Other offenses violate one law while corruption strikes at the foundation of all law.

There can be no offense heavier than that of him in whom such a sacred trust has been reposed, who sells it for his own gain and enrichment; and no less heavy is the offense of the bribe giver.

He is worse than the thief, for the thief robs the individual, while the corrupt official plunders an entire city or State.

He is as wicked as the murderer, for the murderer may only take one life against the law, while the corrupt official and the man who corrupts the official alike aim at the assassination of the commonwealth itself.

Government of the people, by the people, for the people will perish from the face of the earth if bribery is tolerated.

The givers and takers of bribes stand on an evil pre-eminence of infamy.

The exposure and punishment of public corruption is an honor to a nation, not a disgrace.

The shame lies in toleration, not in correction.

No city or State, still less the Nation, can be injured by the enforcement of law.

We can not afford to pay heed to whether he is of one creed or another, of one nation or another.

As long as public plunderers when detected can find a haven of refuge in any foreign land and avoid punishment, just so long encouragement is given them to continue their practices.

If we fail to do all that in us lies to stamp out corruption we can not escape our share of responsibility for the guilt.

The first requisite of successful self-government is unflinching enforcement of the law and the cutting out of corruption.

Finally, it has furnished a signal proof of the fairness and good will with which two friendly nations can approach and determine issues involving national sovereignty and by their nature incapable of submission to a third power for…

It seemed to me to offer an admirable opportunity to advance the practice of the peaceful settlement of disputes between nations and to secure for the Hague Tribunal a memorable increase of its practical importance.

The nations interested in the controversy were so numerous and in many instances so powerful as to make it evident that beneficent results would follow from their appearance at the same time before the bar of that august tribunal of peace.

Such an imposing concourse of nations presenting their arguments to and invoking the decision of that high court of international justice and international peace can hardly fail to secure a like submission of many future controversies.

This triumph of the principle of international arbitration is a subject of warm congratulation and offers a happy augury for the peace of the world.

There seems good ground for the belief that there has been a real growth among the civilized nations of a sentiment which will permit a gradual substitution of other methods than the method of war in the settlement of disputes.

The Hague Court offers so good an example of what can be done in the direction of such settlement that it should be encouraged in every way.

The experiences of the last year bring forcibly home to us a sense of the burdens and the waste of war.

We desire in common with most civilized nations, to reduce to the lowest possible point the damage sustained in time of war by peaceable trade and commerce.

It is true we may suffer in such cases less than other communities, but all nations are damaged more or less by the state of uneasiness and apprehension into which an outbreak of hostilities throws the entire commercial world.

This purpose can probably best be accomplished by an international agreement to regard all private property at sea as exempt from capture or destruction by the forces of belligerent powers.

It is anachronistic when private property is respected on land that it should not be respected at sea.