOMBAY . CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Lm. TORONTO THE FOREIGN POLICY OF WOODROW WILSON 1913-1917 BY EDGAR E. ROBINSON Assistant Professor of American History, Leland Stanford Junior University AND VICTOR J. WEST Assistant Professor of Political Science, Leland Stanford Junior University 4 9 Nnn fork THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1918 All rights reserved COPTSI«HT, 1917, By the MACMILLAN COMPANT. Set up and electrotyped. Published December, i9X7> Reprinted Jaiiuary, 19x8. CdS'^.lOlL Notfnotili )picss: Berwick & Smith Co., Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. PREFACE It has been the aim of the authors to present an ac count of the development of the policy followed by Woodrow Wilson in dealing with the foreign relations of the United States during the years 1913-1917, and to provide in convenient form the more important state ments of President Wilson and his Secretaries of State in announcing and carrying forward that policy. No attempt has been made to write a history of the diplomacy of the period or to discuss with any thought of finality the multitude of questions that fill it. The paramount problems, the fundamental principles, the great decisions, — these only have been given extended treatment. Be cause the period was so filled with rapid changes it seemed essential to append a carefully selected chronology of the significant events in American foreign relations. In public discussions great stress has been put upon the events which preceded the entrance of the United States into the Great War and upon President Wilson's addresses and proclamations thereby called forth. The full understanding of the meaning of those utterances and of the implications of President Wilson's policy is to be found in the examinaition of the earlier and in some respects more significant period of his administration which preceded the opening of the Great War. Leland Stanford Junior University, September i, 1917. CONTENTS PART I page The Development of the Policy 1-157 CHAPTER I Foundations 3 II Principles in Practice 24 III Maintenance of NEuiRALiiy 44 IV Freedom of the Seas 64 V Preparation for Defence 80 VI Formulation of the Issue iii VII War to Insure Peace 130 VIII Leadership of Woodrow Wilson 149 PART II More Important Events in American Foreign Relations 159-173 PART III More Important Utterances of the Administration . . 177-411 (l."") Statement of President Wilson with regard to relations ^-^ with the republics of Central and South America. March II, 1913 179 2. Statement of President Wilson with regard to the proposed Six Power loan and relations with China. March 18, 1913 181 3. Extract from an appeal of the President to Governor John son of California relating to anti-alien land tenure legis lation. April 22, 1913 182 4. Statement of Secretary Bryan with_ regard to Adminis tration's plans for insuring international peace. April 24, 1913 183 S. Extract from a letter of Secretary Bryan to Governor Johnson of California relating to anti-alien land tenure legislation. May 11, 1913 184 CONTENTS page 6. Extract from a communication of Secretary Bryan to the Japanese ambassador at Washington. May 19, 1913 . . 184 7. Extract from a communication of Secretary Bryan to the Japanese ambassador at Washington. July 16, 1913 . . 187 8. Address of the President to the Congress concerning rela tions with the Republic of Mexico. August 27, 1913 . . 188 9. Message of President Wilson to the citizens of the Philip pine Islands. October 6, 1913 195 10. Extract from an address of President Wilson to the stu dents of Swarthmore College. October 25, 1913 . . . ig6 II. Extract from an address of President Wilson at the re- dedication of Congress Hall in Philadelphia. October 25, 1913 197 12. Extract from an address of President Wilson before the Southern Commercial Congress at Mobile. October 27, 1913 199 13. Extract from the annual message of the President to the Congress. December 2, 19x3 203 14. Statement of President Wilson with regard to the embargo on shipping military supplies into Mexico. February 3, 1914 . . 207 15. Address of the President to the Congress concerning the Panama Canal Act. March 5, 1914 207 16. Address of the President to the Congress concerning rela tions with General Victoriano Huerta. April 20, 1914 . 209 17. Communication of Secretary Bryan to the diplomatic repre sentatives of Argentina, Brazil and Chile at Washington. April 25, 1914 213 18. Extract from an address of President Wilson at the Brook lyn Navy Yard. May 11, 1914 215 19. Extract from an address of President Wilson at the unveil ing of the statue of John Barry in Washington. May 16, 1914 216 20. Extract from an address of President Wilson at Philadel phia. July 4, 1914 219 21. Extract from a statement of President Wilson to the Amer ican people concerning neutrality. August 18, 1914 . 225 22. Extract from the reply of the President to the protest of the German Emperor respecting violations of rules of warfare. September 16, 1914 . 227 23. Extract from an address of President Wilson before the American Bar Association at Washington. October 20 I9H .'228 CONTENTS page 24, Extract from the annual message of the President to the Congress. December 8, 1914 230 25. Extract from a communication of Secretary Bryan to Am bassador W. H. Page. December 26, 1914 236 26. Extract from an address of President Wilson at the Jack son Day banquet in Indianapolis. January 8, 1915 . . 239 27. Extract from a letter of Secretary Bryan to Senator Stone. January 20, 1915 240 28. Extract from the message of the President to the Congress vetoing the immigration bill. January 28, 1915 .... 241 29. Extract from a communication of Secretary Bryan to Am bassador Gerard. February 10, 1915 243 30. Extract from a communication of Secretary Bryan to Am bassador W. H. Page. February 20, 1915 245 31. Extract from an address of President Wilson before the conference of Methodist Protestant Church at Washing ton. April 8, 191S 247 32. Extract from an address of President Wilson before the Daughters of the American Revolution, at Washington. April 19, 1915 248 33. Extract from an address of President Wilson before the Associated Press at New York. April 20, 1915 . . . 249 34. Extract from a communication of Secretary Bryan to the German ambassador at Washington. April 21, 1915. . . 254 35. Address of President Wilson before an audience of re cently naturalized citizens at Philadelphia. May 10, 1915 256 36. Communication of Secretary Bryan to Ambassador Gerard. May 13, 1915 261 37. Extract from an address of President Wilson to the Atlan tic fleet at New York. May 17, 1915 266 38. Statement of President Wilson to the rival factions in Mexico. June 2, 1915 . . 268 39. Extract from a communication of acting Secretary Lansing to Ambassador Gerard. June 9, 1915 270 40. Communication of Secretary Lansing to Ambassador Gerard. July 21, 1915 276 41. Communication of Secretary Lansing and the representa tives at Washington of six Latin American states to Mexican leaders. August 11, 1915 280 42. Extract from an address of President Wilson before the Grand Army of the Republic at Washington. September 28, 1915 282 CONTENTS page 43. Extract from an address of President Wilson to the Civil ian Advisory Board (Navy) at Washington. October 6, 191S 282 44. Extract from an address of President Wilson before the Daughters of the American Revolution, at Washington. October 11, 1915 283 45. Extract from a communication of Secretary Lansing to Ambassador W. H. Page. October 21, 191S .... 286 46. Extract from an address of President Wilson before the Manhattan Club at New York. November 4, 1915 . . 287 47. Extract from the annual message of the President to Con gress. December 7, 19x5 293 48. Extract from an address of President Wilson before the Second Pan-American Scientific Congress, at Washing ton. January 6, X916 3°° 49. Extract from a communication of Secretary Lansing to the British ambassador at Washington. January 18, xgx6 302 SO. Extract from an address of President Wilson at Cleveland. January 29, 1916 .... . . ... 306 5X. Extract from a letter of President Wilson to Senator Stone. February 24, 19x6 309 52. Extract from an address of President Wilson before the Gridiron Club at Washington. February 26, 19x6 . . 3x0 53. Statement of President Wilson concerning sensational ru mors on the Mexican border. March 25, 1916 . . . 3x2 54. Extract from a memorandum by the Department of State on the status of armed merchantmen. March 25, igi6 . 314 55. Extract from an address of President Wilson before the Daughters of the American Revolution at Washington. April 17, 19x6 31S 56. Extract from a communication of Secretary Lansing to Ambassador Gerard. April 18, 19x6 316 57. Extract from an address of the President to the Congress concerning the case of the Sussex. April 19, 19x6 . . 321 58. Extract from a communication of Secretary Lansing to Ambassador Gerard. May 8, 19x6 322 59. Extract from an address of President Wilson before the National Press Club at Washington. May 15, igx6 . 324 60. Extract from an address of President Wilson before the League to Enforce Peace at Washington. May 27, 19x6 325 CONTENTS page 6i. Extract from an address of President Wilson at Arlington National Cemetery. May 30, 19x6 329 62. Extract from an address of President Wilson at West Point. June 13, igi6 331 63. Extract from an address of President Wilson before the Associated Advertising Clubs at Philadelphia. June 29, 1916 335 64. Extract from an address of President Wilson before the Press Club at New York. June 30, 19x6 336 65. Extract from an address of President Wilson at the dedi cation of the American Federation of Labor Building in Washington. July 4, 19x6 338 66. Extract from an address of President Wilson before the World's Salesmanship Congress at Detroit. July 10, 1916 338 67. Extract from an address of President Wilson, accepting the Democratic nomination for the presidency at Shadow Lawn. September 2, 1916 342 68. Extract from an address of President Wilson, at the Lin coln Memorial exercises, Hodgenville, Kentucky. Sep tember 4, 19x6 349 69. Extract from an address of President Wilson before the Grain Dealers' National Association, at Baltimore. Sep tember 25, 19x6 349 70. Extract from an address of President Wilson at the Ne braska Semi-Centennial Celebration in Omaha. October 5, 1916 350 71. Extract from an address of President Wilson before the Commercial Club at Omaha. October 5, 19x6. . . . 351 72. Extract from an address of President Wilson at Shadow Lawn. October 7, X916 352 73. Extract from an address of President Wilson at the Indiana Centennial in Indianapolis. October X2, 19x6 . . . 352 74. Extract from an address of President Wilson at Shadow Lawn. October 14, 1916 353 75. Extract from an address of President Wilson at Shadow Lawn. October x6, 19x6 354 76, Extract from an address of President Wilson before the Women's .City Club at Cincinnati. October 26, 19x6 . 355 77. Extract from an address of President Wilson at Shadow Lawn. October 28, 19x6 357 78. Extract from an address of President Wilson at Shadow Lawn. November 4, igx6 357 CONTENTS page 79. Extract from a communication of Secretary Lansing to the United States representatives at the capitals of the belligerent powers. December 18, igi6 .... 3S9 80. Address of the President to the Senate concerning a league of nations. January 22, xgx7 362 8x. Address of the President to the Congress concerning the severance of diplomatic relations with Germany. Febru ary 3, xgx7 370 82. Extract from an address of the President to the Congress concerning the grant of power to arm merchant ships. February 26, 1917 375 83. Extract from the second inaugural address of President Wilson at Washington. March 5, 1917 380 84. Address of the President to the Congress concerning a declaration of war against Germany. April 2, 19x7 . . 382 85. Extract from a statement of President Wilson to the people of the United States. April 15, 19x7 .... 393 86. Letter of President Wilson to Representative Heflin. May 23, 1917 396 87. Extract from an address of President Wilson at Arlington National Cemetery. May 30, 19x7 397 88. Extract from a communication of President Wilson to the government of Russia. June g, igi7 398 89. Address of President Wilson at Washington. June 14, X917 400 90. Communication of Secretary Lansing to Pope Benedict XV. August 2T, 1917 408 PART I THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY THE FOREIGN POLICY OF WOODROW WILSON 1913-1917 CHAPTER I Foundations New Forces in Control of the Government of the United States — Existing Problems in Foreign Relations — Previous Record of the Democratic Party — Attitude of the New Admin istration — Relations with Latin-America — United States and China — Japanese in America — Policy of President Wilson upon the Problem of Government in Mexico — Dependencies of the United States — Peace Projects of the Wilson Administra tion. Woodrow Wilson did not refer to foreign policy in his first inaugural address. Although this silence was generally expected, it served to emphasize at the outset of a Democratic administration the domestic character of the interests and pledges of the Democratic party. Foreign policies had not been debated in the campaign for the presidency in 1912.^ Except for a veiled reference to a 1 The Democratic party platform for xgx2 had planks calling for an immediate declaration of American purpose respecting the inde pendence of the Philippines, favouring an exemption from tolls of American coast-wise ships, and upholding the action of the Congress in a recent dispute with Russia, but none of these matters were in controversy and the Democratic victory brought none of them to the fore. 3 4 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY withdrawal from the Philippines,^ the president-elect in the interval prior to inauguration had given no indication of a program or a policy in respect to the relations of the government of the United States with the nations of the world. Yet there were not lacking persons who pointed out that the Democratic party and its leader were by record and word opposed to the tendency and much of the con tent of the foreign policy pursued by the Republican ad ministrations. ^ Particularly was this true of the spirit of the Knox diplomacy and, had not the voters and political parties been absorbed in matters of domestic interest, it is certain that much would have been said of foreign policy, especially of " dollar diplomacy," in the cam paign of 1912.* There had been expectation in certain quarters, both at home and abroad, that the coming of the new administration would mark especially a change in the attitude of the government of the United States in matters relating to the Central and South American ^ President-elect Wilson had said in a public address on December 28, xgx2, "The Philippine Islands are at present our frontier, but I hope we presently are to deprive ourselves of that frontier." Chicago Record-Herald, December 2g, 1912. 2 Summary of expected changes may be found in " Will the Demo crats Reverse our Foreign Policy?" American Review of Reviews, XLVII, 83 (January, 19x3). 3 The term " dollar diplomacy " was applied to the activities of Secretary Knox in securing opportunities for the investment of American capital abroad, particularly in Latin America and China. The policy was severely criticized not only by the Democratic party, but by a progressive element in the Republican party. See La Pollette's Weekly, March 22, 1913; March 29, igx3. President Taft defended the policy of his Secretary in his message to Con gress, December 3, 19x2. Congressional Record, XLIX, 8. FOUNDATIONS 5 republics. But whatever the anticipation, the public was not to be long in doubt, for there were issues at hand to test at once the purpose of the incoming administration.^ Events in China and Mexico had been so shaping them selves in 19 1 2 as to bring forward problems for an imme diate consideration on the part of the United States. The increasing strain in the relations with Colombia, a result of the part played by the United States in the Panama re volt of 1903, demanded relief.^ The exemption, by the Panama Canal Act of 19 12, of American coast-wise shipping from the payment of tolls had called forth pro tests from Great Britain which remained to be satisfied.^ To forestall any possibility of a rival canal it was necessary to bring to success the negotiations with Nicaragua for the control of the only other routes.* 1 For review of events in igx2, see P. S. Reinsch, " Diplomatic Affairs and International Law, 19x2," American PoUtical Science Review, VII, 63 (February, xgX3). 2 The Taft administration had attempted to settle the contro versy by proposing to purchase from Colombia certain privileges in that country and to award preferential treatment to its ships in the use of the Panama Canal. Colombia peremptorily refused to accept these proposals, February 15, 19x3. ^ The British government claimed that the provision of the Act of Congress, August 24, 1912, authorizing this exemption and deny ing the use of the canal to ships owned by trans-continental rail ways, violated the Hay-Pauncefote treaty. President Taft ex pressed his willingness to submit the whole matter to arbitration, but the Department of State in its note of January 17, 19x3, con tended that there was neither violation of the treaty nor substantial injury to foreign shipping. The reply of the British ambassador was received February 27, 19x3. *A proposed treaty with Nicaragua, signed February 3, 1913, would have granted to the United States exclusive rights over Nicaraguan canal routes and for the establishment of a naval base. Before this treaty had been acted upon by the United States Sen- 6 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY The Taft administration had refused to renew a com mercial treaty with Russia, because of the discrimination by that government against American citizens of the Jewish race, and trade between the two nations depended on the mutual good will of the respective governments, until a new treaty should be arranged.^ Perhaps President Wilson had some of these matters in mind when he said in his inaugural address that the na tion sought to use the Democratic party " to interpret a change in its own plans and point of view." But this is doubtful. He was at that time referring to such matters as tariff and currency, which he went on to discuss. It is significant, however, that before measures on either of these subjects had been launched in Congress, in fact be fore the Congress had assembled in special session, the President had found it necessary to state the position of the administration upon certain matters of foreign policy in such terms as to show that there were, indeed, to be decided changes in the plans and point of view of the government of the United States in dealing with foreign nations. LATIN AMERICA Upon taking office President Wilson faced at once the question of recognition of General Victoriano Huerta, ate, it was withdrawn because amendments had been suggested which would have established a protectorate over Nicaragua. ^The treaty of commerce and navigation between the United States and Russia, ratified in 1832, expired January x, 19x3. The Taft administration had notified the Russian government December 17, xgxx, that it desired to terminate the treaty on its expiration. FOUNDATIONS 7 who had become provisional president of Mexico thirteen days earlier. This marked the climax of a series of events in Mexico in 19 12 when that country had been the scene of the greatest disorder. Insurrection had broken out in many quarters and the Madero government had been unable to cope with it. In this situation the Taft ad ministration had followed a policy of non-interference. Citizens of the United States were warned to refrain from entering Mexico and from taking part in the dis turbances there; those already in that country were urged to leave the danger areas; shipment of war ma terials into Mexico was forbidden; and the government of that state was informed that if American life and property within the boundaries of Mexico were not ade quately protected the United States would be forced to intervene. But while troops were sent to the border no intervention had taken place in spite of the increasing uncertainties of life in Mexico. In February of 1913 President Madero was deposed and, while in the custody of Huerta's troops, was killed under circumstances that indicated a deliberate assassination. Huerta assumed a virtual dictatorship over the country, though under cover of legal right based on an election by the Mexican Congress. The American ambassador at Mexico City strongly advised the incoming administration to accord formal recognition to the authority of Huerta. This President Wilson refused to do, thus departing from our usual practice.^ ^A similar case of non-recognition was that concerning Nic- 8 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY His motive and purpose in this new departure were in dicated when, on March ii, 1913. he issued a statement outlining his administration's attitude toward Latin America. (Statement No. i,y He declared that a chief object of his endeavour would be the cultivation of friendship with the republics of Central and South Amer ica. He wished to deserve their confidence and to co operate with them. However, it seemed to him that co-operation was possible " only when supported at every turn by the orderly processes of just government based upon law, not upon arbitrary or irregular force." He promised to use every influence of the administration to the establishment of these principles. This marked definitely the stand of the administration upon the question of government in Mexico. But the President went on to say with general application to all Central and South American states that the favour of the administration was to be granted to " no special group or interest " in these countries. He was concerned with trade relationships between the two continents which should " redound to the profit and advantage of both and interfere with the rights and liberties of neither." As the first three paragraphs of this statement embod ied the substance of his Mexican policy, so the last para graph foreshadowed his Mobile speech in which he was to draw the line between " concessions " and " investments " aragua in 1855. See J. B. Moore, Digest of International Law, I, X40. For instances of delayed recognition see ibid., 1 19-164. ''¦ Infra, p. 179. This and subsequent references in parentheses are to the numbered statements in Part III of this volume. FOUNDATIONS 9 in Latin American countries. This was, however, as much of the policy of his government as he cared to fore cast at that time. THE FAR EAST A week after his statement respecting his attitude to ward Latin America the President was impelled to issue another statement, this time in response to a request by a group of American bankers that he signify the position of the administration upon their participation in a Six Power loan to China.^ (Statement No. 2,) Representatives of the banking houses concerned had called upon Secretary Bryan on March ninth and had stated explicitly that they would not participate unless expressly requested to do so by the administration.^ President Wilson declined to make such a request, disapproving of the conditions of the loan and consequently of the implied imposition of a responsibility upon the government of the United States. It might lead to an interference in the political affairs of China. Responsibility for such a possible result was " obnoxious to the principles upon which the government of our people rests." But the American people did wish to aid the people of China, particularly in view of their ^The participants were bankers of Great Britain, France, Ger many, Japan, Russia and the United States. 2 An American group of bankers, consisting of J. P. Morgan & Co., Kuhn, Loeb & Co., First National Bank of New York City and National City Bank, had been formed in the spring of 1909, upon the request of the Department of State that a financial back ing be given for participation by the United States in the railway loan agreement then under negotiation between China and groups of British, French and German bankers. 10 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY recent awakening.^ Here also the United States was interested in trade relationships but, said he, " our inter ests are those of the open door — a door of friendship and mutual advantage. This is the only door we care to enter."^ Within two weeks of taking office, President Wilson had made public the basic principles upon which he was to conduct relations of the United States with less powerful nations. Detailed programs developed in due time. The principles remained the same. He next was faced with the necessity of dealing with a diplomatic question involv ing one of the Great Powers and touching upon matters within the boundaries of the United States. JAPANESE IN AMERICA On April 4, 191 3, the Japanese ambassador at Wash ington called the attention of the Department of State to legislation pending in the California state legislature, the purport of which, he averred, was discrimination against the Japanese in the owning or leasing of lands. The proposed act did discriminate against aliens not eligible to citizenship, and in fact was designed to strike at the ownership of land by Japanese subjects. President Wilson attempted to prevent the development of a controversy with Japan by appealing to thfe California 1 Revolution in China culminated on February X2, 19x2. The Re publican government of China was recognized by the United States on May z, 19x3. * The official announcement of the withdrawal of the American group, issued March xg, 1913, may be found in Commercial and Financial Chronicle, XCVI, 825. FOUNDATIONS ii authorities, if they thought action necessaryjat all, to ex clude from the privileges of land- ownership all aliens who had not declared their intention to become citizens. (Statement No. j.) This was of course not the object of the proposed legislation nor would it meet the Japa nese charge of discrimination. But it was state legisla tion that the President thought should be such as could not be " fairly challenged or called in question." His purpose was plainly to put the burden and responsibility upon the national government. A week following this appeal the President requested Secretary Bryan to go to California for a conference with the legislature and Governor Johnson. The mis sion was not a success. On May third the legislature passed the bill without material change and Governor Johnson signed it on the nineteenth.^ In the interim between passage and the governor's action the Japanese ambassador, on May ninth, laid an " urgent and explicit protest " before the Department of State, and this led the administration to dispatch a sec ond appeal to Governor Johnson in which national re sponsibility was again stressed and delay was requested that an attempt might be made to settle the matter through diplomatic channels. (Statement No. 5.) Governor Johnson's action made such effort impossible, but on the day of the signature the Department of State '•California Statutes, (19x3) p. 206. The law may be found also in J. H. Deering, General Laws of California (1916 ed.), Act 129, p. 40, and in American Journal of International Law, VIII, Supple ment, 177. 12 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY made formal reply to the Japanese protest. ^ (State- jment No, 6.) In stating its position the government of the United States admitted that beyond protesting it could do noth ing to prevent legislative action by one of the states. It was pointed out, however, that the legislation in question was not political in the sense that it was part of any gen eral national policy inconsistent with complete friendship between the two nations. It was asserted that it was wholly economic. The people of the State of CaHfornia desired " to avoid certain conditions of competition in their agricultural activities." Secretary Bryan took pains to assure the Japanese gov ernment that his government desired to further the under standing that bound the nations together. Besides the attempts to induce California to modify its legislation there was other evidence of this desire. The Japanese government, in common with the other governments of the world, had before it at this time a plan for world peace laid before the diplomats at Washington by Secre tary Bryan April 24, 1913.^ (Statement No, 4,) The Japanese ambassador informed the Secretary of State on June second that Japan accepted the plan " in principle." Moreover, toward the close of the month the '^ Diplomatic exchanges upon this subject may be found in De partment of State, American-Japanese Discussions Relating to Land Tenure Law of California, 3-28. 2 It was announced by Secretary Bryan on May 30, X913, that favourable responses had been received from Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Sweden, Brazil, Peru and Norway. An arbitration treaty with Great Britain was renewed on May 31, 19x3. FOUNDATIONS 13 general arbitration treaty between the two countries was renewed.^ On June fourth, however, Japan presented a second formal note of protest against the California land legislation, to which Secretary Bryan replied on July six teenth. (Statement No. 7.) It was a reiteration and elaboration of the first reply. No more than in the first reply did the California attitude receive clear treatment. The Department of State put its emphasis upon the pur pose and attitude of the national administration. It in sisted that there was no question of discrimination on account of race, and also that the right to determine " who shall and who shall not be permitted to settle in its dominions and become a part of the body politic " must necessarily be left to the municipal law of each nation to " avoid the contentions which are so likely to disturb the harmony of international relations." Japan was natu rally not satisfied. A third protest was made on August twenty-sixth and a fourth late in September.^ The policy of the Wilson administration embodied two distinctions, the one drawn between economic and politi cal legislation, the other between action by a state and the expression of the good will of the nation. Moreover, it maintained that there was no violation of a treaty right. If assurance of harraony of interests represented the con tribution of the administration in this crisis, it was in ^This treaty of May 5, X908, was one of a series of arbitration treaties negotiated during the secretaryship of Elihu Root. It would have expired August 24, 19x3. The renewal was ratified by the Senate February 21, 1914, and ratifications exchanged May 23, X914. 2 For subsequent discussion of Japanese protests see American Journal of International Law, VIII, 571. 14 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY keeping with the desire of those in charge to make the world one of peace and mutual agreement. But the Japanese protest, based fundamentally not upon the eco nomic legislation of California, for that was an incident, but upon the discrimination against Japanese in the law of the United States, remained to be considered at a later time.^ MEXICO For the time being the interest of the administration was centred elsewhere. On August 26, 1913, the same day that Japan had presented its third protest, General Huerta, who was in power in Mexico City and whom President Wilson had refrained from recognizing, took steps that led the United States to consider more intently, than it thus far had, its relations with the Mexican people. Since the ninth of May Huerta had refused to recog nize the American ambassador and on July sixteenth the latter was called to Washington for a conference. This was followed by his resignation. Early in August John Lind, former governor of Minnesota, was sent to Mexico City as the special agent of President Wilson.* These 1 There is no discrimination in terms in the statutes of the United States, but by judicial interpretation of the law it has been held that the Japanese, among other races, cannot be naturalized. See J. B. Moore, Digest of International Law, III, 331. In the spring of 1917 in a paper before the American Academy of Political and So cial Science Toyokichi lyenaga discussed relations between Japan and the United States and asked the full recognition of the equality of Japanese now resident in the United States. "Japan, America and Durable Peace," Annals of American Academy, LXXII, 124. 2 For basis for use of such agents and earlier instances of their FOUNDATIONS 15 events emphasized the determination of the President not to recognize the government of Huerta. But he was of the opinion that the time had come when his policy of " hands off," announced in March, should give way to an offer to assist Mexico out of its difficulties. In making this change he was careful to emphasize the earlier assur ance that the United States was acting in the spirit of dis interested friendship. Reason for his change he stated thus, " The present situation in Mexico is incompatible with the fulfilment of international obligations on the part of Mexico, with the civilized development of Mexico herself, and with the maintenance of tolerable political and economic conditions in Central America." Through Mr. Lind he proposed the following terms of settlement: "(a) An immediate cessation of fighting throughout Mexico, a definite armistice solemnly entered into and scrupulously observed, (b) Security given for an early and free election in which all will agree to take part, (c) The consent of General Huerta to bind him self not to be a candidate for election as President of the Republic at this election, (d) The agreement of all parties to abide by the results of the election and co-op erate in the most loyal way in organizing and supporting the new administration." General Huerta rejected these proposals on the sixteenth of August.^ Eleven days later the President addressed Congress. use see H. M. Wriston, " Presidential Special Agents in Diplomacy," American Political Science Review, X, 481. 1 The reply of Huerta may be found in American Journal of In ternational Law, VII, Supplement, 284. i6 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY (Statement No. 8.) It was his purpose in doing this to lay definitely before, the nation the principle and content of his policy in Mexico, and, if possible, to bring to his support a body of sentiment so considerable as to make it clear that the administration spoke the purpose of the nation. Then, as at later times, Mr. Wilson felt the necessity of restating for foreign peoples the point of view of the American people, as well as the policy of his own administration, and as a preliminary to this he made the effort to pronounce to his own people the make-up of his policy, in order that there might be understanding and decision at home. This was particularly necessary at this time inasmuch as the President was on the surface apparently preparing the United States to play in Mexico the role of " Big Policeman." ^ As the events proved and as his utter ances had clearly foreshadowed, his purpose in this mat ter and his conception of the aid of America was decid edly not that ascribed to him at the time by the prominent leaders of public opinion, long accustomed to the ways and reasons of some of his immediate predecessors. It may be well to recall that on taking office in 1913 Mr. Wilson had not only to formulate a foreign policy, but, in view of the fact that the Democratic party had not been in power for the sixteen years during which the iThis phrase has been generally applied to a course of action pursued by President Roosevelt. It was stressed by him in his mes sage to Congress on December 6, 1904. The European press so in terpreted the course of President Wilson in Mexico; cited in Her bert Kraus, " What European Countries Think of the Monroe Doc trine," Annals of American Academy, LIV, xxo. FOUNDATIONS 17 United States had become a " world power," he had the much greater task of interpreting that policy to the American people and relating it to the problems with which he had to deal.^ Mr. Wilson accepted this task with a deep sense of responsibility. It is probably not too much to say that in expounding the principles of an American policy to the American people he made a great, if not the greatest, contribution to the preparation of America for participation in the Great War. His appeal of August twenty-seventh should be consid ered with this task in mind. He spoke of the obligation of the United States government in the protection of American interests, but he put first the " obligation to Mexico herself." American friendship for the Mexican people should be such as to lead to willing sacrifices in their time of trouble. By sacrifice he apparently meant the curtailment of American interests for the time being. In this he was emphasizing his position of March elev enth. The reasons why the United States should be so concerned with " the peace, prosperity, and contentment of Mexico " were to be found less in the enlargement thereby of the field for American business than in the " enlargement of the field of self-government and the realization of the hopes and rights of a nation . . . whose best aspirations " had been " so long suppressed and disappointed." In view of the apparent inability of Huerta to re- ^ Relations with Colombia, England, Japan and Mexico called for immediate attention. i8 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY store order, or of his opponents to gain control, the President believed that it was the duty of the United States to volunteer to assist, if that were possible, " in effecting some arrangement which would bring relief and peace and set up a universally acknowledged political authority " in Mexico. It was to aid in the accomplish ment of this end that Mr. Lind had been sent to Mexico City. The failure of Mr. Lind to secure the retirement of Huerta had led the President to make this statement to Congress. He concluded with the following announce ment of his future course, — an announcement that con tains the spirit of the Wilson diplomatic policy through out his term and upon all questions : " Clearly, every thing that we do must be rooted in patience and done with calm and disinterested deliberation. . . . We can afford to exercise the self-restraint of a really great nation which realizes its own strength and scorns to misuse it." There the matter rested, as far as the administration was concerned, for some time. In mid-October the Washington government found it expedient to send warn ings to Huerta, and he was given to understand that the United States had no intention of recognizing his claim to the presidency even though the elections then in prog ress should result in his favour. The elections held under the Huerta regime were not the orderly processes of constitutional government which President Wilson found an essential to the restoration of normal conditions, FOUNDATIONS 19 DEPENDENCIES During the seven months in which President Wilson had been placing before the country his conception of foreign policy, there had been some speculation as to his probable procedure with relation to the Philippines. The Democratic party had given consideration to this matter in its platforms since 1900,^ and the platform of 1912 had favoured an immediate declaration of the nation's purpose to recognize the independence of the islands as soon as a stable government could be established. No certain statement was given of the President's views until October 6, 19 13, when the newly-appointed Governor- General delivered a message from the President to the citizens of the Philippine Islands. (Statement No. p.) Here, as in other cases, the President put his faith in self- government, and stated his intention to make it possible wherever his action might be of aid.^ He summed up his faith in addressing an audience at Swarthmore College later in October when he said, ". . . the mere extent of the American conquest is not what gives America distinction in the annals of the world, but the professed purpose of the conquest which was to see to it that every foot of this land should be the home ¦¦ Platforms of the Democratic party can be conveniently found in E. Stanwood, History of the Presidency, II (x897-xgx6) second edi tion. Platforms, 1900, pp. 58-63; 1904, pp. x 19-124; 1908, pp. x86- ig6 ; 19x2, pp. 260-271 ; 19x6, pp. 350-360. 2 The address of Governor General Harrison in presenting this message was published in the Weekly Times (Manila, P. I.) Octo ber 10, 19x3. 20 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY of free, self-governed people, who should have no gov ernment whatever which did not rest upon the consent of the governed." (Statement No. lo,) At this time Mr. Wilson was apparently conscious of a need to make this point increasingly clear to his own countrymen. At Philadelphia in October he said that he had asked himself this question, " How are you going to assist in some small part to give the American people and, by example, the peoples of the world more liberty, more happiness, more substantial prosperity; and how are you going to make that prosperity a common heritage instead of a selfish possession?" (Statement No, II,) GENERAL POLICY But the full meaning of his thought with reference to his own foreign policy did not become absolutely dear until he made his address to the Southern Commercial Congress at Mobile on October 2'/, 191 3. (Statement No, 12.) The address was carefully prepared and after the inaugural address deserves to rank first of all his utterances during the first year of his presidency. He pointed out the dangers involved in the "conces sions " obtained by foreign companies in South and Cen tral America.^ He predicted that in time " concessions " would be displaced by investments. With pride he pointed to action by his administration in speeding this 1 These were the dangers referred to by him on March 18, 1913, in discussing the proposed six-power loan to China. FOUNDATIONS 21 change.^ " It is a very perilous thing to determine the foreign policy of a nation in 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." Even while speaking such sentiments the President must have felt the possibility of a distinction between his ideal and the actions of his country in the past. He turned aside to say " that the United States will never again seek one additional foot of territory by conquest." But there was a deeper meaning in the President's out look upon the future of Latin America. He was striving to emphasize the need of equity in the relations between nations in order that international disputes might be avoided or readily settled. " Comprehension," said he, " 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 thoughtful men of America. I mean the development of constitutional liberty in the world. Human rights, na tional integrity, and opportunity as against material in terests — that ... is the issue. . . ." President Wil son was in this address directing his thought to the Amer icas. But it is of significance that he proposed a course of action and enunciated a group of principles which three years later he wished to apply to the conduct of the United States in the world at large. ^ It may be that the President was referring to the withdrawal of the Pearson syndicate from its proposed investment in Colombia. 22 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY INTERNATIONAL PEACE From the outset the administration had been credited with a desire to further projects for insuring interna tional peace. During the previous administration the sentiment for arbitration had made progress under the leadership of President Taft. President Wilson fa voured arbitration, but his administration went a step further. As a means of arresting the development of controversies, and thus of avoiding the necessity of arbi tration or war, a plan was proposed for preliminary in quiry into the causes of dispute. In his address to Con gress in December of 19 13 the President related the success of this effort. (Statement No. 7J.) In April of 1913 Secretary Bryan had presented to the diplomats at Washington a plan providing " that whenever differ ences of interest or of policy arise that could not be re solved by the ordinary processes of diplomacy they shall be publicly analyzed, discussed, and reported upon by a tribunal chosen by the parties before either nation deter mines its course of action." In the ensuing eight months assent, in principle, had been gained from thirty-one governments representing four-fifths of the population of the world. Thus the President found " many happy manifestations ... of a growing cordiality and sense of community of interest among the nations, foreshadow ing an age of settled peace and good will." Pending controversies with England, Russia, Japan and Colombia were not mentioned in this message. But FOUNDATIONS 23 the attitude of the administration toward the settlement of these disputes was foreshadowed thus : " There is only one possible standard by which to determine contro versies 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." The foundations for the foreign policy of the admin istration of Woodrow Wilson had been firmly laid before the expiration of the year. In Latin America, particu larly in Mexico, and in the Far East, particularly in China, fair dealing involving a refusal to countenance the extension of the financial interests of the United States at the expense of peoples less advanced indus trially, friendly co-operation embodied in a moral sup port of the forces of law and order and a reliance upon the universal principle of self-government, — these had characterized the action of the government at Wash ington. In controversies, notably in that with Japan, guidance had been found in the reasonableness of deciding disputed questions by orderly processes, and in the im portance of deliberation and patience and mutual under standing. At all times emphasis had been placed upon the spirit of the people of the United States rather than upon their might as a nation. CHAPTER II Principles in Practice Pre-eminent Importance of the Mexican Question — Develop ment of the Policy of the Administration — President Wilson's Treatment of the Panama Tolls Controversy — Inviolability of Treaties — Crisis in the Relations with Huerta — Mediation by the " A. B. C." Powers — Triumph of the President's Policies. Mexico demanded of the administration increasing attention. In the midst of what the President some three years later called " this perplexing business," it was re peatedly asserted, and the statement met with general acceptance, that however much the American people re joiced in the fact that the administration had not inter vened in Mexico, a great portion did not understand the policy of the President and were frequently baffled by the changes in that policy. In its development the policy of the administration by the opening of 1914 had passed through two stages. In the first the President had merely refused to recognize the govemment of Huerta, in the second, signalized by the mission of Lind, he had tendered the good offices of the United States in an effort to bring the warring factions together. In spite of the rejection by Huerta of this proffered aid, the President's personal representative had remained in Mexico and 24 PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE 25 the President had maintained an attitude of " watchful waiting." He felt that peace in America was not assured until a constitutional government had been established in Mex ico, and he held that an elimination of those who exer cised arbitrary and illegal power must necessarily precede the formation of a permanent concert of power for the Americas. The United States was particularly on trial in this matter partly because of its course toward Mexico in earlier years and partly because its predominant size in the Americas naturally engendered the suspicion of possible aggression. Consequently the President wished to emphasize the peculiar burden of responsibility resting upon the United States. In his message to Congress in December of 1913 he said, " 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." ^ His meaning here was subject to two possible interpretations. Championship might imply merely continued refusal to recognize Huerta or it might mean adoption of measures of some sort to hasten the downfall of any who exercised arbitrary authority. Late in January of 1914 the President took a step that marked entrance upon the third stage in the development of his ' In this message greater powers in self-government were asked for Porto Rico and Hawaii and ultimate independence for the Philip pines was stressed. 26 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY policy. He made known to the members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations that he intended to raise the embargo on the shipment of arms into Mexico.^ In his explanation of February 3, 1914, there is a frank statement of the reasons for the use of this weapon against Huerta. (Statement No. 14.) This was cham pionship of those who were waging war for a constitu tional government. Said the President : " The execu tive order under which the exportation of arms and am munition into Mexico is forbidden was a departure from the accepted practices of neutrality — a deliberate de parture from those practices under a well-considered joint resolution of Congress, determined in circumstances which have now ceased to exist.^ It was intended to dis courage incipient revolts against the regularly constituted authorities of Mexico. Since that order was issued the circumstances of the case have undergone a radical change. There is now no Constitutional Govemment in Mexico; and the existence of this order hinders and de lays the very thing that the Govemment of the United States is now insisting upon, namely, that Mexico shall be left free to settle her own affairs and as soon as pos sible put them on a constitutional footing by her own force and counsel." Critics of the President pointed out that this order would result in arming those whom the ^ On January 2, 19x4, the President had conferred with John Lind, his personal representative in Mexico. 2 The order of Taft of March 14, 19x2, had forbidden all export except to the government of Madero. The order of Wilson in 19x3 had made no exception. PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE 27 United States must eventually fight when it intervened, but unlike these critics the President had no intention, then or at a later time, of intervening.^ But the new determination of the President did seem to actually project the United States into Mexico's do mestic troubles.^ Moreover, it divided the responsibility for what happened in Mexico between the Huertistas and the Constitutionalist faction; though General Carranza, the leader of that party, refused to assume this burden. There were indications of some disposition on the part of the world at large to hold the United States itself in some measure responsible for acts of violence directed at for eigners in Mexico. In February Great Britain requested that the Washington government investigate the death of a British subject, whose killing, it was charged, had been at the hands of troops of the party of Carranza. The United States accepted the responsibility, but on account of strained relations with Carranza its efforts were not an unqualified success. Mr. Wilson felt called upon to discuss the rumour of European interference on March 2, 1914, and to deny that any pressure had been brought to bear upon the ^ There was widespread demand for change in policy toward Mexico in the late winter. See particularly W. M. Shuster, " The Mexican Menace," Century Magazine, LXXXVII, 593 (February, 19x4,) and G. Harvey, " We Appeal to the President," North Amer ican Review, CXCIX, 481 (April, 19x4). 2 Comment at this time was aroused by two other acts of the ad ministration. Late in January United States marines were landed in Haiti to aid in maintenance of order. On February 12, 19x4, formal recognition was given a governraent recently established in Peru. 28 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY United States government by other governments.^ That this denial may have been accompanied by a mental reser vation is to be inferred from an occurrence on the fol lowing day in the British House of Commons, when Sir Edward Grey announced that if the British government did not obtain satisfaction from the Constitutionalists through the good offices of the United States it reserved the right to obtain reparation by other means when the circumstances should permit. PANAMA TOLLS In the meantime other matters were causing concern to the administration. As has been pointed out above, controversies were pending with several governments, and in his conference with the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in January the President took the oc casion to point out the gravity of the international situa tion. Of the questions before him the President decided first of all to take up the contention of Great Britain that the exemption of American coastwise ships from the payment of tolls at Panama was a violation of the treaty of 1901 between the United States and Great Britain. The Democratic platform of 191 2 had favoured this exemp tion and there were Democratic majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Notwith standing these facts the President on March 5, 1914, 1 From a stenographic report of a talk of the President on March 2, 19x4. Published in World's Work, XXVIII, 485-7. PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE • 29 read a message to the Congress in which he asked the repeal of the provision of the act that made the exemp tion.-' (Statement No, 15.) In doing so he laid em phasis on the fact that opinion outside of the United States was united in holding that the exemption was contrary to the treaty rights of Great Britain.^ The President's belief was thus expressed, " we are too big, too powerful, too self-respecting a Nation to inter pret with too strained or refined a reading the words of our own promises just because we have power enough to give us leave to read them as we please." He closed his address with an appeal that caused great speculation and endless explanation. " I ask this of you in support of the foreign policy of the administration. I shall not know how to deal with other matters of even greater delicacy and nearer consequence if you do not grant it to me in ungrudging measure." This was widely interpreted to indicate pressure from Great Britain with regard to Mexico. The President denied this in a subse quent talk with the newspaper men. In answer to ques tioning he stated that there was no particular significance to be attached to the words " nearer consequence." He regarded it as essential, however, that confidence be strengthened in the pledged word of the United States, if the policy of conciliation and co-operation, in which the 1 The proposed repeal applied to the clause that provided, " No tolls shall be levied upon vessels engaged in coastwise trade of the United States." United States Statutes at Large, XXXVII, 562. 2 For compilation of foreign press comment see Literary Digest, XLV, 362-3. 30 • DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY administration had been interested from the beginning, was to make headway in Latin America.^ Before Con gress had indicated decisively its reaction to this proposal all attention was taken by startling events in Mexico. MEXICO Time had seemed to work no improvement there. As the spring approached the President insisted, in the face of an increasing storm of criticism, that the United States could afford to wait for the desired outcome.^ Haste upon the part of the United States could not but lead to bloodshed. Caution and patience might make it unnecessary. However, on the third of April the personal representa tive of the President left Vera Cruz for the United States, serving by this departure to emphasize the failure of his mission, undertaken in August of 1913.^ Whether the President was at this time contemplating a new departure in dealing with the situation in Mexico cannot now be determined. Nor is it important. For events at this 1 World's Work, XXVIII, 490-491- 2 A compilation of adverse press comment from Europe and Latin America as well as the United States may be found in North Amer ican Review, CXCIX, 481 (April, 19x4). * Simultaneously another Latin American problem was before the administration. On April 8, 1914, a treaty between the United States and Colombia was signed at Bogota. This had been antici pated by President Restrepo of Colombia. See Times (London), September 30, 19x3. In a letter to the New York Times, published July 20, X913, Ex-minister J. T. DuBois had stated that his mission had been handicapped because Colombia desired to await the action of the new administration at Washington. PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE 31 point forced him to abandon, for the time being, the pur suance of his policy. On April 9, 19 14, a United States paymaster and a boat's orew of nine were arrested at Tampico by an officer of the army of General Huerta. By the order of a su perior officer they were released immediately and the American commander was tendered an apology, which was later supplemented by an expression of regret from Huerta. Rear-Admiral H. T. Mayo, in command of the fleet, did not regard these as meeting the requirements of the situation and demanded a formal apology, assurance that the officer would be severely punished, and finally that a salute of twenty-one guns be given the United States flag, the flag to be raised publicly by the saluting party. All this was to be done within twenty-four hours. The President supported these demands, although the time limit was extended, inasmuch as the issue was now widened to include the personal responsibility of Huerta. In replying the representative of Huerta urged the exist ence of extenuating circumstances, and stressed the immediate release and apology. Upon the American refusal to consider this, Huerta agreed to the original demand, with qualifications, however, which the United States would not accept. Mr. Lind arrived in Washington on the thirteenth, and the following day had conference with the President and Secretary Bryan. On the same day Nelson O'Shaughnessy, the American charge at Mexico City, was informed of the final refusal of Huerta to submit to 32 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY what he termed a degradation of the sovereignty of Mexico. The President ordered the North Atlantic fleet to the east coast of Mexico, and on the fifteenth a simi lar movement of a Pacific fleet to the west coast. He explained in a conference with the committees of Con gress that it was his intention to seize the ports of Tampico and Vera Cmz on the east coast and some of the ports on the west coast as well, and to establish by such means a pacific blockade of Mexico.^ Thus in dicating a determination to force acquiescence. President Wilson on the eighteenth sent to General Huerta an ultimatum. Huerta refused to accede and it became known that the President would present the matter be fore Congress. In a talk to the newspaper men at \^'^ashington, appar ently after his order of the fourteenth but before he ap peared before Congress, Wilson stated that neither the seizure of custom houses nor the giving of passports need lead to war, and that the purpose of the naval operations in Mexican waters was not, as some seemed to think, the " elimination of Huerta." He was careful to dissociate the act to enforce respect for the United States from his acts that had as their aim the establishment of a stable govemment in Mexico. Moreover, the countrv- was talk ing little but war, while the President talked of display of force. The purpose of the President was " to compel 1 The White House issued a statement upon April 15, 19x4, in which it was pointed out that the United States had been singled out for attention by forces of Huerta and that the Tampico incident was one of a series. New 'York Times, April 16, 1914. PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE 33 the recognition of the dignity of the United States." ^ Further emphasis of this appeared when the President addressed Congress on the twentieth. (Statement No. i6.) He was aware that the Tampico incident taken by itself might be considered insufficient ground for such drastic measures, but " unfortunately, it was not an iso lated case. A series of incidents have recently occurred," he said, " which can not but create the impression that the representatives of General Huerta were -willing to go out of their way to show disregard for the dignity and rights of this Government and felt perfectly safe in doing what they pleased, making free to show in many ways their irritation and contempt." The President in justifying his demand upon Huerta stated as his opinion that only a public salute and apology would impress the whole Mexican population with the importance of the incident. War was not his plan. Indeed he hoped by the course he was about to pursue to avoid that very outcome. If the situation were dealt with " promptly, firmly, and wisely " it " need have none of the grave implications of interference." He asked the approval of Congress to use the armed forces of the United States in such ways and to such an extent as might be necessary to obtain from Huerta and his adherents the fullest recognition of the rights and dignity of the United States. This power the Congress voted two days later, following the President's 1 World's Work, XXVIII, 490. See also, article by Samuel Blythe, "Mexico: The Record of a Conversation with President Wilson," published in Saturday Evening Post, May 23, 19x4, and re printed in Congressional Record, LI, 9095. 34 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY lead in disclaiming any intention of making war upon the Mexican people. The President had moved even prior to this vote of confidence. The custom house at Vera Cruz was taken by American marines on the twenty-first of April and a day later the occupation of Vera Cruz was complete. This move aroused the Constitutionalists. General Car ranza came forward to protest at this invasion of Mexi can soil, maintaining that the demand for a salute should have been made to him as the lawful representative of the Mexican people. To forestall difficulties that might follow the insistence on such a view, President Wilson restored the embargo on the shipment of arms into Mex ico, and by this act further aroused the fears of Mexican leaders as to the purpose of the United States. MEDIATION BY THE " A. B. C." POWERS Before the occupation of the other ports was under taken, indeed before the army had replaced the marines at Vera Cruz, President Wilson took a step which caused widespread astonishment both at home and abroad but which, in retrospect at least, seems perfectly natural in view of his previous utterances upon Latin American af fairs and the attitude of the administration upon matters of arbitration. On April twenty-fifth the diplomatic rep resentatives at Washington of three Latin American gov ernments, Argentina, Brazil, and Chile, had tendered their good offices in this emergency. In its acceptance, given pn the same day (Statement No. if), the United States PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE 35 Department of State set forth again in the following terms the fundamental principles of the administration's Latin American policy : " Conscious of the purpose with which the proffer is made, this Government does not feel at liberty to decline it. Its own chief interest is in the peace of America, the cordial intercourse of her republics and their people, and the happiness and prosperity that can spring only out of frank mutual understandings and the friendship which is created by common purpose. " The generous offer of your Governments is there fore accepted. This Government hopes most earnestly that you may find those who speak for the several ele ments of the Mexican people willing and ready to discuss terms of satisfactory, and therefore permanent, settle ment. If you should find them willing, this Govern ment will be glad to take up with you for discussion in the frankest and most conciliatory spirit any proposals that may be authoritatively formulated, and will hope that they may prove feasible and prophetic of a new day of mutual co-operation and confidence in America." A great value in such a conference lay in its effect upon public opinion, not only in Latin America, but also in the United States. Mediation had been obtained — seem ingly at the expense yet with the assent of the United States. The act stood for progress. Moreover, the in clusion of the whole Mexican situation in the scope of the proposed conference meant that an object long desired was now attained. There was finally to be a conference of the more important American republics upon the res- 36 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY toration of order in Mexico. Both Huerta and Car ranza had accepted the proposal before the month was out. As a result of the policy pursued by the adminis tration at Washington a purely national line of conduct was superseded by a somewhat limited, yet deeply signifi cant, international program for dealing with problems arising out of unstable government in a backward prov ince of the New World. GENERAL POLICY Prior to the meeting of the conference of mediators President Wilson availed himself of two opportunities to drive home to the American people the purport of these recent movements. On May twelfth he said : " We have gone down to Mexico to serve mankind, if we can find out the way. We do not want to fight the Mexicans. We want to serve the Mexicans, if we can, because we know how we would like to be free and how we would like to be served if there were friends standing by ready to serve us. A war of aggression is not a war in which it is a proud thing to die, but a war of service is a thing in which it is a proud thing to die." (Statement No. i8.) The President referred to the number of national stocks represented among those Americans who were killed in the taking of Vera Cruz, and said : " They were Americans, every one of them, and with no difference in their Ameri canism because of the stock from which they came. Therefore, they were in a peculiar sense of our blood, and they proved it by showing that they were of our spirit, PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE 37 that no matter what their derivation, no matter where their people came from, they thought and wished and did the things that were American ; and the flag under which they served was a flag in which all the blood of man kind is united to make a free Nation." These phrases are the common currency of American public addresses, but Woodrow Wilson by his earnestness and purpose ful ness was to give them a new and greater moral value. Seizing upon the moment when his policy of concilia tion in Latin America had seemed about to give way, and a more rigid and accustomed policy of coercion to be his only alternative, he had emphasized in a most dramatic way the possibilities of a wider use of co-operation now that the faith of the greater South American countries had been won by his conduct in office. Perhaps the most telling criticism, from the point of view of a great many citizens of the United States, lev elled at this latest development in the administration's policy, was that it obligated the United States to other nations and that its conduct thereafter must be bound as never before in foreign relations. It was pointed out that this was contrary to previous conduct and purpose of the United States. In meeting such objections the President said : " It was not merely because of passing and transient circumstances that Washington said that we must keep free from entangling alliances. It was because he saw that no country had yet set its face in the same direction in which America had set her face. We cannot form alliances with those who are not going our way; 38 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY and in our might and majesty and in the confidence and definiteness of our own purpose we need not and we should not form alliances with any nation in the world." (Statement No. ip.) The conference of mediation convened at Niagara Falls on May twentieth and remained in session for six weeks. During that period the President triumphed in his fight for the repeal of the tolls exemption clause of the Panama Canal Act, and thus settled that controversy with Great Britain.^ The issue with Japan remained to be met, and on the tenth of June the Japanese ambassador filed an ad ditional protest with the Department of State. On June 30, 1914, the Niagara Falls conference ad journed without arriving at a satisfactory result.^ The acquiescence of the United States in the arbitration of a point of honour had come to no certain result, and how ever much it may have enhanced the reputation of the administration in Latin America, the Mexican situation was quite as unsettled as ever. At least so it seemed on the surface. The President's Mexican policy stood con victed of utter failure in the minds of many of his coun trymen, particularly among those who are usually re garded as speaking with authority upon matters of inter national relations and foreign policy. President Wilson devoted his next public address to a consideration of foreign policy in its larger aspects. lAct signed June 15, 19x4. United States Statutes at Large, XXXVIII, 385. 2 Protocol signed June 24, 19x4. For articles of agreement see American Journal of International Law, VIII, 584. PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE 39 (Statement No. 20.) He again raised this question which he had raised at Philadelphia nearly a year earlier : " What are we going to do with the influence and power of this great nation ? Are we going to play the old role of using that power for our aggrandizement and material benefit only ? You know what that may mean. It may upon occasion mean that we shall use it to make the peo ples of other nations suffer in the way in which we said that it was intolerable to suffer when we uttered our Declaration of Independence." In refraining from de bating the details of the situation of the moment, Mr. Wilson cut back to the basis of self-government, his usual starting point. He continued : " We set this Nation up — at any rate we professed to set it up — to vindicate the rights of men. We did not name any differences between one race and another. We did not set up any barriers against any par ticular people." Was this a veiled reference to the recent difference with Japan ? Did it contain an admonition for a policy in the Philippines? Was it a reference to his views upon proposals for the restriction of immigration ? It made little difference. The purpose and the principle of the President were the same. The entire address was charged with what had been repeatedly termed the impossible idealism of the Presi dent. " If I did not believe," he said, " that the moral judgment would be the last judgment, the final judgment, in the minds of men as well as at the tribunal of God, I could not believe in popular government. But I do be- 40 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY lieve these things, and therefore I earnestly believe in the democracy not only of America but of every awakened people that wishes and intends to govern and control its own affairs." The closing paragraph of the address shows clearly why in times of greater trial the President came quite naturally to voice the idealism of the nation : " My dream is that as the years go on and the world knows more and more of America, it . . . will turn to America for those moral inspirations which lie at the basis of all freedom ; that the world will never fear America un less it feels that it is engaged in some enterprise which is inconsistent with the rights of humanity ; and that Amer ica will come into the full light of the day when all shall know that she puts human rights above all other rights, and that her flag is the flag not only of America, but of humanity. What other great people has devoted itself to this exalted ideal ? To what other nation in the world can all eyes look for an instant sympathy that thrills the whole body politic when men anywhere are fighting for their rights? I do not know that there will ever be a declaration of independence and of grievances for man kind, but I believe that if any such document is ever drawn it will be drawn in the spirit of the American Declaration of Independence, and that America has lifted high the light which will, shine, unto all generations and guide the feet of mankind to the goal of justice and lib erty and peace." PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE 41 The day following this address Huerta was elected President of Mexico. But it was the end. He resigned on July fifteenth and five days later fled from Mexico. Critics of the administration now asserted that the re fusal of the President to recognize Huerta had pulled down the only strong power in Mexico. They reiterated the belief in the responsibility of the United States to force its conception of order upon its less powerful neigh bours. But to other commentators the retirement of Huerta signalized a triumph for the policy of idealism, that is, the course of the administration in refusing to intervene in Mexico. The Wilson practice in Mexico had been to insist upon order as a necessary element for mem bership in the group of states, but to permit the Mexican people to achieve their own victory against the elements of disorder within the state.^ The larger significance of the success of the administration's program in Latin America, and in Mexico in particular, was still unsus pected. The triumph of the Wilson program, as far as it related to the growth of friendly relations, was signalized late in July when treaties providing for arbitration were signed with the three South American governments with whom the United States had recently been acting. On the fif teenth of September an order was issued for the with drawal of troops from Vera Cruz, and the troops were withdrawn on the twenty-third of November. The hon- 1 See editorials " Exit Huerta '' and " Again the Big Policeman," The Nation (New York), XCIX, 91. 42 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY our of the United States had not been vindicated, that is, if a salute to the flag was the test, but Huerta had gone from power. A better opportunity was now af forded the Mexican people to justify the faith of the republics of North and South America. Eighteen months in office had revealed in practice the principles underlying the foreign policy of President Wilson. Of the problems facing him at the opening of his administration he had disposed of the controversy with Great Britain, and in such a way as to empha size our belief in the inviolability of treaty obligations, and in Mexico had carried to a triumphant conclusion the most important phase of his Latin American program. Although the Mexican problem had yet to assume its most threatening character, and pending controversies with Japan and Colombia were unsettled, the President had indicated his mode of procedure in each case, and his conduct in other matters and his expressions of pur pose gave ample warrant for the thought that difficulties were to be lessened by a general acceptance of his leader ship. In evaluating the work of the administration Charles W. Eliot placed as the principal achievements, not the legislative enactments upon tariff, currency and the trusts that had occupied so much of the attention of the President, but the " contributions to sound interna tional policies and conduct." ^ It is this record and the ^Harper's Weekly, August 22, 1914. Also printed in Congres sional Record, LI, Appendix, 869. PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE 43 impression that its character had made abroad as well as at home that stood as a matter of history when the Euro pean war broke upon the world and gave President Wil son the leadership of the American people in the greatest crisis of their history. CHAPTER III Maintenance of Neutrality Outbreak of the European War — Initial Position of the United States — Meaning of Neutrality — Attitude upon Brit ish Policy — Plans of the Administration — DiiEculties with Germany — American Proposal for Modus Vivendi — Duties of the United States — Result of American Adherence to Rules of International Law — Possibility of an International Tribunal. Upon the outbreak of the European war the President, as was expected, issued a proclamation of neutrality, and followed it by a statement to the belligerent governments that he would welcome an opportunity to act in the inter est of European peace, at that or any future time. Of more vital significance in view of the developments soon to appear, the United States sent an identic note to the several powers on August 6, 1914, in which attention was called to the differences of opinion as to the rights of neutrals on the sea and the proposal was made that for the duration of the war, the laws of naval warfare laid down in the Declaration of London be accepted by all nations.^ In making this suggestion the administra tion took the basic position it was to occupy in the ensuing months of diplomatic controversy. 1 Official correspondence relative to the Declaration of London was published by Department of State, Diplomatic Correspondence with Belligerent Governments Relating to Neutral Rights and Commerce, European War Series, No. x, pp. 5-8. 44 MAINTENANCE OF NEUTRALITY 45 The Declaration of London had been formulated at a conference of ten maritime powers in 1909, but had not been formally ratified except by the United States.^ Yet there had been very general approval of its proposals.^ In this situation the government of the United States took the opportunity accorded at the outset of a European war, in which the participation of Great Britain made certain the vital importance of the rules of naval warfare, to pro pose to the belligerents a modiis vivendi. The impor tance of the suggestion lay not only in the possibility of an agreement among the belligerents as to the rules, but in the thought that had underlain the original declaration and that had characterized many earlier American posi tions, that is that the rights of neutrals should be deter mined by a power greater than the will of any single bel ligerent. In taking such a position at the outset the American government made easier many a subsequent step in its defence of the rights of neutral nations. Before replies were received from the belligerents an other phase of the position of the United States as a neu tral came to occupy the centre of attention. To the peo ple of the United States the war appeared as one more in a long series of European quarrels, and, long accustomed to a non-interference in European affairs, they naturally looked upon themselves as spectators and possible medi ators in this Great War. It was apparent at once, how- 1 For text of the Declaration of London see American Journal of International Law, III, Supplement, 179. 2 For detailed information upon status of the Declaration in 1914, see ibid., IX, igg. 46 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY ever, that, as in previous conflicts, there were to be groups in the United States deeply sympathetic with the various nations involved. At the outset the sympathies were largely those born of nationality and language. It was not clear that basic principles in governmental or social theory were issues in the conflict. It did not appear at that time that the conflict was one between autocracy and democracy. It seemed that there were elements of each on both sides. However, the influence of nationality ap peared really threatening, as it had not during earlier European quarrels, for several millions of the citizens of America had been born in the portions of Europe involved in the war. In the President's conduct or words there was no hint of American participation in the conflict. But in less than a month the differences in points of view of Ameri can citizens arising out of differences in national stocks became so evident and speakers so intemperate that the President issued an appeal to his fellow-countrymen " to be neutral in fact as well as in name." (Statement No. 21. ) " We must be impartial in thought as well as in action, must put a curb upon our sentiments as well as upon every transaction that might be construed as a pref erence of one party to the struggle before another." Such advice quite obviously sprang from an assumption that the greatest dangers for the United States in this conflict were not those threatening vital American inter ests on land or sea, but those to be found in actions of MAINTENANCE OF NEUTRALITY 47 citizens of the United States that might be construed as showing preference to one of the belligerents. He had in mind the neutrality of a people far removed from the con flict. Yet by the second part of this statement the Presi dent did not mean that the United States should cut inter course with the various nations; it was not his thought that the United States should draw off from the sea, but merely that its treatment of the nations should be impartial within the well-recognized agreements of inter national law. Where there was not agreement, the posi tions taken by the United States in earlier conflicts should furnish the guide. In keeping with his offer of mediation the President avoided any step that would seem to indicate that his na tion was passing judgment upon the conduct of nations at war. In response to appeals made in September of 19 14 by both the French and German governments, and for different reasons by a commission from Belgium, the President stated that " it would be unwise, it would be premature for a single Government, however fortunately separated from the present struggle, it would even be in consistent with the neutral position of any nation which like this has no part in the contest, to form or express a final judgment." (Statement No. 22.) In refraining from a protest upon the invasion of Belgium President Wilson was following the tradition of non-interference in the affairs of Europe. That he was acting in accordance with the general expectation at that time will not be de- 48 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY nied, in spite of the overwhelming tide of sympathy for the people of Belgium among the people of the United States. In these replies the President referred to the existence of treaties between the belligerent nations for the settlement of just such disputes as these protests had brought to his attention. It is of interest to note that within a period of two weeks following the outbreak of the war, the United States Senate had ratified treaties with eighteen countries, each of them providing for commissions of inquiry.^ Moreover, on September 15, 1914, treaties of a like nature were signed at Washington with Great Britain, France, Spain and China. Secretary Bryan stated at this time that twenty-six nations had signed such treaties and that Russia, Germany and Austria were being urged to do likewise. Nothing could be clearer than that the exist ence of the European war had not, as yet, affected the purpose of those whose aim it was to devise additional means for preventing international conflicts. In mid-September the President made an informal pro posal to Germany that negotiations looking to peace be undertaken, presumably under the auspices of the govern ment of the United States. The nature of the German reply which asked that the United States obtain from the Allies a statement preliminary to a conference led the President to proceed no further at that time. In October it became known that the proposal of the 1 For text see American Journal of International Law, VIL 824. Record and list of ratifications, ibid., VIII, 565; IX, 175. MAINTENANCE OF NEUTRALITY 49 United States for the general acceptance of the Declara tion of London, although accepted tentatively by Ger many and Austria-Hungary, had not been adopted be cause the Allies under lead of Great Britain had named qualifying conditions. Consequently the government of the United States withdrew its suggestion of August 6, 1914, and fell back upon the already accepted rules of in ternational law and the treaties then in existence, reserv ing the right to protest and demand reparation in each case of violation of its own rights. ATTITUDE upon BRITISH POLICY Daily the American government was becoming more involved in the struggle, owing in large measure to the presence of American shipping in European waters and the disagreement among the belligerents as to the defini tion of contraband and the treatment of cargoes bound for neutral ports in Europe. The situation was of such a character as to increase in difficulty. The British Orders in Council of August, September and October steadily increased the control that Great Britain presumed to exercise over the commerce of neutrals.^ As Great Britain was in control of the sea the primary American grievance seemed against that government. On December 26, 19 14, the United States filed a lengthy protest against the seizure and destruction of cargoes bound for neutral ports. Great Britain was charged with 1- Department of State, Diplomatic Correspondence, European War Series, No. i, pp. xi-18. so DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY violation of the rules in cases of both conditional and ab solute contraband. It was pointed out that peace, not war, was the normal relation between nations, and the re quest was definitely made that Great Britain " refrain from all unnecessary interference with the freedom of trade between nations which are sufferers, though not par ticipants, in the present conflict." (Statement No. 25.) The tone of this note and the practice of the Department of State in filing notes of protest in each specific case made it clear that it was the purpose of the administra tion to consistently and completely present the American contention and to wait upon a more happy time to press the matters to a decision before courts of arbitration. The President's point of view had been stated in Oc tober when he said before the American Bar Association, " The opinion of the world is the mistress of the world, and the processes of international law are the slow proc esses by which opinion works its will." (Statement No. 2^.) Yet in the same address the President revealed that he was thinking of the possibilities, as yet largely hidden, in the struggle for power in Europe. For he spoke of the time of world change when men were going to find out " just how, and in what particulars, and to what extent the real facts of human life and the real moral judgments of mankind prevail. . . ." PLANS OF THE ADMINISTRATION If, however, Woodrow Wilson was quickening to a realization of the months of diplomatic strife that were MAINTENANCE OF NEUTRALITY 51 before him, he gave no hint of it in his second annual message to Congress in December of 1914. (Statement No. 24.) " No one," said he, " who speaks counsel based on fact or drawn from a just and candid interpretation of realities can say that there is any reason to fear that from any quarter our independence or the integrity of our ter ritory is threatened." He spoke at length of the need to develop better measures for trade with Latin America, and in general to put American shipping upon the sea while opportunities were offered by the engrossment of European nations in the war. The unprecedented de struction of men and goods in Europe made it necessary because the time was approaching when as never before Europe would need American aid. " We should be ready, more fit and ready than we have ever been," urged the President. While thus urging the passage by the Senate of a specific shipping bill, endorsed in an earlier session by the administration, the President paused to ask favour able action by the Senate upon a matter of a very different nature. This was a bill granting to the people of the Philippines a larger measure of self-government. Within a few months of taking office the President had made known his general attitude in this matter, but in addressing the Congress at this time he placed the need upon quite other grounds, significant in view of his later utterances upon the European war. " How better," he asked, " in this time of anxious questioning and per plexed policy, could we show our confidence in the 52 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY principles of liberty, as the source as well as the expres sion of life, how better could we demonstrate our own self-possession and steadfastness in the courses of jus tice and disinterestedness than by thus going calmly for ward to fulfil our promises to a dependent people, who will look more anxiously than ever to see whether we have indeed the liberality, the unselfishness, the courage, the faith we have boasted and professed?" The quite obvious contrast between the attitude of the United States government toward Mexico, and that of Austria toward Servia had not been lost upon careful observers of Wilson's foreign policy. Here again it was patent that the President intended to make perfectly plain to an unbelieving world that there was even in time of tragic uncertainty for a great portion of mankind such a possibility as an enduring belief in self-government. DIFFICULTIES WITH GERMANY But it was increasingly difficult not to be drawn into the European maelstrom. On January 7, 19 15, Secretary Bryan in reply to a request of the German government that the government of the United States investigate charges of improper practices in Europe stated that the United States government could not as a neutral investi gate or even comment. The next development required more than a mere re fusal to act. Repeatedly had the charge been made, and now with greater insistence as the winter advanced, that the attitude of the administration evidenced marked dis- MAINTENANCE OF NEUTRALITY 53 crimination against Germany and Austria. This arose out of many things, but from nothing so much perhaps as the determination of the President to abide strictly by the rules of international law, and where disagreement or uncertainty existed as to any rules to maintain an Ameri can case based upon whatever precedent existed. This was emphasized by the refusal of the American govem ment to countenance proposed changes in the rules or cus toms even where there was plausible justification for it in alterations in methods of maritime warfare. Whenever the German government decided to force this issue the op position of the United States would be inevitable. On January 20, 1915, Secretary Bryan in a letter to Senator Stone took up twenty charges of discrimination and presented the administration's answers. (Statement No. 2y.) The spirit of the reply appeared in the con cluding paragraph: "If any American citizens, parti sans of Germany and Austria-Hungary, feel that this ad ministration is acting in a way injurious to the cause of those countries, this feeling results from the fact that on the high seas the German and Austro-Hungarian naval power is thus far inferior to the British. It is the busi ness of a belligerent operating on the high seas, not the duty of a neutral, to prevent contraband from reaching an enemy. Those in this country who sympathize with Ger many and Austria-Hungary appear to assume that some obligation rests upon this Government in the performance of its neutral duty to prevent all trade in contraband, and thus to equalize the difference due to the relative naval 54 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY strength of the belligerents. No such obligation exists; it would be an unneutral act, an act of partiahty upon the part of this Government to adopt such a policy if the Executive had the power to do so. If Germany and Austria-Hungary cannot import contraband from this country, it is not, because of that fact, the duty of the United States to close its markets to the allies. The markets of this country are open upon equal terms to all the world, to every nation, belligerent or neutral." This letter did not close the controversy, for the question continued to agitate a great portion of the American people. The action of the German government that followed immediately upon this correspondence brought home to the administration the real dangers of neutrality in such a war as was about to be waged upon the sea. What had seemed an advisable agreement in August now seemed absolutely essential, if the possibility of neutrality was not to disappear. Fortunately the basis for the American action in the new contingency had been laid and the pro tests of the previous six months had been built upon it. In an effort to overcome the naval supremacy of Great Britain, which was never more conclusive than on Feb ruary I, 19 1 5, the German government decided to risk upon the sea a decided departure from the rules of inter national law and to justify it as retaliation against the British restrictions upon neutral commerce. On Feb ruary 4, 1915, the German Admiralty issued a proclama tion declaring a " war zone " about the British Isles and MAINTENANCE OF NEUTRALITY 55 warning neutrals of the dangers therein.