eace, May 27, 1916.]

When the invitation to be here to-night came to me, I was glad to accept
it,--not because it offered me an opportunity to discuss the program of
the League,--that you will, I am sure, not expect of me,--but because
the desire of the whole world now turns eagerly, more and more eagerly,
towards the hope of peace, and there is just reason why we should take
our part in counsel upon this great theme. It is right that I, as
spokesman of our Government, should attempt to give expression to what I
believe to be the thought and purpose of the people of the United States
in this vital matter.

This great war that broke so suddenly upon the world two years ago, and
which has swept within its flame so great a part of the civilized world,
has affected us very profoundly, and we are not only at liberty, it is
perhaps our duty, to speak very frankly of it and of the great interests
of civilization which it affects.

With its causes and its objects we are not concerned. The obscure
fountains from which its stupendous flood has burst forth we are not
interested to search for or explore. But so great a flood, spread far
and wide to every quarter of the globe, has of necessity engulfed many a
fair province of right that lies very near to us. Our own rights as a
Nation, the liberties, the privileges, and the property of our people
have been profoundly affected. We are not mere disconnected lookers-on.
The longer the war lasts, the more deeply do we become concerned that
it should be brought to an end and the world be permitted to resume its
normal life and course again. And when it does come to an end we shall
be as much concerned as the nations at war to see peace assume an aspect
of permanence, give promise of days from which the anxiety of
uncertainty shall be lifted, bring some assurance that peace and war
shall always hereafter be reckoned part of the common interest of
mankind. We are participants, whether we would or not, in the life of
the world. The interests of all nations are our own also. We are
partners with the rest. What affects mankind is inevitably our affair as
well as the affair of the nations of Europe and of Asia.

One observation on the causes of the present war we are at liberty to
make, and to make it may throw some light forward upon the future, as
well as backward upon the past. It is plain that this war could have
come only as it did, suddenly and out of secret counsels, without
warn