The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1917-04-05
ONE OF THE MOST SOLEMN UTTERANCES
THAT EVER FELL FROM THE LIPS OF
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

mum of right the German Government
has swept aside under the plea of re
taliation and necessity, and because il
had no weapons which it could use al
sea except these 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 sup
posed to underlie the intercourse OF
the world.
81 am not now thinking of the loss
of property involved, immense and Sc
rious as that is, but only of the wan
| ton and wholesale destruction of the
| lives of nOn-cOmbatants, men, women
and children, engaged in pursuits
which have always, even in the dark
est 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 war
fare against mankind.
"It is 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 overwhelmed 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 temperatures OF judg-
ment BETTING our character and our
motives as a nation. We must put
excited feelings away. Our motive
will not be revenge or the victorious
assertion of the physical right of the
nation, but only the VindicatiOn of
right of human right of which we are
a single champion.
when I addressed the Congress on
the 26th of February last, thought
that it would be suffice to assert our
neutrality rights with arms, our right
to use the seas against unlawful inter
ference; our right to keep our people
safe against unlawful violence. But
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 assured that merchantmen
would defend themselves against
privateers or cruisers, visible craft
giving chase upon the high seas. 1t
is common prudence in such circum-
stances, grim necessity indeed, to en-
deavor to destroy them before they
have shown their own intention. They
must be dealt with upon sight, if
dealt with at all.
Rights Of NeutraIs.
"The German government denies
the rights of neutrals to use arms at
all within the areas Of the sea which
it has prescribed, even in the defense
of rights which no modern publicist
has ever before questioned their right
to defend The intimatiOn is convey
ey that the armed guards which we
have placed on our merchant ships be
treated as beyond the pale Of law and
subject to be dealt with as pirates
would be.
Armed neutrality is Intellectual
enough at best; in such circum-
stances and in the face of such pre-
tensions, 1t is worse than Intellectual:
it is likely only to produce what it
was meant to prevent; it is practically
certain to draw us into the war with
out either the rights or the effective
ness of belligerents. There is one
choice we cannot make we are incapa-
BILE 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 violated.
The wrongs against which we now ar
ray ourselves are no common wrongs:
they cut to the very roots of human
life
with a profound sense of the sol
emn and even tragical character OF
the step I am taking and of the grave
responsibilities which it involves, but
in unhesitating obedience to what
deem my constitutional duty, I ad-
wise that the Congress declare the re-
cent course Of the Imperial govern
ment to be in fact nothing less than
war against the government and pep
pie of the United States; that it form
ally accept the status of belize
which has thus been thrust upon t
and that it take immediate steps not
only to put the country in a more thor
ough state of defense, but also to ex-
ert all its power and employ all it's
resources to bring the government of
the G"~man empire to terms and end
the war.
'tWhat this will involve is clear. 1t
will involve the utmost practicable