总统就职演说精萃 :美国第四任总统詹姆斯•麦迪逊第二次就职演讲

　　总统就职演说精萃:詹姆斯•麦迪逊第二次就职演讲

　　May we not cherish this sentiment without presumption when we reflect on the characters by which this war is distinguished?

　　It was not declared on the part of the United States until it had been long made on them, in reality though not in name; until arguments and postulations had been exhausted; until a positive declaration had been received that the wrongs provoking it would not be discontinued; nor until this last appeal could no longer be delayed without breaking down the spirit of the nation, destroying all confidence in itself and in its political institutions, and either perpetuating a state of disgraceful suffering or regaining by more costly sacrifices, and more severe struggles our lost rank and respect among independent powers.

　　On the issue of the war are staked our national sovereignty on the high seas and the security of an important class of citizens, whose occupations give the proper value to those of every other class. Not to contend for such a stake is to surrender our equality with other powers on the element common to all, and to violate the sacred title which every member of the society has to its protection, I need not call into view the unlawfulness of the practice by which our mariners are forced at the will of every cruising officer from their own vessels into foreign ones, nor paint the outrages inseparable from it.

小精灵儿童https://www.060s.com