^ After Feb ruary 18, 19 1 5, it was the intention that German sub marines should destroy every merchant vessel without making provision for safety of crews or passengers. In warfare of such a nature neutral vessels were subject to peril within the " war zone," the peril inherent in a situa tion where mistakes must occur. There was further complication in the fact that British vessels were upon occasion using neutral flags, which placed the neutral ves sels in a dangerous position, in view of the fact that a submarine could not visit and search to make sure of identity, but must sink without warning, as the proclama tion explained. This raised for the administration a new question. Here it was not a matter of the capture of a vessel because of the destination of its cargo or the existence of block ade, such as had led to the protests to England ; it was a question of absolute destruction by submarines. Thus it raised not a question of submission to seizure, or even confiscation or destruction of property, but of probable, indeed almost certain, destruction of life. Keenly alive to the dangerous possibilities inherent in the new situa tion, the American government on February 10, 1915, ex postulated, particularizing upon the possible destruction of any merchant vessel of the United States or the death of American citizens. The Imperial German govern ment would be held " to a strict accountability for such acts of their naval authorities." (Statement No. 2p.) 1 Text, ibid.. No. i, p. 52. 56 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY On the same day the American government protested to Great Britain against the reported use of the American flag on a British vessel while travelling through the war zone. The German minister for foreign affairs in a note of February i6, 191 5, admitted that the proposed submarine campaign was a drastic measure.^ It was undertaken to break the British blockade upon foodstuffs and in turn, also, cut off the British supply of munitions. From the point of view of neutrals this statement was a declaration that in order to make it possible for neutrals to trade with Germany in foodstuffs it intended to make it im possible for them to trade with the Allies in munitions. This note opened a way for an American proposal by intimating that should the American government obtain from the powers at war with Germany an observation of the Declaration of London, " the German Govemment would recognize this as a service which could not be too highly estimated in favour of more humane conduct of war and would gladly draw the necessary conclusions from the new situation thus created." On February 20, 191 5, the United States presented to the belligerents suggestions for a modus vivendi in this emergency. It proposed that foodstuffs might be permit ted to reach Germany for the sole use of non-combatants. It also proposed restrictions upon use of floating mines. But most important of all was the condition, " That neither [Germany nor Great Britain] will use submarines ^Text, ibid., No. x, p. 56. MAINTENANCE OF NEUTRALITY 57 to attack merchant vessels of any nationality except to enforce the right of visit and search." (Statement No. 30.) In its reply of March i, 19 15, the German government stated its willingness to acquiesce in the American sugges tions contingent upon the abandonment by Great Britain and its Allies of the practice of arming merchant vessels. The British note of March 15, 1915, gave the answer of the Allies to the American effort at compromise. In the refusal to assent to alteration of a well-established prac tice the British government made impossible the accept ance of the modus vivendi. The American government in a note of March 30, 191 5, denied the legality of the sweeping changes made by the British in their Orders in Council. The British must be prepared " to make full reparation for every act which under the rules of international law constitutes a viola tion of neutral rights." ^ In absence of an agreement by the belligerents upon an alteration in established practice the United States fell back upon its original and basic position, an insistence upon international law as it stood at the opening of the war. Upon such a position it built its protests.^ Aside from the fact that it was the German govern ment, not that of Great Britain, which had threatened the ''¦Ibid., No. X, p. 69. 2 American position on status of armed merchant vessels was given in memorandum of Department of State issued September 19, 19x4. Text, American Journal of International Law, IX, Supple ment, 121. 58 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY most drastic changes in the rules, there was in the man ner of the British enforcement of their Orders in Council an additional reason for the American willingness to leave grievances against Great Britain to adjudication by courts. The British decrees were enforced, in an accord ance with dictates of humanity, without risk to neutral ships, cargoes or passengers. Moreover, there had been concluded during the past six months with Great Britain, France and Russia treaties providing for commissions of inquiry for treatment of " any differences ... of what ever nature." The third of these, that with Russia, had been proclaimed on March 25, 1915. No such treaties had been made with Germany and Austria.^ DUTIES OF THE UNITED STATES On April 8, 191 5, the President restated with consid erable emphasis his oft-repeated insistence upon neutral ity in word and deed. (Statement No. SI ¦) The utter ance indicated, however, a change, slight indeed, in the President's attitude toward the formulation of an Ameri can judgment upon the practices and purposes of the bel ligerent govemments. He seemed conscious, also, of a danger involved in seeming to restrain the opinion of mankind or, more particularly, that of a large majority of his own countrymen. High as he held the wisdom of American non-participation — and he was presently to hold it at great cost to his prestige as a leader — he iFor treatment of the efifect of these treaties upon relations of United States with the nations at war see American Journal of In ternational Law, IX, 494. MAINTENANCE OF NEUTRALITY 59 seemed to feel the irksomeness of his admonition to be neutral. Naturally a neutral attitude became less easy to maintain, however desirable it might continue to be, when one of the belligerents threatened the lives of neutrals.^ To the members of the Associated Press he admitted on April 20, 19 15, that he spoke to them with restraint, where he preferred that it might have been otherwise. " There have been times," said he, " when I stood in this spot and said what I really thought, and I pray God that those days of indulgence may be accorded me again." (Statement No. S3-) He felt, as he said, that there was approaching a climax in the affairs of the world. This climax would bring to the severest test, not only the European belligerents, but also the people and govem ment of the United States. The President struck a new note in his interpretation of neutrality. He still maintained that judgment by the United States was preposterous, but he asserted that the basis of neutrality was not found in indifference nor in self-interest, but in sympathy for mankind. In spite of his desire to refrain from passing judgment, but in fur therance of his hope of an American mediation, he was not unwilling at this time to give greater currency to the idea that the United States was ready as no other nation was " to form some part of the assessing opinion of the world." 1 On this same day, April 8, 1915, a steamer in the service of the American Commission for the Relief of Belgium was torpedoed and fifteen lives were lost 6o DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY Although awaiting a day when American participation in the negotiations would be welcomed, the President pointed out that the American people, made up of many nations, were in an advantageous position to understand all nations. He recalled that they had already shown their disinterestedness in the administration of the affairs of other peoples. The President could have pointed to his policy in the Philippines, and perhaps he had his course in Mexico in mind, although he said nothing of either. " We do not want anything," he said, " that does not belong to us. Isn't a nation in that position free to serve other nations . . . ? " Aptly as the title " America first " fitted this address, it was in reality a call to a field of service wider than the boundaries of the United States. This call met with a generous response in the United States. The President was interpreted, quite generally, as coveting an oppor tunity for the United States to act as a mediator at the close of hostilities, but, even limited in such a way, the suggestion gave impetus to a sentiment that was in need of aid. No paragraph, perhaps, gave more heart to that segment of American opinion which was losing faith in the patient policy of the President than that in which he spoke of nations as men. He desired for America that " splendid courage of reserve moral force " which impels a nation to withhold its hand until the time when physical force alone would wipe out wrongdoing. On the day following this address, April 21st, the MAINTENANCE OF NEUTRALITY 6l American government made reply to a communication from the German government dated April 4, 191 5. In this communication the German government had im pugned the good faith of the United States as a neutral, specifying the alleged submission to British infringement upon American rights, and had plainly asked for an em bargo upon arms.^ As the American reply stated, the position of the American government had already been made abundantly clear. (Statement No. 34.) But again the American government restated its refusal to alter well recognized practices in time of war. Nor did its note minimize, as did the German contention, the im portance of making a record of protest against Brit ish invasions of American rights. This note, prepared by the President himself, concluded with these words: " This Government holds, as I believe Your Excellency is aware, and as it is constrained to hold in view of the present indisputable doctrines of accepted international law, that any change in its own laws of neutrality during the progress of a war, which would affect unequally the relations of the United States with the nations at war would be an unjustifiable departure from the principle of strict neutrality by which it has consistently sought to direct its actions, and I respectfully submit that none of the circumstances urged in Your Excellency's memo randum alters the principle involved. The placing of iPor text of memorandum see Department of State, Diplomatic Correspondence, European War Series, No. i, p. 73- 62 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY an embargo on trade in arms at the present time would constitute such a change and be a direct violation of the neutrality of the United States." The refusal by the American government to press the cases against Great Britain had the effect of favouring sea power in the European conflict. Had the American government proceeded against Great Britain with em bargo or reprisal it would have resulted in distinct advan tage to the German cause. The decision of the American government was natural, as it was an adherence to the rules. But it carried with it the inevitability as far as the United States was concerned of actual participation when Germany insisted upon its demands. The note of April 21, 1915, closed the controversy with Germany as far as it related to the shipment of arms to the Allies. But any satisfaction that might have been felt in the United States over its conclusion was marred by the general dissatisfaction with the German methods of propaganda which had served to give the matter so bitter a character. For nine months the administration had maintained the policy of neutrality indicated at the outbreak of the war in Europe.^ From the outset this policy had em braced these elements : an insistence upon the supremacy of international law ; a record of protest upon all matters ^ Detailed treatment of the position of the American govem ment upon the more important points may be found in editorial comment, American Journal of International Laii', IX, 456-473. See also M. Smith, " American Diplomacy in the European War," Political Science Quarterly, XXXI, 481-484, 488-494. MAINTENANCE OF NEUTRALITY 63 involving the United States as a neutral ; a refusal to in terfere in disputes not concerning the United States di rectly as a neutral; a defence of American actions as sanctioned by international practice; proposals for a modus vivendi in an effort to increase the security of non-belligerents. The fact that such a course favoured the sea power of Great Britain had brought controversy with Germany in such a way as to indicate that Ger many demanded of the United States an action that would result in favour to its cause. Consequently — aside from the routine matters of protest — the business of neutrality involved dealing with the German demands. A growing appreciation of this fact was revealed in the actions and words of the President after the rejection of the American proposal of February 20, 1915. Should Germany force the submarine issue it would bring to the American govemment the problem of adequate pro tection of the position of neutrals. The President was to seek this protection through diplomacy and to do so with marked success. That he had not placed entire faith in it as an ultimate solution was indicated by his utterances in April upon the need of international co-op eration and the wisdom of a greater participation by the United States in affairs affecting the world as a whole. CHAPTER IV Freedom of the Seas German Submarine Campaig^n — Policy of the Administra tion — Place of the United States in the World — Basis of American Protest — Attitude of the Government Toward Mex ico — Pan-American Conference and Solution for Mexico — Championship of Integrity of Neutral Rights — German Propa ganda in the United States — President's Position on Prepared ness — Duties of the United States — International Peace. Early in the conflict, as in former European wars, the Atlantic had seemed a barrier that separated the United States from the struggle. But as the war progressed the ocean seemed the highway that might lead to American participation. In attempting to make good the claim that changes in rules of the sea should be ratified by all na tions President Wilson was following in the path long chosen by American diplomats, but to a greater degree than his predecessors he faced the necessity of making good the contention of neutrals in face of attack, not only upon property, but upon life itself. The United States had never in its history been quite able to ignore conflicts upon the sea. In the Great War it was the phase of the struggle that involved freedom of the sea that in time came to affect the vital interests of the United States. Toward the close of April of 1915 it was apparent that 64 FREEDOM OF THE SEAS 65 the German government was preparing to test the full value of the submarine for bringing into being the Ger man conception of freedom of the seas.^ The activity of German submarines in the " war zone " claimed increas ing notice from the American public. On March 28, 191 5, an American had been lost when a British steamer, the Falaha, had been sunk, and a month later an Ameri can vessel, the Cushing, had been shelled by an aeroplane. On May i, 1915, an American steamer, the Gulflight, was sunk by a submarine and two American citizens were lost. Prior to this two American ships had been sunk by Ger man mines. Moreover, the William P. Frye, also of American registry, had been captured and sunk by a Ger man raider in the South Atlantic. These events and the increasingly aggressive character of propaganda in Amer ica had brought American excitement to a high pitch. German agencies had entered upon a campaign of intimi dation, citing these attacks and threatening others, in an avowed effort to compel Americans and American ship ping to keep out of the " war zone." On April 22, 1915, the German embassy at Washington was responsible for publication in the newspapers of a warning to Americans not to travel in British vessels. When on May 7, 191 5, the British liner Lusitania was sunk without warning and one hundred and twenty-four Americans were lost, the public mind was prepared for a crisis, and consequently for the administration the time of 1 See C. P. Anderson, " Freedom of the Seas," Annals of American Academy. LXXII, 65. Also C. G. Fenwick, "The Freedom of the Seas," American Political Science Review, XI, 386. 66 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY greatest test had come. All precedent and the President's earlier words, not in his speeches, it is true, but in his dispatches, pointed to a break with Germany. Six days elapsed before a communication was sent to the (German government. In the interim, three days after the sink ing, the President addressed an audience of newly natu ralized citizens at Philadelphia. (Statement No. 35.) What he said was scanned for a clue to his proposed ac tion. The statement of basic principles that he had so often iterated from his entrance upon office was over looked partly because the ideas were so familiar, but more perhaps because it was thought that the President would in some concrete way foreshadow a new treatment for this specific situation. Two short paragraphs only could by any interpretation be regarded as an indication of what the President in tended to do. He had led up to a call to America to set an example to a world rent with strife, and then suddenly astonished most of his countrymen by saying, " There is such a thing as a man being too proud to fight." So astonished were they, and so obsessed with prevailing personifications of nations, that the sentence following was quite generally forgotten and its significance lost. Yet the second sentence contained the spirit of the Presi dent's policy since the outbreak of the war, and the spirit of his reply to Germany. He said, " There is such a thing as a nation being so right that it does not need to convince others by force that it is right." By this the President meant that the United States was adhering to FREEDOM OF THE SEAS 67 international law and still maintained the position, often taken, that of reliance upon other means than trial by battle. This was not a new thought with the President. Indeed he had said to the Associated Press some weeks before : " My interest in the neutrality of the United States is not the petty desire to keep out of trouble. . . . I am interested in neutrality because there is something so much greater to do than fight. . . . There is a distinc tion waiting for this nation that no nation has ever yet got. That is the distinction of absolute self-control and self-mastery." (Statement No. 33.) Because of recent events, particularly the continuance of German propaganda, lines of division based on national stocks had deepened, and the President took the op portunity to say to these recently naturalized citizens: " You cannot dedicate yoiir self to America unless you become in every respect and with every purpose of your will thorough Americans. You cannot become thorough Americans if you think of yourselves in groups. ... A man who thinks himself as belonging to a particular na tional group in America has not yet become an American, and the man who goes among you to trade upon your nationality is no worthy son to live under the Stars and Stripes." But perhaps wishing to avoid too great an emphasis upon Americanism at this time, he went on, " My urgent advice to you would be not only always to think first of America, but always, also, to think first of humanity. . . . America was created to unite man kind. . . ." 68 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY The following day the cabinet considered the communi cation to be sent to Germany and on May 13, 1915, it was delivered to the German ambassador.^ (Statement No, 36,) The series of attacks, including those upon the Cushing and the GuMight, and culminating in that on the Lusitania, had been viewed by the government of the United States " with growing concern, distress and amazement." No abbreviation of the neutral rights of American shipmasters or American citizens could be per mitted. But the basis for the American case was put on other than the grounds merely of the rights of American citizens, important though they were, — " The Government of the United States . . . desires to call the attention of the Imperial German Government with the utmost earnest ness to the fact that the objection to their present method of attack against the trade of their enemies lies in the practical impossibility of employing submarines in the de struction of commerce without disregarding those rules of fairness, reason, justice, and humanity, which all modem opinion regards as imperative. It is practically impos sible for the officers of a submarine to visit a merchant man at sea and examine her papers and cargo. It is practically impossible for them to make a prize of her; and, if they can not put a prize crew on board of her, they can not sink her without leaving her crew and all on board of her to the mercy of the sea in her small boats. ^ Two days after the sinking of the Lusitania the German govern ment had presented a note dealing with treatment of neutral vessels in the " war zone," and the next day. May 10, 19x5, a message of sympathy on loss of American lives. FREEDOM OF THE SEAS 69 . . . Manifestly submarines can not be used against merchantmen, as the last few weeks have shown, without an inevitable violation of many sacred principles of jus tice and humanity." The United States was not here protesting so much against the injury or death of a citizen of a neutral state, a common incident of war, as it was protesting against the attack by a belligerent power upon all neutrals. As the invasion of Belgium was to Europe, so this German declaration was to the whole world, — a declaration that law was not binding, not the laws of property, but the laws of humanity. But the note closed with the state ment that the United States government would not " omit any word or any act necessary to the performance of its sacred duty of maintaining the rights of the United States and its citizens." The larger significance of this note was concisely stated in an editorial in the American Journal of International Law: " A mighty belligerent has thus been brought, so to speak, before the bar of humanity and civilization to answer a no less powerful neutral for alleged infractions of the laws governing their relations in the society of nations, of which they are both members." ^ An opportunity was afforded the President to speak more directly to his own countrymen four days later. May 17, 1915, when he spoke briefly on the occasion of a re view of the Atlantic fleet. (Statement No. 37.) He felt that the people of the United States possessed an effi- ^ American Journal of International Law, IX, 672. 70 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY cient navy, partly, as he said, " because that navy some how is expected to express their character not within our own borders, where that character is understood, but out side our borders, where it is hoped we may occasionally touch others with some slight vision of what America stands for." The President reverted to this later in the same ad dress. America " asks nothing for herself except what she has a right to ask for humanity itself. We want no nation's property; we wish to question no nation's hon our; we wish to stand selfishly in the way of the develop ment of no nation ; we want nothing that we cannot get by our own legitimate enterprise and by the inspiration of our own example." This might serve as a summary of the President's endeavour in the preceding two years. He felt, as he stated, that his policies embodied the spirit and purpose of the United States. ". . . The force of America is the force of moral principle, . . . there is not an)^hing else that she loves, and . . . there is nothing else for which she will contend." In such a spirit Wilson carried on the controversy with Germany. The German answer of May 28, 191 5, was distinctly unsatisfactory.^ On June 9, 191 5, a second note was 1 Note of May 28, xgxs, should be carefully distinguished from German notes of May 9, 1915, and May 10, 19x5. Infra, p. 75. Prior to the German note of May 28, 19x5, in reply to the American note of May 13, 1915, the American steamer, Nebraskan, had on May 25, 19x5, been attacked by a submarine. No lives had been lost. On June i, 19x5, the German government presented the Amer ican government reports upon the Cushing and the Gulflight. De partment of State, Diplomatic Correspondence, European War Series, No. 2, p. 170. FREEDOM OF THE SEAS 71 sent. Secretary Bryan resigned on June 8, 191 5. In stead of the treatment of the German issue indicated in this note, he desired to provide for an investigation by an international commission, and further that Americans be wamed not to travel on vessels of the belligerent powers or on those carrying cargoes of ammunition. Mr. Bryan gave out two statements in explanation of his course of action.-^ It would seem from a fair reading of them that he felt that by the course of the United States in concluding treaties with twenty-eight nations providing for commissions of inquiry, the United States was morally bound to proceed in this matter as if such a treaty had been concluded with Germany.^ Mr. Wilson apparently believed that he had not exhausted the prelimi nary stage of diplomatic negotiation, and he proved to be right.^ The President in this second note maintained : " The sinking of passenger ships involves principles of human ity which throw into the background any special circum stances of detail that may be thought to affect the cases, principles which lift it . . . out of the class of ordinary subjects of diplomatic discussion or international contro versy. . . . The Govemment of the United States is con tending for something much greater than mere rights of ^New York Times. June g. 1915: June 11, 1915. * For dispassionate editorial comment upon the significance of the service of Mr. Bryan as Secretary of State see American Journal of International Law, IX, 664-666. * Robert Lansing, who had served as Counsellor for the Depart ment of State since April i, 1914, was appointed Secretary of State June 23, 19x5. 72 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY property or privileges of commerce. It is contending for nothing less high and sacred than the rights of humanity, which every Government honors itself in respecting and which no Government is justified in resigning on behalf of those under its care and authority." (Statement No. 3p.) Here was a moral principle for which the United States might be expected to fight if Germany persisted in its course. Although the United States in this note asked for as surance that American ships and American lives should not continue to be jeopardized, the German government was slow in replying and its note of July 8, 1915, was un satisfactory. A third American note on the Lusitania was sent on July 21, 1915. (Statement No. 40.) While based on the same general principles of the earlier notes its tone was sharper. Recurrence of such sinkings " when they affect American citizens " would be consid ered " deliberately unfriendly." Yet on August 19, 1915, the liner Arabic was sunk and two Americans were among those lost. A serious crisis was avoided by the immedi ate acknowledgment of responsibility by the (jerman gov ernment. Moreover, on September i, 1915, the impor tance of specific cases was overshadowed by the general pledge of the German government : " Liners will not be sunk by our submarines without warning and without safety of the lives of noncombatants, provided that the liners do not try to escape or offer resistance." ^ Thus * Department of State, Diplomatic Correspondence, European War Series, No. 3, p. 159. Notwithstanding this pledge the liner Hes- FREEDOM OF THE SEAS 73 the necessity that the United States should enter upon a war for a moral principle was avoided at this time.^ MEXICO Meanwhile events in Mexico continued to give the ad ministration the utmost concern. There had been no ap parent diminution in disorder and attacks upon American citizens were still frequent. The American government protested to various leaders at different times but except for one marked instance the protests were fruitless. Early in June President Wilson admonished the various factions to get together. (Statement No. 38.) Unless they should speedily settle their differences the govern ment of the United States " must presently do what it has not hitherto done or felt at liberty to do, lend its active moral support to some man or group of men." This would be done for the purpose of " setting up a Government at Mexico City which the great powers of the world can recognize and deal with." This admoni tion was followed in July by a demand made upon the contending leaders that railway communication be re opened to permit shipment of food into Mexico City. Although intervention on the part of the United States seemed near, it did not materialize. Instead, a Pan- American conference came into being to consider the mat- perian was sunk on September 4, 19x5, and one American citizen was lost. 1 Specific cases were still in controversy. The Arabic case was dealt with in German notes of September 7, 19x5, and October 5, 1915. 74 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY ter and in this way. The representatives at Washington of Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Guatemala and Uru guay met with Secretary Lansing and after conference issued an appeal to the Mexican people and the Mexican leaders. (Statement No, 41.) It was specifically stated that the action was not to represent the will of the com bined nations, but that each nation should proceed inde pendently. As the suggestion for conference came from the American Secretary, so the spirit of the appeal was that of the American administration. It was an offer of " friendly and disinterested help." To the proposal of a conference all leaders, except Car ranza, agreed. Subsequent appeals by the conference in September and October brought no favourable response from him. Yet on October 9, 1915, the conference in bringing its session to a close agreed that the Carranza organization constituted a de facto govemment in Mex ico, and recommended its recognition. The United States formally granted this recognition on October 19, 191 5, following it the next day by an embargo on the shipment of arms to all anti-government parties in Mexico. Thus terminated the struggle brought upon the United States by the refusal of the Wilson administration to rec ognize the personal government of Huerta. The admin istration had now recognized Carranza as constituting a de facto govemment in Mexico, and had come to this step with the aid and counsel of six other American pow ers. As the President had welcomed an opportunity to FREEDOM OF THE SEAS 75 prove his belief in mediation by the acceptance of the offer of the " A. B. C." powers in 1914, so in 1915, more than a year later, he took occasion to say of Pan-Americanism : " The moral is, that the states of America are not hostile rivals, but cooperating friends, and that their growing sense of community of interest, alike in matters political and alike in matters economic, is likely to give them a new significance ... in the political history of the world. ... It has none of the spirit of empire in it. It is the embodirrjent, the effectual embodiment, of the spirit of law and independence and liberty and mutual service." (Statement No. 4/.) GENERAL POLICY ^ In October Secretary Lansing again took up the long standing controversy with Great Britain. On June 22, 1915, Great Britain had stated in reply to the earlier pro tests of the United States that there were no substantial losses to neutral shipping growing out of British Orders in Council. In a note of October 21, 191 5, Secretary Lansing insisted that the British Orders in Council and the enforcement of them violated the basic principles laid 1 Detailed treatment may be found in editorial comment, American Journal of International Law, IX, 666-694. See also M. Smith, "American Diplomacy in the European War," in Political Science Quarterly. XXXI, 481. In a special supplement published July, 1915, the American Journal of International Law presented the Diplo matic Correspondence Between the United States and Belligerent Governments relating to Neutral Rights and Commerce. It contains the documents cited elsewhere as European War Series, No. i (printed May 27, 19x5) and some of those in ibid,. No. 2 (printed October 21, 1915). 76 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY down in international law. (Statement No. 45.) " The Government of the United States desires ... to impress most earnestly upon His Majesty's Government that it must insist that the relations between it and His Majesty's Government be governed, not by a policy of expediency, but by those established rules of international conduct upon which Great Britain in the past has held the United States to account when the latter nation was a belliger ent engaged in a struggle for national existence. It is of the highest importance to neutrals not only of the present day but of the future that the principles of inter national right be maintained unimpaired. " This task of championing the integrity of neutral rights, which have received the sanction of the civilized world against the lawless conduct of belligerents arising out of the bitterness of the great conflict which is now wasting the countries of Europe, the United States un hesitatingly assumes, and to the accomplishment of that task it will devote its energies, exercising always that im partiality which from the outbreak of the war it has sought to exercise in its relations with the warring na tions." But this did not imply the necessity of waging war. It was filing protest and claiming the necessity of appealing to a greater power than that of a single bel ligerent. The summer and fall were marked by a continuance in the United States of pro-German propaganda. The most striking event that bears upon the foreign policy of the administration was the request on September 8, 1915, FREEDOM OF THE SEAS ^^ for the recall of Constantin Dumba, the Austro-Hunga rian ambassador to the United States. This was based upon proof of instigation of strikes among workers in American industries.^ In the closing months of the year the recall was demanded of Karl Boy-Ed and Franz von Papen, attaches of the German Embassy, for " improper activities in naval and military matters." The events of the year had worked a profound change in the attitude of the President not toward participation in the war in Europe but upon the question of defence of American interests. In early October it became publicly known that the President was entirely convinced that the United States must take great strides toward preparation for this defence. He evidenced this most clearly in ad dressing the Civilian Advisory Board on October 6, 19 15. (Statement No. 43.) That he conceived of the possibil ity of Germany as an active enemy of the United States was now evident. On October 11, 1915, he admitted that after all " neutrality " was a negative word. He no longer asserted that the United States could not pass upon the merits of the controversy in Europe; rather he felt that the United States had assessed the merits, but stood apart to maintain certain principles which were grounded in law and justice. The United States could not enter such a conflict except upon its own terms and for its own purposes. (Statement No. 44.) On November 4, 1915, the President spoke at great ^ See editorial comment in American Journal of International Law, IX, 935- 78 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY length before the Manhattan Club of New York City. (Statement No. 46.) " We are thinking now chiefly of our relations with the rest of the world, not our commer- mercial relations — about those we have thought and planned always — but about our political relations, our duties as an individual and independent force in the world to ourselves, our neighbors, and the world itself." This is the second indication that the President was willing to contemplate an actual participation by the United States in a readjustment of international relations. His method of approach is familiar to those who have followed the narrative of his previous utterances upon Pan-American affairs. It was clear to him that Ameri can principles were well known. " It is not only to be free and prosperous ourselves, but also to be the friend and thoughtful partisan of those who are free or who de sire freedom the world over. . . . We shall never in any circumstances seek to make an independent people sub ject to our dominion ; because we believe, we passionately believe, in the right of every people to choose their own allegiance and be free of masters altogether." The important subject of his address was the question of defence. Here was voiced by the President for the first time the distinct fear of interference with the devel opment of the United States as a nation. Men were ask ing, said he, " how far we are prepared to maintain ourselves against any interference with our national ac tion or development." Whatever augmented military power was obtained it was to be used for defence, not FREEDOM OF THE SEAS 79 only of citizens and territory but of the ideals of the American people. It was to be for " the constant and legitimate uses of times of international peace." In the period from April to December of 191 5 the President had carried to a successful issue his diplo matic controversy with Germany, as far as it related to the principles he was insisting upon. Specific cases were still in controversy, but against Germany as against Great Britain the record of protest was rigidly kept. Each successive utterance of the President revealed an in creased emphasis upon the rights of neutrals and the need of international agreement and co-operation. From both groups of belligerents the administration asked an adherence to the rules of international law. Following the record of protest and the insistence that above all exigencies of war were the rights of humanity came the request to the American people that they provide an ade quate means for making good the demands of the Ameri can government on behalf of all mankind. CHAPTER V Preparation for Defence Purposes of Preparedness — A New Pan-American Program — Remaining Dangers to Neutral Rights — Armed Merchant men as Auxiliary Cruisers — President's Defence of American Rights — New Difficulties in Mexico — Germany's Pledged Word Violated — Hostilities Averted but the Problem Un solved — League of Nations to Enforce Peace as the Solution. The Sixty-Fourth Congress, elected in November, 19 14, with a Democratic majority but without any man date respecting the foreign policy of the government, assembled for its first session on December 7, 19 15. The President read his third annual message, and proposed officially what he had heretofore suggested unofficially, i.e., a program of immediate preparedness for national defence such as he had outlined in his address to the Man hattan Club. (Statement No. 4/.) But true to his pri mary interest in the ends to be achieved, he felt that it was necessary again to make clear the aims of the United States toward which its augmented military power might be directed. The Great War, which had " altered the whole face of international affairs," had thrust upon the United States problems of more serious import than any since the Civil War. With the grave possibilities of this fact for the future of his country in mind, the President attempted charac- 80 PREPARATION FOR DEFENCE 81 teristically to connect the program he was about to sug gest with the traditional ideals and policy of the United States. Thus he began by pointing out that the Monroe Doctrine had been maintained in its full vigour not merely to protect the United States from the possibilities of in terference with its own free development. Its purpose was also to afford the Latin American republics a like freedom. " From the first," he said, " we have made common cause with all partisans of liberty on this side the sea, and have deemed it as important that our neigh bours should be free from all outside domination as that we ourselves should be ; have set America aside as a whole for the uses of independent nations and political free men." This conception of the Monroe Doctrine was con cretely exemplified by the policy followed in Mexico since 1913- But the President had a still wider horizon before him. Not only was the United States the friend of free national development in America, and its champion too; it was preparing to be its champion elsewhere. " We resent," he declared, " from whatever quarter it may come, the aggression we ourselves will not practise. . . . We do not confine our enthusiasm for individual liberty and free na tional development to the incidents and movements of affairs which affect only ourselves. We feel it wherever there is a people that tries to walk in these difficult paths of independence and right." For its duties in maintaining such ideals as these the United States, in his opinion, could honourably and should 82 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY speedily arm itself. Regarding war " as a means of as serting the rights of a people against aggression," the United States " must be fitted to play the great role in the world," particularly in the western hemisphere, which its citizens " are qualified by principle and by chastened ambition to play." PAN-AMERICAN PROGRAM The President had emphasized in his message the increasing cordiality between North and South America. An opportunity was given again soon to further ce ment this good will when the second Pan-American Scientific Congress met in Washington. Proposals pre sented by Secretary Lansing to the South and Central American diplomats were the subject of an address by President Wilson on January 6, 1916. (Statement No. 48.) After speaking generally on the desirability of friendliness and co-operation among all the American States, he emphasized the chief features of the adminis tration's Pan-American program. These were that the various states were ( i ) to unite in guaranteeing to each other absolute political independence and territorial in tegrity, and (2) to settle all disputes arising between them by investigation and arbitration. Admirable ma chinery would thus have been provided for the main tenance of the " rights of nations " declared by the American Institute of International Law at its first con vention held early in January, 1916.^ This declaration 1 The American Institute of International Law was founded Octo ber 12, 19x2, for the purpose of instructing and strengthening pub- PREPARATION FOR DEFENCE 83 insisted upon the right of each, state to protect itself, to develop itself without hindrance from other states, and to the equal respect of these rights by all other states. The Pan-American policy of the administration was not only in line with these proposals of the leading Ameri can students of international relations, it was considerably in advance of it. While the Institute of International Law declared " rights " the Department of State was working for practical methods to give those rights actual substance. More than this, it was urging the adoption of concrete measures for keeping the peace in the westem hemisphere. The American proposals included the arbi tration of all boundary disputes and the prohibition of the shipment of arms and munitions to revolutionists. These two prolific causes of war in South and Central America would thus have been eliminated. This program has yielded thus far no positive results.^ It might seem despite these declarations of principle that quite an opposite practice was being pursued by the Washington government. For at the same time that Sec retary Lansing was making his proposals to South Amer- lic opinion, in the western hemisphere, regarding the wisdom of international justice. It is made up of representatives from socie ties in each of the twenty-one American republics. For the text of its "Declaration of the Rights of Nations" see American lournal of International Law. X, 124. 1 April 13, 19x6, a congress of American republics meeting in Buenos Aires created the Pan-American International High Com mission, the functions of which are to work for the establishment for the Pan-American nations of uniform laws, particularly respecting business. The headquarters of the Commission were established at Washington. 84 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY ica, the United States Senate had under consideration treaties with Haiti and Nicaragua, which apparently in fringed on the sovereignty of these states. Under the treaty with Haiti ^ the United States assumed a protecto- rate over that republic. The territorial integrity and po htical independence of Haiti were guaranteed by the United States which in turn took over control of its finances and police. Without specifically providing for it the treaty made it possible for the United States to as sume complete direction of Haiti's foreign affairs should circumstances warrant it. The much discussed treaty with Nicaragua was ratified by the Senate February i8, 1916, and by Nicaragua April I Ith. It granted the United States an exclusive option on the Nicaragua canal route and a naval base in the Gulf of Fonseca in return for $3,000,000. This treaty differed from the proposals offered in 1913 ^ in that it did not seek to establish a protectorate over Nicaragua. '^ The treaty with Haiti was signed September 16, igiS, ratified by the Haitian Congress November X2, igis, and by the United States Senate February 25, 19x6. The events of 19x4 and 19x5 which led the United States to propose such a treaty are set forth very briefly in The American Year Book for 1914, p. 1x5; ibid., for igi5, pp. 129-130. See also C. L. Jones, Caribbean Interests of the United States, ch. ix. For text of the treaty see American Journal of In ternational Law, X, Supplement, 234. ^ Infra, p. 6, n. A similar treaty had been signed June 6, xgxx: Nicaragua ratified it, but the United States Senate did not. The treaty of February, 19x3, was redrawn and submitted to the Senate July 20, X913. In its final form it was submitted to the Senate August 12, 1913. See G. A. Finch, "The Treaty with Nicaragua Granting Canal and Other Rights to the United States," in American Journal of International Law. X, 344. For text of the treaty see ibid., X, Supplement, 258. PREPARATION FOR DEFENCE 85 Whether the Wilson administration in its relations with countries bordering on the Caribbean Sea was conducting itself consistently with the spirit of its own declarations remains to be discussed in a later chapter.^ It can be pointed out here, however, that until the Lansing pro posals were accepted, the obligations of the United States under the Monroe Doctrine and with respect to the Pan ama Canal sufficiently account for these two treaties. And the Lansing proposals are themselves ample evidence of the desire of the administration to meet these responsi bilities in a manner in keeping with its avowed purpose to respect the sovereignty of even the smallest states. the armed merchantmen CONTROVERSY Meanwhile matters of vastly greater public interest were making insistent demands on the attention of the Department of State. Communications received early in January, 191 6, from the Imperial German government indicated that it intended to fulfil the hope raised by its promises of September i, 1915, and to accede to the other demands of the United States respecting subma rine warfare. True, the liner Persia had been sunk in the Mediterranean on December 30, 1915, and at least two American citizens had been lost. Germany, Austria- Hungary and Turkey all denied that their submarines were responsible for this loss, and indeed no evidence was found which could establish their responsibility. But, according to the memorandum delivered by the German i/w/m, ch. VI, p. X16. 86 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY ambassador to the Secretary of State, January 7, 19 16, if a German submarine had by inadvertence unlawfully sunk the Persia, the necessary amends would have been made. This memorandum informed the United States that commanders of German submarines in the Mediter ranean had been ordered to deal with enemy merchant vessels in that area as the rules of naval warfare re quired, and promised that disobedience of this order would be followed by punishment of the guilty officers and reparation for damages to American citizens. The Persia was specifically mentioned as a case in point, provided it were shown that it had been sunk by a German submarine. It is of course true, as earlier American protests had emphasized, that there is no adequate repara tion for loss of life. However, this note is considerably more than a promise of reparation. It evidenced a pur pose to recognize the rules of international law, at any rate in the Mediterranean Sea, and there is implied a disavowal in advance of any future unlawful acts of its naval officers. Moreover, there was other proof of apparent acquies cence by Germany in American contentions. The Ger man note on the case of the William P Frye,^ dated November 29, 1915, was made public on January 8, 19 16. This note, after arranging for indemnity and for arbitra tion of disputed points, went on to pledge that, until the questions at issue were settled, " the German naval forces would sink only such American vessels as are loaded with 1 Infra, p. 65. PREPARATION FOR DEFENCE 87 absolute contraband, when the pre-conditions ^ provided by the Declaration of London are present." It was fur ther admitted " that all possible care must be taken for the security of the crew and passengers. . . ." Two days later, January 10, 19 16, it was announced that the German ambassador at Washington had sub mitted to his government for approval a definite settle ment of the Lusitania case.* This approval having been given, the settlement was offered the United States gov ernment as a reply to its note of July 21, 191 5. Though indemnity was offered, the United States refused to accept the German proposal because there was no admission that the sinking of the Lusitania was illegal. Subse quently in supposed agreement with the desires of the United States the reply was altered, but it was not ac cepted. It must be noted that Germany had not gone the whole length in meeting the American demands; there were to be limits to its observance of the rights of neutrals. The rules of international law were to be observed in the Mediterranean Sea presumably with respect to all ship ping including that of the enemy. In other areas the rules 1 These conditions are met if more than half the cargo of the neutral merchantman be contraband; if the cargo be destined to territory belonging to or occupied by the enemy, or to the armed forces of the enemy; and if capturing and taking the neutral mer chantman into a port for condemnation as a prize would involve dangers to the warship or to the success of the operation in which it is engaged at the time. See Articles 30, 40 and 49 of the Dec laration of London, American Journal of International Law. Ill, Supplement, 179. ^ Infra, p. 72, 88 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY were to be followed only in cases involving American mer chant vessels or passenger liners whether of American or other registry including those of the belligerents. There still remained other contingencies to be dealt with, among them that involving armed merchantmen of the enemies of Germany. Great Britain had been permitting, apparently from the early days of the war, the arming of its merchant vessels. This it was undoubtedly privileged to do, under the here tofore accepted principles of international law, where the purpose was the quite reasonable one of self-defence.^ But this right Germany denied.* Furthermore, (Germany had claimed that English armed merchantmen had taken the offensive against German submarines, thereby beyond question divesting themselves of peaceful character.^ It followed that if some such vessels had used their arma ments offensively others might do so, and thus the Ger man submarine, to be effective at all in destroying enemy commerce, must treat all enemy merchantmen as if they were public armed vessels instead of private. In such circumstances guarantees of life to crews and passengers 1 See A. P. Higgins, " Armed Merchant Ships," in American Jour nal of International Law, VIII, 705 ; J. B. Scott, " Armed Merchant Ships," ibid,, X, 113. 2 In a note to the United States dated March x, 19x5, the Ger man government had conditioned a promise to restrict its use of submarines on the abstention by enemy merchantmen from using neutral flags and from arming themselves, declaring that the latter was contrary to international law. See Department of State, Dip lomatic Correspondence, European War Series, No. x, p. 60. The same view is expressed in a German note dated October 15, 19x4, ibid,. No. 2, p. 45. 8 See the German note of September 4, 1915, ibid., No. 3, p. 160. PREPARATION FOR DEFENCE 89 disappeared entirely; and as American citizens had the right to travel on or take service in belligerent merchant men with the expectation of safety of life, at least, some means had to be found of assuring that safety. The government of the United States endeavoured to solve the problem raised by the arming of merchantmen and the development of the submarine by asking the bel ligerent powers to agree to a declaration of principles gov erning the conduct of both submarines and merchantmen.^ On January 18, 1916, Secretary Lansing presented to the governments of the Entente Allies, informally and confi dentially, a definite proposal for a declaration, the chief features of which were that merchant vessels were not to be armed and in turn were not to be attacked without warning, nor to be fired upon except in case of resistance or flight, nor to be sunk until their nationality were deter mined and their crews afforded a chance for safety. (Statement No, 4p,) It need scarcely be pointed out that had these principles been adopted and adhered to the only really dangerous cause of future controversy between the United States and the warring powers would have been eliminated. Nearly all questions arising out of other causes could have been dealt with by arbitration. But since the proposal was in effect a request to the enemies of Germany to abandon a practice which, however inexpedi ent and dangerous, was admittedly lawful,* in return for iThis constitutes the administration's third attempt to induce the belligerents to agree on a method of conducting their naval war fare which would protect neutral rights. See infra, p. 44 and p. 56. 2 The Department of State had issued on September 19, 19x4, a 90 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY which Germany was to discontinue a method of warfare which was unquestionably unlawful, it was doubtless too much to expect that England and its allies could or would agree to it. It is unfortunate that the administration here seemed to abandon the ground which it took in the first Lusitania note, May 13, 191 5, i.e., that submarines could not possi bly be used against commerce in accordance with practice sanctioned by international law.^ It is more unfortunate that the proposal of January 18, 19 16, had the appearance of being unneutral ahd of favouring Germany, especially in the unguarded suggestion contained in the last para graph that the United States contemplated treating armed merchantmen as auxiliary cruisers. Nevertheless, it can be said in favour of the proposal as a whole that, like the two previous attempts to establish a modus vivendi for the belligerents, it was an endeavour to render neutral rights on the high seas as safe as was humanly possible. But if Secretary Lansing's confidential suggestion were made public, as it was on January 28, 1916, and if Germany were to seek to take advantage of it, as Germany later did, all the future dealing of the United States with that power was bound to become more difficult. It would be hard to convince Germany that the United States government did not mean what it said; yet, if circular note in which it defined the status of armed merchant ves sels, admitting their right to arm for defence without losing their peaceful character. Department of State, Diplomatic Correspond ence, European War Series, No. 2, p. 43. 1 Infra, Part III, Statement No. 36. PREPARATION FOR DEFENCE 91 the United States did make good its threat to treat armed merchantmen as auxiliary cruisers it would be altering the rules in time of war. Since its whole case against both belligerents rested on its insistence that the rules could not be changed while the war was in progress, ex cept by the acquiescence of all the nations concerned, it would have abandoned at one stroke all that it had so patiently worked for during the previous eighteen months. Perhaps the realization of this and the consequent fear of an approaching crisis moved President Wilson to his next step. Whatever the motive, he was induced to go be fore the people near the end of January in furtherance of the request he had made in his message to Congress for military and naval preparedness. In a ten days' tour end ing February 4, 1916, he addressed audiences in New York, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Chicago, To peka, Kansas City, Des Moines, St. Louis, and many smaller places. He became more emphatic as the tour progressed; the keynote was not struck until he reached Cleveland. (Statement No. 50. ) " We are daily tread ing," he said, " amid the most intricate dangers, . . . dangers . . . not of our making . . . not under our con trol, ... no man in the United States knows what a single week or a single day or a single hour may bring forth." He affirmed his deep consciousness of the " dou ble obligation " laid upon him ; he was to keep the nation out of war and he was " to keep the honor of the nation unstained." There might come a time when it would be impossible to do both of these things. He assured his fel- 92 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY low citizens that they could count upon his resolution to keep out of war, but where the actions of others might bring the nation could not be foretold. Thus he urged that the country support the government in adequate prep aration for meeting whatever circumstances might arise. ^ That the preparedness program was well timed is evi denced by the fact that on February lo, 1916, Germany and Austria introduced a new danger into the situation by announcing that they would after February 29, 1916, regard as warships armed merchant vessels of their enemies and would deal with them accordingly.* In other words, submarine commanders would be instructed to sink without warning any such armed vessels, whether carrying passengers or not. It has been supposed that in making this new move the Central Powers were relying on the suggestion of threat against Great Britain contained in the last paragraph of Secretary Lansing's proposal of January 18, 1916. But they had no ground for supposing that the United States would acquiesce in their decision to treat armed merchant men as warships as long as the rules of warfare remained unchanged. Furthermore, if they really had been trying to act, as they professed, in a friendly manner toward the United States, the least that could have been expected 1 These speeches were as widely discussed as any of President Wil son's utterances up to that time. They were indeed vigorous, but it is unfortunate that as played up by the newspapers, they were made to seem alarmist in the extreme. For an analysis of the significance of this speaking tour see R. Bean, " The President among the People," in The World's Work, XXI, 6x0. 2 Infra, p. 88. PREPARATION FOR DEFENCE 93 of them was that before adopting a new policy they wait until some answer to the Lansing proposals had been received from England and its allies. If the Entente Powers should have accepted the American proposals there would have been no reason for a change in German policy. The truth seems to be that Germany deliberately tried to embarrass the efforts of the United States to safe guard neutral rights, by making it impossible for its enemies to accept the modifications in international law which in turn would have made it possible for Germany, according to its own contention, to conduct its subma rine campaign in a sufficiently lawful manner.^ In any event, in view of the correspondence between the United States and Germany, the government of the latter coun try had no reason to expect that the Wilson administra tion would voluntarily consent either to an actual curtail ment of the rights of neutrals or to a change in the laws of naval warfare until all interested nations had agreed to it. Following the publication of the announcement of Ger many and Austria occurred a remarkable debate in Con gress, which, precipitated by some Republican members who criticized the President on the unwarranted assump tion that he would acquiesce in the German program, finally revealed itself as an attack on the policy of the President from his own party on grounds of the opposite character. Resolutions introduced by Thomas P. Gore, of Oklahoma, in the Senate, and Jeff McLemore, of 1 See the German notes of October 15, 1914, March x and Sep tember 4, 19x5, referred to in the note on p. 88, infra. 94 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY Texas, in the House of Representatives, were designed to prohibit American citizens from travelling on armed mer chantmen.^ But the President did not believe that such resolutions should be adopted. He addressed to Senator Stone a letter, on February 24, 19 16, which discovered to the surprised leaders of both parties how inaccurately they had gauged the President's temper and courage, as well as his conception of his duty in safeguarding the rights of citizens of the United States and in the maintenance of international obligations. (Statement No, 51,) He reaffirmed his purpose to keep the United States out of war if possible. But for his part he could not " con sent * to any abridgement of the rights of American citi zens in any respect." " Once accept a single abatement of right," he went on to point out, " and many other hu miliations would certainly follow, and the whole fine fabric of international law might crumble under our hands piece by piece. What we are contending for in this mat ter is the very essence of the things that have made Amer ica a sovereign nation. She can not yield them without conceding her own impotency as a nation and making vir tual surrender of her independent position among the nations of the world." ^ ^ For the text of the Gore and McLemore resolutions see the New York Times. March 4, 19x6. Secretary Bryan made proposals similar to these June 10, xgis; see American Journal of International Law, IX, 66x. 2 Note that there had been no " consent " to interference by Great Britain, notwithstanding the many allegations to that effect by critics of the administration. *The Gore and McLemore resolutions were defeated. PREPARATION FOR DEFENCE 95 Of identical import was his address before the Grid iron Club, Washington, February 26, 19 16. (Statement No. 52.) He asserted that American policy must be based " upon a profound principle of human liberty and humanity," not upon expediency ; that " America ought to keep out of this war ... at the sacrifice of everything except this single thing upon which her char acter and history are founded, her sense of humanity and justice"; that "if she sacrifices that, she has ceased to be America " ; that it was a mistake to suppose that it was in accord with the spirit of the American nation that it would " go about seeking safety at the expense of humanity." Plainly the President was preparing his countrymen for the arrival of the day when, having ex hausted the resources of patience and tolerance and friendliness, they must resort to their might to dispose of a foe to humanity and justice. MEXICO While relations with Europe were thus in such a crit ical situation, events in Mexico which the President could not control were increasing the difficulties of the United States govemment in maintaining its policy. Some of the incidents on the border, like the massacre of a party of American mining men at Santa Ysabel, Chihuahua, on January 10, 191 6, were of extremely grave character. Nevertheless, the Department of State contented itself with merely insisting to the Mexican government that 96 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY order must be maintained and satisfaction given for wrongs against American citizens. But on March 8, 1916, a force of Mexicans led by Gen eral Villa attacked the town of Columbus, New Mexico, and killed seventeen persons. This invasion of American territory and the cold-blooded murder of American citi zens led to drastic measures. On the day of the attack the President ordered Major-General Frederick Funston to prepare to pursue and, if possible, capture the Villa band. The punitive expedition, under the immediate command of Brigadier-General John J. Pershing, after a month in Mexico without accomplishing its object, began to encounter the opposition of the government of General Carranza, notwithstanding that he had on March loth consented that American troops might pursue bandits in Mexican territory.^ The administration was embarrassed in its patient ef forts to deal with Carranza by the activities of citizens of the United States in spreading reports calculated to in flame public opinion on both sides of the boundary. The President attempted to meet this danger by issuing from the White House, March 25, 1916, a public statement in which, after reasserting the purpose of the Pershing ex pedition, he declared that " sinister and unscrupulous in fluences " were at work ; that all along the border persons 1 For accounts of these events see J. B. Scott : " The American- Mexican Joint Commission of 1916," in American Journal of Inter national Law, X, 890 ; G. A. Finch, " Mexico and the United States," ibid., XI, 399. The notes which passed between the Department of State and the Mexican Foreign Secretary are published in the American Journal of International Law, X, Supplement, 179-225. PREPARATION FOR DEFENCE 97 were actively engaged in spreading sensational and dis turbing rumours in order to increase friction between the United States and Mexico " for the purpose of bringing about intervention in the interest of certain American owners of Mexican properties." (Statement No. 5J.) He served notice on such persons that their object could not be attained so long as a " sane and honourable " policy were followed by the United States government. CONTROVERSY WITH GREAT BRITAIN Coincident with the increase in Mexico of the suspicion and distrust which were to make the path of peace so hard a one in the next few months, the relations of the United States with the warring powers in Europe became laden with more dangers day by day. On March 24, 191 6, the State Department announced the receipt of a note ^ from the Entente Allies rejecting the Lansing proposals regard ing armed merchantmen. The administration, accepting this decision as final, adopted a new method of dealing with the situation. In a memorandum dated March 25 (made public April 26) it announced its attitude toward the status of armed merchantmen, which was, briefly, that a merchant ship of a belligerent power armed for offence whose papers directed it to adopt offensive measures against enemy warships was to be regarded as having lost its character as a peaceful trading vessel and might be treated as a warship. (Statement No. 54.) But in 1 For text of this reply see Department of State, Diplomatic Cor respondence, European War Series, No. 3, p. 187. 98 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY order to justify sinking such a vessel the burden was on the enemy warship to discover conclusive evidence of the merchantman's aggressive purpose. This interpre tation was the greatest concession the United States could make to Germany and still insist on adherence to the ex isting rules. Another matter of dispute with the allied nations arose out of the practice, inaugurated in December, 191 5, by England, of interfering with the mails between the United States and Holland and the Scandinavian states. This practice was also followed by France, and was justified by both governments on the ground that contraband rules were being violated through the agency of the parcel post. While examination of mails to determine whether they contain contraband is permissible, the means used by Eng land were not sanctioned by principle or usage. ^ Vigor ous protest by the Department of State on January 4, 1916, elicited a reply from the Allies dated April 3, 1916, which, while admitting the soundness of the American contention, offered a pragmatic justification and promised to respect the inviolability of " genuine correspondence." Nevertheless, the interference continued and eventually led to further exchange of notes, the administration ad hering to the policy it had followed from the first, i.e., while demanding to the fullest extent its property rights, 1 Removal of mails from the vessels in which they were carried, and seizure of neutral vessels to bring them into a belligerent port for the purpose of removing the mails and even of subjecting them to censorship constituted an unwarranted extension of belligerent privileges in this matter. PREPARATION FOR DEFENCE 99 to record the American claims against the belligerents for invasion of such rights and to await the coming of peace for legal settlement of its claims.^ CRISIS IN RELATIONS WITH GERMANY Meanwhile relations with Germany were subjected to a new strain when the news came of the sinking by a sub marine on March 24, 1916, of the unarmed French chan nel steamer Sussex, with the loss of lives of American citizens. The evidence * accumulated by the Department of State indicated beyond all doubt that Germany was again guilty of gross violation not only of the principles of international law but of its own promises made Sep tember I, 1915.^ In these circumstances there was only one course to pursue. President Wilson hinted that this new crisis was ex tremely serious in his address April 17, 1916, to the Daughters of the American Revolution in Washington. (Statement No. 55.) He was speaking of American tra ditions but had his immediate problem in mind when he said : " America will have forgotten her traditions when ever upon any occasion she fights merely for herself under such circumstances as will show that she has forgotten to 1 The correspondence regarding interference with mails is pub lished in Department of State, Diplomatic Correspondence, Euro pean War Series, No. 3, Part V. ^'In reply to inquiry by the United States government Germany admitted the sinking without warning by one of its submarines, at the time and place indicated in the news item, of a vessel which it believed, however, was not the Sussex. See Department of State, Diplomatic Correspondence, European War Series, No. 3, p. 238. ^ Infra, p. 72. IOO DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY fight for all mankind. And the only excuse that America can ever have for the assertion of her physical force is that she asserts it in behalf of the interests of humanity." He also felt the need of reminding the American people that it should not go to war out of mere selfishness in the assertion of its own rights as a nation. If there were to be war, as some were thinking and saying, it must be for a higher purpose, — a purpose bound up with the welfare of all mankind. This attitude is maintained in the note dispatched to Germany April 19, 1916.^ (Statement No. §6.) True, the rights and grievances of the United States are set forth with emphasis, and the impressive catalogue of un lawful acts on the part of German submarine commanders indicates that the case of the Sussex was not the cause of the final decision of the United States, but fumished the occasion for it.* The note recited that the government at 1 The note is dated April 18, 1916, and was received in Berlin, April 20, 1916. 2 From the date of the sinking of the Persia to April x8, 19x6, the following cases of sinkings by German submarines which involved Americans are known: Norwegian bark, Silius, seven Americans aboard, sunk without warning March 9, 1916; Dutch liner Tubantia, several American passengers, sunk March 16, 1916; British steamer Berwindvale, four Americans aboard, sunk March x6, 1916; the Sus sex, March 24, 1916 ; British steamer. Englishman, several Americans aboard, one reported lost, sunk March 24, 1916; British steamer Manchester Engineer, two Americans aboard, sunk without warning March 27, 1916 ; British steamer Eagle Point, one American aboard, sunk without warning March 29, 1916. Besides these the Italian steamer Brindisi was sunk by a mine, January 6, 1916; 242 lives lost, including one American. Other unwarranted sinkings not involv ing Americans were : British steamer Clan MacFarlane, December 30, 1915; British liner Zent, April 5, 19x6; British liner Chantala, April 8, 1916; Spanish steamer Santanderino, April 10, 1916. Lives were lost in each of these four sinkings. PREPARATION FOR DEFENCE loi Washington had been indeed very patient ; that its " senti ments of very genuine friendship for the people and Gov ernment of Germany " had led it to hope that the latter would " square its policy with the recognized principles of humanity as embodied in the law of nations " ; that never theless the " inhumanity of submarine warfare " as con ducted by German commanders had become more appall ing; that it had become " painfully evident " that " the use of submarines for the destruction of an enemy's commerce is, of necessity, because of the very character of the vessels employed and the very methods of attack which their employment of course involves, utterly incompati ble with the principles of humanity, the long-established and incontrovertible rights of neutrals, and the sacred immunities of non combatants " ; ^ that if the German government still purposed to conduct the war without regard to " the universally recognized dictates of human ity " there remained but one course open to the United States, namely, " to sever diplomatic relations with the German Empire altogether " ; and that however reluctant the United States government was to contemplate this action it would feel constrained to take it " in behalf of humanity and the rights of neutral nations." And when the President emphasized the grave dangers in the situation by laying the Sussex note before a joint session of Congress on the same day, April 19, 1916, his address only repeated the sense of the note itself. (State- 1 The government of the United States here resumed the position it took in its first Lusitania note. Infra, p. 72. 102 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY ment No. 5/.) " We cannot forget," he said, " that we are in some sort and by the force of circumstances the responsible spokesmen of the rights of humanity, and that we cannot remain silent while those rights seem in process of being swept utterly away in the maelstrom of this terri ble war. We owe it to a due regard for our own rights as a nation, to our sense of duty as a representative of the rights of neutrals the world over, and to a just conception of the rights of mankind to take this stand now with the utmost solemnity and firmness." The tremendous importance of the Sussex case arises partly from the way in which it was handled. As an out rage against humanity and neutral rights it was vastly less in degree than the sinking of the Lusitania. Not only were fewer lives lost but the element of cold-blooded delib eration seems to have been lacking. However, the princi ples involved in the two cases were the same and the Presi dent of the United States took the same standpoint in addressing the German Government, i.e., the rights of hu manity. But Germany had violated its pledged word, and therefore an ultimatum was delivered. If Germany should not accept the American view or, having accepted it, should fail again to fulfil its promises, there must neces sarily follow the severance of diplomatic relations and the possibility of war. None of the Lusitania notes amounted to an ultimatum, and the United States was not as near to war in 191 5 as it was a year later. But the statements official and otherwise made by the Presi dent and the Secretary of State in the Lusitania and PREPARATION FOR DEFENCE 103 Sussex cases must be regarded as paving the road to the high ground on which President Wilson was to stand some day in the future when the United States would find itself actually faced with war. If he were to lead his country into the European conflict it would be for some cause immeasurably greater than the vindication of the rights of the United States and of its citizens. Fortunately the German reply,^ dated May 4, 1916, was capable of such interpretation as to be acceptable to the United States government. Later, May 8th, formal apol ogy and reparation were offered. Germany, however, tried to condition its promise to conduct submarine war fare against merchant vessels according to the principles of international law on the cessation by Great Britain of alleged unlawful methods of warfare. At this time, as well as at other times, the German government took the position that a neutral nation, in order to vindicate its rights as a neutral and thus to prove its neutrality, must do more than simply protest against violation of its rights, and therefore that the United States, because it 1 The German reply promised to " draw " the appropriate " con sequences " if the German investigation of the Sussex case supported the American claim, and announced that no more merchant ships would be sunk " without warning and without saving human lives." It was expected that the United States would in return insist that Great Britain observe the rules of international law, and the Ger man promise for the future was explicitly conditioned in the fol lowing words : " Should steps taken by the Government of the United States not attain the object it desires to have the laws of humanity followed by all belligerent nations, the German Government would then be facing a new situation, in which it must reserve it self complete liberty of action." See Department of State, Diplo matic Correspondence, European War Series, No. 3, pp. 302-306. ' 104 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY refused to use force or even retaliatory measures against Great Britain, was guilty of a breach of neutrality in spite of its protests. The German view was that failure to supplement the protests with more effective measures proved the acquiescence of the United States in the illegal interference with neutral commerce by Great Britain. The German foreign office did not seem able to grasp two very plain facts. On the one hand, without exception, every item in the controversy with Great Britain was of a justiciable nature; there was nothing in dispute that could not be arbitrated, and the United States was bound by its treaty with Great Britain to arbitrate such mat ters. On the other hand, whether the matters involved could be settled peaceably or not, the controversy between the United States and Great Britain and the one between the United States and the German Empire were two entirely different controversies, which not only could have been but should have been dealt with without refer ence to each other. Another note was therefore necessary to make it plain that the United States held Germany singly, absolutely and unconditionally responsible for the acts of (German naval officers. (Statement No, 58,) This was appar ently accepted by Germany ; at any rate, for a few months there seemed to be an abatement of the submarine cam paign as it affected neutrals. Nevertheless, in the absence of formal assurance by Germany it was to be assumed that it still adhered to its position. The problem re- PREPARATION FOR DEFENCE 105 mained an unsolved one, and as such was an ever present source of danger.^ MEXICO In the lull between this crisis in the relations with Germany and the next crisis in the relations with Mex ico, the President talked before the National Press Club at Washington May 15, 1916. (Statement No. ^p.) He again declared the necessity for the United States to keep out of war, but he again revealed his apprehen sion by emphasizing that " in foreign affairs the chief element is where action is going on in other quarters of the world and not where thought is going in the United States." He was still thinking, as were thousands of his countrymen, along the lines expressed in his " preparedness " speeches — the actions of other peoples might force the United States from the ways of peace.* Unfriendly action from another people came next from across the southern boundary of the United States. There was an increase in the hostility of the Mexican people and government toward the maintenance of an American force in Mexico. Conferences between General Carranza's Minister of War Obregon and Generals Scott and Fun ston during late April and early May did not relieve the ^ Infra, p. 126 for the renewal in October, 19x6, of German sub marine warfare. 2 For a summary of the attitude of official Washington in the spring of 19x6 see F. M. Davenport, " President Wilson's Foreign Policy," Outlook, CXIII, 142 (May 17, 1916). io6 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY tension, which approached the breaking point on May 22, 1 916. On that day Carranza, in an exceedingly iU-tem- pered communication to the Department of State, charac terized the punitive expedition as " an invasion without Mexico's consent, without its knowledge, and without the co-operation of its authorities," and demanded the imme diate withdrawal of General Pershing's troops. The United States answer, dated June 20, 19 16, declined to accede to Carranza's demand as long as the American forces in Mexico constituted " the only check upon further bandit outrages." At the same time the representatives at Washington of the Latin-American republics were ad vised of this action, and informed that should hostilities eventuate the object of the United States would be " not intervention in Mexican affairs . . . but the defence of American territory from further invasion by armed Mexicans." ^ Next day, June 21, 19 16, at Carrizal an attack by Car ranza's troops upon a detachment of United States cavalry resulted in the capture of some of the latter. This act and a bellicose note from Carranza June 24, 1916, elicited from the Secretary of State a demand (dated June 25, 1916) for the release of the prisoners and a definite state ment as to the Mexican government's purposes. The pris oners were immediately released and on July 4, 19 16, sev eral govemments of South and Central America as well as that of Spain having meanwhile offered mediation, Car- 1 For the correspondence referred to in this and the succeeding paragraph see American Journal of International Law, X, Supple ment, 179-225. PREPARATION FOR DEFENCE 107 ranza proposed that the offer of mediation be accepted. The American reply was a suggestion for conferences to arrange for a settlement, which, having been accepted, a joint commission was decided upon July 28, 1916. Again a peaceful way out of the Mexican trouble was sought, and this in spite of the extremity of the situation and the vociferous demands in some parts of the United States for armed intervention. PROGRAM OF THE PRESIDENT During the latter part of May President Wilson deliv ered two addresses that revealed how far his thought had moved during the past year. Before the League to En force Peace, May 27, 1916, he advocated, for the first time in concrete terms and wholly without reserve, what he had hinted ever since the spring of 191 5, — the perma nent participation of the United States in world affairs. (Statement No. 60.) It came upon the country as a shock to find its president apparently abandoning the tra ditional policy of aloofness and isolation which had for its entire history characterized the attitude of the United States in international matters which did not concern its interests at home, in the western hemisphere, or in the Far East. " We are participants," President Wilson said, " whether we would or not, in the life of the world. The interests of all nations are our own also. . . . What af fects mankind is inevitably our affair as well as the affair of the nations of Europe and of Asia. . . . Henceforth io8 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY . . . there must be a common agreement for a common object, and ... at the heart of that common object must lie the inviolable rights of peoples and mankind. . . . We believe these fundamental things : First, that every peo ple has a right to choose the sovereignty under which they shall live. . . . Second, that the small states of the world have a right to enjoy the same respect for their sover eignty and for their territorial integrity that great and powerful nations expect and insist upon. And, third, that the world has a right to be free from every disturb ance of its peace that has its origin in aggression and dis regard of the rights of peoples and nations." With this statement of aims the President went on to give expression to his belief regarding the means to attain them. He was convinced that there should be " an uni versal association of nations to maintain the inviolate security of the highway of the seas for the common and unhindered use of all the nations of the world, and to prevent any war begun either contrary to treaty covenant or without warning and full submission of the causes to the opinion of the world, — a virtual guarantee of terri torial integrity and political independence." And he ven tured to assert, with full consciousness of his position as spokesman for his people as well as for his government, " that the United States is willing to become a partner in any feasible association of nations formed in order to real ize these objects and make them secure against violation." If the President were to be forced into a war, by the neces- PREPARATION FOR DEFENCE 109 sity to defend the freedom of the seas, the great purpose to be achieved had at last become clear. On Memorial Day, 19 16, at Arlington National Cemetery, the President came back to the same theme in answer to criticism which had recalled with emphatic approval Washington's warning ^ against " entangling alliances." (Statement No, 61,) He said: "I shall never myself consent to an entangling alliance, but I would gladly assent to a disentangling alliance — an al liance which would disentangle the peoples of the world from those combinations in which they seek their own separate and private interests and unite the people of the world to preserve the peace of the world upon a basis of common right and justice. There is liberty there, not limitation. There is freedom, not entanglement. There is achievement of the highest things for which the United States has declared its principle." And he reaffirmed his belief " that the people of the United States were ready to become partners in any alliance of the nations that would guarantee public right above selfish aggression." During these six months, December, 1915, to June, 1916, President Wilson advanced the first half of his pre paredness program, — the military half, the strengthening of the army and navy of the United States. Doubtless he regarded other kinds of preparedness as of even greater 1 Washington's advice had been used before in criticism of Wilson at the time of the " A. B. C." mediation in Mexico. Infa, p. 37. IIO DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY importance, but he did something in behalf of an increase in American military power which he had done for no other of his policies, — he left his desk and appeared on the platform to emphasize this great need before the nation. Just how great the necessity was appeared when the administration faced the two most difficult crises in foreign relations it had yet met, one with Germany and one with Mexico. Both of these crises were settled by peaceful means before the year was out, but not without revealing the precariousness of the position of the United States in such a greatly disordered world. Perhaps it was the painful realization of the futility of the use of diplo macy not backed by force and the utter abhorrence of the use of naked military power alone to make secure national rights that induced the President to seek a new sanction for international law in a league of nations. In the be ginning of the period, in December, he proposed to the states of the new world an association to eliminate the causes of strife among themselves by guaranteeing their mutual independence and integrity. At the end of the period in May he publicly advocated that the United States enter a confederation of the world to keep the peace of the world. CHAPTER VI Formulation of the Issue New Conception of the Position of the United States in the World — Opportunities and Obstacles — Treatment of Mexico — Preparedness in the Caribbean — Redeeming Promises, in the Philippines — Controlling Spirit of Wilson's Foreign Policy — America's Chance to Serve the World — Founda tions of Peace and Forces Endangering it — The Ends for which the United States Will Fight — Need for Defining the Purposes of the Great War — An International Confederation for International Peace. The note which President Wilson struck with such certainty and emphasis in his League to Enforce Peace Speech, continued to be the keynote of his public addresses during the remainder of the year. He let pass no oppor tunity to remind the people of the United States of the lofty principles for which the United States stood and its mission as the guardian of those principles, and to hint that in the discharge of this duty to mankind, a duty which other nations had abandoned, the United States ought to be ready to play a high part whenever it became necessary. Even in the purely political speeches de livered in the latter part of the campaign for the presi dency, whether or not his main theme were foreign af fairs, the President rarely failed to emphasize that the United States was intended to serve mankind and should XXI 112 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY shape all its policy to that end. He was making his coimtrymen see the necessity they were under of taking a new view as to the place of the United States in the world. In the address delivered June 13, 1916, to the cadets graduating from West Point all the lines of the Presi dent's thought respecting the foreign policy of the United States were brought to a focus. (Statement No. 62.) He spoke significantly of the prospects before these new officers of the United States army. Theirs was to be, perhaps, a service much different from the dull routine of life in a Westem army post. Of course, the future of the world could not be foreseen, but whatever it should be the United States was to have a share in it. At the least, though it wanted nothing for itself " that it has to get by war," the United States was obliged to " see that its life is not interfered with by anybody else who wants some thing." That great free commonwealth compounded by all the peoples of the world out of their hopes for the future of mankind had to be prepared to make itself and its ideals safe, for it carries the " guiding lights of liberty and principle and justice' for the world. The United States was not only a spiritual partner with the other states of the westem hemisphere ; it stood ready to swing " into the field of action whenever liberty and independ ence and political integrity are threatened anywhere in the Westem Hemisphere." But the United States would do more. The American people was ready, so the President thought, to join with the other nations of the world in see- FORMULATION OF THE ISSUE 113 ing that the kind of justice it believed in prevailed every where in the world. A note of warning as to the future, a call to the service of high ideals, a pledging of the United States to play an unselfish part in the councils of a better ordered world — this was the message of the President to these young soldiers and to his fellow citizens as well. MEXICO The events in Mexico previously related, — the battle of Carrizal, the peremptory demands for the release of the American soldiers, the renewed negotiations for the settle ment of difficulties,^ — occurred before President Wilson again had occasion to speak. The country was in no tem per to listen to words of moderation, but the President, before the Associated Advertising Clubs, at Philadelphia on June 29, 1916, administered a rebuke to those who were advocating actual conquest in Mexico, when he asserted that " at whatever cost America should be just to other peoples and treat other peoples as she demands that they should treat her. She has a right to demand that they treat her with justice and respect, and she has a right to insist that they treat her in that fashion, but she cannot with dignity or self-respect insist upon that unless she is willing to act in the same fashion toward them." (Statement No. 63.) And the President added, " That I am ready to fight for at any cost to myself." Doubtless he was keenly aware that it was costing him a great deal in current reputation to maintain this attitude ''¦Infra, p. 106. 