One of the things that has served to convince us that the Prussian autocracy was not and could never be our friend is that from the very outset of the present war it has filled our unsuspecting communities and even our offices of government with spies and set criminal intrigues everywhere afoot against our national unity of counsel, our peace within and without our industries and our commerce. Indeed it is now evident that its spies were here even before the war began; and it is unhappily not a matter of conjecture but a fact proved in our courts of justice that the intrigues which have more than once come perilously near to disturbing the peace and dislocating the industries of the country have been carried on at the instigation, with the support, and even under the personal direction of official agents of the Imperial Government accredited to the Government of the United States. Even in checking these things and trying to extirpate them we have sought to put the most generous interpretation possible upon them because we knew that their source lay, not in any hostile feeling or purpose of the German people towards us (who were, no doubt, as ignorant of them as we ourselves were), but only in the selfish designs of a Government that did what it pleased and told its people nothing. But they have played their part in serving to convince us at last that that Government entertains no real friendship for us and means to act against our peace and security at its convenience. That it means to stir up enemies against us at our very doors the intercepted [Zimmermann] note to the German Minister at Mexico City is eloquent evidence.
We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose because we know that in such a government, following such methods, we can never have a friend; and that in the presence of its organized power, always lying in wait to accomplish we know not what purpose, there can be no assured security for the democratic governments of the world. We are now about to accept gage of battle with this natural foe to liberty and shall, if necessary, spend the whole force of the nation to check and nullify its pretensions and its power. We are glad, now that we see the facts with no veil of false pretence about them, to fight thus for the ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its peoples, the German peoples included: for the rights of nations great and small and the privilege of men everywhere to choose their way of life and of obedience. The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been made as secure as the faith and the freedom of nations can make them.
Just because we fight without rancour and without selfish object, seeking nothing for ourselves but what we shall wish to share with all free peoples, we shall, I feel confident, conduct our operations as belligerents without passion and ourselves observe with proud punctilio the principles of right and of fair play we profess to be fighting for.
I have said nothing of the governments allied with the Imperial Government of Germany because they have not made war upon us or challenged us to defend our right and our honour. The Austro-Hungarian Government has, indeed, avowed its unqualified endorsement and acceptance of the reckless and lawless submarine warfare adopted now without disguise by the Imperial German Government, and it has therefore not been possible for this Government to receive Count Tarnowski, the Ambassador recently accredited to this Government by the Imperial and Royal Government of Austria-Hungary; but that Government has not actually engaged in warfare against citizens of the United States on the seas, and I take the liberty, for the present at least, of postponing a discussion of our relations with the authorities at Vienna. We enter this war only where we are clearly forced into it because there are no other means of defending our rights.
It will be all the easier for us to conduct ourselves as belligerents in a high spirit of right and fairness because we act without animus, not in enmity towards a people or with the desire to bring any injury or disadvantage upon them, but only in armed opposition to an irresponsible government which has thrown aside all considerations of humanity and of right and is running amuck. We are, let me say again, the sincere friends of the German people, and shall desire nothing so much as the early reestablishment of intimate relations of mutual advantage between us -- however hard it may be for them, for the time being, to believe that this is spoken from our hearts. We have borne with their present government through all these bitter months because of that friendship -- exercising a patience and forbearance which would otherwise have been impossible. We shall, happily, still have an opportunity to prove that friendship in our daily attitude and actions towards the millions of men and women of German birth and native sympathy, who live amongst us and share our life, and we shall be proud to prove it towards all who are in fact loyal to their neighbours and to the Government in the hour of test. They are, most of them, as true and loyal Americans as if they had never known any other fealty or allegiance. They will be prompt to stand with us in rebuking and restraining the few who may be of a different mind and purpose. If there should be disloyalty, it will be dealt with with a firm hand of stern repression; but, if it lifts its head at all, it will lift it only here and there and without countenance except from a lawless and malignant few.
We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose because we know that in such a government, following such methods, we can never have a friend; and that in the presence of its organized power, always lying in wait to accomplish we know not what purpose, there can be no assured security for the democratic governments of the world. We are now about to accept gage of battle with this natural foe to liberty and shall, if necessary, spend the whole force of the nation to check and nullify its pretensions and its power. We are glad, now that we see the facts with no veil of false pretence about them, to fight thus for the ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its peoples, the German peoples included: for the rights of nations great and small and the privilege of men everywhere to choose their way of life and of obedience. The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been made as secure as the faith and the freedom of nations can make them.
Just because we fight without rancour and without selfish object, seeking nothing for ourselves but what we shall wish to share with all free peoples, we shall, I feel confident, conduct our operations as belligerents without passion and ourselves observe with proud punctilio the principles of right and of fair play we profess to be fighting for.
I have said nothing of the governments allied with the Imperial Government of Germany because they have not made war upon us or challenged us to defend our right and our honour. The Austro-Hungarian Government has, indeed, avowed its unqualified endorsement and acceptance of the reckless and lawless submarine warfare adopted now without disguise by the Imperial German Government, and it has therefore not been possible for this Government to receive Count Tarnowski, the Ambassador recently accredited to this Government by the Imperial and Royal Government of Austria-Hungary; but that Government has not actually engaged in warfare against citizens of the United States on the seas, and I take the liberty, for the present at least, of postponing a discussion of our relations with the authorities at Vienna. We enter this war only where we are clearly forced into it because there are no other means of defending our rights.
