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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:44:39 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:44:39 -0700 |
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diff --git a/14477-h/14477-h.htm b/14477-h/14477-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5764183 --- /dev/null +++ b/14477-h/14477-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,18890 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of THE INSIDE STORY OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE, by Dr. E.J. Dillon. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + ul li { padding-top: .5em ; } + ul ul ul, ul li ul li { padding: 0; } + ul { list-style: none; } + ul, ul ul ul li { display: inline; } + .subitem { display: block; padding-left: 2em; } + + + .center {text-align: center;} + .right {text-align: right;} + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14477 ***</div> + +<h1><i>The Inside Story of The Peace Conference</i></h1> + + +<h3><i>by</i></h3> + +<h2><i>Dr. E.J. Dillon</i></h2> + + + +<h3>HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS</h3> + +<h3><i>NEW YORK AND LONDON</i></h3> + +<p class='center'>Copyright 1920, by Harper & Brothers</p> + +<p class='center'>Printed in the United States of America</p> + +<p class='center'>Published February, 1920</p> + +<h3><i>To<br /> +C.W. BARRON<br /> +in memory of interesting conversations<br /> +on historic occasions</i></h3> + +<h3><i>These pages are inscribed.</i></h3> + + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<ul> + <li><a href="#FOREWORD">FOREWORD</a> + </li> + <li><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</a> THE CITY OF THE CONFERENCE + </li> + <li><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</a> SIGNS OF THE TIMES + </li> + <li><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</a> THE DELEGATES + </li> + <li><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</a> CENSORSHIP AND SECRECY + </li> + <li><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</a> AIMS AND METHODS + </li> + <li><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</a> THE LESSER STATES + </li> + <li><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</a> POLAND'S OUTLOOK IN THE FUTURE + </li> + <li><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a> ITALY + </li> + <li><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</a> JAPAN + </li> + <li><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</a> ATTITUDE TOWARD RUSSIA + </li> + <li><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI</a> BOLSHEVISM + </li> + <li><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII</a> HOW BOLSHEVISM WAS FOSTERED + </li> + <li><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII</a> SIDELIGHTS ON THE TREATY + </li> + <li><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV</a> THE TREATY WITH GERMANY + </li> + <li><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV</a> THE TREATY WITH BULGARIA + </li> + <li><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI</a> THE COVENANT AND MINORITIES + </li> + +</ul> + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="FOREWORD" id="FOREWORD" />FOREWORD</h2> + +<p>It is almost superfluous to say that this book does +not claim to be a history, however summary, of the Peace +Conference, seeing that such a work was made sheer +impossible now and forever by the chief delegates themselves +when they decided to dispense with records of their +conversations and debates. It is only a sketch—a sketch +of the problems which the war created or rendered pressing—of +the conditions under which they cropped up; +of the simplicist ways in which they were conceived by +the distinguished politicians who volunteered to solve +them; of the delegates' natural limitations and electioneering +commitments and of the secret influences by +which they were swayed; of the peoples' needs and +expectations; of the unwonted procedure adopted by +the Conference and of the fateful consequences of its +decisions to the world.</p> + +<p>In dealing with all those matters I aimed at impartiality, +which is an unattainable ideal, but I trust that +sincerity and detachment have brought me reasonably +close to it. Having no pet theories of my own to champion, +my principal standard of judgment is derived from the +law of causality and the rules of historical criticism.</p> + +<p>The fatal tactical mistake chargeable to the Conference +lay in its making the charter of the League of Nations +and the treaty of peace with the Central Powers interdependent. +For the maxims that underlie the former are +irreconcilable with those that should determine the latter, +and the efforts to combine them must, among other untoward +results, create a sharp opposition between the vital +interests of the people of the United States and the +apparent or transient interests of their associates. The +outcome of this unnatural union will be to damage the +cause of stable peace which it was devised to further.</p> + +<p>But the surest touchstone by which to test the capacity +and the achievements of the world-legislators is their +attitude toward Russia in the political domain and toward +the labor problem in the economic sphere. And in neither +case does their action or inaction appear to have been +the outcome of statesman-like ideas, or, indeed, of any +higher consideration than that of evading the central +issue and transmitting the problem to the League of +Nations. The results are manifest to all.</p> + +<p>The continuity of human progress depends at bottom +upon labor, and it is becoming more and more doubtful +whether the civilized races of mankind can be reckoned +on to supply it for long on conditions akin to those which +have in various forms prevailed ever since the institutions +of ancient times and which alone render the present social +structure viable. If this forecast should prove correct, +the only alternative to a break disastrous in the continuity +of civilization is the frank recognition of the +principle that certain inferior races are destined to serve +the cause of mankind in those capacities for which alone +they are qualified and to readjust social institutions to +this axiom.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile the Conference which ignored this +problem of problems has transformed Europe into a +seething mass of mutually hostile states powerless to +face the economic competition of their overseas rivals +and has set the very elements of society in flux.</p> + +<p class='right'>E.J. DILLON.</p> + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I" />THE INSIDE STORY OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE</h2> + +<h3>I</h3> + +<h3>THE CITY OF THE CONFERENCE</h3> + + +<p>The choice of Paris for the historic Peace Conference +was an afterthought. The Anglo-Saxon governments +first favored a neutral country as the most appropriate +meeting-ground for the world's peace-makers. +Holland was mentioned only to be eliminated without +discussion, so obvious and decisive were the objections. +French Switzerland came next in order, was actually +fixed upon, and for a time held the field. Lausanne was +the city first suggested and nearly chosen. There was a +good deal to be said for it on its own merits, and in its +suburb, Ouchy, the treaty had been drawn up which +terminated the war between Italy and Turkey. But +misgivings were expressed as to its capacity to receive +and entertain the formidable peace armies without whose +co-operation the machinery for stopping all wars could +not well be fabricated. At last Geneva was fixed +upon, and so certain were influential delegates of the +ratification of their choice by all the Allies, that I felt +justified in telegraphing to Geneva to have a house hired +for six months in that picturesque city.</p> + +<p>But the influential delegates had reckoned without the +French, who in these matters were far and away the most +influential. Was it not in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, +they asked, that Teuton militarism had received its most +powerful impulse? And did not poetic justice, which +was never so needed as in these evil days, ordain that the +chartered destroyer who had first seen the light of day +in that hall should also be destroyed there? Was this +not in accordance with the eternal fitness of things? +Whereupon the matter-of-fact Anglo-Saxon mind, unable +to withstand the force of this argument and accustomed +to give way on secondary matters, assented, and Paris +was accordingly fixed upon....</p> + +<p>"Paris herself again," tourists remarked, who had not +been there since the fateful month when hostilities began—meaning +that something of the wealth and luxury of +bygone days was venturing to display itself anew as an +afterglow of the epoch whose sun was setting behind +banks of thunder-clouds. And there was a grain of truth +in the remark. The Ville Lumière was crowded as it +never had been before. But it was mostly strangers +who were within her gates. In the throng of Anglo-Saxon +warriors and cosmopolitan peace-lovers following +the trailing skirts of destiny, one might with an effort +discover a Parisian now and again. But they were few +and far between.</p> + +<p>They and their principal European guests made some +feeble attempts to vie with the Vienna of 1814-15 in +elegance and taste if not in pomp and splendor. But the +general effect was marred by the element of the +<i>nouveaux-riches</i> and <i>nouveaux-pauvres</i> which was prominent, +if not predominant. A few of the great and would-be great +ladies outbade one another in the effort to renew the luxury +and revive the grace of the past. But the atmosphere was +numbing, their exertions half-hearted, and the smile of +youth and beauty was cold like the sheen of winter ice. +The shadow of death hung over the institutions and +survivals of the various civilizations and epochs which +were being dissolved in the common melting-pot, and +even the man in the street was conscious of its chilling +influence. Life in the capital grew agitated, fitful, +superficial, unsatisfying. Its gaiety was forced—something +between a challenge to the destroyer and a sad +farewell to the past and present. Men were instinctively +aware that the morrow was fraught with bitter surprises, +and they deliberately adopted the maxim, "Let us eat +and drink, for to-morrow we die." None of these people +bore on their physiognomies the dignified impress of the +olden time, barring a few aristocratic figures from the +Faubourg St.-Germain, who looked as though they had +only to don the perukes and the distinctive garb of the +eighteenth century to sit down to table with Voltaire +and the Marquise du Châtelet. Here and there, indeed, +a coiffure, a toilet, the bearing, the gait, or the peculiar +grace with which a robe was worn reminded one that this +or that fair lady came of a family whose life-story in the +days of yore was one of the tributaries to the broad stream +of European history. But on closer acquaintanceship, +especially at conversational tournaments, one discovered +that Nature, constant in her methods, distributes more +gifts of beauty than of intellect.</p> + +<p>Festive banquets, sinful suppers, long-spun-out lunches +were as frequent and at times as Lucullan as in the days +of the Regency. The outer, coarser attributes of luxury +abounded in palatial restaurants, hotels, and private mansions; +but the refinement, the grace, the brilliant conversation +even of the Paris of the Third Empire were +seen to be subtle branches of a lost art. The people of +the armistice were weary and apprehensive—weary of the +war, weary of politics, weary of the worn-out framework +of existence, and filled with a vague, nameless apprehension +of the unknown. They feared that in the chaotic slough +into which they had fallen they had not yet touched +bottom. None the less, with the exception of fervent +Catholics and a number of earnest sectarians, there were +few genuine seekers after anything essentially better.</p> + +<p>Not only did the general atmosphere of Paris undergo +radical changes, together with its population, but the +thoroughfares, many of them, officially changed their +names since the outbreak of the war.</p> + +<p>The Paris of the Conference ceased to be the capital +of France. It became a vast cosmopolitan caravanserai +teeming with unwonted aspects of life and turmoil, +filled with curious samples of the races, tribes, and tongues +of four continents who came to watch and wait for the +mysterious to-morrow. The intensity of life there was +sheer oppressive; to the tumultuous striving of the living +were added the silent influences of the dead. For it +was also a trysting-place for the ghosts of sovereignties +and states, militarisms and racial ambitions, which were +permitted to wander at large until their brief twilight +should be swallowed up in night. The dignified Turk +passionately pleaded for Constantinople, and cast an +imploring look on the lone Armenian whose relatives he +had massacred, and who was then waiting for political +resurrection. Persian delegates wandered about like souls +in pain, waiting to be admitted through the portals of the +Conference Paradise. Beggared Croesus passed famishing +Lucullus in the street, and once mighty viziers shivered +under threadbare garments in the biting frost as +they hurried over the crisp February snow. Waning +and waxing Powers, vacant thrones, decaying dominations +had, each of them, their accusers, special pleaders, +and judges, in this multitudinous world-center on which +tragedy, romance, and comedy rained down potent spells. +For the Conference city was also the clearing-house of +the Fates, where the accounts of a whole epoch, the deeds +and misdeeds of an exhausted civilization, were to be +balanced and squared.