me with honorable motives, but that is not
enough. Good intentions could not atone for a mistake at such a time,
on such a subject, and under such circumstances. If your verdict is
against me, I ask no mercy; I desire none if I have acted unwisely.

A man in public life must act according to his conscience, but,
however conscientiously he acts, he must be prepared to accept without
complaint any condemnation which his own errors may bring upon him; he
must be willing to bear any deserved punishment, from ostracism to
execution. But hear me before you pass sentence.

The President and I agree in purpose; we desire a peaceful solution of
the dispute which has arisen between the United States and Germany. We
not only desire it, but, with equal fervor, we pray for it; but we
differ irreconcilably as to the means of securing it.

If it were merely a personal difference, it would be a matter of
little moment, for all the presumptions are on his side--the
presumptions that go with power and authority. He is your President, I
am a private citizen without office or title--but one of the one
hundred million of inhabitants.

But the real issue is not between persons, it is between systems, and
I rely for vindication wholly upon the strength of the position taken.

Among the influences which Governments employ in dealing with each
other there are two which are pre-eminent and antagonistic--force and
persuasion. Force speaks with firmness and acts through the ultimatum;
persuasion employs argument, courts investigation, and depends upon
negotiation. Force represents the old system--the system that must
pass away; persuasion represents the new system--the system that has
been growing, all too slowly, it is true, but growing for 1,900 years.
In the old system war is the chief cornerstone--war, which at its best
is little better than war at its worst; the new system contemplates a
universal brotherhood established through the uplifting power of
example.

If I correctly interpret the note to Germany, it conforms to the
standards of the old system rather than to the rules of the new, and I
cheerfully admit that it is abundantly supported by precedents--precedents
written in characters of blood upon almost every page of human
history. Austria furnishes the most recent precedent; it was Austria's
firmness that dictated the ultimatum against Serbia, which set the
world at war.

Every ruler now participating in this unparalleled con