It is right that we should provide it not only, but that we should make it as attractive as possible, and so induce our young men to undergo it at such times as they can command a little freedom and can seek the physical development they need, for mere health’s sake, if for nothing more.  Every means by which such things can be stimulated is legitimate, and such a method smacks of true American ideas.  It is right, too, that the National Guard of the States should be developed and strengthened by every means which is not inconsistent with our obligations to our own people or with the established policy of our Government.  And this, also, not because the time or occasion specially calls for such measures, but because it should be our constant policy to make these provisions for our national peace and safety.

More than this carries with it a reversal of the whole history and character of our polity.  More than this, proposed at this time, permit me to say, would mean merely that we had lost our self-possession, that we had been thrown off our balance by a war with which we have nothing to do, whose causes cannot touch us, whose very existence affords us opportunities of friendship and disinterested service which should make us ashamed of any thought of hostility or fearful preparation for trouble.  This is assuredly the opportunity for which a people and a government like ours were raised up, the opportunity not only to speak but actually to embody and exemplify the counsels of peace and amity and the lasting concord which is based on justice and fair and generous dealing.

A powerful navy we have always regarded as our proper and natural means of defense; and it has always been of defense that we have thought, never of aggression or of conquest.  But who shall tell us now what sort of a navy to build?  We shall take leave to be strong upon the seas, in the future as in the past; and there will be no thought of offense or of provocation in that.  Our ships are our natural bulwarks.  When will the experts tell us just what kind we should construct—­and when will they be right for ten years together, if the relative efficiency of craft of different kinds and uses continues to change as we have seen it change under our very eyes in these last few months?

But I turn away from the subject.  It is not new.  There is no new need to discuss it.  We shall not alter our attitude toward it because some amongst us are nervous and excited.  We shall easily and sensibly agree upon a policy of defense.  The question has not changed its aspect because the times are not normal.  Our policy will not be for an occasion.  It will be conceived as a permanent and settled thing, which we will pursue at all seasons, without haste and after a fashion perfectly consistent with the peace of the world, the abiding friendship of states, and the unhampered freedom of all with whom we deal.  Let there be no misconception.  The country has been misinformed.  We have not been negligent of national defense.  We are not unmindful of the great responsibility resting upon us.  We shall learn and profit by the lesson of every experience and every new circumstance; and what is needed will be adequately done.