</p> + +<p>Here strange yet familiar figures, survivals from the +past, started up at every hand's turn and greeted one +with smiles or sighs. Men on whom I last set eyes when +we were boys at school, playing football together in the +field or preparing lessons in the school-room, would stop +me in the street on their way to represent nations or +peoples whose lives were out of chime, or to inaugurate +the existence of new republics. One face I shall never +forget. It was that of the self-made temporary dictator +of a little country whose importance was dwindling to the +dimensions of a footnote in the history of the century. I +had been acquainted with him personally in the halcyon +day of his transient glory. Like his picturesque land, +he won the immortality of a day, was courted and subsidized +by competing states in turn, and then suddenly +cast aside like a sucked orange. Then he sank into the +depths of squalor. He was eloquent, resourceful, imaginative, +and brimful of the poetry of untruth. One day +through the asphalt streets of Paris he shuffled along in +the procession of the doomed, with wan face and sunken +eyes, wearing a tragically mean garb. And soon after I +learned that he had vanished unwept into eternal oblivion.</p> + +<p>An Arabian Nights touch was imparted to the dissolving +panorama by strange visitants from Tartary and +Kurdistan, Korea and Aderbeijan, Armenia, Persia, and +the Hedjaz—men with patriarchal beards and scimitar-shaped +noses, and others from desert and oasis, from +Samarkand and Bokhara. Turbans and fezzes, sugar-loaf +hats and headgear resembling episcopal miters, old +military uniforms devised for the embryonic armies of +new states on the eve of perpetual peace, snowy-white +burnooses, flowing mantles, and graceful garments like +the Roman toga, contributed to create an atmosphere of +dreamy unreality in the city where the grimmest of +realities were being faced and coped with.</p> + +<p>Then came the men of wealth, of intellect, of industrial +enterprise, and the seed-bearers of the ethical new ordering, +members of economic committees from the United +States, Britain, Italy, Poland, Russia, India, and Japan, +representatives of naphtha industries and far-off coal +mines, pilgrims, fanatics, and charlatans from all climes, +priests of all religions, preachers of every doctrine, who +mingled with princes, field-marshals, statesmen, anarchists, +builders-up, and pullers-down. All of them burned +with desire to be near to the crucible in which the political +and social systems of the world were to be melted and +recast. Every day, in my walks, in my apartment, or at +restaurants, I met emissaries from lands and peoples +whose very names had seldom been heard of before in +the West. A delegation from the Pont-Euxine Greeks +called on me, and discoursed of their ancient cities of +Trebizond, Samsoun, Tripoli, Kerassund, in which I +resided many years ago, and informed me that they, too, +desired to become welded into an independent Greek +republic, and had come to have their claims allowed. +The Albanians were represented by my old friend Turkhan +Pasha, on the one hand, and by my friend Essad Pasha, +on the other—the former desirous of Italy's protection, +the latter demanding complete independence. Chinamen, +Japanese, Koreans, Hindus, Kirghizes, Lesghiens, Circassians, +Mingrelians, Buryats, Malays, and Negroes and +Negroids from Africa and America were among the tribes +and tongues forgathered in Paris to watch the rebuilding +of the political world system and to see where they +"came in."</p> + +<p>One day I received a visit from an Armenian deputation; +its chief was described on his visiting-card as President +of the Armenian Republic of the Caucasus. When +he was shown into my apartment in the Hôtel Vendôme, +I recognized two of its members as old acquaintances +with whom I had occasional intercourse in Erzerum, +Kipri Keui, and other places during the Armenian massacres +of the year 1895. We had not met since then. +They revived old memories, completed for me the life-stories +of several of our common friends and acquaintances, +and narrated interesting episodes of local history. And +having requested my co-operation, the President and his +colleagues left me and once more passed out of my life.</p> + +<p>Another actor on the world-stage whom I had encountered +more than once before was the "heroic" King of +Montenegro. He often crossed my path during the Conference, +and set me musing on the marvelous ups and +downs of human existence. This potentate's life offers +a rich field of research to the psychologist. I had watched +it myself at various times and with curious results. For +I had met him in various European capitals during the +past thirty years, and before the time when Tsar Alexander +III publicly spoke of him as Russia's only friend. King +Nikita owes such success in life as he can look back on +with satisfaction to his adaptation of St. Paul's maxim +of being all things to all men. Thus in St. Petersburg +he was a good Russian, in Vienna a patriotic Austrian, in +Rome a sentimental Italian. He was also a warrior, a +poet after his own fashion, a money-getter, and a speculator +on 'Change. His alleged martial feats and his wily, +diplomatic moves ever since the first Balkan war abound +in surprises, and would repay close investigation. The +ease with which the Austrians captured Mount Lovtchen +and his capital made a lasting impression on those of his +allies who were acquainted with the story, the consequences +of which he could not foresee. What everybody +seemed to know was that if the Teutons had defeated +the Entente, King Nikita's son Mirko, who had settled +down for the purpose in Vienna, would have been set +on the throne in place of his father by the Austrians; +whereas if the Allies should win, the worldly-wise monarch +would have retained his crown as their champion. But +these well-laid plans went all agley. Prince Mirko died +and King Nikita was deposed. For a time he resided at +a hotel, a few houses from me, and I passed him now and +again as he was on his way to plead his lost cause before +the distinguished wreckers of thrones and régimes.</p> + +<p>It seemed as though, in order to provide Paris with a +cosmopolitan population, the world was drained of its +rulers, of its prosperous and luckless financiers, of its high +and low adventurers, of its tribe of fortune-seekers, and +its pushing men and women of every description. And +the result was an odd blend of classes and individuals +worthy, it may be, of the new democratic era, but unprecedented. +It was welcomed as of good augury, for +instance, that in the stately Hôtel Majestic, where the +spokesmen of the British Empire had their residence, +monocled diplomatists mingled with spry typewriters, +smart amanuenses, and even with bright-eyed chambermaids +at the evening dances.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1" href="#Footnote_1_1">[1]</a> The British Premier himself +occasionally witnessed the cheering spectacle with +manifest pleasure. Self-made statesmen, scions of fallen +dynasties, ex-premiers, and ministers, who formerly +swayed the fortunes of the world, whom one might have +imagined <i>capaces imperii nisi imperassent</i>, were now the +unnoticed inmates of unpretending hotels. Ambassadors +whose most trivial utterances had once been listened to +with concentrated attention, sued days and weeks for an +audience of the greater plenipotentiaries, and some of +them sued in vain. Russian diplomatists were refused +permission to travel in France or were compelled to +undergo more than average discomfort and delay there. +More than once I sat down to lunch or dinner with +brilliant commensals, one of whom was understood to +have made away with a well-known personage in order +to rid the state of a bad administrator, and another had, +at a secret <i>Vehmgericht</i> in Turkey, condemned a friend of +mine, now a friend of his, to be assassinated.</p> + +<p>In Paris, this temporary capital of the world, one felt +the repercussion of every event, every incident of moment +wheresoever it might have occurred. To reside there +while the Conference was sitting was to occupy a comfortable +box in the vastest theater the mind of men has ever +conceived. From this rare coign of vantage one could +witness soul-gripping dramas of human history, the happenings +of years being compressed within the limits of +days. The revolution in Portugal, the massacre of +Armenians, Bulgaria's atrocities, the slaughter of the +inhabitants of Saratoff and Odessa, the revolt of the +Koreans—all produced their effect in Paris, where official +and unofficial exponents of the aims and ambitions, religions +and interests that unite or divide mankind were +continually coming or going, working aboveground or +burrowing beneath the surface.</p> + +<p>It was within a few miles of the place where I sat at +table with the brilliant company alluded to above that a +few individuals of two different nationalities, one of them +bearing, it was said, a well-known name, hatched the +plot that sent Portugal's strong man, President Sidonio +Paes, to his last account and plunged that ill-starred +land into chaotic confusion. The plan was discovered by +the Portuguese military attaché, who warned the President +himself and the War Minister. But Sidonio Paes, +quixotic and foolhardy, refused to take or brook precautions. +A few weeks later the assassin, firing three shots, +had no difficulty in taking aim, but none of them took +effect. The reason was interesting: so determined were +the conspirators to leave nothing to chance, they had +steeped the cartridges in a poisonous preparation, whereby +they injured the mechanism of the revolver, which, in +consequence, hung fire. But the adversaries of the reform +movement which the President had inaugurated +again tried and planned another attempt, and Sidonio +Paes, who would not be taught prudence, was duly shot, +and his admirable work undone<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2" href="#Footnote_2_2" >[2]</a> by a band of semi-Bolshevists.</p> + +<p>Less than six months later it was rumored that a +number of specially prepared bombs from a certain +European town had been sent to Moscow for the speedy +removal of Lenin. The casual way in which these and +kindred matters were talked of gave one the measure of +the change that had come over the world since the outbreak +of the war. There was nobody left in Europe +whose death, violent or peaceful, would have made much +of an impression on the dulled sensibilities of the reading +public. All values had changed, and that of human life +had fallen low.</p> + +<p>To follow these swiftly passing episodes, occasionally +glancing behind the scenes, during the pauses of the acts, +and watch the unfolding of the world-drama, was thrillingly +interesting. To note the dubious source, the +chance occasion of a grandiose project of world policy, +and to see it started on its shuffling course, was a revelation +in politics and psychology, and reminded one of the +saying mistakenly attributed to the Swedish Chancellor +Oxenstjern, "<i>Quam parva sapientia regitur mundus</i>."<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3" href="#Footnote_3_3" >[3]</a></p> + +<p>The wire-pullers were not always the plenipotentiaries. +Among those were also outsiders of various conditions, +sometimes of singular ambitions, who were generally free +from conventional prejudices and conscientious scruples. +As traveling to Paris was greatly restricted by the governments +of the world, many of these unofficial delegates +had come in capacities widely differing from those in +which they intended to act. I confess I was myself taken +in by more than one of these secret emissaries, whom I +was innocently instrumental in bringing into close touch +with the human levers they had come to press. I actually +went to the trouble of obtaining for one of them +valuable data on a subject which did not interest him +in the least, but which he pretended he had traveled +several thousand miles to study. A zealous prelate, whose +business was believed to have something to do with the +future of a certain branch of the Christian Church in the +East, in reality held a brief for a wholly different set of +interests in the West. Some of these envoys hoped to +influence decisions of the Conference, and they considered +they had succeeded when they got their points of view +brought to the favorable notice of certain of its delegates. +What surprised me was the ease with which several of +these interlopers moved about, although few of them spoke +any language but their own.</p> + +<p>Collectivities and religious and political associations, +including that of the Bolshevists, were represented in +Paris during the Conference. I met one of the Bolshevists, +a bright youth, who was a veritable apostle. He occupied +a post which, despite its apparent insignificance, +put him occasionally in possession of useful information +withheld from the public, which he was wont to communicate +to his political friends. His knowledge of +languages and his remarkable intelligence had probably +attracted the notice of his superiors, who can have had +no suspicion of his leanings, much less of his proselytizing +activity. However this may have been, he knew a good +deal of what was going on at the Conference, and he +occasionally had insight into documents of a certain +interest. He was a seemingly honest and enthusiastic +Bolshevik, who spread the doctrine with apostolic zeal +guided by the wisdom of the serpent. He was ever ready +to comment on events, but before opening his mind fully +to a stranger on the subject next to his heart, he usually +felt his way, and only when he had grounds for believing +that the fortress was not impregnable did he open his +batteries. Even among the initiated, few would suspect +the rôle played by this young proselytizer within one of +the strongholds of the Conference, so naturally and +unobtrusively was the work done. I may add that +luckily he had no direct intercourse with the delegates.