May we not cherish this sentiment without presumption when we
reflect on the characters by which this war is distinguished?
It was not declared on the part of the United States until it had
been long made on them, in reality though not in name; until
arguments and postulations had been exhausted; until a positive
declaration had been received that the wrongs provoking it would
not be discontinued; nor until this last appeal could no longer be
delayed without breaking down the spirit of the nation, destroying
all confidence in itself and in its political institutions, and
either perpetuating a state of disgraceful suffering or regaining
by more costly sacrifices and more severe struggles our lost rank
and respect among independent powers.
On the issue of the war are staked our national sovereignty on the
high seas and the security of an important class of citizens whose
occupations give the proper value to those of every other class.
Not to contend for such a stake is to surrender our equality with
other powers on the element common to all and to violate the
sacred title which every member of the society has to its
protection. I need not call into view the unlawfulness of the
practice by which our mariners are forced at the will of every
cruising officer from their own vessels into foreign ones, nor
paint the outrages inseparable from it.
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