114 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY toward Mexico, but he was even more emphatic when ad dressing the Press Club, at New York, the next day, June 30, 1916. (Statement No. 64.) He was of course fully cognizant of the duty of the government to defend the ter ritory and people of the United States. " It goes without saying," he said, " that it is the duty of the administra tion to have constantly in mind with the utmost sensi tiveness every point of national honor." But he was not convinced that it was the duty of the administration to intervene in the affairs of another people by force, for " force had never accomplished an)rthing that was permanent." He pointed out that the permanent things are accomplished afterwards " when the opinion of man kind is brought to bear upon the issues." He knew that the easiest thing was to strike, but he thought that striking was no way to conserve the honour of the nation, no matter what else might thus be conserved. It was after these speeches were delivered that events took a different turn in Mexico ; General Carranza adopted a conciliatory attitude and a peaceful settlement of the controversy was made possible. The President had ap plied in this case the general principles which actuated him in other cases, and which he was to continue to emphasize at this time — principles of justice and fairness. On July 4, 1916, at the dedication of the new headquarters of the American Federation of Labour in Washington, while speaking of the necessity for " common counsel and com mon understanding" among the people of the United States in their own affairs, he reverted to the ideas in the FORMULATION OF THE ISSUE 115 forefront of his thought. (Statement No. 63.) Amer ica is great on account of its ideals of freedom and jus tice; therefore he said, " no man ought to suffer injustice in America. No man ought in America to fail to see the dictates of humanity." The next week at Detroit, when on July 10, 1916, he addressed the Salesmanship Congress in a speech which dealt mostly with the possibilities of American trade ex pansion, he could not help referring not only to the situa tion in Mexico but to the possibilities of the future of the world. (Statement No. 66.) He declared that it would have brought no good to have forced Mexico ; that the way for the United States to serve itself and the rest of Amer ica in Mexico was to try to serve Mexico itself ; that the sovereignty of Mexico must be respected ; that there must be respect for the right of its people " to do anything they please with their own country and their own govern ment " ; that the United States must look well to the spirit in which it was to undertake new responsibilities in the world; that the United States must play a great part in the world whether it chooses it or not ; that it must, for example, finance the world, and for it must have a broad vision and an understanding of the world. the CARIBBEAN POLICY In July and August the Department of State was con cemed chiefly in conducting the negotiations with Mex ico,^ and in keeping the record clear for a future settle- iThe commission provided for in June was appointed in August ii6 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY ment of the account of the United States against Great Britain.^ Since there was no change of policy involved in dealing with these matters nothing is gained by dis cussing them. Of true significance, however, was the further development of the administration's practice in its dealings with the countries bordering on the Carib bean Sea. It is not clear that the attitude of the Wilson govem ment toward those states had ever been greatly different from that of its predecessors, except with regard to Colombia, Venezuela, and some of the Central American states. The United States was under treaty obligations to maintain order in Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Panama ; the administration could not be expected to neg lect its duties even if it did not approve of these treaties. Indeed, during the entire summer and autumn of 1916 United States marines had been in occupancy of various parts of therDornihican Republic for the purpose of pre serving order and protecting property.* Moreover, the treaty with Haiti is doubtless evidence that, whether the and began its sessions September 6th. A protocol was signed No vember 24, providing for the withdrawal of American troops within 40 days after ratification. December 28th Carranza finally refused to accept the terms of the agreement. 1 The particular grievances of the United States at this time were the extension of the doctrine of contraband, the " blacklisting " of American firms with which British subjects were forbidden to trade, the interference with the mails, and the misuse of censorship. 2 On November 29, 19x6, military occupation of the Dominican Republic was proclaimed by Captain Knapp of the United States Navy. Military government was established under control of United States officers and was maintained throughout the succeeding months. FORMULATION OF THE ISSUE 117 administration approved of the previous American policy in that part of the world or not, it felt constrained to fol low it. That policy apparently comprehends three elements: (i) The Monroe Doctrine, as interpreted for a quarter of a century by preceding administrations, seemed to im pose upon the United States the responsibility of compel ling the small states of the western hemisphere at least to meeXtheir_ international obligations. ' (2") The prepon derance of American interest in the industry and trade of all the countries adjacent to the Caribbean Sea, seemed to require the United States to pay a. great deal of attention to the maintenance of stable governments in those coun tries. (3) The obligations of the United States respect ing the Panama Canal seemed to force it to forestall any possible chance of interference by other powers with its control of the canal. Apparently all three of these ele ments are present in the relations of the United States with Cuba, and in the case of the Haitian protectorate.^ But neither the Monroe Doctrine, by any interpretation, nor the trade interests of the United States obliged it to buy the Danish West Indies.* The consummation of this transfer, after years of effort, may be regarded as a 1 For a satisfactory discussion of this whole subject see C. L. Jones, Caribbean Interests of the United States (1916). 2 The treaty with Denmark for the purchase of those islands was signed August 4, 1916, was ratified by the United States, September 7, xgi6, and by Denmark, December 22, 1916. A plebiscite in Den mark on December 14, 1916, resulted in favour of the sale by a large majority. The text of this treaty is published in American Journal of International Law, XI, Supplement, 53. ii8 DEVELOPMEXT OF THE POLICY step in the administration's preparedness program. The islands constitute an important link in the chain of defence for the Panama Canal. By taking them and b}- estab lishing a protectorate over Haiti the United States effec tually remo\ed from the great European powers the temptation to occupy the two best harbours in the Carib bean. Thus doubtless it saved itself future difficulties, and at the same time strengthened itself to deal with diffi culties which might arise. These events considered in conjunction with the failure during 1916 to press the treaty with Colombia,^ have been regarded in some quar ters as proof that the Department of State under Presi dent Wilson had become convinced that the evolution begun with the Spanish ^^'ar and continued with the building of the Panama Canal was inevitable.* In still another field the administration seemed to some to be approaching more closely to the policy of its Repub lican predecessors. The Democratic platforms since 1904 had committed that party in favour of early independence of the Philippines under the same sort of guarantee which the United States maintains over Cuba. In prac- ^ The treaty with Colombia, signed April ", 19x4, and ratified by Colombia June 9, 1914, offered full reparation for the secession of Panama. The text is published in the Congressional Record, LIII, appendix, pp. 443-445; and in the RezHew of Retiezt's, XLIX. 682, The treaty met with much opposition in the United States and was withdrawn in the Senate in April, 19x7, pending the negotiation of a new treaty. 2 See J. H. Latane, " The Effects of the Panama Canal on our Relations with Latin America," Annals of the American .-icademy, LIV, 84. FORMULATION OF THE ISSUE 119 tice the party had contented itself with proposing a con siderable extension of native participation in the govern ment of the islands. The Jones bill, which had been before Congress since 191 1, was approved by President Wilson and its passage urged by him in all three of his annual messages to Congress. On February 4, 19 16, the Senate passed the bill with an amendment, intro duced by Senator Clarke, of Arkansas, which proposed to grant independence to the Philippines within four years, their neutrality to be assured by international agreement, or failing this, the United States to guarantee independence. The President apparently approved the purpose of the Clarke amendment, but the House of Representatives did not, and the bill as finally passed retained the original expression of intent to grant in dependence to the Filipinos as soon as they were capable of self-government. The President, when he signed the bill August 29, 1916, declared it " a very satisfactory advance " in the policy of extending to the Philippine people " self-government and control of their own af fairs," for, as he said, " it is only by such means that any people comes into contentment and into political ca pacity." ^ 1 American Year Book. xgx6, p. 10. The Act provides for the elec tion by the Filipino electorate of the upper as well as of the lower house of the legislature, and while strengthening the position of the Governor-General, who remains an appointee of the president, divides his appointing power with the upper house. For comparison with the President's promises see infra, p. xg, and Part III, Statement No. 9. 120 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY DEFENCE OF POLICY Woodrow Wilson's satisfaction with the entire foreign policy of his administration was emphatically expressed in his address September 2, 19 16, accepting the nomination of the Democratic party for a second term in the presi dency. (Statement No. 6/.) There was no apologetic defence in the following words : " In foreign affairs we have been guided by principles clearly conceived and con sistently lived up to. Perhaps they have not been fully comprehended because they have hitherto governed inter national affairs only in theory, not in practice. They are simple, obvious, easily stated, and fundamental to Ameri can ideals." The principles underlying the difference in the methods of dealing with England and Germany were stated with sharp distinction : "... Property rights can be vindicated by claims for damages, and no modem na tion can decline to arbitrate such claims; but the funda mental rights of humanity cannot be. The loss of life is irreparable. Neither can direct violation of a nation's sovereignty await vindication in suits for damages. The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct challenge and resistance." As a candidate, Mr. Wilson invited the judgment on the record of any who wished " to know the truth about it." With respect to Mexico he admitted that he doubtless had made mistakes in the " perplexing business," but they were not mistakes in " purpose or object." That purpose FORMULATION OF THE ISSUE 121 was to respect the sovereignty of the Mexican people and assist them to achieve deliverance from misrule and from the control of their opportunities by foreign influences. He boldly met the criticism of his opponents in these words : " The Mexican people are entitled to attempt their liberty from such influences; and so long as I have anything to do with the action of our great Government I shall do everything in my power to prevent any one standing in their way." He replied to the charge that the presence of the Pershing expedition in Mexico vio lated these principles. United States troops had entered Mexican territory to vindicate a violation of its own sovereignty which Mexican authorities were powerless to prevent ; but in so doing the United States had " com mitted there no single act of hostility or interference even with the sovereign authority of the Republic of Mexico herself." To those who condemned the policy of non- recognition of Huerta he repeated the declaration he made in the early days of his administration, in these words : " So long as the power of recognition rests with me the Government of the United States will refuse to extend the hand of welcome to any one who obtains power in a sister republic by treachery or violence." He did not expect that the United States would be drawn into the European war ; but in the days after the war the nation would face " great and exacting prob lems" which would require for their solution not only thought and courage and resourcefulness, but also "in some matters radical reconsiderations of policy." " No 122 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY nation," he declared, " can any longer remain neutral as against any wilful disturbance of the peace of the world. . . . The nations of the world must unite in joint guaran tees that whatever is done to disturb the whole world's life must first be tested in the court of the whole world's opin ion before it is attempted." In the building of these new foundations of world peace the President expected the United States to contribute the full force of its enthusi asm and authority as a nation generously and without too much thought of its separate interests. AN INTERNATIONAL PURPOSE During the next two months most of Mr. Wilson's public statements were campaign speeches, — many of them were frankly partisan in character. But the basis of principle lay underneath them all, and in asking for re election he was careful to make clear at all times, as he did in the speech of acceptance, just what his attitude was to be regarding the place of the United States in world af fairs. His address September 4, 1916, accepting for the nation the Lincoln Memorial at Hodgenville, Kentucky, was an exception — it was not a campaign speech and it did not concern the foreign policy of this country. (Statement No. 68.) But the President, unconsciously perhaps, gave expression even on that occasion to the thought that was uppermost in his mind throughout this period. The American democracy is to " lift a great light for the guidance of the nations," and the American people FORMULATION OF THE ISSUE 123 must therefore " be in deed and in truth real democrats and servants of mankind." This idea he brought out over and over again, and he touched upon it in all but a few of his political addresses whether he were dealing with foreign or domestic matters. In Baltimore on September 25th, before an audience com posed largely of members of the Grain Dealers' National Association, he talked mostly of America's place in the world's commerce. (Statement No. 6p.) But he pointed out that in this field as in the others the mission of America is to serve, not to conquer — or rather to conquer by service ; the all-important matter was " releas ing the intelligence of America for the service of man kind." On October 5th to the Omaha Commercial Club he said : " for the next decade ... we have got to serve the world ... in a way that will deserve the confidence of the world " ; " American purposes are going to be tested by the purposes of mankind, and not by the purposes of national ambition." (Statement No. 7/.) Late in the campaign, to an audience at Shadow Lawn, his vacation home, on November 4th, he declared it to be " an un precedented thing in the world that any nation in deter mining its foreign relations should be unselfish," and that America should set " the great example " ; for the destiny of America " is not divided from the destiny of the world ; . . . her purpose is justice and love of mankind." (Statement No. f8.) All through the campaign a great deal was said, as was 124 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY quite natural, in support of the President on the ground that " he has kept us out of war." Of course Mr. Wilson knew that his supporters were making this plea and doubtless he did not disapprove of this claim in his behalf, but it is significant that he scarcely mentioned it himself. For it is a striking fact that in asking as a candidate for the judgment of the voters on the record of his adminis tration. President Wilson when dealing with domestic matters pointed to the results achieved, whereas, when dealing with foreign affairs he spoke emphatically and al most exclusively of the principles which guided his policy. He was determined that the United States should have peace, but he was well aware that, if his policy con tinued to be based on the principles he had laid down, his country might inevitably be drawn into war. True, in one of the few cases where he spoke of the United States being at peace, at Shadow Lawn, October 28th, he seems to count on its continuation. (Statement No. yf. ) For, in his own words : " We have a peace founded upon the definite understanding that the United States, because it is powerful, self-possessed, because it has definite objects does not need to make a noise about them; because it knows that it can vindicate its right at any time, does not have to proclaim its right in terms of violent exaggeration. . . ." Nevertheless, his speeches indicate plainly that he was apprehensive. During the latter part of the year the United States became involved anew in vexatious contro versies with both belligerents, at first on account of the FORMULATION OF THE ISSUE 125 attempt of Germany to use American ports as harbours of refuge for its naval prizes,^ and later because of the presence in American waters of German submarines, both commercial * and military.^ The restrictions placed upon neutral commerce by the Entente Allies were daily becom ing more irritating. And most appalling of all there was a recrudescence of the " terrorising " submarine campaign of the Central Powers.* Vessels were being torpedoed ^ The British steamer Appam captured by the German raider Moewe was brought into Newport News, February i, 19x6, imder a prize crew. The German government claimed that under a treaty of 1799 its naval prizes had the right to remain indefinitely in Amer ican waters. A United States District Court, however, in award ing the Appam to its British owners, denied this claim. For dis cussion, see J. B. Scott, " The Case of the Appam," American Jour nal of International Law, X, 8og ; A. Burchard, " The Case of the Appam and the Law of Nations," ibid,. XI, 270; F. R. Coudert, "The Appam Case," ibid.. XI, 302. ^ The German merchant submarine Deutschland. unarmed, visited the United States in July, 1916. The English contention that it was potentially a warship, and therefore not entitled to remain in a neutral port, is so weak as to scarce deserve notice. 3 The U-53, a German war submarine, entered the port of New port, R. I., October 7, 19x6, and after a few hours' stay departed. Operating 45 miles from the nearest American territory it sank six vessels. The Allies protested that these exploits were in viola tion of American neutrality. The United States govemment, how ever, decided that the U-33 had adhered to the rules of international law. *The following sinkings involving Americans occurred after May 8, 1916, the date of the Sussex settlement: British steamer Rowanmore. two Americans and five Filipinos aboard, sunk with out warning, October 26, 19x6; British steamer Marina, six Amer icans lost, sunk without warning, October 28, 19x6; American steamer Lanao. sunk October 28, igx6; British steamer Arabia. American passengers, sunk without warning, November 6, igx6; American steamer Columbian, sunk November 8, 19x6; American steamer Chemung, sunk November 28, 19x6; Italian steamer Pa lermo, Americans aboard, sunk December 4, igx6; British horse 126 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY without warning and, what made the matter the more exasperating, under circumstances which made it difficult to fix responsibility or to find legal ground to justify American action. In the face of the impending ruin of neutral rights the President may well have doubted that the United States could remain at peace much longer. Toward the end of the campaign, feeling certain that his country would not shrink from war if war came, President Wilson exerted himself to formulate for the American people a purpose in waging war as high and noble as their own best conception of their national ideals. In this " critical juncture in the affairs of the world," he said at Shadow Lawn, October 7th, " the affairs of the world touch America very nearly. She does not stand apart. . . . There is nothing human that does not concern her." (Statement No, f2.) At Omaha, October 5th, in the very centre of the region in which the President's suc cess in keeping the United States at peace was most emphasized, he declared : " We are holding off, not be cause we do not feel concerned, but because when we exert the force of this nation we want to know what we are exerting it for." No one could discern clearly what Europe was fighting for, but the force of America should always be held to fight " not merely for the rights of property or of national ambition, but for the rights of mankind." (Statement No. fo.) At Indianapolis, October 12th, he asserted that America should "not transport Russian, seventeen Americans lost, sunk December 14, 19x6. FORMULATION OF THE ISSUE 127 Stand for national agression, but . . . for the just con ceptions and bases of peace, for the competition of merit alone, and for the generous rivalry of liberty." (State ment No. 7J.) And at Shadow Lawn, October i6th, he came to the same topic again. The United States by circumstances which it did not choose or control "has been thrust out into the great game of mankind, on the stage of the world itself . . . and no nation in the world must doubt that all her forces are gathered and organized in the interest of justice, righteousness, and humane gov ernment." (Statement No. f 5,) An emphatic and definite forecast of the future in re spect to the part the United States was to play appeared in an address at Shadow Lawn, October 14th, when he said : " It has been said . . . that the people of the United States do not want to fight about anything. . . . But . . . they want to be sure that they are fighting for the things that will bring to the world justice and peace. Define the elements ; let us know that we are not fighting for the prevalence of this nation over that, for the ambi tions of this nation over that, for the ambitions of this group of nations as compared with the ambitions of that group of nations; let us once be convinced that we are called in to a great combination to fight for the rights of mankind, and America will unite her force and spill her blood for the great things which she has always believed in and followed. America is always willing to fight for things which are American." (Statement No, 74,) He was no less emphatic and even more bold at Cin- 128 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY cinnati on October 26th. (Statement No, f6,) "This is the last war ... of any kind that involves the world," he said, " that the United States can keep out of. . . . I believe the business of neutrality is over, not because I want it to be over but . . . war now has such a scale that the position of neutrals sooner or later becomes intolerable. . . . America must hereafter be ready as a member of the family of nations to exert her whole force, moral and physical, to the assertion of those rights throughout the round globe." While thus preparing the minds of his countrymen to accept the possibility of war and putting before their minds the ideals for which they could honourably fight. President Wilson did not forget the concrete ends to be achieved. Whether the United States were drawn into the great European conflict or not, when that conflict was over the United States had a great duty to perform. " It will be the duty of America to join with the other nations of the world in some kind of league for the maintenance of peace," he said at Indianapolis, October 12th. (State ment No. 73.) The United States was saving itself in order that it might " unite in that final league of nations in which it shall be understood that there is no neutrality where any nation is doing wrong," was his assertion at Shadow Lawn, October 14th. (Statement No. 74.) " The nations of the world must get together and say, ' Nobody can hereafter be neutral as respects the disturb ance of the world's peace for an object which the world's opinion can not sanction,' " he declared at Cincinnati, Oc- FORMULATION OF THE ISSUE 129 tober 26th. (Statement No. f6. ) Never again could the United States be "provincial and isolated and uncon nected with the great forces of the world " ; it was now " in the great drift of humanity which is to determine the politics of every country in the world." Such were his thoughts at the close of the campaign in a speech at Shadow Lawn, November 4th. (Statement No. f8.) Thus during the summer and autumn did the President labour on the other and more important half of his pre paredness program, — the preparation of the people of the United States to accept a new attitude toward their relations to the rest of the world. Standing on the firm basis of the principles enunciated during his whole admin istration from the refusal to recognize Huerta down to the Sussex ultimatum, he dwelt continuously on the high ideals which should actuate a democracy and the great purposes it should serve. He boldly cut loose from the old policy of isolation from Europe and advocated a union of the nations of the world in league to keep the world at peace. He warned his countrymen that they might have to enter the Great War sooner or later, and his own words made clear to them the issues at stake in that war. By repeatedly emphasizing the obscurity of the origin of that war and of the purposes of the belligerents in it he foreshadowed the demand he was to make, on the i8th of December, of the warring na tions that they state clearly, so that the opinion of man kind could judge, what their aims were. CHAPTER VII War to Insure Peace Position of President Wilson (December, 1916) — Interest of the United States in the Settlement of the European War — " Peace without Victory " — Bases of Durable Peace — Germany vs. Neutral Nations — American Decision — " Armed Neutral ity " — German Proposals to Mexico — Effect of the Russian Revolution — United States Enters the War — Principles of the United States — Restatements of Purpose. The time had come for President Wilson to take the action which his previous utterances had foreshadowed and which impelling events now made so necessary. In asmuch as the Central Powers had taken steps in early December to bring about a negotiation for peace in Europe,* it was essential, if the United States was to have a part in the readjustment at the close of hostilities, that the President present at once his plans for the basis of permanent peace and international co-operation.* Such a step was natural at this time, even if the Central Powers had not acted. Nor could it well have been taken earlier. With the recent verdict of the American electo rate as an endorsement of his administration of foreign ^ Text of the proposals of the Central Powers in Current His toric, (.New York Times,) V, 588-590. " Address of May 27, 1916, before the League to Enforce Peace was an unofficial utterance, as were subsequent speeches in which he had urged the same procedure. 130 WAR TO INSURE PEACE 131 affairs, the President was free to proceed, as he had not been during the presidential campaign and as he could not have been at this time had he been defeated and been preparing to tum over the govemment to a successor. With the responsibiUty his own. President Wilson on December 18, 19 16, asked the belligerents to state the terms upon which they would deem it possible to make peace. (Statement No, fp. ) He was careful to say that he was not proposing peace nor even mediation. To have done so and succeeded in bringing about a conference might have defeated the very ends he sought. His inter est was in the preliminaries that must precede a successful peace conference. He was not desirous of simply stop ping the war, as he had been two years earlier. He and his country and the world had gone beyond that. He was asking the belligerents in the name of the neutral world to state their purposes, not in the general terms in which each group had indulged again and again, but definitely, so that the world might know them and that a comparison might be made of them. The United States, affected vitally by the war, had to consider its future course if the war was to continue. Not only because of vital national interests was this true. Above them there was a greater question. The United States was interested in the settlement of the war in such a way that a stable peace was to be assured after the war. If the war was to continue for purely national aims, the possibility of a league of the nations at the dose of hos tilities grew increasingly remote. 132 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY It is a great mistake, then, to call this a peace note. It is not the statement of a possible mediator, as Wilson had been pictured in the early months of the war. It is the utterance of a statesman with an international vision tak ing the next step in the program outlined by him seven months earlier.* Speaking for the neutral world. Presi dent Wilson chose this moment to apply the test of pur pose to the belligerent powers. Rather than a peace note, it was a declaration of purpose to participate in a confer ence to arrange for the safety of the world after peace had come, and an intention to discover by this means the real enemies of international co-operation. Secretary Lansing in commenting upon the note made it even plainer that the United States felt the need of a statement of aims.* As the United States drew nearer to the verge of war this need was increasingly patent Pub lic opinion quite generally interpreted Mr. Lansing's statement to mean that the administration was con templating a change in policy. In a second statement Mr. Lansing indicated that the administration had no intention of forsaking its policy of neutrality. But the President and the Secretary were thinking of the desira bility of having the purposes of the belligerents clearly before the American people if, forced to participate, the United States were to choose to use its power to assist in the organization of league of nations. Moreover it '^ Infra, Part III, Statement No. 60. 2 Note was published December 2X, 19x6, and Secretary Lansing gave out two statements on that day. New York Times, December 22, 1916. WAR TO INSURE PEACE 133 was true that irrespective of the desires of the United States it did come nearer the verge of war as the new year opened. For the controversy with Germany was not settled, and it had been postponed in such a way as to make certain the participation of the United States the moment Germany reopened it.* It was natural in view of the recent German overtures for peace that there should have been some thought that the President's action favoured the German cause. Such a view overlooked the President's previous acts and oft repeated statements of purpose, as well as the pending controversies between the two countries. However, the nature of the President's action became more clear when the German response of December 26, 1916, was found to be a general acceptance only and decidedly not a response in the spirit of the President's request.* On the other hand, the response of the Entente Allies, on January 10, 1917, in spite of the earlier manifestation of disapproval in England, was more detailed in statement of aim and purpose, and thus came much nearer meeting the Presi dent's request.^ Their definiteness, however, in conjunc tion with the rejection by the Entente of the German proposal of December 12, 1916, gave opportunity to the German government to declare that " the full responsibil ity for the continuation of bloodshed" rested upon its 1 Infra, p. 105. 2 Text, Current History (New York Times) V, 783. a Text, ibid.. V, 783-785. * Text, ibid.. V, 789-79°- 134 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY Great Britain, in a supplementary note of January 13, 1917, presented on January 17, 191 7, stated in significant words its position upon the question of a durable peace. Three conditions were stipulated : causes of international unrest must be removed or weakened, aggressive aims of the governments of the Central Powers must fall into dis repute among their peoples, and some form of interna tional sanction must be given to international law and treaty agreements.-^ Premier Lloyd George on January II, 19 1 7, in a public address predicted the formation of a league of peace. The next step in the President's program was to reveal his reaction to the replies of the belligerents. This he did in an address to the Senate on January 22, 1917. (State ment No. 80,) From the attitude of the Entente he found reason to believe that a satisfactory conference was not impossible, for in their willingness to state their aims he saw progress toward the organization of a concert of power. The President was not ignorant of the storm of criticism that had come upon him in the Senate because of his suggestion in the note of December 18, 1916, that the United States have a part in an international agree ment.* He was proceeding upon his way, yet he said in the address to the Senate, and his action in coming empha sized it, that he felt it due that body, associated as it was with him in the final determination of the international obligations of the United States, that he inform it of the 1 Text, ibid., V, 786-788. 2 The Senate had finally endorsed the note, January 5, X917, by a vote of 48-17. Co.ngressional Record, LIV, 897. WAR TO INSURE PEACE 135 convictions which had been taking shape in his mind. As President Wilson saw it, the United States had long been preparing for this opportunity. American purposes and principles pointed in no other direction. It was the right of the world to know definitely the conditions upon which the United States could join a league of nations. The President then proceeded to state those conditions. The conclusive proof that the plan foreshadowed by his note of December 18, 1916, was not a peace project is found in this elaboration of program. The President suggested " peace without victory," for his interest was in the possible basis for an international concert of power which might be found in the terms on which the war was to be ended. " No covenant of co operative peace that does not include the peoples of the New World can suffice to keep the future safe against war ; and yet there is only one sort of peace that the peo ples of America could join in guaranteeing." " Only a tranquil Europe can be a stable Europe." Just as with reference to Mexico he had been concerned for the people rather than the government, so in Europe he wanted no victory over a people. Small nations were to find in the world after the war a protection that rested in the general acceptance of the principle that in rights all nations, large and small, are equal. Furthermore, governments in the stable world, of which the President was speaking, must " derive all their just powers from the consent of the governed." " Any peace that does not recognize and ac cept this principle will inevitably be upset." 136 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY But the war had raised more than the question of Bel gium or Poland and their right to exist in Europe; the war had forced upon the whole world the primary ques tion involved in the " freedom of the seas." From the outset in spite of the natural limitations of diplomatic notes the President had a freedom of the seas in mind that differed from the contention of either Germany or England.* Here now he stated it. " And the paths of the sea must alike in law and in fact be free, . . . the free, constant, unthreatened intercourse of nations is an essential part of the process of peace and of develop ment." An arrangement such as the President was out lining would remove for ever a misuse of the seas, and it would close also, and here the emphasis should be placed, the opportunity sought by Germany to force a way to freedom by denying the use of the sea to all peaceful peo ples. The highway of the sea belonged to the whole world. The consent of the governed should here be the guide. Mr. Wilson must have known that apart from the change that had to be accomplished in the minds of Euro pean statesmen before his program could in any measure be accepted, there was for him the need of bringing the American people to the support of such a program. Without change in the popular conception of American foreign policy all effort to establish the United States in an advantageous position prior to the conclusion of a peace would be vain. To conclude, then, he found in this '¦Infra, p. 89. WAR TO INSURE PEACE 137 proposal no break in the traditions or policy of the Ameri can people.* For he was asking merely, that no nation aggress upon another, that there be no entangling alli ances, and that the " consent of the governed " be the guide in the rule of the sea. The way in which the President proposed to use the power of the United States was to throw all its weight toward the formation of a concert of power. He so stated the case in this address of January 22, 1917, that, if his proposal of " peace without victory " failed of acceptance, that nation, or group of nations, which came nearest to his position upon the matter of a durable peace, could be supported by him openly and for greater than national reasons in the next crisis. Mr. Wilson's own comment upon this address is significant of his conception of leadership : " I have said what everybody has been longing for, but has thought impossible. Now it appears to be possible." * The next crisis Germany brought on and in a way to indicate that those in control in Germany had not the slightest appreciation of the strength of purpose of the American administration. Indeed the manner in which Germany forced the issue made it clear to those hitherto sceptical that the President's proposal of January 22, iSee J. H. Latane, "The Monroe Doctrine and the American Policy of Isolation in Relation to a Just and Durable Peace," in Annals of American Academy, LXXII, 100. 2 Ex-President Taft stated in an interview that this address marked " an epoch in the history of our foreign policy." Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Bryan commented adversely, although each gave different rea sons for so doing. 138 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY 191 7, was the last possible move of the United States, short of war itself, for participation in a conference of nations. As Germany saw fit to challenge the basic po sition of the United States, i.e., its insistence upon ad herence to law, the United States had but one course open, — to wage war for an international ideal. On January 31, 1917, the Imperial German government announced that on and after February ist it would adopt a policy of sinking all ships met in the " barred sea zone." The justification for this move the German government found in the Entente rejection of the German proposal of December 12, 19 16. All weapons on land, sea and air were to be used to force a decision. The President pointed out in his address to Congress on February 3, 1917 (Statement No. 81), that this was a repudiation of the promise made on May 4, 19 16. It was this repudiation that made a break with Germany inevitable at this point.* But the speech of the President on May 27, 1916, his note of December 18, 1916, and his address of January 22, 1917, all raised the matter high above the question of a break with the government of Ger many. The time had come when a break meant that the United States was to throw its power against the disturb ers of world peace. It was indeed a time to talk of rights of humanity and the welfare of mankind. To Woodrow Wilson do the people of the United States owe the fact that when diplomatic relations were broken on the 3rd 1 Because of the American ultimatum of April 18, 19x6. See ed itorial comment, American Journal of International Law, XI, 380. Also, infra, p. X02. WAR TO INSURE PEACE 139 of February, they were broken for the purpose of ad vancing an international cause. The President did not ask Congress to declare war, but stated that he should take no further steps toward war until overt acts of the German government forced him to do so. It was not that he really doubted the determined purpose of the German govemment but that he had another step to take in the particular course that he was following. On the next day, February 4, 1917, the Department of State asked neutrals to join with the United States in tak ing a position in conformity with the President's address of January 22, 191 7. The German order that led to the rupture of diplomatic relations with the United States was not directed particularly or only at the United States. Consequently President Wilson urged a wider basis for the action of the United States. The statement included a definite reference to the address of January 22, 1917, as a guide and stated that a unity of action upon the part of all neutrals would make for progress toward peace for the world.* The President was proceeding on a way habitual with him. He had moved forward one more step in his pro gram of January 22, 1917. He now proposed to wait until the American people had not only endorsed it with enthusiasm, as they did, but until they comprehended its implication and enabled him to make the next move safely and as a ruler in a democracy should.* ^ For a summary of action of neutrals, see the World Court. Ill, 154-163 ; 234-237. 2 The American government in answer to a memorandum pre- 140 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY As the German submarine campaign proceeded it be came evident that overt acts compelled action.* But, in stead of asking for a declaration of war, the President on February 26, 1917, a week before the adjournment of Congress, asked that authority be granted him to arm ships for entrance into the barred sea zone. (Statement No. 82. ) He wished to protect as completely as possible the rights of the citizens of the United States on the high seas without having to resort to war. It may be pointed out also that the action proposed would have sharply dis tinguished the case of an American in the war zone upon an unarmed merchant vessel from that of an American in the war zone under protecting American guns; and would thus have served to emphasize the character of German warfare as an attack on the sovereignty of neu tral states as well as a violation of the rights of their citizens. The break in diplomatic relations having failed, as had earlier forms of protest, to impress the German government with the seriousness of the purpose of the United States, there was but one course open to the Presi dent, if his government was to continue, as the most pow erful of neutrals, to lead in the defence of the rights of neutral nations, and that was to use some form of force sented by the Swiss minister at the request of the German govem ment declined on February xx, 1917, to negotiate unless the decree of January 31, 19x7, was first withdrawn. ^^In February these reports were undisputed: February 3, 19x7, American steamship Housatonic sunk by submarine; February 13, 1917, American schooner Lyman M, Law torpedoed in the Mediter ranean; February 24, 1917, Laconia, Cunard liner, sunk without warning, two Americans lost. WAR TO INSURE PEACE 141 against the aggressions of a belligerent. And the Presi dent was careful to emphasize that he was moving for more than purely national defence. Said he : "I am thinking, not only of the rights of Americans to go and come about their proper business by way of the sea, but also of something much deeper, much more fundamental than that. I am thinking of those rights of humanity without which there is no civilization." His request was not granted because of determined opposition in the Sen ate.* Notwithstanding this fact, authorization to arm ships was given to American shipmasters by presidential proclamation on March 12, 1917. In the midst of this exciting controversy as to the wisdom of the course pursued by the administration it became known on February 28, 19 17, through the publi cation of a letter of the German Foreign Secretary Zim mermann to the German minister at Mexico City, that on January 19, 191 7, a proposal was made by Germany for an alliance with Mexico with the definite end that, in the event that the United States ceased to be a neutral, Mex ico with the financial support of Germany should make war upon the United States. It was further suggested that Mexico offer to mediate between Japan and Germany to the end that Japan might enter into alliance with Mex- ^The House had voted this power, 403 to 14. Congressional Record, LIV, 4692. A majority of the Senate were prevented from like action by the opposition of eleven members who were able under rules of the Senate to prevent a decisive vote. The statement of seventy-five members of the Senate may be found in the Congres sional Record. LIV, 4988. 142 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY ico and Germany.* The publication of this letter created a tremendous sensation, although the preceding months of pro-German propaganda had prepared the people of the United States for this revelation of the purpose and plans of the German government. In his second inaugural address on March 5, 1917, President Wilson affirmed his adherence to armed neu trality, but intimated that a more active assertion of power might soon be necessary. " We are provincials no longer," said he. Yet the people of the United States were to be no less Americans in the coming days " if we but remain true to the principles in which we have been bred." He again restated the things that the United States stood for, whether in war or in peace. (Statement No. 83.) On March 9, 19 17, the President issued a proclamation calling the new Congress in extra session. In the interval prior to its convening events in Russia took general atten tion from all other developments, in America or upon the sea. A revolution in Russia resulted in the abdication of the Czar and the establishment of a provisional govern ment. The new government of Russia was formally rec ognized by the United States on March 22, 1917.* The 1 The Department of States testified to the authenticity of the published note on March i, 191 7, and on March 3, X917, Secretary Zimmermann acknowledged that it was genuine. It should be noted that on February 5, 19x7, the last detachment of American troops had withdrawn from Mexico and on March 3, 19x7, the new Amer ican ambassador, H. P. Fletcher, had presented his credentials at Mexico City. - The United States was the first nation to recognize the new government. American Journal of International Law. XI, 4x9. WAR TO INSURE PEACE 1M>i|'irfi 1 1 overthrow of autocratic government was to work a pro found change in the attitude of many Americans toward the cause of the Entente Allies. It was apparent at once in the increased emphasis laid upon the existence of an autocratic government in Germany and its part in forcing war upon the world.* Early in April the President was prepared to indicate the necessity of declaring war upon Germany. To the Congress on April 2, 191 7, he recounted the recent Ger man acts in detail. (Statement No. 84.) "Interna tional law had its origin in the attempt to set up some law which would be respected and observed upon the seas, where no nation had right of dominion, and where lay the free highways of the world. By painful stage after stage has that law been built up with meagre enough results, indeed, after all was accomplished that could be accom plished, but always with a clear view, at least, of what the heart and conscience of mankind demanded." But said the President, " The present German submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare against mankind. It is a war against all nations." Armed neutrality was not sufficient in such a crisis. " I advise that the Congress declare the recent course of the Imperial German Gov ernment to be in fact nothing less than war against the Government and people of the United States." ^ ''¦ In the month of March five American vessels had been sunk without warning and at least twenty American citizens lost. 2 For careful comment see J. B. Scott, " The United States at War with the Imperial German Government," American Journal of Inter national Law, XI, 6x7. Citation of causes as they appeared to Con gress are here given in convenient form. See also Report of Com- 144 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY After pointing out the practical steps for participation that must be taken, the President returned to the theme of purpose. He reiterated his proposals of January 22, 19 1 7. "Our object now, as then, is to vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the life of the world as against selfish and autocratic power and to set up amongst the really free and self -governed peoples of the world such a concert of purpose and of action as will henceforth insure the observance of those principles." Having such an aim, peace among free peoples, the President could logically point out that against the Ger man people there was no grievance. The purpose of the United States was to help thwart the aims of a govemment that declared an autocratic purpose, and it was sound to assert that such a government could be dissociated from a people who had no control over the actions of that government. " We shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts " — for democracy, for self- government, for the rights of small nations, for a concert of free peoples, for a world peace. Thus the President could justly say that, as he had formed the purpose of the nation, it was a warfare for mankind and for the peace of the world. On April 16, 191 7, in an address to the American people (Statement No. 8^) the President asked of them that they " speak, act and serve together " for the high purposes outlined in the address of January 22, 19 1 7, and in the message to Congress on April 2, 19 17. mittee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, Congressional Record (Daily), LV, xgx (April 5, 1917). WAR TO INSURE PEACE 145 So high an ideal inevitably encountered the charge that it was not sincere, that the language of the President was but a cloak to an ambition he dare not aver ; in short, that he was as leaders of other nations were, in the war for national ends. The record of acts as well as words of the President gives this its answer. On May 22, 191 7, the President felt called upon to denounce efforts to weaken preparation by questioning purpose, when in a letter to Representative Heflin, he said : " We have en tered the war for our own reasons and with our own objects clearly stated and shall forget neither the reasons nor the objects." (Statement No. 86.) In addressing an audience at Arlington National Cem etery on Memorial Day the President showed the turn his thought had taken when he called for action, not words. (Statement No, 8f,) The time had come to show that American principles were living principles. Inasmuch as these principles had been attacked as ideal istic throughout his administration, the President doubt less felt the greater need for rapid action. On June 9, 19 17, the President in a communication to the new government of Russia again reverted to the mis taken and misleading statements as to the objects of the United States in entering the war. (Statement No. 88.) In the hope of the cordial co-operation of the peoples of Russia and the United States he stated the objects once more. Of his own country the President said in unmis takable terms : " She seeks no material profit or aggran dizement of any kind. She is fighting for no advantage 146 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY or selfish object of her own, but for the liberation of peo ples everywhere from the aggressions of autocratic force. , . . We are fighting for the liberty, the self-government, and undictated development of all peoples, and every feature of the settlement that concludes this war must be conceived and executed for that purpose. . . . But they must follow a principle, and that principle is plain. No people must be forced under sovereignty under which it does not wish to live." Again the President called for a practical treatment of practical questions. " We ought not," said he, " to consider remedies merely because they have a pleasing and sonorous sound." On Flag Day, June 14, 191 7, he took occasion to an swer the general query, " Why was the United States about to send an army to Europe ? " His answer was found in the new purpose, as that had been formed in a new conception of American duty, not only to her own future, but to that of the world at large. The Presi dent's own conception had grown sharper and clearer. " The military masters of Germany denied us the right to be neutral." (Statement No. 8p.) Undeniably such words could have been used by a man forcing a war, and endeavouring to delude his people and the world as to his real purpose. But the answer to any such charge may be found in the record of his administration. As the choice of peoples had had no part in launching the European war, it was natural to say that the American war was not upon the German people. The war upon which the United States had entered was a war on WAR TO INSURE PEACE 147 behalf of " peoples," a war for freedom and justice and self-government for all the nations of the world. This statement was emphasized by the pledge given to the Belgian War Mission on June 18, 1917, that Belgium at the close of the war should be restored " to the place she has so richly won among the self-respecting and respected nations of the earth." Confusion has often been confessed by commentators in discussing the entrance of the United States into the war. They express difficulty in reconciling the address of January 22, 19 17, with the subsequent acts of the President. This arises primarily out of a lack of knowl edge of the steps which led up to the address of January 22, 191 7, particularly the note of December 18, 19 16, and the address of May 27, 1916. A careful reading of the President's statements, particularly after April 19, 1915, in accompaniment with a record of German acts, should make this confusion disappear. There are Americans who see either only the national issue or only the inter national cause. It is of vital importance to clear thinking that these aims be not dissociated.* Secretary Lansing doubtless had this in mind when on July 29, 191 7, he said: "The immediate cause of our war with Germany — the breaking of her promises as to indiscriminate submarine warfare — has a far deeper meaning, a meaning which has been growing more evident as the war progresses and which needed but this act of '¦ See a brilliant exposition of President Wilson's course by W. Lippmann, "The World Conflict in its Relation to American De mocracy," Annals of American Academy. LXXII, x. 148 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY perfidy to bring it home to all thinking Americans. . . . We know now that that government is inspired with ambitions which menace human liberty; and that to gain its end, it does not hesitate to break faith, to violate the most sacred rights, or to perpetrate intolerable acts of inhumanity." This deeper purpose of the course against the German government, not the mere desire for a crushing victory over German arms, again actuated the President in his reply to the Pope on August 27, 19 17. " We cannot take the word of the present rulers of Germany as a guarantee of anything that is to endure, unless explicitly supported by such conclusive evidence of the will and purpose of the German people themselves as the other peoples of the world would be justified in accepting." (Statement No. po.) CHAPTER VIII Leadership of Woodrow Wilson Components of Foreign Policy — Fundamental Principles of Mr. Wilson — Conditions Affecting Practice — Importance of Public Opinion — Sincerity of the President — Application of Principles — Faith in Democracy — Equality of Nations — Fair Dealing between Nations — Supremacy of Law — War for Humanity — Importance of Consistency — Bases for Judg ment — Position of the United States in 1917. It is now possible to state definitely the several elements of which President Wilson's foreign policy was com pounded. There were in the first place the fundamental beliefs of the man himself — the unshakable convictions which had become his after years of study of the efforts of the peoples of the world to govern themselves. The primary and basic principle was a faith in democracy, both as an ideal and as a practice. Upon the soundness of the democratic principle he rested all his other beliefs. Because he believed in democracy he believed that every nation should regard every other nation as its equal ; that fair dealing was the best means of preserving friendship and peace between nations; that the guidance of estab lished law was essential to international justice and fair dealing; and that, if unhappily disputes should arise be tween nations, the proper means for settling them was a reasoned consideration before a court of arbitration of the 149 ISO DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY controversies in the light of the law. Finally, he believed not that force should never be used by nations against each other, but that it should be relied upon only to combat criminal aggression and to further great humani tarian purposes. Principles alone, however, did not make the Wilson foreign policy. His beliefs and his own actions based thereon the President could control ; there were also ex ternal modifying circumstances for the most part outside of his direction. Chief of these were obviously the events in international relations having their origin in other governments or nations, — events which could not possibly be foreseen or controlled by the President, and which thus constituted the chief danger to the successful application of principles. Only slightly less difficult to control were the acts and speeches of United States of ficers at home and abroad and the activities of the govem ments of the various members of the American union. There were, moreover, the constitution and laws of his country, the treaties, the obligations incurred by previous administrations, and the accepted rules of international law, — in brief the whole body of public law which set the boundaries to the exercise of power by the President. There was still another element conditioning the direc tion of foreign affairs by President Wilson. That was the public opinion of the nation, with its almost impercep tible and sometimes incomprehensible shifts. It was true of course that, in the performance of duties imposed upon him by the Constitution, the chief executive of the United LEADERSHIP OF WOODROW WILSON 151 States might by the direction of diplomacy and otherwise have brought his country to a pass where it was dangerous to go forward and dishonourable to withdraw, — all with out reference to the attitude of the public mind. But President Wilson's faith in democracy was too deep to permit the exclusion of foreign affairs from as much pop ular control as was possible, ^^^len he moved he wished to move in accord with the desires of the people, and he was quick to realize what moves in international rela tions the people would approve. He was not unmindful, however, of the unrivalled opportunity for great leader ship which the presidency offered its incumbent, and he did not neglect this opportunity. His speeches and even his formal state papers, his messages and proclamations, seem to have been directed toward informing and mould ing public opinion. A careful and tmbiased study of the record of Presi dent ^^'ilson reveals convincingly the sincerity with which he held the principles he affirmed. It was not mere facil ity of expression which made it possible for him to restate in so many ways and with such telling effect the time- honoured ideals of a great democratic people. No char latan of politics, however facile, however adroit, could have maintained his hold upon public opinion through four such trying years. The profound convictions of a scientist as to the fundamentals of political philosophy, wrought into his thinking in the years when there was no thought of his entering public life, were the guides Presi dent Wilson followed as leader and servant of his people. 152 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY It is important to know that President Wilson sincerely believed in what he professed to believe. But the true significance attaches to his rigid adherence to his beliefs in practice. Others have held the same principles, and quite as sincerely. If they have rarely applied them as practical guides in foreign relations it is because there was lacking either the intellectual ability to perceive the necessity for so applying them or the moral courage to follow the difficult road that must be travelled in so apply ing them. It remains to be shown how President Wilson consistently and faithfully lived up to his professions at a time when the opportunity for service was so great and failure to serve would have been so disastrous. His faith in the democratic principle led him habitually to submit his foreign policy to the test of public opinion in the United States ; if public opinion did not support him, his policy must be modified or the public mind educated ; and his way of educating public opinion was to announce a general policy and allow it to be discussed among the people. His belief in democracy impelled him to insist on granting to the Filipino people a greater measure of self- government and to prornise them a still wider participa tion as they learned to use their new powers. It im pelled him likewise to leave the Mexican people fri as far as possible to work out their own solution — as the European nations had for centuries been doing — of their own problems. And finally it impelled him to make that important distinction between the German peo ple and the German Imperial government on which he LEADERSHIP OF WOODROW WILSON 153 based his declaration that German guarantees of peace could be accepted only when supported by the unmistak able will of the German people. His belief in the equality of nations led him to feel as much pride in the fact that the first of the " Bryan peace treaties " to be ratified was with Salvador, as he would have felt had it been with Great Britain. It inevitably impelled him to refuse to permit the United States to assume such responsibilities toward its own citizens that it must incur the risk of interfering with the political life of another people; better it was that the less advanced peoples of the world should do without the help of Amer ica than that the United States in order to give its aid should seem to take a mortgage on their future independ ence and integrity. His reliance on justice and fair dealing between na tions moved him to be scrupulously punctilious in the observance of treaty obligations, as when he insisted upon the repeal of the tolls exemption clause of the Panama Canal Act. It led him, even in the absence of treaties and when the right of the United States was unquestioned, to deal with other nations according to principles of equity, as, for example, in trying to meet the complaint of the . ijfepanese against the laws of California and of the United States. It obliged him while professing friendship for a nation to actually act toward it in a friendly manner; it was impossible for him while trying to conduct the case of the United States against Germany in 19 15 by diplomatic means to have been all the time preparing and strength- 154 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY ening and mobilizing the military and naval power of the United States. His adherence to established law led him to insist that the " orderly processes "of constitutional method be fol lowed in changing administrations in the states of the new world; appearance of intrigue and assassination in the elevation of Huerta to the presidency of Mexico could not be condoned by recognition of him. The same principle obliged him to insist on the strict observance by all bel ligerents in the Great War of the rights of neutrals under the sacred agreements and customs of international law, and that those rules should not be altered in any respect by any one belligerent nor to the detriment of neutral rights by all the belligerents. His conviction that arbitration was the most desirable means of composing international disagreements led his administration not only to renew the arbitration treaties concluded by previous administrations, but to take a step forward by negotiating a series of treaties providing for " commissions of inquiry." It led him, and would have done so had there been no agreement to arbitrate, to defer the settlement of disputes with Great Britain until after the war when matters at issue could be decided on a basis of justice. It impelled him to propose mediation betweeai the warring powers of Europe and to accept without hesitation the mediation of Latin America in the dispute with Mexico. Finally, his belief that war should not be resorted to until other means of resolving difference between nations LEADERSHIP OF WOODROW WILSON 155 had been exhausted, and then only for purposes which were bound up with the welfare of mankind, led him to use every diplomatic method for bringing the German govemment to realize the gravity of its offence against civilization and humanity, and to defer actual warfare until the American people could assure themselves that they were really to fight for a great world-wide and age- old human purpose. The moves in Wilson's foreign policy, with few and justified exceptions, were consistent with each other. Had he not taken for the United States the ground he did take in 1913 and held it during four years in spite of enormous difficulties, the United States could not have stood on that ground and fought from that vantage point in 1917. Had he not yielded to Great Britain the utmost of its rights under treaty with the United States he could not have later honestly demanded from Great Britain and from Germany the observance of all neutral rights under international obligations. Had he c)mically ignored the results of official iniquity in Mexico in the first weeks of his administration he could not four years later con vincingly have condemned — as he did in his note to Pope Benedict XV — the gross iniquity of officialdom in Ger many. Had his government ever infringed upon the sovereignty of less powerful peoples he could not, without exciting derision, have ever championed the rights of Poland and Belgium and the Balkan states. Had the United States, under his presidency, demanded indemni ties of Mexico or attempted by conquest to annex Mexican 156 DEVELOPMENT OF THE POLICY territory, the United States could not have admonished the world that there should be no conquests as the result of the Great War. Had his administration not dealt fairly with the Mexicans, the Chinese, the Filipinos in the first years of his responsibilities, he could not have expected the English, the Russians, the French, least of all the Ger mans, to rely with confidence on his assurance of intent to deal fairly with them in the later years. In short, had he not, during his entire incumbency, conducted himself as the first servant of a democracy should, he could not have expected to carry conviction when, on April 2, 191 7, he asked the United States to go to war to make the world " safe for democracy." If President Wilson's foreign policy had led immedi ately to the restoration of order in Mexico and had secured from European nations the demands of the United States without involving it in the conflict, it would have been hailed as tremendously successful. But it would have merited praise no more than it did deserve it, those results not having been accomplished. The mo tives which actuated it, the ends which it tried to achieve, the principles which guided it and the means which it used would have been precisely the same. There are so many variables in the facts -of national and international af fairs and their relationships are so complex, that the same principles applied by the same methods in two apparently precisely similar sets of circumstances may work to a happy result in the one case, and by the merest accident, to an unhappy one in the other. The prin- LEADERSHIP OF WOODROW WILSON 157 ciples and methods alone are under true control of states men, and they ought to be judged, not primarily by im mediate results, but with reference to their permanent value to serve the desirable permanent purposes they are calculated to serve. But the results of the Wilson policy themselves justify the policy. It was a result of that policy that the Ameri can people finally saw the imperative necessity for their participation in the Great War. It was a result of that policy that the war, a European quarrel originating ob scurely in petty dynastic ambition, in greedy economic rivalry, and in base national hatred, was transformed, by the entrance of the United States, into a world con flict with the united forces of democracy and international peace ranged squarely against autocracy and continued world struggle. It was a result of that policy that the United States, — not England, not France, not even new Russia, — became the leader, the bearer of the " great light for the guidance of the nations," in the magnificent new venture of democracy to league the peoples of the world together to serve the ends of peace and justice. PART II MORE IMPORTANT EVENTS IN AMERICAN FOREIGN RELATIONS PART II MORE i:\IPORTAXT EVENTS IN AMERICAN FOREIGN RELATIONS 1913- March 11. President Wilson announced the Administra tion's policy toward the republics of Central and South America. (Statement No. i.) March 18. The Administration declined to request Ameri can bankers to participate in the proposed Six- Power loan to China. (Statement No. 2.) April 4. The Japanese ambassador to the United States presented an informal protest against the pro posed anti-alien land legislation in California. April 22. The President urged California authorities not to enact legislation discriminating against the Japanese. (Statement No. 3.) April 24. Secretary Bryan presented to the diplomatic corps in Washington the Administration's plans for the establishment of international peace, (Statement Xo. 4.) May 2. The United States recognized the Republic of Ch ina. May 9. The Japanese ambassador to the United States presented a formal protest against the anti- alien land bill passed by the California legisla ture on !May 3. May 9. Victoriano Huerta, provisional president of Mexico, denied diplomatic standing to the American ambassador, Henry Lane Wilson, the United States not having recognized the de facto govemment of Mexico. May II. The President, through Secretary Bryan, urged Govemor Johnson of California to withhold ap proval of the anti-aUen land bill. (Statement No. 5.) 161 l62 1913- May 19. May 19. May 30. May 31. June 2. June 4- June 28. July 16. July 19- August I. August 4. August 14. August 16. August 26. August 27, MORE IMPORTANT EVENTS The California anti-alien land bill was signed by Govemor Johnson. The United States, in reply to the Japanese pro test of May p, maintained that the California anti-alien land law did not violate treaty rights of Japanese citizens. (Statement No. 6.) Secretary Bryan announced the receipt of favourable responses to the Administration's peace plan from Great Britain. France, Russia, Italy, Sweden, Brazil, Peru. Norway. The arbitration treaty with Great Britain was renewed. The Japanese ambassador to the United States informed Secretary Bryan that Japan accepted the peace plan in principle. The Japanese ambassador to the United States presented a second formal protest against the California anti-alien land law. An agreement was signed at Washington for the renewal of the arbitration treaty between the United States and Japan. The United States replied to the Japanese pro test of June 4. (Statement Xo. 7.) Secretary Bryan presented to the Senate Com mittee on Foreign Relations the draft of a pro posed treaty with Nicaragua, which conferred upon the United States virtual control of Nica ragua's foreign relations. General Huerta declared that he would neither resign nor permit foreign interference. President Wilson sent John Lind to Mexico as his personal representative. President Wilson's suggestions for the restora tion of order in Mexico were presented to General Huerta by Mr. Lind. General Huerta rejected the sug^^tions of the govemment of the United States. The Japanese ambassador to the United States presented another protest against the California legislation. The President addressed Congress upon the AMERICAN FOREIGN RELATIONS 163 1913- relations between the United States and Mex ico. (Statement No. 8.) September 30. Japan again protested against the California legislation. October 6. The President's message to the citizens of the Philippine Islands was delivered by Governor- General Harrison. (Statement No. 9.) October 14. President Wilson informed General Huerta that the United States would not recognize the im pending Mexican election as constitutional. October 27. President Wilson elaborated the Administra tion's policy respecting Latin America in an ad dress before the Southern Commercial Congress at Mobile. (Statement No. 12.) December 2. The President's annual address to the regular session of Congress dealt partly with the rela tions of the United States with Mexico and its policy respecting its insular possessions. (Statement No. 13.) 1914. January 27. The United States landed marines in Haiti to aid in the maintenance of order during an in surrection there, February 3. The President issued a proclamation lifting the embargo on the shipment of military supplies to Mexico. (Statement No. 14.) February 12. The United States formally recognized the pro visional government established as a result of revolution in PerU. February 21. The United States Senate ratified the general arbitration treaties with Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, thus renewing those which had expired on various dates in 1913. February 22. The British ambassador to the United States requested the Department of State to investi gate the killing by Mexican revolutionists of a British subject nanied Benton. March 5. The President addressed Congress asking the repeal of the provision in the Panama Canal Act which exempted American coast-wise ship- i64 MORE IMPORTANT E\'EXTS 1914. ping from the payment of canal tolls. (State ment No. 15.) April 3. Mr. Lind left Vera Cruz for the United States. April 8. A treaty between the L'nited States and Colom bia was signed at Bogota. It would have awarded Colombia 825,000,000 for its losses through the revolt of Panama in 1903. April 14 The President ordered the Atlantic Heet to Tampico, Mexico, to enforce the demands made by United States afRcers as a result of artack on American sailors on AprU p. April 18. The United States demanded of General Huerta compliance with its requests before 6 o'clock p.m,, April ig. April 19. General Huerta refused to comply with the demands of the United States. April 20. The President addressed Congress on the Mexi can situation. (Statement Xo. 16.) April 21. The President ordered the seizure of the cus tom house at Vera Cruz. April 22. X'elson O'Shaughnessy, charge d'affaires of the United States at Mexico City, was handed his passports by the Huerta government. April 23. The Mexican charge at Washington asked for and received his passports from the United States Department of State. April 23, The President restored ihe embargo an the shipment of mUitary supplies into Mexico. April 25. The United States accepted the offer of Argen tina. Brazil and ChUe to mediate betrceen it and Mexico. June 10. The Japanese ambassador to the United States reminded the Department of State that Japan's last protest against the California anti-alien land tenure legislation remained unanswered. June 15. The President signed the repeal of the tolls exemption provision of the Panama Canal Act passed by Congress, June 11 and iz. July I. The conference at Xiagara Falls inaugurated by Argentina, Brazil and Chile to bring about a resolution of the difficulties between the AMERICAN FOREIGN RELATIONS 165 1914. United States and Mexico came to an end with out positive results. July 4 President Wilson discussed the principles un derlying his foreign policy in an address at Philadelphia. (Statement No. 20.) July 5. General Huerta was re-elected president of Mexico. He resigned July 15 and left Mexico July 20 on a German warship. July 24. Arbitration treaties were signed at Washing ton with representatives of Argentina, Brazil and Chile. August 4. The President issued a proclamation of the neu trality of the United States in the European war. Augfust 5. President Wilson informed the rulers of the beUigerent European powers that the United States would welcome an opportunity to act in the interest of European peace. August 6. The United States presented an identic note to the belligerent powers suggesting general acceptance of the laws of naval warfare laid down in the Declaration of London. August 10. President Wilson sent a commission of per sonal representatives to the Dominican Repub lic with a plan for the restoration of peace in that country. August 13. The United States Senate ratified treaties with eighteen countries providing for commissions of inquiry. August 15. Secretary Bryan announced that the Adminis tration considered that lending money by Ameri can bankers to belligerent powers was incon sistent with the true spirit of neutrality. August 18. President Wilson issued to the American peo ple a statement respecting their conduct as neu trals. (Statement No. 21.) August 22. The United States transmitted to Japan a state ment of its attitude toward Japan's operations in German territory in China. September 15. Treaties for commissions of inquiry were signed at Washington with representatives of i66 1914. September 15. September 16. October i. October 19. October 22. November 23. December 8. December 26. 1915- January 7. January 20. February 4. MORE IMPORTANT EVENTS Great Britain, France, Spain and China. Those with Great Britain, France and Spain were ratified by the United States Senate September 25. 1914- The President ordered the withdrawal of United States troops from Vera Cruz. President Wilson in reply to the protests of Germany and Belgium stated the attitude of the United States concerning violations of the rules of warfare. (Statement No. 22.) A treaty with Russia providing for a commis sion of inquiry, was signed at Washington. It was ratified by the United States Senate October 13. United States Marines were landed in Haiti to maintain order. The United States informed Great Britain that its suggestion regarding the Declaration of Lon don was withdrawn, and that it would base its rights on the existing rules of international law. (Same to Germany October 24.) The United States troops were withdrawn from Vera Cruz, The President's annual message to Congress dealt in part with development of trade with Latin America and with increased self-govern ment in the Philippines, (Statement No. 24.) The United States entered a general protest to Great Britain against the British naval policy toward neutral shipping. (Statement No. 25.) Great Britain replied to the United States note of December 26, 1914. Secretary Bryan in a letter to Senator Stone denied the charges of discrimination by the United States against Germany and Austria. (Statement No. 27.) The German Admiralty issued a proclamation declaring a " war zone " about the British Isles and warning neutral ships of the dangers therein; to take effect February 18. AMERICAN FOREIGN RELATIONS 167 1915- February 10. The United States protested to Great Britain against the use of the American flag on a Brit ish vessel, the Lusitania. February 10. The United States protested to Germany in de fence of the rights of American citizens on the high seas. (Statement No. 29.) February 10. Great Britain made a more complete reply to the United States note of December 26, 1914. February 16. Germany replied to the American protest re garding its " war zone " decree. February 20. The United States addressed identic notes to Great Britain and Germany suggesting a modus vivendi in naval warfare. (Statement No. 30.) March i. Germany replied to the American proposal of February 20, accepting it on condition that Great Britain make concessions. March 15. Great Britain in a note to the United States re fused to make the concessions asked by Ger many. March 30. The United States replied to the British notes of March 13 and 15 respecting the Orders in Council governing trade with Germany, April 4. The German ambassador to the United States delivered to the Department of State a memo randum on the American attitude respecting British interference with American commerce and American trade in munitions of war. April 21. The United States replied to the note of the German ambassador of April 4, (Statement No. 34) May 13. The United States presented to Germany a note protesting against the submarine policy which culminated in the sinking of the Lusitania on May 7. (Statement No. 36.) May 28. Germany replied to the American note of May 13- June 2. The United States addressed a note to the war ring factions in Mexico advising the leaders to come to an early agreement, (Statement No. 38.) June 9. The United States presented to Germany a sec- i68 MORE IMPORTANT EVENTS 191s. June 22. July 8. July 21. July 28. August 5. August II. September i. September 8. September 18. October 9. October 19. ond note upon the sinking of the Lusitania. (Statement No. 39.) Great Britain submitted a memorandum to the Department of State denying that there was substantial loss to neutral shipping on account of its Orders in Council. Germany replied to the American note of June 9. The United States presented a third note to Germany upon the sinking of the Lusitania. (Statement No. 40.) United States marines were landed in Haiti on account of insurrections there. Representatives of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala and Uruguay met with Sec retary Lansing to consider means of ending chaos in Mexico. A joint appeal by Secretary Lansing and the representatives of six South American States was dispatched to the leaders of the Mexican factions, (Statement No. 41.) The German ambassador to the United States announced that thereafter liners would not be sunk without warning by German submarines. Endorsed by the German foreign office Sept. 14 1915- The United States demanded the recall of the Austro-Hungarian ambassador. Dr. Constantin Theodor Dumba. After conference, Secretary Lansing and the representatives of six South American states agreed to recognize as the de facto government of Mexico the faction which at the end of three weeks had best demonstrated its ability to maintain order. The conference of representatives of the United States and six South American states decided to recognize General Venustiano Carranza as provisional president of Mexico. The United States recognized the Carranza gov- AMERICAN FOREIGN RELATIONS 169 1915- October 21. November 4. November 29. December 7. December 10. 1916. January 6. January 7. January i8. February 10. ernment as the de facto government of Mexico, The United States presented an important note to Great Britain in which, after protesting again against British interference with American shipping,' it assumed the task of championing neutral rights. (Statement No. 45.) President Wilson, in an address before the Man hattan Club at New York, presented the Admin istration's preparedness program. (Statement No. 46.) The German government notified Ambassador Gerard that American vessels would be sunk only when carrying absolute contraband and when passengers and crew could reach port safely. The President's annual address to the regular session of Congress dealt with preparedness for defence, (Statement No. 47.) In conformity with demands of the United States the German government recalled Cap tains Boy-Ed and von Papen, attaches of the German embassy at Washington, on account of improper activities. President Wilson, in an address before the sec ond Pan-American Scientific Congress in Wash ington, declared that the states of North and South America should unite in guaranteeing to each other political independence and territorial integrity, (Statement No. 48.) The German ambassador to the United States announced that submarines in the Mediter ranean had received orders to conform to gen eral principles of international law. The United States, in confidential informal notes to the Entente Allies, asked whether those governments would subscribe to a declaration of principles regarding submarine warfare therein set forth, (Statement No. 49.) The German and Austro-Hungarian govern- 170 I9I6. February 15. February 18. February 24. February 28. March 13. March 15. March 23. March 25. April 10. April 18. April 19. April 21. May 4. MORE IMPORTANT EVENTS ments notified the United States of their inten tion to treat armed merchantment as war ves sels after February 29. The Administration declared the right of Ameri can citizens to travel on belligerent merchant vessels armed for defence. The United States Senate ratified a treaty with Nicaragua respecting its canal route and a naval base. President Wilson, in a letter to Senator Stone, defended the right of American citizens to travel on armed merchantmen, (Statement No. 51.) The United States Senate ratified a treaty with Haiti respecting finance and police in that re public. The United States accepted General Carranza's proposed reciprocal agreement for the pursuit of bandits across the Mexican frontier. The United States sent a punitive expedition into Mexico in pursuit of Villa, who had at tacked Columbus. N. M,, March p. The Entente Allies replied rejecting the pro posals of the United States in the confidential note of January 18. The Department of State issued a memorandum defining the status of armed merchant vessels. Made public April 26, ipi6. (Statement No. 54.) The German reply to American inquiry as to the sinking of the Sussex, March 24, denied that a German submarine was responsible. The United States addressed an ultimatum to Germany regarding its submarine policy, (Statement No. 56.) The President addressed the Congress on the relations with Germany. (Statement No. 57.) The Japanese arabassador to the United States presented a protest against certain provisions in the immigration bill pending in Congress. The German reply to the American note of AMERICAN FOREIGN RELATIONS 171 1916. April 18 agreed to the contention of the United States with conditions. May 8. The United States accepted the assurances in the German note of May 4, but rejected the conditions. (Statement No. 58.) May 22. The de facto government of Mexico protested to the United States against the violation of Mexican sovereignty and insisted on the im mediate withdrawal of United States forces. May 27. President Wilson, in an address before the League to Enforce Peace, at Washington, de clared that the United States was willing to join any feasible association of nations for the purpose of guaranteeing territorial and political integrity of states and to preserve peace. (Statement No. 60.) June 20. The United States in reply to the Mexican note of May 22 refused to withdraw its punitive expedition while anarchy continued in northern Mexico. June 21. The United States, in a note to Austria-Hun gary, demanded an apology and reparation for the attack on the American steamer Petrolite by an Austrian submarine. June 22. The United States informed the South Ameri can states that the object of the punitive ex pedition in Mexico was not intervention in Mexican affairs but defence of American ter ritory, June 25. The United States asked of the de facto gov ernment of Mexico a statement of its intended course of action respecting the punitive ex pedition and demanded release of American soldiers taken as prisoners at Carrizal, June 21. Prisoners released June 28. July 4. The de facto government of Mexico suggested mediation by Latin American states of its dif ferences with the United States. July 7. The United States replied to the Mexican note of July 4, agreeing to the proposal for nego tiations. 