</p> + +<p>Of all the collectivities whose interests were furthered +at the Conference, the Jews had perhaps the most resourceful +and certainly the most influential exponents. +There were Jews from Palestine, from Poland, Russia, +the Ukraine, Rumania, Greece, Britain, Holland, and +Belgium; but the largest and most brilliant contingent +was sent by the United States. Their principal mission, +with which every fair-minded man sympathized heartily, +was to secure for their kindred in eastern Europe rights +equal to those of the populations in whose midst they +reside.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4" href="#Footnote_4_4" >[4]</a> And to the credit of the Poles, Rumanians, and +Russians, who were to be constrained to remove all the +existing disabilities, they enfranchised the Hebrew elements +spontaneously. But the Western Jews, who championed +their Eastern brothers, proceeded to demand a +further concession which many of their own co-religionists +hastened to disclaim as dangerous—a kind of autonomy +which Rumanian, Polish, and Russian statesmen, as well +as many of their Jewish fellow-subjects, regarded as +tantamount to the creation of a state within the state. +Whether this estimate is true or erroneous, the concessions +asked for were given, but the supplementary treaties +insuring the protection of minorities are believed to have +little chance of being executed, and may, it is feared, +provoke manifestations of elemental passions in the +countries in which they are to be applied.</p> + +<p>Twice every day, before and after lunch, one met the +"autocrats," the world's statesmen whose names were in +every mouth—the wise men who would have been much +wiser than they were if only they had credited their friends +and opponents with a reasonable measure of political +wisdom. These individuals, in bowler hats, sweeping +past in sumptuous motors, as rarely seen on foot as +Roman cardinals, were the destroyers of thrones, the +carvers of continents, the arbiters of empires, the fashioners +of the new heaven and the new earth—or were +they only the flies on the wheel of circumstance, +to whom the world was unaccountably becoming a +riddle?</p> + +<p>This commingling of civilizations and types brought +together in Paris by a set of unprecedented conditions +was full of interest and instruction to the observer privileged +to meet them at close quarters. The average observer, +however, had little chance of conversing with them, +for, as these foreigners had no common meeting-place, +they kept mostly among their own folk. Only now and +again did three or four members of different races, when +they chanced to speak some common language, get an +opportunity of enjoying their leisure together. A friend +of mine, a highly gifted Frenchman of the fine old type, a +descendant of Talleyrand, who was born a hundred and +fifty years too late, opened his hospitable house once a +week to the élite of the world, and partially met the +pressing demand.</p> + +<p>To the gaping tourist the Ville Lumière resembled +nothing so much as a huge world fair, with enormous +caravanserais, gigantic booths, gaudy merry-go-rounds, +squalid taverns, and huge inns. Every place of entertainment +was crowded, and congregations patiently +awaited their turn in the street, undeterred by rain or +wind or snow, offering absurdly high prices for scant +accommodation and disheartened at having their offers +refused. Extortion was rampant and profiteering went +unpunished. Foreigners, mainly American and British, +could be seen wandering, portmanteau in hand, from post +to pillar, anxiously seeking where to lay their heads, and +made desperate by failure, fatigue, and nightfall. The +cost of living which harassed the bulk of the people was +fast becoming the stumbling-block of governments and +the most powerful lever of revolutionaries. The chief of +the peace armies resided in sumptuous hotels, furnished +luxuriously in dubious taste, flooded after sundown with +dazzling light, and filled by day with the buzz of idle +chatter, the shuffling of feet, the banging of doors, and the +ringing of bells. Music and dancing enlivened the inmates +when their day's toil was over and time had to be +killed. Thus, within, one could find anxious deliberation +and warm debate; without, noisy revel and vulgar brawl. +"Fate's a fiddler; life's a dance."</p> + +<p>To few of those visitors did Paris seem what it really +was—a nest of golden dreams, a mist of memories, a seed-plot +of hopes, a storehouse of time's menaces.</p> + + +<p class='center'>THE PARIS CONFERENCE AND THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA</p> + +<p>There were no solemn pageants, no impressive ceremonies, +such as those that rejoiced the hearts of the +Viennese in 1814-15 until the triumphal march of the +Allied troops.</p> + +<p>The Vienna of Congress days was transformed into a +paradise of delights by a brilliant court which pushed +hospitality to the point of lavishness. In the burg alone +were two emperors, two empresses, four kings, one queen, +two crown-princes, two archduchesses, and three princes. +Every day the Emperor's table cost fifty thousand gulden—every +Congress day cost him ten times that sum. +Galaxies of Europe's eminent personages flocked to the +Austrian capital, taking with them their ministers, secretaries, +favorites, and "confidential agents." So eager +were these world-reformers to enjoy themselves that the +court did not go into mourning for Queen Marie Caroline +of Naples, the last of Marie Theresa's daughters. Her +death was not even announced officially lest it should +trouble the festivities of the jovial peace-makers!</p> + +<p>The Paris of the Conference, on the other hand, was +democratic, with a strong infusion of plutocracy. It +attempted no such brilliant display as that which flattered +the senses or fired the imagination of the Viennese. +In 1919 mankind was simpler in its tastes and perhaps +less esthetic. It is certain that the froth of contemporary +frivolity had lost its sparkling whiteness and was grown +turbid. In Vienna, balls, banquets, theatricals, military +reviews, followed one another in dizzy succession and enabled +politicians and adventurers to carry on their intrigues +and machinations unnoticed by all except the +secret police. And, as the Congress marked the close of +one bloody campaign and ushered in another, one might +aptly term it the interval between two tragedies. For a +time it seemed as though this part of the likeness might +become applicable to the Conference of Paris.</p> + +<p>Moving from pleasure to politics, one found strong contrasts +as well as surprising resemblances between the two +peace-making assemblies, and, it was assumed, to the +advantage of the Paris Conference. Thus, at the Austrian +Congress, the members, while seemingly united, were +pulling hard against one another, each individual or +group tugging in a different direction. The Powers had +been compelled by necessity to unite against a common +enemy and, having worsted him on the battlefield, fell to +squabbling among themselves in the Council Chamber as +soon as they set about dividing the booty. In this respect +the Paris Conference—the world was assured in the +beginning—towered aloft above its historic predecessor. +Men who knew the facts declared repeatedly that the +delegates to the Quai d'Orsay were just as unanimous, +disinterested, and single-minded during the armistice as +they were through the war. Probably they were.</p> + +<p>Another interesting point of comparison was supplied +by the <i>dramatis personæ</i>? of both illustrious companies. +They were nearly all representatives of old states, but +there was one exception.</p> + + +<p class='center'>THE CONGRESS CHIEF</p> + +<p class='center'><i>Mistrusted, Feared, Humored, and Obeyed</i></p> + +<p>A relatively new Power took part in the deliberations +of the Vienna Congress, and, perhaps, because of its loftier +intentions, introduced a jarring note into the concert +of nations. Russia was then a newcomer into the +European councils; indeed she was hardly yet recognized +as European. Her gifted Tsar, Alexander I, was an +idealist who wanted, not so much peace with the vanquished +enemy as a complete reform of the ordering of +the whole world, so that wars should thenceforward be +abolished and the welfare of mankind be set developing +like a sort of pacific <i>perpetuum mobile</i>. This blessed +change, however, was to be compassed, not by the +peoples or their representatives, but by the governments, +led by himself and deliberating in secret. At the Paris +Conference it was even so.</p> + +<p>This curious type of public worker—a mixture of the +mystical and the practical—was the terror of the Vienna +delegates. He put spokes in everybody's wheel, behaved +as the autocrat of the Congress and felt as self-complacent +as a saint. Countess von Thurheim wrote of +him: "He mistrusted his environment and let himself +be led by others. But he was thoroughly good and high-minded +and sought after the weal, not merely of his own +country, but of the whole world. <i>Son coeur eût embrassé le +bonheur du monde</i>." He realized in himself the dreams of +the philosophers about love for mankind, but their +Utopias of human happiness were based upon the perfection +both of subjects and of princes, and, as Alexander +could fulfil only one-half of these conditions, his work +remained unfinished and the poor Emperor died, a victim +of his high-minded illusions.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5" href="#Footnote_5_5" >[5]</a></p> + +<p>The other personages, Metternich in particular, were +greatly put out by Alexander's presence. They labeled +him a marplot who could not and would not enter into +the spirit of their game, but they dared not offend him. +Without his brave troops they could not have been +victorious and they did not know how soon they might +need him again, for he represented a numerous and +powerful people whose economic and military resources +promised it in time the hegemony of the world. So, while +they heartily disliked the chief of this new great country, +they also feared and, therefore, humored him. They all +felt that the enemy, although defeated and humbled, was +not, perhaps, permanently disabled, and might, at any +moment, rise, phoenix-like and soar aloft again. The +great visionary was therefore fêted and lauded and raised +to a dizzy pedestal by men who, in their hearts, set him +down as a crank. His words were reverently repeated +and his smiles recorded and remembered. Hardly any +one had the bad taste to remark that even this millennial +philosopher in the statesman's armchair left unsightly +flaws in his system for the welfare of man. Thus, while +favoring equality generally, he obstinately refused to +concede it to one race, in fact, he would not hear of +common fairness being meted out to that race. It was +the Polish people which was treated thus at the Vienna +Congress, and, owing to him, Poland's just claims were +ignored, her indefeasible rights were violated, and the +work of the peace-makers was botched....</p> + +<p>Happily, optimists said, the Paris Conference was +organized on a wholly different basis. Its members +considered themselves mere servants of the public—stewards, +who had to render an account of their stewardship +and who therefore went in salutary fear of the electorate +at home. This check was not felt by the plenipotentiaries +in Vienna. Again, everything the Paris +delegates did was for the benefit of the masses, although +most of it was done by stealth and unappreciated by them.</p> + +<p>The remarkable document which will forever be associated +with the name of President Wilson was the <i>clou</i> +of the Conference. The League of Nations scheme +seemed destined to change fundamentally the relations of +peoples toward one another, and the change was expected +to begin immediately after the Covenant had been voted, +signed, and ratified. But it was not relished by any +government except that of the United States, and it was +in order to enable the delegates to devise such a wording +of the Covenant as would not bind them to an obnoxious +principle or commit their electorates to any irksome +sacrifice, that the peace treaty with Germany and the +liquidation of the war were postponed. This delay caused +profound dissatisfaction in continental Europe, but it +had the incidental advantage of bringing home to the +victorious nations the marvelous recuperative powers +of the German race. It also gave time for the drafting +of a compact so admirably tempered to the human weaknesses +of the rival signatory nations, whose passions were +curbed only by sheer exhaustion, that all their spokesmen +saw their way to sign it. There was something almost +genial in the simplicity of the means by which the eminent +promoter of the Covenant intended to reform the peoples +of the world. He gave them credit for virtues which would +have rendered the League unnecessary and displayed indulgence +for passions which made its speedy realization +hopeless, thus affording a <i>superfluous</i> illustration of the +truth that the one deadly evil to be shunned by those +who would remain philanthropists is a practical knowledge +of men, and of the truism that the statesman's bane is +an inordinate fondness for abstract ideas.