utlined to the Congress on the 8th of January last, as the Central
Empires also have, and very reasonably desire my personal counsel in
their interpretation and application, and it is highly desirable that I
should give it, in order that the sincere desire of our government to
contribute without selfish purpose of any kind to settlements that will
be of common benefit to all the nations concerned may be made fully
manifest. The peace settlements which are now to be agreed upon are of
transcendent importance both to us and to the rest of the world, and I
know of no business or interest which should take precedence of them.
The gallant men of our armed forces on land and sea have consciously
fought for the ideals which they knew to be the ideals of their country;
I have sought to express those ideals; they have accepted my statements
of them as the substance of their own thought and purpose, as the
associated governments have accepted them; I owe it to them to see to
it, so far as in me lies, that no false or mistaken interpretation is
put upon them, and no possible effort omitted to realize them. It is now
my duty to play my full part in making good what they offered their
life's blood to obtain. I can think of no call to service which could
transcend this....

"May I not hope, gentlemen of the Congress, that in the delicate tasks I
shall have to perform on the other side of the sea in my efforts truly
and faithfully to interpret the principles and purposes of the country
we love, I may have the encouragement and the added strength of your
united support? I realize the magnitude and difficulty of the duty I am
undertaking. I am poignantly aware of its grave responsibilities. I am
the servant of the Nation. I can have no private thought or purpose of
my own in performing such an errand. I go to give the best that is in me
to the common settlements which I must now assist in arriving at in
conference with the other working heads of the associated governments. I
shall count upon your friendly countenance and encouragement. I shall
not be inaccessible. The cables and the wireless will render me
available for any counselor service you may desire of me, and I shall be
happy in the thought that I am constantly in touch with the weighty
matters of domestic policy with which we shall have to deal. I shall
make my absence as brief as possible and shall hope to return with the
happy assurance that it has been possible to translate i