The Triumphant Life of Theodore Roosevelt edited by J. Martin Miller

THEODORE ROOSEVELT 21
interests abroad who have displayed unusual ability in the
discharge of the varied and important duties that consuls of
the United States have to perform. In China and Central
and South America the consular officers have been called upon
to perform delicate and trying duties of a diplomatic charac-
ter, and have discharged those duties with rare tact and
ability.
Under the beneficent administration of Republican presi-
dents the Union became consolidated into one nation, and in
the recent crisis through which tur own nation and the nations
of the world have been passing, the party of Lincoln and
Grant and Blaine and McKinley and Roosevelt is still faithful
to duty and manifests the wisdom and statesmanship necessary
to meet every emergency and wisely dispose of all questions
with an eye single to the welfare of the people, the stability of
the Union, and the good of mankind.
The nation is no longer a house divitled against itself; it
has followed the teachings of the Father of his Country in
being mindful of our relations with foreign countries, in adopt-
ing the policy of extending our commercial relations with as
little political connection as possible.
The policy of this nation now is and ought to be absolute
neutrality between the nations of the world, whether at peace
or at war, honest and straightforward in our intercourse with
all.
The struggle between Russia and Japan is a calamity which
the nations greatly regret, and all the nations would rejoice if
that war would cease, and I am sure that this government
would gladly do anything possible, by the consent of the con-
tending powers, to effect a settlement on fair terms to each.
1 have no authority to speak for the Republican party or