</p> + +<p>One of the decided triumphs of the Paris Peace Conference +over the Vienna Congress lay in the amazing +speed with which it got through the difficult task of +solving offhandedly some of the most formidable problems +that ever exercised the wit of man. One of the Paris +journals contained the following remarkable announcement: +"The actual time consumed in constituting the +League of Nations, which it is hoped will be the means +of keeping peace in the world, was thirty hours. This +doesn't seem possible, but it is true."<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6" href="#Footnote_6_6" >[6]</a></p> + +<p>How provokingly slowly the dawdlers of Vienna moved +in comparison may be read in the chronicles of that time. +The peoples hoped and believed that the Congress would +perform its tasks in a short period, but it was only after +nine months' gestation and sore travail that it finally +brought forth its offspring—a mountain of Acts which +have been moldering in dust ever since.</p> + +<p>The Wilsonian Covenant, which bound together thirty-two +states—a league intended to be incomparably more +powerful than was the Holy Alliance—will take rank +as the most rapid improvisation of its kind in diplomatic +history.</p> + +<p>A comparison between the features common to the two +international legislatures struck many observers as even +more reassuring than the contrast between their differences. +Both were placed in like circumstances, faced +with bewildering and fateful problems to which an exhausting +war, just ended, had imparted sharp actuality. +One of the delegates to the Vienna Congress wrote:</p> + +<p>"Everything had to be recast and made new, the +destinies of Germany, Italy, and Poland settled, a solid +groundwork laid for the future, and a commercial system +to be outlined."<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7" href="#Footnote_7_7" >[7]</a> Might not those very words have +been penned at any moment during the Paris Conference +with equal relevance to its undertakings?</p> + +<p>Or these: "However easily and gracefully the fine +old French wit might turn the topics of the day, people +felt vaguely beneath it all that these latter times were +very far removed from the departed era and, in many +respects, differed from it to an incomprehensible degree."<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8" href="#Footnote_8_8" >[8]</a> +And the veteran Prince de Ligne remarked to the Comte +de la Garde: "From every side come cries of Peace, +Justice, Equilibrium, Indemnity.... Who will evolve +order from this chaos and set a dam to the stream of +claims?" How often have the same cries and queries +been uttered in Paris?</p> + +<p>When the first confidential talks began at the Vienna +Congress, the same difficulties arose as were encountered +over a century later in Paris about the number of states +that were entitled to have representatives there. At the +outset, the four Cabinet Ministers of Austria, Russia, +England, and Prussia kept things to themselves, excluding +vanquished France and the lesser Powers. Some time +afterward, however, Talleyrand, the spokesman of the +worsted nation, accompanied by the Portuguese Minister, +Labrador, protested vehemently against the form and +results of the deliberations. At one sitting passion rose +to white heat and Talleyrand spoke of quitting the Congress +altogether, whereupon a compromise was struck +and eight nations received the right to be represented. +In this way the Committee of Eight was formed.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9" href="#Footnote_9_9" >[9]</a> In +Paris discussion became to the full as lively, and on the +first Saturday, when the representatives of Belgium, +Greece, Poland, and the other small states delivered +impassioned speeches against the attitude of the Big +Five they were maladroitly answered by M. Clemenceau, +who relied, as the source from which emanated the +superior right of the Great Powers, upon the twelve million +soldiers they had placed in the field. It was unfortunate +that force should thus confer privileges at a Peace +Conference which was convoked to end the reign of +force and privilege. In Vienna it was different, but so +were the times.</p> + +<p>Many of the entries and comments of the chroniclers +of 1815 read like extracts from newspapers of the first +three months of 1919. "About Poland, they are fighting +fiercely and, down to the present, with no decisive result," +writes Count Carl von Nostitz, a Russian military observer.... +"Concerning Germany and her future federative +constitution, nothing has yet been done, absolutely +nothing."<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10" href="#Footnote_10_10" >[10]</a> Here is a gloss written by Countess Elise +von Bernstorff, wife of the Danish Minister: "Most +comical was the mixture of the very different individuals +who all fancied they had work to do at the Congress ... +One noticed noblemen and scholars who had never transacted +any business before, but now looked extremely consequential +and took on an imposing bearing, and professors +who mentally set down their university chairs +in the center of a listening Congress, but soon turned +peevish and wandered hither and thither, complaining +that they could not, for the life of them, make out what +was going on." Again: "It would have been to the +interest of all Europe—rightly understood—to restore +Poland. This matter may be regarded as the most +important of all. None other could touch so nearly the +policy of all the Powers represented,"<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11" href="#Footnote_11_11" >[11]</a> wrote the Bavarian +Premier, Graf von Montgelas, just as the Entente press +was writing in the year 1919.</p> + +<p>The plenipotentiaries of the Paris Conference had for a +short period what is termed a good press, and a rigorous +censorship which never erred on the side of laxity, whereas +those of the Vienna Congress were criticized without +truth. For example, the population of Vienna, we are +told by Bavaria's chief delegate, was disappointed when +it discerned in those whom it was wont to worship as +demigods, only mortals. "The condition of state affairs," +writes Von Gentz, one of the clearest heads at the +Congress, "is weird, but it is not, as formerly, in consequence +of the crushing weight that is hung around our +necks, but by reason of the mediocrity and clumsiness +of nearly all the workers."<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12" href="#Footnote_12_12" >[12]</a> One consequence of this +state of things was the constant upspringing of new and +unforeseen problems, until, as time went on, the bewildered +delegates were literally overwhelmed. "So +many interests cross each other here," comments Count +Carl von Nostitz, "which the peoples want to have +mooted at the long-wished-for League of Nations, that +they fall into the oddest shapes.... Look wheresoever +you will, you are faced with incongruity and confusion.... +Daily the claims increase as though more and more +evil spirits were issuing forth from hell at the invocation +of a sorcerer who has forgotten the spell by which to +lay them."<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13" href="#Footnote_13_13" >[13]</a> It was of the Vienna Congress that those +words were written.</p> + +<p>In certain trivial details, too, the likeness between the +two great peace assemblies is remarkable. For example, +Lord Castlereagh, who represented England at Vienna, +had to return to London to meet Parliament, thus inconveniencing +the august assembly, as Mr. Wilson and Mr. +George were obliged to quit Paris, with a like effect. +Before Castlereagh left the scene of his labors, uncharitable +judgments were passed on him for allowing home +interests to predominate over his international activities.</p> + +<p>The destinies of Poland and of Germany, which were +then about to become a confederation, occupied the forefront +of interest at the Congress as they did at the Conference. +A similarity is noticeable also in the state of +Europe generally, then and now. "The uncertain condition +of all Europe," writes a close observer in 1815, "is +appalling for the peoples: every country has mobilized ... and +the luckless inhabitants are crushed by taxation. +On every side people complain that this state of +peace is worse than war ... individuals who despised Napoleon +say that under him the suffering was not greater ... every +country is sapping its own prosperity, so that +financial conditions, in lieu of improving since Napoleon's +collapse, are deteriorating every where."<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14" href="#Footnote_14_14" >[14]</a></p> + +<p>In 1815, as in 1919, the world pacifiers had their court +painters, and Isabey, the French portraitist, was as much +run after as was Sir William Orpen in 1919. In some +respects, however, there was a difference. "Isabey," said +the Prince de Ligne, "is the Congress become painter. +Come! His talk is as clever as his brush." But Sir +William Orpen was so absorbed by his work that he never +uttered a word during a sitting. The contemporaries of +the Paris Conference were luckier than their forebears of +the Vienna Congress—for they could behold the lifelike +features of their benefactors in a cinema. "It is understood," +wrote a Paris journal, "that the necessity of preserving +a permanent record of the personalities and proceedings +at the Peace Conference has not been lost sight +of. Very shortly a series of cinematographic films of the +principal delegates and of the commissions is to be made +on behalf of the British government, so that, side by side +with the Treaty of Paris, posterity will be able to study the +physiognomy of the men who made it."<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15" href="#Footnote_15_15" >[15]</a> In no case is it +likely to forget them.</p> + +<p>So the great heart of Paris, even to a greater degree +than that of Vienna over a hundred years ago, beat and +throbbed to cosmic measures while its brain worked +busily at national, provincial, and economic questions.</p> + +<p>Side by side with the good cheer prevalent that kept the +eminent lawgivers of the Vienna Congress in buoyant +spirits went the cost of living, prohibitive outside the +charmed circle in consequence of the high and rising prices.</p> + +<p>"Every article," writes the Comte de la Garde, one of the +chroniclers of the Vienna Congress, "but more especially +fuel, soared to incredible heights. The Austrian government +found it necessary, in consequence, to allow all its +officials supplements to their salaries and indemnities."<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16" href="#Footnote_16_16" >[16]</a> +In Paris things were worse. Greed and disorganization +combined to make of the French capital a vast fleecing-machine. +The sums of money expended by foreigners in +France during all that time and a much longer period is +said to have exceeded the revenue from foreign trade. +There was hardly any coal, and even the wood fuel gave +out now and again. Butter was unknown. Wine was +bad and terribly dear. A public conveyance could not be +obtained unless one paid "double, treble, and quintuple +fares and a gratuity." The demand was great and the +supply sometimes abundant, but the authorities contrived +to keep the two apart systematically.</p> + +<p class='center'>THE COST OF LIVING</p> + +<p>In no European country did the cost of living attain the +height it reached in France in the year 1919. Not only +luxuries and comforts, but some of life's necessaries, were +beyond the reach of home-coming soldiers, and this was +currently ascribed to the greed of merchants, the disorganization +of transports, the strikes of workmen, and the +supineness of the authorities, whose main care was to keep +the nation tranquil by suppressing one kind of news, +spreading another, and giving way to demands which +could no longer be denied. There was another and more +effectual cause: the war had deprived the world of twelve +million workmen and a thousand milliard francs' worth +of goods. But of this people took no account. The +demobilized soldiers who for years had been well fed and +relieved of solicitude for the morrow returned home, +flushed with victory, proud of the commanding position +which they had won in the state, and eager to reap the +rewards of their sacrifices. But they were bitterly disillusioned. +They expected a country fit for heroes to +live in, and what awaited them was a condition of things +to which only a defeated people could be asked to resign +itself. The food to which the poilu had, for nearly five +years, been accustomed at the front was become, since +the armistice, the exclusive monopoly of the capitalist or +the <i>nouveau-riche</i> in the rear. To obtain a ration of +sugar he or his wife had to stand in a long queue for +hours, perhaps go away empty-handed and return on the +following morning. When his sugar-card was eventually +handed to him he had again to stand in line outside the +grocer's door and, when his turn came to enter it, was +frequently told that the supply was exhausted and would +not be replenished for a week or longer. Yet his newspaper +informed him that there was plenty of colonial +sugar, ready for shipment, but forbidden by the authorities +to be imported into France. I met many poor +people from the provinces and some resident in Paris who +for four years had not once eaten a morsel of sugar, +although the well-to-do were always amply supplied. In +many places even bread was lacking, while biscuits, shortbread, +and fancy cakes, available at exorbitant prices, were +exhibited in the shop windows. Tokens of unbridled +luxury and glaring evidences of wanton waste were +flaunted daily and hourly in the faces of the humbled men +who had saved the nation and wanted the nation to realize +the fact. Lucullan banquets, opulent lunches, all-night +dances, high revels of an exotic character testified to the +peculiar psychic temper as well as to the material prosperity +of the passive elements of the community and stung +the poilus to the quick. "But what justice," these asked, +"can the living hope for, when the glorious dead are so +soon forgotten?" For one ghastly detail remains to complete +a picture to which Boccaccio could hardly have done +justice. "While all this wild dissipation was going on +among the moneyed class in the capital the corpses of +many gallant soldiers lay unburied and uncovered on the +shell-plowed fields of battle near Rheims, on the road to +Neuville-sur-Margival and other places—sights pointed +out to visitors to tickle their interest in the grim spectacle +of war. In vain individuals expostulated and the press +protested. As recently as May persons known to me—my +English secretary was one—looked with the fascination +of horror on the bodies of men who, when they +breathed, were heroes. They lay there where they had +fallen and agonized, and now, in the heat of the May sun, +were moldering in dust away—a couple of hours' motor +drive from Paris...."