s who represent the real sentiments of the
Nation. I for my part always feel a serene confidence in waiting for the
declaration of the principles and sentiments of the men who are not
vociferous, do not go about seeking to make trouble, do their own
thinking, attend to their own business, and love their own country.

I have at no time supposed that the men whose voices seemed to contain
the threat of division amongst us were really uttering the sentiments
even of those whom they pretended to represent. I for my part have no
jealousy of family sentiment. I have no jealousy of that deep affection
which runs back through long lineage. It would be a pity if we forget
the fine things that our ancestors have done. But I also know the magic
of America; I also know the great principles which thrill men in the
singular body politic to which we belong in the United States. I know
the impulses which have drawn men to our shores. They have not come
idly; they have not come without conscious purpose to be free; they have
not come without voluntary desire to unite themselves with the great
nation on this side of the sea; and I know that whenever the test comes
every man's heart will be first for America. It was principle and
affection and ambition and hope that drew men to these shores, and they
are not going to forget the errand upon which they came and allow
America, the home of their refuge and hope, to suffer by any
forgetfulness on their part. And so the trouble makers have shot their
bolt, and it has been ineffectual. Some of them have been vociferous;
all of them have been exceedingly irresponsible. Talk was cheap, and
that was all it cost them. They did not have to do anything. But you
will know without my telling you that the man whom for the time being
you have charged with the duties of President of the United States must
talk with a deep sense of responsibility, and he must remember, above
all things else, the fine traditions of his office which some men seem
to have forgotten. There is no precedent in American history for any
action of aggression on the part of the United States or for any action
which might mean that America is seeking to connect herself with the
controversies on the other side of the water. Men who seek to provoke us
to such action have forgotten the traditions of the United States, but
it behooves those with whom you have entrusted office to remember the
traditions of the United States and to see to it