It will be all the easier for us to conduct ourselves as belligerents in a high spirit of right and fairness because we act without animus, not in enmity towards a people or with the desire to bring any injury or disadvantage upon them, but only in armed opposition to an irresponsible government which has thrown aside all considerations of humanity and of right and is running amuck. We are, let me say again, the sincere friends of the German people, and shall desire nothing so much as the early reestablishment of intimate relations of mutual advantage between us -- however hard it may be for them, for the time being, to believe that this is spoken from our hearts. We have borne with their present government through all these bitter months because of that friendship -- exercising a patience and forbearance which would otherwise have been impossible. We shall, happily, still have an opportunity to prove that friendship in our daily attitude and actions towards the millions of men and women of German birth and native sympathy, who live amongst us and share our life, and we shall be proud to prove it towards all who are in fact loyal to their neighbours and to the Government in the hour of test. They are, most of them, as true and loyal Americans as if they had never known any other fealty or allegiance. They will be prompt to stand with us in rebuking and restraining the few who may be of a different mind and purpose. If there should be disloyalty, it will be dealt with with a firm hand of stern repression; but, if it lifts its head at all, it will lift it only here and there and without countenance except from a lawless and malignant few.
プロイセンの独裁政権が我々の友人ではなかったし、決して友人ではなかったことを我々に確信させるのに役立ったことの一つは、現在の戦争の開始当初から、プロイセンは、我々の何の疑いもない地域社会や政府機関さえもスパイで埋め尽くし、我々の国民的な団結、我々の内外の平和、我々の産業や商業に対して、いたるところで犯罪的な陰謀を企てていたということである。 実際、戦争が始まる前からスパイがここにいたことは今となっては明らかである。不幸なことに、わが国の平和を乱し、わが国の産業を混乱させる危険に迫るような陰謀が、アメリカ合衆国政府の公認を受けた帝国政府の役人の扇動、支援、さらには個人的な指示の下で行われてきたことは、憶測の問題ではなく、わが国の司法裁判所で証明された事実である。 これらのことを牽制し、これを根絶しようとしているときでさえ、私たちは可能な限り寛大な解釈をしてきました。 しかし、これらの政府は、政府が我々に対して真の友好関係を持っておらず、自分たちの都合の良いように我々の平和と安全に反して行動することを意味していることを、ついに我々に納得させる役割を果たしたのです。 それは、メキシコシティにいるドイツの大臣に宛てた傍受された[ツィンメルマン]メモが雄弁な証拠である。 （電文はイギリス海軍の諜報部、ウィリアム・R・ホール提督に指揮された「ルーム40」の暗号解読者ナイジェル・デ・グレイおよびウィリアム・モントゴメリーによって傍受、解読された。暗号の解読は、他の技術によって解読されていたコード0075が、傍受した電文の元メッセージに使用されていたため可能となった。ツィンメルマンの電文は、もしアメリカ合衆国が参戦するならば、ドイツはメキシコと同盟を結ぶという提案だった。さらに、アメリカへのメキシコの先制攻撃はドイツが援助し、大戦でドイツが勝利した場合には米墨戦争によってアメリカに奪われたテキサス州、ニューメキシコ州、アリゾナ州をメキシコに返還するというものであった。また、メキシコにドイツと日本の仲裁と、日本の対米参戦の説得を促すものであった。カランサは4月14日にツィンメルマンの提案を断わった。その時、既に米国はドイツに戦争を宣言していた。）
我々が敵対的な目的のこの挑戦を受け入れているのは、そのような政府では、そのような方法に従うと、我々は決して友人を持つことができないことを知っているからであり、また、その組織化された権力の存在下では、我々は何の目的を達成するために常に待ち伏せしており、世界の民主的な政府のために保証された安全保障はありえないことを知っているからである。 私たちは今、この自由に対する天敵との戦いを受け入れようとしており、必要であれば、国家の総力を挙げて、その気取りと権力を牽制し、無効化しようとしている。 我々は、偽りの偽りのベールに覆われていない事実を目の当たりにした今、世界の究極の平和と、ドイツ国民を含む世界の人々の解放のために、このように戦うことができることを喜んでいる。 世界を民主主義のために安全にしなければならない。 世界の平和は、政治的自由の試された基礎の上に築かれなければならない。 我々は利己的な目的を持たない。 征服も支配も望まない。 我々は自分自身への補償も、自由に行う犠牲に対する物質的な補償も求めていません。 我々は人類の権利を擁護する者の一人に過ぎない。 それらの権利が、信仰と国家の自由がもたらすものと同様に安全なものになったとき、私たちは満足するでしょう。
我々は、悪びれることなく、利己的な目的もなく、自分たちのためには何も求めず、すべての自由な人民と共有したいと願うものだけを求めて戦っているのだから、我々は自信を持って、交戦国としての活動を情熱をもって行うことなく、我々が戦うことを公言している権利と公正な行為の原則を誇りをもって守ることができるだろう。
私は、ドイツ帝国政府と同盟を結んでいる政府については何も述べていない。なぜなら、彼らは我々に戦争を仕掛けたり、我々の権利と名誉を守るために我々に挑戦したりしていないからだ。 オーストリア・ハンガリー政府は、確かに、ドイツ帝国政府が現在採用している無謀で無法な潜水艦戦を無条件に支持し、容認していることを表明しています。 しかし，その政府は，実際には海の上で米国市民と戦争をしていないので，少なくとも当分の間は，ウィーンの当局との関係についての議論を延期することにしたいと思います。 我々がこの戦争に参加するのは、明らかにやむを得ないと判断された場合に限られます。
我々が交戦国として、正義と公正の高い精神をもって行動することは容易になるであろう。なぜならば、我々は、民族に対する敵意や、民族に損害や不利益を与えようとする願望をもって行動するのではなく、ただ、人道と正義のすべての配慮を捨てて暴走している無責任な政府に武力で対抗するだけだからである。 我々はドイツ国民の真摯な友人であり、我々の間に相互利益のための親密な関係を早期に再確立することを望むものではない。 私たちは、彼らの現在の政府と耐えてきた。