<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17" href="#Footnote_17_17" >[17]</a></p> + +<p>The soldiers mused and brooded. Since the war began +they had undergone a great psychic transformation. +Stationed at the very center of a sustained fiery crisis, +they lost their feeling of acquiescence in the established +order and in the place of their own class therein. In the +sight of death they had been stirred to their depths and +volcanic fires were found burning there. Resignation had +thereupon made way for a rebellious mood and rebellion +found sustenance everywhere. The poilu demobilized +retained his military spirit, nay, he carried about with him +the very atmosphere of the trenches. He had rid himself +of the sentiment of fear and the faculty of reverence +went with it. His outlook on the world had changed +completely and his inner sense reversed the social order +which he beheld, as the eye reverses the object it apprehends. +Respect for persons and institutions survived +in relatively few instances the sacredness of life and the +fear of death. He was impressed, too, with the all-importance +of his class, which he had learned during the +war to look upon as the Atlas on whose shoulders rest +the Republic and its empire overseas. He had saved the +state in war and he remained in peace-time its principal +mainstay. With his value as measured by these priceless +services he compared the low estimate put upon him +by those who continued to identify themselves with the +state—the over-fed, lazy, self-seeking money-getters who +reserved to themselves the fruits of his toil.</p> + +<p>One can well imagine—I have actually heard—the +poilus putting their case somewhat as follows: "So +long as we filled the gap between the death-dealing +Teutons and our privileged compatriots we were well fed, +warmly clad, made much of. During the war we were +raised to the rank of pillars of the state, saviors of the +nation, arbiters of the world's destinies. So long as we +faced the enemy's guns nothing was too good for us. +We had meat, white bread, eggs, wine, sugar in plenty. +But, now that we have accomplished our task, we have +fallen from our high estate and are expected to become +pariahs anew. We are to work on for the old gang +and the class from which it comes, until they plunge us +into another war. For what? What is the reward for +what we have achieved, what the incentive for what +we are expected to accomplish? We cannot afford as +much food as before the war, nor of the same quality. +We are in want even of necessaries. Is it for this that we +have fought? A thousand times no. If we saved our +nation we can also save our class. We have the will +and the power. Why should we not exert them?" The +purpose of the section of the community to which these +demobilized soldiers mainly belonged grew visibly definite +as consciousness of their collective force grew and became +keener. Occasionally it manifested itself openly in symptomatic +spurts.</p> + +<p>One dismal night, at a brilliant ball in a private mansion, +a select company of both sexes, representatives +of the world of rank and fashion, were enjoying themselves +to their hearts' content, while their chauffeurs +watched and waited outside in the cold, dark streets, +chewing the cud of bitter reflections. Between the +hours of three and four in the morning the latter held +an open-air meeting, and adopted a resolution which they +carried out forthwith. A delegation was sent upstairs +to give notice to the light-hearted guests that they must +be down in their respective motors within ten minutes +on pain of not finding any conveyances to take them +home. The mutineers were nearly all private chauffeurs +in the employ of the personages to whom they sent this +indelicate ultimatum. The resourceful host, however, +warded off the danger and placated the rebellious drivers +by inviting them to an improvised little banquet of +<i>pâtés de foie gras</i>, dry champagne, and other delicacies. +The general temper of the proletariat remained unchanged. +Tales of rebellion still more disquieting were +current in Paris, which, whether true or false, were aids +to a correct diagnosis of the situation.</p> + +<p>A dancing mania broke out during the armistice, +which was not confined to the French capital. In Berlin, +Rome, London, it aroused the indignation of those whose +sympathy with the spiritual life of their respective nations +was still a living force. It would seem, however, +to be the natural reaction produced by a tremendous +national calamity, under which the mainspring of the +collective mind temporarily gives way and the psychical +equilibrium is upset. Disillusion, despondency, and contempt +for the passions that lately stirred them drive +the people to seek relief in the distractions of pleasures, +among which dancing is perhaps one of the mildest. +It was so in Paris at the close of the long period of stress +which ended with the rise of Napoleon. Dancing then +went on uninterruptedly despite national calamities and +private hardships. "Luxury," said Victor Hugo, "is a +necessity of great states and great civilizations, but there +are moments when it must not be exhibited to the masses." +There was never a conjuncture when the danger of such +an exhibition was greater or more imminent than during +the armistice on the Continent—for it was the period of +incubation preceding the outbreak of the most malignant +social disease to which civilized communities are subject.</p> + +<p>The festivities and amusements in the higher circles +of Paris recall the glowing descriptions of the fret and +fever of existence in the Austrian capital during the +historic Vienna Congress a hundred years ago. Dancing +became epidemic and shameless. In some salons the +forms it took were repellent. One of my friends, the +Marquis X., invited to a dance at the house of a plutocrat, +was so shocked by what he saw there that he left almost +at once in disgust. Madame Machin, the favorite +teacher of the choreographic art, gave lessons in the new +modes of dancing, and her fee was three hundred francs +a lesson. In a few weeks she netted, it is said, over one +hundred thousand francs.</p> + +<p>The Prince de Ligne said of the Vienna Congress: "Le +Congrès danse mais il ne marche pas." The French press +uttered similar criticisms of the Paris Conference, when +its delegates were leisurely picking up information about +the countries whose affairs they were forgathered to +settle. The following paragraph from a Paris journal—one +of many such—describes a characteristic scene:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The domestic staff at the Hôtel Majestic, the headquarters of the +British Delegation at the Peace Conference, held a very successful +dance on Monday evening, attended by many members of the British +Mission and Staff. The ballroom was a medley of plenipotentiaries +and chambermaids, generals and orderlies, Foreign Office attachés +and waitresses. All the latest forms of dancing were to be seen, +including the jazz and the hesitation waltz, and, according to the +opinion of experts, the dancing reached an unusually high standard of +excellence. Major Lloyd George, one of the Prime Minister's sons, +was among the dancers. Mr. G.H. Roberts, the Food Controller, +made a very happy little speech to the hotel staff.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18" href="#Footnote_18_18" >[18]</a></p> + +<p>The following extract is also worth quoting:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>A packed house applauded 'Hullo, Paris!' from the rise of the curtain +to the finale at the new Palace Theater (in the rue Mogador), Paris, +last night.... President Wilson, Mr. A.J. Balfour, and Lord Derby +all remained until the fall of the curtain at 12.15 ... and ... were +given cordial cheers from the dispersing audience as they passed +through the line of Municipal Guards, who presented arms as the +distinguished visitors made their way to their motor-cars.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19" href="#Footnote_19_19" >[19]</a></p> + +<p>Juxtaposed with the grief, discontent, and physical +hardships prevailing among large sections of the population +which had provided most of the holocausts for the +Moloch of War, the ostentatious gaiety of the prosperous +few might well seem a challenge. And so it was construed +by the sullen lack-alls who prowled about the +streets of Paris and told one another that their turn +would come soon.</p> + +<p>When the masses stare at the wealthy with the eyes +one so often noticed during the eventful days of the +armistice one may safely conclude, in the words of Victor +Hugo, that "it is not thoughts that are harbored by +those brains; it is events."</p> + +<p>By the laboring classes the round of festivities, the +theatrical representations, the various negro and other +foreign dances, and the less-refined pleasures of the world's +blithest capital were watched with ill-concealed resentment. +One often witnessed long lines of motor-cars +driving up to a theater, fashionable restaurant, or concert-hall, +through the opening portals of which could be caught +a glimpse of the dazzling illumination within, while, a +few yards farther off, queues of anemic men and women +were waiting to be admitted to the shop where milk or +eggs or fuel could be had at the relatively low prices fixed +by the state. The scraps of conversation that reached +one's ears were far from reassuring.</p> + +<p>I have met on the same afternoon the international +world-regenerators, smiling, self-complacent, or preoccupied, +flitting by in their motors to the Quai d'Orsay, +and also quiet, determined-looking men, trudging along +in the snow and slush, wending their way toward their +labor conventicles, where they, too, were drafting laws +for a new and strange era, and I voluntarily fell to gaging +the distance that sundered the two movements, and +asked myself which of the inchoate legislations would +ultimately be accepted by the world. The question +since then has been partially answered. As time passed, +the high cost of living was universally ascribed, as we +saw, to the insatiable greed of the middlemen and the +sluggishness of the authorities, whose incapacity to organize +and unwillingness to take responsibility increased +and augured ill of the future of the country unless men +of different type should in the meanwhile take the reins. +Practically nothing was done to ameliorate the carrying +power of the railways, to utilize the waterways, to employ +the countless lorries and motor-vans that were lying +unused, to purchase, convey, and distribute the provisions +which were at the disposal of the government. Various +ministerial departments would dispute as to which should +take over consignments of meat or vegetables, and while +reports, notes, and replies were being leisurely written and +despatched, weeks or months rolled by, during which the +foodstuffs became unfit for human consumption. In the +middle of May, to take but one typical instance, 2,401 +eases of lard and 1,418 cases of salt meat were left rotting +in the docks at Marseilles. In the storage magazines at +Murumas, 6,000 tons of salt meat were spoiled because +it was nobody's business to remove and distribute them. +Eighteen refrigerator-cars loaded with chilled meat arrived +in Paris from Havre in the month of June. When +they were examined at the cold-storage station it was +discovered that, the doors having been negligently left +open, the contents of the cases had to be destroyed.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20" href="#Footnote_20_20" >[20]</a> +From Belgium 108,000 kilos of potatoes were received and +allowed to lie so long at one of the stations that they went +bad and had to be thrown away. When these and +kindred facts were published, the authorities, who had +long been silent, became apologetic, but remained throughout +inactive. In other countries the conditions, if less +accentuated, were similar.</p> + +<p>One of the dodges to which unscrupulous dealers resorted +with impunity and profit was particularly ingenious. +At the central markets, whenever any food is condemned, +the public-health authorities seize it and pay the owner +full value at the current market rates. The marketmen +often turned this equitable arrangement to account by +keeping back large quantities of excellent vegetables, for +which the population was yearning, and when they rotted +and had to be carted away, received their money value +from the Public Health Department, thus attaining their +object, which was to lessen the supply and raise the prices +on what they kept for sale.