172 MORE IMPORTANT EVENTS 1916. July 28. The United States, in reply to the Mexican note of July 11, accepted the proposal of a joint commission to settle outstanding differ ences, August 29. The President signed the act of Congress in creasing the participation of the people of the Philippines in their government, August 31. The United States, in reply to the Entente notes of August 22, declared the existing rules of international law applicable to submarines in American ports, September 2. President Wilson, in his speech accepting the Democratic nomination for the presidency, de fended the foreign policy of the Administration and restated its principles, (Statement No. 67.) September 7. The United States Senate ratified the treaty providing for the purchase of the Danish West Indies. September 14. The Department of State at Washington an nounced that in response to its inquiry Japan and Russia had given assurances that the new Russo-Japanese convention was not intended to modify the "Open Door" in China. November 24. The protocol, signed by the United States and Mexican Commissioners, provided for the with drawal of United States troops if order were restored in northern Mexico. December 16. The President transmitted to the Entente Allies the German offer to negotiate peace made De cember 12. December 18. The President suggested to the nations at war that they make an avowal of their respective views as to the terms upon which the war might be ended. (Statement No. 79.) December 21. Secretary Lansing issued a statement declaring that the United States was being drawn "nearer to the verge of war." In a later statement he denied that the United States government was considering any change in its policy of neutrality, December 26. The German reply to the note of the President AMERICAN FOREIGN RELATIONS 173 1916. 1917. January 10. January 11. January 13. January 15. January 22. January 31. February 2. February 3. February 4. February 5. February 12. contained no statement of terms and proposed a conference of belligerents. The reply of the Entente Allies to the note of the President indicated the arrangements, guar antees, and acts of reparation upon which a sat isfactory peace might be based. The United States received from Germany a communication in which the German attitude toward a settlement of the war was made more clear. Great Britain, in a supplemental reply to the President's note of December 18, 1916, ampli fied the terms on which a durable peace might be based. International co-operation to pre serve peace was suggested. The American-Mexican joint commission was dissolved after endeavouring for four months to reach an agreement on border control. The President addressed the Senate giving his idea of the steps necessary for world peace. (Statement No. 80.) Germany announced the renewal of unrestricted submarine warfare within a large war zone. Anti-alien land tenure bills were withdrawn in the Idaho and Oregon legislatures after pro test on the part of the Japanese ambassador. The United States severed diplomatic relations with Germany. The President addressed Con gress on tfie subject. (Statement No. 81.) The United States Department of State sug gested to neutral nations that they take action against Germany similar to that of the United States. The United States punitive expedition in Mex ico returned to American territory. The United States Department of State, in re ply to a communication from the Swiss min ister, announced that it would refuse to discuss matters of difference with Germany unless Germany first recalled its decree of January ji. 174 MORE IMPORTANT EVENTS 1917- _, , February 14 The United States government announced that it would not recognize a govemment in Cuba set up as a result of organized revolt. February 26. The President requested of Congress the power to arm merchant ships. (Statement No. 82.) March i. The President informed the Senate that the "Zimmermann note," proposing an alliance be tween Germany and Mexico dated January 19, was authentic. March 5. The second inaugural address of President Wil son dealt with basic principles of American policy. (Statement No. 83.) March 12. The United States government announced an armed guard would be placed on all American merchant vessels sailing through the " war zone," March 22. The United States formally recognized the new government of Russia set up as a result of revolution. March 26. The United States refused the proposal of Germany to interpret and supplement the Prus sian treaty of 1799. April 2. The President addressed the Congress asking it to declare the existence of a state of war with Germany. (Statement No. 84.) April 6. The President signed the joint resolution of Congress and issued a proclamation declaring the existence of a state of war with Germany. April 8. Austria-Hungary announced that it had decided to sever diplomatic relations with the United States. April 15. President Wilson in a message to the American people asks them to "speak, act and serve to gether," (Statement No. 85.) April 20. The Turkish government announced that it had decided to sever diplomatic relations with the United States. June 9. A communication from President Wilson sent to the provisional government of Russia by the United States mission to Russia was made pub lic at Washington, (Statement No. 88.) AMERICAN FOREIGN RELATIONS 175 1917. June 14. July 29. August I. August 27. President Wilson, in an address at Washington, amplified the case of neutrals against Germany. (Statement No. 89.) Secretary Lansing, in an address at Madison Barracks. N, Y,. related the immediate causes for the entrance of the United States into the war to the deeper meaning of the confiict. Pope Benedict XV addressed a peace note to the powers at war. President Wilson replied to the Pope's note of August I. (Statement No. 90.) PART III MORE IMPORTANT UTTERANCES OF THE ADMINISTRATION TOPICAL GUIDE TO STATEMENTS (See also the Table of Contents) General Topic Statement Number General Principles and Purpose of For- xo, xi, 2o, 24, 26, 28, 35, eign Policy 37, 42, 47. 52, SS, 59, 6x, 62, 63, 64, 6s, 66, 67, 68, 69. 70, 71, 72, 73. 74. 75. 76, 77, 78, 83 International Peace 4, 13, 17 Relations with Latin America . . . . i, 12, 48 Relations with Mexico 8, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 38, 41, 53 Interests in the Far East 2, 9, 13 Relations with Japan 3, 5, 6, 7 American Neutrality 2X, 22, 31, 32, 33 Relations with Great Britain .... 15, 25, 30, 45, 49, 51, 54 Relations with Germany 27, 29, 30, 34, 36, 39, 40, 49. 51. 54, 56. 57. 58, 81, 82, 84, 85, 89 Preparedness for Defence 43, 44, 46, 50 League of Nations 23, 33, 60, 79, 80, 90 Aims of the United States in the War . 86, 87, 88, 90 PART III RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES WITH LATIN AMERICA I. Statement of President Wilson, March ii, ipis (American Journal of International Law. VII, 331) In view of questions which are naturally uppermost in the public mind just now, the President issues the follow ing statement: One of the chief objects of my administration will be to cultivate the friendship and deserve the confidence of our sister republics of Central and South America, and to pro mote in every proper and honorable way the interests which are common to the peoples of the two continents. I ear nestly desire the most cordial understanding and co-opera tion between the peoples and leaders of America and, therefore, deem it my duty to make this brief statement. Co-operation is possible only when supported at every turn by the orderly processes of just government based upon law, not upon arbitrary or irregurar force. We hold, as I am sure all thoughtful leaders of republican govern ment everywhere hold, that just government rests always upon the consent of the governed, and that there can be no freedom without order based upon law and upon the public conscience and approval. We shall look to make these prin ciples the basis of mutual intercourse, respect, and helpful ness between our sister republics and ourselves. We shall lend our influence of every kind to the realization of these principles in fact and practice, knowing that disorder, per sonal intrigue and defiance of constitutional rights weaken 179 i8o STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION and discredit government and injure none so much as the people who are unfortunate enough to have their common life and their common affairs so tainted and disturbed. We can have no sympathy with those who seek to seize the power of government to advance their own personal inter ests or ambition. We are the friends of peace, but we know that there can be no lasting or stable peace in such circumstances. As friends, therefore, we shall prefer those who act in the interests of peace and honor, who protect private rights and respect the restraints of constitutional provision. Mutual respect seems to us the indispensable foundation of friendship between states, as between indi viduals. The United States has nothing to seek in Central and South America except the lasting interests of the peoples of the two continents, the security of governments intended for the people and for no special group or interest, and the I development of personal and trade relationships between the two continents which shall redound to the profit and advantage of both and interfere with the rights and liberties of neither. From these principles may be read so much of the future policy of this government as it is necessary now to fore cast ; and in the spirit of these principles I may, I hope, be permitted with as much confidence as earnestness to extend to the governments of all the republics of America the hand of genuine disinterested friendship and to pledge my own honor and the honor of my colleagues to every enterprise of peace and amity that a fortunate future may disclose. CHINESE LOAN i8i AMERICAN BANKERS AXD LOANS TO CHINA 2. Statement of President Wilson, March i8, ipi3 (American Journal of International Law, VII, 338.) We are informed that at the request of the last adminis tration a certain group of American bankers undertook to participate in the loan now desired by the Government of (Thina (approximately $125,000,000). . . . The present ad ministration has been asked by this group of bankers whether it would also request them to participate in the loan. The representatives of the bankers through whom the adminis tration was approached declared that they would continue to seek their share of the loan under the proposed agree ments only if expressly requested to do so by the govem ment. The administration has declined to make such re quest because it did not approve the conditions of the loan or the implications of responsibility on its own part which it was plainly told would be involved in the request.^ The conditions of the loan seem to us to touch very nearly the administrative independence of China itself ; and this administration does not feel that it ought, even by im plication, to be a party to those conditions. The responsi bility on its part which would be implied in requesting the bankers to undertake the loan might conceivably go to the length in some unhappy contingency of forcible interfer ence in the financial, and even the political, affairs of that great oriental state, just now awakening to a consciousness of its power and of its obligations to its people. The condi tions include not only the pledging of particular taxes, some of them antiquated and burdensome, to secure the loan, but also the administration of those taxes by foreign agents. ^ The ofiBcial announcement of the withdrawal of the American group of bankers, issued March 19, 19x3, may be found in Com mercial and Financial Chronicle, XCVI, 825. i82 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION The responsibility on the part of our government implied in the encouragement of a loan thus secured and adminis tered is plain enough and is obnoxious to the principles upon which the government of our people rests. The Government of the United States is not only willing, but earnestly desirous, of aiding the great Chinese people in every way that is consistent with their untrammeled de velopment and its own immemorial principles. The awak ening of the people of China to a consciousness of their possibilities under free government is the most significant, if not the most momentous event of our generation. With this movement and aspiration the American people are in profound sympathy. They certainly wish to participate, and participate very generously, in opening to the Chinese and to the use of the world the almost untouched and perhaps unrivalled resources of China. The Government of the United States is earnestly desir ous of promoting the most extended and intimate trade relationships between this country and the Chinese Republic. . . . This is the main material interest of its citizens in the development of China. Our interests are those of the open door — a door of friendship and mutual advantage. This is the only door we care to enter. ANTI-ALIEN LAND TENURE LEGISLATION IN CALIFORNIA 3. Extract from Telegram of the President to Governor Johnson of California, April 22, ipi3 (New York Times, April 23, 1913) . . . I . . . appeal with the utmost confidence to the peo ple, the Governor, and the Legislature of California to act in the matter now under consideration in a manner that can- PLANS FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE 183 not from any point of view be fairly challenged or called in question. If they deem it necessary to exclude all aliens who have not declared their intention to become citizens from the privileges of land ownership they can do so along lines already followed in the laws of many of the other States and of many foreign countries, including Japan her self. Insidious discrimination will inevitably draw in ques tion the treaty obligations of the Government of the United States. ... ADMINISTRATION'S PLANS FOR INTERNA TIONAL PEACE 4. Statement of Secretary Bryan to the Press. April 24, ipi3 (Commercial and Financial Chronicle, XCVI, 1184) The statement presented to the representatives [i. e., the diplomatic corps at Washington] is only intended to set forth the main proposition, namely that the President de sires to enter into an agreement with each nation severally for the investigation of all questions of every nature what ever. This agreement is intended to supplement the arbitra tion treaties now in existence and those that may be made hereafter. Arbitration treaties always exempt some ques tion from arbitration. The agreement proposed by the President is intended to close the gap and leave no dispute that can become a cause of war without investigation. It will be noticed that each party is to reserve the right to act independently after the report is submitted, but it is not likely that a nation will declare war after it has had an opportunity to confer during the investigation with the opposing nation. But whether or not the proposed agreement accomplishes i84 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION as much as is hoped for it, it is at least a step in the direc tion of universal peace, and I am pleased to be the agent through whom the President presents this proposition to the Powers represented here.^ ANTI-ALIEN LAND TENURE LEGISLATION IN CALIFORNIA 5. Extract from Telegram of Secretary Bryan to Gov ernor Johnson of California. May 11, ipi3 (New York Times, May 12, 1913) ... He [the President] is fully alive to the importance of removing any root of discord which may create antag onism between American citizens and the subjects of Orien tal nations residing here, but he is impelled by a sense of duty to express the hope that you will see fit to allow time for diplomatic effort. The nations affected by the proposed law are friendly nations — nations that have shown themselves willing to co-operate in the establishment of harmonious relations be tween their people and ours. . . . 6. Extract from a Communication of Secretary Bryan to the Japanese Ambassador at Washington, May ip, ipi3 (American-Japanese Discussions Relating to Land Tenure Law of California. Department of State, p. 5) The Government of the United States regrets most sin cerely that the Imperial (jovernment of Japan should regard 1 The plan in detail may be found in the text of the first of the treaties, published in American Journal of International Law, VII, 824-s. CALIFORNIA LAND LAW (ANTI-ALIEN) 185 this legislation as an indication of unfriendliness toward their people. . . . ... we feel that the Imperial Government has been mis led in its interpretation of the spirit and object of the legis lation in question. It is not political. It .is not part of any general national policy which would indicate unfriendliness or any purpose inconsistent with the best and most cordial understanding between the two nations. It is wholly eco nomic. It is based upon the particular economic conditions existing in California as interpreted by her own people, who wish to avoid certain conditions of competition in their agri cultural activities. . . . your note ^ calls attention to certain provisions of the California law which you conceive to be inconsistent with and to violate existing treaty stipulations between the two countries, and thus to threaten to impair vested rights of property. The law, however, in terms purports to re spect and preserve all rights under existing treaties. Such is its declared intent. But in case it should be alleged that the law had in its operation failed to accomplish that intent, your Government is no doubt advised that by the Consti tution of the United States the stipulations of treaties made in pursuance thereof are the supreme law of the land, and that they are expressly declared to be binding upon State and Federal courts alike to the end that they may be judi cially enforced in all cases. For this purpose the courts. Federal and State, are open to all persons who may feel themselves to have been deprived of treaty rights and guarantees; and in this respect the alien enjoys under our laws a privilege which to one of our own citizens may not be in all cases available, namely, the privilege of suing in 1 The full text of this note dated May 9, 19x3, may be found in American-Japanese Discussions Relating to Land Tenure Law of California, Department of State, p. 3. i86 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION the Federal courts. In precisely the same way, our citi zens resort and are obliged to resort to the courts for the enforcement of their constitutional and legal rights. Ar ticle XIV of the treaty, to which your excellency refers, appears to relate solely to the rights of commerce and navi gation. These the California statute does not appear to be^designed in any way to affect. The authors of the law seem to have been careful to guard against any invasion of contractual rights. Your excellency raises, very naturally and properly, the question how the case would stand should explicit treaties between the two countries expire or cease to be in force while, nevertheless, relations of entire amity and good will still continue to exist between them. I can only reply that in such circumstances the Government of the United States would always deem it its pleasure, as well as a manifest dictate of its cordial friendship for Japan and the Japanese people, to safeguard the rights of trade and intercourse be tween the two peoples now secured by treaty. I need not assure your excellency that this Government will co-operate with the Imperial Government in every possible way to maintain with the utmost cordiality the understandings which bind the two nations together in honor and in interest. Its obligations of friendship would not be lessened or per formed in niggardly fashion in any circumstances. It val ues too highly the regard of Japan and her co-operation in the great peaceful tasks of the modem world to jeopard them in any way; and I feel that I can assure your excel lency that there is no reason to feel that its policy in such matters would be embarrassed or interfered with by the legislation of any State of the Union. The economic policy of a single State with regard to a single kind of property can not turn aside these strong and abiding currents of generous and profitable intercourse and good feeling. . . . CALIFORNIA LAND LAW (ANTI-ALIEN) 187 7. Extract from a Communication of Secretary Bryan to the Japanese Ambassador at Washington. July 16, ipi3 (American-Japanese Discussions Relating to Land Tenure Law of California, Department of State, p. 15) In my note of the 19th of May I did not omit to point out that the California statute, far from being indica tive of any national discriminatory policy, was not even to be regarded as an expression of political or racial antago nism, but was rather to be considered as the emanation of economic conditions, which were in this instance of a local character. I can not help feeling that in the representa tions submitted by your excellency ^ the supposition of racial discrimination occupies a position of prominence which it does not deserve and which is not justified by the facts. I am quite prepared to admit that all differences between human beings — differences in appearance, differences in manner, differences in speech, differences in opinion, differ ences in nationality, and differences in race — may provoke a certain antagonism; but none of these differences is likely to produce serious results unless it becomes associated with an interest of a contentious nature, such as that of the struggle for existence. In this economic contest the division no doubt may often take place on racial lines, but it does so not because of racial antagonism but because of the circum stance that the traditions and habits of different races have developed or diminished competitive efficiency. The contest is economic ; the racial difference is a mere mark or incident of the economic struggle. ^ The representations here referred to consist of a note by the Japanese ambassador dated June 4, 19x3, published in Department of State, American-Japanese Discussions Relating to Land Tenure Law of California, p. 6. i88 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION All nations recognize this fact, and it is for this reason that each nation is permitted to determine who shall and who shall not be permitted to settle in its dominions and become a part of the body politic, to the end that it may preserve internal peace and avoid the contentions which are so likely to disturb the harmony of international relations. That the Imperial Government of Japan accept and act upon these principles precise proof is not wanting. . . . In connection with the question of land ownership your excellency refers to the subject of naturalization in the United States, . . . Your excellency very properly ac knowledges the fact that the question of naturalization " is a political problem of national and not international con cern." I gladly assume that your excellency, in saying that Jap anese subjects are " as a nation " denied the right to acquire American nationality, has not intended to convey the im pression that the naturalization laws of the United States make any distinction that may be specifically considered as national either in terms or in effect. Nor would it appear, if the legal provisions in question were historically exam ined, that the Government and people of Japan have any ground to feel that any discrimination against them was intended. . . . RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES WITH MEXICO 8. Address of the President to the Congress. August 2f, ipi3 (Congressional Record. L, 3803) Gentlemen of the Congress, it is clearly my duty to lay before you, very fully and without reservation, the facts RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 189 conceming our present relations with the Republic of Mex ico. The deplorable posture of affairs in Mexico I need not describe, but I deem it my duty to speak very frankly of what this Govemment has done and should seek to do in fulfillment of its obligation to Mexico herself, as a friend and neighbor, and to American citizens whose lives and vital interests are daily affected by the distressing conditions which now obtain beyond our southern border. Those conditions touch us very nearly. Not merely be cause they lie at our very doors. That of course makes us more vividly and more constantly conscious of them, and every instinct of neighborly interest and sympathy is aroused and quickened by them ; but that is only one element in the determination of our duty. We are glad to call our selves the friends of Mexico, and we shall, I hope, have many an occasion, in happier times as well as in these days of trouble and confusion, to show that our friendship is genuine and disinterested, capable of sacrifice and every generous manifestation. The peace, prosperity, and con tentment of Mexico mean more, much more, to us than merely an enlarged field for our commerce and enterprise. They mean an enlargement of the field of self-government and the realization of the hopes and rights of a nation with whose best aspirations, so long suppressed and disappointed, we deeply sympathize. We shall yet prove to the Mexican people that we know how to serve them without first think ing how we shall serve ourselves. But we are not the only friends of Mexico. The whole world desires her peace and progress ; and the whole world is interested as never before. Mexico lies at last where all the world looks on. Central America is about to be touched by the great routes of the world's trade and intercourse running free from ocean to ocean at the Isthmus. The future has much in store for Mexico, as for all the States of 190 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION Central America ; but the best gifts can come to her only if she be ready and free to receive them and to enjoy them honorably. America in particular — America north and south and upon both continents — waits upon the develop ment of Mexico; and that development can be sound and lasting only if it be the product of a genuine freedom, a just and ordered government founded upon law. Only so can it be peaceful or fruitful of the benefits of peace. Mex ico has a great and enviable future before her, if only she choose and attain the paths of honest constitutional gov ernment. The present circumstances of the Republic, I deeply re gret to say, do not seem to promise even the foundations of such a peace. We have waited many months, months full of peril and anxiety, for the conditions there to im prove, and they have not improved. They have grown worse, rather. The territory in some sort controlled by the provisional authorities at Mexico City has grown smaller, not larger. The prospect of the pacification of the country, even by arms, has seemed to grow more and more remote; and its pacification by the authorities at the capital is evidently impossible by any other means than force. Diffi culties more and more entangle those who claim to consti tute the legitimate government of the Republic. They have not made good their claim in fact. Their successes in the field have proved only temporary. War and disorder, devas tation and confusion, seem to threaten to become the settled fortune of the distracted country. As friends we could wait not longer for a solution which every week seemed further away. It was our duty at least to volunteer our good offices — to offer to assist, if we might, in effecting some arrangement which would bring relief and peace and set up a universally acknowledged political authority there. Accordingly, I took the liberty of sending the Hon. John RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 191 Lind, formerly governor of Minnesota, as my personal spokesman and representative, to the City of Mexico, with the following instructions: Press very earnestly upon the attention of those who are now ex ercising authority or wielding influence in Mexico the following considerations and advice : The Government of the United States does not feel at liberty any longer to stand inactively by while it becomes daily more and more evident that no real progress is being made toward the estab lishment of a government at the City of Mexico which the country will obey and respect. The Government of the United States does not stand in the same case with the other great Governments of the world in respect of what is happening or what is likely to happen in Mexico. We offer our good offices, not only because of our genuine desire to play the part of a friend, but also because we are expected by the powers of the world to act as Mexico's nearest friend. We wish to act in these circumstances in the spirit of the most earnest and disinterested friendship. It is our purpose in whatever we do or propose in this perplexing and distressing situation not only to pay the most scrupulous regard to the sovereignty and independence of Mexico — that we take as a matter of course to which we are bound by every obligation of right and honor — but also to give every possible evidence that we act in the interest of Mexico alone, and not in the interest of any person or body of persons who may have personal or property claims in Mexico which they may feel that they have the right to press. We are seeking to counsel Mexico for her own good and in the interest of her own peace, and not for any other purpose whatever. The Government of the United States would deem itself discredited if it had any selfish or ulterior purpose in transactions where the peace, happiness, and prosperity of a whole people are involved. It is acting as its friendship for Mexico, not as any selfish interest, dictates. The present situation in Mexico is incompatible with the fulfill ment of international obligations on the part of Mexico, with the civilized development of Mexico herself, and with the maintenance of tolerable political and economic conditions in Central America. It is upon no common occasion, therefore, that the United States offers her counsel and assistance. All America cries out for a settlement. A satisfactory settlement seems to us to be conditioned on — (a) An immediate cessation of fighting throughout Mexico, a 192 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION definite armistice solemnly entered into and scrupulously observed. (b) Security given for an early and free election in which all will agree to take part. (c) The consent of Gen. Huerta to bind himself not to be a candidate for election as President of the Republic at this election. (d) The agreement of all parties to abide by the results of the election and cooperate in the most loyal way in organizing and sup porting the new administration. The Govemment of the United States will be glad to play any part in this settlement or in its carrying out which it can play honorably and consistently with international right It pledges itself to recognize and in every way possible and proper to assist the administration chosen and set up in Mexico in the way and on the conditions suggested. Taking all the existing conditions into consideration, the Gov emment of the United States can conceive of no reasons sufficient to justify those who are now attempting to shape the policy or exercise the authority of Mexico in declining the offices of friend ship thus offered. Can Mexico give the civilized world a satis factory reason for rejecting our good offices? If Mexico can suggest any better way in which to show our friendship, serve the people of Mexico, and meet our international obligations, we are more than willing to consider the suggestion. Mr. Lind executed his delicate and difficult mission with singular tact, firmness, and good judgment, and made clear to the authorities at the City of Mexico not only the pur pose of his visit but also the spirit in which it had been undertaken. But the proposals he submitted were rejected, in a note the full text of which I take the liberty of laying before you.^ I am led to believe that they were rejected partly because the authorities at Mexico City had been grossly misinformed and misled upon two points. They did not realize the spirit of the American people in this matter, their eamest friendli ness and yet sober determination that some just solution be found for the Mexican difficulties; and they did not '¦ The reply of General Huerta's Secretary for Foreign Affairs, F. Gamboa, dated August i6, 1913, may be found in American Journal of International Law, VII, Supplement, 284. RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 193 believe that the present administration spoke, through Mr. Lind, for the people of the United States. The effect of this unfortunate misunderstanding on their part is to leave them singularly isolated and without friends who can effec tually aid them. So long as the misunderstanding continues we can only await the time of their awakening to a realiza tion of the actual facts. We can not thrust our good offices upon them. The situation must be given a little more time to work itself out in the new circumstances ; and I believe that only a little while will be necessary. For the circum stances are new. The rejection of our friendship makes them new and will inevitably bring its own alterations in the whole aspect of affairs. The actual situation of the authori ties at Mexico City will presently be revealed. Meanwhile, what is it our duty to do? Clearly, every thing that we do must be rooted in patience and done with calm and disinterested deliberation. Impatience on our part would be childish, and would be fraught with every risk of wrong and folly. We can afford to exercise the self- restraint of a really great nation which realizes its own strength and scorns to misuse it. It was our duty to offer our active assistance. It is now our duty to show what true neutrality will do to enable the people of Mexico to set their affairs in order again and wait for a further oppor tunity to offer our friendly counsels. The door is not closed against the resumption, either upon the initiative of Mexico or upon our own, of the effort to bring order out of the confusion by friendly cooperative action, should fortunate occasion offer. While we wait the contest of the rival forces will un doubtedly for a little while be sharper than ever, just because it will be plain that an end must be made of the existing situation, and that very promptly; and with the increased activity of the contending factions will come, it is to be 194 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION feared, increased danger to the noncombatants in Mexico as well as to those actually in the field of battle. The posi tion of outsiders is always particularly trying and full of hazard where there is civil strife and a whole country is upset. We should earnestly urge all Americans to leave Mexico at once, and should assist them to get away in every way possible — not because we would mean to slacken in the least our efforts to safeguard their lives and their inter ests, but because it is imperative that they should take no unnecessary risks when it is physically possible for them to leave the country. We should let every one who assumes to exercise authority in any part of Mexico know in the most unequivocal way that we shall vigilantly watch the fortunes of those Americans who can not get away, and shall hold those responsible for their sufferings and losses to a definite reckoning. That can be and will be made plain beyond the possibility of a misunderstanding. For the rest, I deem it my duty to exercise the authority conferred upon me by the law of March 14, 1912, to see to it that neither side to the struggle now going on in Mexico receive any assistance from this side the border. I shall follow the best practice of nations in the matter of neutrality by forbidding the exportation of arms or munitions of war of any kind from the United States to any part of the Re public of Mexico — a policy suggested by several interest ing precedents and certainly dictated by many manifest con siderations of practical expediency. We can not in the circumstances be the partisans of either party to the contest that now distracts Mexico or constitute ourselves the vir tual umpire between them. I am happy to say that several of the great Govem ments of the world have given this Govemment their gen erous moral support in urging upon the provisional authori ties at the City of Mexico the acceptance of our proffered THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 195 good offices in the spirit in which they were made. We have not acted in this matter under the ordinary principles of international obligation. All the world expects us in such circumstances to act as Mexico's nearest friend and intimate adviser. This is our immemorial relation toward her. There is nowhere any serious question that we have the moral right in the case or that we are acting in the interest of a fair settlement and of good government, not for the promotion of some selfish interest of our own. If further motive were necessary than our own good will toward a sister Republic and our own deep concern to see peace and order prevail in Central America, this consent of mankind to what we are attempting, this attitude of the great nations of the world toward what we may attempt in dealing with this distressed people at our doors, should make us feel the more solemnly bound to go to the utmost length of patience and forbearance in this painful and anxious business. The steady pressure of moral force will before many days break the barriers of pride and prejudice down, and we shall triumph as Mexico's friends sooner than we could triumph as her enemies — and how much more hand somely, with how much higher and finer satisfactions of con science and of honor! GOVERNMENT OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 9. Message of President Wilson to the Citizens of the Philippine Islands. October 6, ipi3 (The Weekly Times (Manila, P. I.), October 10, 1913) We regard ourselves as trustees acting not for the ad vantage of the United States but for the benefit of the people of the Philippine Islands. Every step we take will be taken with a view to the ulti- 196 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION mate independence of the Islands and as a preparation for that independence. And we hope to move toward that end as rapidly as the safety and the permanent interests of the Islands will permit. After each step taken experience will guide us to the next. The administration will take one step at once and wiU give to the native citizens of the Islands a majority in the appointive Commission and thus in the upper as well as in the lower house of the legislature a majority representa tion will be secured to them. We do this in the confident hope and expectation that immediate proof will be given, in the action of the Commis sion under the new arrangement, of the political capacity of those native citizens who have already come forward to represent and to lead their people in affairs.* NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE AND SELF- GOVERNMENT 10. Extract from an Address of President Wilson at Swarthmore College. October 23, ipi3 (Congressional Record. L, 5862) . . . Sometimes we have been laughed at — by foreigners in particular — for boasting of the size of the American Continent, the size of our own domain as a nation; for they have, naturally enough, suggested that we did not make it. But I claim that every race and every man is as big as the thing that he takes possession of, and that the size of America is in some sense a standard of the size and 1 The address of Governor-General Harrison in presenting this message was published in the Weekly Times (Manila, P. I.), Octo ber 10, 1913. independ:ence and self-government 197 capacity of the American people. And yet the mere extent of the American conquest is not what gives America dis tinction in the annals of the world, but the professed purpose of the conquest which was to see to it that every foot of this land should be the home of free, self-governed people, who should have no government whatever which did not rest upon the consent of the governed. I would like to believe that all this hemisphere is devoted to the same sacred purpose and that nowhere can any government endure which is stained by blood or supported by anything but the consent of the governed. II. Extract from, an Address of President Wilson at Congress Hall in Philadelphia. October 2§, ipi3 (Congressional Record. L, 5809) We have stumbled upon many unhappy circumstances in the hundred years that have gone by since the event that we are celebrating. Almost all of them have come from self-centered men, men who saw in their own interest the interest of the country, and who did not have vision enough to read it in wider terms, in the universal terms of equity and justice and the rights of mankind. . . . The Declara tion of Independence was . . . the first audible breath of liberty, . . . The men of that generation did not hesitate to say that every people has a right to choose its own forms of govemment, not once but as often as it pleases, and to accommodate those forms of government to its existing in terests and circumstances. Not only to establish but to alter is the fundamental principle of self-government. . . . Liberty inheres in the circumstances of the day. . . . Every day problems arise which wear some new phase and aspect, and I must fall back, if I would serve my conscience. 198 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION upon those things which are fundamental rather than upon those things which are superficial, and ask myself this ques tion. How are you going to assist in some small part to give the American people and, by example, the peoples of the world more liberty, more happiness, more substantial pros perity; and how are you going to make that prosperity a common heritage instead of a selfish possession ? . . . No man can boast that he understands America. No man can boast that he has lived the life of America, . . . No man can pretend that except by common counsel he can gather into his consciousness what the varied life of this people is. The duty that we have to keep open eyes and open hearts and accessible understandings is a very . . . difficult duty to perform. . . . Yet how . . . important that it should be performed, for fear we make infinite and irrep arable blunders. The city of Washington is in some re spects self-contained, and it is easy there to forget what the rest of the United States is thinking about. . . . You are so apt to forget that the comparatively small number of per sons, numerous as they seem to be when they swarm, who come to Washington to ask for things, do not constitute an important proportion of the population of the country, that it is constantly necessary to come away from Washington and renew one's contacts with the people who do not swarm there, who do not ask for anything, but who do trust you without their personal counsel to do your duty. Unless a man gets these contacts he grows weaker and weaker. . . . If you lifted him up too high or he lifts himself too high, he loses the contact and therefore loses the inspiration. INDEPENDENCE AND SELF-GOVERNMENT 199 12. Extract from an Address of President Wilson at Mobile, Alabama. October 2f, ipi3 (Congressional Record. L, 5845) ... I want to speak of our present and prospective rela tions with our neighbors to the south. I deemed it a public duty, as well as a personal pleasure, to be here to express for myself and for the Government I represent the welcome we all feel to those who represent the Latin American States. The future ... is going to be very different for this hemisphere from the past. These States lying to the south of us, which have always been" ouir neighbors, will now be drawn closer to us by innumerable ties, and, I hope, chief of all, by the tie of a common understanding of each other. Interest does not tie nations together ; it sometimes separates them. But sympathy and understanding does unite them, and I believe that by the new route that is just about to be opened, while we physically cut two continents asunder, we spiritually unite them. It is a spiritual union which we seek. There is one peculiarity about the history of the Latin American States which I am sure they are keenly aware of. You hear of " concessions " to foreign capitalists in Latin America. You do not hear of concessions to foreign capi talists in the United States. They are not granted conces sions. They are invited to make investments. The work is ours, though they are welcome to invest in it. We do not ask them to supply the capital and do the work. It is an invitation, not a privilege ; and States that are obliged",' be cause their territory does not lie within the main field of modern enterprise and action, to grant concessions are in this condition, that foreign interests are apt to dominate their domestic affairs, a condition of affairs always danger- 200 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION ous and apt to become intolerable. What these States are going to see, therefore, is an emancipation^ f rom the^ sub- ordination, which has been inevitable, to foreign enterprise andean assertion of the splendid character which, in spite of these diificuhies, they have again and again been able to demonstrate. The dignity, the courage, the self-possession, the self-respect of the Latin American States, their achieve ments in the face of all these adverse circumstances, de serve nothing but the admiration and applause of the world. They have had harder bargains driven with them in the matter of loans than any other peoples in the world. lQter-_^ est has been exacted of them that was not exacted of any body else, because the risk was said to be greater ; and then securities were taken that destroyed the risk — an admirable arrangement for those who were forcing the terms ! I re joice in nothing so much as in the prospect that they will now be emancipated from these conditions, and we ought to be the first to take part in assisting in that emancipation. I think some of these gentlemen have already had occasion to bear witness that the Department of State in recent months has tried to serve them in that wise. In the future they will draw closer and closer to us because of circum stances 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 can not be friends upon any other terms than upon the terms of equality. You can not be Jriends .at. all except upon the terms of j honor. We must show ourselves friends by comprehend- } ing their interest whether it squares with our own interest j or not. It is a very perilous thing to determine the foreign Jiolicy of a nation in the terms of material interest. It not ! only is unfair to those with whom you are dealing, but it is j I degrading as regards your own actions. INDEPENDENCE AND SELF-GOVERNMENT 201 Comprehension must be the soil in which shall grow all the fruits of friendship, and there is a reason and a com pulsion lying behind all this which is dearer that anything else to the thoughtful men of America. I mean the de velopment of constitutional liberty in the world. Human rights, national integrity, and opportunity as against ma terial interests — that, ... is the issue which we now have to face. I want to take this occasion to say that the United States will never again seek one additional foot of teirritory bjTconquest. She will devote herself to showingthat she knows how fo make honorable and fruitful use of the terri tory she has, and she must regard it as one of the duties of friendship to see that from no quarter are material inter ests made superior to human liberty and national oppor tunity. I say this, not with a single thought that any one will gainsay it, but merely to fix in our consciousness what our. real relationship with the rest of America is. It is the relationship of a family of mankind devoted to the develop ment of true constitutional liberty. We know that that is the soil out of which the best enterprise springs. We know that this is a cause which we are making in common with our neighbors, because we have had to make it for ourselves. Reference has been made here to-day to some of the na tional problems which confront us as a Nation. What is at the heart of all our national problems? It is that we have seen the hand of material interest sometimes about to close upon our dearest rights and possessions. We have seen material interests threaten constitutional freedom in the United States. Therefore we will now know how to sympathize with those in the rest of America who have to contend with such powers, not only within their borders but from outside their borders also. I know what the response of the thought and heart of 202 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION America will be to the program I have outlined, because America was created to realize a program like that. This is not America because it is rich. This is not America be cause it has set up for a great population great opportunities of material prosperity. America is a name which sounds in the ears of men everywhere as a synonym with individual opportunity because a synonym of individual liberty. I would rather belong to a poor nation that was free than to a rich nation that had ceased to be in love with liberty. But we shall not be poor if we love liberty, because the na tion that loves liberty truly sets every man free to do his best and be his best, and that means the release of all the splendid energies of a great people who think for them selves. A nation of employees can not be free any more than a nation of employers can be. In emphasizing the points which must unite us in^sgn- pathy and in spiritual interest with the Latin American peo ples we are only emphasizing the points of our own life,^nd we should prove ourselves untrue to our own traditions if we proved ourselves untrue friends to them. Do not think, therefore, . . . that the questions of the day are mere ques tions of policy and diplomacy. They are shot through with the principles of life. We dare not tum from the principle that morality and not expediency is the thing that must guide . iis and that we wiU never condone iniquity because it is most Convenient to do so. It seems to me that this is a day of infinite hope, of confidence in a future greater than the past has been, for I am fain to believe that in spite of all the things that we wish to correct the nineteenth century that now lies behind us has brought us a long stage toward the time when, slowly ascending the tedious climb that leads to the final uplands, we shall get our ultimate view of the duties of mankind. We have breasted a considerable part of that climb and shall presently — it may be in a gen- REVIEW OF FOREIGN RELATIONS 203 eration or two — come out upon those great heights where there shines unobstructed the light of the justice of God. REVIEW OF FOREIGN RELATIONS 13. Extract from the Annual Message of the President. December 2, ipi3 (Congressional Record, LI, 43) The country, I am thankful to say, is at peace with all the world, and many happy manifestations multiply about us of a growing cordiality and sense of community of inter est among the nations, foreshadowing an age of settled peace and good will. More and more readily each decade do the nations manifest their willingness to bind themselves by solemn treaty to the processes of peace, the processes of frankness and fair concession. So far the United States has stood at the front of such negotiations. She will, I earnestly hope and confidently believe, give fresh proof of her sincere adherence to the cause of international friend ship by ratifying the several treaties of arbitration awaiting renewal by the Senate. In addition to these, it has been the privilege of the Department of State to gain the assent, in principle, of no less than 31 nations, representing four.- fifths of the population of the world, to the negotiation of treaties by which it shall be agreed that whenever differences of interest or of policy arise which can not be resolved by the ordinary processes of diplomacy they shall be publicly analyzed, discussed, and reported upon by a tribunal chosen by the parties before either nation determines its course of action. There is only one possible standard by which to deter mine controversies between the United States and other na tions, and that is compounded of these two elements : Our 204 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION 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. It originated in the usurpa tion of Victoriano Huerta, who, after a brief attempt to play the part of constitutional President, has at last cast aside even the pretense of legal right and declared himself dictator. As a consequence, a condition of affairs now exists in Mexico which has made it doubtful whether even the most elementary and fundamental rights either of her own people or of the citizens of other countries resident within her territory can long be successfully safeguarded, and which threatens, if long continued, to imperil the inter ests of peace, order, and tolerable life in the lands im mediately to the south of us. Even if the usurper had suc ceeded in his purposes, in despite of the constitution of the Republic and the rights of its people, he would have set up nothing but a precarious and hateful power, which could REVIEW OF FOREIGN RELATIONS 205 have lasted but a little while, and whose eventual downfall would have left the country in a more deplorable condition than ever. But he has not succeeded. He has forfeited the respect and the moral support even of those who were at one time willing to see him succeed. Little by little he has been completely isolated. By a little every day his power and prestige are crumbling and the collapse is not far away. We shall not, I believe, be obliged to alter our policy of watchful waiting. And then, when the end comes, we shall hope to see constitutional order restored in dis tressed Mexico by the concert and energy of such of her leaders as prefer the liberty of their people to their own ambitions. . . . outside the charmed circle of our own national life in which our affections command us, as well as our consciences, there stand out our obligations toward our territories oversea. Here we are trustees. Porto Rico, Hawaii, the Philippines, are ours, indeed, but not ours to do what we please with. Such territories, once regarded as mere possessions, are no longer to be selfishly exploited; they are part of the domain of public conscience and of serviceable and enlightened statesmanship. We must ad minister them for the people who live in them and with the same sense of responsibility to them as toward our own people in our domestic affairs. No doubt we shall success fully enough bind Porto Rico and the Hawaiian Islands to ourselves by ties of justice and interest and affection, but the performance of our duty toward the Philippines is a more difficult and debatable matter. We can satisfy the obligations of generous justice toward the people of Porto Rico by giving them the ample and familiar rights and priv ileges accorded our own citizens in our own territories and our obligations toward the people of Hawaii by perfecting 2o6 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION the provisions for self-government already granted them, but in the Philippines we must go further. We must hold steadily in view their ultimate independence, and we must move toward the time of that independence as steadily as the way can be cleared and the foundations thoughtfully and permanently laid. Acting under the authority conferred upon the President by Congress, I have already accorded the people of the is lands a majority in both houses of their legislative body by appointing five instead of four native citizens to the mem bership of the commission. I believe that in this way we shall make proof of their capacity in counsel and their sense of responsibility in the exercise of political power, and that the success of this step will be sure to clear our view for the steps which are to follow. Step by step we should ex tend and perfect the system of self-government in the is lands, making test of them and modifying them as expe rience discloses their successes and their failures; that we should more and more put under the control of the native citizens of the archipelago the essential instruments of their life, their local instrumentalities of government, their schools, all the common interests of their communities, and so by counsel and experience set up a government which all the world will see to be suitable to a people whose affairs are under their own control. At last, I hope and believe, we are beginning to gain the confidence of the Filipino peoples. By their counsel and experience, rather than by our own, we shall learn how best to serve them and how soon it will be possible and wise to withdraw our super vision. Let us once find the path and set out with firm and confident tread upon it and we shall not wander from it or linger upon it. EXPORT OF ARMS TO MEXICO 207 EXPORTATION OF ARMS INTO MEXICO 14. Statement of President Wilson. February 3, ipi4 (New York Times. February 4, 1914) The Executive order '¦ under which the exportation of arms and ammunition into Mexico is forbidden was a de parture from the accepted practices of neutrality — a delib erate departure from those practices under a well-considered joint resolution of Congress, determined upon in circum stances which have now ceased to exist. It was intended to discourage incipient revolts against the regularly constituted authorities of Mexico. Since that order was issued the circumstances of the case have undergone a radical change. There is now no Constitutional Government in Mexico ; and the existence of this order hinders and delays the very thing the Govern ment of the United States is now insisting upon, namely, that Mexico shall be left free to settle her own affairs and as soon as possible put them on a constitutional footing by her own force and counsel. The order is, therefore, re scinded. PANAMA CANAL TOLLS EXEMPTION 15. Address of the President to the Congress. March 5, ipi4 (Congressional Record, LI, 43x3) Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, gentlemen of the Congress: I have come to you upon an errand which can be very briefly performed, but I beg that you will not measure its importance by the number of sentences in which I state it. iThe order by President Taft, dated March 14, 19x2, continued under the Wilson administration. 2o8 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION No communication I have addressed to the Congress car ried with it graver or more far-reaching implications as to the interest of the country, and I come now to speak upon a matter with regard to which I am charged in a peculiar degree, by the Constitution itself, with personal responsi bility. I have come to ask you for the repeal of that provision of the Panama Canal Act of August 24, 1912, which ex empts vessels engaged in the coastwise trade of the United States from payment of tolls, and to urge upon you the justice, the wisdom, and the large policy of such a repeal with the utmost earnestness of which I am capable. In my own judgment, very fully considered and maturely formed, that exemption constitutes a mistaken economic policy from every point of view, and is, moreover, in plain contravention of the treaty with Great Britain concerning the canal concluded on November 18, 1901.^ But I have not come to urge upon you my personal views. I have come to state to you a fact and a situation. Whatever may be our own differences of opinion concerning this much debated measure, its meaning is not debated outside the United States. Everywhere else the language of the treaty is given but one interpretation, and that interpretation pre cludes the exemption I am asking you to repeal. We con sented to the treaty ; its language we accepted, if we did not originate ; and we are too big, too powerful, too self-respect ing a Nation to interpret with too strained or refined a reading the words of our own promises just because we have power enough to give us leave to read them as we please. The large thing to do is the only thing that we can afford to do, a voluntary withdrawal from a position 1 The Hay-Pauncefote treaty. For text see Treaties, Conventions, etc. between United States and other Powers, 6ist Congress, 2d session. Senate Document No. 357, I, 782. RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 209 everywhere questioned and misunderstood. We ought to reverse our action without raising the question whether we were right or wrong, and so once more deserve our reputa tion for generosity and for the redemption of every obliga tion without quibble or hesitation. I ask this of you in support of the foreign policy of the administration. I shall not know how to deal with other matters of even greater delicacy and nearer consequence if you do not grant it to me in ungrudging measure.^ RELATIONS WITH :\IEXICO: TAMPICO 16. Address of the President to the Congress. April 20, ipi4 (Congressional Record. LI, 6908) Gentlemen of the Congress : It is my duty to call your at tention to a situation which has arisen in our dealings with (ien. Victoriano Huerta at Mexico City which calls for ac tion, and to ask your advice and cooperation in acting upon it. On the 9th of April a paymaster of the U. S, S, Dolphin landed at the Iturbide Bridge landing at Tampico with a whaleboat and boat's crew to take off certain supplies needed by his ship, and while engaged in loading the boat was arrested by an officer and squad of men of the army of Gen. Huerta. Neither the paymaster nor any one of the boat's crew was armed. Two of the men were in the boat when the arrest took place, and were obliged to leave it and submit to be taken into custody, notwithstanding the fact that the boat carried, both at her bow and at her stem, the flag of the United States. The officer who made the arrest was proceeding up one of the streets of the town ^ For President Wilson's own explanations of this sentence see The World's Work, XXVIII, 490. 210 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION with his prisoners when met by an oflficer of higher au thority, who ordered him to retum to the landing and await orders ; and within an hour and a half from the time of the arrest orders were received from the ' commander of the Huertista forces at Tampico for the release of the paymas ter and his men. The release was followed by apologies from the commander and later by an expression of regret by Gen. Huerta himself. Gen. Huerta urged that martial law obtained at the time at Tampico ; that orders had been issued that no one should be allowed to land at the Iturbide Bridge; and that our sailors had no right to land there. Our naval commanders at the port had not been notified of any such prohibition; and, even if they had been, the only justifiable course open to the local authorities would have been to request the paymaster and his crew to with draw and to lodge a protest with the commanding ofi&cer of the fleet. Admiral Mayo regarded the arrest as so serious an affront that he was not satisfied with the apologies offered, but demanded that the flag of the United States be saluted with special ceremony by the military commander of the port. The incident can not be regarded as a trivial one, espe cially as two of the men arrested were taken from the boat itself — that is to say, from the territory of the United States — but had it stood by itself it might have been at tributed to the ignorance or arrogance of a single officer. Unfortunately, it was not an isolated case. A series of in cidents have recently occurred which can not but create the impression that the representatives of Gen. Huerta were willing to go out of their way to show disregard for the dignity and rights of this Govemment and felt perfectly safe in doing what they pleased, making free to show in many ways their irritation and contempt. A few days after the incident at Tampico an orderly from the U. S. S. Min- RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 211 nesota was arrested at Vera Cruz while ashore in uniform to obtain the ship's mail and was for a time thrown into jail. An official dispatch from this Government to its embassy at Mexico City was withheld by the authorities of the tele graphic service until peremptorily demanded by our charge d'affaires in person. So far as I can learn, such wrongs and annoyances have been suffered to occur only against representatives of the United States. I have heard of no complaints from other Governments of similar treatment. Subsequent explanations and formal apologies did not and could not alter the popular impression, which it is possible it had been the object of the Huertista authorities to create, that the Government of the United States was being singled out, and might be singled out with impunity, for slights and affronts in retaliation for its refusal to recognize the pre tensions of Gen. Huerta to be regarded as the constitutional provisional President of the Republic of Mexico. The manifest danger of such a situation was that such offenses might grow from bad to worse until something happened of so gross and intolerable a sort as to lead di rectly and inevitably to armed conflict. It was necessary that the apologies of Gen. Huerta and his representatives should go much further ; that they should be such as to at tract the attention of the whole population to their signifi cance and such as to impress upon Gen. Huerta himself the necessity of seeing to it that no further occasion for expla nations and professed regrets should arise. I therefore felt it my duty to sustain Admiral Mayo in the whole of his demand and to insist that the flag of the United States should be saluted in such a way as to indicate a new spirit and attitude on the part of the Huertistas. Such a salute Gen. Huerta has refused, and I have come to ask your approval and support in the course I now pur pose to pursue. 212 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION This Government can, I earnestly hope, in no circum stances be forced into war with the people of Mexico. Mexico is torn by civil strife. If we are to accept the tests of its own constitution, it has no government. Gen. Huerta has set his power up in the City of Mexico, such as it is, without right and by methods for which there can be no justification. Only part of the country is under his con trol. If armed conflict should unhappily come as a result of his attitude of personal resentment toward this Govem ment, we should be fighting only Gen. Huerta and those who adhere to him and give him their support, and our object would be only to restore to the people of the dis tracted Republic the opportunity to set up again their own laws and their own Government. But I earnestly hope that war is not now in question. I believe that I speak for the American people when I say that we do not desire to control in any degree the affairs of our sister Republic. Our feeling for the people of Mexico is one of deep and genuine friendship, and everything that we have so far done or refrained from doing has proceeded from our desire to help them, not to hinder or embarrass them. We would not wish even to exercise the good offices of friendship without their welcome and consent. The peo ple of Mexico are entitled to settle their own domestic af fairs in their own way, and we sincerely desire to respect their right. The present situation need have none of the grave implications of interference if we deal with it promptly, firmly, and wisely. No doubt I could do what is necessary in the circum stances to enforce respect for our Government without re course to the Congress and yet not exceed my constitutional powers as President, but I do not wish to act in a matter possibly of so grave consequence except in close conference and cooperation with both the Senate and House. I there- RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 213 fore come to ask your approval that I should use the armed forces of the United States in such ways and to such an ex tent as may be necessary to obtain from (3en. Huerta and his adherents the fullest recognition of the rights and dignity of the United States, even amidst the distressing conditions now unhappily obtaining in ^klexico. There can in what we do be no thought of aggression or of selfish a^randizement. "We seek to maintain the dignity and authority of the Uxuted States only because we wish always to keep our great influence unimpaired for the uses of liberty, both in the United States and wherever else it may be employed for the benefit of mankind. RELATIONS WITH MEXICO: A. B. C. MEDIATION 17. Commumcation of Secretary Bryan. April 25, ipi4 (American Journal of International Law, VIII, 583) The (jovemment of the United States is deeply sensible of the friendliness, the good feeling, and the generous con cem for the peace and welfare of .America manifested in the joint note ^ just received from your Excellencies, tendering the good offices of your C^vemments to effect, if possible, a settlement of the present difficulties between the Govem ment of the United States and those who now claim to repre sent our sister Republic of ^Mexico. Conscious of the purpose with which the proffer is made, this (jovemment does not feel at liberty to decline it. Its own chief interest is in the peace of America, the cordial in tercourse of her republics and their people, and the hap piness and prosperity which can spring only out of frank, '¦ The text of the joint note of the representatives of Argentina, Brazil and Chile is printed in American Journal of International Law, \ail, 583. 214 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION mutual understandings and the friendship which is created by common purpose. The generous offer of your Governments is therefore ac cepted. This Government hopes most earnestly that you may find those who speak for the several elements of the Mexican people willing and ready to discuss terms of satis factory, and therefore permanent, settlement. If you should find them willing, this Government will be glad to take up with you for discussion in the frankest and most conciliatory spirit any proposals that may be authoritatively formulated, and will hope that they may prove feasible and prophetic of a new day of mutual co-operation and confidence in America. This Government feels bound in candor to say that its diplomatic relations with Mexico being for the present sev ered, it is not possible for it to make sure of an uninter rupted opportunity to carry out the plan of intermediation which you propose. It is, of course, possible that some act of aggression on the part of those who control the military forces of Mexico might oblige the United States to act, to the upsetting of hopes of immediate peace; but this does not justify us in hesitating to accept your generous sugges tion. We shall hope for the best results within a time brief enough to relieve our anxiety lest ill-considered hostile dem onstrations should interrupt negotiations and disappoint our hopes of peace. THE AMERICAN SPIRIT 215 THE AMERICAN SPIRIT AND A WAR OF SERVICE 18. Extract from an Address of President Wilson. May II, ipi4 ^ (From the official printed text; for the entire address see Congres sional Record, LI, 8426) We have gone down to Mexico to serve mankind, if we can find out the way. We do not want to fight the Mexi cans. We want to serve the Mexicans, if we can, because we know how we would like to be free and how we would like to be served if there were friends standing by in such case ready to serve us. A war of aggression is not a war in which it is a proud thing to die, but a war of service is a thing in which it is a proud thing to die. Notice how truly these men were of our blood. I mean of our American blood, which is not drawn from any one coun try, which is not drawn from any one stock, which is not drawn from any one language of the modern world ; but free men everywhere have sent their sons and their brothers and their daughters to this country in order to make that great compounded Nation which consists of all the sturdy ele ments and of all the best elements of the whole globe. I listened again to this list of the dead with a profound inter est because of the mixture of the names, for the names bear the marks of the several national stocks from which these men came. But they are not Irishmen or Germans or Frenchmen or Hebrews or Italians any more. They were not when they went to Vera Cruz ; they were Americans, every one of them, and with no difference in their American- ' 1 At the memorial services at the Brooklyn Navy Yard for the men killed at Vera Cruz. 2i6 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION ism because of the stock from which they came. They were in a peculiar sense of our blood, and they proved it by show ing that they were of our spirit, that no matter what their derivation, no matter where their people came from, they thought and wished and did the things that were American ; and the flag under which they served was a flag in which all the blood of mankind is united to make a free Nation. TRUE AMERICANISM VERSUS HYPHENATED AMERICANISM 19. Extract from an Address of President Wilson, May 16, ipi4 (Congressional Record, LI, 9243) What does the United States stand for, then, that our hearts should be stirred by the memory of the men who set her Constitution up? John Barry fought, like every other man in the Revolution, in order that America might be free to make her own life without interruption or disturb ance from any other quarter. You can sum the whole thing up in that, that America had a right to her own self- determined life ; and what are our corollaries from that? You do not have to go back to stir your thoughts again with the issues of the Revolution. Some of the issues of the Revolution were not the cause of it, but merely the oc casion for it. There are just as vital things stirring now that concern the existence of the Nation as were stirring then, and every man who worthily stands in this presence should examine himself and see whether he has the full conception of what it means that America should live her own life. Washington saw it when he wrote his farewell address. It TRUE AMERICANISM 217 was not merely because of passing and transient circum stances that Washington said that we must keep free from entangling alliances. It was because he saw that no coun try had yet set its face in the same direction in which Amer ica had set her face. We can not form alliances with those who are not going our way; and in our might and majesty and in the confidence and definiteness of our own purpose we need not and we should not form alliances with any nation in the world. Those who are right, those who study their consciences in determining their policies, those who hold their honor higher than their advantage, do not need alliances. You need alliances when you are not strong, and you are weak only when you are not true to yourself. You are weak only when you are in the wrong; you are weak only when you are afraid to do the right; you are weak only when you doubt your cause and the majesty of a nation's might asserted. There is another corollary. John Barry was an Irish man, but his heart crossed the Atlantic with him. He did not leave it in Ireland. And the test of all of us — for all of us had our origins on the other side of the sea — is whether we will assist in enabling America to live her separate and independent life, retaining our ancient affections, indeed, but determining everything that we do by the interests that exist on this side of the sea. Some Americans need hyphens in their names, because only part of them has come over; but when the whole man has come over, heart and thought and all, the hyphen drops of its own weight out of his name. This man was not an Irish-American; he was an Irishman who became an American. I venture to say if he voted he voted with regard to the questions as they looked on this side of the water and not as they affected the other side ; and that is my infallible test of a genuine Amer ican, that when he votes or when he acts or when he fights 2i8 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION his heart and his thought are centered nowhere but in the emotions and the purposes and the policies of the United States. This man illustrates for me all the splendid strength which we brought into this country by the magnet of free dom. Men have been drawn to this country by the same thing that has made us love this country — by the oppor tunity to live their own lives and to think their own thoughts and to let their whole natures expand with the ex pansion of a free and mighty Nation. We have brought out of the stocks of all the world all the best impulses, and have appropriated them and Americanized them and trans lated them into the glory and majesty of a great country. So, ladies and gentlemen, when we go out from this presence we ought to take this idea with us that we, too, are devoted to the purpose of enabling America to live her own life, to be the justest, the most progressive, the most honorable, the most enlightened Nation in the world. Any man that touches our honor is our enemy. Any man who stands in the way of the kind of progress which makes for human freedom can not call himself our friend. Any man who does not feel behind him the whole push and rush and compulsion that filled men's hearts in the time of the Revolution is no American. No man who thinks first of himself and afterwards of his country can call himself an American. America must be enriched by us. We must not live upon her; she must live by means of us. I, for one, come to this shrine to renew the impulses of American democracy. I would be ashamed of myself if I went away from this place without realizing again that every bit of self-seeking must be purged from our indi vidual consciences, and that we must be great, if we would be great at all, in the light and illumination of the example IDEALS OF FOREIGN POLICY 219 of men who gave everything that they were and everything that they had to the glory and honor of America. IDEALS AND PURPOSES OF FOREIGN POLICY 20. Extract from an Address of President Wilson, July 4, ipi4 (Congressional Record. Ul, Appendix, 707) In one sense the Declaration of Independence has lost its significance. It has lost its significance as a declaration of national independence. Nobody outside America believed when it was uttered that we could make good our inde pendence; now nobody anywhere would dare to doubt that we are independent and can maintain our independence. As a declaration of independence, therefore, it is a mere his toric document. Our independence is a fact so stupendous that it can be measured only by the size and energy and va riety and wealth and power of one of the greatest nations in the world. But it is one thing to be independent and it is another thing to know what to do with your independ ence. It is one thing to come to your majority and another thing to know what you are going to do with your life and your energies; and one of the most serious questions for sober-minded men to address themselves to in the United States is this. What are we going to do with the influence and power of this great Nation ? Are we going to play the old role of using that power for our aggrandizement and ma terial benefit only? You know what that may mean. It may upon occasion mean that we shall use it to make the peo ples of other nations suffer in the way in which we said it was intolerable to suffer when we uttered our Declara tion of Independence. 220 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION The Department of State at Washington is constantly called upon to back up the commercial enterprises and the industrial enterprises of the United States in foreign coun tries, and it at one time went so far in that direction that all its diplomacy came to be designated as " dollar diplomacy." It was called upon to support every man who wanted to earn anything anywhere if he was an American. But there ought to be a limit to that. There is no man who is more interested than I am in carrying the enterprise of American business men to every quarter of the globe. I was interested in it long before I was suspected of being a politician. I have been preaching it year after year as the great thing that lay in the future for the United States, to show her wit and skill and enterprise and influence in every country in the world. But observe the limit to all that which is laid upon us perhaps more than upon any other nation in the world. We set this Nation up — at any rate, we professed to set it up — to vindicate the rights of men. We did not name any differences between one race and another. We did not set up any barriers against any particular people. We opened our gates to all the worid and said, " Let all men who wish to be free come to us and they will be welcome." We said, "This independence of ours is not a selfish thing for our own exclusive private use. It is for everybody to whom we can find the means of ex tending it." We can not with that oath taken in our youth, we can not with that great ideal set before us when we were a young people and numbered only a scant three mil lions, take upon ourselves, now that we are a hundred million strong, any other conception of duty than we then entertained. If American enterprise in foreign countries, particularly in those foreign countries which are not strong enough to resist us, takes the shape of imposing upon and exploiting the mass of the people of that country, it ought IDEALS OF FOREIGN POLICY 221 to be checked and not encouraged. I am willing to get anything for an American that money and enterprise can obtain except the suppression of the rights of other men. I will not help any man buy a power which he ought not to exercise over his fellow beings. You know, my fellow counti-ymen, what a big question there is in Mexico. Eighty-five; per cent of the Mexican people have never been allowed to have any genuine par ticipation in their own government or to exercise any sub stantial rights with regard to the very land they live upon. All the rights that men most desire have been exercised by the other 15 per cent. Do you suppose that that cir cumstance is not sometimes in my thought? I know that the American people have a heart that will beat just as strong for those millions in Mexico as it will beat or has beaten for any other millions elsewhere in the world, and that when once they conceive what is at stake in Mexico, they will know what ought to be done in Mexico. I hear a great deal said about the loss of property in Mexico and the loss of the Hves of foreigners, and I deplore these things with all my heart. Undoubtedly upon the conclusion of the present disturbed conditions in Mexico those who have been unjustly deprived of their property or in any wise un justly put upon ought to be compensated. Men's individual rights have no doubt been invaded, and the invasion of those rights has been attended by many deplorable circum stances which ought sometime in the proper way to be accounted for. But back of it all is the struggle of a people to come into its own; and while we look upon the inci dents in the foreground let us not forget the great tragic reality in the background, which towers above the whole picture. A patriotic American is a man who is not niggardly and selfish in the things he enjoys that make for human liberty 222 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION and the rights of man. He wants to share them with the whole world, and he is never so proud of the great flag under which he lives as when it comes to mean to other people as well as to himself a symbol of hope and liberty. I would be ashamed of this flag if it ever did anything outside America that we would not permit it to do inside of America. The world is becoming more complicated every day, my fellow citizens. No man ought to be foolish enough to think that he understands it all. And therefore I am glad that there are some simple things in the world. One of the simple things is principle. Honesty is a perfectly sim ple thing. It is hard for me to believe that in most circum stances when a man has a choice of ways he does not know which is the right way and which is the wrong way. No man who has chosen the wrong way ought even to come into Independence Square ; it is holy ground which he ought not to tread upon. He ought not to come where immortal voices have uttered the great sentences of such a document as this Declaration of Independence upon which rests the liberty of a whole nation. And so I say that it is patriotic sometimes to prefer the honor of the country to its material interest. Would you rather be deemed by all the nations of the world incapable of keeping your treaty obligations in order that you might have free tolls for American ships? The treaty under which we gave up that right may have been a mistaken treaty, but there was no mistake about its meaning. When I have made a promise as a man I try to keep it, and I know of no other rule permissible to a nation. The most distinguished nation in the world is the nation that can and will keep its promises, even to its own hurt. And I want to say parenthetically that I do not think anybody was hurt, I can not be enthusiastic for subsidies to a IDEALS OF FOREIGN POLICY 223 monopoly; but let those who are enthusiastic for subsidies ask themselves whether they prefer subsidies to unsullied honor. The most patriotic man is sometimes the man who goes in the direction that he thinks right, even when he sees half the world against him. It is the dictate of patriotism to sacrifice yourself, if you think that that is the path of honor and of duty. Do not blame others if they do not agree with you. Do not die with bitterness in your heart because you did not convince the rest of the world; but die happy be cause you believe that you tried to serve your country by not selling your soul. Those were grim days, the days of 1776. Those gentlemen did not attach their names to the Declaration of Independence on this table expecting a holi day on the next day, and that 4th of July was not itself a holiday. They attached their signatures to that significant document knowing that if they failed it was certain that every one of them would hang for the failure. They were committing treason in the interest of the liberty of 3,000,000 people in America. All the rest of the world was against them and smiled with cynical incredulity at the audacious undertaking. Do you think that if they could see this great Nation now they would regret anything that they did to draw the gaze of a hostile world upon them? Every idea must be started by somebody, and it is a lonely thing to start anything. Yet if it is in you, you must start it if you have a man's blood in you, and if you love the country that you profess to be working for. I am sometimes very much interested when I see gentle men supposing that popularity is the way to success in America. The way to success in this great country, with its fair judgments, is to show that you are not afraid of anybody except God and His final verdict. If I did not believe that, I would not believe in democracy. If I did 224 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION not believe that, I would not believe that people can govern themselves. If I did not believe that the moral judgment would be the last judgment, the final judgment, in the minds of men as well as at the tribunal of God, I could not believe in popular government. But I do believe these things, and therefore I earnestly believe in the democracy not only of America but of every awakened people that wishes and in tends to govern and control its own affairs. It is very inspiring, my friends, to come to this that may be called the original fountain of independence and liberty in America and here drink draughts of patriotic feeling which seem to renew the very blood in one's veins. Down in Washington sometimes when the days are hot and the business presses intolerably and there are so many things to do that it does not seem possible to do anything in the way it ought to be done it is always possible to lift one's thought above the task of the moment and, as it were, to real ize that great thing of which we are all parts, the great body of American feeling and American principle. No man could do the work that has to be done in Washington if he al lowed himself to be separated from that body of princi ple. He must make himself feel that he is a part of the people of the United States; that he is trying to think not only for them but with them, and then he can not feel lonely. He not only can not feel lonely, but he can not feel afraid of anything. My dream is that as the years go on and the world knows more and more of America it will also drink at these foun tains of youth and renewal ; that it also will turn to Amer ica for those moral inspirations which lie at the basis of all freedom ; that the world will never fear America unless it feels that it is engaged in some enterprise which is incon sistent with the rights of humanity ; and that America will come into the full light of the day when all shall know that AMERICAN NEUTRALITY 225 she puts human rights above all other rights, and that her flag is the flag not only of America, but of humanity. What other great people has devoted itself to this ex alted ideal? To what other nation in the world can all eyes look for an instant sympathy that thrills the whole body politic when men anywhere are fighting for their rights? I do not know that there will ever be a declara tion of independence and of grievances for mankind, but I believe that if any such document is ever drawn it will be drawn in the spirit of the American Declaration of Inde pendence, and that America has lifted high the light which will shine unto all generations and guide the feet of mankind to the goal of justice and liberty and peace. AMERICAN NEUTRALITY 21. Extract from an Appeal of President Wilson to the American People. August 18, ipi4 ^ (Department of State. Diplomatic Correspondence. European War Series, No. 2, p. 17) The effect of the war upon the United States will depend upon what American citizens say and do. Every man who really loves America will act and speak in the true spirit of neutrality which is the spirit of impartiality and fairness and friendliness to all concerned. The spirit of the Nation in this critical matter will be determined largely by what indi viduals and society and those gathered in public meetings do and say, upon what newspapers and magazines contain, upon iThe first formal proclamation of neutrality was issued August 4, 19x4; others followed from time to time as various nations were drawn into the war. For typical text see Department of State, Diplomatic Correspondence, European War Series, No. 2, 15. 226 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION what ministers utter in their pulpits, and men proclaim as their opinions on the streets. The people of the United States are drawn from many nations, and chiefly from the nations now at war. It is natural and inevitable that there should be the utmost va riety of sympathy and desire among them with regard to the issues and circumstances of the conflict. Some will wish one nation, others another, to succeed in the momentous struggle. It will be easy to excite passion and difficult to allay it. Those responsible for exciting it will assume a heavy responsibility, responsibility for no less a thing than that the people of the United States, whose love of their country and whose loyalty to its Government should unite them as Americans all, bound in honor and affection to think first of her and her interests, may be divided in camps of hostile opinion, hot against each other, involved in the war itself in impulse and opinion, if not in action. Such divisions among us would be fatal to our peace of mind and might seriously stand in the way of the proper per formance of our duty as the one great nation at peace, the one people holding itself ready to play a part of impartial mediation and speak the counsels of peace and accommoda tion, not as a partisan, but as a friend. I venture, therefore, my fellow countrymen, to speak a solemn word of warning to you against that deepest, most subtle, most essential breach of neutrality which may spring out of partisanship, out of passionately taking sides. The United States must be neutral in fact as well as in name during these days that are to try men's souls. We must be impartial in thought as well as in action, must put a curb upon our sentiments as well as upon every transaction that might be construed as a preference of one party to the struggle before another. My thought is of America. I am speaking, I feel sure. AMERICAN NEUTRALITY 227 the earnest wish and purpose of every thoughtful American that this great country of ours, which is, of course, the first in our thoughts and in our hearts, should show herself in this time of peculiar trial a Nation fit beyond others to exhibit the fine poise of undisturbed judgment, the dignity of self-control, the efficiency of dispassionate action; a Nation that neither sits in judgment upon others nor is disturbed in her own counsels and which keeps herself fit and free to do what is honest and disinterested and truly serviceable for the peace of the world. . . . 