Speeches of Benjamin Harrison, Twenty-third President of the United StatesHarrison, Benjamin
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Speeches of Benjamin Harrison, Twenty-third President of the United States
Harrison, Benjamin
Harrison, Benjamin, 1833-1901; Speeches, addresses, etc., American; United States -- Politics and government
It must not be assumed, however, that our interests are so
exclusively American that our entire inattention to any events that
may transpire elsewhere can be taken for granted. Our citizens
domiciled for purposes of trade in all countries and in many of the
islands of the sea demand and will have our adequate care in their
personal and commercial rights. The necessities of our navy require
convenient coaling stations and dock and harbor privileges. These and
other trading privileges we will feel free to obtain only by means
that do not in any degree partake of coercion, however feeble the
Government from which we ask such concessions. But having fairly
obtained them by methods and for purposes entirely consistent with the
most friendly disposition toward all other powers, our consent will be
necessary to any modification or impairment of the concession.
We shall neither fail to respect the flag of any friendly nation
or the just rights of its citizens, nor to exact the like treatment
for our own. Calmness, justice, and consideration should characterize
our diplomacy. The offices of an intelligent diplomacy or of friendly
arbitration, in proper cases, should be adequate to the peaceful
adjustment of all international difficulties. By such methods we will
make our contribution to the world's peace, which no nation values
more highly, and avoid the opprobrium which must fall upon the nation
that ruthlessly breaks it.
The duty devolved by law upon the President to nominate and, by
and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint all public
officers whose appointment is not otherwise provided for in the
Constitution or by act of Congress has become very burdensome, and its
wise and efficient discharge full of difficulty. The civil list is so
large that a personal knowledge of any large number of the applicants
is impossible. The President must rely upon the representations of
others, and these are often made inconsiderately and without any just
sense of responsibility.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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