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21" href="#Footnote_21_21" >[21]</a> The consequence was that +Paris suffered from a continual dearth of vegetables and +fruits. Statistics published by the United States government +showed the maximum increase in the cost of +living in four countries as follows: France, 235 per cent.; +Britain, 135 per cent.; Canada, 115 per cent.; and the +United States, 107 per cent.<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22" href="#Footnote_22_22" >[22]</a> But since these data were +published prices continued to rise until, at the beginning +of July, they had attained the same level as those of +Russia on the eve of the revolution there. In Paris, +Lyons, Marseilles, the prices of various kinds of fish, +shell-fish, jams, apples, had gone up 500 per cent., cabbage +over 900 per cent., and celeriac 2,000 per cent. +Anthracite coal, which in the year 1914 cost 56 francs a +ton, could not be purchased in 1919 for less than 360 +francs.</p> + +<p>The restaurants and hotels waged a veritable war of +plunder on their guests, most of whom, besides the +scandalous prices, which bore no reasonable relation to +the cost of production, had to pay the government luxury +tax of 10 per cent, over and above. A well-known press +correspondent, who entertained seven friends to a simple +dinner in a modest restaurant, was charged 500 francs, +90 francs being set down for one chicken, and 28 for three +cocktails. The <i>maître d'hotel</i>, in response to the pressman's +expostulations, assured him that these charges +left the proprietor hardly any profit. As it chanced, +however, the journalist had just been professionally investigating +the cost of living, and had the data at his +finger-ends. As he displayed his intimate knowledge to +his host, and obviously knew where to look for redress, +he had the satisfaction of obtaining a rebate of 150 +francs.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23" href="#Footnote_23_23" >[23]</a></p> + +<p>Nothing could well be more illuminating than the following +curious picture contributed by a journal whose +representative made a special inquiry into the whole +question of the cost of living.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24" href="#Footnote_24_24" >[24]</a> "I was dining the other +day at a restaurant of the Bois de Boulogne. There was +a long queue of people waiting at the door, some sixty +persons all told, mostly ladies, who pressed one another +closely. From time to time a voice cried: 'Two places,' +whereupon a door was held opened, two patients entered, +and then it was loudly slammed, smiting some of those +who stood next to it. At last my turn came, and I went +in. The guests were sitting so close to one another that +they could not move their elbows. Only the hands and +fingers were free. There sat women half naked, and men +whose voices and dress betrayed newly acquired wealth. +Not one of them questioned the bills which were presented. +And what bills! The <i>hors d'oeuvre</i>, 20 francs. Fish, 90 +francs. A chicken, 150 francs. Three cigars, 45 francs. +The repast came to 250 francs a person at the very lowest." +Another journalist commented upon this story as follows: +"Since the end of last June," he said, "445,000 quintals +of vegetables, the superfluous output of the Palatinate, +were offered to France at nominal prices. And the cost +of vegetables here at home is painfully notorious. Well, +the deal was accepted by the competent Commission in +Paris. Everything was ready for despatching the consignment. +The necessary trains were secured. All that +was wanting was the approval of the French authorities, +who were notified. Their answer has not yet been +given and already the vegetables are rotting in the +magazines."</p> + +<p>The authorities pleaded the insufficiency of rolling +stock, but the press revealed the hollowness of the excuse +and the responsibility of those who put it forward, and +showed that thousands of wagons, lorries, and motor-vans +were idle, deteriorating in the open air. For instance, +between Cognac and Jarnac the state railways had left +about one thousand wagons unused, which were fast +becoming unusable.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25" href="#Footnote_25_25" >[25]</a> And this was but one of many +similar instances.</p> + +<p>It would be hard to find a parallel in history for the +rapacity combined with unscrupulousness and ingenuity +displayed during that fateful period by dishonest individuals, +and left unpunished by the state. Doubtless +France was not the only country in which greed was +insatiable and its manifestations disastrous. From other +parts of the Continent there also came bitter complaints +of the ruthlessness of profiteers, and in Italy their heartless +vampirism contributed materially to the revolutionary +outbreaks throughout that country in July. +Even Britain was not exempt from the scourge. But +the presence of whole armies of well-paid, easy-going +foreign troops and officials on French soil stimulated +greed by feeding it, and also their complaints occasionally +bared it to the world. The impression it left on certain +units of the American forces was deplorable. When +United States soldiers who had long been stationed in a +French town were transferred to Germany, where charges +were low, the revulsion of feeling among the straightforward, +honest Yankees was complete and embarrassing. +And by way of keeping it within the bounds of political +orthodoxy, they were informed that the Germans had +conspired to hoodwink them by selling at undercost +prices, in order to turn them against the French. It was +an insidious form of German propaganda!</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the experience of British and +American warriors in France sometimes happened to be +so unfortunate that many of them gave credence to the +absurd and mischievous legend that their governments +were made to pay rent for the trenches in which their +troops fought and died, and even for the graves in which +the slain were buried.</p> + +<p>An acquaintance of mine, an American delegate, +wanted an abode to himself during the Conference, and, +having found one suitable for which fifteen to twenty-five +thousand francs a year were deemed a fair rent, he +inquired the price, and the proprietor, knowing that he +had to do with a really wealthy American, answered, +"A quarter of a million francs." Subsequently the landlord +sent to ask whether the distinguished visitor would +take the place; but the answer he received ran, "No, I +have too much self-respect."</p> + +<p>Hotel prices in Paris, beginning from December, 1918, +were prohibitive to all but the wealthy. Yet they were +raised several times during the Conference. Again, +despite the high level they had reached by the beginning +of July, they were actually quintupled in some hotels and +doubled in many for about a week at the time of the +peace celebrations. Rents for flats and houses soared +proportionately.</p> + +<p>One explanation of the fantastic rise in rents is characteristic. +During the war and the armistice, the government—and +not only the French government—proclaimed +a moratorium, and no rents at all were paid, +in consequence of which many house-owners were impoverished +and others actually beggared. And it was with a +view to recoup themselves for these losses that they +fleeced their tenants, French and foreign, as soon as the +opportunity presented itself. An amusing incident arising +out of the moratorium came to light in the course of +a lawsuit. An ingenious tenant, smitten with the passion +of greed, not content with occupying his flat without +paying rent, sublet it at a high figure to a man who paid +him well and in advance, but by mischance set fire to the +place and died. Thereupon the <i>tenant</i> demanded and +received a considerable sum from the insurance company +in which the defunct occupant had had to insure the +flat and its contents. He then entered an action at law +against the proprietor of the house for the value of the +damage caused by the fire, and he won his case. The +unfortunate owner was condemned to pay the sum +claimed, and also the costs of the action.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26" href="#Footnote_26_26" >[26]</a> But he could +not recover his rent.</p> + +<p>Disorganization throughout France, and particularly in +Paris, verged on the border of chaos. Every one felt +its effects, but none so severely as the men who had won +the war. The work of demobilization, which began soon +after the armistice, but was early interrupted, proceeded +at snail-pace. The homecoming soldiers sent hundreds +of letters to the newspapers, complaining of the wearisome +delays on the journey and the sharp privations which +they were needlessly forced to endure. Thus, whereas +they took but twenty-eight hours to travel from Hanover +to Cologne—the lines being German, and therefore relatively +well organized—they were no less than a fortnight +on the way between Cologne and Marseilles.<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27" href="#Footnote_27_27" >[27]</a> During +the German section of the journey they were kept warm, +supplied with hot soup and coffee twice daily; but during +the second half, which lasted fourteen days, they received +no beverage, hot or cold. "The men were cared for much +less than horses." That these poilus turned against the +government and the class responsible for this gross neglect +was hardly surprising. One of them wrote: "They [the +authorities] are frightened of Bolshevism. But we who +have not got home, we all await its coming. I don't, +of course, mean the real Bolshevism, but even that kind +which they paint in such repellent hues."<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28" href="#Footnote_28_28" >[28]</a> The conditions +of telegraphic and postal communications were on a +par with everything else. There was no guarantee that +a message paid for would even be sent by the telegraph-operators, +or, if withheld, that the sender would be +apprised of its suppression. The war arrangements were +retained during the armistice. And they were superlatively +bad. A committee appointed by the Chamber of +Deputies to inquire into the matter officially, reported +that,<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29" href="#Footnote_29_29" >[29]</a> at the Paris Telegraph Bureau alone, 40,000 despatches +were held back every day—40,000 a day, or +58,400,000 in four years! And from the capital alone. +The majority of them were never delivered, and the +others were distributed after great delay. The despatches +which were retained were, in the main, thrown into a +basket, and, when the accumulation had become too +great, were destroyed. The Control Section never made +any inquiry, and neither the senders nor those to whom +the despatches were addressed were ever informed.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30" href="#Footnote_30_30" >[30]</a> +Even important messages of neutral ambassadors in Rome +and London fell under the ban. The recklessness of these +censors, who ceased even to read what they destroyed, +was such that they held up and made away with state +orders transmitted by the great munitions factories, and +one of these was constrained to close down because it was +unable to obtain certain materials in time.</p> + +<p>The French Ambassador in Switzerland reported that, +owing to these holocausts, important messages from that +country, containing orders for the French national loan, +never reached their destination, in consequence of which +the French nation lost from ten to twenty million francs. +And even the letters and telegrams that were actually +passed were so carelessly handled that many of them were +lost on the way or delayed until they became meaningless +to the addressee. So, for instance, an official letter +despatched by the Minister of Commerce to the Minister +of Finance in Paris was sent to Calcutta, where the French +Consul-General came across it, and had it directed back +to Paris. The correspondent of the <i>Echo de Paris</i>, who +was sent to Switzerland by his journal, was forbidden by +law to carry more than one thousand francs over the +frontier, nor was the management of the journal permitted +to forward to him more than two hundred francs +at a time. And when a telegram was given up in Paris, +crediting him with two hundred francs, it was stopped +by the censor. Eleven days were let go by without informing +the persons concerned. When the administrator +of the journal questioned the chief censor, he declined +responsibility, having had nothing to do with the matter, +but he indicated the Central Telegraph Control as the +competent department. There, too, however, they were +innocent, having never heard of the suppression. It took +another day to elicit the fact that the economic section +of the War Ministry was alone answerable for the decision. +The indefatigable manager of the <i>Echo de Paris</i> +applied to the department in question, but only to learn +that it, too, was without any knowledge of what had +happened, but it promised to find out. Soon afterward +it informed the zealous manager that the department +which had given the order could only be the Exchange +Commission of the Ministry of Finances. And during +all the time the correspondent was in Zurich without +money to pay for telegrams or to settle his hotel and +restaurant bills.<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31" href="#Footnote_31_31" >[31]</a></p> + +<p>The Ministry of Foreign Affairs itself, in a report on +the whole subject, characterized the section of Telegraphic +Control as "an organ of confusion and disorder which +has engendered extraordinary abuses, and risked compromising +the government seriously."