We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose because we know
that in such a Government, following 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 the gage of battle with this natural foe
to liberty, 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 pretense about
them, to fight thus for the ultimate peace of the world and for the
liberation of its peoples, the German people included; for the rights
of nations 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 trusted
foundations of political liberty.
We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion.
We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for
the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions
of the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights
have been made as secure as the faith and the freedom of the nation
can make them.
Just because we fight without rancor and without selfish objects,
seeking nothing for ourselves but what we shall wish to share with
all free peoples, we shall, I feel confident, conduct our operations
as belligerents without passion and ourselves observe with proud
punctilio the principles of right and of 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 indeed avowed its unqualified
indorsement 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
accredited to this Government by the Imperial and Royal Government 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.