22. Extract from a Communication of President Wilson to the German Emperor, September 16, ipi4 ^ (American Journal of International Law, VIII, 857) You will, I am sure, not expect me to say more. Pres ently, I pray God very soon, this war will be over. The day of accounting will then come when I take it for granted the nations of Europe will assemble to determine a settlement. Where wrongs have been committed their consequences and the relative responsibility involved will be assessed. The nations of the world have fortunately by agree ment made a plan for such a reckoning and settlement. What such a plan cannot compass the opinion of mankind, the final arbiter in such matters, will supply. It would be unwise, it would be premature, for a single (jovernment, however fortunately separated from the present struggle, it would even be inconsistent with the neutral position of any nation which like this has no part in the contest, to form or express a final judgment. I speak thus frankly because I know that you will expect and wish me to do so as one friend speaks to another, and 1 A similar communication was made to a Belgian Delegation. 228 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION because I feel sure that such a reservation of judgment until the end of the war, when all its events and circumstances can be seen in their entirety and in their true relations, will commend itself to you as a true expression of sincere neu trality. BASIS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 23. Extract from an Address of President Wilson. October 20, ipi4 (From the official printed text; for the entire address see Congres sional Record, LI, X6812) Mr. President, Gentlemen of the American Bar Associa tion : I am very deeply gratified by the greeting that your president has given me and by your response to it. My only strength lies in your confidence. We stand now in a peculiar case. Our first thought, I suppose, as lawyers, is of international law, of those bonds of right and principle which draw the nations together and hold the community of the world to some standards of ac tion. We know that we see in international law, as it were, the moral processes by which law itself came into existence. I know that as a lawyer I have myself at times felt that there was no real comparison between the law of a nation and the law of nations, because the latter lacked the sanction that gave the former strength and validity. And yet, if you look into the matter more closely, you will find that the two have the same foundations, and that those foundations are more evident and conspicuous in our day than they have ever been before. The opinion of the world is the mistress of the world; and the processes of international law are the slow processes by which opinion works its will. What impresses me is th? BASIS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 229 constant thought that that is the tribunal at the bar of which we all sit. I would call your attention, incidentally, to the circumstance that it does not observe the ordinary rules of evidence; which has sometimes suggested to me that the ordinary rules of evidence had shown some signs of grow ing antique. Everything, rumor included, is heard in this court, and the standard of judgment is not so much the char acter of the testimony as the character of the witness. The motives are disclosed, the purposes are conjectured, and that opinion is finally accepted which seems to be, not the best founded in law perhaps, but the best founded in in tegrity of character and of morals. That is the process which is slowly working its will upon the world, and what we should be watchful of is not so much jealous interests as sound principles of action. The disinterested course is always the biggest course to pursue not only, but it is in the long run the most profitable course to pursue. If you can establish your character, you can establish your credit. ... in this time of world change, in this time when we are going to find out just how, in what particulars, and to what extent the real facts of human life and the real moral judgments of mankind prevail, it is worth while looking in side our municipal law and seeing whether the judgments of the law are made square with the moral judgments of man kind. For I believe that we are custodians, not of com mands but of a spirit. We are custodians of the spirit of righteousness, of the spirit of equal-handed justice, of the spirit of hope which believes in the perfectibility of the law with the perfectibility of human life itself. Public life, like private life, would be very dull and dry if it were not for this belief in the essential beauty of the human spirit and the belief that the human spirit could be translated into action and into ordinance. Not 230 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION entire. You can not go any faster than you can advance the average moral judgments of the mass, but you can go at least as fast as that, and you can see to it that you do not lag behind the average moral judgments of the mass. I have in my life dealt with all sorts and conditions of men, and I have found that the flame of moral judgment burned just as bright in the man of humble life and limited expe rience as in the scholar and the man of affairs. And I would like his voice always to be heard, not as a witness, not as speaking in his own case, but as if he were the voice of men in general, in our courts of justice, as well as the voice of the lawyers, remembering what the law has been. My hope is that, being stirred to the depths by the extraor dinary circumstances of the time in which we live, we may recover from those depths something of a renewal of that vision of the law with which men may be supposed to have started out in the old days of the oracles, who communed with the intimations of divinity. FOREIGN TRADE AND NATIONAL DEFENSE 24. Extract from Message of the President. December 8, ipi4 (Congressional Record. LII, 18) Moreover,^ our thoughts are now more of the future than of the past. While we have worked at our tasks of peace the circumstances of the whole age have been altered by war. What we have done for our own land and our own people we did with the best that was in us, whether of character or of intelligence, with sober enthusiasm and with '¦ A review of the events of the year 1914 preceded the Presi dent's discussion of foreign affairs. FOREIGN TRADE AND NATIONAL DEFENSE 231 a confidence in the principles upon which we were acting which sustained us at every step of the difficult undertak ing; but it is done. It has passed from our hands. It is now an established part of the legislation of the country. Its usefulness, its effects, will disclose themselves in experi ence. What chiefly strikes us now, as we look about us dur ing these closing days of a year which will be forever mem orable in the history of the world, is that we face new tasks, have been facing them these six months, must face them in the months to come — face them without partisan feeling, like men who have forgotten everything but a com mon duty and the fact that we are representatives of a great people whose thought is not of us but of what Amer ica owes to herself and to all mankind in such circum^ stances as these upon which we look amazed and anxious. War has interrupted the means of trade not only but also the processes of production. In Europe it is destroying men and resources wholesale and upon a scale unprece dented and appalling. There is reason to fear that the time is near, if it be not already at hand, when several of the countries of Europe will find it difficult to do for their people what they have hitherto been always easily able to do — many essential and fundamental things. At any rate, they will need our help and our manifold services as they have never needed them before; and we should be ready, more fit and ready than we have ever been. It is of equal consequence that the nations whom Europe has usually supplied with innumerable articles of manufac ture and commerce, of which they are in constant need and without which their economic development halts and stands still, can now get only a small part of what they formerly imported, and eagerly look to us to supply their all but empty markets. This is particularly true of our own neigh bors, the States, great and small, of Central and South 232 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION America. Their Unes of trade have hitherto run chiefly athwart the seas, not to our ports but to the ports of Great Britain and of the older Continent of Europe. I do not stop to inquire why or to make any comment on probable causes. What interests us just now is not the explanation but the fact, and our duty and opportunity in the presence of it. Here are markets which we must supply, and we must find the means of action. The United States, this great people for whom we speak and act, should be ready as never before to serve itself and to serve mankind ; ready with its resources, its energies, its forces of production, and its means of distribution. And there is another great piece of legislation which awaits and should receive the sanction of the Senate ^ — I mean the bill which gives a larger measure of self-govern ment to the people of the Philippines. How better, in this time of anxious questioning and perplexed policy, could we show our confidence in the principles of liberty, as the source as well as the expression of life, how better could we demonstrate our own self-possession and steadfastness in the courses of justice and disinterestedness than by thus going calmly forward to fulfill our promises to a dependent people, who will look more anxiously than ever to see whether we have indeed the liberality, the unselfishness, the courage, the faith we have boasted and professed. I can not believe that the Senate will let this great measure of con structive justice await the action of another Congress. Its passage would nobly crown the record of these two years of memorable labor. '¦ The Philippine bill had passed the House of Representatives, October 14, 1914. FOREIGN TRADE AND NATIONAL DEFENSE 233 The other topic I shall take leave to mention goes deeper into the principles of our national life and policy. It is the subject of national defense. It can not be discussed without first answering some very searching questions. It is said in some quarters that we are not prepared for war. What is meant by being prepared? Is it meant that we are not ready upon brief notice to put a nation in the field, a nation of men trained to arms? Of course we are not ready to do that; and we never shall be in time of peace so long as we retain our present political principles and institutions. And what is it that it is sug gested we should be prepared to do? To defend ourselves against attack? We have always found means to do that, and shall find them whenever it is necessary without calling our people away from their necessary tasks to render com pulsory military service in time of peace. Allow me to speak with great plainness and directness upon this great matter and to avow my convictions with deep earnestness. I have tried to know what America is, what her people think, what they are, what they most cher ish and hold dear. I hope that some of their finer passions are in my own heart — some of the great conceptions and desires which gave birth to this Government and which have made the voice of this people a voice of peace and hope and liberty among the peoples of the world; and that speaking my own thoughts, I shall, at least in part, speak theirs also, however faintly and inadequately, upon this vital matter. We are at peace with all the world. No one who speaks counsel based on fact or drawn from a just and candid in terpretation of realities can say that there is any reason to fear that from any quarter our independence or the integrity of our territory is threatened. Dread of the power of any other nation we are incapable of. We are not jealous of rivalry in the fields of commerce or of any other peaceful 234 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION achievement. We mean to live our own lives as we will; but we mean also to let live. We are, indeed, a true friend to all the nations of the world, because we threaten none, covet the possessions of none, desire the overthrow of none. Our friendship can be accepted and is accepted without res ervation, because it is offered in a spirit and for a purpose which no one need ever question or suspect. Therein lies our greatness. We are champions of peace and of concord. And we should be very jealous of this distinction which we have sought to earn. Just now we should be particularly jealous of it, because it is our dearest present hope that this character and reputation may presently, in God's providence, bring us an opportunity such as has seldom been vouchsafed any nation, the opportunity to counsel and obtain peace in the world and reconciliation and a healing settlement of many a matter that has cooled and interrupted the friendship of nations. This is the time above all others when we should wish and resolve to keep our strength by self-possession, our influence by preserving our ancient principles of action. From the first we have had a clear and settled policy with regard to military establishments. We never have had, and while we retain our present principles and ideals we never shall have, a large standing army. If asked, Are you ready to defend yourselves? We reply. Most assuredly, to the utmost. And yet we shall not turn America into a military camp. We will not ask our young men to spend the best years of their lives making soldiers of themselves. There is another sort of energy in us. It will know how to declare itself and make itself effective should occasion arise. And especially when half the world is on fire we shall be careful to make our moral insurance against the spread of the con flagration very definite and certain and adequate indeed. Let us remind ourselves, therefore, of the only thing we can do or will do. We must depend in every time of na- FOREIGN TRADE AND NATIONAL DEFENSE 235 tional peril, in the future as in the past, not upon a standing army, nor yet upon a reserve army, but upon a citizenry trained and accustomed to arms. It will be right enough, right American policy, based upon our accustomed principles and practices, to provide a system by which every citizen who will volunteer for the training may be made familiar with the use of modern arms, the rudiments of drill and maneuver, and the maintenance and sanitation of camps. We should encourage such training and make it a means of discipline which our young men will learn to value. It is right that we should provide it not only, but that we should make it as attractive as possible, and so induce our young men to undergo it at such times as they can command a little freedom and can seek the physical development they need, for mere health's sake, if for nothing else. Every means by which such things can be stimulated is legitimate, and such a method smacks of true American ideas. It is right, too, that the National Guard of the States should be developed and strengthened by every means which is not inconsistent with our obligations to our own people or with the established policy of our Government. And this, also, not because the time or occasion specially calls for such measures, but because it should be our constant policy to make these provisions for our national peace and safety. More than this carries with it a reversal of the whole his tory and character of our polity. More than this, proposed at this time, permit me to say, would mean merely that we had lost our self-possession, that we had been thrown off our balance by a war with which we have nothing to do, whose causes can not touch us, whose very existence affords us opportunities of friendship and disinterested service which should make us ashamed of any thought of hostility or fearful preparation for trouble. This is assuredly the opportunity for which a people and a government like ours 236 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION were raised up, the opportunity not only to speak but actu ally to embody and exemplify the counsels of peace and amity and lasting concord which is based on justice and fair and generous dealing. BRITISH RESTRAINTS ON COMMERCE 25. Extract from a Communication of Secretary Bryan. December 26, ipi4 ^ (Department of State, Diplomatic Correspondence, European War Series, No. x, p. 39) The present condition of American foreign trade result ing from the frequent seizures and detentions of American cargoes destined to neutral European ports has become so serious as to require a candid statement of the views of this Government in order that the British Government may be fully informed as to the attitude of the United States toward the policy which has been pursued by the British authorities during the present war. You will, therefore, communicate the following to His Majesty's principal secretary of state for foreign affairs, but in doing so you will assure him that it is done in the most friendly spirit and in the belief that frankness will better serve the continuance of cordial relations between the two countries than silence, which may be misconstrued into acquiescence in a course of conduct which this Government can not but consider to be an infringement upon the rights of American citizens. It is needless to point out to His Majesty's Govemment, usually the champion of the freedom of the seas and the rights of trade, that peace, not war, is the normal relation lAn earlier protest had been made October 21, 19x4. BRITISH RESTRAINTS ON COMMERCE 237 between nations and that the commerce between countries which are not belligerents should not be interfered with by those at war unless such interference is manifestly an im perative necessity to protect their national safety, and then only to the extent that it is a necessity. It is with no lack of appreciation of the momentous nature of the present struggle in which Great Britain is engaged and with no selfish desire to gain undue commercial advantage that this Government is reluctantly forced to the conclusion that the present policy of His Majesty's Government toward neutral ships and cargoes exceeds the manifest necessity of a bel ligerent and constitutes restrictions upon the rights of Amer ican citizens on the high seas which are not justified by the rules of international law or required under the principle of self-preservation. Not only is the situation a critical one to the commercial interests of the United States, but many of the great indus tries of this country are suffering because their products are denied long-established markets in European countries, which, though neutral, are contiguous to the nations at war. Producers and exporters, steamship and insurance com panies are pressing, and not without reason, for relief from the menace of trans-Atlantic trade which is gradually but surely destroying their business and threatening them with financial disaster. The Government of the United States, still relying upon the deep sense of justice of the British Nation, which has been so often manifested in the intercourse between the two countries during so many years of uninterrupted friendship, expresses confidently the hope that his Majesty's Govern ment will realize the obstacles and difficulties which their present policy has placed in the way of commerce between the United States and the neutral countries of Europe, and 238 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION will instruct its officials to refrain from all unnecessary in terference with the freedom of trade between nations which are sufferers, though not participants, in the present con flict; and will in their treatment of neutral ships and car goes conform more closely to those rules governing the maritime relations between belligerents and neutrals, which have received the sanction of the civilized world, and which Great Britain has, in other wars, so strongly and success fully advocated. In conclusion, it should be impressed upon His Majesty's Government that the present condition of American trade with the neutral European countries is such that, if it does not improve, it may arouse a feeling contrary to that which has so long existed between the American and British peo ples. Already is is becoming more and more the subject of public criticism and complaint. There is an increasing be lief, doubtless not entirely unjustified, that the present Brit ish policy toward American trade is responsible for the depression in certain industries which depend upon European markets. The attention of the British Government is called to this possible result of their present policy to show how widespread the effect is upon the industrial life of the United States and to emphasize the importance of removing the cause of complaint.^ N 1 The reply of Great Britain, dated January 7, 1915, is published in Department of State, Diplomatic Correspondence, European War Series, No. i, p. 41. SELF-GOVERNMENT IN MEXICO 239 SELF-GOVERNMENT IN MEXICO 26. Extract from Address of President Wilson. January 8, ipi^ (Congressional Record, LII, 1279) Now, there is one thing I have got a great enthusiasm about — I might almost say a reckless enthusiasm — and that is human liberty. The governor has just now spoken about watchful waiting in Mexico. I want to say a word about Mexico, or not so much about Mexico as about our attitude toward Mexico. I hold it as a fundamental prin ciple, and so do you, that every people has the right to de termine its own form of government; and until this recent revolution in Mexico, until the end of the Diaz reign, 80 per cent of the people of Mexico never had a " look-in " in determining who should be their governor or what their Government should be. Now, I am for the 80 per cent. It is none of my business, and it is none of your business, how long they take in determining it. It is none of my business and it is none of yours how they go about the busi ness. The country is theirs. The Government is theirs. The liberty, if they can get it, and Godspeed them in getting it, is theirs. And so far as my influence goes while I am President nobody shall interfere with them. That is what I mean by a great emotion, the great emo tion of sympathy. Do you suppose that the American peo ple are ever going to count a small amount of material benefit and advantage to people doing business in Mexico against the liberties and the permanent happiness of the Mexican people? Have not European nations taken as long as they wanted and spilt as much blood as they pleased in settling their affairs, and shall we deny that to Mexico 240 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION because she is weak? No, I say! I am proud to belong to a strong nation that says : " This country, which we could crush, shall have just as much freedom in her own affairs as we have. If I am strong, I am ashamed to bully the weak. In proportion to my strength is my pride in withholding that strength from the oppression of another people." And I know when I speak of these things — not merely from the generous response with which they have just met from you, but from my long-time knowledge of the American people — that that is the sentiment of the American people. DEFENSE OF THE NEUTRALITY OF THE UNITED STATES 27. Extract from a Letter of Secretary Bryan. January 20, ipi5 (Department of State, Diplomatic Correspondence. European War Series, No. 2, p. 58) If any American citizens, partisans of Germany and Aus tria-Hungary, feel that this administration is acting in a way injurious to the cause of those countries, this feeling results from the fact that on the high seas the German and Austro-Hungarian naval power is thus far inferior to the British. It is the business of a belligerent operating on the high seas, not the duty of a neutral, to prevent contraband from reaching an enemy. Those in this country who sym pathize with Germany and Austria-Hungary appear to as sume that some obligation rests upon this Government in the performance of its neutral duty to prevent aU trade in contraband, and thus to equalize the difference due to the relative naval strength of the belligerents. No such obliga- IMMIGRATION 241 tion exists; it would be an unneutral act, an act of par tiality on the part of this Government to adopt such a policy if the Executive had the power to do so. If Germany and Austria-Hungary can not import contraband from this coun try, it is not, because of that fact, the duty of the United States to close its markets to the allies. The markets of this country are open upon equal terms to all the world, to every nation, beUigerent or neutral. The foregoing categorical replies to specific complaints is sufficient answer to the charge of unfriendliness to Ger many and Austria-Hungary. IMMIGRATION 28. Extract from a Message of the President. January 28, ipi^ (Congressional Record, LII, 2481) In two particulars of vital consequence this bill ^ embodies a radical departure from the traditional and long-estab lished policy of this country, a policy in which our people have conceived the very character of their Government to be expressed, the very mission and spirit of the Nation in respect of its relations to the peoples of the world outside their borders. It seeks to all but close entirely the gates of asylum which have always been open to those who could find nowhere else the right and opportunity of constitutional agi tation for what they conceived to be the natui'al and inalien able rights of men ; and it excludes those to whom the oppor tunities of elementary education have been denied, without '¦ The bill referred to is the immigration bill passed by the Sixty- Third Congress in the middle of January, 19x5. President Wilson vetoed a similar bill in January, 19x7, but it was later passed over his veto. 242 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION regard to their character, their purpose, or their natural capacity. Restrictions like these adopted earlier in our history as a nation, would very materially have altered the course and cooled the humane ardors of our politics. The right of political asylum has brought to this country many a man of noble character and elevated purpose who was marked as an outlaw in his own less fortunate land, and who has yet be come an ornament to our citizenship and to our public coun cils. The children and the compatriots of these illustrious Americans must stand amazed to see the representatives of their Nation now resolved, in the fullness of our national strength and at the maturity of our great institutions, to risk tuming such men back from our shores without test of qual ity or purpose. It is difficult for me to believe that the full effect of this feature of the bill was realized when it was framed and adopted, and it is impossible for me to assent to it in the form in which it is here cast. The literacy test and the tests and restrictions which ac company it constitute an even more radical change in the policy of the Nation. Hitherto we have generously kept our doors open to all who were not unfitted by reason of disease or incapacity for self-support or such personal records and antecedents as were likely to make them a menace to our peace and order or to the wholesome and essential relation ships of life. In this bill it is proposed to turn away from tests of character and of quality and to impose tests which exclude and restrict; for the new tests here embodied are not tests of quality or of character or of personal fitness, but tests of opportunity. Those who come seeking opportunity are not to be admitted unless they have already had one of the chief of the opportunities they seek, the opportunity of education. The object of such provision is restriction, not selection. GERMAN SUBMARINE WARFARE 243 If the people of this country have made up their minds to limit the number of immigrants by arbitrary tests and so re verse the policy of all the generations of Americans that have gone before them, it is their right to do so. I am their servant, and have no license to stand in their way. But I do not believe that they have. I respectfully submit that no one can quote their mandate to that effect. Has any po litical party ever avowed a policy of restriction in this fun damental matter, gone to the country on it, and been com missioned to control its legislation ? Does this bill rest upon the conscious and universal assent and desire of the Amer ican people? I doubt it. It is because I doubt it that I make bold to dissent from it. I am wiUing to abide by the verdict, but not untU it has been rendered. Let the plat forms of parties speak out upon this policy and the people pronounce their wish. The matter is too fundamental to be settled otherwise. I have no pride of opinion in this question. I am not foolish enough to profess to know the wishes and ideals of America better than the body of her chosen representatives know them. I only want instruction direct from those whose fortunes, with ours and all men's, are involved. GERMAN SUBMARINE WARFARE 29. Extract froin a Communication of Secretary Bryan. February 10, ipi^ ^ (Department of State, Diplomatic Correspondence, European War Series, No. x, p. 54) It is of course not necessary to remind the German Gov ernment that the sole right of a belligerent in dealing with ¦¦ The German decree of February 6, 19x5, establishing a war zone around the British Isles, is published in Department of State, Diplomatic Correspondence, European war Series, No. x, p. 52. 244 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION neutral vessels on the high seas is limited to visit and search, unless a blockade is proclaimed and effectively maintained, which this Government does not understand to be proposed in this case. To declare or exercise a right to attack and destroy any vessel entering a prescribed area of the high seas without first certainly determining its beUigerent nation ality and the contraband character of its cargo would be an act so unprecedented in naval warfare that this Govemment is reluctant to believe that the Imperial Government of Ger many in this case contemplates it as possible. The suspicion that enemy ships are using neutral flags improperly can create no just presumption that all ships traversing a pre scribed area are subject to the same suspicion. It is to determine exactly such questions that this Govemment un derstands the right of visit and search to have been recog nized. This Government has carefully noted the explanatory statement issued by the Imperial German Government at the same time with the proclamation of the German Admiralty, and takes this occasion to remind the Imperial German (jOvemment very respectfully that the Govemment of the United States is open to none of the criticisms for uxmeutral action to which the German Government believe the govem ments of certain of other neutral nations have laid them selves open; that the Government of the United States has not consented to or acquiesced in any measures which may have been taken by the other belligerent nations in the pres ent war which operate to restrain neutral trade, but has, on the contrary, taken in all such matters a position which warrants it in holding those govemments responsible in the proper way for any untoward effects upon American ship ping which the accepted principles of international law do not justify; and that it, therefore, regards itself as free in the present instance to take with a clear conscience and RESTRAINTS ON COMMERCE 245 upon accepted principles the position indicated in this note. If the commanders of German vessels of war should act upon the presumption that the flag of the United States was not being used in good faith and should destroy on the high seas an American vessel or the lives of American citi zens, it would be difficult for the Government of the United States to view the act in any other light than as an inde fensible violation of neutral rights which it would be very hard indeed to reconcile with the friendly relations now so happily subsisting between the two Governments. If such a deplorable situation should arise, the Imperial German Govemment can readUy appreciate that the Govern ment of the United States would be constrained to hold the Imperial German Government to a strict accountability for such acts of their naval authorities and to take any steps it might be necessary to take to safeguard American lives and property and to secure to American citizens the full enjoyment of their acknowledged rights on the high seas. SUBMARINE WARFARE AND RESTRAINTS ON COMMERCE 30. Extract from a Communication of Secretary Bryan. February 20, ipiS (Department of State, Diplomatic Correspondence, European War Series, No. x, p. 59) Germany and Great Britain to agree : I. That neither will sow any floating mines, whether upon the high seas or in territorial waters ; that neither will plant on the high seas anchored mines except within cannon range of harbors for defensive purposes only; and that all mines 246 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION shall bear the stamp of the Government planting them and be so constructed as to become harmless if separated from their moorings. 2. That neither will use submarines to attack merchant vessels of any nationality except to enforce the right of visit and search. 3. That each will require their respective merchant vessels not to use neutral flags for the purpose of disguise or ruse de guerre. Germany to agree : That all importations of food or foodstuffs from the United States (and from such other neutral countries as may ask it) into Germany shall be consigned to agencies to be designated by the United States Government; that these American agencies shall have entire charge and control without interference on the part of the German Govern ment, of the receipt and distribution of such importations, and shall distribute them solely to retail dealers bearing licenses from the German Government entitling them to receive and furnish such food and foodstuffs to noncom batants only; that any violation of the terms of the retail ers' licenses shall work a forfeiture of their rights to receive such food and foodstuffs for this purpose; and that such food and foodstuffs will not be requisitioned by the German Government for any purpose whatsoever or be diverted to the use of the armed forces of Germany. Great Britain to agree : That food and foodstuffs will not be placed upon the abso lute contraband list and that shipments of such commodities will not be interfered with or detained by British authorities if consigned to agencies designated by the United States Government in Germany for the receipt and distribution of such cargoes to licensed German retailers for distribution solely to the noncombatant population. AMERICAN NEUTRALITY 247 In submitting this proposed basis of agreement this Gov ernment does not wish to be understood as admitting or denying any belligerent or neutral right established by the principles of international law, but would consider the agree ment, if acceptable to the interested powers, a modus vivendi based upon expediency rather than legal right and as not binding upon the United States either in its present form or in a modified form until accepted by this Government. AMERICAN NEUTRALITY 31. Extract from an Address of President Wilson. April 8, ipi5 (New York Times, April 9, 1915) . . . These are days of great perplexity, when a great cloud of trouble hangs and broods over the greater part of the world. It seems as if great, blind material forces had been released which had for long been held in leash and restraint. And yet, underneath that you can see the strong impulses of great ideals. It would be impossible for men to go through what men are going through on the battlefields of Europe — to go through the present dark night of their terrible struggle — if it were not that they saw, or thought that they saw, the broadening of light where the morning sun should come up, and believed that they were standing, each on his side of the contest, for some eternal principle for right. Then, all about them, all about us, there sits the silent, waiting tribunal which is going to utter the ultimate judg ment upon this struggle, the great tribunal of the opinion of the world, and I fancy I see, I hope that I see, I pray that it may be that I do truly see great spiritual forces lying 248 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION waiting for the outcome of this thing to assert themselves, and asserting themselves even now to enlighten our judg ment and steady our spirits. No man is wise enough to pronounce judgment, but we can all hold our spirits in readiness to accept the truth when it dawns on us and is revealed to us in the outcome of this titanic struggle. You will see that it is only in such general terms that one can speak in the midst of a confused world, because, as I have already said, no man has the key to this confusion. No man can see the outcome, but every man can keep his own spirit prepared to contribute to the net result when the outcome displays itself. 32. Extract from an Address of President Wilson. April ip, ipi5 (New York Times, April 20, 1915) In a peculiar degree the United States seems to be reborn from generation to generation, because renewed out of aU the sources of human energies in the world. There is here a great melting pot in which we must compound a precious metal. That metal is the metal of nationality, and if you will not think I am merely playing upon words, I would like to spell the word " metal " in two ways, for it is just the mettle of this nation that we are now most interested in. There are many tests by which a nation makes proof of its greatness, but it seems to me the supreme test is self- possession, the power to resist excitement, to think calmly, to think in moments of difficulty as clearly as it would think in moments of ease — to be absolutely master of itself and of its fortunes. AMERICAN NEUTRALITY 249 Such ideals cannot be maintained with steadiness of view amidst contest and excitement, and what I am constantly hoping is that every great influence — such as you ladies exercise, for example — will be exercised to produce the sober second thought upon every critical matter that arises. I cannot speak, ladies, as you know, in more than general terms. Indeed, it is indiscreet for me to speak at all, but I can ask you to rally to the cause which is dearer in my estimation than any other cause, and that is the cause of righteousness as ministered to by those who hold their minds quiet and judge according to principle. 33. Extract from an Address of President Wilson. April 20, ipi5 (From the official printed text; for the entire address see Current History, New York Times; II, 438) I am deeply gratified by the generous reception you have accorded me. It makes me look back with a touch of regret to former occasions when I have stood in this place and enjoyed a greater liberty than is granted me today. There have been times when I stood in this spot and said what I really thought, and I cannot help praying that those days of indulgence may be accorded me again. I have come here today, of course, somewhat restrained by a sense of respon sibility which I cannot escape. For I take The Associated Press very seriously. I know the enormous part that you play in the affairs not only of this country but the world. You deal in the raw material of opinion and, if my convic tions have any validity, opinion ultimately governs the world. It is, therefore, of very serious things that I think as I 250 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION face this body of men. I do not think of you, however, as members of The Associated Press. I do not think of you as men of different parties or of different racial derivations or of different religious denominations. I want to talk to you as to my fellow citizens of the United States. For there are serious things which as fellow citizens we ought to consider. The times behind us, gentlemen, have been difficult enough ; the times before us are likely to be more difficult still, because, whatever may be said about the pres ent condition of the world's affairs, it is clear that they are drawing rapidly to a climax, and at the climax the test will come, not only for the nations engaged in the present colos sal struggle — it will come for them of course — but the test will come to us particularly. Do you realize that, roughly speaking, we are the only great Nation at present disengaged? I am not speaking, of course, with disparagement of the greatness of those nations in Europe which are not parties to the present war, but I am thinking of their close neighborhood to it. I am think ing how their lives much more than ours touch the very heart and stuff of the business, whereas we have roUing between us and those bitter days across the water three thousand miles of cool and silent ocean. Our atmosphere is not yet charged with those disturbing elements which must permeate every nation of Europe. Therefore, is it not likely that the nations of the world will some day tum to us for the cooler assessment of the elements engaged? I am not now thinking so preposterous a thought as that we should sit in judgment upon them — no nation is fit to sit in judg ment upon any other nation — but that we shaU some day have to assist in reconstructing the processes of peace. Our resources are untouched; we are more and more be coming by the force of circumstances the mediating Nation of the world in respect to its finance. We must make up AMERICAN NEUTRALITY 251 our minds what are the best things to do and what are the best ways to do them. We must put our money, our energy, our enthusiasm, our sympathy into these things, and we must have our judgments prepared and our spirits chastened against the coming of that day. So that I am not speaking in a selfish spirit when I say that our whole duty, for the present, at any rate, is summed up in this motto, " America first." Let us think of America before we think of Europe, in order that America may be fit to be Europe's friend when the day of tested friendship comes. The test of friendship is not now sympathy with the one side or the other, but getting ready to help both sides when the struggle is over. The basis of neutrality, gentlemen, is not indifference; it is not self-interest. The basis of neutrality is sympathy for mankind. It is fairness, it is good wiU, at bottom. It is impartiality of spirit and of judgment. I wish that aU of our fellow citizens could real ize that. There is in some quarters a disposition to create distempers in this body politic. Men are even uttering slanders against the United States, as if to excite her. Men are saying that if we should go to war upon either side there wiU be a divided America — an abominable libel of igno rance ! America is not all of it vocal just now. It is vocal in spots, but I, for one, have a complete and abiding faith in that great silent body of Americans who are not standing up and shouting and expressing their opinions just now, but are waiting to find out and support the duty of America. I am just as sure of their solidity and of their loyalty and of their unanimity, if we act justly, as I am that the history of this country has at every crisis and turning point illus trated this great lesson. We are the mediating Nation of the world. I do not mean that we undertake not to mind our own business and to mediate where other people are quarreling. I mean the 252 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION word in a broader sense. We are compounded of the na tions of the world. We mediate their blood, we mediate their traditions, we mediate their sentiments, their tastes, their passions ; we are ourselves compounded of those things. We are, therefore, able to understand all nations; we are able to understand them in the compound, not separately, as partisans, but unitedly as knowing and comprehending and embodying them all. It is in that sense that I mean that America is a mediating Nation. The opinion of America, the action of America, is ready to turn, and free to turn, in any direction. Did you ever reflect upon how almost every other nation has through long centuries been almost every other nation, has through long centuries been headed in one direction? That is not true of the United States. The United States has no racial momentum. It has no history back of it which makes it run all its energies and all its ambitions in one particular direction. And Amer ica is particularly free in this, that she has no hampering am bitions as a world power. We do not want a foot of any body's territory. If we have been obliged by circumstances, or have considered ourselves to be obliged by circumstances, in the past, to take territory which we otherwise would not have thought of taking, I believe I am right in saying that we have considered it our duty to administer that territory, not for ourselves but for the people living in it, and to put this burden upon our consciences — not to think that this thing is ours for our use, but to regard ourselves as trustees of the great business for those to whom it does really belong, trus tees ready to hand it over to the cestui que trust at any time when the business seems to make that possible and feasible. That is what I mean by saying we have no hampering ambi tions. We do not want anything that does not belong to us. Is not a nation in that position free to serve other nations, AMERICAN NEUTRALITY 253 and is not a nation like that ready to form some part of the assessing opinion of the world ? My interest in the neutrality of the United States is not the petty desire to keep out of trouble. . . . But I am inter ested in neutrality because there is something so much greater to do than fight; there is something, there is a distinction waiting for this Nation that no nation has ever yet got. That is the distinction of absolute self-control and self-mastery. . . . Now, I covet for America this splendid courage of reserve moral force. . . . . . . The world ought to know the truth, but the world ought not at this period of unstable equilibrium to be dis turbed by rumor, ought not to be disturbed by imaginative combinations of circumstances, or, rather, by circumstances stated in combination which do not belong in combination. You gentlemen, and gentlemen engaged like you, are holding the balances in your hand. This unstable equilibrium rests upon the scales that are in your hands. For the food of opinion, as I began by saying, is the news of the day. I have known many a man to go off at a tangent on information that was not reliable. Indeed, that describes the majority of men. The world is held stable by the man who waits for the next day to find out whether the report was true or not. We can not afford, therefore, to let the rumors of irre sponsible persons and origins get into the atmosphere of the United States. We are trustees for what I venture to say is the greatest heritage that any nation ever had, the love of justice and righteousness and human liberty. For, fundamentally, those are the things to which America is addicted and to which she is devoted. There are groups of selfish men in the United States, there are coteries, where sinister things are purposed, but the great heart of the 254 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION American people is just as sound and true as it ever was. And it is a single heart ; it is the heart of America. It is not a heart made up of sections selected out of other countries. What I try to remind myself of every day when I am almost overcome by perplexities, what I try to remem ber, is what the people at home are thinking about. I try to put myself in the place of the man who does not know all the things that I know and ask myself what he would like the policy of this country to be. Not the talkative man, not the partisan man, not the man who remembers first that he is a Republican or Democrat, or that his parents were Ger man or English, but the man who remembers first that the whole destiny of modern affairs centers largely upon his being an American first of all. If I permitted myself to be a partisan in this present struggle I would be unworthy to represent you. If I permitted myself to forget the people who are not partisans, I would be unworthy to be your spokesman. I am not sure that I am worthy to represent you, but I do claim this degree of worthiness — that before everything else I love America. 34. Extract from a Communication of Secretary Bryan to the German Ambassador. April 21, ipi5 ^ (Department of State, Diplomatic Correspondence, European War Series, No. x, p. 74) In the first place, this Government has at no time and in no manner yielded any one of its rights as a neutral to any of the present belligerents. It has acknowledged, as a matter of course, the right of visit and search and the right to 1 In reply to the German note dated April 4, 1915; see Depart ment of State, Diplomatic Correspondence, European War Series, No. I, p. 73. AMERICAN NEUTRALITY 255 apply the rules of contraband of war to articles of com merce. It has, indeed, insisted upon the use of visit and search as an absolutely necessary safeguard against mistak ing neutral vessels for vessels owned by an enemy and against mistaking legal cargoes for Ulegal. It has admitted also the right of blockade if actually exercised and effectively maintained. These are merely the well-known limitations which war places upon neutral commerce on the high seas. But nothing beyond these has it conceded. I call Your Excellency's attention to this, notwithstanding it is already known to aU the world as a consequence of the publication of our correspondence in regard to these matters with sev eral of the belligerent nations, because I can not assume that you have official cognizance of it. In the second place, this Govemment attempted to se cure from the (jerman and British Govemments mutual concessions with regard to the measures those Governments respectively adopted for the interruption of trade on the high seas.^ This it did, not of right, but merely as exer cising the privileges of a sincere friend of both parties and as indicating its impartial good will. The attempt was unsuccessful; but I regret that Your ExceUency did not deem it worthy of mention in modification of the impres sions you expressed. We had hoped that this act on our part had shown our spirit in these times of distressing war as our diplomatic correspondence had shown our steadfast refusal to acknowledge the right of any belligerent to alter the accepted rules of war at sea in so far as they affect the rights and interests of neutrals. In the third place, I note with sincere regret that, in dis cussing the sale and exportation of arms by citizens of the United States to the enemies of Germany, Your Excellency '¦ See the proposal dated February 20, 19x5, infra, statement No. 30, p. 24s. 256 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION seems to be under the impression that it was within the choice of the Government of the United States, notwith standing its professed neutrality and its diligent efforts to maintain it in other particulars, to inhibit this trade, and that its failure to do so manifested an unfair attitude toward Germany. This Government holds, as I believe Your Excellency is aware, and as it is constrained to hold in view of the present indisputable doctrines of accepted international law, that any change in its own laws of neu trality during the progress of a war which would affect unequally the relations of the United States with the nations at war would be an unjustifiable departure from the prin ciple of strict neutrality by which it has consistently sought to direct its actions, and I respectfuUy submit that none of the circumstances urged in Your Excellency's memoran dum alters the principle involved. The placing of an em bargo on the trade in arms at the present time would consti tute such a change and be a direct violation of the neutrality of the United States. It will, I feel assured, be clear to Your Excellency that, holding this view and considering itself in honor bound by it, it is out of the question for this Government to consider such a course. THE MEANING OF AMERICANISM ^ 35. Address of President Wilson. May 10, ipi5 (From the official printed text) It warms my heart that you should give me such a reception; but it is not of myself that I wish to think tonight, but of those who have just become citizens of the United States. '¦ Generally known as the " Too Proud to Fight " speech. THE MEANING OF AMERICANISM 257 This is the only country in the world which experiences this constant and repeated rebirth. Other countries depend upon the multiplication of their own native people. This country is constantly drinking strength out of new sources by the voluntary association with it of great bodies of strong men and forward-looking women out of other lands. And so by the gift of the free will of independent people it is being constantly renewed from generation to genera tion by the same process by which it was originally created. It is as if humanity had determined to see to it that this great Nation, founded for the benefit of humanity, should not lack for the allegiance of the people of the world. You have just taken an oath of allegiance to the United States. Of aUegiance to whom? Of allegiance to no one, unless it be God — certainly not of allegiance to those who temporarUy represent this great Government. You have taken an oath of allegiance to a great ideal, to a great body of principles, to a great hope of the human race. You have said, " We are going to America, not only to earn a living, not only to seek the things which it was more difficult to obtain where we were born, but to help forward the great enterprises of the human spirit — to let men know that everywhere in the world there are men who will cross strange oceans and go where a speech is spoken which is .alien to them, if they can but satisfy their quest for what their spirits crave ; knowing that whatever the speech there is but one longing and utterance of the human heart, and that is for liberty and justice." And while you bring all countries with you, you come with a purpose of leaving all other countries behind you — bringing what is best of their spirit, but not looking over your shoulders and seeking to perpetuate what you intended to leave behind in them. I certainly would not be one even to suggest that a man cease to love the home of his birth and the nation of his 258 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION origin — these things are very sacred and ought not to be put out of our hearts — but it is one thing to love the place where you were born and it is another thing to dedicate yourself to the place to which you go. You cannot dedicate yourself to America unless you become in every respect and with every purpose of your will thorough Americans. You cannot become thorough Ameri cans if you think of yourselves in groups. America does not consist of groups. A man who thinks of himself as belonging to a particular national group in America has not yet become an American, and the man who goes among you to trade upon your nationality is no worthy son to live under the Stars and Stripes. My urgent advice to you would be, not only always to think first of America, but always, also, to think first of humanity. You do not love humanity if you seek to divide humanity into jealous camps. Humanity can be welded together only by love, by sympathy, by justice, not by jealousy and hatred. I am sorry for the man who seeks to make personal capital out of the passions of his fellow- men. He has lost the touch and ideal of America, for America was created to unite mankind by those passions which lift and not by the passions which separate and debase. We came to America, either ourselves or in the persons of our ancestors, to better the ideals of men, to make them see finer things than they had seen before, to get rid of the things that divide and to make sure of the things that unite. It was but a historical accident no doubt that this great country was called the " United States ; " and yet I am very thankful that it has the word " united " in its title, and the man who seeks to divide man from man, group from group, interest from interest in this great Union is striking at its very heart. It is a very interesting circumstance to me, in thinking THE MEANING OF AMERICANISM 259 of those of you who have just sworn aUegiance to this great Government, that you were drawn across the ocean by some beckoning finger of hope, by some belief, by some vision of a new kind of justice, by some expectation of a better kind of life. No doubt you have been disappointed in some of us. Some of us are very disappointing. No doubt you have found that justice in the United States goes only with a pure heart and a right purpose, as it does everywhere else in the world. No doubt what you found here did not seem touched for you, after all, with the complete beauty of the ideal which you had conceived beforehand. But remember this : If we had grown at all poor in the ideal, you brought some of it with you. A man does not go out to seek the thing that is not in him. A man does not hope for the thing that he does not believe in, and if some of us have forgotten what America believed in, you, at any rate, imported in your own hearts a renewal of the belief. That is the reason that I, for one, make you welcome. If I have in any degree forgotten what America was intended for, I will thank God if you will remind me. I was born in America. You dreamed dreams of what America was to be, and I hope you brought the dreams with you. No man that does not see visions will ever realize any high hope or undertake any high enterprise. Just because you brought dreams with you, America is more likely to realize the dreams such as you brought. You are enriching us if you came expecting us to be better than we are. See, my friends, what that means. It means that Amer icans must have a consciousness different from the con sciousness of every other nation in the world. I am not saying this with even the slightest thought of criticism of other nations. You know how it is with a family. A family gets centered on itself if it is not careful and is less 26o STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION interested in the neighbors than it is in its own members. So a nation that is not constantly renewed out of new sources is apt to have the narrowness and prejudice of a family; whereas, America must have this consciousness, that on all sides it touches elbows and touches hearts with all the nations of mankind. The example of America must be a special example. The example of America must be the example not merely of peace because it will not fight, but of peace because peace is the healing and elevating influence of the world and strife is not. There is such a thing as a man being too proud to fight. There is such a thing as a nation being so right that it does not need to convince others by force that it is right. You have come into this great Nation voluntarily seeking something that we have to give, and aU that we have to give is this: We cannot exempt you from work. No man is exempt from work anywhere in the world. We can not exempt you from the strife and the heart-breaking burden of the struggle of the day — that is common to mankind everywhere; we cannot exempt you from the loads that you must carry. We can only make them light by the spirit in which they are carried. That is the spirit of hope, it is the spirit of liberty, it is the spirit of justice. When I was asked, therefore, by the Mayor and the committee that accompanied him to come up from Washing ton to meet this great company of newly admitted citizens, I could not decline the invitation. I ought not to be away from Washington, and yet I feel that it has renewed my spirit as an American to be here. In Washington men tell you so many things every day that are not so, and I like to come and stand in the presence of a great body of my fellow-citizens, whether they have been my feUow- citizens a long time or a short time, and drink, as it were. GERMAN SUBMARINE WARFARE 261 out of the common fountains with them and go back feeling what you have so generously given me the sense of your support and of the living vitality in your hearts of its great ideals which made America the hope of the world. GERMAN SUBMARINE WARFARE: FIRST LUSI TANIA NOTE 36. Communication of Secretary Bryan to Ambassador Gerard. May 13, ipi^ (Department of State, Diplomatic Correspondence, European War Series, No. i, p. 75) In vievv of recent acts of the German authorities in viola tion of American rights on the high seas which culminated in the torpedoing and sinking of the British steamship Lusitania on May 7, 191 5, by which over 100 American citi zens lost their lives, it is clearly wise and desirable that the Government of the United States and the Imperial German Government should come to a clear and full understanding as to the grave situation which has resulted. The sinking of the British passenger steamer Falaba by a German submarine on March 28, through which Leon C. Thrasher, an American citizen, was drowned; the attack on April 28 on the American vessel Cushing by a German aeroplane ; the torpedoing on May i of the American vessel Gulflight by a German submarine, as a result of which two or more American citizens met their death ; and, finally, the torpedoing and sinking of the steamship Lusitania, consti tutes a series of events which the Government of the United States has observed with growing concern, distress, and amazement. Recalling the humane and enlightened attitude hitherto assumed by the Imperial German Government in matters 262 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION of international right, and particularly with regard to the freedom of the seas; having learned to recognize the Ger man views and the German influence in the field of inter national obligation as always engaged upon the side of juS' tice and humanity; and having understood the instructions of the Imperial German Government to its naval com manders to be upon the same plane of humane action pre scribed by the naval codes of other nations, the (^vernment of the United States was loath to believe — it can not now bring itself to believe — that these acts, so absolutely con trary to the rules, the practices, and the spirit of modem warfare, could have the countenance or sanction of that great Government. It feels it to be its duty, therefore, to address the Imperial German Government conceming them with the utmost frankness and in the earnest hope that it is not mistaken in expecting action on the part of the Imperial German Government which will correct the unfortunate impressions which have been created and vindicate once more the position of that Govemment with regard to the sacred freedom of the seas. The Government of the United States has been apprised that the Imperial German Govemment considered them selves to be obliged by the extraordinary circumstances of the present war and the measures adopted by their adver saries in seeking to cut Germany off from all commerce, to adopt methods of retaliation which go much beyond the ordinary methods of warfare at sea, in the proclamation of a war zone from which they have wamed neutral ships to keep away. This Government has already taken occasion to inform the Imperial German Government that it can not admit the adoption of such measures or such a warning of danger to operate as in any degree an abbreviation of the rights of American shipmasters or of American citizens bound on lawful errands as passengers on merchant ships GERMAN SUBMARINE WARFARE 263 of belligerent nationality ; and that it must hold the Imperial German Government to a strict accountability for any in fringement of those rights, intentional or incidental. It does not understand the Imperial German Government to question those rights. It assumes, on the contrary, that the Imperial Government accept, as of course, the rule that the lives of noncombatants, whether they be of neutral citi zenship or citizens of one of the nations at war, can not lawfully or rightfully be put in jeopardy by the capture or destruction of an unarmed merchantman, and recognize also, as all other nations do, the obligation to take the usual pre caution of visit and search to ascertain whether a suspected merchantman is in fact of belligerent nationality or is in fact carrying contraband of war under a neutral flag. The Government of the United States, therefore, desires to call the attention of the linperial German Government with the utmost earnestness to the fact that the objection to their present method of attack against the trade of their enemies lies in the practical impossibility of employing sub marines in the destruction of commerce without disregard ing those rules of fairness, reason, justice, and humanity, which all modern opinion regards as imperative. It is prac tically impossible for the officers of a submarine to visit a merchantman at sea and examine her papers and cargo. It is practically impossible for them to make a prize of her; and, if they can not put a prize crew on board of her, they can not sink her without leaving her crew and all on board of her to the mercy of the sea in her small boats. These facts it is understood the Imperial German Government frankly admit. We are informed that in the instances of which we have spoken time enough for even that poor meas ure of safety was not given, and in at least two of the cases cited not so much as a warning was received. Manifestly submarines can not be used against merchantmen, as the last 264 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION few weeks have shown, without an inevitable violation of many sacred principles of justice and humanity. American citizens act within their indisputable rights in taking their ships and in traveUng wherever their legitimate business calls them upon the high seas, and exercise those rights in what should be the well-justified confidence that their lives will not be endangered by acts done in clear viola tion of universally acknowledged international obligations, and certainly in the confidence that their own Government will sustain them in the exercise of their rights. There was recently published in the newspapers of the United States, I regret to inform the Imperial German Government, a formal warning, purporting to come from the Imperial German Embassy at Washington, addressed to the people of the United States, and stating, in effect, that any citizen of the United States who exercised his right of free travel upon the seas would do so at his peril if his journey should take him within the zone of waters within which the Imperial German Navy was using submarines against the commerce of Great Britain and France, notwith standing the respectful but very earnest protest of his Gov ernment, the Government of the United States. I do not refer to this for the purpose of calling the attention of the Imperial German Government at this time to the surprising irregularity of a communication from the Imperial German Embassy at Washington addressed to the people of the United States through the newspapers, but only for the pur pose of pointing out that no warning that an unlawful and inhumane act will be committed can possibly be accepted as an excuse or palliation for that act or as an abatement of the responsibility for its commission. Long acquainted as this Government has been with the character of the Imperial German Government and with the high principles of equity by which they have in the past GERMAN SUBMARINE WARFARE 265 been actuated and guided, the Government of the United States can not believe that the commanders of the vessels which committed these acts of lawlessness did so except under a misapprehension of the orders issued by the Im perial German naval authorities. It takes it for granted that, at least within the practical possibilities of every such case, the commanders even of submarines were expected to do nothing that would involve the lives of noncombatants or the safety of neutral ships, even at the cost of failing of their object of capture or destruction. It confidently expects, therefore, that the Imperial German Government will dis avow the acts of which the Government of the United States complains, that they will make reparation so far as repara tion is possible for injuries which are without measure, and that they will take immediate steps to prevent the recurrence of anything so obviously subversive of the principles of warfare for which the Imperial German Government have in the past so wisely and so firmly contended. The Government and the people of the United States look to the Imperial German Government for just, prompt, and enlightened action in this vital matter with the greater confi dence because the United States and Germany are bound together not only by special ties of friendship but also by the explicit stipulations of the treaty of 1828 between the United States and the Kingdom of Prussia. Expressions of regret and offers of reparation in case of the destruction of neutral ships sunk by mistake, while they may satisfy international obligations, if no loss of life re sults, can not justify or excuse a practice the natural and necessary effect of which is to subject neutral nations and neutral persons to new and immeasurable risks. The Imperial German Govemment will not expect the Government of the United States to omit any word or any act necessary to the performance of its sacred duty of main- 266 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION taining the rights of the United States and its citizens and of safeguarding their free exercise and enjoyment. IDEALS OF SERVICE FOR THE NAVY 37. Extract from an Address of President Wilson. May If, ipi5 (From the official printed text ; for the entire address see Current History, New York Times, II, 443) This is not an occasion upon which, it seems to me, that it would be wise for me to make many remarks, but I would deprive myself of a great gratification if I did not express my pleasure in being here, my gratitude for the splendid reception which has been accorded me as the repre sentative of the nation, and my profound interest in the Navy of the United States. . . . I think it is a natural, instinctive judgment of the people of the United States that they express their power most ap propriately in an efficient navy, and their interest in their ships is partly, I believe, because that Navy is expected to express their character, not within our own borders where that character is understood, but outside our borders where it is hoped we may occasionally touch others with some slight vision of what America stands for. I like to image in my thought this idea : These quiet ships lying in the river have no suggestion of bluster about them, no intimation of aggression. They are commanded by men thoughtful of the duty of citizens as well as the duty of officers, men acquainted with the traditions of the great service to which they belong, men who know by touch with the people of the United States what sort of purposes they ought to entertain and what sort of discretion they ought IDEALS OF SERVICE FOR THE NAVY 267 to exercise in order to use those engines of force as engines to promote the interests of humanity. The interesting and inspiring thing about America, gen tlemen, is that she asks nothing for herself except what she has a right to ask for humanity itself. We want no nation's property. We mean to question no nation's honor. We do not wish to stand selfishly in the way of the development of any nation. We want nothing that we cannot get by our own legitimate enterprise and by the inspiration of our own example ; and, standing for these things, it is not pretension on our part to say that we are privileged to stand for what every nation would wish to stand for, and speak for those things which all humanity must desire. When I think of the flag which those ships carry, the only touch of color about them, the only thing that moves as if it had a subtle spirit in it in their solid structure, it seems to me I see alternate strips of parchment upon which are written the rights of liberty and justice, and stripes of blood spilt to vindicate those rights ; and, then, in the corner a pre diction of the blue serene into which every nation may swim which stands for these things. The mission of America is the only thing that a sailor or soldier should think about. He has nothing to do with the formulation of her policy. He is to support her policy whatever it is ; but he is to support her policy in the spirit of herself, and the strength of our policy is that we who for the time being administer the affairs of this Nation do not originate her spirit. We attempt to embody it ; we attempt to realize it in action; we are dominated by it, we do not dictate it. So with every man in arms who serves the Nation; he stands and waits to do the thing which the Nation desires. Those who represent America seem sometimes to forget her programs, but the people never forget them. It is as star- 268 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION tling as it is touching to see how whenever you touch a principle you touch the hearts of the people of the United States. They listen to your debates of policy, they deter mine which party they will prefer to power, they choose and prefer as between men, but their real affection, their real force, their real irresistible momentum, is for the ideas which men embody. . . . When a crisis occurs in this coun try, gentlemen, it is as if you put your hand on the pulse of a dynamo, it is as if the things which you were in connection with were spiritually bred, as if you had nothing to do with them except, if you listen truly, to speak the things that you hear. These things now brood over the river; this spirit now moves with the men who represent the Nation in the Navy ; these things will move upon the waters in the manoeuvres — no threat lifted against any man, against any nation, against any interest, but just a great solemn evidence that the force of America is the force of moral principle, that there is nothing else that she loves and that there is nothing else for which she will contend. RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 38. Statement of President Wilson. June 2, ipiS (New York Times, June 3, 1915) For more than two years revolutionary conditions have existed in Mexico. The purpose of the revolution was to rid Mexico of men who ignored the Constitution of the re public and used their power in contempt of the right of its people, and with these purposes the people of the United States instinctively and generously sympathized. But the leaders of the revolution, in the very hour of their success, have disagreed and turned their arms against one another. RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 269 All professing the same objects, they are, nevertheless, unable or unwilling to co-operate. A central authority at Mexico City is no sooner set up than it is undermined and its authority denied by those who were expected to support it. Mexico is apparently no nearer a solution of her tragical troubles than she was when the revolution was first kindled. And she has been swept by civil war as if by fire. Her crops are destroyed, her fields lie unseeded, her work cattle are confiscated for the use of the armed factions, her people flee to the mountains to escape being drawn into unavailing bloodshed, and no man seems to see or lead the way to peace and settled order. There is no proper protection, either for her own citizens or for the citizens of other nations resident and at work within her territory. Mexico is starving and without a Government. In these circumstances the people and Government of the United States cannot stand indifferently by and do nothing to serve their neighbor. They want nothing for them selves in Mexico. Least of all do they desire to settle her affairs for her, or claim any right to do so. But neither do they wish to see utter ruin come upon her, and they deem it their duty as friends and neighbors to lend any aid they properly can to any instrumentality which promises to be effective in bringing about a settlement which will embody the real objects of the revolution — constitutional govern^ ment and the rights of the people. Patriotic Mexicans are sick at heart and cry out for peace and for every self-sacrifice that may be necessary to procure it. Their people cry out for food and will presently hate as much as they fear every man in their country or out of it who stands between them and their daily bread. It is time, therefore, that the Government of the United States should frankly state the policy which, in these extraor- 270 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION dinary circumstances, it becomes its duty to adopt. It must presently do what it has not hitherto done or felt af liberty to do, lend its active moral support to some man or group of men, if such may be found, who can rally the suffering people of Mexico to their support in an effort to ignore, if they cannot unite, the warring factions of the country, re turn to the Constitution of the republic so long in abeyance, and set up a Government at Mexico City which the great powers of the world can recognize and deal with — a Gov ernment with whom the program of the revolution will be a business and not merely a platform. I, therefore, publicly and very solemnly, call upon the leaders of factions in Mexico to act, to act together, and to act promptly for the relief and redemption of their prostrate country. I feel it to be my duty to tell them that, if they cannot accommodate their differences and unite for this great pur pose within a very short time, this Government will be constrained to decide what means should be employed by the United States in order to help Mexico save herself and serve her people. GERMAN SUBMARINE WARFARE: SECOND LUSITANIA NOTE 39. Extract from a Communication of Acting Secretary Lansing to Ambassador Gerard, June p, ipi5 ^ (Department of State, Diplomatic Correspondence, European War Series, No. 2, 171) The Government of the United States notes with gratifica- 1 In reply to the German notes of May 28 and June i. 19x5. See Department of State, Diplomatic Correspondence, European War Series, No. 2, pp. 169, 170. SECOND LUSITANIA NOTE 271 tion the full recognition by the Imperial German Govern ment, in discussing the case of the Cushing and the Gulflight, of the principle of the freedom of all parts of the open sea to neutral ships and the frank willingness of the Imperial German (^vernment to acknowledge and meet its liability where the fact of attack upon neutral ships " which have not been guilty of any hostile act " by German aircraft or vessels of war is satisfactorily established ; and the Govern ment of the United States will in due course lay before the Imperial German Government, as it requests, full informa tion concerning the attack on the steamer Cushing, With regard to the sinking of the steamer Falaba, by which an American citizen lost his life, the Govemment of the United States is surprised to find the Imperial German Government contending that an effort on the part of a mer chantman to escape capture and secure assistance alters the obligation of the officer seeking to make the capture in re spect of the safety of the lives of those on board the mer chantman, although the vessel had ceased her attempt to escape when torpedoed. These are not new circumstances. They have been in the minds of statesmen and of inter national jurists throughout the development of naval war fare, and the Government of the United States does not understand that they have ever been held to alter the prin ciples of humanity upon which it has insisted. Nothing but actual forcible resistance or continued efforts to escape by flight when ordered to stop for the purpose of visit on the part of the merchantman has ever been held to forfeit the lives of her passengers or crew. The Government of the United States, however, does not understand that the Im perial German Government is seeking in this case to relieve itself of liability, but only intends to set forth the circum stances which led the commander of the submarine to allow himself to be hurried into the course which he took. 272 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION Your Excellency's note, in discussing the loss of American lives resulting from the sinking of the steamship Lusitania, adverts at some length to certain information which the Imperial German Government has received with regard to the character and outfit of that vessel, and Your ExceUency expresses the fear that this information may not have been brought to the attention of the Government of the United States. It is stated in the note that the Lusitania was un doubtedly equipped with masked guns, supplied with trained gunners and special ammunition, transporting troops from Canada, carrying a cargo not permitted under the laws of the United States to a vessel also carrying passengers, and serving, in virtual effect, as an auxUiary to the naval forces of Great Britain. Fortunately, these are matters conceming which the Government of the United States is in a position to give the Imperial German Government official informa tion. Of the facts alleged in Your Excellency's note, if true, the Government of the United States would have been bound to take official cognizance in performing its recognized duty as a neutral power and in enforcing its national laws. It was its duty to see to it that the Lusitania was not armed for offensive action, that she was not serving as a transport, that she did not carry a cargo prohibited by the statutes of the United States, and that, if in fact she was a naval vessel of Great Britain, she should not receive clearance as a mer chantman; and it performed that duty and enforced its statutes with scrupulous vigilance through its regularly con stituted officials. It is able, therefore, to assure the Im perial German (k)vernment that it has been misinformed. If the Imperial German Government should deem itself to be in possession of convincing evidence that the officials of the Government of the United States did not perform these duties with thoroughness the Government of the United SECOND LUSITANIA NOTE 273 States sincerely hopes that it wiU submit that evidence for consideration. Whatever may be the contentions of the Imperial German Government regarding the carriage of contraband of war on board the Lusitania or regarding the explosion of that ma terial by the torpedo, it need only be said that in view of this Government these contentions are irrelevant to the question of the legality of the methods used by the German naval authorities in sinking the vessel. But the sinking of passenger ships involves principles of humanity which throw into the background any special cir cumstances of detail that may be thought to affect the cases, principles which lift it, as the Imperial German Govern ment will no doubt be quick to recognize and acknowledge, out of the class of ordinary subjects of diplomatic discus sion or of international controversy. Whatever be the other facts regarding the Lusitania, the principal fact is that a great steamer, primarily and chiefly a conveyance for passen gers, and carrying more than a thousand souls who had no part or lot in the conduct of the war, was torpedoed and sunk without so much as a challenge or a warning, and that men, women, and children were sent to their death in cir cumstances unparalleled in modern warfare. The fact that more than one hundred American citizens were among those who perished made it the duty of the Government of the United States to speak of these things and once more, with solemn emphasis, to call the attention of the Im perial German Government to the grave responsibility which the Government of the United Sates conceives that it has incurred in this tragic occurrence, and to the indisputable principle upon which that responsibility rests. The Gov ernment of the United States is contending for something much greater than mere rights of property or privUeges of 274 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION commerce. It is contending for nothing less high and sacred than the rights of humanity, which every Govern ment honors itself in respecting and which no Govern ment is justified in resigning on behalf of those under its care and authority. Only her actual resistance to capture or refusal to stop when ordered to do so for the purpose of visit could have afforded the commander of the submarine any justification for so much as putting the lives of those on board the ship in jeopardy. This principle the Govern ment of the United States understands the explicit instruc tions issued on August 3, 1914, by the Imperial German Admiralty to its commanders at sea to have recognized and embodied, as do the naval codes of all other nations, and upon it every traveler and seaman had a right to depend. It is upon this principle of humanity as well as upon the law founded upon this principle that the United States must stand. The Government of the United States is happy to ob serve that Your Excellency's note closes with the intima tion that the Imperial German Government is willing, now as before, to accept the good offices of the United States in an attempt to come to an understanding with the Govern ment of Great Britain by which the character and condi tions of the war upon the sea may be changed. The Gov ernment of the United States would consider it a privilege thus to serve its friends and the world. It stands ready at any time to convey to either Government any intimation or suggestion the other may be willing to have it convey and cordially invites the Imperial German Government to make use of its services in this way at its convenience. The whole world is concerned in anything that may bring about even a partial accommodation of interests or in any way mitigate the terrors of the present distressing conflict. In the meantime, whatever arrangement may happily SECOND LUSITANIA NOTE 275 be made between the parties to the war, and whatever may in the opinion of the Imperial German Government have been the provocation or the circumstantial justification for the past acts of its commanders at sea, the Government of the United States confidently looks to see the justice and humanity of the Govemment of Germany vindicated in all cases where Americans have been wronged or their rights as neutrals invaded. The Government of the United States therefore very eamestiy and very solemnly renews the representations of its note transmitted to the Imperial German Government on the 15th of May, and relies in these representations upon the principles of humanity, the universaUy recognized un derstandings of international law, and the ancient friend ship of the German nation. The Government of the United States can not admit that the proclamation of a war zone from which neutral ships have been warned to keep away may be made to operate as in any degree an abbreviation of the rights either of Amer ican shipmasters or of American citizens bound on lawful errands as passengers on merchant ships of belligerent na tionality. It does not understand the Imperial German Government to question those rights. It understands it, also, to accept as established beyond question the principle that the lives of noncombatants can not lawfully or right fully be put in jeopardy by the capture or destruction of an unresisting merchantman, and to recognize the obligation to take sufficient precaution to ascertain whether a sus pected merchantman is in fact of beUigerent nationality or is in fact carrying contraband of war under a neutral flag. The Government of the United States therefore deems it reasonable to expect that the Imperial German Govern ment will adopt the measures necessary to put these princi ples into practice in respect of the safeguarding of American 276 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION lives and American ships, and asks for assurances that this will be done. GERMAN SUBMARINE WARFARE: THIRD LUSITANIA NOTE 40. Communication of Secretary Lansing to Ambassador Gerard. July 21, ipi^ (Department of State, Diplomatic Correspondence, European War Series, No. 2, p. 178) The note of the Imperial German Government, dated the Sth of July, 1915,^ has received the careful consid eration of the Government of the United States, and it regrets to be obliged to say that it has found it very unsat isfactory, because it fails to meet the real differences be tween the two Governments and indicates no way in which the accepted principles of law and humanity may be ap plied in the grave matter in controversy, but purposes, on the contrary, arrangements for a partial suspension of those principles which virtually set them aside. The Government of the United States notes with satis faction that the Imperial German Government recognizes without reservation the validity of the principles insisted on in the several communications which this (jovemment has addressed to the Imperial German Government with re gard to its announcement of a war zone and the use of submarines against merchantmen on the high seas — the principle that the high seas are free, that the character and cargo of a merchantman must first be ascertained before she can lawfully be seized or destroyed, and that the lives of noncombatants may in no case be put in jeopardy un less the vessel resists or seeks to escape after being sum- '¦ Published in Department of State, Diplomatic Correspondence, European War Series, No. 2, p. 175. THIRD LUSITANIA NOTE 277 moned to submit to examination; for a belligerent act of retaliation is per se an act beyond the law, and the defense of an act as retaliatory is an admission that it is illegal. The Government of the United States is, however, keenly disappointed to find that the Imperial German Government regards itself as in large degree exempt from the obliga tion to observe these principles, even where neutral vessels are concerned, by what it believes the policy and practice of the Government of Great Britain to be in the present war with regard to neutral commerce. The Imperial German Government will readily understand that the Government of the United States can not discuss the policy of the Gov emment of Great Britain with regard to neutral trade ex cept with that Government itself, and that it must regard the conduct of other belligerent governments as irrelevant to any discussion with the Imperial German Government of what this Government regards as grave and unjustifiable violations of the rights of American citizens by German naval commanders. Illegal and inhuman acts, however justifiable they may be thought to be against an enemy who is believed to have acted in contravention of law and hu manity, are manifestly indefensible when they deprive neu trals of their acknowledged rights, particularly when they violate the right to life itself. If a belligerent can not re taliate against an enemy without injuring the lives of neu trals, as well as their property, humanity, as well as justice and a due regard for the dignity of neutral powers, should dictate that the practice be discontinued. If persisted in it would in such circumstances constitute an unpardonable offense against the sovereignty of the neutral nation af fected. The Government of the United States is not un mindful of the extraordinary conditions created by this war or of the radical alterations of circumstance and method of attack produced by the use of instrumentalities of naval 278 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION warfare which the nations of the world can not have had in view when the existing rules of international law were formulated, and it is ready to make every reasonable al lowance for these novel and unexpected aspects of war at sea ; but it can not consent to abate any essential or funda mental right of its people because of a mere alteration of circumstance. The rights of neutrals in time of war are based upon principle, not upon expediency, and the princi ples are immutable. It is the duty and obligation of bellig erents to find a way to adapt the new circumstances to them. The events of the past two months have clearly indi cated that it is possible and practicable to conduct such submarine operations as have characterized the activity of the Imperial German Navy within the so-caUed war zone in substantial accord with the accepted practices of regu lated warfare. The whole world has looked with interest and increasing satisfaction at the demonstration of that possibility by German naval commanders. It is manifestly possible, therefore, to lift the whole practice of submarine attack above the criticism which it has aroused and re move the chief causes of offense. In view of the admission of illegality made by the Im perial Government when it pleaded the right of retaliation in defense of its acts, and in view of the manifest possi bility of conforming to the established rules of naval war fare, the Government of the United States can not believe that the Imperial Govemment will longer refrain from disavowing the wanton act of its naval commander in sinking the Lusitania or from offering reparation for the American lives lost, so far as reparation can be made for a needless destruction of human life by an illegal act. The Government of the United States, while not indiffer ent to the friendly spirit in which it is made, can not ac- THIRD LUSITANIA NOTE 279 cept the suggestion of the Imperial German Government that certain vessels be designated and agreed upon which shall be free on the seas now illegally proscribed. The very agreement would, by implication, subject other ves sels to illegal attack and would be a curtailment and there fore an abandonment of the principles for which this Gov ernment contends and which in times of calmer counsels every nation would concede as of course. The Government of the United States and the Imperial German Government are contending for the same great ob ject, have long stood together in urging the very princi ples, upon which the Government of the United States now so solemnly insists. They are both contending for the freedom of the seas. The Government of the United States will continue to contend for that freedom, from whatever quarter violated, without compromise and at any cost. It invites the practical co-operation of the Imperial German Government at this time when co-operation may accomplish most and this great common object be most strikingly and effectively achieved. The Imperial German Government expresses the hope that this object may be in some measure accomplished even before the present war ends. It can be. The Government of the United States not only feels obliged to insist upon it, by whomsoever violated or ignored, in the protection of its own citizens, but is also deeply interested in seeing it made practicable between the belligerents themselves, and holds itself ready at any time to act as the common friend who may be privUeged to suggest a way. In the meantime the very value which this Government sets upon the long and unbroken friendship between the people and Government of the United States and the peo ple and Government of the German nation impels it to press very solemnly upon the Imperial German Government the 28o STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION necessity for a scrupulous observance of neutral rights in this critical matter. Friendship itself prompts it to say to the Imperial Government that repetition by the com manders of Gierman naval vessels of acts in contravention of those rights must be regarded by the Government of the United States, when they affect American citizens, as de liberately unfriendly. RELATIONS WITH MEXICO: LATIN AMERICAN AID 41. Communication of Secretary Lansing and the diplo matic representatives at Washington of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, and Uruguay to all generals, governors, and other leaders known to be exercising civil or military authority in Mexico. August II, ipi5 (American Journal of International Law. X, 364) Inspired by the most sincere spirit of American fra ternity, and convinced that they rightly interpret the ear nest wish of the entire continent [the above mentioned representatives] have met informally at the suggestion of the Secretary of State of the United States to consider the Mexican situation and to ascertain whether their friendly and disinterested help could be successfully em ployed to reestablish peace and constitutional order in our sister Republic. In the heat of the frightful struggle which for so long has steeped in blood the Mexican soil, doubtless all may well have lost sight of the dissolving effects of the strife upon the most vital conditions of the national existence, not only upon the life and liberty of the inhabitants, but LATIN AMERICAN AID 281 on the prestige and security of the country. We can not doubt, however — no one can doubt — that in the presence of a sympathetic appeal from their brothers of America, recalling to them these disastrous effects, asking them to save their motherland from an abyss — no one can doubt, we repeat — that the patriotism of the men who lead or aid in any way the bloody strife will not remain unmoved ; no one can doubt that each and every one of them, meas uring in his own conscience his share in the responsibilities of past misfortune and looking forward to his share in the glory of the pacification and reconstruction of the country, will respond, nobly and resolutely, to this friendly appeal and give their best efforts to opening the way to some saving action. We, the undersigned, believe that if the men directing the armed movements in Mexico — whether political or military chiefs — should agree to meet, either in person or by delegates, far from the sound of cannon, and with no other inspiration save the thought of their afflicted land, there to exchange ideas and to determine the fate of the country — from such action would undoubtedly result the strong and unyielding agreement requisite to the creation of a provisional government, which should adopt the first steps necessary to the constitutional reconstruction of the country — and to issue the first and most essential of them all, the immediate call to general elections. An adequate place within the Mexican frontiers, which for the purpose might be neutralized, should serve as the seat of the conference; and in order to bring about a con ference of this nature the undersigned, or any of them, will willingly, upon invitation, act as intermediaries to ar range the time, place, and other details of such conference, if this action can in any way aid the Mexican people. The undersigned expect a reply to this communication 282 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION within a reasonable time; and consider that such a time would be ten days after the communication is delivered, subject to prorogation for cause. THE PURPOSE OF THE UNITED STATES 42. Extract from an Address of President Wilson. September 28, ipi5 (From the official printed text; for the entire address see New York Times, September 29, 1915) . . . There have been other nations as rich as we; there have been other nations as powerful ; there have been other nations as spirited ; but I hope we shall never forget that we created this Nation, not to serve ourselves, but to serve man kind. I hope I may say without even an implication of criticism upon any other great people in the world that it has always seemed to me that the people of the United States wished to be regarded as devoted to the promotion of particu lar principles of human right. The United States were founded, not to provide free homes, but to assert human rights. This flag meant a great enterprise of the human spirit. . . . THE SPIRIT OF A PREPAREDNESS PROGRAM 43. Extract from an Address of President Wilson. October 6, ipi5 (New York Times, October 7, 1915) I think the whole nation is convinced that we ought to be prepared, not for war, but for defense, and very ade- PRESERVATION OF FOUNDATION OF PEACE 283 quately prepared, and that the preparation for defense is not merely a technical matter, that it is not a matter that the Army and Navy alone can take care of, but a matter in which we must have the co-operation of the best brains and knowledge of the country, outside the official service of the Government, as well as inside. For my part, I feel that it is only in the spirit of a true democracy that we get together to lend such voluntary aid, the sort of aid that comes from interest, from a knowl edge of the varied circumstances that are involved in han dling a nation. I do not have to expound it to you ; you know as weU as I do the spirit of America. The spirit of America is one of peace, but one of independence. It is a spirit that is profoundly concerned with peace, because it can express itself best only in peace. It is the spirit of peace and good will and of human freedom; but it is also the spirit of a nation that is self-conscious, that knows and loves its mis sion in the world, and that knows that it must command the respect of the world. So it seems to me that we are not working as those who would change anything of America, but only as those who would safeguard everything in America. PRESERVATION OF THE FOUNDATIONS OF PEACE 44. Extract from an Address of President Wilson. October 11, ipi^ (From the official printed text; for the entire address see New York Times. October 12, 19x5) Neutrality is a negative word. It is a word that does not 284 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION express what America ought to feel. America has a heart and that heart throbs with all sorts of intense sympathies, but America has schooled its heart to love the things that America believes in and it ought to devote itself only to the things that America believes in; and, believing that Amer ica stands apart in its ideals, it ought not to allow itself to be drawn, so far as its heart is concerned, into anybody's quar rel. Not because it does not understand the quarrel, not because it does not in its head assess the merits of the controversy, but because America has promised the world to stand apart and maintain certain principles of action which are grounded in law and in justice. We are not trying to keep out of trouble ; we are trying to preserve the foundations upon which peace can be rebuilt. Peace can be rebuilt only upon the ancient and accepted principles of international law, only upon those things which remind nations of their duties to each other, and, deeper than that, of their duties to mankind and to humanity. America has a great cause which is not confined to the American Continent. It is the cause of humanity itself. I do not mean that in anything I say even to imply a judg ment upon any nation or upon any policy, for my object here this afternoon is not to sit in judgment upon anybody but ourselves and to challenge you to assist all of us who are trying to make America more than ever conscious of her own principles and her own duty. I look forward to the necessity in every political agitation in the years which are immediately at hand of calling upon every man to declare himself, where he stands. Is it America first or is it not? ... I would not be afraid upon the test of " America first " to take a census of all the foreign-born citizens of the United States, for I know that the vast majority of them came here because they believed in America ; and their belief in America has made them better citizens that some people PRESERVATION OF FOUNDATION OF PEACE 285 who were born in America. They can say that they have bought this privilege with a great price. They have left their homes, they have left their kindred, they have broken all the nearest and dearest ties of human life in order to come to a new land, take a new rootage, begin a new life, and so by self-sacrifice express their confidence in a new principle; whereas, it cost us none of these things. We were born into this privilege; we were rocked and cradled in it; we did nothing to create it; and it is, therefore, the greater duty on our part to do a great deal to enhance it and preserve it. I am not deceived as to the balance of opinion among the foreign-born citizens of the United States, but I am in a hurry for an opportunity to have a line-up and let the men who are thinking first of other coun tries stand on one side and all those that are for America first, last, and all the time on the other side. I would not feel any exhUaration in belonging to America if I did not feel that she was something more than a rich and powerful nation. I should not feel proud to be in some respects and for a little while her spokesman if I did not believe that there was something else than physical force behind her. I believe that the glory of America is that she is a great spiritual conception and that in the spirit of her institutions dwells not only her distinction but her power. The one thing that the world cannot permanently resist is the moral force of great and triumphant convictions. 