<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32" href="#Footnote_32_32" >[32]</a> It did not merely +risk, it actually went far to compromise the government +and the entire governing class as well.</p> + +<p>It looked as though the rulers of France were still unconsciously +guided by the maxim of Richelieu, who wrote +in his testament, "If the peoples were too comfortable +there would be no keeping them to the rules of duty." +The more urgent the need of resourcefulness and guidance, +the greater were the listlessness and confusion. "There +is neither unity of conduct," wrote a press organ of the +masses, "nor co-ordination of the Departments of War, +Public Works, Revictualing, Transports. All these services +commingle, overlap, clash, and paralyze one another. +There is no method. Thus, whereas France has coffee +enough to last her a twelvemonth, she has not sufficient +fuel for a week. Scruples, too, are wanting, as are +punishments; everywhere there is a speculator who offers +his purse, and an official, a station-master, or a subaltern +to stretch out his hand.... Shortsightedness, disorder, +waste, the frittering away of public moneys and irresponsibility: +that is the balance...."<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33" href="#Footnote_33_33" >[33]</a></p> + +<p>That the spectacle of the country sinking in this administrative +quagmire was not conducive to the maintenance +of confidence in its ruling classes can well be +imagined. On all sides voices were uplifted, not merely +against the Cabinet, whose members were assumed to be +actuated by patriotic motives and guided by their own +lights, but against the whole class from which they sprang, +and not in France only, but throughout Europe. Nothing, +it was argued, could be worse than what these +leaders had brought upon the country, and a change from +the bourgeoisie to the proletariat could not well be inaugurated +at a more favorable conjuncture.</p> + +<p>In truth the bourgeoisie were often as impatient of the +restraints and abuses as the homecoming poilu. The +middle class during the armistice was subjected to some +of the most galling restraints that only the war could +justify. They were practically bereft of communications. +To use the telegraph, the post, the cable, or the telephone +was for the most part an exhibition of childish faith, +which generally ended in the loss of time and money.</p> + +<p>This state of affairs called for an immediate and drastic +remedy, for, so long as it persisted, it irritated those whom +it condemned to avoidable hardship, and their name was +legion. It was also part of an almost imperceptible +revolutionary process similar to that which was going on +in several other countries for transferring wealth and +competency from one class to another and for goading +into rebellion those who had nothing to lose by "violent +change in the politico-social ordering." The government, +whose powers were concentrated in the hands of +M. Clemenceau, had little time to attend to these grievances. +For its main business was the re-establishment of +peace. What it did not fully realize was the gravity of +the risks involved. For it was on the cards that the +utmost it could achieve at the Conference toward the +restoration of peace might be outweighed and nullified +by the consequences of what it was leaving undone and +unattempted at home. At no time during the armistice +was any constructive policy elaborated in any of the +Allied countries. Rhetorical exhortations to keep down +expenditure marked the high-water level of ministerial +endeavor there.</p> + +<p>The strikes called by the revolutionary organizations +whose aim was the subversion of the regime under which +those monstrosities flourished at last produced an effect +on the parliament. One day in July the French Chamber +left the Cabinet in a minority by proposing the following +resolution: "The Chamber, noting that the cost of living +in Belgium has diminished by a half and in England +by a fourth since the armistice, while it has continually +increased in France since that date, judges the government's +economic policy by the results obtained and +passes to the order of the day."<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34" href="#Footnote_34_34" >[34]</a></p> + +<p>Shortly afterward the same Chamber recanted and gave +the Cabinet a majority. In Great Britain, too, the House +of Commons put pressure on the government, which at +last was forced to act.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, extravagance was systematically +encouraged everywhere by the shortsighted measures +which the authorities adopted and maintained as well +as by the wanton waste promoted or tolerated by the +incapacity of their representatives. In France the moratorium +and immunity from taxation gave a fillip to recklessness. +People who had hoarded their earnings before +the war, now that they were dispensed from paying rent +and relieved of fair taxes, paid out money ungrudgingly +for luxuries and then struck for higher salaries and wages.</p> + +<p>Even the Deputies of the Chamber, which did nothing to +mitigate the evil complained of, manifested a desire to have +their own salaries—six hundred pounds a year—augmented +proportionately to the increased cost of living; +but in view of the headstrong current of popular opinion +against parliamentarism the government deemed it impolitic +to raise the point at that conjuncture.</p> + +<p>Most of the working-men's demands in France as in +Britain were granted, but the relief they promised was +illusory, for prices still went up, leaving the recipients of +the relief no better off. And as the wages payable for +labor are limited, whereas prices may ascend to any +height, the embittered laborer fancied he could better his +lot by an appeal to the force which his organization +wielded. The only complete solution of the problem, he +was assured, was to be found in the supersession of the +governing classes and the complete reconstruction of the +social fabric on wholly new foundations.<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35" href="#Footnote_35_35" >[35]</a> And some of +the leaders rashly declared that they were unable to +discern the elements of any other.</p> + + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1" href="#FNanchor_1_1">[1]</a> Cf. <i>The Daily Mail</i> (Paris edition), March 12,1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2" href="#FNanchor_2_2">[2]</a> On December 18, 1918.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3" href="#FNanchor_3_3">[3]</a> "With what little wisdom the world is governed."</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4" href="#FNanchor_4_4">[4]</a> "Mr. Bernard Richards, Secretary of the +delegation from the American +Jewish Congress to the Peace Conference, expressed much satisfaction with +the work done in Paris for the protection of Jewish rights and the furtherance +of the interests of other minorities involved in the peace settlement." +(<i>The New York Herald</i>, July 20, 1919.) How successful was the influence +of the Jewish community at the Peace Conference may be inferred from +the following: "Mr. Henry H. Rosenfelt, Director of the American Jewish +Relief Committee, announces that all New York agencies engaged in Jewish +relief work will join in a united drive in New York in December to raise +$7,500,000 (£1,500,000) to provide clothing, food, and medicines for the +six million Jews throughout Eastern Europe <i>as well as to make possible a +comprehensive programme for their complete rehabilitation</i>.—American Radio +News Service." Cf. <i>The Daily Mail</i>, August 19, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5" href="#FNanchor_5_5">[5]</a> Countess Lulu von Thurheim, <i>My Life</i>, 1788-1852. German edition, +Munich, 1913-14.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6" href="#FNanchor_6_6">[6]</a> <i>The New York Herald</i> (Paris edition), February 23, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7" href="#FNanchor_7_7">[7]</a> Grafen von Montgelas, <i>Denwürdigkeiten des bayrischen Staatsministers +Maximilian.</i> See also Dr. Karl Soll, <i>Der Wiener Kongress</i>.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8" href="#FNanchor_8_8">[8]</a> Varnhagen von Ense.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9" href="#FNanchor_9_9">[9]</a> Friedrich von Gentz.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10" href="#FNanchor_10_10"> [10]</a> Dr. Karl Soll, <i>Count Carl von Nostitz</i>.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11" href="#FNanchor_11_11"> [11]</a> Cf. Dr. Karl Soll, <i>Der Wiener Kongress</i>.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12" href="#FNanchor_12_12"> [12]</a> Dr. Karl Soll, <i>Friedrich von Gentz</i>.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13" href="#FNanchor_13_13"> [13]</a> Dr. Karl Soll, <i>Count Carl von Nostitz</i>, p. 109.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14" href="#FNanchor_14_14"> [14]</a> Jean Gabriel Eynard—the representative of Geneva.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15" href="#FNanchor_15_15"> [15]</a> <i>The Daily Mail</i> (Paris edition), March 22, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16" href="#FNanchor_16_16"> [16]</a> Count de la Garde.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17" href="#FNanchor_17_17"> [17]</a> Cf. <i>Le Matin</i>, May 31, 1919. A noteworthy example of the negligence +of the authorities was narrated by this journal on the same day. To a +wooden cross with an inscription recording that the grave was tenanted by +"an unknown Frenchman" was hung a disk containing his name and regiment! +And here and there the skulls of heroes protruded from the grass, +but the German tombs were piously looked after by Boche prisoners.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18" href="#FNanchor_18_18"> [18]</a> <i>The Daily Mail</i> (Continental edition), March 12, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19" href="#FNanchor_19_19"> [19]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, April 23, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20" href="#FNanchor_20_20"> [20]</a> Cf. <i>The New York Herald</i> (Paris edition), June 8, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21" href="#FNanchor_21_21"> [21]</a> Cf. <i>The New York Herald</i>, June 2, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22" href="#FNanchor_22_22"> [22]</a> Cf. <i>The New York Herald</i> (Paris edition), April 20, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23" href="#FNanchor_23_23"> [23]</a> <i>Le Figaro</i>, June 8, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24" href="#FNanchor_24_24"> [24]</a> <i>L'Humanité</i>, July 10, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25" href="#FNanchor_25_25"> [25]</a> <i>La Democratie Nouvelle</i>, June 14, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26" href="#FNanchor_26_26"> [26]</a> <i>Le Figaro</i>, March 6, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27" href="#FNanchor_27_27"> [27]</a> <i>L'Humanité</i>, May 23, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28" href="#FNanchor_28_28"> [28]</a> <i>Ibid.</i></p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29" href="#FNanchor_29_29"> [29]</a> <i>Le Gaulois</i>, March 23, 1919. <i>The New York Herald</i> (Paris edition), +March 22, 1919. <i>L'Echo de Paris</i>, June 12, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30" href="#FNanchor_30_30"> [30]</a> <i>The New York Herald</i>, March 22, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31" href="#FNanchor_31_31"> [31]</a> <i>L'Echo de Paris</i>, June 12, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32" href="#FNanchor_32_32"> [32]</a> <i>The New York Herald</i>, March 22, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33" href="#FNanchor_33_33"> [33]</a> <i>L'Humanité</i>, May 23, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34" href="#FNanchor_34_34"> [34]</a> on July 18, 1919. Cf. <i>Matin, Echo de Paris, Figaro</i>, July 10, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35" href="#FNanchor_35_35"> [35]</a> Cf. <i>L'Humanité</i> (French Syndicalist organ), July 11, 1919.</p> + + +<hr /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II" />II</h3> + +<h3>SIGNS OF THEIR TIMES</h3> + + +<p>Society during the transitional stage through which +it has for some years been passing underwent an +unprecedented change the extent and intensity of which +are as yet but imperfectly realized. Its more striking +characteristics were determined by the gradual decomposition +of empires and kingdoms, the twilight of their +gods, the drying up of their sources of spiritual energy, +and the psychic derangement of communities and individuals +by a long and fearful war. Political principles, +respect for authority and tradition, esteem for high +moral worth, to say nothing of altruism and public spirit, +either vanished or shrank to shadowy simulacra. In +contemporary history currents and cross-currents, eddies +and whirlpools, became so numerous and bewildering +that it is not easy to determine the direction of the main +stream. Unsocial tendencies coexisted with collectivity +of effort, both being used as weapons against the larger +community and each being set down as a manifestation +of democracy. Against every kind of authority the +world, or some of its influential sections, was up in revolt, +and the emergence of the passions and aims of classes and +individuals had freer play than ever before.