be strictly confined
to this one great object; that its sole aim shall be to seek a way of
permanently, averting the horrors of cruel and bloody combat between
countries, oftenest of one blood and speech, or the even worse calamity
of internal commotion and civil strife; that it shall regard the
burdensome and far-reaching consequences of such struggles, the legacies
of exhausted finances, of oppressive debt, of onerous taxation, of
ruined cities, of paralyzed industries, of devastated fields, of
ruthless conscription, of the slaughter of men, of the grief of the
widow and the orphan, of imbittered resentments that long survive those
who provoked them and heavily afflict the innocent generations that come
after.

The President is especially desirous to have it understood that in
putting forth this invitation the United States does not assume the
position of counseling, or attempting through the voice of the congress
to counsel, any determinate solution of existing questions which may now
divide any of the countries of America. Such questions can not properly
come before the congress. Its mission is higher. It is to provide for
the interests of all in the future, not to settle the individual
differences of the present. For this reason especially the President has
indicated a day for the assembling of the congress so far in the future
as to leave good ground for hope that by the time named the present
situation on the South Pacific coast will be happily terminated, and
that those engaged in the contest may take peaceable part in the
discussion and solution of the general question affecting in an equal
degree the well-being of all.

It seems also desirable to disclaim in advance any purpose on the
part of the United States to prejudge the issues to be presented to the
congress. It is far from the intent of this Government to appear before
the congress as in any sense the protector of its neighbors or the
predestined and necessary arbitrator of their disputes. The United
States will enter into the deliberations of the congress on the
same footing as the other powers represented, and with the loyal
determination to approach any proposed solution not merely in its own
interest or with a view to asserting its own power, but as a single
member among many coordinate and coequal States. So far as the influence
of this Government may be potential, it will be exerted in the direction
of conciliating whatever conflicting interest