“America, in the assembly of nations, since her admission
among them, has invariably, though often fruitlessly, held forth to them the hand of
honest friendship, of equal freedom, of generous reciprocity. She has uniformly spoken
among them, though often to heedless and often to disdainful ears, the language of equal
liberty, of equal justice, and of equal rights. She has, in the lapse of nearly half a
century, without a single exception, respected the independence of other nations while
asserting and maintaining her own. She has abstained from interference in the concerns of
others, even when conflict has been for principles to which she clings, as to the last
vital drop that visits the heart. She has seen that probably for centuries to come, all
the contests of that Aceldama the European world, will be contests of inveterate power,
and emerging right. Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be
unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not
abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and
independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.”