[Cheers.]
We did not enter upon this war with the hope of easy victory; we did not
enter upon it in any desire to extend our territory, or to advance and
increase our position in the world; or in any romantic desire to shed
our blood and spend our money in Continental quarrels. We entered upon
this war reluctantly after we had made every effort compatible with
honor to avoid being drawn in, and we entered upon it with a full
realization of the sufferings, losses, disappointments, vexations, and
anxieties, and of the appalling and sustained exertions which would be
entailed upon us by our action. The war will be long and sombre. It will
have many reverses of fortune and many hopes falsified by subsequent
events, and we must derive from our cause and from the strength that is
in us, and from the traditions and history of our race, and from the
support and aid of our empire all over the world the means to make this
country overcome obstacles of all kinds and continue to the end of the
furrow, whatever the toil and suffering may be.
Making Sure of Victory.
But though we entered this war with no illusions as to the incidents
which will mark its progress, as to the ebb and flow of fortune in this
and that part of the gigantic field over which it is waged, we entered
it, and entered it rightly, with the sure and strong hope and
expectation of bringing it to a victorious conclusion.
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