286 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION BRITISH RESTRAINTS ON COMMERCE 45. Extract from a Communication of Secretary Lansing to Ambassador W. H. Page. October 21, ipig (Department of State, Diplomatic Correspondence. European War Series, No. 3, p. 37) I believe it has been conclusively shown that the methods sought to be employed by Great Britain to obtain and use evidence of enemy destination of cargoes bound for neutral ports and to impose a contraband character upon such cargoes are without justification ; that the blockade, upon which such methods are partly founded, is ineffective, illegal, and indefensible; that the judicial procedure offered as a means of reparation for an international injury is in herently defective for the purpose; and that in many cases jurisdiction is asserted in violation of the law of nations. The United States, therefore, can not submit to the cur tailment of its neutral rights by these measures, which are admittedly retaliatory, and therefore illegal, in conception and in nature, and intended to punish the enemies of Great Britain for alleged illegalities on their part. The United States might not be in a position to object to them if its interests and the interests of all neutrals were unaffected by them, but, being affected, it can not with complacence suffer further subordination of its rights and interests to the plea that the exceptional geographic position of the enemies of Great Britain require or justify oppressive and illegal practices. The Government of the United States desires, therefore, to impress most earnestly upon His Majesty's Govemment that it must insist that the relations between it and His Majesty's Government be governed, not by a policy of ex pediency, but by those established rules of international PREPAREDNESS FOR DEFENSE 287 conduct upon which Great Britain in the past has held the United States to account when the latter nation was a beUigerent engaged in a struggle for national existence. It is of the highest importance to neutrals not only of the present day but of the future that the principles of inter national right be maintained unimpaired. This task of championing the integrity of neutral rights, which have received the sanction of the civilized world against the lawless conduct of beUigerents arising out of the bitterness of the great confiict which is now wasting the countries of Europe, the United States unhesitatingly assumes, and to the accomplishment of that task it will devote its energies, exercising always that impartiality which from the outbreak of the war it has sought to exer cise in its relations with the warring nations. PREPAREDNESS FOR DEFENSE 46, Extract from an Address of President Wilson. November 4, ipi^ (From the official printed text; for the entire address see Current History, New York Times, III, 488) A year and a half ago our thought would have been almost altogether of great domestic questions. They are many and of vital consequence. We must and shall address ourselves to their solution with diligence, firmness, and self-possession, notwithstanding we find ourselves in the midst of a world disturbed by great disaster and ablaze with terrible war ; but our thought is now inevitably of new things about which formerly we gave ourselves little con cem. We are thinking now chiefly of our relations with the rest of the world, — not our commercial relations, — about those we have thought and planned always, — but about 288 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION our political relations, our duties as an individual and inde pendent force in the world to ourselves, our neighbors, and the world itself. Our principles are well known. It is not necessary to avow them again. We believe in political liberty and founded our great government to obtain it, the liberty of men and of peoples, — of men to choose their own lives and of peoples to choose their own allegiance. Our ambi tion, also, all the world has knowledge of. It is not only to be free and prosperous ourselves, but also to be the friend and thoughtful partisan of those who are free or who desire freedom the world over. If we have had ag gressive purposes and covetous ambitions, they were the fruit of our thoughtless youth as a nation and we have put them aside. We shall, I confidently believe, never again take another foot of territory by conquest. We shall never in any circumstances seek to make an independent people subject to our dominion; because we believe, we passionately believe, in the right of every people to choose their own allegiance and be free of masters altogether. For ourselves we wish nothing but the full liberty of self-development; and with ourselves in this great matter we associate all the peoples of our own hemisphere. We wish not only for the United States but for them the fullest freedom of independent growth and of action, for we know that throughout this hemisphere the same aspira tions are everywhere being worked out, under diverse con ditions but with the same impulse and ultimate object. . . . Within a year we have witnessed what we did not believe possible, a great European conflict involving many of the greatest nations of the world. The influences of a great war are everywhere in the air. All Europe is em battled. Force everywhere speaks out with a loud and imperious voice in a titanic struggle of governments, and PREPAREDNESS FOR DEFENSE 289 from one end of our own dear country to the other men are asking one another what our own force is, how far we are prepared to maintain ourselves against any inter ference with our national action or development. In no man's mind, I am sure, is there even raised the question of the wUlful use of force on our part against any nation or any people. No matter what military or naval force the United States might develop, statesmen throughout the whole world might rest assured that we were gathering that force, not for attack in any quarter, not for aggression of any kind, not for the satisfaction of any political or international ambition, but merely to make sure of our own security. We have it in mind to be pre pared, not for war, but only for defense; and with the thought constantly in our minds that the principles we hold most dear can be achieved by the slow processes of history only in the kindly and wholesome atmosphere of peace, and not by the use of hostile force. The mission of America in the world is essentially a mission of peace and good-will among men. She has become the home and asylum of men of all creeds and races. Within her hospitable borders they have found homes and congenial associations and freedom and a wide and cordial welcome, and they have become part of the bone and sinew and spirit of America itself. America has been made up out of the nations of the world and is the friend of the nations of the world. But we feel justified in preparing ourselves to vindicate our right to independent and unmolested action by making the force that is in us ready for assertion. And we know that we can do this in a way that will be itself an illustration of the American spirit. In accord ance with our American traditions we want and shaU work for only an army adequate to the constant and legitimate uses of times of international peace. But we do want to 290 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION feel that there is a great body of citizens who have received at least the most rudimentary and necessary forms of mili tary training; that they will be ready to form themselves into a fighting force at the call of the nation ; and that the nation has tiie munitimis and supplies with wliich to equip them without delay should it he necessary to call them into action. We wish to supply them with the training they need, and we think we can do so witiiout calling them at any time too long away from tiieir civilian pur suits.' Wliat we all wish to accoiuplisii is that the forces of the nation should indecil he jiart of the nation and not a separate professional force, and the eiiief cost of the system would not be in the enlistment or in tlie training of the men, but in the proviclinj:; of ample etiiiipnient in case it should be necessary to eall all forces into the tield. Moreover, it has been 7\merican policy time out of mind to look to the Navy as the fust and chief line of defense. The Navy of the United States is already a very great and efficient force. Not raiiiilly, hut slowly, with careful attention, our naval force has been developed until the Navy of the United States stands recognized as one of the most eliicicnt and notable of the modern time. All that is needed in order to bring it to a point of extraordi nary force and etiiciency ;is compared with the other navies of the world is that we should hasten our pace in the policy we have long been pursuing, and that chief of all we should have a definite policy of development, not made from year to year hut looking well into the future .md planning for a definite consummation. No thoughtful man feels any panic haste in this matter. * At this poiiil tlie rrisiilcnt elaborated the fr.itnres of the nrl- minislriilion's |)l,iiis for tlic aniiy. PREPAREDNESS FOR DEFENSE 291 The country is not threatened from any quarter. She stands in friendly relations with all the world. Her re sources are known and her self-respect and her capacity to care for her own citizens and her own rights. There is no fear amongst us. Under the new-world conditions we have become thoughtful of the things which aU reasonable men consider necessary for security and self-defense on the part of every nation confronted with the great enter prise of human liberty and independence. That is all. Is the plan we propose sane and reasonable and suited to the needs of the hour? Does it not conform to the ancient traditions of America? Has any better plan been proposed than this programme that we now place before the country? In it there is no pride of opinion. It rep resents the best professional and expert judgment of the country. But I am not so much interested in programmes as I am in safeguarding at every cost the good faith and honor of the country. . . . . . . For the time being, I speak as the trustee and guard ian of a nation's rights, charged with the duty of speaking for that nation in matters involving her sovereignty, — a nation too big and generous to be exacting and yet courageous enough to defend its rights and the liberties of its people wherever assailed or invaded. I would not feel that I was discharging the solemn obligation I owe the country were I not to speak in terms of the deepest solemnity of the urgency and necessity of preparing ourselves to guard and protect the rights and privileges of our people, our sacred heritage of the fathers who struggled to make us an independent nation. The only thing within our own borders that has given us grave concern in recent months has been that voices have been raised in America professing to be the voices of Americans which were not in deed and in truth American, 292 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION but which spoke alien sympathies, which came from men who loved other countries better than they loved America, men who were partisans of other causes than that of America and had forgotten that their chief and only aUe giance was to the great government under which they live. These voices have not been many, but they have been very loud and very clamorous. They have proceeded from a few who were bitter and who were grievously misled. America has not opened its doors in vain to men and women out of other nations. The vast majority of those who have come to take advantage of her hospitality have united their spirits with hers as well as their fortunes. These men who speak alien sympathies are not their spokes men but are the spokesmen of small groups whom it is high time that the nation should call to a reckoning. The chief thing necessary in America in order that she should let all the world know that she is prepared to maintain her own great position is that the real voice of the nation should sound forth unmistakably and in majestic volume, in the deep unison of a common, unhesitating national feel ing. I do not doubt that upon the first occasion, upon the first opportunity, upon the first definite challenge, that voice will speak forth in tones which no man can doubt and with commands which no man dare gainsay or resist. May I not say, while I am speaking of this, that there is another danger that we should guard against? We should rebuke not only manifestations of racial feeling here in America where there should be none, but also every manifestation of religious and sectarian antagonism. It does not become America that within her borders, where every man is free to follow the dictates of his conscience and worship God as he pleases, men should raise the cry of church against church. To do that is to strike at the very spirit and heart of America. We are a God-fearing GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF FOREIGN POLICY 293 people. We agree to differ about methods of worship, but we are united in believing in Divine Providence and in wor shipping the God of Nations. We are the champions of religious right here and everywhere that it may be our privi lege to give it our countenance and support. The govern ment is conscious of the obligation and the nation is con scious of the obligation. Let no man create divisions where there are none. Here is the nation God has buUded by our hands. What shaU we do with it? Who is there who does not stand ready at all times to act in her behalf in a spirit of devoted and disinterested patriotism ? We are yet only in the youth and first consciousness of our power. The day of our country's life is still but in its fresh morning. Let us lift our eyes to the great tracts of life yet to be conquered in the interests of righteous peace. Come, let us renew our allegiance to America, conserve her strength in its purity, make her chief among those who serve mankind, self- reverenced, self-commanded, mistress of all forces of quiet counsel, strong above aU others in good will and the might of invincible justice and right. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF FOREIGN POLICY 47. Extract from the Annual Message of the President. December f, ipi3 (Congressional Record. LIII, 95) Gentlemen of the Congress, since I last had the privilege of addressing you on the state of the Union the war of nations on the other side of the sea, which had then only begun to disclose its portentous proportions, has extended its threatening and sinister scope until it has swept within its flame some portion of every quarter of the globe, not excepting our own hemisphere, has ahered the whole face 294 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION of international affairs, and now presents a prospect of reorganization and reconstruction such as statesmen and peoples have never been called upon to attempt before. We have stood apart, studiously neutral. It was our manifest duty to do so. Not only did we have no part of interest in the policies • which seem to have brought the conflict on; it was necessary, if a universal catastrophe was to be avoided, that a limit should be set to the sweep of destructive war and that some part of the great family of nations should keep the processes of peace alive, if only to prevent collective economic ruin and the break down throughout the world of the industries by which its populations are fed and sustained. It was manifestly the duty of the self-governed nations of this hemisphere to redress, if possible, the balance of economic loss and con fusion in the other, if they could do nothing more. In the day of readjustment and recuperation we earnestly hope and believe that they can be of infinite service. In this neutrality, to which they were bidden not only by their separate life and their habitual detachment from the politics of Europe but also by a clear perception of international duty, the states of America have become con scious of a new and more vital community of interest and moral partnership in affairs, more clearly conscious of the many common sympathies and interests and duties which bid them stand together. There was a time in the early days of our own great nation and of the republics fighting their way to inde pendence in Central and South America when the govern ment of the United States looked upon itself as in some sort the guardian of the republics to the south of her as against any encroachments or efforts at political control from the other side of the water; felt it its duty to play the part even without invitation from them ; and I think that GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF FOREIGN POLICY 295 we can claim that the task was undertaken with a true and disinterested enthusiasm for the freedom of the Americas and the unmolested self-government of her independent peo ples. But it was always difficult to maintain such a role without offense to the pride of the peoples whose freedom of action we sought to protect, and without provoking serious misconceptions of our motives, and every thoughtful man of_ affairs^ must welcom.e the altered circumstances of the new day in whose light we now stand, when there is no claim of guardianship or thought of wards, but, instead, a full_and honourable association as of partners hetween ourselves and our neighbours, in the interest of all America, north and south. Our concern for lh£_indenetidenc& and prosperity of the staie§_i)X-C.entraL-an.d._SQUth--America is not altered. We retain unabated the spirit that has in spired us throughout the whole life of our government and which was so frankly put into words by President Monroe. We still mean always to make a common cause of national independence and of political liberty in America. But that purpose is now better understood so far as it concerns ourselves. It is known not to be a selfish pur pose. It is known to have in it no thought of taking advan tage of any government in this hemisphere or playing its political fortunes for our own benefit. All the govern ments of America stand, so far as we are concerned, upon a footing of genuine equality and unquestioned independ ence. We have been put to the test in the case of Mexico, and we have stood the test. Whether we have benefited Mexico by the course we have pursued remains to be seen. Her fortunes are in her own hands. But we have at least proved that we wiU not take advantage of her in her dis tress and undertake to impose upon her an order and gov ernment of our own choosing. Liberty is often a fierce and 296 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTR.\TION intractable thing, to which no bounds can be set, and to which no bounds of a few men's choosing ought ever to be set. Ever)- American who has drunk at the true foun tains of principle and tradition must subscribe without reservation to the high doctrine of the \'irginia BiU of Rights, which in the great days in which our government was set up was ever)'where amongst us accepted as the creed of free men. That doctrine is, " That government is, or ought to be, instituted for tlie common benefit, protec tion, and security of the people, nation, or community " ; that " of all the various modes and forms of government, that is the best which is capable of producing the greatest degree of happiness and safety, and is most eft'ectually secured against the danger of maladministration; and that, when any government shall be found inadequate or contrary to these purposes a majority of the community hath an indubitable, inalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter, or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the public weal." We ha\e unhesitatingly applied that heroic principle to the case of Mexico, and now hopefully await the rebirth of the troubled Republic, which had so much of which to purge itself and so little sympathy from any outside quarter in the radical but necessary process. We will aid and befriend Mexico, but we will not coerce her ; and our course with regard to her ought to be sufficient proof to all America that we seek no political suzerainty or selfish control. The moral is, that the states of .America are not hostile rivals but co-operating friends, and that their growing sense of community of interest, alike in matters political and in matters economic, is likely to give them a new significance as factors in international affairs and in the political his tory of the world. It presents theni as in a very deep and true sense a unit in world aft'air.'^, spiritual partners, GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF FOREIGN POLICY 297 standing together because thinking together, quick with common sympathies and common ideals. Separated they are subject to all the cross currents of the confused politics of a world of hostile rivalries ; united in spirit and purpose they cannot be disappointed of their peaceful destiny. This is Pan-Americanism. It has none of the spirit of empire in it. It is the embodiment, the effectual embodi ment, of the spirit of law and independence and liberty and mutual service. A very notable body of men recently met in the City of Washington, at the invitation and as the guests of this Government, whose deliberations are likely to be looked back to as marking a memorable turning point in the history of America. They were representative spokesmen of the several independent states of this hemi sphere and were assembled to discuss the financial and com mercial relations of the republics of the two continents which nature and political fortune have so intimately linked together. I earnestly recommend to your perusal the re ports of their proceedings and of the actions of their com mittees. You will get from them, I think, a fresh concep tion of the ease and intelligence and advantage with which Americans of both continents may draw together in prac tical cooperation and of what the material foundations of this hopeful partnership of interest must consist, — of how we should build them and of how necessary it is that we should hasten their building. There is, I venture to point out, an especial significance just now attaching to this whole matter of drawing the Americas together in bonds of honourable partnership and mutual advantage because of the economic readjustments which the world must inevitably witness within the next generation, when peace shall have at last resumed its healthful tasks. In the performance of these tasks I believe the Americas to be destined to play their parts together. 298 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION I am interested to fix your attention on this prospect now because unless you take it within your view and permit the full significance of it to command your thought I cannot find the right light in which to set forth the particular matter that lies at the very front of my whole thought as I address you to-day. I mean national defense. No one who really comprehends the spirit of the great people for whom we are appointed to speak can fail to perceive that their passion is for peace, their genius best displayed in the practice of the arts of peace. Great democ racies are not belligerent. They do not seek or desire war. Their thought is of individual liberty and of the free labour that supports life and the uncenspred thought that quickens it. Conquest and domination are not in our reck oning, or agreeable to our principles. But just because we demand unmolested development and the xmdisturbed gov ernment of our own lives upon our own principles of right and liberty, we resent, from whatever quarter it may come, the aggression we ourselves will not practice. We insist upon security in prosecuting our self-chosen lines of na tional development. We do more than that. We demand it also for others. We do not confine our enthusiasm for individual liberty and free national development to the incidents and movements of affairs which affect only our selves. We feel it wherever there is a people that tries to walk in these difficult paths of independence and right. From the first we have made common cause with all par tisans of liberty on this side the sea, and have deemed it as important that our neighbors should be free from aU outside domination as that we ourselves should be; have set America aside as a whole for the uses of independent nations and political free men. Out of such thoughts grow all our policies. We regard war merely as a means of asserting the rights of a people GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF FOREIGN POLICY 295 against aggression. And we are as fiercely jealous of coercive or dictatorial power within our own nation as of aggression from without. We wUl not maintain a stand ing army except for uses which are as necessary in times of peace as in times of war; and we shall always see to it that our military peace estabUshment is no larger than is actually and continuously needed for the uses of days in which no enemies move against us. But we do believe in a body of free citizens ready and sufficient to take care of themselves and of the governments which they have set up to serve them. In our constitutions themselves we have commanded that " the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed," and our confidence has been that our safety in times of danger would lie in the rising of the nation to take care of itself, as the farmers rose at Lexington. But war has never been a mere matter of men and guns. It is a thing of disciplined might. If our citizens are ever to fight effectively upon a sudden summons, they must know how modern fighting is done, and what to do when the summons comes to render themselves immediately avail able and immediately effective. And the government must be their servant in this matter, must supply them with the training they need to take care of themselves and of it. The military arm of their government, which they will not allow to direct them, they may properly use to serve them and make their independence secure, — and not their own independence merely but the rights also of those with whom they have made common cause, should they also be put in jeopardy. They must be fitted to play the great role in the world, and particularly in this hemisphere, for which they are qualified by principle and by chastened ambition to play. It is with these ideals in mind that the plans of the 300 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION Department of War for more adequate national defense were conceived which will be laid before you, and which I urge you to sanction and put into effect as soon as they can be properly scrutinized and discussed. They seem to me the essential first steps, and they seem to me for the present sufficient. THE PAN-AMERICAN PROGRAM OF THE ADMINISTRATION 48. Extract from an Address of President Wilson. January 6, ipi6 (New York Times, January 7, 1916) The Monroe Doctrine was proclaimed by the United States on her own authority. It has always been main tained, and always will be maintained, upon her own re sponsibility. But the Monroe Doctrine demanded merely that European Governments should not attempt to extend their poHtical systems to this side of the Atlantic. It did not disclose the use which the United States intended to make of her power on this side of the Atlantic. It was a hand held up in waming, but there was no promise in it of what America was going to do with the implied and partial protectorate which she apparently was trying to set up on this side of the water, and I believe you will sustain me in the statement that it has been fears and suspicions on this score which have hitherto prevented the greater intimacy and confidence and trust between the Americas. The states of America have not been certain what the United States would do with her power. That doubt must be removed. And latterly there has been a very frank THE PAN-AMERICAN PROGRAM 301 interchange of views between the authorities in Washington and those who represented the other states of this hemi sphere, an interchange of views charming and hopeful, because based upon an increasingly sure appreciation of , the spirit in which they were undertaken. These gentle men have seen that, if America is to come into her own, into her legitimate own, in a world of peace and order, she must establish the foundations of amity, so that no one will hereafter doubt them. I hope and I believe that this can be accomplished. These conferences have enabled me to foresee how it will be ac compUshed. It will be accomplished, in the first place, by the states of America uniting in guaranteeing to each other absolutejpoliticalJuidspendenceaM-terr^^^^ In the second place, and as a necessary corollary to that, guar anteeing the agreement to settle all pending boundary dis putes as soon as possible and by amiable process ; by agree ing that all disputes among themselves, should they unhap pily arise, will be handled by patient, impartial investiga tion and settled by arbitration; and the agreement neces sary to the peace of the Americas, that no state of either continent will permit revolutionary expeditions against an other state to be fitted out on its territory, and that they will prohibit the exportation of the munitions of war for the purpose of supplying revolutionists against neighboring Governments.^ You see what our thought is, gentlemen, not only the international peace of America, but the domestic peace of America. If American states are constantly in ferment, if any of them are constantly in ferment, there wUl be a standing threat to their relations with one another. It is ^This paragraph contains the gist of proposals made by Secre tary Lansing to the Latin American governments earlier in the year. The complete text of the proposals was not published. 302 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION just as much to our interest to assist each other to the orderly processes within our own borders as it is to orderly processes in our controversies with one another. These are very practical suggestions which have sprung up in the minds of thoughtful men, and I, for my part, beUeve that they are going to lead the way to something that America has prayed for for many a generation. For they are based, in the first place, so far as the stronger states are con cerned, upon the handsome principle of self-restraint and respect for the rights of everybody. They are based upon the principles of absolute political equality among the states, equality of right, not equality of indulgence. They are based, in short, upon the solid, eternal founda tions of justice and humanity. No man can turn away from these things without turning away from the hope of the world. These are things, ladies and gentlemen, for which the world has hoped and waited with prayerful heart. God grant that it may be granted to America to lift this light on high for the illumination of the world. ARMED MERCHANTMEN 49. Extract from a Communication of Secretary Lansing to the British Ambassador.^ January 18, ipi6 (Department of State, Diplomatic Correspondence, European War Series, No. 3, p. 162) ... It is matter of the deepest interest to my Govern ment to bring to an end, if possible, the dangers to life which attend the use of submarines as at present employed in destroying enemy commerce on the high seas, since on any merchant vessel of belligerent nationality there may 1 The same note was sent to the diplomatic representatives at Washington, of Belgium, France, Italy, Japan and Russia. ARMED MERCHANTMEN .303 be citizens of the United States who have taken passage or are members of the crew, in the exercise of their recog nized rights as neutrals. I assume that your excellency's Govemment are equally solicitous to protect their nationals from the exceptional hazards which are presented by their passage on a merchant vessel through those portions of the high seas in which undersea craft of their enemy are operating. While I am fully alive to the appalling loss of life among noncombatants, regardless of age or sex, which has re sulted from the present method of destroying merchant vessels without removing the persons on board to places of safety, and while I view that practice as contrary to those humane principles which should control belligerents in the conduct of their naval operations, I do not feel that a belligerent should be deprived of the proper use of sub marines in the interruption of enemy commerce since those instruments of war have proven their effectiveness in this particular branch of warfare on the high seas. In order to bring submarine warfare within the general rules of international law and the principles of humanity without destroying its efficiency in the destruction of com merce, I believe that a formula may be found which, though it may require slight modifications of the practice generally followed by nations prior to the employment of submarines, will appeal to the sense of justice and fairness of all the belligerents in the present war. Your excellency will understand that in seeking a formula or mle of this nature I approach it of necessity from the point of view of a neutral, but I believe that it will be equally efficacious in preserving the lives of all noncombat ants on merchant vessels of belligerent nationality. My comments on this subject are predicated on the fol lowing propositions : 304 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION I. A noncombatant has a right to traverse the high seas in a merchant vessel entitled to fly a belligerent flag and to rely upon the observance of the rules of international law and principles of humanity if the vessel is approached by a naval vessel of another belligerent. 2. A merchant vessel of enemy nationality should not be attacked without being ordered to stop. 3. An enemy merchant vessel, when ordered to do so by a belligerent submarine, should immediately stop. 4. Such vessel should not be attacked after being ordered to stop unless it attempts to flee or to resist, and in case it ceases to flee or resist, the attack should discontinue. 5. In the event that it is impossible to place a prize crew on board of an enemy merchant vessel or convoy it into port, the vessel may be sunk, provided the crew and pas sengers have been removed to a place of safety. In complying with the foregoing propositions which, in my opinion, embody the principal rules, the strict observance of which will insure the life of a noncombatant on a mer chant vessel which is intercepted by a submarine, I am not unmindful of the obstacles which would be met by under sea craft as commerce destroyers. Prior to the year 1915 belligerent operations against enemy commerce on the high seas had been conducted with cruisers carrying heavy armaments. Under these con ditions international law appeared to permit a merchant vessel to carry an armament for defensive purposes without losing its character as a private commercial vessel. This right seems to have been predicated on the superior defen sive strength of ships of war, and the limitation of arma ment to have been dependent on the fact that it could not be used effectively in offense against enemy naval vessels, while it could defend the merchantmen against the generally inferior armament of piratical ships and privateers. ARMED MERCHANTMEN 305 The use of the submarine, however, has changed these relations. Comparison of the defensive strength of a cruiser and a submjirine shows that the latter, relying for protection on its power to submerge, is almost defenseless in point of construction. Even a merchant ship carrying a smaU caliber gun would be able to use it effectively for offense against a submarine. Moreover, pirates and sea rovers have been swept from the main trade charmels of the seas, and privateering has been abolished. Conse quently, the placing of guns on merchantmen at the present day of submarine warfare can be explained only on the ground of a purpose to render merchantmen superior in force to submarines and to prevent waming and visit and search by them. Any armament, therefore, on a merchant vessel would seem to have the character of an offensive armament. If a submarine is required to stop and search a merchant vessel on the high seas and, in case it is found that she is of enemy character and that conditions necessitate her destruction, to remove to a place of safety all persons on board, it would not seem just or reasonable that the submarine should be compelled, while complying with these requirements, to expose itself to almost certain destruction by the guns on board the merchant vessel. It wovdd, therefore, appear to be a reasonable and recipro- caUy just arrangement if it could be agreed by the oppos ing belUgerents that submarines should be caused to ad here strictly to the rules of international law in the matter of stopping and searching merchant vessels, determining their beUigerent nationality, arid removing the crews and passengers to places of safety before sinking the vessels as prizes of war, and that merchant vessels of beUigerent nationaUty should be prohibited and prevented from carry ing any armament whatsoever. 3o6 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION In presenting this formula as a basis for conditional dec larations by the belligerent Governments, I do so in the full conviction that your Govemment will consider prima rily the humane purpose of saving the lives of innocent people rather than the insistence upon a doubtful legal right which may be denied on account of new conditions. I should add that my Govemment is impressed with the reasonableness of the argument that a merchant vessel carry ing an armament of any sort, in view of the character of submarine warfare and the defensive weakness of under sea craft, should be held to be an auxiliary cruiser and so treated by a neutral as well as by a belligerent Govemment, and is seriously considering instructing its officials ac cordingly. THE DANGERS THAT THREATEN THE UNITED STATES 50. Extract from an Address of President Wilson. January 2p, ipi6 ^ (House Document No. 803, 64th Congress, ist Session, p. 23) . . . The times are such, gentlemen, that it is necessary that we should take common counsel together regarding them. I suppose that this country has never found itself before in so singular a position. The present situation of the world would, only a twelvemonth ago, even after the Eu ropean war had started, have seemed incredible, and yet 1 The Qeveland preparedness speech is typical of the others de livered at this time. For those delivered at New York, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Chicago, Des Moines, Topeka, Kansas City and St. Louis, see 64th Congress, ist session. House Document No. 803. THE DANGERS THAT THREATEN 307 now the things that no man anticipated have happened. The titanic struggle continues. The difficulties of the world's affairs accumulate. . . . What are the elements of the case? In the first place, and most obviously, two-thirds of the world are at war. It is not merely a European struggle; nations in the Orient have become involved, as well as nations in the West, and everywhere there seems to be creeping even upon the nations disengaged the spirit and the threat of war. All the world outside of America is on fire. Do you wonder that men's imaginations take color from the situation ? Do you wonder that there is a great reaction against war? Do you wonder that the passion for peace grows stronger as the spectacle grows more tremendous and more overwhelming? Do you wonder, on the other hand, that men's sympathies become deeply engaged on the one side or the other? For no small things are happening. This is a struggle which will determine the history of the world, I dare say, for more than a century to come. The world will never be the same again after this war is over. The change may be for weal or it may be for woe, but it will be fundamental and tremendous. And in the meantime we, the people of the United States, are the one great disengaged power, the one neutral power, finding it exceedingly difficult to be neutral, because, like men everywhere else, we are human ; we have the deep pas sions of mankind in us; we have sympathies that are as easily stirred as the sympathies of any other people; we have interests which we see being drawn slowly into the maelstrom of this tremendous upheaval. . . . . . . And all the while the nations themselves that were engaged seemed to be looking to us for some sort of ac tion, not hostile in character but sympathetic in character. Hardly a single thing has occurred in Europe which has in 3o8 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION any degree shocked the sensibilities of mankind that the Gov ernment of the United States has not been called upon by the one side or the other to protest and intervene with its moral influence, if not with its physical force. It is as if we were the great audience before whom this stupendous drama is being played out, and we are asked to comment upon the turns and crises of the plot. And not only are we the audi ence, and challenged to be the umpire so far as the opinion of the world is concerned, but all the while our own life touches these matters at many points of vital contact. . . . And America has done more than care for her own people and think of her own fortunes in these great matters. She has said ever since the time of President Monroe that she was the champion of freedom and the separate sover eignty of peoples throughout the Westem Hemisphere. She is trustee for these ideals, and she is pledged, deeply and permanently pledged, to keep these momentous promises. She not only, therefore, must play her part in keeping this conflagration from spreading to the people of the United States, she must also keep this conflagration from spreading on this side of the sea. These are matters in which our very life and our whole pride are imbedded and rooted, and we can never draw back from them. . . . I merely want to leave you with this solemn impression, that I know that we are daily treading amid the most in tricate dangers, and that the dangers that we are treading amongst are not of our making and are not under our con trol, and that no man in the United States knows what a sin gle week or a single day or a single hour may bring forth. These are solemn things to say to you but I would be un worthy of my office if I did not come out and tell you with ARMED MERCHANTMEN 309 absolute frankness just exactly what I understand the situation to be. . . . You have laid upon me this double obligation : " We are relying upon you, Mr. President, to keep us out of this war, but we are relying upon you, Mr. President, to keep the honor of the nation unstained." Do you not see that a time may come when it is impossi ble to do both of these things? Do you not see that if I am to guard the honor of the Nation I am not protecting it against itself, for we are not going to do anything to stain the honor of our own country; I am protecting it against things that I cannot control, the action of others. And where the action of others may bring us I caxmot foretell. You may count upon my heart and resolution to keep you out of the war, but you must be ready if it is necessary that I should maintain your honor. ARMED MERCHANTMEN 51. Extract from a Letter of President Wilson to Senator Stone, of Missouri. February 24, ipi6 (Congressional Record, LIII, 3318) . . . Our duty is clear. No nation, no group of nations, has the right, while war is in progress, to alter or disr^ard the principles which all nations have agreed upon in mitiga tion of the horrors and sufferings of war; and if the clear rights of American citizens should very unhappily be abridged or denied by any such action, we should, it seems to me, have in honor no choice as to what our own course shoidd be. For my own part, I can not consent to any abridgement of the rights of American citizens in any respect The 310 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION honor and self-respect of the Nation is involved. We covet peace, and shall preserve it at any cost but the loss of honor. To forbid our people to exercise their rights for fear we might be called upon to vindicate them would be a deep humiliation indeed. It would be an implicit, all but an explicit, acquiescence in the violation of the rights of mankind everywhere and of whatever nation or alle giance. It would be a deliberate abdication of our hitherto proud position as spokesmen, even amid the turmoil of war, for the law and the right. It would make everything this Government has attempted and everything that it has ac complished during this terrible struggle of nations mean ingless and futile. It is important to reflect that if in this instance we al lowed expediency to take the place of principle the door would inevitably be opened to still further concessions. Once accept a single abatement of right, and many other humiliations would certainly follow, and the whole fine fabric of international law might crumble under our hands piece by piece. What we are contending for in this mat ter is of the very essence of the things that have made America a sovereign nation. She can not yield them with out conceding her own impotency as a Nation and mak ing virtual surrender of her independent position among the nations of the world. BASES OF AMERICAN POLICY 52. Extract from an Address of President Wilson, February 26, ipi6 (Congressional Record, LIII, 3308) The point in national affairs, gentlemen, never lies along the Unes of expediency. It always rests in the field of BASES OF AMERICAN POLICY 311 principle. The United States was not founded upon any principle of expediency; it was founded upon a profound principle of human liberty and of humanity, and whenever it bases its policy upon any other foundations than those it builds on the sand and not upon the solid rock. ... It seems to me that if you do not think of the things that lie beyond and away from and disconnected from this scene in which we attempt to think and conclude, you will inevitably be led astray. I would a great deal rather know what they are talking about around quiet firesides all over this country than what they are talking about in the cloak rooms of Congress. I would a great deal rather know what the men on the trains and by the wayside and in the shops and on the farms are thinking about and yearning for than hear any of the vociferous proclamations of policy which it is so easy to hear and so easy to read by picking up any scrap of printed paper. There is only one way to hear these things, and that is constantly to go back to the foun tains of American action. Those fountains are not to be found in any recently discovered sources. America ought to keep out of this war. She ought to keep out of this war at the sacrifice of everything except this single thing upon which her character and history are founded, her sense of humanity and justice. If she sacri fices that, she has ceased to be America; she has ceased to entertain and to love the traditions which have made us pround to be Americans; and when we go about seeking safety at the expense of humanity, then I, for one, will be lieve that I have always been mistaken in what I have con ceived to be the spirit of American history. You never can tell your direction except by long measure ments. You can not establish a line by two posts ; you have got to have three at least to know whether they are straight 312 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION with anything, and the longer your line the more certain your measurement. There is only one way in which to determine how the future of the United States is going to be projected, and that is by looking back and seeing which way the Unes ran which led up to the present moment of power and of opportunity. . . . Then we shall be certain what the lines of the future are, because we shall know we are steering by the lines of the past. We shall know that no temporary convenience, no temporary expediency will lead us either to be rash or to be cowardly. . . . Valor is self- respecting. Valor is circumspect. Valor strikes only when it is right to strike. Valor withholds itself from all small implications and entanglements and waits for the great opportunity when the sword will flash as if it carried the light of heaven upon its blade. EFFECTS OF RUMOUR ON MEXICAN POLICY 53. Statement by President Wilson. March 2^, ipi6 (New York Times, March 26, 1916) As has already been announced, the expedition into Mexico was ordered under an agreement with the de facto Government of Mexico for the single purpose of taking the bandit Villa, whose forces had actually invaded the territory of the United States, and is in no sense intended as an invasion of that republic or as an infringement of its sovereignty. I have, therefore, asked the several news services to be good enough to assist the Administration in keeping this view of the expedition constantly before both the people of this country and the distressed and sensitive people of Mexico, who are very susceptible, indeed, to impressions received from the American press not only, but also very ready to believe that those impressions proceed from the EFFECTS OF RUMOUR 313 views and objects of our Govemment itself. Such con clusions, it must be said, are not unnatural, because the main, if not the oidy, source of information for the people on both sides of the border is the pubhc press of the United States. In order to avoid the creation of erroneous and danger ous impressions in this way I have caUed upon the several news agencies to use the utmost care not to give news stories regarding this expedition the color of war, to withhold stories of troop movements and miUtary preparations which might be given that interpretation, and to refrain from publishing unverified rumors of unrest in Mexico. I feel that it is most desirable to impress upon both our own people and the people of Mexjco the fact that the expedition is simply a necessary punitive measure, aimed solely at the elimination of the mjirauders who raided Columbus and who infest an unprotected district near the border, which they use as a base in making attacks ufKin the Uves and property of our citizens within our own territory. It is the purpose of our commanders to co-operate in every possible way with the forces of General Carranza in re- mo\'ing this cause of irritation to both (jovemments, and retire from Mexican territory so soon as that object is ac complished. It is my duty to warn the people of the United States that there are persons all along the border who are ac tively engaged in originating and giving as wide currency as they can to rumors of the most sensational and dis turbing sort, which are wholly tmjustified by the facts. The object of this traffic in falsehood is obvious. It is to create intolerable friction betvveen the Govemment of the United States and the de facto (Govemment of Mexico for the purpose of bringing about intervention in the interest of certain American owners of Mexican properties. This 314 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION object can not be attained so long as sane and honorable men are in control of this Government, but very serious conditions may be created, unnecessary bloodshed may re sult, and the relations between the two republics may be very much embarrassed. The people of the United States should know the sinister and unscrupulous influences that are afoot, and should be on their guard against crediting any story coming from the border; and those who disseminate the news should make it a matter of patriotism and of conscience to test the source and authenticity of every report they receive from that quarter. STATUS OF ARMED MERCHANTMEN 54. Extract from a Memorandum by the Department of State. March 25, ipi6 (Department of State, Diplomatic Correspondence, European War Series, No. 3, p. 190) The Status of an armed merchant vessel as a warship in neutral waters may be determined, in the absence of docu mentary proof or conclusive evidence of previous aggres sive conduct, by presumption derived from all the circum stances of the case. The status of such vessel as a warship on the high seas must be determined only upon conclusive evidence of ag gressive purpose, in the absence of which it is to be pre sumed that the vessel has a private and peaceable char acter, and it should be so treated by an enemy warship. In brief, a neutral Government may proceed upon the presumption that an armed merchant vessel of belligerent nationality is armed for aggression, while a belligerent should proceed on the presumption that the vessel is armed THE TRADITIONS OF AMERICA 315 for protection. Both of these presumptions may be over come by evidence — the first by secondary or collateral evi dence, since the fact to be established is negative in char acter ; the second by primary and direct evidence, since the fact to be established is positive in character. THE TRADITIONS OF AMERICA 55. Extract from, an Address of President Wilson. April ly, ipi6 (New York Times, April 18, 19x6) Tradition is a handsome thing in proportion as we live up to it. If we fall away from the tradition of the fathers, we have dishonored them. If we forget the tradition of the fathers, we have changed our character; we have lost an old impulse; we have become unconscious of the prin ciples in which the life of the nation itself is rooted and grounded. . . . No other nation was ever born into the world with the purpose of serving the rest of the world just as much as it served itself. The purpose of this nation was in one sense to afford an asylum to men of all classes and kinds who desired to be free and to take part in the administration of a self-gov erned Commonwealth. It was founded in order that men of every sort should have proof given that a Commonwealth of that sort was practicable, not only, but could win its standing of distinction and power among the nations of the world, and America will have forgotten her traditions whenever upon any occasion she fights merely for herself under such circumstances as will show that she has forgot ten to fight for all mankind. And the only excuse that America can ever have for the assertion of her physical 3i6 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION force is that she asserts it in behalf of the interest of humanity. What a splendid thing it is to have so singular a tradition — a tradition of unselfishness ! When America ceases to be unselfish, she will cease to be America. When she forgets the traditions of devotion to human rights in general, which gave spirit and impulse to her founders, she will have lost her title deeds to her own nationality. GERMAN SUBMARINE WARFARE: SUSSEX ULTIMATUM 56. Extract from a Communication of Secretary Lansing to Ambassador Gerard. April 18, ipi6 (Department of State, Diplomatic Correspondence, European War Series, No. 3, p. 241) A careful, detailed, and scrupulously impartial investiga tion ^ by naval and military officers of the United States has conclusively established the fact that the Sussex was torpedoed without warning or summons to surrender and that the torpedo by which she was struck was of German manufacture. . . . The Government of the United States, after having given careful consideration to the note of the Imperial Govern ment of the loth of April, regrets to state that the impression made upon it by the statements, and proposals contained in that note is that the Imperial Government has failed to 1 The United States asked on March 27, 19x6, for information from the German Government concerning the sinking of the Sussex. The German reply, dated April xo, 1916, is published in Department of State, Diplomatic Correspondence, European War Series, No. 3, p. 238. The Department of State, however, conducted an independent investigation and its evidence accompanied the note here published. SUSSEX ULTIMATUM 317 appreciate the gravity of the situation which has resulted, not alone from the attack on the Sussex but from the whole method and character of submarine warfare as dis closed by the unrestrained practice of the commanders of German undersea craft during the past twelvemonth and more in the indiscriminate destruction of merchant vessels of all sorts, nationalities, and destinations. If the sinking of the Sussez had been an isolated case the Government of the United States might find it possible to hope that the officer who was responsible for that act had willfully violated his orders or had been criminally negligent in taking none of the precautions they prescribed, and that the ends of justice might be satisfied by imposing upon him an ade quate punishment, coupled with a formal disavowal of the act and payment of a suitable indemnity by the Imperial Government. But, though the attack upon the Sussex was manifestly indefensible and caused a loss of life so tragical as to make it stand forth as one of the most terrible examples of the inhumanity of submarine warfare as the commanders of German vessels are conducting it, it unhappily does not stand alone. On the contrary, the Government of the United States is forced by recent events to conclude that it is only one in stance, even though one of the most extreme and most dis tressing instances, of the deliberate method and spirit of indiscriminate destruction of merchant vessels of all sorts, nationalities, and destinations which have become more and more unmistakable as the activity of German undersea vessels of war has in recent months been quickened and extended. The Imperial Government will recall that when, in February, 1915, it announced its intention of treating the waters surrounding Great Britain and Ireland as embraced within the seat of war and of destroying all merchant ships 3i8 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION owned by its enemies that might be found within that zone of danger, and warned all vessels, neutral as well as bellig erent, to keep out of the waters thus proscribed or to en ter them at their peril, the Government of the United States earnestly protested. It took the position that such a policy could not be pursued without constant gross and palpable violations of the accepted law of nations, particularly if submarine craft were to be employed as its instruments, inasmuch as the rules prescribed by that law, rules founded on the principles of humanity and estabUshed for the pro tection of the lives of noncombatants at sea, could not in the nature of the case be observed by such vessels. It based its protest on the ground that persons of neutral nationality and vessels of neutral ownership would be exposed to ex treme and intolerable risks; and that no right to close any part of the high seas could lawfully be asserted by the Im perial Government in the circumstances then existing. The law of nations in these matters, upon which the Government of the United States based that protest, is not of recent origin or founded upon merely arbitrary principles set up by convention. It is based, on the contrary, upon manifest principles of humanity and has long been established with the approval and by the express assent of all civilized na tions. The Imperial Government, notwithstanding, persisted in carrying out the policy announced, expressing the hope that the dangers involved, at any rate to neutral vessels, would be reduced to a minimum by the instructions which it had issued to the commanders of its submarines, and assuring the Government of the United States that it would take every possible precaution both to respect the rights of neu trals and to safeguard the lives of noncombatants. In pursuance of this policy of submarine warfare against the commerce of its adversaries, thus announced and thus SUSSEX ULTIMATUM 319 entered upon in despite of the solemn protest of the Gov ernment of the United States, the commanders of the Im perial Government's undersea vessels have carried on prac tices of such ruthless destruction which have made it more and more evident as the months have gone by that the Im perial Government has found it impracticable to put any such restraints upon them as it had hoped and promised to put. Again and again the Imperial Government has given its solemn assurances to the Government of the United States that at least passenger ships would not be thus dealt with, and yet it has repeatedly permitted its undersea com manders to disregard those assurances with entire impunity. As recently as February last it gave notice that it would re gard all armed merchantmen owned by its enemies as part of the armed naval forces of its adversaries and deal with them as with men-of-war, thus, at least by implication, pledging itself to give warning to vessels which were not armed and to accord security of life to their passengers and crews; but even this limitation their submarine com manders have recklessly ignored. Vessels of neutral ownership, even vessels of neutral ownership bound from neutral port to neutral port, have been destroyed along with vessels of belligerent ownership in constantly increasing numbers. Sometimes the merchant men attacked have been warned and summoned to sur render before being fired on or torpedoed ; sometimes their passengers and crews have been vouchsafed the poor se curity of being allowed to take to the ship's boats before the ship was sent to the bottom. But again and again no warn ing has been given, no escape even to the ship's boats al lowed to those on board. Great liners like the Lusitania and Arabic and mere passenger boats like the Sussex have been attacked without a moment's warning, often before they have even become aware that they were in the pres- 320 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION ence of an armed ship of the enemy, and the lives of non- combatants, passengers, and crew have been destroyed wholesale and in a manner which the Government of the United States can not but regard as wanton and without the slightest color of justification. No limit of any kind has in fact been set to their indiscriminate pursuit and destruction of merchantmen of all kinds and nationalities within the waters which the Imperial Government has chosen to designate as lying within the seat of war. The roll of Americans who have lost their lives upon ships thus at tacked and destroyed has grown month by month until the ominous toll has mounted into the hundreds. The Government of the United States has been very pa tient. At every stage of this distressing experience of tragedy after tragedy it has sought to be governed by the most thoughtful consideration of the extraordinary circum stances of an unprecedented war and to be guided by sen timents of very genuine friendship, for the people and Gov ernment of Germany. It has accepted the successive ex planations and assurances of the Imperial Government as of course given in entire sincerity and good faith, and has hoped, even against hope, that it would prove to be possible for the Imperial Government so to order and control the acts of its naval commanders as to square its policy with the recognized principles of humanity as embodied in the law of nations. It has made every allowance for un precedented conditions and has been willing to wait until the facts became unmistakable and were susceptible of only one interpretation. It now owes it to a just regard for its own rights to say to the Imperial Government that that time has come. It has become painfully evident to it that the position which it took at the very outset is inevitable, namely, the use of submarines for the destruction of an enemy's commerce. SUSSEX ULTIMATUM 321 is, of necessity, because of the very character of the vessels employed and the very methods of attack which their em ployment of course involves, utterly incompatible with the principles of humanity, the long-established and incon trovertible rights of neutrals, and the sacred immunities of noncombatants. If it is still the purpose of the Imperial Government to prosecute relentless and indiscriminate warfare against vessels of commerce by the use of submarines without re gard to what the Government of the United States must consider the sacred and indisputable rules of international law and the universally recognized dictates of humanity, the Government of the United States is at last forced to the conclusion that there is but one course it can pursue. Un less the Imperial Government should now immediately de clare and effect an abandonment of its present methods of submarine warfare against passenger and freight-carrying vessels, the Government of the United States can have no choice but to sever diplomatic relations with the German Empire altogether. This action the Government of the United States contemplates with the greatest reluctance but feels constrained to take in behalf of humanity and the rights of neutral nations. 57. Extract from, an Address of the President. April Ip, ipi6 (Congressional Record, LIII, 6422) I have deemed it my duty, therefore, to say to the Im perial German Government ^ that if it is stUl its purpose to prosecute relentless and indiscriminate warfare against ves sels of commerce by the use of submarines, notwithstanding '¦ See infra, statement No. 56, p. 321. 322 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION the now demonstrated impossibility of conducting that war fare in accordance with what the Government of the United States must consider the sacred and indisputable rules of international law and the universally recognized dictates of humanity, the Government of the United States is at last forced to the conclusion that there is but one course it can pursue; and that unless the Imperial German Government should now immediately declare and effect an abandonment of its present methods of warfare against passenger and freight-carrying vessels this Government can have no choice but to sever diplomatic relations with the Government of the German Empire altogether. This decision I have arrived at with the keenest regret; the possibility of the action contemplated I am sure aU thoughtful Americans will look forward to with unaffected reluctance. But we cannot forget that we are in some sort and by the force of circumstances the responsible spokesman of the rights of humanity, and that we can not remain silent while those rights seem in process of being swept utterly away in the maelstrom of this terrible war. We owe it to a due regard of our own rights as a nation, to our sense of duty as a representative of the rights of neutrals the world over, and to a just conception of the rights of mankind to take this stand now with the utmost solemnity and firmness. 58. Extract from a Communication of Secretary Lansing to Ambassador Gerard. May 8, ipi6 (Department of State, Diplomatic Correspondence, European War Series, No. 3, p. 306) - . . Accepting the Imperial Government's declaration ^ '¦ The German reply to the Sussex ultimatum, dated May 4, 19x6, is published in Department of State, Diplomatic Correspondence, European War Series, No. 3, p. 302. SUSSEX ULTIMATUM 323 of its abandonment of the policy which has so seriously men aced the good relations between the two countries, the Gov ernment of the United States will rely upon a scrupulous execution henceforth of the now altered policy of the Im perial Government, such as will remove the principal danger to an interruption of the good relations existing between the United States and Germany. The Government of the United States feels it necessary to state that it takes it for granted that the Imperial Ger man Government does not intend to imply that the main tenance of its newly announced policy is in any way con tingent upon the course or result of diplomatic negotiations between the Govemment of the United States and any other belligerent Government, notwithstanding the fact that cer tain passages in the Imperial Government's note of the 4th instant might appear to be susceptible of that construction. In order, however, to avoid any possible misunderstand ing, the (jOvemment of the United States notifies the Im perial Govemment that it can not for a moment entertain, much less discuss, a suggestion that respect by Grerman naval authorities for the rights of citizens of the United States upon the high seas should in any way or in the slightest degree be made contingent upon the conduct of any other Government affecting the rights of neutrals and noncom batants. Responsibility in such matters is single, not joint; absolute, not relative. 324 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION EFFECT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS UPON AMERICAN POLICY 59. Extract from an Address of President Wilson. May 15, ipi6 (Congressional Record. LIII, Appendix, 962) ... In domestic matters I think I can in most cases come pretty near a guess where the thought of America is going, but in foreign affairs the chief element is where action is going on in other quarters of the world and not where thought is going in the United States. . . . Thoughts may be bandits. Thoughts may be raiders. Thoughts may be invaders. Thoughts may be disturbers of international peace; and when you reflect upon the importance of this country keeping out of the present war, you will know what tremendous elements we are all dealing with.^ We are all in the same boat. If somebody does not keep the processes of peace going, if somebody does not keep their passions disengaged, by what impartial judgment and suggestion is the world to be aided to a solution when the whole thing is over? If you are in a conference in which you know nobody is disinterested, how are you going to make a plan? I tell you this, gentlemen, the only thing that saves the world is the little handful of disinterested men that are in it. 1 The reference is to the European War, but it also indicates the President's views on rumours regarding Mexico. See infra. Statement No. 53, p. 312. A LEAGUE OF NATIONS 325 A LEAGUE OF NATIONS 60. Extract from an Address of President Wilson. May 2/, ipi6 (Congressional Record. LIII, 8854) 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 in terests of civilization which it affects. With its causes and its objects we are not concemed. The obscure fountains from which its stupendous flood has burst forth we are not interested to search for or ex plore. 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. Our own rights as a nation, the liberties, the privileges, and the property of our people have been profoundly af fected. We are not mere disconnected lookers-on. The longer the war lasts the more deeply do we become concerned that it should be brought to an end and the world be permitted to resume its normal life and course again. And when it does come to an end we shall be as much con cerned as the nations at war to see peace assume an aspect of permanence, give promise of days from which the anxiety of uncertainty shall be lifted, bring some assurance that peace and war shall always hereafter be reckoned part of the common interest of mankind. We are participants, whether we would or not, in the life of the world. The interests of all nations are our own 326 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION also. We are partners with the rest. What affects man kind is inevitably our affair as well as the affair of the nations of Europe and of Asia. One observation on the causes of the present war we are at liberty to make, and to make it may throw some light forward upon the future as weU as backward upon the past. It is plain that this war could have come only at it did, suddenly and out of secret counsels, without waming to the world, without discussion, without any of the deliberate movements of counsel with which it would seem natural to approach so stupendous a contest. It is probable that if it had been foreseen just what would happen, just what aUiances would be formed, just what forces arrayed against one another, those who brought the great contest on would have been glad to substitute conference for force. If we ourselves had been afforded some opportunity to ap prise the belligerents of the attitude which it would be our duty to take, of the policies and practices against which we would feel bound to use all our moral and economic strength, and in certain circumstances even our physical strength also, our own contribution to the counsel which might have averted the struggle would have been considered worth weighing and regarding. And the lesson which the shock of being taken by sur prise in a matter so deeply vital to all the nations of the world has made poignantly clear is, that the peace of the world must henceforth depend upon a new and more whole some diplomacy. Only when the great nations of the world have reached some sort of agreement as to what they hold to be funda mental to their common interest, and as to some feasible method of acting in concert when any nation or group of nations seeks to disturb those fundamental things, can we A LEAGUE OF NATIONS 327 feel that civilization is at last in a way of justifying its existence and claiming to be finally established. It is clear that nations must in the future be governed by the same high code of honor that we demand of in dividuals. We must, indeed, in the very same breath with which we avow this conviction admit that we have ourselves upon occasion in the past been offenders against the law of diplomacy which we thus forecast; but our conviction is not the less clear, but rather the more clear on that ac count. If this war has accomplished nothing else for the benefit of the world, it has at least disclosed a great moral neces sity and set forward the thinking of the statesmen of the world by a whole age. Repeated utterances of the leading statesmen of most of the great nations now engaged in war have made it plain that their thought has come to this, that the principle of public right must henceforth take precedence over the individual interests of particular nations, and that the na tions of the world must in some way band themselves to gether to see that that right prevails as against any sort of selfish aggression; that henceforth alliance must not be set up against alliance, understanding against understand ing, but that there must be a common agreement for a com mon object, and that at the heart of that common object must lie the inviolable rights of peoples and of mankind. The nations of the world have become each other's neigh bors. It is to their interest that they should understand each other. In order that they may understand each other, it is imperative that they should agree to cooperate in a common cause, and that they should so act that the guid ing principle of that common cause shall be even-handed and impartial justice. 328 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION This is undoubtedly the thought of America. This is what we ourselves will say when there comes proper occa sion to say it. In the dealings of nations with one another arbitrary force must be rejected, and we must move forward to the thought of the modern world, the thought of which peace is the very atmosphere. That thought constitutes a chief part of the passionate conviction of America. We believe these fundamental things: First, that every people has a right to choose the sovereignty under which they shall live. Like other nations, we have ourselves no doubt once and again offended against that principle when for a little while controlled by selfish passion, as our franker historians have been honorable enough to admit; but it has become more and more our rule of life and ac tion. Second, that the small states of the world have a right to enjoy the same respect for their sovereignty and for their territorial integrity that great and powerful na tions expect and insist upon. And, third, that the world has a right to be free from every disturbance of its peace that has its origin in aggression and disregard of the rights of peoples and nations. So sincerely do we believe in these things that I am sure that I speak the mind and wish of the people of America when I say that the United States is willing to become a partner in any feasible association of nations formed in order to realize these objects and make them secure against violation. There is nothing that the United States wants for itself that any other nation has. We are willing, on the con trary, to limit ourselves along with them to a prescribed course of duty and respect for the rights of others which will check any selfish passion of our own, as it will check any aggressive impulses of theirs. If it should ever be our privilege to suggest or initiate a PURPOSES OF THE UNITED STATES 329 movement for peace among the nations now at war, I am sure that the people of the United States would wish their Government to move along these lines : First, such a settlement with regard to their own imme diate interests as the belligerents may agree upon. We have nothing material of any kind to ask for ourselves, and are quite aware that we are in no sense or degree parties to the present quarrel. Our interest is only in peace and its future guarantees. Second, an universal association of the nations to main tain the inviolate security of the highway of the seas for the common and unhindered use of all the nations of the world, and to prevent any war begun either contrary to treaty covenants or without warning and full submission of the causes to the opinion of the world — a virtual guaran tee of territorial integrity and political independence. PURPOSES OF THE UNITED STATES 61. Extract from an Address of President Wilson, May 30, ipi6 (Congressional Record. LIII, 9029) But what are the purposes of America? Do you not see that there is another significance in the fact that we are made up out of all the peoples of the world? The signifi cance of that fact is that we are not going to devote our nationality to the same mistaken aggressive purposes that some other nationalities have been devoted to ; that because we are made up, and consciously made up, out of all the great family of mankind, we are champions of the rights of mankind. We are not only ready to cooperate, but we are ready 330 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION to fight against any aggression, whether from without or from within. But we must guard ourselves against the sort of aggression which would be unworthy of America. We are ready to fight for our rights when those rights are coincident with the rights of man and humanity. It was to set those rights up, to vindicate them, to offer a home to every man who believed in them, that America was cre ated and her Government set up. We have kept our doors open because we did not think we in conscience could close them against men who wanted to join their force with ours in vindicating the claim of mankind to liberty and justice. America does not want any additional territory. She does not want any selfish advantage over any other nation in the world, but she does wish every nation in the world to understand what she stands for and to respect what she stands for ; and I can not conceive of any men of any blood or origin failing to feel an enthusiasm for the things that America stands for, or failing to see that they are indefi nitely elevated above any purpose of aggression or selfish advantage. I said the other evening in another place ^ that one of the principles which America held dear was that small and weak States had as much right to their sovereignty and inde pendence as large and strong States. She believes that be cause strength and weakness have nothing to do with her principles. Her principles are for the rights and liberties of mankind, and this is the haven which we have offered to those who believe that sublime and sacred creed of hu manity. And I also said that I believed that the people of the United States were ready to become partners in any al liance of the nations that would guarantee pubUc right above selfish aggression. Some of the public prints have 1 Infra, Statement No. 60, p. 325. PURPOSES OF THE UNITED STATES 331 reminded me, as if I needed to be reminded, of what Gen. Washington wamed us against. He warned us against entangling alliances. I shall never myself consent to an entangling alliance, but I would gladly assent to a disen tangling aUiance — an aUiance which would disentangle the peoples of the world from those combinations in which they seek their own separate and private interests and unite the people of the world to preserve the peace of the world upon a basis of common right and justice. There is liberty there, not limitation. There is freedom, not entanglement. There is the achievement of the highest things for which the United States has declared its principle. 