“And more than that—­much more than that—­has been accomplished.  The great nations which associated themselves to destroy it had now definitely united in the common purpose to set up such a peace as will satisfy the longing of the whole world for disinterested justice, embodied in settlements which are based upon something much better and much more lasting than selfish competitive interests of powerful states.

“There is no longer conjecture as to the objects the victors have in mind.  They have a mind in the matter, not only, but a heart also.  Their avowed and concerted purpose is to satisfy and protect the weak as well as to accord their just rights to the strong.

“The humane temper and intention of the victorious governments has already been manifested in a very practical way.  Their representatives in the supreme war council at Versailles have by unanimous resolution assured the people of the central empires that everything that is possible in the circumstances will be done to supply them with food and relieve the distressing want that is in so many places threatening their very lives; and steps are to be taken immediately to organize these efforts at relief in the same systematic manner that they were organized in the case of Belgium.

“For, with the fall of the ancient governments which rested like an incubus upon the people of the central empires, has come political change not merely, but revolution; and revolution which seems as yet to assume no final and ordered form.

“Excesses accomplish nothing.  Unhappy Russia has furnished abundant recent proof of that.  Disorder immediately defeats itself.  If excesses should occur, if disorder should for a time raise its head, a sober second thought will follow and a day of constructive action, if we help and do not hinder.

“To conquer with arms is to make only a temporary conquest; to conquer the world by earning its esteem is to make permanent conquest.  I am confident that the nations that have learned the discipline of freedom and that have settled with self-possession to its ordered practice are now about to make conquest of the world by the sheer power of example and of friendly helpfulness.

“The peoples who have but just come out from under the yoke of arbitrary government and who are now coming at last into their freedom will never find the treasures of liberty they are in search of if they look for them by the light of the torch.  They will find that every pathway that is stained with the blood of their own brothers leads to the wilderness, not to the seat of their hope.

“They are now face to face with their initial tests.  We must hold the light steady until they find themselves.  And in the meantime, if it be possible, we must establish a peace that will justly define their place among the nations, remove all fear of their neighbors and of their former masters, and enable them to live in security and contentment when they have set their own affairs in order.