Speech at President Poincare's House
Title
Speech at President Poincare's House
Creator
Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924
Identifier
WWP15805
Date
1919 June 26
Source
Cary T. Grayson Papers, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library, Staunton, Virginia
Language
English
Text
The President, at President Poincares House, Paris.
Mr. President;
I thank you most sincerely for the words that you have uttered. I cannot pretend, sir, that the prospect of going home is not very delightful to me, but I can say with the greatest sincerity that the prospect of leaving France is very painful to me. I have received a peculiarly generous welcome here, and it has been pleasing for me to feel that the welcome was intended, not so much for myself as for the people whom I represented. And the people of France know how to give a welcome that makes a mans heart glad. They have a spontaneity about them, a simplicity of friendship which is altogether delightful.
I feel that my stay here, sir, has enlightened both my heargt and my mind. It has enabled me personally to see the evidences of the suffering and sacrifices of France. It has enabled me to come into personal touch with the leaders of the French people and through the medium of intercourse with them understand better, I hope, than I understood before the motives, the ambitions and the principles which actuate this great nation. It has, therefore, been to me a lesson in the roots of friendship, in those things which make the intercourse of nations profitable and serviceable for the rest of mankind.
Sometimes the work of the conference has seemed to go very slowly indeed, sometimes it has seemed as if there were unnecessary obstacles to agreement, but as the weeks have lengthened I have seemed to see the profit that came out of that. Quick conclusions would not have produced that intimate knowledge of each others mind which I think has come out of these daily conferences. We have been constantly in the presence of each others minds and motives and characters, and the comradeships which are based upon that sort of knowledge are sure to be very much more intelligent, not only, but to breed a much more intimate sympathy and comprehension than could otherwise be created. These six months have been months which have woven new fibers of connection between the hearts of our peoples. And something more than friendship and intimate sympathy has come out of this intercourse.
Friendship is a very great thing. Intimacy is a very enlightening thing. But friendship may end in sentiment. A new thing that has happened is that we have translated our common principles and our common purposes into a common plan. When we part, we are not going to part with a finished work, but with a work one portion of which is finished and the other portion of which is only begun. We have finished the formulation of the peace, but we have begun a plan of cooperation which I believe will broaden and strengthen as the years go by. So that this grip of the hand that we have taken now will not be relaxed. We shall continue to be comrades. We shall continue to be co-workers in tasks which, because they are common, will weave out of our sentiments a common conception of duty and a common conception of the rights of men of every race and of every clime. If it be true that that has been accomplished, it is a very great thing.
As I go away from these scenes, I think I shall realize that I have been present at one of the most vital things that have happened in the history of nations. Nations have formed contracts with each other before, but they have never formed partnerships. They have associated themselves temporarily, but they have never before associated themselves permanently. The wrong that was done in the waging of this war was a great wrong, but it wakened the world to a great moral necessity of seeing that it was necessary that men should band themselves together in order that such a wrong should never be perpetrated again. Merely to beat a nation that was wrong once is not enough. There must follow the warmning to all other nations that would do like things that they in turn will be vanquished and shamed if they attempt a dishonorable purpose.
You can see, therefore, sir, with what deep feelings those of us who must now for a little while turn away from France shall leave your shores; and though the ocean is broad, it will seem very narrow in the future. It will be easier to understand each other than it ever was before, and with the constant intercourse of cooperation, the understanding will strengthen into action, and action will itself educate alike our purpose and our thought. So, sir, in saying good-bye to France, I am only saying a sort of physical good-bye, not a spiritual good-bye. I shall retain in my heart always the warm feelings which the generous treatment of this great people has generated in my heart; and I wish in my turn, sir, to propose, as you have proposed, the continued and increasing friendship of the two nations, the safety and prosperity of France, the closer and closer communion of free peoples, and the strengthening of every influence which instructs the mind and the purpose of humanity.
THE END
Mr. President;
I thank you most sincerely for the words that you have uttered. I cannot pretend, sir, that the prospect of going home is not very delightful to me, but I can say with the greatest sincerity that the prospect of leaving France is very painful to me. I have received a peculiarly generous welcome here, and it has been pleasing for me to feel that the welcome was intended, not so much for myself as for the people whom I represented. And the people of France know how to give a welcome that makes a mans heart glad. They have a spontaneity about them, a simplicity of friendship which is altogether delightful.
I feel that my stay here, sir, has enlightened both my heargt and my mind. It has enabled me personally to see the evidences of the suffering and sacrifices of France. It has enabled me to come into personal touch with the leaders of the French people and through the medium of intercourse with them understand better, I hope, than I understood before the motives, the ambitions and the principles which actuate this great nation. It has, therefore, been to me a lesson in the roots of friendship, in those things which make the intercourse of nations profitable and serviceable for the rest of mankind.
Sometimes the work of the conference has seemed to go very slowly indeed, sometimes it has seemed as if there were unnecessary obstacles to agreement, but as the weeks have lengthened I have seemed to see the profit that came out of that. Quick conclusions would not have produced that intimate knowledge of each others mind which I think has come out of these daily conferences. We have been constantly in the presence of each others minds and motives and characters, and the comradeships which are based upon that sort of knowledge are sure to be very much more intelligent, not only, but to breed a much more intimate sympathy and comprehension than could otherwise be created. These six months have been months which have woven new fibers of connection between the hearts of our peoples. And something more than friendship and intimate sympathy has come out of this intercourse.
Friendship is a very great thing. Intimacy is a very enlightening thing. But friendship may end in sentiment. A new thing that has happened is that we have translated our common principles and our common purposes into a common plan. When we part, we are not going to part with a finished work, but with a work one portion of which is finished and the other portion of which is only begun. We have finished the formulation of the peace, but we have begun a plan of cooperation which I believe will broaden and strengthen as the years go by. So that this grip of the hand that we have taken now will not be relaxed. We shall continue to be comrades. We shall continue to be co-workers in tasks which, because they are common, will weave out of our sentiments a common conception of duty and a common conception of the rights of men of every race and of every clime. If it be true that that has been accomplished, it is a very great thing.
As I go away from these scenes, I think I shall realize that I have been present at one of the most vital things that have happened in the history of nations. Nations have formed contracts with each other before, but they have never formed partnerships. They have associated themselves temporarily, but they have never before associated themselves permanently. The wrong that was done in the waging of this war was a great wrong, but it wakened the world to a great moral necessity of seeing that it was necessary that men should band themselves together in order that such a wrong should never be perpetrated again. Merely to beat a nation that was wrong once is not enough. There must follow the warmning to all other nations that would do like things that they in turn will be vanquished and shamed if they attempt a dishonorable purpose.
You can see, therefore, sir, with what deep feelings those of us who must now for a little while turn away from France shall leave your shores; and though the ocean is broad, it will seem very narrow in the future. It will be easier to understand each other than it ever was before, and with the constant intercourse of cooperation, the understanding will strengthen into action, and action will itself educate alike our purpose and our thought. So, sir, in saying good-bye to France, I am only saying a sort of physical good-bye, not a spiritual good-bye. I shall retain in my heart always the warm feelings which the generous treatment of this great people has generated in my heart; and I wish in my turn, sir, to propose, as you have proposed, the continued and increasing friendship of the two nations, the safety and prosperity of France, the closer and closer communion of free peoples, and the strengthening of every influence which instructs the mind and the purpose of humanity.
THE END
Files
Collection
Citation
Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924, “Speech at President Poincare's House,” 1919 June 26, WWP15805, Cary T. Grayson Papers, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.