Speech Transcript:

About to add the solemnity of an oath to the obligations imposed by a
second call to the station in which my country heretofore placed me,
I find in the presence of this respectable assembly an opportunity of
publicly repeating my profound sense of so distinguished a confidence
and of the responsibility united with it. The impressions on me are
strengthened by such an evidence that my faithful endeavors to
discharge my arduous duties have been favorably estimated, and by a
consideration of the momentous period at which the trust has been
renewed. From the weight and magnitude now belonging to it I should
be compelled to shrink if I had less reliance on the support of an
enlightened and generous people, and felt less deeply a conviction
that the war with a powerful nation, which forms so prominent a
feature in our situation, is stamped with that justice which invites
the smiles of Heaven on the means of conducting it to a successful
termination.

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. The proofs are in the records of each successive Administration
of our Government, and the cruel sufferings of that portion of the
American people have found their way to every bosom not dead to the
sympathies of human nature.

As the war was just in its origin and necessary and noble in its
objects, we can reflect with a proud satisfaction that in carrying it
on no principle of justice or honor, no usage of civilized nations, no
precept of courtesy or humanity, have been infringed. The war has been
waged on our part with scrupulous regard to all these obligations, and
in a spirit of liberality which was never surpassed.

How little has been the effect of this example on the conduct of the
enemy!

They have retained as prisoners of war citizens of the United States
not liable to be so considered under the usages of war.

They have refused to consider as prisoners of war, and threatened to
punish as traitors and deserters, persons emigrating without
restraint to the United States, incorporated by naturalization into
our political family, and fighting under the authority of their
adopted country in open and honorable war for the maintenance of its
rights and safety. Such is the avowed purpose of a Government which
is in the practice of naturalizing by thousands citizens of other
countries, and not only of permitting but compelling them to fight
its battles against their native country.

They have not, it is true, taken into their own hands the hatchet and
the knife, devoted to indiscriminate massacre, but they have let loose
the savages armed with these cruel instruments; have allured them into
their service, and carried them to battle by their sides, eager to
glut their savage thirst with the blood of the vanquished and to
finish the work of torture and death on maimed and defenseless
captives. And, what was never before seen, British commanders have
extorted victory over the unconquerable valor of our troops by
presenting to the sympathy of their chief captives awaiting massacre
from their savage associates. And now we find them, in further
contempt of the modes of honorable warfare, supplying the place of a
conquering force by attempts to disorganize our political society, to
dismember our confederated Republic. Happily, like others, these will
recoil on the authors; but they mark the degenerate counsels from
which they emanate, and if they did not belong to a sense of
unexampled inconsistencies might excite the greater wonder as
proceeding from a Government which founded the very war in which it
has been so long engaged on a charge against the disorganizing and
insurrectional policy of its adversary.

To render the justice of the war on our part the more conspicuous,
the reluctance to commence it was followed by the earliest and
strongest manifestations of a disposition to arrest its progress. The
sword was scarcely out of the scabbard before the enemy was apprised
of the reasonable terms on which it would be resheathed. Still more
precise advances were repeated, and have been received in a spirit
forbidding every reliance not placed on the military resources of the
nation.

These resources are amply sufficient to bring the war to an honorable
issue. Our nation is in number more than half that of the British
Isles. It is composed of a brave, a free, a virtuous, and an
intelligent people. Our country abounds in the necessaries, the arts,
and the comforts of life. A general prosperity is visible in the
public countenance. The means employed by the British cabinet to
undermine it have recoiled on themselves; have given to our national
faculties a more rapid development, and, draining or diverting the
precious metals from British circulation and British vaults, have
poured them into those of the United States. It is a propitious
consideration that an unavoidable war should have found this
seasonable facility for the contributions required to support it.
When the public voice called for war, all knew, and still know, that
without them it could not be carried on through the period which it
might last, and the patriotism, the good sense, and the manly spirit
of our fellow-citizens are pledges for the cheerfulness with which
they will bear each his share of the common burden. To render the war
short and its success sure, animated and systematic exertions alone
are necessary, and the success of our arms now may long preserve our
country from the necessity of another resort to them. Already have
the gallant exploits of our naval heroes proved to the world our
inherent capacity to maintain our rights on one element. If the
reputation of our arms has been thrown under clouds on the other,
presaging flashes of heroic enterprise assure us that nothing is
wanting to correspondent triumphs there also but the discipline and
habits which are in daily progress.