62. Extract from an Address of President Wilson. June 13, ipi6 (New York Times, June 14, 1916) ... In your case there are many extraordinary possibili ties, because, gentlemen, no man can certainly tell you what the immediate future is going to be either in the history of this country or in the history of the world. It is not by accident that the present great war came in Europe. Every element was there, and the contest had to come sooner or later, and it is not going to be by accident that the results are worked out, but by purpose — by the purpose of the men who are strong enough to have guiding minds and indomitable wills when the time for decision and settlement comes. And the part that the United States is to play has this distinction in it, that it is to be in any event a dis interested part. There is nothing that the United States wants that it has to get by war, but there are a great many things that the United States has to do. It has to see 332 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION that its life is not interfered with by anybody else who wants something. These are days when we are making preparation, when the thing most commonly discussed around every sort of table, in every sort of circle, in the shops and in the streets, is preparedness, and undoubtedly, gentlemen, that is the present imperative duty of America, to be prepared. But we ought to know what we are preparing for. I remember hearing a wise man say once that the old maxim that " everything comes to the man who waits " is all very well provided he knows what he is waiting for; and prepared ness might be a very hazardous thing if we did not know what we wanted to do with the force that we mean to ac cumulate and to get into fighting shape. America, fortunately, does know what she wants to do with her force. America came into existence for a par ticular reason. When you look about upon those beautiful hills, and up this stately stream, and then let your imagina tion run over the whole body of this great country from which you youngsters are drawn, far and wide, you re member that while it had aboriginal inhabitants, while there were people living here, there was no civilization which we displaced. It was as if in the Province of God a con tinent had been kept unused and waiting for a peaceful people who loved liberty and the rights of men more than they loved anything else, to come and set up an unselfish commonwealth. It is a very extraordinary thing. You are so familiar with American history . . . that it does not seem strange to you, but it is a very strange history. There is none other like it in the whole annals of mankind — of men gathering out of every civilized nation of the world on an unused continent and building up a polity exactly to suit themselves, not under the domination of any ruling dynasty or of the ambitions of any royal family; doing what they PURPOSES OF THE UNITED STATES 333 pleased with their own life on a free space of land which God had made rich with every resource which was necessary for the civilization they meant to build up. There is nothing like it. Now, what we are preparing to do is to see that nobody mars that and that, being safe itself against interference from the outside, all of its force is going to be behind its moral idea, and mankind is going to know that when America speaks she means what she says. . . . You have read a great deal in the books about the pride of the old Roman citizen, who always felt like drawing himself to his full height when he said, " I am a Roman," but as compared with the pride that must have risen to his heart, our pride has a new distinction, not the distinction of the mere imperial power of a great empire, not the distinction of being the masters of the world, but the distinction of carry ing certain lights for the world that the world has never so distinctly seen before, certain guiding lights of liberty and principle and justice. We have drawn our people, as you know, from all parts of the world, and we have been some what disturbed recently, gentlemen, because some of those — though I believe a very small number — whom we have drawn into our citizenship have not taken into their hearts the spirit of America and have loved other countries more than they loved the country of their adoption ; and we have talked a great deal about Americanism. It ought to be a matter of pride with us to know what Americanism really consists in. Americanism consists in utterly believing in the principles of America and putting them first as above anything that might by chance come into competition with it. And I, for my part, beUeve that the American test is a spiritual test. If a man has to make excuses for what he has done as an American, I doubt his Americanism. He ought to know 334 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION at every step of his action that the motive that lies behind what he does is a motive which no American need be ashamed of for a moment. Now, we ought to put this test to every man we know. We ought to let it be known that nobody who does not put America first can consort with us. But we ought to set them the example. We ought to set them the example by thinking American thoughts, by entertaining American purposes, and those thoughts and purposes will stand the test of example anywhere in the world, for they are intended for the betterment of mankind. . . . You have heard of the Monroe Doctrine, gentlemen. You know that we are already spiritual partners with both continents of this hemisphere and that America means some thing which is bigger even than the United States, and that we stand here with the glorious power of this country, ready >to swing it out into the field of action whenever liberty and independence and political integrity are threatened anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. And we are ready — nobody has authorized me to say this, but I am sure of it — we are ready to join with the other nations of the world in seeing that the kind of justice prevails anywhere that we believe in. ... I am an American, but I do not believe that any of us loves a blustering nationality, a nationality with a chip on its shoulder, a nationality with its elbows out and its swag ger on. We love that quiet, self-respecting, unconquerable spirit which does not strike until it is necessary to strike, and then strikes to conquer. . . . So my conception of America is a conception of infinite dignity, along with quiet, unquestionable power. I ask you, gentlemen, to join with me in that conception, and let us all in our several spheres be soldiers together to realize it. JUSTICE IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 335 JUSTICE IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 63. Extract from an Address of President Wilson. June 2p, ipi6 (From the official printed text; for the entire address see Congres sional Record, LIII, Appendix, 1302) In the first place, I believe, and I summon you to show your beUef in the same thing, that it is the duty of every American in everything that he does, in his business and out of it, to think first, not of himself or of any interest which he may be called upon to sacrifice, but of the country which we serve. " America first " means nothing until you I translate it into what you do. So I believe most pro foundly in the duty of every American to exalt the national consciousness by purifying his own motives and exhibiting Jiis own devotion. I believe, in the second place, that America, the country that we put first in our thoughts, should be ready in every point of policy and of action to vindicate at whatever cost the principles of liberty, of justice, and of humanity to which we have been devoted from the first. You cheer the senti ment, but do you realize what it means ? It means that you have not only got to be just to your fellowmen but that as a nation you have got to be just to other nations. It comes high. It is not an easy thing to do. It is easy to think first of the material interest of America, but it is not easy to think first of what America, if she loves justice, ought to do in the field of international affairs. I beUeve that at what ever cost America should be just to other peoples and treat other peoples as she demands that they should treat her. She has a right to demand that they treat her with justice and respect, and she has a right to insist that they treat her in that fashion, but she can not with dignity or self-respect 336 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION insist upon that unless she is willing to act in the same fashion toward them. That I am ready to fight for at any cost to myself. Then, in the third place, touching ourselves more inti mately, my fellow-citizens, this is what I believe: If I understand the life of America, the central principle of it is this, that no small body of persons, no matter how influ ential, shall be trusted to determine the policy and develop ment of America. . . . . . . The theory of government which I decline to sub scribe to is that the vitality of the nation comes out of clos eted councils where a few men determine the policy of the country. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE OPINION OF MANKIND 64. Extract from an Address of President Wilson, June 30, ipi6 (Congressional Record, LIII, Appendix, 1395) Of course it is our duty to prepare this Nation to take care of its honor and of its institutions. Why debate any part of that, except the detail, except the plan itself, which is always debatable? Of course it is the duty of the Government, which it wiU never overlook, to defend the territory and people of this country. It goes without saying that it is the duty of the administration to have constantly in mind with the utmost sensitiveness every point of national honor. But, gentlemen, after you have said and accepted these obvious things your program of action is still to be formed. When will you act and how wUl you act? THE OPINION OF MANKIND 337 The easiest thing is to strike. The brutal thing is the impulsive thing. No man has to think before he takes aggressive action; but before a man really conserves the honor by realizing the ideals of the Nation he has to think exactly what he will do and how he will do it. Do you think the glory of America would be enhanced by a war of conquest in Mexico ? Do you think that any act of violence by a powerful nation like this against a weak and destructive neighbor would reflect distinction upon the annals of the United States ? Do you think that it is our duty to carry self-defense to a point of dictation into the affairs of another people? The ideals of America are written plain upon every page of American history. We have the evidence of a very competent witness, namely, the first Napoleon, who said that as he looked back in the last days of his life upon so much as he knew of human history he had to record the judgment that force had never accomplished anything that was permanent. Force will not accomplish anything that is permanent, I venture to say, in the great struggle which is going on on the other side of the sea. The permanent things will be accomplished afterwards, when the opinion of mankind is brought to bear upon the issues, and the only thing that will hold the world steady is this same silent, insistent, all- powerful opinion of mankind. Force can sometimes hold things steady until opinion has time to form, but no force that was ever exerted, except in response to that opinion, was ever a conquering and pre dominant force. I think the sentence in American history that I myself am proudest of is that in the introductory sentences of the Dec laration of Independence, where the writers say that a due 338 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION respect for the opinion of mankind demands that they state the reasons for what they are about to do. I venture to say that a decent respect for the opinions of mankind demanded that those who started the present European war should have stated their reasons; but they did not pay any heed to the opinion of mankind, and the reckoning will come when the settlement comes. THE PURPOSE OF THE UNITED STATES 65. Extract from an Address of President Wilson, July 4, ipi6 (Congressional Record, LIII, Appendix, 1395) . . . America did not come into existence to make one more great nation in the family of nations, to show its strength and to exercise its mastery. America opened her doors to everybody who wanted to be free and to have the same opportunity that everybody else had to make the most of his faculties and his opportunities, and America will re tain its greatness only so long as it retains and seeks to realize those ideals. No man ought to suffer injustice in America. No man ought in America to fail to see the dic tates of humanity. SERVICE OF AMERICA IN FOREIGN TRADE 66. Extract from an Address of President Wilson, July 10, ipi6 (Congressional Record, LIII, Appendix, 1480) These are days of incalculable change, my fellow citizens. It is impossible for anybody to predict anything that is AMERICA IN FOREIGN TRADE 339 certain in detail with regard to the future either of this country or of the world in the large movements of business ; but one thing is perfectly clear, and that is that the United States will play a new part, and that it will be a part of unprecedented opportunity and of greatly increased respon sibUities. The United States has had a very singular history in respect of its business relationships with the rest of the world. I have always believed — and I think you have al ways believed — that there is more business genius in the United States than anywhere else in the world, and yet America has apparently been afraid of touching too inti mately the great processes of international exchange. America of all countries in the world has been timid ; has not until recently — has not until within the last two or three years — provided itself with the fundamental instrumen talities for playing a large part in the trade of the world. America, which ought to have had the broadest vision of any nation, has raised up an extraordinary number of provincial thinkers, men who thought provincially about business, men who thought that the United States was not ready to take her competitive part in the struggle for peace ful conquest of the world. For anybody who reflects phUo sophically upon the history of this country, that is the most amazing fact about it. But the time for provincial thinkers has gone by. We must play a great part in the world whether we choose it or not. Do you know the significance of this single fact that within the last year or two we have, speaking in large terms, ceased to be a debtor Nation and become a creditor Nation; that we have more of the surplus gold of the world than we ever had before, and that our business here after is to be to lend and to help and to promote the great peaceful enterprises of the world ? We have got to finance the world in some important degree, and those who finance 340 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION the world must understand it and rule it with their spirits and with their minds. We can not cabin and confine our selves any longer, and so I said that I came here to con gratulate you upon the great role that lies ahead of you to play. This is a salesmanship congress, and hereafter sales manship will have to be closely related in its outlook and scope to statesmanship, to international statesmanship. It wUl have to be touched with an intimate comprehension of the conditions of business and enterprise throughout the round globe, because America wiU have to place her goods by running her intelligence ahead of her goods. No amount of mere push, no amount of mere hustling, or, to speak in the western language, no amount of mere rustling, no amount of mere active enterprise will suffice. There have been two ways of doing business in the world outside of the lands in which the great manufactures have been made. One has been to try to force the tastes of the manufacturing country on the country in which the markets were being sought, and the other way has been to study the tastes and needs of the countries where the markets were being sought and suit your goods to those tastes and needs, and the latter method has beaten the former method. . . . That is statesmanship because that is relating your in ternational activities to the conditions which exist in other countries. . . . You can not force yourself upon anybody who is not obliged to take you. The only way in which you can be sure of being accepted is by being sure that you have got some thing to offer that is worth taking, and the only way you can be sure of that is by being sure that you wish to adapt it to the use and the service of the people to whom you are trying to seU. I was trying to expound in another place the other day AMERICA IN FOREIGN TRADE 341 the long way and the short way to get together. The long way is to fight. I hear some gentlemen say that they want to help Mexico, and the way they propose to help her is to overwhelm her with force. That is the long way to help Mexico, as well as the wrong way, because after the fight ing you have a nation full of justified suspicion and ani mated by well-founded hostility and hatred, and then wiU you help them? Then will you establish cordial business relationships with them? Then will you go in as neighbors and enjoy their confidence ? On the contrary, you will have shut every door as if it were of steel against you. What makes Mexico suspicious of us is that she does not believe as yet that we want to serve her. She believes that we want to possess her, and she has justification for the belief in the way in which some of our fellow citizens have tried to exploit her privileges and possessions. For my part, I will not serve the ambitions of these gentlemen, but I will try to serve all America, so far as intercourse with Mexico is con cerned, by trying to serve Mexico herself. There are some things that are not debatable. Of course, we have to de fend our border. That goes without saying. Of course, we must make good our own sovereignty, but we must respect the sovereignty of Mexico. I am one of those — I have sometimes suspected that there were not many of them — who beUeve, absolutely believe, the Virginia BiU of Rights, which was the model of the old BUl of Rights, which says that a people has a right to do anything they please with their own country and their own government. I am old-fashioned enough to believe that, and I am going to stand by the belief. . . . 342 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION REVIEW OF FOUR YEARS OF FOREIGN POLICY 67. Extract from an Address of President Wilson. September 2, ipi6 (Congressional Record, LIII, Appendix, 1985) In foreign affairs we have been guided by principles clearly conceived and consistently lived up to. Perhaps they have not been fully comprehended because they have hitherto governed international affairs only in theory, not in practice. They are simple, obvious, easUy stated, and fun- diimental to American ideals. We have been neutral not only because it was the fixed and traditional policy of the United States to stand aloof from the politics of Europe and because we had had no part either of action or of poUcy in the influences which brought on the present war, but also because it was mani festly our duty to prevent, if it were possible, the indefinite extension of the fires of heat and desolation kindled by that terrible conflict and seek to serve mankind by reserving our strength and our resources for the anxious and difficult days of restoration and healing which must follow, when peace will have to buUd its house anew. The rights of our own citizens of course became involved ; that was inevitable. Where they did this was our guiding principle : That property rights can be vindicated by daims for damages, and no modern nation can decline to arbitrate such claims ; but the fundamental rights of humanity cannot be. The loss of life is irreparable. Neither can direct vio lations of a nation's sovereignty await vindication in suits for damages. The nation that violates these essential rights must expect to be checked and called to account by direct REVIEW OF FOUR YEARS 343 challenge and resistance. It at once makes the quarrel in part our own. These are plain principles and we have never lost sight of them or departed from them, whatever the stress or the perplexity of circumstance or the provocation to hasty resentment. The record is clear and consistent throughout and stands distinct and definite for any one to judge who wishes to know the truth about it. The seas were not broad enough to keep the infection of the conflict out of our own politics. The passions and in trigues of certain active groups and combinations of men amongst us who were born under foreign flags injected the poison of disloyalty into our own most critical affairs, laid violent hands upon many of our industries, and subjected us to the shame of divisions of sentiment and purpose in which America was contemned and forgotten. It is part of the business of this year of reckoning and settlement to speak plainly and act with unmistakable purpose in rebuke of these things, in order that they may be forever hereafter impossible. I am the candidate of a party, but I am above all things else an American citizen. I neither seek the fa vour nor fear the displeasure of that small alien element amongst us which puts loyalty to any foreign power before loyalty to the United States. While Europe was at war our own continent, one of our own neighbours, was shaken by revolution. In that matter, too, principle was plain and it was imperative that we should live up to it if we were to deserve the trust of any real partisan of the right as free men see it. We have professed to believe, and we do believe, that the people of smaU and weak states have the right to expect to be dealt with exactly as the people of big and powerful states would be. We have acted upon that principle in dealing with the people of Mexico. Our recent pursuit of bandits into Mexican territory was 344 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION no violation of that principle. We ventured to enter Mexi- can territory only because there were no military forces in Mexico that could protect our border from hostile attack and our own people from violence, and we have committed there no single act of hostility or interference even with the sovereign authority of the Republic of Mexico herself. It was a plain case of the violation of our own sovereignty which could not wait to be vindicated by damages and for which there was no other remedy. The authorities of Mex ico were powerless to prevent it. Many serious wrongs against the property, many irrep arable wrongs against the persons, of Americans have been committed within the territory of Mexico herself during this confused revolution, wrongs which could not be effectually checked so long as there was no constituted power in Mexico which was in a position to check them. We could not act directly in that matter ourselves without denying Mexicans the right to any revolution at all which disturbed us and making the emancipation of her own people await our own interest and convenience. For it is their emancipation that they are seeking, — blindly, it may be, and as yet ineffectually, but with profound and passionate purpose and within their unquestionable right, apply what true American principle you wUl, — any principle that an American would publicly avow. The peo ple of Mexico have not been suffered to own their own country or direct their own institutions. Outsiders, men out of other nations and with interests too often alien to their own, have dictated what their privileges and opportuni ties should be and who should control their land, their lives, and their resources, — some of them Americans, pressing for things they could never have got in their own country. The Mexican people are entitled to attempt their liberty from REVIEW OF FOUR YEARS 345 such influences; and so long as I have anything to do with the action of our great Government I shall do everything in my power to prevent any one standing in their way. I know that this is hard for some persons to understand ; but it is not hard for the plain people of the United States to understand. It is hard doctrine only for those who wish to get something for themselves out of Mexico. There are men, and noble women, too, not a few, of our own people, thank God ! whose fortunes are invested in great properties in Mexico who yet see the case with true vision and assess its issues with true American feeling. The rest can be left for the present out of the reckoning until this enslaved people has had its day of struggle towards the light. I have heard no one who was free from such influences propose interference by the United States with the internal affairs of Mexico. Certainly no friend of the Mexican people has proposed it. The people of the United States are capable of great sym pathies and a noble pity in dealing with problems of this kind. As their spokesman and representative, I have tried to act in the spirit they would wish me show. The people of Mexico are striving for the rights that are fundamental to life and happiness, — fifteen million oppressed men, over burdened women, and pitiful children in virtual bondage in their own home of fertUe lands and inexhaustible treasure 1 Some of the leaders of the revolution may often have been mistaken and violent and selfish, but the revolution itself was inevitable and is right. The unspeakable Huerta be trayed the very comrades he served, traitorously overthrew the government of which he was a trusted part, impudently spoke for the very forces that had driven his people to the rebellion with which he had pretended to sympathize. The men who overcame him and drove him out represent at least 346 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION the fierce passion of reconstruction which lies at the very heart of liberty; and so long as they represent, however imperfectly, such a struggle for deliverance, I am ready to serve their ends when I can. So long as the power of recog nition rests with me the Government of the United States will refuse to extend the hand of welcome to any one who obtains power in a sister republic by treachery and violence. No permanency can be given the affairs of any republic by a title based upon intrigue and assassination. I declared that to be the policy of this Administration within three weeks after I assumed the presidency. I here again vow it. I am more interested in the fortunes of oppressed men and pitiful women and children than in any property rights what ever. Mistakes I have no doubt made in this perplexing business, but not in purpose or object. More is involved than the immediate destinies of Mexico and the relations of the United States with a distressed and distracted people. All America looks on. Test is now be ing made of us whether we be sincere lovers of popular liberty or not and are indeed to be trusted to respect national sovereignty among our weaker neighbors. We have un dertaken these many years to play big brother to the repub lics of this hemisphere. This is the day of our test whether we mean, or have ever meant, to play that part for our own benefit wholly or also for theirs. Upon the outcome of that test (its outcome in their minds, not in ours) depends every relationship of the United States with Latin America, whether in politics or in commerce and enterprise. These are great issues and lie at the heart of the gravest tasks of the future, tasks both economic and political and very intimately inwrought with many of the most vital of the. new issues of the politics of the world. The republics of America have in the last three years been drawing together in a new spirit of accommodation, mutual understanding. REVIEW OF FOUR YEARS 347 and cordial cooperation. Much of the politics of the world in the years to come will depend upon their relationships with one another. It is a barren and provincial statesman ship that loses sight of such things 1 The future, the immediate future, wiU bring us squarely face to face with many great and exacting problems which will search us through and through whether we be able and ready to play the part in the world that we mean to play. It will not bring us into their presence slowly, gently, with ceremonious introduction, but suddenly and at once, the mo ment the war in Europe is over. They will be new prob lems, most of them; many will be old problems in a new setting and with new elements which we have never dealt with or reckoned the force and meaning of before. They wiU require for their solution new thinking, fresh courage and resourcefulness, and in some matters radical reconsider ations of policy. We must be ready to mobilize our re sources alike of brains and of materials. It is not a future to be afraid of. It is, rather, a future to stimulate and excite us to the display of the best powers that are in us. We may enter it with confidence when we are sure that we understand it, — and we have provided our selves already with the means of understanding it. Look first at what it will be necessary that the nations of the world should do to make the days to come tolerable and fit to live and work in ; and then look at our part in what is to follow and our own duty of preparation. For we must be prepared both in resources and in policy. There must be a just and settled peace, and we here in America must contribute the full force of our enthusiasm and of our authority as a nation to the organization of that peace upon world-wide foundations that cannot easily be shaken. No nation should be forced to take sides in any quarrel in which its own honour and integrity and the for- 348 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION tunes of its own people are not involved ; but no nation can any longer remain neutral as against any wilful disturbance of the peace of the world. The effects of war can no longer be confined to the areas of battle. No nation stands wholly apart in interest when the life and interests of all nations are thrown into confusion and peril. If hopeful and gen erous enterprise is to be renewed, if the healing and helpful arts of life are indeed to be revived when peace comes again, a new atmosphere of justice and friendship must be gener ated by means the world has never tried before. The na tions of the world must unite in joint guarantees that what ever is done to disturb the whole world's life must first be tested in the court of the whole world's opinion before it is attempted. These are the new foundations the world must build for itself, and we must play our part in the reconstruction, gen erously and without too much thought of our separate inter ests. We must make ourselves ready to play it intelligently, vigorously, and well. One of the contributions we must make to the world's peace is this: We must see to it that the people in our insular possessions are treated in their own lands as we would treat them here, and make the rule of the United States mean the same thing everywhere, — the same justice, the same consideration for the essential rights of men. THE GREAT OPPORTUNITY 349 THE GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR THE UNITED STATES TO SERVE THE WORLD 68. Extract from an Address of President Wilson. September 4, ipi6 (Congressional Record, LIII, Appendix, 2160) . . . The commands of democracy are as imperative as its privileges and opportunities are wide and generous. Its compulsion is upon us. It will be great and lift a great light for the guidance of the nations only if we are great and carry that light high and for the guidance of our own feet. We are not worthy to stand here unless we ourselves be in deed and in truth real democrats and servants of mankind, ready to give our very lives for the freedom and justice and spiritual exaltation of the great nation which shelters and nurtures us. 69. Extract from an Address of President Wilson.^ September 2^, ipi6 (From the official printed copy ; for the entire address see New York Times, September 26, 1916) America has stood in the years past for that sort of political understanding among men which would let every man feel that his rights were the same as those of another and as good as those of another, and the mission of America in the field of the world's commerce is to be the same, that when an American comes into that competition he comes without any arms that would enable him to conquer by force, but only with those peaceful influences of intelligence, a desire to serve, a knowledge of what he is about, before '¦ Statements Nos. 69 to 78 inclusive are speeches delivered by Mr. Wilson in his campaign for the presidency in 1916. 350 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION which everything softens and yields and renders itself sub ject. That is the mission of America, and my interest, so far as my small part in American affairs is concemed, is to lend every bit of intelligence I have to this interesting, this vital, this all-important matter of releasing the intelligence of America for the service of mankind. 70. Extract from an Address of President Wilson. October 5, ipi6 (New York Times, October 6, 19x6) . . . We have never yet sufficiently formulated our pro gram for America with regard to the part she is going to play in the world, and it is imperative that she should formu late it at once. But, in order to carry out a program, you must have a unification of spirit and purpose in America which no influence can invade. In making that program what are we to say to ourselves ? And what are we to say to the world ? It is very important that the statesmen of other parts of the world should under stand America. America Has held off from the present con flict with which the rest of the world is ablaze, not because she was not interested, not because she was indifferent, but because the part she wanted to play was a different part from that. The singularity of the present war is that its origin and objects never have been disclosed. They have obscure Eu ropean roots which we do not know how to trace. So great a conflagration could not have broken out if the tinder had not been there, and the spark in danger of falling at any time. We were not the tinder. The spark did not come from us. It will take the long inquiry of history to explain this war. THE GREAT OPPORTUNITY 351 But Europe ought not to misunderstand us. We are holding off, not because we do not feel concerned, but be cause when we exert the force of this nation we want to know what we are exerting it for. You know that we have always remembered and revered the advice of the great Washington, who advised us to avoid foreign entanglements. By that I understand him to mean avoid being entangled in the ambitions and the national purposes of other nations. It does not mean — if I may be permitted to venture an interpretation of the meaning of that great man — that we are to avoid the entanglements of the world, for we are part of the world, and nothing that concerns the whole world can be indifferent to us. We want always to hold the force of America to fight for what? Not merely for the rights of property or of national ambition, but for the rights of mankind. 71. Extract from an Address of President Wilson, October 5, ipi6 (New York Times, October 6, 19x6) America up to the present time has been, as if by delib erate choice, confined and provincial, and it will be impos sible for her to remain confined and provincial. Henceforth she belongs to the world and must act as part of the world, and aU of the attitudes of America will henceforth be altered. The extraordinary circumstances that for the next dec ade, at any rate — after that it will be a matter of our own choice whether it continues or not — but for the next decade, at any rate, we have got to serve the world. That alters every commercial question, it alters every political question, 352 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION it alters every question of domestic development. The men who insist upon going on to do the old things in the old way are going to be at the tail end of the procession. The sign of our destiny has at last become as wide as the horizon. And the thing that we have to be careful about is that we do this thing in a new way. It has hitherto been done by those who wanted to exploit the world. It has got to be done now in a way that will deserve the confidence of the world. American character, as well as American enterprise, is going to be put to the test. American ideals are for the first time to be exhibited upon a world-wide scale, American purposes are going to be tested by the purposes of mankind, and not by the purposes of national ambition. "^2, Extract from an Address of President Wilson. October 7, ipi6 (New York Times. October 8, 19x6) . . . We are indeed at a critical juncture in the affairs of the world, and the affairs of the world touch America very nearly. She does not stand apart. Her people are made up out of the peoples of the world. Her sympathies are as broad as the extended stocks of national Governments. There is nothing human that does not concern her. 73. Extract from an Address of President Wilson. October 12, ipi6 (New York Times, October 13, 1916) I have said, and shall say again, that when the great present war is over it will be the duty of America to join with the other nations of the world in some kind of league for the maintenance of peace. Now, America was not a THE GREAT OPPORTUNITY 353 party to this war, and the only terms upon which we will be admitted to a league, almost all the other powerful mem bers of which were engaged in the war and made infinite sacrifices when we apparently made none, are the only terms which we desire, namely, that America shall not stand for national aggression, but shall stand for the just conceptions and bases of peace, for the competitions of merit alone, and for the generous rivalry of liberty. Are we ready always to be the friends of justice, of fair ness, of liberty, of peace, and of those accommodations which rest upon justice and peace? In these two trying years that have just gone by we have forborne, we have not allowed provocation to disturb our judgments, we have seen to it that America kept her poise when all the rest of the world seemed to have lost its poise. Only upon the terms of retaining that poise and using the splendid force which always comes with poise can we hope to play the beneficent part in the history of the world which I have just now intimated. 74. Extract from an Address of President Wilson. October 14, ipi6 (New York Times, October 15, 19x6) I want you to realize the part that the United States must play. It has been said, my fellow-citizens, been said with cruel emphasis in some quarters, that the people of the United States do not want to fight about anything. . . . But the people of the United States want to be sure what they are fighting about, and they want to be sure that they are fighting for the things that wiU bring to the world justice and peace. Define the elements ; let us know that we are not fighting for the prevalence of this nation over that, for the 354 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION ambitions of this group of nations as compared with the ambitions of that group of nations; let us once be con vinced that we are caUed in to a great combination to fight for the rights of mankind, and America wUl unhe her force and spill her blood for the great things which she has always believed in and followed. America is always ready to fight for things which are American. She does not permit herself to be embroUed, but she does know what it would be to be challenged. And when once she is challenged, there is not a man in the United States, I venture to say, sq mean, so forgetful of the great heritage of this nation, that he would not give everything he possessed, including life itself, to stand by the honor of this nation. What Europe is beginning to realize is that we are saving ourselves for something greater that is to come. We are saving ourselves in order that we may unite in that final league of nations in which it shall be understood that there is no neutrality where any nation is doing wrong, in that final league of nations which must, in the providence of God, come into the world where nation shall be leagued with nation in order to show all mankind that no man may lead any nation into acts of aggression without having all the other nations of the world leagued against it. 75. Extract from an Address of President Wilson. October 16, ipi6 (New York Times. October 17, 1916) So far America has concentrated her thought too much upon herself. So far she has thought too much of her in ternal development merely without forecasting what use she is going to make of the great power which she has accumu- THE GREAT OPPORTUNITY 355 lated. And now, by circumstances which she did not choose, over which she had no control, she has been thrust out into the great game of mankind, on the stage of the world it self, and here she must know what she is about, and no nation in the world must doubt that all her forces are gath ered and organized in the interest of justice, righteousness, and humane govemment. . . . 76. Extract from an Address of President Wilson. October 26, ipi6 (New York Times, October 27, 1916) . . . What I intend to preach from this time on is that America must show that as a member of the family of na tions she has the same attitude toward the other nations that she wishes her people to have toward each other : That America is going to take this position, that she will lend her moral influence, not only, but her physical force, if other nations will join her, to see to it that no nation and no group of nations tries to take advantage of another nation or group of nations, and that the only thing ever fought for is the common rights of humanity. A great many men are complaining that we are not fight ing now in order to get something — not something spiri tual, not a right, not something we could be proud of, but something we could possess and take advantage of and trade on and profit by. They are complaining that the Govemment of the United States has not the spirit of other Governments, which is to put the force, the army and navy, of that Govemment behind investments in foreign countries. Just so certainly as you do that, you join this chaos of competing and hostile ambitions. Have you ever heard what started the present war? If you have, I wish you would publish it, because nobody else 356 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION has, so far as I can gather. Nothing in particular started it, but everything in general. There had been growing up in Europe a mutual suspicion, an interchange of conjec tures about what this Government and that Government was going to do, an interlacing of alliances and understand ings, a complex web of intrigue and spying, that presently was sure to entangle the whole of the family of mankind on that side of the water in its meshes. Now, revive that after this war is over and sooner or later you will have just such another war, and this is the last war of the kind or of any kind that involves the world that the United States can keep out of. I say that because I believe that the business of neutrality is over; not because I want it to be over, but I mean this, that war now has such a scale that the position of neu trals sooner or later becomes intolerable. Just as neutral ity would be intolerable to me if I lived in a community where everybody had to assert his own rights by force and I had to go around among my neighbors and say : " Here, this cannot last any longer ; let us get together and see that nobody disturbs the peace any more." That is what so ciety is and we have not yet a society of nations. We must have a society of nations, not suddenly, not by insistence, not by any hostile emphasis upon the de mand, but by the demonstration of the needs of the time. The nations of the world must get together and say, " No body can hereafter be neutral as respects the disturbance of the world's peace for an object which the world's opinion can not sanction." The world's peace ought to be disturbed if the fundamental rights of humanity are invaded, but it ought not to be disturbed for any other thing that I can think of, and America was established in order to indi cate, at any rate in one Government, the fundamental rights of man. America must hereafter be ready as a member of THE GREAT OPPORTUNITY 357 the family of nations to exert her whole force, moral and physical, to the assertion of those rights throughout the round globe. "jy. Extract from an Address of President Wilson, October 28, ipi6 (New York Times, October 29, 1916) We have peace, we have a peace founded upon the def inite understanding that the United States, because it is powerful, self-possessed, because it has definite objects does not need to make a noise about them; because it knows that it can vindicate its right at any time, does not have to proclaim its right in terms of violent exaggeration. We have determined, whether we get the respect of the rest of the world or not, that we wUl deserve it by the way in which we act. 78. Extract from an Address of President Wilson, November 4, ipi6 (New York Times, November 5, 1916) The world will never be again what it has been. The United States will never be again what it has been. The United States was once in enjoyment of what we used to call splendid isolation. The three thousand miles of the Atlantic seemed to hold all European affairs at arm's length from us. The great spaces of the Pacific seemed to dis close no threat of influence upon our politics. Now, from across the Atlantic and from across the Pacific we feel to the quick the influences which are af fecting ourselves, and, in the meantime, whereas we used to be always in search of assistance and stimulation from out 358 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION of other countries, always in search of the capital of other countries to assist our investments, depending upon foreign markets for the sale of our securities, now we have bought in more than 50 per cent of those securities ; we have become not the debtors but the creditors of the world, and in what other nations used to play in promoting industries which ex tended as wide as the world itself, we are playing the guiding part. We can determine to a large extent who is to be financed and who is not to be financed. That is the reason I say that the United States will never be again what it has been. So it does not suffice to look, as some gentlemen are looking, back over their shoulders, to suggest that we do again what we did when we were provincial and isolated and unconnected with the great forces of the world, for now we are in the great drift of humanity which is to determine the politics of every country in the world. With this outlook, is it worth while to stop to think of party advantage ? Is it worth stopping to think of how we have voted in the past? We are now going to vote, if we be men with eyes open that can see the world, as those who wish to make a new America in a new world mean the same old thing for mankind that it meant when this great Republic was set up ; mean hope and justice and righteous judgment and unselfish action. Why, my feUow-citizens, it is an un precedented thing in the world that any nation in determin ing its foreign relations should be unselfish, and my ambi tion is to see America set the great example ; not only a great example morally, but a great example intellectually. Every man who has read and studied the great annals of this country may feel his blood warm as he feels these great forces of humanity growing stronger and stronger, not only, but knowing better and better from decade to decade how to concert action and unite their strength. In the days to come A LEAGUE OF NATIONS 359 men will no longer wonder how America is going to work out her destiny, for she will have proclaimed to them that her destiny is not divided from the destiny of the world; that her purpose is justice and love of mankind. A LEAGUE OF NATIONS 79. Extract from a Communication of Secretary Lansing to the United States representatives at the capitals of the belligerent powers. December 18, ipi6 (Congressional Record, LIV, 633) The President suggests that an early occasion be sought to caU out from allthe nations now at war such an avowal of their respective views as to the terms upon which the war might be concluded and the arrangements which would be deemed satisfactory as a guaranty against its renewal or the kindling of any similar conflict in the future as would make it possible frankly to compare them. He is indifferent as to the means taken to accomplish this. He would be happy himself to serve, or even to take the initiative in its accom plishment, in any way that might prove acceptable, but he has no desire to determine the method or the instrumentality. One way will be as acceptable to him as another if only the great object he has in mind be attained. He takes the liberty of calling attention to the fact that the objects which the statesmen of the belligerents on both sides have in mind in this war are virtually the same, as stated in general terms to their own people and to the world. Each side desires to make the rights and privileges of weak peoples and small states as secure against aggression or denial in the future as the rights and privileges of the great and powerful states now at war. Each wishes itself to be 36o STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION made secure in the future, along with all other nations and peoples, against the recurrence of wars like this, and against aggression of selfish interference of any kind. Each would be jealous of the formation of any more rival leagues to preserve an uncertain balance of power amidst multiplying suspicions ; but each is ready to consider the formation of a league of nations to insure peace and justice throughout the world. Before that final step can be taken, however, each deems it necessary first to settle the issues of the present war upon terms which will certainly safeguard the independence, the territorial integrity, and the political and commercial freedom of the nations involved. In the measures to be taken to secure the future peace of the world, the people and Government of the United States are as vitally and as directly interested as the Governments now at war. Their interest, moreover, in the means to be adopted to relieve the smaller and weaker peoples of the world of the peril of wrong and violence is as quick and ardent as that of any other people or Government. They stand ready, and even eager, to cooperate in the accomplish ment of these ends, when the war is over, with every influ ence and resource at their command. But the war must first be concluded. The terms upon which it is to be concluded they are not at liberty to suggest ; but the President does feel that it is his right and his duty to point out their intimate interests in its conclusion, lest it should presently be too late to accomplish the greater things which lie beyond its con clusion, lest the situation of neutral nations, now exceedingly hard to endure, be rendered altogether intolerable, and lest, more than all, an injury be done civilization itself which can never be atoned for or repaired. The President therefore feels altogether justified in sug gesting an immediate opportunity for a comparison of views as to the terms which must precede those ultimate arrange- A LEAGUE OF NATIONS 361 ments for the peace of the world, which all desire and in which the neutral nations as well as those at war are ready to play their full responsible part. If the contest must con tinue to proceed towards undefined ends by slow attrition, until the one group of belligerents or the other is exhausted, if million after million of human lives must continue to be offered up until on the one side or the other there are no more to offer, if resentments must be kindled that can never cool and despairs engendered from which there can be no recovery, hopes of peace and of the willing concert of free peoples will be rendered vain and idle. The life of the entire world has been profoundly affected. Every part of the great family of mankind has felt the burden and terror of this unprecedented contest of arms. No nation in the civilized world can be said in truth to stand outside its infiuence or to be safe against its disturbing effects. And yet the concrete objects for which it is being waged have never been definitely stated. The leaders of the several belligerents have, as has been said, stated those objects in general terms. But, stated in general terms, they seem the same on both sides. Never yet have the authoritative spokesmen of either side avowed the precise objects which would, if attained, satisfy them and their people that the war had been fought out. The world has been left to conjecture what definite results, what actual exchange of guaranties, what political or territorial changes or readjustments, what stage of military success even, would bring the war to an end. It may be that peace is nearer than we know; that the terms which the belligerents on the one side and on the other would deem it necessary to insist upon are not so irrecon cilable as some have feared ; that an interchange of views would clear the way at least for conference and make the permanent concord of the nations a hope of the imme- 362 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION diate future, a concert of nations immediately practicable. The President is not proposing peace ; he is not even offer ing mediation. He is merely proposing that soundings be taken in order that we may learn, the neutral nations with the belligerents, how near the haven of peace may be for which all mankind longs with an intense and increasing long ing. He believes that the spirit in which he speaks and the objects which he seeks will be understood by all concerned, and he confidently hopes for a response which will bring a new light into the affairs of the world.^ FOUNDATIONS OF PEAC:E 80. Address of President Wilson. January 22, ipij (Congressional Record, LIV, 1741) Gentlemen of the Senate: On the eighteenth of Decem ber last I addressed an identic note to the Governments of the nations now at war requesting them to state, more defi nitely than they had yet been stated by either group of bel ligerents, the terms upon which they would deem it possible to make peace. I spoke on behalf of humanity and of the rights of all neutral nations like our own, many of whose most vital interests the war puts in constant jeopardy. The Central Powers united in a reply which stated merely that they were ready to meet their antagonists in conference to discuss terms of peace. The Entente Powers have re plied much more definitely and have stated, in general terms, indeed, but with sufficient definiteness to imply details, the arrangements, guarantees and acts of reparation which they deem to be the indispensable conditions of a satisfactory set tlement. We are that much nearer a definite discussion of the '¦ The replies of the various governments are published in the Current History, New York Times, V, 783-790. FOUNDATIONS OF PEACE 363 peace which shall end the present war. We are that much nearer the discussion of the international concert which must thereafter hold the world at peace. In every discussion of the peace that must end this war it is taken for granted that that peace must be followed by some definite concert of power which will make it virtually impossible that any such catastrophe should ever overwhelm us again. Every lover of mankind, every sane and thoughtful man must take that for granted. I have sought this opportunity to address you because I thought that I owed it to you, as the council associated with me in the final determination of our international obligations, to disclose to you without reserve the thought and purpose that have been taking form in my mind in regard to the duty of our Govemment in the days to come when it will be necessary to lay afresh and upon a new plan the foundations of peace among the nations. It is inconceivable that the people of the United States should play no part in that great enterprise. To take part in such a service will be the opportunity for which they have sought to prepare themselves by the very principles and purposes of their polity and the approved practices of their Government ever since the days when they set up a new nation in the high and honorable hope that it might in all that it was and did show mankind the way to liberty. They cannot in honor withhold the service to which they are now about to be challenged. They do not wish to withhold it. But they owe it to themselves and to the other nations of the world to state the conditions under which they will feel free to render it. That service is nothing less than this, to add their author ity and their power to the authority and force of other na tions to guarantee peace and justice throughout the world. Such a settlement cannot now be long postponed. It is 364 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION right that before it comes this Government should frankly formulate the conditions upon which it would feel justified in asking our people to approve its formal and solemn ad herence to a league for peace. I am here to attempt to state those conditions. The present war must first be ended; but we owe it to candor and to a just regard for the opinion of mankind to say that so far as our participation in guarantees of fu ture peace is concerned, it makes a great deal of difference in what way and upon what terms it is ended. The treaties and agreements which bring it to an end must embody terms which will create a peace that is worth guaranteeing and pre serving, a peace that will win the approval of mankind, not merely a peace that will serve the several interests and im mediate aims of the nations engaged. We shall have no voice in determining what those terms shall be, but we shall, I feel sure, have a voice in determining whether they shaU be made lasting or not by the guarantees of a universal cov enant; and our judgment upon what is fundamental and es sential as a condition precedent to permanency should be spoken now, not afterward, when it may be too late. No covenant of cooperative peace that does not include the peoples of the New World can suffice to keep the future safe against war; and yet there is only one sort of peace that the peoples of America could join in guaranteeing. The elements of that peace must be elements that engage the con fidence and satisfy the principles of the American Govern ments, elements consistent with their political faith and the practical convictions which the peoples of America have once for all embraced and undertaken to defend. I do not mean to say that any American Government would throw any obstacle in the way of any terms of peace the Governments now at war might agree upon, or seek to upset them when made, whatever they might be. I only FOUNDATIONS OF PEACE 365 take it for granted that mere terms of peace between the belligerents will not satisfy even the belligerents themselves. Mere agreements may not make peace secure. It will be absolutely necessary that a force be created as a guarantor of the permanency of the settlement so much greater than the force of any nation now engaged or any alliance hitherto formed or projected that no nation, no probable combina tion of nations could face or withstand it. If the peace presently to be made is to endure it must be a peace made secure by the organized major force of mankind. The terms of the immediate peace agreed upon will de termine whether it is a peace for which such a guarantee can be secured. The question upon which the whole future peace and policy of the world depends is this : Is the pres ent war a struggle for a just and secure peace, or only for a new balance of power? If it be only a struggle for a new balance of power, who will guarantee, who can guarantee, the stable equilibrium of the new arrangement? Only a tranquil Europe can be a stable Europe. There must be, not only a balance of power, but a community of power ; not or ganized rivalries, but an organized common peace. Fortunately we have received very explicit assurances on this point. The statesmen of both of the groups of nations now arrayed against one another have said, in terms that could not be misinterpreted, that it was no part of the pur pose they had in mind to crush their antagonists. But the implications of these assurances may not be equally clear to all, — may not be the same on both sides of the water. I think it wiU be serviceable if I attempt to set forth what we understand them to be. They imply, first of all, that it must be a peace without victory. It is not pleasant to say this. I beg that I may be permitted to put my own interpretation upon it and that it may be understood that no other interpretation was in my 366 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION thought. I am seeking only to face realities and to face them without soft concealments. Victory would mean peace forced upon the loser, a victor's terms imposed upon the vanquished. It would be accepted in humiliation, under duress, at an intolerable sacrifice, and would leave a sting, a resentment, a bitter memory upon which terms of peace would rest, not permanently, but only as upon quicksand. Only a peace between equals can last. Only a peace the very principle of which is equality and common participa tion in a common benefit. The right state of mind, the right feeling between nations, is as necessary for a lasting peace as is the just settlement of vexed questions of territory or of racial and national allegiance. The equality of nations upon which peace must be founded if it is to last must be an equality of rights ; the guarantees exchanged must neither recognize nor imply a difference be tween big nations and small, between those that are power ful and those that are weak. Right must be based upon the common strength, not upon the individual strength, of the nations upon whose concert peace will depend. Equality of territory or of resources there of course cannot be; nor any sort of equality not gained in the ordinary peaceful and legitimate development of the peoples themselves. But no one asks or expects anything more than an equality of rights. Mankind is looking now for freedom of life, not for equi poise of power. And there is a deeper thing involved than even equality of right among organized nations. No peace can last, or ought to last, which does not recognize and accept the principle that governments derive all their just powers from the con sent of the governed, and that no right anywhere exists to hand peoples about from sovereignty to sovereignty as if they were property. I take it for granted, for instance, if I may venture upon a single example, that statesmen every- FOUNDATIONS OF PEACE 367 where are agreed that there should be a united, independent and autonomous Poland, and that henceforth inviolable se curity of life, of worship and of industrial and sociaL devel opment should be guaranteed to all peoples who have lived hitherto under the power of governments devoted to a faith and purpose hostile to their own. I speak of this, not because of any desire to exalt an ab stract political principle which has always been held very dear by those who have sought to build up liberty in Amer ica, but for the same reason that I have spoken of the other conditions of peace. which seem to me clearly indispensable, — because I wish frankly to uncover realities. Any peace which does not recognize and accept this principle will in evitably be upset. It will not rest upon the affections or the convictions of mankind. The ferment of spirit of whole populations will fight subtly and constantly against it, and all the world will sympathize. The world can be at peace only if its life is stable, and there can be no stabUity where the will is in rebellion, where there is not tranquillity of spirit and a sense of justice, of freedom and of right. So far as practicable, moreover, every great people now struggling towards a full development of its resources and of its powers should be assured a direct outlet to the great highways of the sea. Where this cannot be done by the cession of territory, it can no doubt be done by the neutral ization of direct rights of way under the general guarantee which wiU assure the peace itself. With a right comity of arrangement no nation need be shut away from free access to the open paths of the world's commerce. And the paths of the sea must alike in law and in fact be free. The freedom of the seas is the sine qua non of peace, equality, and cooperation. No doubt a somewhat radical reconsideration of many of the rules of international prac tice hitherto sought to be established may be necessary in 368 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION order to make the seas indeed free and common in prac tically all circumstances for the use of mankind, but the mo tive for such changes is convincing and compelling. There can be no trust or intimacy between the peoples of the world without them. The free, constant, unthreatened intercourse of nations is an essential part of the process of peace and of development. It need not be difficult either to define or to secure the freedom of the seas if the governments of the world sincerely desire to come to an agreement con cerning it. It is a problem closely connected with the limitation of naval armaments and the cooperation of the navies of the world in keeping the seas at once free and safe. And the question of limiting naval armaments opens the wider and perhaps more difficult question of the limitation of armies and of all programs of military preparation. Difficult and delicate as these questions are, they must be faced with the utmost candor and decided in a spirit of real accom modation if peace is to come with healing in its wings, and come to stay. Peace cannot be had without concession and sacrifice. There can be no sense of safety and equality among the nations if great preponderating armaments are henceforth to continue here and there to be built up and maintained. The statesmen of the world must plan for peace and nations must adjust and accommodate their policy to it as they have planned for war and made ready for piti less conquest and rivalry. The question of armaments, whether on land or sea, is the most immediately and in tensely practical question connected with the future fortunes of nations and of mankind. I have spoken upon these great matters without reserve and with the utmost explicitness because it has seemed to me to be necessary if the world's yearning desire for peace was anywhere to find free voice and utterance. Perhaps FOUNDATIONS OF PEACE 369 I am the only person in high authority amongst all the peo ples of the world who is at liberty to speak and hold noth ing back. I am speaking as an individual, and yet I am speaking also, of course, as the responsible head of a great Government, and I feel confident that I have said what the people of the United States would wish me to say. May I not add that I hope and believe that I am in ef fect speaking for liberals and friends of humanity in every nation and of every program of liberty? I would fain be Ueve that I am speaking for the silent mass of mankind everywhere who have as yet had no place or opportunity to speak their real hearts out concerning the death and ruin they see to have come already upon the persons and the homes they hold most dear. And in holding out the expectation that the people and Government of the United States will join the other civ ilized nations of the world in guaranteeing the permanence of peace upon such terms as I have named, I speak with the greater boldness and confidence because it is clear to every man who can think that there is in this promise no breach in either our traditions or our policy as a nation, but a fulfilment, rather, of all that we have professed or striven for. I am proposing, as it were, that the nations should with one accord adopt the doctrine of President Monroe as the doctrine of the world: that no nation should seek to ex tend its polity over any other nation or people, but that every people should be left free to determine its own polity, its own way of development, unhindered, unthreatened, unafraid, the little along with the great and powerful. I am proposing that all nations henceforth avoid en tangling alliances which would draw them into competi tions of power, catch them in a net of intrigue and selfish rivalry, and disturb their own affairs with influences in- 370 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION truded from without. There is no entangling aUiance in a concert of power. When all unite to act in the same sense and with the same purpose all act in the common interest and are free to live their own Hves under a common pro tection. I am proposing government by the consent of the gov erned ; that freedom of the seas which in international con ference after conference representatives of the United States have urged with the eloquence of those who are the convinced disciples of liberty ; and that moderation of arm aments which makes of armies and navies a power for order merely, not an instrument of aggression or of selfish violence. These are American principles, American policies. We could stand for no others. And they are also the principles and policies of forward looking men and women every where, and of every modern nation, of every enlightened community. They are the principles of mankind and must prevail. SEVERANCE OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH GERMANY 8i. Address of President Wilson. February 3, ipi^ (Congressional Record, LIV, 2578) Gentlemen of the Congress : The Imperial German Gov ernment on the thirty-first of January announced to this Government and to the governments of the other neutral na tions that on and after the first day of February, the present month, it would adopt a policy with regard to the use of submarines against all shipping seeking to pass through certain designated areas of the high seas to which it is clearly my duty to call your attention. Let me remind the Congress that on the eighteenth of SEVERANCE OF RELATIONS WITH GERMANY 371 April last, in view of the sinking on the twenty-fourth of March of the cross-channel passenger steamer Sussex by a German submarine, without summons or warning, and the consequent loss of the lives of several citizens of the United States who were passengers aboard her, this Government addressed a note to the Imperial German Government in which it made the following declaration : " If it is still the purpose of the Imperial (]k)vernment to prosecute relentless and indiscriminate warfare against vessels of commerce by the use of submarines without re gard to what the Government of the United States must consider the sacred and indisputable rules of international law and the universally recognized dictates of humanity, the Government of the United States is at last forced to the conclusion that there is but one course it can pursue. Un less the Imperial Government should now immediately de clare and effect an abandonment of its present methods of submarine warfare against passenger and freight carrying vessels, the Government of the United States can have no choice but to sever diplomatic relations with the German Empire altogether." In reply to this declaration the Imperial German Gov ernment gave this Government the following assurance : " The German Government is prepared to do its utmost to confine the operations of war for the rest of its duration to the fighting forces of the beUigerents, thereby also in suring the freedom of the seas, a principle upon which the German Government believes now, as before, to be in agree ment with the Government of the United States. "The German Government, guided by this idea, notifies the Government of the United States that the German naval forces have received the following orders: In accordance with the general principles of visit and search and destruc tion of merchant vessels recognized by international law. 372 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION such vessels, both within and without the area declared as naval war zone, shall not be sunk without warning and without saving human lives, unless these ships attempt to escape or offer resistance. " But," it added, " neutrals can not expect that Germany, forced to fight for her existence, shall, for the sake of neutral interest, restrict the use of an effective weapon if her enemy is permitted to continue to apply at will methods of warfare violating the rules of international law. Such a demand would be incompatible with the character of neutrality, and the German Government is convinced that the Government of the United States does not think of making such a demand, knowing that the Government of the United States has repeatedly declared that it is deter mined to restore the principle of the freedom of the seas, from whatever quarter it has been violated." To this the Government of the United States replied on the eighth of May, accepting, of course, the assurances given, but adding: " The Government of the United States feels it necessary to state that it takes it for granted that the Imperial Ger man Government does not intend to imply that the main tenance of its newly announced policy is in any way con tingent upon the course or result of diplomatic negotiations between the Govemment of the United States and any other belligerent Government, notwithstanding the fact that certain passages in the Imperial Government's note of the 4th instant might appear to be susceptible of that construc tion. In order, however, to avoid any possible misunder standing, the Government of the United States notifies the Imperial Government that it cannot for a moment entertain, much less discuss, a suggestion that respect by German naval authorities for the rights of citizens of the United States upon the high seas should in any way or in the slight- SEVERANCE OF RELATIONS WITH GERMANY 373 est degree be made contingent upon the conduct of any other Government affecting the rights of neutrals and non- combatants. Responsibility in such matters is single, not joint; absolute, not relative." To this note of the eighth of May the Imperial German Government made no reply. On the thirty-first of January, the Wednesday of the pres ent week, the German Ambassador handed to the Secretary of State, along with a formal note, a memorandum which contained the following statement : " The Imperial Government, therefore, does not doubt that the Government of the United States wiU understand the situation thus forced upon Germany by the Entente Allies' brutal methods of war and by their determination to de stroy the Central Powers, and that the Government of the United States will further realize that the now openly dis closed intentions of the Entente Allies give back to Ger many the freedom of action which she reserved in her note addressed to the Government of the United States on May 4, 1916. " Under these circumstances Germany will meet the iUegal measures of her enemies by forcibly preventing after Feb ruary I, 1917, in a zone around Great Britain, France, Italy, and in the eastem Mediterranean, all navigation, that of neutrals included, from and to England and from and to France, etc., etc. All ships met within the zone will be France, etc., etc. All ships met within the zone will be sunk." I think that you will agree with me that, in view of this declaration, which suddenly and without prior intimation of any kind deliberately withdraws the solemn assurance given in the Imperial Government's note of the fourth of May, 1916, this Government has no alternative consistent with the dignity and honor of the United States but to take the course which, in its note of the eighteenth of AprU, 1916, it announced that it would take in the event 374 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION that the German Government did not declare and effect an abandonment of the methods of submarine warfare which it was then employing and to which it now purposes again to resort. I have, therefore, directed the Secretary of State to an nounce to his Excellency the German Ambassador that aU diplomatic relations between the United States and the German Empire are severed, and that the American Am bassador at Berlin will immediately be withdrawn; and, in accordance with this decision, to hand to His Excellency his passports.^ Notwithstanding this unexpected action of the German Government, this sudden and deeply deplorable renunciation of its assurances, given this Government at one of the most critical moments of tension in the relations of the two Gov ernments, I refuse to believe that it is the intention of the German authorities to do in fact what they have warned us they will feel at liberty to do. I cannot bring myself to be lieve that they will indeed pay no regard to the ancient friendship between their people and our own or to the solemn obligations which have been exchanged between them and destroy American ships and take the lives of American citi zens in the willful prosecution of the ruthless naval pro gramme they have announced their intention to adopt. Only actual overt acts on their part can make me believe it even now. If this inveterate confidence on my part in the sobriety and prudent foresight of their purpose should unhappily prove unfounded; if American ships and American lives should in fact be sacrificed by their naval commanders in heedless contravention of the just and reasonable under standings of international law and the obvious dictates of humanity, I shall take the liberty of coming again before the ^The German Ambassador left Washington, February 13, 1917. ARMED NEUTRALITY 375 Congress, to ask that authority be given me to use any means that may be necessary for the protection of our sea men and our people in the prosecution of their peaceful and legitimate errands on the high seas. I can do nothing less. I take it for granted that all neutral governments will take the same course. We do not desire any hostile confiict with the Imperial German Government. We are the sincere friends of the German people and earnestly desire to remain at peace with the Government which speaks for them. We shall not be lieve that they are hostile to us unless and until we are obliged to believe it; and we purpose nothing more than the reasonable defense of the undoubted rights of our peo ple. We wish to serve no selfish ends. We seek merely to stand true alike in thought and in action to the imme morial principles of our people which I sought to express in my address to the Senate only two weeks ago, — seek merely to vindicate our right to liberty and justice and an unmolested life. These are the bases of peace, not war. God grant that we may not be challenged to defend them by acts of willful injustice on the part of the Government of Germany 1 ARMED NEUTRALITY 82. Extract from an Address of President Wilson. February 26, ipi/ (Congressional Record, LIV, 4272) Gentlemen of the Congress : I have again asked the priv ilege of addressing you, because we are moving through critical times, during which it seems to me to be my duty to keep in close touch with the houses of Congress so that neither counsel nor action shall run at cross purposes be tween us. On the third of February I officially informed you of the 376 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION sudden and unexpected action of the Imperial German Gov ernment in declaring its intention to disregard the prom ises it had made to this Government in April last and under take immediate submarine operations against all com merce, whether of belligerents or of neutrals, that should seek to approach Great Britain and Ireland, the Atlantic coasts of Europe, or the harbors of the eastern Mediter ranean, and to conduct those operations without regard to the established restrictions of international practice, with out regard to any considerations of humanity even, which might interfere with their object. That policy was forth with put into practice. It has now been in active execution for nearly four weeks. Its practical results are not fully disclosed. The com merce of other neutral nations is suffering severely, but not, perhaps, very much more severely than it was already suf fering before the first of February, when the new policy of the Imperial Government was put into operation. We have asked the cooperation of the other neutral Governments to prevent these depredations, but so far none of them has thought it wise to join us in any common course of action. Our own commerce has suffered, is suffering, rather in ap prehension than in fact, rather because so many of our ships are timidly keeping to their home ports than because Ameri can ships have been sunk. In sum, therefore, the situation we find ourselves in with regard to the actual conduct of the German submarine war fare against commerce, and its effects upon our own ships and people, is substantially the same that it was when I ad dressed you on the third of February, except for the tying up of our shipping in our own ports because of the unwUl- ingness of our ship-owners to risk their vessels at sea with out insurance or adequate protection, and the very serious ARMED NEUTRALITY 377 congestion of our commerce which has resulted, a congestion which is growing rapidly more and more serious every day. This in itself might presently accomplish, in effect, what the new German submarine orders were meant to accom plish, so far as we are concerned. We can only say, there fore, that the overt act which I have ventured to hope the German commanders would in fact avoid has not occurred. But, while this is happily true, it must be admitted that there have been certain additional indications and expres sions of purpose on the part of the German press and the German authorities which have increased rather than les sened the impression that, if our ships and our people are spared, it wiU be because of fortunate circumstances or be cause the commanders of the German submarines which they may happen to. encounter exercise an unexpected dis cretion and restraint rather than because of the instruc tions under which those commanders are acting. It would be foolish to deny that the situation is fraught with the gravest possibilities and dangers. No thoughtful man can fail to see that the necessity for definite action may come at any time, if we are in fact, and not in word merely, to de fend our elementary rights as a neutral nation. It would be most imprudent to be unprepared. I cannot in such circumstances be unmindful of the fact that the expiration of the term of the present Congress is immediately at hand, by constitutional limitation; and that it would in all likelihood require an unusual length of time to assemble and organize the Congress which is to succeed it. I feel that I ought, in view of that fact, to obtain from you full and immediate assurance of the authority which I may need at any moment to exercise. No doubt I already possess that authority without special warrant of law, by the plain implication of my constitutional duties and powers ; but I prefer, in the present circumstances, not to act upon gen- 378 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION eral implication. I wish to feel that the authority and the power of the Congress are behind me in whatever it may become necessary for me to do. We are jointly the serv ants of the people and must act together and in their spirit, so far as we can divine and interpret it. No one doubts what it is our duty to do. We must de fend our commerce and the lives of our people in the midst of the present trying circumstances, with discretion, but with clear and steadfast purpose. Only the . method and the extent remain to be chosen, upon the occasion, if oc casion should indeed arise. Since it has unhappily proved impossible to safeguard our neutral rights by diplomatic means against the unwarranted infringements they are suf fering at the hands of Germany, there may be no recourse but to armed neutrality, which we shall know how to main tain and for which there is abundant American precedent. It is devoutly to be hoped that it wiU not be necessary to put armed force anywhere into action. The American people do not desire it, and our desire is not different from theirs. I am sure that they will understand the spirit in which I am now acting, the purpose I hold nearest my heart and would wish to exhibit in everything I do. I am anxious that the people of the nations at war also should understand and not mistrust us. I hope that I need give no further proofs and assurances than I have already given throughout nearly three years of anxious patience that I am the friend of peace and mean to preserve it for America so long as I am able. I am not now proposing or contemplating war or any steps that lead to it. I merely request that you will accord me by your own vote and definite bestowal the means and the authority to safeguard in practice the right of a great people who are at peace and who are desirous of exercising none but the rights of peace to follow the pursuit of peace in quietness and goodwill, — rights recognized time ARMED NEUTRALITY 379 out of mind by all the civilized nations of the world. No course of my choosing or of theirs will lead to war. War can come only by the wilful acts and aggressions of others. You wUl understand why I can make no definite pro posals or forecasts of action now and must ask for your supporting authority in the most general terms. The form in which action may become necessary cannot yet be fore seen. I believe that the people wUl be willing to trust me to act with restraint, with prudence, and in the true spirit of amity and good faith that they have themselves displayed throughout these trying months ; and it is in that belief that I request that you will authorize me to supply our merchant ships with defensive arms, should that become necessary, and with the means of using them, and to employ any other instrumentalities or methods that may be necessary and ade quate to protect our ships and our people in their legitimate and peaceful pursuits on the seas. I request also that you wiU grant me at the same time, along with the powers I ask, a sufficient credit to enable me to provide adequate means of protection where they are lacking, including adequate insur ance against the present war risks. I have spoken of our commerce and of the legitimate er rands of our people on the seas, but you will not be misled as to my main thought, the thought that lies beneath these phrases and gives them dignity and weight. It is not of material interests merely that we are thinking. It is, rather, of fundamental human rights, chief of all the right of Ufe itself. I am thinking, not only of the rights of Americans to go and come about their proper business by way of the sea, but also of something much deeper, much more fundamental than that. I am thinking of those rights of humanity without which there is no civiUzation. My theme is of those great principles of compassion and of 38o STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION protection which mankind has sought to throw about human lives, the lives of non-combatants, the lives of men who are peacefully at work keeping the industrial processes of the world quick and vital, the lives of women and children and of those who supply the labor which ministers to their sustenance. We are speaking of no selfish material right but of rights which our hearts support and whose foundation is that righteous passion for justice upon which all law, all structures alike of family, of state, and of mankind must rest, and upon the ultimate base of our existence and our liberty. I cannot imagine any man with American prin ciples at his heart hesitating to defend these things.