I have again asked the privilege 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 between us.
On the third of February I officially informed you of the sudden and
unexpected action of the Imperial German Government in declaring its
intention to disregard the promises it had made to this Government in
April last and undertake immediate submarine operations against all
commerce, 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 Mediterranean, and to conduct those
operations without regard to the established restrictions of
international practice, without regard to any considerations of humanity
even which might interfere with their object. That policy was forthwith
put into practice. It has now been in active execution for nearly four
weeks.
Its practical results are not yet fully disclosed. The commerce of other
neutral nations is suffering severely, but not, perhaps, very much more
severely than it was already suffering before the first of February,
when the new policy of the Imperial Government was put into operation.
We have asked the cooeperation 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 apprehension than in fact, rather
because so many of our ships are timidly keeping to their home ports
than because American ships have been sunk.
Two American vessels have been sunk, the _Housatonic_ and the _Lyman M.
Law_. The case of the _Housatonic,_ which was carrying food-stuffs
consigned to a London firm, was essentially like the case of the _Fry_,
in which, it will be recalled, the German Government admitted its
liability for damages, and the lives of the crew, as in the case of the
_Fry_, were safeguarded with reasonable care. The case of the _Law_,
which was carrying lemon-box staves to Palermo, disclosed a ruthlessness
of method which deserves grave condemnation, but was accompanied by no
circumstances which might not have been expected at any time in
connection with the use of the submarine against merchantmen as the
German Government has used it.
In sum, therefore, the situation we find ourselves in with regard to the
actual conduct of the German submarine warfare against commerce and its
effects upon our own ships and people is substantially the same that it
was when I addressed you on the third of February, except for the tying
up of our shipping in our own ports because of the unwillingness of our
shipowners to risk their vessels at sea without insurance or adequate
protection, and the very serious 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 accomplish, so far as we
are concerned. We can only say, therefore, 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 expressions of purpose on the
part of the German press and the German authorities which have increased
rather than lessened the impression that, if our ships and our people
are spared, it will be because of fortunate circumstances or because the
commanders of the German submarines which they may happen to encounter
exercise an unexpected discretion and restraint rather than because of
the instructions 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 defend 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 general 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 servants 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 defend 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 occasion should indeed arise. Since it has unhappily proved
impossible to safeguard our neutral rights by diplomatic means against
the unwarranted infringements they are suffering at the hands of
Germany, there may be no recourse but to _armed_ neutrality, which we
shall know how to maintain and for which there is abundant American
precedent.
It is devoutly to be hoped that it will 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 need 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 pursuits of peace in quietness and good
will,--rights recognized time 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 will understand why I can make no definite proposals 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 foreseen. I believe that the people will 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 adequate to
protect our ships and our people in their legitimate and peaceful
pursuits on the seas. I request also that you will 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 insurance against the present war risks.
I have spoken of our commerce and of the legitimate errands 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 life
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 civilization. My
theme is of those great principles of compassion and of 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 rights 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, as upon the ultimate base of our
existence and our liberty. I cannot imagine any man with American
principles at his heart hesitating to defend these things.