“Whenever on any point we come in contact with a foreign power, I hope that we shall always strive to speak courteously and respectfully of that foreign power. Let us make it evident that we intend to do justice. Then let us make it equally evident that we will not tolerate injustice being done us in return. Let us further make it evident that we use no words which we are not prepared to back up with deeds, and that while our speech is always moderate we are ready and willing to make it good. Such an attitude will be the surest possible guarantee of that self-respecting peace the attainment of which is and must ever be the prime aim of a self-governing people.”
His acts while President bore out his preaching. When The Hague Tribunal of Arbitration was established, a large part of the work, so far as this nation was concerned, fell to Roosevelt.
When the old Alaskan boundary dispute between Great Britain and the United States arose again, at Roosevelt’s suggestion the matter was settled for all time by a joint commission that met in London. This commission decided in favor of America.
Another dramatic crisis arose for Roosevelt’s solution when an American, Ion Perdicaris, and his English son-in-law were kidnapped from their home near Tangier, in Morocco, by the Moorish bandit, Raisuli, on May 18, 1904. The bandit demanded a ransom and other favors from the Sultan of Morocco before he would release his prisoners. Roosevelt ordered the U. S. S. Brooklyn, Rear-Admiral Chadwick commanding, to go to Tangier. Admiral Jewell followed with three warships. British warships joined the American fleet.
“Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead!” was said to be the slogan that Roosevelt hurled at the Sultan. Whether or not he uttered it, the report rang like Concord’s bullet around the world. A month later the American and Englishman had been released.
Another example of Roosevelt’s desire to keep the peace of the world was illustrated when, at the Easter of 1903, there occurred a massacre of Jews in Kishinef, Russia. The Hebrews of the United States were greatly aroused at the atrocities and besought their government to protest to the Czar against these outrages. The Russian government sent word privately to the European countries and to President Roosevelt that the matter was exclusively a domestic one and that the Russian government would not entertain any representations upon the subject. The European governments took no further steps in the matter. Roosevelt, however, promised the Jews of the United States that he would bring their paper to the notice of the Czar.
Thus a crisis had arisen. Would Russia resent such a move? If she refused to accept the representations of the United States, would that be considered an affront by our government? Was war on the horizon?
No international troubles occurred. Though the Russian government refused to receive the memorial, the American representative at St. Petersburg visited the Foreign Office with a letter from Secretary of State Hay, which inquired as to whether the Russian government would accept the document. This letter to the Russian government went on to set forth the full text of the memorial. The Russian Foreign Office agreeably accepted it. Its publication in the press put before the world every word of the petition of the American Jews. Thus America, through Roosevelt, had spoken its opinion in the courts of mankind without bringing about the war which timid souls predicted.
When Roosevelt became President it was his rule of peace that dominated our country’s relations with other powers and that prevailed in the new policy of territorial annexation entered upon in President McKinley’s administration and carried forward by Roosevelt.
He decided that Cuba should not be taken over by the United States. Europe expected the United States to annex Cuba, and many leading men of his own party advised that this course be pursued, but he determined that the little island should be given every opportunity to govern itself as an independent republic. It was by his inspiration that the American officials who administered government in the Philippines, Porto Rico and, during the American occupancy, in Cuba, devoted themselves to the welfare of the people in a way that won the commendation of our sister nations. His course in this respect was governed by a belief that when it was necessary for our government to administer the affairs of the weaker nations under its control that government should be, not for the profit of the people in the United States, but for the people governed.