^ GENERAL FOREIGN POLICY 83. Extract from the Inaugural Address of President Wilson. March 5, ipi/ (From the official printed text ; for the entire address see New York Times. March 6, 19x7) . . . We stand firm in armed neutrality, since it seems that in no other way we can demonstrate what it is we insist upon and cannot forego. We may even be drawn on, by circum stances, not by our own purpose or desire, to a more active assertion of our rights as we see them and a more immediate association with the great struggle itself. But nothing wUl alter our thought or our purpose. They are too clear to be obscured. They are too deeply rooted in the principles of our national life to be altered. We desire neither conquest nor advantage. We wish nothing that can be had only at the cost of another people. We have always professed un- 1 For the action by Congress upon the request contained in this note, see infra, p. 141. For the President's comment on the action of the minority in the Senate, see Current History, New York Times, VI, 51. GENERAL FOREIGN POLICY 381 selfish purpose and we covet the opportunity to prove that our professions are sincere. , . . We are provincials no longer. The tragical events of the thirty months of vital turmoil through which we have just passed have made us citizens of the world. There can be no turning back. Our own fortunes as a nation are in volved, whether we would have it so or not. And yet we are not the less Americans on that account. We shall be the more American if we but remain true to the principles in which we have been bred. They are not the principles of a province or of a single continent. We have known and boasted all along that they were the prin ciples of a liberated mankind. These, therefore, are the things we shall stand for, whether in war or in peace : That all nations are equaUy interested in the peace of the world and in the political stability of free peoples, and equally responsible for their maintenance ; That the essential principle of peace is the actual equality of nations in all matters of right or privilege ; That peace cannot securely or justly rest upon an armed balance of power ; That Governments derive all their just powers from the consent of the governed and that no other powers should be supported by the common thought, purpose, or power of the family of nations ; That the seas should be equally free and safe for the use of all peoples, under rules set up by common agreement and consent, and that, so far as practicable, they should be accessible to all upon equal terms ; That national armaments should be limited to the necessi ties of national order and domestic safety ; That the community of interest and of power upon which peace must henceforth depend imposes upon each nation the duty of seeing to it that all influences proceeding from its 382 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION own citizens meant to encourage or assist revolution in other states should be sternly and effectually suppressed and prevented. NECESSITY OF WAR WITH GERMANY 84. Address of President Wilson. April 2, ipiy (House Document No. i, 6sth Congress, ist Session) Gentlemen of the Congress : I have called the Congress into extraordinary session because there are serious, very serious, choices of policy to be made, and made immediately, which it was neither right nor constitutionally permissible that I should assume the responsibility of making. On the third of February last I officially laid before you the extraordinary announcement of the Imperial German Government that on and after the first day of February it was its purpose to put aside all restraints of law or of humanity and use its submarines to sink every vessel that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain and Ireland or the western coasts of Europe or any of the ports controlled by the enemies of Germany within the Mediter ranean. That had seemed to be the object of the German submarine warfare earlier in the war, but since April of last year the Imperial Govemment had somewhat restrained the commanders of its undersea craft in conformity with its promise then given to us that passenger boats should not be sunk and that due warning would be given to all other vessels which its submarines might seek to destroy, when no resistance was offered or escape attempted, and care taken that their crews were given at least a fair chjince to save their lives in their open boats. The precautions taken were meagre and haphazard enough, as was proved in distressing instance after instance in the progress of the cruel and NECESSITY OF WAR WITH GERMANY 383 unmanly business, but a certain degree of restraint was observed. The new policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels of every kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their destination, their errand, have been ruth lessly sent to the bottom without warning and without thought of help or mercy for those on board, the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those of belligerents. Even hospital ships and ships carrying relief to the sorely bereaved and stricken people of Belgium, though the latter were provided with safe conduct through the proscribed areas by the German Govemment itself and were distinguished by unmistakable marks of identity, have been sunk with the same reckless lack of compassion or of principle. I was for a little while unable to believe that such things would in fact be done by any government that had hitherto subscribed to the humane practices of civilized nations. International law had its origin in the attempt to set up some law which would be respected and observed upon the seas, where no nation had right of dominion and where lay the free highways of the world. By painful stage after stage has that law been built up, with meagre enough results, indeed, after all was accomplished that could be accom pUshed, but always with a clear view, at least, of what the heart and conscience of mankind demanded. This mini mum of right the German Government has swept aside under the plea of retaliation and necessity and because it had no weapons which it could use at sea except those which it is impossible to employ as it is employing them without throwing to the winds all scruples of humanity or of respect for the understandings that were supposed to underlie the intercourse of the world. I am not now thinking of the loss of property involved, immense and serious as that is, but only of the wanton and wholesale destruction of the lives of non-combatants, men, women, and children, engaged in 384 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION pursuits which have always, even in the darkest periods of modern history, been deemed innocent and legitimate. Property can be paid for ; the lives of peaceful and innocent people cannot be. The present German submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare against mankind. It is a war against all nations. American ships have been sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has stirred us very deeply to learn of, but the ships and people of other neutral and friendly nations have been sunk and over whelmed in the waters in the same way. There has been no discrimination. The challenge is to all mankind. Each nation must decide for itself how it will meet it. The choice we make for ourselves must be made with a moderation of counsel and a temperateness of judgment befitting our char acter and our motives as a nation. We must put excited feeling away. Our motive will not be revenge or the vic torious assertion of the physical might of the nation, but only the vindication of right, of human right, of which we are only a single champion. When I addressed the Congress ori the twenty-sixth of February last I thought that it would suffice to assert our neutral rights with arms, our right to use the seas against unlawful interference, our right to keep our people safe against unlawful violence. But armed neutrality, it now appears, is impracticable. Because submarines are in effect outlaws when used as the German submarines have been used against merchant shipping, it is impossible to defend ships against their attacks as the law of nations has assumed that merchantmen would defend themselves against priva teers or cruisers, visible craft giving chase upon the open sea. It is common prudence in such circumstances, grim necessity indeed, to endeavor to destroy them before they have shown their own intention. They must be dealt with upon sight, if dealt with at all. The German Government NECESSITY OF WAR WITH GERMANY 385 denies the right of neutrals to use arms at all within the areas of the sea which it has proscribed, even in the defense of rights which no modern publicist has ever before ques tioned their right to defend. The intimation is conveyed that the armed guards which we have placed on our merchant ships will be treated as beyond the pale of law and subject to be dealt with as pirates would be. Armed neutrality is ineffectual enough at best ; in such circumstances and in the face of such pretensions it is worse than ineffectual: it is likely only to produce what it was meant to prevent; it is practically certain to draw us into the war without either the rights or the effectiveness of belligerents. There is one choice we cannot make, we are incapable of making : we will not choose the path of submission and suffer the most sacred rights of our nation and our people to be ignored or vio lated. The wrongs against which we now array ourselves are no common wrongs ; they cut to the very roots of human Hfe. With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character of the step I am taking and of the grave responsi bilities which it involves, but in unhesitating obedience to what I deem my constitutional duty, I advise that the Con gress declare the recent course of the Imperial German Gov emment to be in fact nothing less than war against the government and people of the United States ; that it formally accept the status of belligerent which has thus been thrust upon it; and that it take immediate steps not only to put the country in a more thorough state of defense but also to exert all its power and employ all its resources to bring the Government of the German Empire to terms and end the war. What this will involve is clear. It will involve the utmost practicable cooperation in counsel and action with the governments now at war with Germany, and, as incident 386 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION to that, the extension to those governments of the most liberal financial credits, in order that our resources may so far as possible be added to theirs. It will involve the organ ization and mobilization of all the material resources of the country to supply the materials of war and serve the incidental needs of the nation in the most abundant and yet the most economical and efficient way possible. It will involve the immediate full equipment of the navy in aU respects but particularly in supplying it with the best means of dealing with the enemy's submarines. It will involve the immediate addition to the armed forces of the United States already provided for by law in case of war at least five hundred thousand men, who should, in my opinion, be chosen upon the principle of universal liability to service, and also the authorization of subsequent additional increments of equal force so soon as they may be needed and can be handled in training. It will involve also, of course, the granting of adequate credits to the Government, sustained, I hope, so far as they can equitably be sustained by the present generation, by well conceived taxation. I say sustained so far as may be equitable by taxation because it seems to me that it would be most unwise to base the credits which will now be necessary entirely on money borrowed. It is our duty, I most respectfully urge, to pro tect our people so far as we may against the very serious hardships and evils which would be likely to arise out of the inflation which would be produced by vast loans. In carrying out the measures by which these things are to be accomplished we should keep constantly in mind the wis dom of interfering as little as possible in our own prepara tion and in the equipment of our own military forces with the duty, — for it will be a very practical duty, — of supply ing the nations already at war with Germany with the materials which they can obtain only from us or by our NECESSITY OF WAR WITH GERMANY 387 assistance. They are in the field and we should help them in every way to be effective there. I shall take the liberty of suggesting, through the several executive departments of the Government, for the consid eration of your committees, measures for the accomplish ment of the several objects I have mentioned. I hope that it wiU be your pleasure to deal with them as having been framed after very careful thought by the branch of the Government upon which the responsibility of conducting the war and safeguarding the nation will most directly fall. While we do these things, these deeply momentous things, let us be very clear, and make very clear to all the world what our motives and our objects are. My own thought has not been driven from its habitual and normal course by the unhappy events of the last two months, and I do not believe that the thought of the nation has been altered or clouded by them. I have exactly the same things in mind now that I had in mind when I addressed the Senate on the twenty-second of January last ; the same that I had in mind when I addressed the Congress on the third of February and on the twenty-sixth of February. Our object now, as then, is to vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the life of the world as against selfish and autocratic power and to set up amongst the really free and self-governed peoples of the world such a concert of purpose and of action as will henceforth ensure the observance of those principles. Neu trality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the world is involved and the freedom of its peoples, and the menace to that peace and freedom lies in the existence of autocratic governments backed by organized force which is controlled wholly by their will, not by the will of their people. We have seen the last of neutrality in such cir cumstances. We are at the beginning of an age in which it wiU be insisted that the same standards of conduct and of 388 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION responsibility for wrong done shall be observed among na tions and their governments that are observed among the individual citizens of civilized states. We have no quarrel with the German people. We have no feeling towards them but one of sympathy and friendship. It was not upon their impulse that their government acted in entering this war. It was not with their previous knowl edge or approval. It was a war determined upon as wars used to be determined upon in the old, unhappy days when peoples were nowhere consulted by their rulers and wars were provoked and waged in the interest of dynasties or of little groups of ambitious men who were accustomed to use their feUow men as pawns and tools. Self-governed nations do not fill their neighbor states with spies or set the course of intrigue to bring about some critical posture of affairs which will give them an opportunity to strike and make con quest. Such designs can be successfuly worked out only under cover and where no one has the right to ask questions. Cunningly contrived plans of deception or aggression, car ried, it may be, from generation to generation, can be worked out and kept from the light only within the privacy of courts or behind the carefully guarded confidences of a narrow and privileged class. They are happily impossible where public opinion commands and insists upon full information concerning all the nation's affairs. A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained ex cept by a partnership of democratic nations. No autocratic government could be trusted to keep faith within it or ob serve its covenants. It must be a league of honor, a part nership of opinion. Intrigue would eat its vitals away ; the plottings of inner circles who could plan what they would and render account to no one would be a corruption seated at its very heart. Only free peoples can hold their purpose and their honor steady to a common end and pre- NECESSITY OF WAR WITH GERMANY 389 fer the interests of mankind to any narrow interest of their own. Does not every American feel that assurance has been added to our hope for the future peace of the world by the wonderful and heartening things that have been happening within the last few weeks in Russia ? Russia was known by those who knew it best to have been always in fact demo cratic at heart, in all the vital habits of her thought, in aU the intimate relationships of her people that spoke their nat ural instinct, their habitual attitude towards life. The au tocracy that crowned the summit of her political structure, long as it had stood and terrible as was the reality of its power, was not in fact Russian in origin, character, or pur pose ; and now it has been shaken off and the great, gener ous Russian people have been added in all their naive maj esty and might to the forces that are fighting for freedom in the world, for justice, and for peace. Here is a fit part ner for a League of Honor. One of the things that has served to convince us that the Prassian autocracy was not and could never be our friend is that from the very outset of the present war it has filled our unsuspecting communities and even our offices of gov ernment with spies and set criminal intrigues everywhere afoot against our national unity of counsel, our peace within and without, our industries and our commerce. Indeed it is now evident that its spies were here even before the war began; and it is unhappily not a matter of conjecture but a fact proved in our courts of justice that the intrigues which have more than once come perUously near to disturbing the peace and dislocating the industries of the country have been carried on at the instigation, with the support, and even under the personal direction of official agents of the Im perial Government accredited to the Government of the United States. Even in checking these things and trying 390 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION to extirpate them we have sought to put the most generous interpretation possible upon them because we knew that their source lay, not in any hostile feeling or purpose of the German people towards us (who were, no doubt as ignorant of them as we ourselves were), but only in the selfish de signs of a Government that did what it pleased and told its people nothing. But they have played their part in serving to convince us at last that that Government entertains no real friendship for us and means to act against our peace and security at its convenience. That it means to stir up enemies against us at our very doors the intercepted note to the German Minister at Mexico City is eloquent evidence. We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose because we know that in such a government, foUowing such methods, we can never have a friend ; and that in the presence of its organized power, always lying, in wait to accomplish we know not what purpose, there can be no assured security for the democratic governments of the world. We are now about to accept gauge of battle with this natural foe to lib erty and shall, if necessary, spend the whole force of the nation to check and nullify its pretensions and its power. We are glad, now that we see the facts with no veil of false pretence about them, to fight thus for the ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its peo ples, the German peoples included: for the rights of na tions great and small and the privilege of men everywhere to choose their way of life and of obedience. The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no ma terial compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights of man kind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been NECESSITY OF WAR WITH GERMANY 391 made as secure as the faith and the freedom of nations can make them. Just because we fight without rancor and without self ish object, seeking nothing for ourselves but what we shall wish to share with all free peoples, we shall, I feel confi dent, conduct our operations as belligerents without pas sion and ourselves observe with proud punctilio the prin ciples of right and fair play we profess to be fighting for. I have said nothing of the governments allied with the Imperial Government of Germany because they have not made war upon us or challenged us to defend our right and our honor. The Austro-Hungarian Government has, in deed, avowed its unqualified endorsement and acceptance of the reckless and lawless submarine warfare adopted now without disguise by the Imperial German Government, and it has therefore not been possible for this Government to receive Count Tarnowski, the Ambassador recently accred ited to this Government by the Imperial and Royal Govern ment of Austria-Hungary; but that Government has not actually engaged in warfare against citizens of the United States on the seas, and I take the liberty, for the present at least, of postponing a discussion of our relations with the authorities at Vienna. We enter this war only where we are clearly forced into it because there are no other means of defending our rights. It will be all the easier for us to conduct ourselves as beUigerents in a high spirit of right and fairness because we act without animus, not in enmity towards a people or with the desire to bring any injury or disadvantage upon them, but only in armed opposition to an irresponsible gov ernment which has thrown aside all considerations of hu manity and of right and is running amuck. We are, let me say again, the sincere friends of the German people, and shaU desire nothing so much as the early re-establish- 392 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION ment of intimate relations of mutual advantage between us, — however hard it may be for them, for the time being, to believe that this is spoken from our hearts. We have borne with their present government through aU these bitter months because of that friendship, — exercising a patience and for bearance which would otherwise have been impossible. We shaU, happily, stiU have an opportunity to prove that friend ship in our daily attitude and actions towards the millions of men and women of German birth and native sympathy who live amongst us and share our life, and we shall be proud to prove it towards all who are in fact loyal to their neighbors and to the Government in the hour of test. They are, most of them, as true and loyal Americans as if they had never known any other fealty or aUegiance. They will be prompt to stand with us in rebuking and restraining the few who may be of a different mind and purpose. If there should be disloyalty, it will be dealt with with a firm hand of stern repression ; but, if it lifts its head at all, it will lift it only here and there and without countenance except from a lawless and malignant few. It is a distressing and oppressive duty. Gentlemen of the Congress, which I have performed in thus addressing you. There are, it may be, many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disas trous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance. But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts, — for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own gov ernments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peo ples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free. To such a task we can dedi- SPEAK, ACT, AND SERVE TOGETHER 393 eate our lives and our fortunes, everything that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she can do no other. SPEAK, ACT, AND SERVE TOGETHER 85. Extract from a Statement of President Wilson. April 75, ipi/ (From the official printed text ; for the entire statement see Congres sional Record [Daily], LV, 711) My FeUow Countrymen : The entrance of our own beloved country into the grim and terrible war for democracy and human rights which has shaken the world creates so many problems of national life and action which call for immediate consideration and set tlement that I hope you will permit me to address to you a few words of earnest counsel and appeal with regard to them. We are rapidly putting our navy upon an effective war footing and are about to create and equip a great army, but these are the simplest parts of the great task to which we have addressed ourselves. There is not a single selfish ele ment, so far as I can see, in the cause we are fighting for. We are fighting for what we believe and wish to be the rights of mankind and for the future peace and security of the world. To do this great thing worthily and successfully we must devote ourselves to the service without regard to profit or material advantage and with an energy and intel ligence that will rise to the level of the enterprise itself. We mu3t realize to the full how great the task is and how 394 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION many things, how many kinds and elements of capacity and service and self-sacrifice it involves. These, then, are the things we must do, and do well, be sides fighting, — the things without which mere fighting would be fruitless : We must supply abundant food for ourselves and for our armies and our seamen not only but also for a large part of the nations with whom we have now made common cause, in whose support and by whose sides we shall be fighting; We must supply ships by the hundreds out of our ship yards to carry to the other side of the sea, submarines or no submarines, what wUl every day be needed there, and abundant materials out of our fields and our mines and our factories with which not only to clothe and equip our own forces on land and sea but also to clothe and support our people for whom the gallant fellows under arms can no longer work, to help clothe and equip the armies with which we are cooperating in Europe and to keep the looms and manufactories there in raw materials; coal to keep the fires going in ships at sea and in the furnaces of hundreds of factories across the sea ; steel out of which to make arms and ammunition both here and there; rails for worn out railways back of the fighting fronts; locomotives and roll ing stock to take the place of those every day going to pieces ; mules, horses, cattle for labor and for military service; everything with which the people of England and France and Italy and Russia have usually supplied themselves, but cannot now afford the men, the materials, or the machinery to make. It is evident to every thinking man that our industries, on the farms, in the shipyards, in the mines, in the factories, must be made more prolific and more efficient than ever and that they must be more economically managed and bet- SPEAK, ACT, AND SERVE TOGETHER 395 ter adapted to the particular requirements of our task than they have been ; and what I want to say is that the men and the women who devote their thought and their energy to these things will be serving the country and conducting the fight for peace and freedom just as truly and just as effec tively as the men on the battlefield or in the trenches. The industrial forces of the country, men and women alike, will be a great national, a great international, service army, — a notable and honored host engaged in the service of the nation and the world, the efficient friends and sav iors of free men everywhere. Thousands, nay, hundreds of thousands, of men otherwise liable to military service wiU of right and of necessity be excused from that service and assigned to the fundamental, sustaining work of the fields and factories and mines, and they will be as much part of the great patriotic forces of the nation as the men under fire. . . . Let every man and every woman assume the duty of careful, provident use and expenditure as a public duty, as a dictate of patriotism which no one can now expect ever to be excused or forgiven for ignoring. In the hope that this statement of the needs of the na tion and of the world in this hour of supreme crisis may stimulate those to whom it comes and remind aU who need reminder of the solemn duties of a time such as the world has never seen before, I beg that aU editors and publishers everywhere will give as prominent publication and as wide circulation as possible to this appeal. I venture to suggest, also, to all advertising agencies that they would perhaps render a very substantial and timely service to the country if they would give it widespread repetition. And I hope that clergymen will not think the theme of it an unworthy or in- 396 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION appropriate subject of comment and homily from their pulpits. The supreme test of the nation has come. We must all speak, act, and serve together! PURPOSES AND OBJECTS OF THE UNITED STATES 86. A Letter of President Wilson to Representative Heflin, of Alabama. May 22, ipi/ (Official Bulletin. Washington, May 23, 19x7) It is incomprehensible to me how any frank or honest person could doubt or question my position with regard to the war and its objects. I have again and again stated the very serious and long-continued wrongs which the Imperial German Government has perpetrated against the rights, the commerce, and the citizens of the United States. The list is long and overwhelming. No nation that respected itself or the rights of humanity could have borne those wrongs any longer. Our objects in going into the war have been stated with equal clearness. The whole of the conception, which I take to be the conception of our fellow countrymen with regard to the outcome of the war and the terms of its settlement I set forth with the utmost explicitness in an address to the Senate of the United States on the 22d of January last. Again, in my message to Congress on the 2d of April last, those objects were stated in unmistakable terms. I can con ceive no purpose in seeking to becloud this matter except the purpose of weakening the hands of the Govemment and making the part which the United States is to play in this great struggle for human liberty an inefficient and hesitating part. We have entered the war for our own reasons and with our own objects clearly stated, and shall forget neither CALL TO HIGH SERVICE 397 the reasons nor the objects. There is no hate in our hearts for the German people, but there is a resolve which cannot be shaken ev'en by misrepresentation to overcome the pre tensions of the autocratic Government which acts upon pur poses to which the German people have never consented. CALL TO HIGH SERVICE 87. Extract from an Address of President Wilson. May 30, ipiy (Official Bulletin, Washington, May 31, 1917) When you reflect upon it, these men who died to pre serve the Union died to preserve the instrument which we are now using to serve the world — a free nation espous ing the cause of human liberty. In one sense the great struggle into which we have now entered is an American struggle because it is in the defense of American honor and American rights, but it is something even greater than that; it is a world struggle. It is the struggle of men who love liberty ever)rwhere, and in this cause America wiU show herself greater than ever because she will rise to a greater thing. We have said in the beginning that we planted this great Government that men who wish freedom might have a place of refuge and a place where their hope could be realized, and now, having established such a Govern ment, having preserved such a (^vernment, having vindi cated the power of such a Government, we are saying to all mankind : " We did not set this Government up in order that we might have a selfish and separate liberty, for we are now ready to come to your assistance and fight upon the field of the world the cause of human liberty." In this thing America attains her full dignity and the full fruition of her great purpose. 398 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION No man can be glad that such things have happened as we have witnessed in these last fateful years, but perhaps it may be permitted to us to be glad that we have an oppor tunity to show the principles that we profess to be living principles that live in our hearts, and to have a chance by the pouring out of our blood and treasure to vindicate the thing which we have professed. For, my friends, the real fruition of life is to do the things we have said we wished to do. There are times when work seems empty and only action seems great. Such a time has come, and in the providence of God America will once more have an op portunity to show to the world that she was born to serve mankind. WAR AIMS OF THE UNITED STATES 88. Extract from, a Communication of President Wilson to the Government of Russia. June p, ipiy (Official Bulletin. Washington, June 9, 1917) In view of the approaching visit of the American dele gation to Russia^ to express the deep friendship of the American people for the people of Russia and to discuss the best and most practical means of co-operation between the two peoples in carrying the present struggle for the free dom of all peoples to a successful consummation, it seems opportune and appropriate that I should state again, in the light of this new partnership, the objects the United States has had in mind in entering the war. Those objects have been very much beclouded during the past few weeks by mistaken and misleading statements, and the issues at stake are too momentous, too tremendous, too significant, for the whole human race to permit any misinterpretations or mis- iThe American commission headed by Elihu Root had arrived in Russia and was formally received in Petrograd on June 15, 1917. WAR AIMS OF THE UNITED STATES 399 understandings, however slight, to remain uncorrected for a moment. The position of America in this war is so clearly avowed that no man can be excused for mistaking it. She seeks no material profit or aggrandizement of any kind. She is fight ing for no advantage or selfish object of her own, but for the liberation of peoples everywhere from the aggressions of autocratic force. We are fighting for the liberty, the self-government, and the undictated development of all peoples, and every fea ture of the settlement that concludes this war must be con ceived and executed for that purpose. Wrongs must first be righted and then adequate safeguard must be cre ated to prevent their being committed again. We ought not to consider remedies merely because they have a pleas ing and sonorous sound. Practical questions can be settled only by practical means. Phrases will not accomplish the re sult. Effective readjustments will, and whatever readjust ments are necessary must be made. But they must follow a principle, and that principle is plain. No people must be forced under sovereignty under which it does not wish to live. No territory must change hands except for the purpose of securing those who inhabit it a fair chance of life and liberty. No indemnities must be insisted on except those that constitute payment for mani fest wrongs done. No readjustments of power must be made except such as will tend to secure the future peace of the world and the future welfare and happiness of its peoples. And then the free peoples of the world must draw to gether in some common covenant, some genuine and practi cal co-operation that wUl in effect combine their force to 400 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION secure peace and justice in the dealings of nations with one another. The brotherhood of mankind must no longer be a fair but empty phrase; it must be given a structure of force and reality. The nations must realize their common life and effect a workable partnership to secure that Ufe against the aggressions of autocratic and self-pleasing power. For these things we can afford to pour out blood and treasure. For these are the things we have always pro fessed to desire, and unless we pour out blood and treas ure now and succeed we may never be able to unite or show conquering force again in the great cause of human liberty. The day has come to conquer or submit. If the forces of autocracy can divide us, they will overcome us; if we stand together, victory is certain, and the liberty which victory will secure. We can afford then to be gen erous, but we cannot afford then or now to be weak or omit any single guarantee of justice and security. THE CASE AGAINST GERMANY 89. Address of President Wilson, June 14, ipiy (From the official printed text) We meet to celebrate Flag Day because this flag which we honour and under which we serve is the emblem of our unity, our power, our thought and purpose as a nation. It has no other character than that which we give it from generation to generation. The choices are ours. It floats in majestic silence above the hosts that execute those choices, whether in peace or in war. And yet, though sUent, it speaks to us, — speaks to us of the past, of the men and women who went before us and of the records they wrote upon it. We celebrate the day of its birth ; and from its birth until now it has witnessed a great history, has floated on high the sym- THE CASE AGAINST GERMANY 401 bol of great events, of a great plan of life worked out by a great people. We are about to carry it into battle, to lift it where it will draw the fire of our enemies. We are about to bid thousands, hundreds of thousands, it may be mU lions, of our men, the young, the strong, the capable men ol the nation, to go forth and die beneath it on fields of blood far away, — for what ? For some unaccustomed thing ? For something for which it has never sought the fire before? American armies were never before sent across the seas. Why are they sent now? For some new pur pose, for which this great flag has never been carried be fore, or for some old, familiar, heroic purpose for which it has seen men, its own men, die on every battlefield upon which Americans have borne arms since the Revolution? These are questions which must be answered. We are Americans. We in our turn serve America, and can serve her with no private purpose. We must use her flag as she has always used it. We are accountable at the bar of his tory and must plead in utter frankness what purpose it is we seek to serve. It is plain enough how we were forced into the war. The extraordinary insults and aggressions of the Imperial Ger man Government left us no self-respecting choice but to take up arms in defense of our rights as a free people and of our honour as a sovereign government. The military masters of Germany denied us the right to be neutral. They fiUed our unsuspecting communities with vicious spies and conspirators and sought to corrupt the opinion of our people in their own behalf. When they found that they could not do that, their agents dUigently spread sedition amongst us and sought to draw our own citizens from their allegiance, — and some of those agents were men connected with the official Embassy of the German Government itself here in our own capital. They sought by violence to de- 402 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION stroy our industries and arrest our commerce. They tried to incite Mexico to take up arms against us and to draw Japan into a hostile alliance with her, — and that, not by indirection, but by direct suggestion from the Foreign Of fice in Berlin. They impudently denied us the use of the high seas and repeatedly executed their threat that they would send to their death any of our people who ventured to approach the coasts of Europe. And many of our own people were corrupted. Men began to look upon their own neighbours with suspicion and to wonder in their hot re sentment and surprise whether there was any community in which hostile intrigue did not lurk. What great nation in such circumstances would not have taken up arms? Much as we had desired peace, it was denied us, and not of our own choice. This flag under which we serve would have been dishonoured had we withheld our hand. But that is only part of the story. We know now as clearly as we knew before we were ourselves engaged that we are not the enemies of the German people and that they are not our enemies. They did not originate or desire this hideous war or wish that we should be drawn into it; and we are vaguely conscious that we are fighting their cause, as they will some day see it, as well as our own. They are themselves in the grip of the same sinister power that has now at last stretched its ugly talons out and drawn blood from us. The whole world is at war because the whole world is in the grip of that power and is trying out the great battle which shall determine whether it is to be brought under its mastery or fling itself free. The war was begun by the military masters of Germany, who proved to be also the masters of Austria-Hungary. These men have never regarded nations as peoples, men, women, and children of like blood and frame as themselves, for whom governments existed and in whom governments THE CASE AGAINST GERMANY 403 had their life. They have regarded them merely as serv iceable organizations which they could by force or intrigue bend or corrupt to their own purpose. They have regarded the smaller states, in particular, and the peoples who could be overwhelmed by force, as their natural tools and instru ments of domination. Their purpose has long been avowed. ,The statesmen of other nations, to whom that purpose was incredible, paid little attention ; regarded what German pro fessors expounded in their classrooms and German writers set forth to the world as the goal of German policy as rather the dream of minds detached from practical affairs, as preposterous private conceptions of German destiny, than as the actual plans of responsible rulers; but the rulers of Germany themselves knew all the while what concrete plans, what well advanced intrigues lay back of what the professors and the writers were saying, and were glad to go forward unmolested, filling the thrones of Balkan states with German princes, putting German officers at the service of Turkey to drill her armies and make interest with her government, developing plans of sedition and rebellion in India and Egypt, setting their fires in Persia. The demands made by Austria upon Servia were a mere single step in a plan which compassed Europe and Asia, from Berlin to Bagdad. They hoped those demands might not arouse Eu rope, but they meant to press them whether they did or not, for they thought themselves ready for the final issue of arms. Their plan was to throw a broad belt of German military power and political control across the very centre of Eu rope and beyond the Mediterranean into the heart of Asia ; and Austria-Hungary was to be as much their tool and pawn as Servia or Bulgaria or Turkey or the ponderous states of the East. Austria-Hungary, indeed, was to be come part of the central German Empire, absorbed and 404 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION dominated by the same forces and influences that had orig inally cemented the German states themselves. The dream had its heart at Berlin. It could have had a heart nowhere else! It rejected the idea of solidarity of race entirely. The choice of peoples played no part in it at all. It con templated binding together racial and political units which could be kept together only by force, — Czechs, Magyars, Croats, Serbs, Roumanians, Turks, Armenians, — the proud states of Bohemia and Hungary, the stout little common wealths of the Balkans, the indomitable Turks, the subtile peoples of the East. These peoples did not wish to be united. They ardently desired to direct their own affairs, would be satisfied only by undisputed independence. They could be kept quiet only by the presence or the constant threat of armed men. They would live under a common power only by sheer compulsion and await the day of rev olution. But the German miUtary statesmen had reckoned with all that and were ready to deal with it in their own way. And they have actually carried the greater part of that amazing plan into execution! Look how things stand. Austria is at their mercy. It has acted, not upon its own initiative or upon the choice of its own people, but at Ber lin's dictation ever since the war began. Its people now de sire peace, but cannot have it until leave is granted from Berlin. The so-called Central Powers are in fact but a single Power. Servia is at its mercy, should its hands be but for a moment freed. Bulgaria has consented to its will, and Roumania is overrun. The Turkish armies, which Germans trained, are serving Germany, certainly not them selves, and the guns of German warships lying in the har bour at Constantinople remind Turkish statesmen every day that they have no choice but to take their orders from THE CASE AGAINST GERMANY 405 Berlin. From Hamburg to the Persian Gulf the net is spread. Is it not easy to understand the eagerness for peace that has been manifested from Berlin ever since the snare was set and sprung? Peace, peace, peace has been the talk of her Foreign Office for now a year and more ; not peace upon her own initiative, but upon the initiative of the nations over which she now deems herself to hold the advantage. A little of the talk has been public, but most of it has been private. Through all sorts of channels it has come to me, and in all sorts of guises, but never with the terms disclosed which the German Government would be willing to accept. That government has other valuable pawns in its hands be sides those I have mentioned. It stUl holds a valuable part of France, though with slowly relaxing grasp, and practically the whole of Belgium. Its armies press close upon Russia and overrun Poland at their wiU. It cannot go further; it dare not go back. It wishes to close its bargain before it is too late and it has little left to offer for the pound of flesh it wiU demand. The military masters under whom Germany is bleeding see very clearly to what point Fate has brought them. If they fall back or are forced back an inch, their power both abroad and at home will fall to pieces like a house of cards. It is their power at home they are thinking about now more than their power abroad. It is that power which is trem bUng under their very feet ; and deep fear has entered their hearts. They have but one chance to perpetuate their mili tary power or even their controlling political influence. If they can secure peace now with the immense advantages still in their hands which they have up to this point apparently gained, they will have justified themselves before the Ger man people : they will have gained by force what they prom- 4o6 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION ised to gain by it : an immense expansion of German power, an immense enlargement of German industrial and commer cial opportunities. Their prestige will be secure, and with their prestige their political power. If they fail, their peo ple will thrust them aside ; a government accountable to the people themselves will be set up in Germany as it has been in England, in the United States, in France, and in aU the great countries of the modem time except Germany. If they succeed they are safe and Germany and the world are undone; if they fail Germany is saved and the world will be at peace. If they succeed, America will fall within the menace. We and all the rest of the world must re main armed, as they will remain, and must make ready for the next step in their aggression; if they fail, the world may unite for peace and Germany may be of the union. Do you not now understand the new intrigue, the intrigue for peace, and why the masters of Germany do not hesitate to use any agency that promises to effect their purpose, the deceit of the nations ? Their present particular aim is to de ceive all those who throughout the world stand for the rights of peoples and the self-government of nations; for they see what immense strength the forces of justice and of liberalism are gathering out of this war. They are employ ing liberals in their enterprise. They are using men, in Germany and without, as their spokesmen whom they have hitherto despised and oppressed, using them for their own destruction, — socialists, the leaders of labour, the thinkers they have hitherto sought to silence. Let them once suc ceed and these men, now their tools, wiU be ground to powder beneath the weight of the great military empire they will have set up ; the revolutionists in Russia wiU be cut off from aU succour or cooperation in western Europe and a counter revolution fostered and supported ; Germany herself THE CASE AGAINST GERMANY 407 wUl lose her chance of freedom; and aU Europe wUl arm for the next, the final struggle. The sinister intrigue is being no less actively conducted in this country than in Russia and in every country in Europe to which the agents and dupes of the Imperial German Gov ernment can get access. That govemment has many spokes men here, in places high and low. They have learned dis cretion. They keep within the law. It is opinion they ut ter now, not sedition. They proclaim the liberal purposes of their masters; declare this a foreign war which can touch America with no danger to either her lands or her institutions ; set England at the center of the stage and talk of her ambition to assert economic dominion throughout the world; appeal to our ancient tradition of isolation in the politics of the nations ; and seek to undermine the govern ment with false professions of loyalty to its principles. But they will make no headway. The false betray them selves always in every accent. It is only friends and parti sans of the German Government whom we have already identified who utter these thinly disguised disloyalties. The facts are patent to all the world, and nowhere are they more plainly seen than in the United States, where we are accustomed to deal with facts and not with sophistries ; and the great fact that stands out above all the rest is that this is a People's War, a war for freedom and justice and self- government amongst all the nations of the world, a war to make the world safe for the peoples who live upon it and have made it their own, the German people themselves in cluded ; and that with us rests the choice to break through all these hypocrisies and patent cheats and masks of brute force and help set the world free, or else stand aside and let it be dominated a long age through by sheer weight of arms and the arbitrary choices of self-constituted masters, by the nation which can maintain the biggest armies and 4o8 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION the most irresistible armaments, — a power to which the world has afforded no paraUel and in the face of which po litical freedom must wither and perish. For us there is but one choice. We have made it. Woe be to the man or group of men that seeks to stand in our way in this day of high resolution when every principle we hold dearest is to be vindicated and made secure for the sal vation of the nations. We are ready to plead at the bar of history, and our flag shall wear a new lustre. Once more we shall make good whh our Hves and fortunes the great faith to which we were born, and a new glory shaU shine in the face of our people. HOW THE WAR MAY BE ENDED 90. Communication of Secretary Lansing to Pope Benedict XV. August 2y, ipi/ ^ (OMcial Bulletin, Washington, August 29, 1917) Every heart that has not been blinded and hardened by this terrible war must be touched by this moving appeal of His Holiness the Pope, must feel the dignity and force of the humane and generous motives which prompted it, and must fervently wish that we might take the path of peace he so persuasively points out. But it would be folly to take it if it does not in fact lead to the goal he proposes. Our response must be based upon the stern facts and upon noth ing else. It is not a mere cessation of arms he desires; it is a stable and enduring peace. This agony must not be gone through with again, and it must be a matter of very sober judgment what will insure us against it. His Holiness in substance proposes that we retum to the 1 A reply to the note of Pope Benedict XV, dated August i, 1917, addressed to the belligerents. For text see Current History, New York Times, VI, 392. HOW THE WAR MAY BE ENDED 409 status quo ante bellum, and that then there be a general condonation, disarmament, and a concert of nations, based upon an acceptance of the principle of arbitration ; that by a similar concert freedom of the seas be established ; and that the territorial claims of France and Italy, the perplexing problems of the Balkan states, and the restitution of Poland be left to such concUiatory adjustments as may be possible in the new temper of such a peace, due regard being paid to the aspirations of the peoples whose political fortunes and affiliations wUl be involved. It is manifest that no part of this program can be suc cessfully carried out unless the restitution of the status quo ante furnishes a firm and satisfactory basis for it. The ob ject of this war is to deliver the free peoples of the world from the menace and the actual power of a vast military establishment controlled by an irresponsible government which, having secretly planned to dominate the world, pro ceeded to carry the plan out without regard either to the sacred obligations of treaty or the long-established prac tices and long-cherished principles of international action and honor; which chose its own time for the war; de livered its blow fiercely and suddenly ; stopped at no barrier either of law or of mercy ; swept a whole continent within the tide of blood — not the blood of soldiers only, but the blood of innocent women and children also, and of the helpless poor; and now stands balked, but not defeated, the enemy of four-fifths of the world. This power is not the German people. It is the ruthless master of the German people. It is no business of ours how that great people came under its control or submitted with temporary zest to the domination of its purpose ; but it is our business to see to it that the history of the rest of the world is no longer left to its handling. To deal with such a power by way of peace upon the 410 STATEMENTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION plan proposed by His Holiness the Pope, would, so far as we can see, involve a recuperation of its strength and a re newal of its policy; would make it necessary to create a permanent hostile combination of nations against the German people, who are its instruments ; and would result in abandon ing the new-born Russia to the intrigue, the manifold subtle interference and the certain counter-revolution which would be attempted by all the malign influences to which the Ger man Government has of late accustomed the world. Can peace be based upon a restitution of its power or upon any word of honor it could pledge in a treaty of settlement and accommodation? Responsible statesmen must now everywhere see, if they never saw before, that no peace can rest securely upon po litical or economic restrictions meant to benefit some nations and cripple or embarrass others, upon vindictive action of any sort or any kind of revenge or deliberate injury. The American people have suffered intolerable wrongs at the hands of the Imperial German Government, but they de sire no reprisal upon the German people, who have them selves suffered all things in this war, which they did not choose. They believe that peace should rest upon the rights of peoples, not the rights of governments — the rights of peoples great or small, weak or powerful — their equal right to freedom and security and self-government, and to a par ticipation upon fair terms in the economic opportunities of the world, the German people of course included if they will accept equality and not seek domination. The test, therefore, of every plan of peace is this: Is it based upon the faith of all the peoples involved, or merely upon the word of an ambitious and intriguing government, on the one hand, and of a group of free peoples, on the other ? This is a test which goes to the root of the matter ; and it is the test which must be applied. HOW THE WAR MAY BE ENDED 411 The purposes of the United States in this war are known to the whole world — to every people to whom the truth has been permitted to come. They do not need to be stated again. We seek no material advantage of any kind. We believe that the intolerable wrongs done in this war by the furious and brutal power of the Imperial German Govern ment ought to be repaired, but not at the expense of the sovereignty of any people — rather a vindication of the sovereignty both of those that are weak and those that are strong. Punitive damages, the dismemberment of empires, the establishment of selfish and exclusive economic leagues, we deem inexpedient and in the end worse than futile — no proper basis for a peace of any kind, least of all for an en during peace. That must be based upon justice and fair ness and the common rights of mankind. We cannot take the word of the present rulers of Ger many as a guarantee of anything that is to endure, unless explicitly supported by such conclusive evidence of the will and purpose of the German people themselves as the other peoples of the world would be justified in accepting. With out such guarantees treaties of settlement, agreements for disarmament, covenants to set up arbitration in the place of force, territorial adjustments, reconstitutions of small nations, if made with the German Government, no man, no nation could now depend on. We must await some new evidence of the purposes of the great peoples of the central powers. God grant it may be given soon, and in a way to restore the confidence of all peoples everywhere in the faith of nations and the possibility of a covenanted peace. INDEX A. B. C. powers. President Wil son's acceptance of mediation of, in Mexican emergency, 34- 36; failure of mediation con ference, 38; treaties providing for arbitration signed with, 41 ; text of communication by Secretary Bryan, accepting of fer of mediation, 213-2x4. " America first " speech by Pres ident Wilson (April 20, 19x5), 59-60; extract from text of address, 249-254. American Federation of Labour, address at dedication of head quarters (July 4, X916), 1x4- 1x5; extract from, 338. American Institute of Inter national Law, first convention of, 82-83; aims and purposes of, 83 n. Americanism, President's ad dress on the meaning of ("Too proud to fight" speech), 66-67, 256-261; ad dress on true versus hyphen ated, 216-219. Anderson, C. P., article on "Freedom of the Seas," cited, 65 n. Anti-alien land legislation in California, President urges au thorities not to enact, 10-14; text of telegram to Govemor Johnson, 182-183 ; Secretary Bryan's telegram to Governor, 184 ; administration's commu nications to Japanese ambassa dor concerning, 184-188. 413 Appam. case of the, 125 n. Arabic, sinking of the, 72; notes dealing with case of the, 73 n. Arbitration, sentiment for, dur ing Taft administration, 22; further steps in progress toward, made by Wilson ad ministration, 22-23 ; treaties of, signed with Argentina, Brazil, and Chile, 41 ; ratification of eighteen treaties of, within two weeks of outbreak of Eu ropean war, 48; President Wilson's belief in, as best means of composing interna tional agreements, 149-150, 154. Arlington Cemetery, address at (Memorial Day, 1916), X09, 329-331 ; address at (Memorial Day, 1917), 145, 397-398. Armed merchantmen, controv ersy with Germany over, 85- 95; announcement of admin istration (March, 19x6) fol lowing rejection of Lansing proposals, 97-98; extract from note sent by Secretary Lan sing to Entente allies concern ing, 302-306; extract from let ter by President to Senator Stone, defending right of American citzens to travel on, 309-3x0; extract from memo randum defining status of, is sued by Department of State (March 25, 19x6), 3x4-315. Arming of merchant ships, Pres ident's address to Congress 414 INDEX requesting authority for the, 375-380. Arms, raising of embargo on shipment of, into Mexico (January, 1914). 26, 207; res toration of embargo on, 34; embargo on shipment of, to Great Britain requested by Germany, 61 ; attitude of Pres ident Wilson regarding ship ment of, 61-62. Army, President's plans for the, as set forth in preparedness address before Manhattan Club (November 4, 1915), 77- 78, 289-290. Associated Advertising Clubs, address before (Philadelphia, June 29, 1916), 1x3, 335-336. Associated Press, President's address to members of (April 20, 191s). 59-60, 249-254. Austria, Wilson administration charged with discrimination against Germany and, 52-53; recall of ambassador of, 77; extract from Secretary Bry an's letter to Senator Stone, denying charges of discrimi nation against, 240-241 ; not included in President's request to Congress for declaration of war (April 2, 1917), 39i. Bankers, American, and loans to China, 9-10, 181-182. Basic principles of American policy, as set forth in Presi dent's second inaugural ad dress, 142, 380-382. Bean, R., analysis of President's speaking tour of February, 1916, by, 92 n. Belgian delegation, statement of President to, concerning atti tude of United States toward violations of rules of warfare, 227-228. Belgium, President Wilson's re- frainment from protest upon invasion of, 47-48; President's pledge concerning (June 18, 1917), 147. Blythe, Samuel, interview with President Wilson, cited, 33. Boy-Ed, Karl, recall of, 77. Brazil;_fayourable response re- ceiyed,^from, to world peace pTSn09r3TrT2Tir^:3e?XT!7 C. TTOWCTS.'^— ^ Bryan, Secretary, plan for world neace laid hefore~diplOffratg~gt Washington by, 12; causes 61 "Tresignatioti of] 7TI advefse comment by, on "peace with out victory" address, 137 n.; statement by, concerning ad ministration's plans for inter national peace, 183-X84; ex tract from communication to Great Britain protesting against policy toward neutral shipping, 236-238. Buenos Aires, congress of Amer ican republics at, resulting in creation of Pan-American In ternational High Commission, 83 n. Burchard, A., article by, dted, X25n. California, question of Japanese ownership of land in, 10-14; text of President's telegram to Governor Johnson, 182-183 ; Secretary Bryan's telegram, 184; text of administration's communications to Japanese ambassador concerning legis lation in, 184-188. Caribl)fia*r^olicy, ~T}e«^opment afTin 19x6, 1x6-1 18. "~de«dopi 18. ^ INDEX 415 Carranza, General, leader of Constitutional faction in Mex ico, 27 ; protests against Amer ican occupation of Vera Cruz, 34; offer of mediation by A. B. C. powers accepted by, 36; recognition of government of (October 9, 1915), 74; em barrassments attending Wash ington government's attempts to deal with (19x6), 96-97; un friendly attitude of, shown by protests regarding Pershing expedition, 105-106 ; Carrizal incident, 106; more concilia tory attitude adopted by, 114. Carrizal, attack by Carranza on American force at, 106. Central America, President Wil son on dangers involved in concessions obtained by for eign companies in, 8, 20-21, X99-200; statement by Presi dent of administration's atti tude toward republics of, 179- 180. China, President Wilson's state ment concerning Six Power loan to, and attitude of admin istration toward, 9-10, x8i- 182; revolution in, and forma tion of Republican govern ment, xo n. ; arbitration treaty signed with (September, 1914), 48. Cincinnati address (October 26, 1916), 127-128, 355-356. Clarke amendment to Jones bill, X19. Cleveland, Ohio, extract from preparedness speech by Presi dent at, 306-309. Colombia, strained relations with, at opening of Wilson ad ministration (1912), 5; Taft administration's efforts to set tle controversy with, 5 n. ; Wil son policy toward, ix6-xi8; treaty with, offering repara tion for secession of Panama, xi8n. Congress Hall, Philadelphia, ad dress (October 25, 1913), 20; extract from, 197-198. Coudert, F. R., "The Appam Case," cited, 125 n. Cuba, policy of Wilson adminis tration toward, X16-118. Currency, reference to, by Pres ident Wilson, in first inaug ural address, 6. Cushing, shelling of the, by aero plane, 65. Danish West Indies, significance of purchase of, 117-118. Daughters of American Revolu tion, address to (April 17, 1916), 99-100, 31S-316. Davenport, F. M., "President Wilson's Foreign Policy," cited, 105. Declaration of London, accept ance of laws of naval war fare laid down in, proposed by President Wilson, 44; status of, in 19x4, 45 ; causes leading to withdrawal of suggestions made by United States, 49. Deering, J. H., General Laws of California, cited, xi. Defence, awakening of Presi dent Wilson to necessity for, 77 ; dealt with in Manhattan Club address (November 4, 19x5), 78-79, 287-293; program of preparedness for national, proposed in President's third annual message, 80-82, 293-300. See Preparedness. Democracy, President Wilson's fundamental belief in, and its 4i6 INDEX effects on his policy, 149-152. Democratic party. President's view of function of, as stated in first inaugural address, 6; procedure relative to Philip pine Islands in platforms of, 19; points of approach of for eign policy of, to that of Re publican party, xi6-xxg. Deutschland, British contention concerning the, 125 n. "Dollar diplomacy," Knox's, 4; discussion of, in President's address at Philadelphia (July 4, 19x4), 220-221. Dominican Republic, Wilson pol- • icy toward, 116-1x8. Dumba, Ambassador, recall of 77- Eliot, Charles W., cited on Pres ident Wilson's contributions to sound international policies and conduct, 42. Entangling alliances, Washing ton's reason for warning against, 37; discussed in Pres ident's Arlington Cemetery ad dress, X09, 216-2x7. Equality of nations, a funda mental belief of President Wil son's, X49; effect of belief in, on foreign policy, 153. European war, attitude of Amer ica upon outbreak of, 44-49! American attitude toward British policy, 49-50; Presi dent's plans and policies as revealed in addresses and mes sage to Congress (19x4), 50- 52; President's statements as to impossibility of discovering causes of, 350, 355 ; President's address upon necessity of America entering into, 382- 393 ; purposes of United States in the, stated in President's letter to Representative Heflin, 396-397; method of ending the, as set forth in reply to the Pope, 408-411. Falaba, sinking of the, 65. Far East, President Wilson's statement concerning policy toward (1913), 9-X0. Fenwick, C. G., article on "The Freedom of the Seas," cited, 65. Finch, G. A., articles by, cited, 84, 96. Flag Day address (June 14, 19x7), X46; text of, 400-408. Fletcher, H. P., appointed am bassador to Mexico, 142 n. Foreign policy, not referred to, in President Wilson's first in augural address, 3; Demo cratic party on record as op posed to that of Republican predecessors, 4; first issues of, to be dealt with by Wilson ad ministration, 5-6 ; conditions in Latin America and the Far East, 6-10; the Japanese land question in California, 10-14; conditions in Mexico, 14-18; outlining by President of pol icy regarding Philippines and other dependencies, 19-20; general policy as outlined in speech before Southern Com mercial Congress, 20-2X ; plans for furthering international peace, 22-23 ; working out of policy in Mexico, 24 ff. ; treat ment of Panama Canal tolls controversy, 28-30 ; idealism in President's policy, 40-42; maintenance of neutrality in European war, 44-52; attitude INDEX 417 toward British shipping pol icy, 49-50, 61-62, 75-76, 98- 99; beginning of difficulties with Germany, 52-58; insist ence by President upon neu trality in word and deed, 58- 62; the German submarine issue, 64-73 ; outcome of pol icy pursued toward Mexico, 73-75; beginning of prepared ness program, 80-95; crisis reached in relations with Ger many, 99-X05 ; continued policy of restraint toward Mexico, 95-97, XOS-X07; new concep tion of United States as a world power, 111-115; trend of Wilson administration to ward policy of Republican predecessors, 1x6-1x9; Presi dent's defence of his policy and expressed satisfaction with, X20-I22; an international purpose in, 122-129; events and issues leading to Amer ica's entrance into the war, 130-148; review of elements composing President's foreign policy, 149 ff. ; table of impor tant events in American for eign relations, 161-175 ; Pres ident's address of July 4, X914, on ideals and purposes of pol icy, 219-225 ; text of annual message to Congress setting forth general principles of, 293-300; the true bases of, as stated by President (February 26, 1916), 3x0-312; effect of foreign affairs upon, 324; text of President's address accept ing second nomination and re viewing four years of foreign policy, 342-348; basic princi ples of American foreign pol icy, as dealt with in Presi dent's second inaugural ad dress, 380-382. Foreign relations, state of, at opening of Wilson's adminis tration, 3-6. Foreign trade, address concern ing service of America in, 1x5, 338-342. Foundations of a world peace, set forth in President's ad dress to Senate (January 22, 1917), 137. 362-370. France, favourable response re ceived from, to world peace plan (19x3), 12 n.; arbitration treaty signed with (Septem ber, 19x4), 48; correspondence with Great Britain and, over interference with mails, 98-99. Freedom of the seas. President Wilson's conception of, X36- 137. 362-370. Funston, General, orders given to, following Villa raid, 96. Gamboa, F., Secretary for For eign Affairs in Mexico, reply of, to Lind's proposals, 192 n. George, Lloyd, predicts forma tion of league of peace, 134. Germany, informal proposal made by President to, looking to peace, 48 ; beginning of dif ficulties with, after outbreak of European war, 52-53; United States charged with discrimination against, 53; re ply by Secretary Bryan to charges of discrimination, 53- 54, 240-241 ; proclamation by, of war zone about British Isles, and warning given to neutrals, 54-55 ; reply of American gov ernment to threat of submarine campaign by, 55-56; further exchange of notes between 4i8 INDEX United States and, 56-58; dis satisfaction in United States with methods of propaganda of, 62 ; submarine campaign of, in spring of 19x5, 64-65 ; break with, expected after Lusitania sinking, 65-66; exchange of notes with, after Lusitania sinking, 70-73 ; continuance of propaganda by, in United States, in summer and fall of 19x5, 76-77; recall of diplo matic representatives of, in America, 77; issue of Presi dent's diplomatic controversy with, viewed as successful, 79; armed merchantmen contro versy with, 85-95; deliberate embarrassment by, of efforts of United States to safeguard neutral rights, 93 ; events lead ing to crisis in relations with, 99-105; brings on crisis by adopting policy of sinking all vessels in barred sea zone, 137- 138; break in diplomatic rela tions with, X38; proposals made by, to Mexico, 14X-X42; necessity of declaring war upon, indicated by President, X43; deeper purpose of the course taken against, shown in President's reply to the Pope, X48; effect of President's fundamental belief in democ racy in leading to his distinc tion between government and people of, 152-153; statement of President to Emperor of (September x6 19x4), concern ing attitude of United States toward violations of rules of warfare, 227-228 ; extract from Secretary Bryan's letter to Senator Stone, denying charges of discrimination against, 240-241 ; extracts from Secretary Bryan's communica tions to, concerning submarine warfare, 243-247; extract from Secretary Bryan's reply to ambassador's note on Ameri can attitude respecting British behaviour, 254-256 ; extract from Sussex ultimatum, 316- 32X ; President's address to Congress on relations with (April X9, X916), 321-322; President's address to Con gress upon severance of dip lomatic relations with, 370- 375; President's address to Congress asking it to declare existence of state of war with, 382-393 ; the case against, as stated in President's Flag Day address (June 14, 19x7), 400- 408. Gore and McLemore resolutions, 93-94- Grain Dealers' National Associa tion, speech before (September 25, X916), 123, 349-350. Great Britain, protest of, con cerning Panama Canal tolls question, 5; favourable re sponse received from, to world peace plan (19x3), 12 n.; arbi tration treaty with, renewed, 12 n.; rumour of pressure brought to bear by, concerning Mexico, 27-28, 29; arbitration treaty signed with (September, X914), 48; American attitude toward shipping policy of 49- 50; action by America against, requested by Germany, 61 ; stand taken by Wilson admin istration regarding, 61-62; sea power favoured by refusal of American government to press cases against, 62; continued INDEX 419 controversy with, over Orders in Council, 75-76; issue raised by arming of merchantmen by, 88-89; exchange of notes with, over interference with mails, 98-99 ; particular grievances against, in 1916, 116 n.; extract from Secretary Bryan's com munication to, protesting against policy toward neutral shipping (December 26, 19x4), 236-238 ; Secretary Bryan's note to Germany and, suggest ing a modus vivendi in naval warfare, 245-247; note of Sec retary Lansing to, protesting against British interference with shipping and champion ing neutral rights, 286-287. Grey, Sir Edward, announce ment of, concerning Mexico, 28. Gridiron Club, President Wil son's address before (Febru ary 26, X916), 95, 310-3x2. Gulflight, sinking of the, 65. Haiti, landing of United States marines in (January, 19x4), 27 n. ; conditions of treaty with (19x5), 84; military govern ment established in, by United States, 116 n.; advantage to United States from protector ate over, xx8. Harrison, Governor-General, message from President Wil son to citizens of Philippine Islands delivered by (19x3), 19. Harvey, George, article entitled " We Appeal to the President " by, cited, 27 n. Hawaii, greater powers in self- government asked for, in President's message of Decem ber, 19x3, 25 n. Heflin, Representative, letter of President to (May 22, 19x7), _^ 145, 396-397. " He has kept us out of war " argument not stressed by President himself, 124. Hesperian, sinking of the, 72 n. Higgins, A. P., article on " Armed Merchant Ships," cited, 88. Huerta, General, refusal of President Wilson to recognize as ruler of Mexico, 7; steps following upon refusal of, to recognize American ambassa dor, 14; rejection by, of pro posals submitted through John Lind, IS, X92; President Wil son's statement, 15-18, 188- 195; warnings sent to, by Washington government, x8 ; development of President's policy toward, 24-28; course of, following Tampico inci dent, 31-33; offer of media tion by A. B. C. powers ac cepted by, 36; downfall of, and its significance, 41 ; President's address dealing with, after Tampico affair, 209-^13. idealism. President Wilson's - -40. 219-225 Ideals of service tor the navy, President's address on, 69-70, 266-^68. Immigration bill, extract from message of President concern ing (January 28, 19x5), 24X- 243. Importance of public opinion, emphasized by President, 150- XSI. 336-338. Important events in American 420 INDEX foreign relations, table of, x6x- 175. Indianapolis address (October X2, 19x6), 126-X27, 352-353. Interference with mails, corre spondence with Allies regard ing, 98-99. International law, insistence of Wilson administration upon supremacy of, at outbreak of European war, 48-49, 50 ff., 62; idea of adherence to, in the " Too proud to fight " speech, 66-67; arming of mer chantmen permitted by, 88; President's address (October 20, X914), on the basis of, 228- 230. International Law, American In stitute of, 82-83. International peace, plans of Wilson administration for, presented to diplomatic corps in Washington, 22-23, 183-184. International relations, justice in, stressed by President (June 29. 1916), 335-336. Italy, favourable response re ceived from, to world peace plan (1913), I2n. lyenaga, Toyokichi, paper by, cited, 14 n. Japan, question of ownership of land in California by natives of, 10-X4, 182-183, 184-188; re newal of general arbitration treaty with, 13 ; continuance of California land issue with, 38; plans for, in German proposals to Mexico, X41-X42; text of communications of Secretary Bryan to ambassador of, 184- x86. Jews, threatened interruption of trade relations with Russia because of discrimination against, 6. Johnson, Governor, bill against Japanese ownership of land in California signed by, xx. Jones, C. L., Caribbean Interests of the United States, cited, 84. Jones bill, passage of, 1x9; pro visions of, ix9n. Justice in international relations, extract from President's ad dress concerning, 335-336. Knapp, Captain, military occupa tion of Dominican Republic by, xi6n. Knox, Secretary, " dollar diplo macy " of, 4. Kraus, Herbert, "What Euro pean Countries Think of the Monroe Doctrine," cited, 16 n. Lansing, Robert, appointed Secretary of State, 71 ; quoted on the meaning of the imme diate cause of our war with Germany, X47-X48 ; communi cation of August 27, X917, in reply to note of the Pope's, 408-4x1. Latane, J. H., articles by, cited, X18, 137 n. Latin America, indication by President Wilson of policy toward, 6-9; general policy of Wilson administration con cerning, outlined, 20-21 ; text of statement announcing ad ministration's attitude toward, 179-180; elaboration of ad ministration's policy respect ing, in Mobile address, 199- 202 ; development of trade with, dealt with in message to congress (December 8, X914), INDEX 421 231-232; representatives of, join with Secretary Lansing in appeal to leaders of warring factions in Mexico, 280-282. See A, B. C. powers. League of nations, advocated by President Wilson, 108, 128, 325-329; mentioned in cam paign speech (October 26, 1916), 356; suggested in com munication sent to the nations at war (December x8, 19x6), 359-362. /•League to Enforce Peace, Presi- I dent's address before (May 27, I 19x6), 107-X09; extract from V President's address, 325-329. r League to preserve peace, pre- A [_ dieted by Lloyd George, 134. y Lincoln Memorial speech (Sep tember 4, 1916), 122-123, 349. Lind, John, sent as special agent to Mexico, 14-15 ; statement by President Wilson resultant upon failure of mission of, 18 ; President's conference with in January, 1914, previ ous to raising of embargo on shipment of arms to Mexico, 26 n. ; failure of mission and departure from Mexico, 30; President's statement regard ing sending of, to Mexico 191-X92. Lippmann, Walter, exposition of President Wilson's course by 147 n. Literacy test for immigrants President's remarks concern ing, 242. Lusitania. sinking of the, 65 ; proposals for settlement of case of, submitted by Ger many, 87 ; wherein Sussex case differed from that of, 102-103; text of first note on, 261-266; second note on, 270-276; third note on, 276-280. McLemore, Jeff, joint author with Senator Gore of resolu tions forbidding Americans from travelling on armed merchantmen, 93-94. Madero, problem thrust upon United States by assassination of, 7. Mails, protest against British and French interference with, 98-99. [Manhattan Club address (No vember 4, 19x5), 77-78; ex tract from text of, 287-293. Maritime warfare. President's stand regarding rules of, 53. Mayo, Rear-Admiral H. T., in command at Tampico, 31. Memorial Day address (19x6), X09, 329-331; (1917), 145. 397- 398. Mexico, indication given by President Wilson of policy toward (19x3), 6-9; refusal of Huerta to recognize American ambassador, 14; John Lind sent as special agent to, 14-15 ; President Wilson's statement upon failure of Lind's mission, xs-x8, 188-195 ; announcement of future course of Wilson ad ministration regarding, 18; de velopment of policy of ad ministration toward, 24-28 ; raising of embargo on ship ment of arms into, 26; denial by President of rumour of European interference in Mex ican policy, 27-28; change in policy toward, forced by oc currences at Tampico, 30-34; restoration of embargo on shipment of arms into, 34; 422 INDEX mediation of A. B. C. powers, 34-36; statement of general policy of Wilson administra tion, 36-40; 215-216; failure of mediation conference, 38; sig nificance of downfall of Huerta, in its bearing on Wil son policies, 41 ; vindication of President's policy toward, 41- 42 ; events in, in 1915, 73 ; recognition of Carranza gov ernment, 74; Santa Ysabel massacre and Villa raid, 95-96; Pershing force in, 96; Pres ident Wilson's statement con cerning " sinister and unscru pulous influences " at work, 96-97, 312-314; unfriendly at titude of Carranza, especially concerning Pershing expedi tion, 105-106; Carrizal inci dent, 106; rebuke administered by President to advocates of actual conquest in, 1x3, 335- 336; more conciliatory attitude adopted by Carranza, 1x4; President's defence of policy respecting, in speech accepting nomination for second term, X20-I2I ; revelation of German proposals to, 141-142; condi tion of affairs in February, 19x7, between United States and, 142 n. ; effect of Presi dent's fundamental belief in democracy on policy toward, 152 ; text of instructions given to John Lind by President, 191-192; relations of United States with, as dealt with in President's second annual mes sage to Congress, 204-205 ; text of President's address to Con gress on relations with, follow ing Tampico affair, 209-213; extract from President's ad dress (January 8, 19x5), con cerning self-government in, 239-240; text of President's note to warring factions in, advising leaders to come to an early agreement (June 2, 19x5), 268-270; text of joint appeal by Secretary Lansing and representatives of South American states to leaders of factions in, 280-282; Presi dent's statement as to effects of rumour on policy toward, 312-314. Mobile address (October 27, X913), 20-21; extract from, 199-202. Monroe Doctrine, statement of President Wilson's conception of, 81 ; responsibilities imposed upon United States by, 117, 300-30X. Moore, J. B., articles by, cited, 8n., X4. National defence. See Defence. National Press Club address (May 15, 1916), X05. Nations, equality of, a funda mental belief of President Wil son's, 149, 153. Naturalization, mention of, in American-Japanese discus sions, x88. Navy, President's address on ideals of service for the, 266- 268; place of, in President's preparedness program, 290. Nebraskan, attacked by subma rine, 70 n. Neutrality, proclamation of, is sued by President Wilson at outbreak of European war, 44; President's appeal to Ameri cans in regard to, 46, 225-227; President's conception of, 46- INDEX 423 47 ; dangers of, shown by Ger man policy regarding mari time warfare, 54; fresh state ment by President as to (April 8, X915), 58-59; new note struck in interpretation of, in statement to Associated Press, 59, 249-254; the dealing with German demands becomes a business of, 63 ; continued change in President's attitude toward, 77 ; denial of our right to, by Germany, given as rea son for our sending an army to Europe, 146; issuance of first formal proclamation of, 225 n. ; extracts from Presi dent's addresses on (April, 1915), 247-254; note of Secre tary Lansing to Great Britain, championing cause of, 286-287. Niagara Falls, conference of mediation at, 38. Nicaragua, relations betweeVi United States and, at opening ^ of Wilson's first administrav tion, 5 n. ; case of non-recogni[ tion concerning, in 1855, 7n. conditions of treaty ratified'* with, in spring of 19x6, 84. Norway, favourable response re ceived from, to world peace plan (19x3), 12 n. Omaha Commercial Club ad dress (October 5, 1916), 123, X26; extract from, 351-352. Orders in Council, British, of 1914, 49; legality of changes made by, denied by American government, 57; exchange of notes with Great Britain over (1915), 75-76. O'Shaughnessy, Nelson, Ameri can charge at Mexico City, 31. Panama Canal, policy to whiclv United States is forced by ob ligations respecting, xx7-xx8. Panama Canal Act of 19x2, provisions of, protested by Great Britain, 5. Panama Canal tolls, question of, 5 ; position taken by President Wilson concerning, 28-30 ; triumph of President Wilson in fight for repeal of exemp tion clause, 38; motives actu ating President in repeal of, 153; text of address of Presi dent to Congress asking for repeal of, 207-209. Pan-American conference to consider Mexican affairs, 72,- 74- Pan-American International High Commission, creation of, 83 n. Pan-Americanism, President Wilson's remarks concerning, '--75. ^ Pan-Amferican program of Wil-\ " son administration, as set I forth in President's speech of/ January 6, 1916, 82-83, 300-302/ ^Pan-American Scientific Con gress, second meeting of, 82. Papen, Franz von, recall of, 77. Peace, President's address on preservation of foundations of (October xx, 1915), 283-285; steps necessary for a world peace, stated in President's ad dress to Senate (January 22, X917), 362-370. " Peace without victory," sug gested by President Wilson, X3S; text of address on, 362- 370. Pershing, General, expedition led by, into Mexico, 96; with drawal of trops of, 142 n. 424 INDEX 'Persia, sinking of the, 85-86. Peru, favourable response re ceived from, to world peace plan (1913), 12 n.; recogni tion accorded newly estab lished government in (Febru ary, 1914), 27 n. Philadelphia, President Wilson's address at, in 1913, 20; speech at, after sinking of Lusitania (" Too proud to fight " speech), 66-67, 256-261; ad dress at (July 4, 1914), deal ing with President's ideals and purposes in his foreign policy, 219-225. Philippine Islands, independence of, in Democratic platform for igi2, 3 n. ; references to inde pendence of, by President Wilson, 3-4; first statements of President's intended policy toward, 19-20; ultimate inde pendence of, stressed in Presi dent's message of December, 1913. 25 n., 205-206 ; change in President's policy toward, as shown by signing of Jones bill, 1 18-120; provisions of Jones bill regarding, 119 n.; effect of President's funda mental belief in democracy on policy toward, 152; text of President's message to citizens of (October 6, 1913), 195-196; text of President's message to Congress (December 8, 1914), dealing with increased self- government in, 232. Pope, President Wilson's reply to the, 148, 408-411. Porto Rico, greater powers in self-government asked for, in President's message of De cember, 1913, 25 n. Preparedness, program of, pro posed in President's third an nual message, 80-82, 293-300; outline of plan for, in Man hattan Club address (Novem ber 4, 19x5), 77-78, 287-293; program of, dwelt on by President in addresses in Feb ruary, X916, 91-92; purchase of Danish West Indies a part of program of, 1x7-1x8; prep- araton of American people to accept new attitude toward relations to rest of world a part of program of, 129; ex tract from President's address on spirit of a program of, 282-283 ; text of typical speech by President, delivered in ten days' tour (January, 19x6), 306-309. Press Club, New York, address (June 30, 1916), X14, 336-338. Public opinion, as an element conditioning direction of for eign affairs by President Wil son, 150-15 1 ; submission by President of his foreign policy to test of, 152 ; text of address by President on importance of, 336-338. Purposes of United States, ex tracts from President's ad dresses setting forth (May- June, X916), 329-334. Reinsch, P. S., article by, cited, 5. Republican foreign policy, sup posed opposition of Demo cratic party's foreign policy to, 4; increasing tendency of Wilson administration's policy to approach, XX6-XI9. Roosevelt, President, " Big Po liceman " course of action pursued by, x6 n. ; adverse INDEX 425 comment by, on "peace with out victory " address, 137 n. Root, Elihu, arbitration treaties negotiated during secretary ship of, 13 n. ; heads commis sion to Russia, 398 n. Russia, threatened interruption of trade relations with, at opening of Wilson's first ad ministration, 6; favourable re sponse received from, to world peace plan (19x3), 12 n.; revolution in, and abdication of Czar, 142; recognition pf new government by United States, X42; effect of over throw of autocracy on Ameri can feeling, 143; communica tion by President Wilson to new government of, 145-146; reference to, in President's address asking for declaration of war on Germany, 389; ex tract from communication of President to provisional gov ernment, stating war aims of United States, 398-400. Salesmanship Congress, address before (July xo, 1916), X15, 338-342. Santa Ysabel, Chihuahua, mas sacre at, 95. Scott, J. B., articles by, cited, 88, 96, 125 n., 143. Shadow Lawn addresses (Oc tober-November, X916) , 123, 124, X26, X27, 128, X29, 352-358. Shuster, W. M., "The Mexican Menace" by, cited, 27 n. Six Power loan to China, Presi dent Wilson's attitude toward, 9-10; text of President's statement declining to request American bankers to partici pate in, 181-182. Smith, M., article on "Ameri can Diplomacy in European War," cited, 62 n., 75. South America, President Wil son on dangers involved in concessions obtained by for eign companies in, 8, 20-21, 199-200 ; arbitration treaties with countries of, 41 ; text of statement by President Wil son of administration's atti tude toward republics of, 179- 180. Southern Commercial Congress, President Wilson's speech be fore (19x3), 20-2X, X99-202. Spain, arbitration treaty signed with (September, 1914), 48. " Speak, act, and serve together " message of President's, 393- 396. Stanwood, E., History of the Presidency, cited, 19 n. Stone, Senator, letter of Secre tary Bryan to, answering charges of discrimination against Germany, 53-54 ; President Wilson's letter to (February 24, 19x6), 94; ex tract from Secretary Bryan's letter to, denying charges of discrimination against Ger many and Austria, 240-241 ; extract from letter by Presi dent to, 309-3x0. Submarine issue, appearance of, 54-55; exchange of notes be tween Germany and America concerning, 56-58; increasingly pressing nature of, in spring of 1915, 65 ; Lansing proposals of January x8, 19x6, relative to, 89-90; crisis in relations with Germany over, 99 ff. ; list of sinkings which involved Americans, 100 n. ; growing 426 INDEX difficulties over, in fall of 1916, 124-X26; list of sinkings in volving Americans after May 8, X916, 125 n. ; list of sinkings involving Americans in Feb ruary, X917, 140 a; extracts from Secretary Bryan's com munications to Germany con cerning, 243-247 ; text of first Lusitania note, 261-266; sec ond Lusitania note, 270-276; third Lusitania note, 276-280; extract from Secretary Lan sing's confidential note to En tente allies concerning (Janu ary x8, 19x6), 302-306; extract from Sussex ultimatum to Germany, 3x6-321 ; President's address to Congress concern ing (April 19, 1916), 321-322. Sussex, sinking of, 99; note concerning case of, laid be fore joint session of Congress, X01-X02 ; special significance of case of, X02-103 ; outcome of case, X03-X05; extract from ultimatum sent Germany con cerning, 316-321. Swarthmore College address of President Wilson, 19-20, 196- 197. Sweden, favourable response re ceived from, to world peace plan (1913). 12 n. Taft, W. H., Knox's "dollar diplomacy " defended by, 4 n. ; favourable comment by, on President's " Peace without victory" address, 137 n. Taft administration, attempts of, to settle Panama Canal ques tions with Colombia and Great Britain, 5 n. ; notifica tion given Russia by, of ter mination of treaty of com merce and navigation, 6n.; policy of non-interference in Mexico followed by, 7; senti ment for arbitration during, 22. Tampico affair, 31; text of ad dress of President to Congress following on the, 209-213. Tariff, reference to, by Presi dent Wilson in first inaugural address, 6. "Too proud to fight" speech, 66-67; text of, 256-261. Traditions of America, Presi dent's address on (April 17, 1916), 99-100, 315-316. U-53, points raised by opera tions of, off American coast, X25n. United States as a world power, first open recognition of, by President Wilson, X07-108 ; emphasis placed on new posi tion of, in President's speeches in 19x6, XXI-XX3; idea empha sized in speech of November 4, X916, 129. Vera Cruz, occupation of, by American force (April, 1914), 34; withdrawal of American troops from, 41. Villa raid into New Mexico, 96. Virgin Islands, purchase of, by United States, 117-X18. War aims of United States, President's statement as to (June 9, 19x7), X45-146, 398- 400. War zone, proclamation of, about British Isles by German Admiralty, 54-55. Washington, George, reason ascribed to, for stating that INDEX 427 America must keep free from entangling alliances, 37. "Watchful waiting," attitude of, toward Mexico, 24-25. West Point address (June 13, 1916), XX2-II3, 331-334. William P. Frye, sinking of the, 65; German note on case, 86- 87. Wilson, Woodrow, lack of refer ence to foreign policy by, in first inaugural address, 3 ; view held by, of future function of Democratic party, 6; attitude toward Japanase land ques tion in California, 10-14; sends John Lind to Mexico, 14-15 ; statement by, as to Mexican policy, 15-X7; task undertaken by, of formulating and inter preting a foreign policy for America under Democratic rule, x6-x7; deep sense of re sponsibility felt by, 17; an nouncement by, as to future diplomatic policy, 18; an nounced policy toward de pendencies, X9-20; general foreign policy of, as outlined in speech before Southern Commercial Congress, 20-21 ; plans of, for insuring inter national peace, 22-23 ; develop ment of policy of, concerning Mexico, 24-28; denial by, of rumour of European interfer ence in Mexican policy, 27-28; change in policy toward Mexico, resulting from events at Tampico, 30-34; address concerning Mexican affairs, before Congress (April 20, 1914), 33; restores embargo on shipment of arms into Mexico, 34; accepts mediation of A. B. C. powers, 34-36; state ment of general policy in Mexican matters, 36-40; vin dication of policy toward Mexico, 41-42; action upon outbreak of European war, 44-49; offer of mediation made to belligerent nations by, 44; appeal of, to Americans, to be neutral in fact as well as in name, 46; reason for re fraining from protest upon in vasion of Belgium, 47-48; point of view at outbreak of European war as stated before American Bar Association (October, 1914), 50; plans of, as revealed in second annual message to Congress, 50-52; stages in development of policy, 52 ff. ; insistence by, upon neutrality in word and deed, 58; policy concerning submarine issue and freedom of the seas, 64 ff.; successful outcome of policy followed toward Carranza government in Mexico, 73-75 ; diplomatic controversy with Germany viewed as successful in out come, 79 ; official proposal by, of program of preparedness, 80-82; development of first half of preparedness program of, relating to army and navy, 80 ff., X09-IX0; new Pan- American program, 82-85 ; speeches during ten days' tour of New York City and West ern cities (February, 19x6) y 91-92; letter to Senator Stone (February 24, 19x6), 94; ad vocacy by, of league of na tions to preserve peace, 108, 128, 325-329; stress laid in speeches of 1916 on new posi tion of United States as a 428 INDEX world power, xxx-113; ex pressed satisfaction of, with his entire foreign policy, 120- 122; campaign speeches in 1916, 122-129; 349-358; plea not emphasized by, that "he has kept us out of war," 124; reasons for suggesting a " peace without victory," 135 ; a summing up of results of leadership of, 149-157; text of more important speeches and other public utterances of, 179-411. World peace, plan of, 19x3 for, 12, 183-184; foundations of a, as stated by President Wilson (January, 19x7), 137, 362-370. Wriston, H. M., " Presidential Special Agents in Diplomacy" by, X5n. Zimmermann letter, publication of, X4X-X42; authenticity of, 142 n. ; reference to, in Presi dent's address asking for declaration of war on Ger- iiiany, 389. PEINTBD IN THE UNITED STATES OP AMEBIO& "'HE following pages contain advertisements of a few of the Macmillan books on kindred subjects. Recollections By VISCOUNT MORLEY, O.M. 2 vols., $7.50 This is a great biography of a great man, and without doubt is the most important book of its kind which has appeared in the last decade. John Morley stands for all that is finest in English thought, and has left an ineffaceable mark on his period as journalist, politician and litterateur. 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