</p> + +<p>To this consummation conservative governments, and +later on their chiefs at the Peace Conference, systematically +contributed with excellent intentions and efficacious +measures. They implicitly denied, and acted on the +denial, that a nation or a race, like an individual, has +something distinctive, inherent, and enduring that may +aptly be termed soul or character. They ignored the +fact that all nations and races are not of the same age +nor endowed with like faculties, some being young and +helpless, others robust and virile, and a third category +senescent and decrepit, and that there are some races +which Nature has wholly and permanently unfitted for +service among the pioneers of progress. In consequence +of these views, which I venture to think erroneous, they +applied the same treatment to all states. Just as President +Wilson, by striving to impose his pinched conception +of democracy and his lofty ideas of political +morality on Mexico, had thrown that country into +anarchy, the two Anglo-Saxon governments by enforcing +their theories about the protection of minorities and +other political conceptions in various states of Europe +helped to loosen the cement of the politico-social structure +there.</p> + +<p>Through these as well as other channels virulent poison +penetrated to the marrow of the social organism. Language +itself, on which all human intercourse hinges, was +twisted to suit unwholesome ambitions, further selfish +interests, and obscure the vision of all those who wanted +real reforms and unvarnished truth. During the war +the armies were never told plainly what they were struggling +for; officially they were said to be combating for +justice, right, self-determination, the sacredness of treaties, +and other abstract nouns to which the heroic soldiers +never gave a thought and which a section of the civil +population misinterpreted. Indeed, so little were these +shibboleths understood even by the most intelligent +among the politicians who launched them that one half +of the world still more or less conscientiously labors to +establish their contraries and is anathematizing the other +half for championing injustice, might, and unveracity—under +various misnomers.</p> + +<p>Anglo-Saxondom, taking the lead of humanity, imitated +the Catholic states of by-past days, and began to impose +on other peoples its own ideas, as well as its practices +and institutions, as the best fitted to awaken their dormant +energies and contribute to the social reconstruction of the +world. In the interval, language, whether applied to +history, journalism, or diplomacy, was perverted and +words lost their former relations to the things connoted, +and solemn promises were solemnly broken in the name +of truth, right, or equity. For the new era of good faith, +justice and morality was inaugurated, oddly enough, +by a general tearing up of obligatory treaties and an +ethical violation of the most binding compacts known to +social man. This happened coincidently to be in keeping +with the general insurgence against all checks and +restraints, moral and social, for which the war is mainly +answerable, and to be also in harmony with the regular +supersession of right by might which characterizes the +present epoch and with the disappearance of the sense of +law. In a word, under the auspices of the amateur +world-reformers, the tendency of Bolshevism throve and +spread—an instructive case of people serving the devil +at the bidding of God's best friends.</p> + +<p>As in the days of the Italian despots, every individual +has the chance of rising to the highest position in many +of the states, irrespective of his antecedents and no +matter what blots may have tarnished his 'scutcheon. +Neither aristocratic descent, nor public spirit nor even a +blameless past is now an indispensable condition of +advancement. In Germany the head of the Republic +is an honest saddler. In Austria the chief of the government +until recently was the assassin of a prime minister. +The chief of the Ukraine state was an ex-inmate of an +asylum. Trotzky, one of the Russian duumvirs, is said +to have a record which might of itself have justified his +change of name from Braunstein. Bela Kuhn, the +Semitic Dictator of Hungary, had the reputation of a +thief before rising to the height of ruler of the Magyars.... +In a word, Napoleon's ideal is at last realized, "La +carrière est ouverte aux talents."</p> + +<p>Among the peculiar traits of this evanescent epoch +may be mentioned inaccessibility to the teaching of facts +which run counter to cherished prejudices, aims, and +interests. People draw from facts which they cannot +dispute only the inferences which they desire. An amusing +instance of this occurred in Paris, where a Syndicalist +organ<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36" href="#Footnote_36_36" >[36]</a> published an interesting and on the whole +truthful account of the chaotic confusion, misery, and +discontent prevailing in Russia and of the brutal violence +and foxy wiles of Lenin. The dreary picture included +the cost of living; the disorganization of transports; the +terrible mortality caused by the after-effects of the war; +the crowding of prisons, theaters, cinemas, and dancing-saloons; +the eagerness of employers to keep their war +prisoners employed while thousands of demobilized soldiers +were roaming about the cities and villages vainly looking +for work; the absence of personal liberty; the numerous +arrests, and the relative popularity withal of the Dictator. +This popularity, it was explained, the press contributed +to keep alive, especially since the abortive attempt made +on his life, when the journals declared that he was indispensable +for the time being to his country.</p> + +<p>He himself was described as a hard despot, ruthless as +a tiger who strikes his fellow-workers numb and dumb +with fear. "But he is under no illusions as to the real +sentiments of the members of the Soviet who back him, +nor does he deign to conceal those which he entertains +toward them.... Whenever Lenin himself is concerned +justice is expeditious. Some men will be delivered from +prison after many years of preventive confinement without +having been brought to trial, others who fired on +Kerensky will be kept untried for an indefinite period, +whereas the brave Russian patriot who aimed his revolver +at Lenin, and whom the French press so justly +applauded, had only three weeks to wait for his condemnation +to death."</p> + +<p>This article appearing in a Syndicalist organ seemed +an event. Some journals summarized and commented it +approvingly, until it was discovered to be a skit on the +transient conditions in France, whereupon the "admirable +<i>exposé</i> based upon convincing evidence" and the "forcible +arguments" became worthless.<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37" href="#Footnote_37_37" >[37]</a></p> + +<p>An object-lesson in the difficulty of legislating in Anglo-Saxon +fashion for foreign countries and comprehending +their psychology was furnished by two political trials +which, taking place in Paris during the Conference, +enabled the delegates to estimate the distance that +separates the Anglo-Saxon from the Continental mode +of thought and action in such a fundamental problem +as the administration of justice. Raoul Villain, the +murderer of Jean Jaurès—France's most eminent statesman—was +kept in prison for nearly five years without a +trial. He had assassinated his victim in cold blood. He +had confessed and justified the act. The eye-witnesses all +agreed as to the facts. Before the court, however, a +long procession of ministers of state, politicians, historians, +and professors defiled, narrating in detail the +life-story, opinions, and strivings of the victim, who, +in the eyes of a stranger, unacquainted with its methods, +might have seemed to be the real culprit. The jury +acquitted the prisoner.</p> + +<p>The other accused man was a flighty youth who had +fired on the French Premier and wounded him. He, +however, had not long to wait for his trial. He was +taken before the tribunal within three weeks of his arrest +and was promptly condemned to die.<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38" href="#Footnote_38_38" >[38]</a> Thus the assassin +was justified by the jury and the would-be assassin condemned +to be shot. "Suppose these trials had taken +place in my country," remarked a delegate of an Eastern +state, "and that of the two condemned men one had been +a member of the privileged minority, what an uproar the +incident would have created in the United States and +England! As it happened in western Europe, it passed +muster."</p> + +<p>How far removed some continental nations are from +the Anglo-Saxons in their mode of contemplating and +treating another momentous category of social problems +may be seen from the circumstance that the Great +Council in Basel adopted a bill brought in by the Socialist +Welti, authorizing the practice of abortion down to the +third month, provided that the husband and wife are +agreed, and in cases where there is no marriage provided +it is the desire of the woman and that the operation is +performed by a regular physician.<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39" href="#Footnote_39_39" >[39]</a></p> + +<p>Another striking instance of the difference of conceptions +between the Anglo-Saxon and continental peoples is +contained in the following unsavory document, which the +historian, whose business it is to flash the light of criticism +upon the dark nooks of civilization, can neither ignore +nor render into English. It embodies a significant decision +taken by the General Staff of the 256th Brigade of +the Army of Occupation<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40" href="#Footnote_40_40" >[40]</a> and was issued on June 21, 1919.<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41" href="#Footnote_41_41" >[41]</a></p> + + + + +<blockquote><h3>SIGNS OF THE TIMES</h3> + +<h3>EXPLOITATION ET POLICE DE LA MAISON PUBLIQUE DE MÜNCHEN-GLADBACH</h3> + +<p>(1.) Les deux femmes composant l'unique personnel de la maison +publique de Gladbach (2, Gasthausstrasse), sont venues en délégation +déclarer qu'elles ne pouvaient suffire à la nombreuse clientèle, +qui envahit leur maison, devant laquelle stationneraient en permanence +de nombreux groupes de clients affamés.</p> + +<p>Elles déclarent que défalcation faite du service qu'elles doivent +assurer à leurs abonnés belges et allemands, elles ne peuvent +fournir à la division qu'un total de vingt entrées par jour (10 pour +chacune d'elle).</p> + +<p>L'établissement d'ailleurs ne travaille pas la nuit et observe +strictement le repos dominical. D'autre part les ressources de la +ville ne permettent pas, paraît-il, d'augmenter le personnel. Dans +ces conditions, en vue d'éviter tout désordre et de ne pas demander +à ces femmes un travail audessus de leurs forces, les mesures +suivantes seront prises:</p> + +<p>(2.) JOURS DE TRAVAIL: Tous les jours de la semaine, sauf le +dimanche.</p> + +<p>RENDEMENT MAXIMUM: Chaque jour chaque femme +reçoit 10 hommes, soit 20 pour les deux personnes, 120 par semaine.</p> + +<p>HEURES D'OUVERTURE: 17 heures à 21 heures. Aucune +réception n'aura lieu en dehors de ces heures.</p> + +<p>TARIF: Pour un séjour d'un quart heure (entrée et sortie de +l'établissement comprises) ... 5 marks.</p> + +<p>CONSOMMATIONS: La maison ne vend aucune boisson. Il +n'y a pas de salle d'attente. Les clients doivent donc se présenter +par deux.</p> + +<p>(3.) RÉPARTITION: Les 6 jours de la semaine sont donnés:</p> + <p>Le lundi—1er bat. du 164 et C.H.R.<br /> + Le mardi—1er bat. du 169 et C.H.R.<br /> + Le mercredi—2e bat. du 164 et C.H.R.<br /> + Le jeudi—2e bat. du 169 et C.H.R.<br /> + Le vendredi—3e bat. du 164.<br /> + Le samedi—3e bat. du 169.</p> + +<p>(4.) Dans chaque bataillon il sera établi le jour qui leur est fixé, 20 +tickets déposés aux bureaux des sergents-majeur à raison de 5 par +compagnie. Les hommes désireux de rendre visite à l'établissement +réclamerout au bureau de leur sergent-majeur, 1 ticket qui +leur donnera driot de priorité.</p></blockquote> + + +<p>The value of that document derives from its having +been issued as an ordinary regulation, from its having +been reproduced in a widely circulated journal of the +capital without evolving comment, and from the strong +light which it projects upon one of the darkest corners +of the civilization which has been so often and so eloquently +eulogized.</p> + +<p>Manifestly the currents of the new moral life which the +Conference was to have set flowing are as yet somewhat +weak, the new ideals are still remote and the foreshadowings +of a nobler future are faint. Another token of the +change which is going forward in the world was reported +from the Far East, but passed almost unnoticed in +Europe. The Chinese Ministry of Public Instruction, +by an edict of November 3, 1919, officially introduced in +all secondary schools a phonetic system of writing in +place of the ideograms theretofore employed. This is +undoubtedly an event of the highest importance in the +history of culture, little though it may interest the +Western world to-day. At the same time, as a philologist +by profession, I agree with a continental authority<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42" href="#Footnote_42_42" >[42]</a> +who holds that, owing to the monosyllabic character of +the Chinese language and to the further disadvantage that +it lacks wholly or partly several consonants,<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43" href="#Footnote_43_43" >[43]</a> it will be +practically impossible, as the Japanese have already +found, to apply the new alphabet to the traditional +literary idiom. Neither can it be employed for the needs +of education, journalism, of the administration, or for +telegraphing. It will, however, be of great value for +elementary instruction and for postal correspondence. +It is also certain to develop and extend. But its main +significance is twofold: as a sign of China's awakening +and as an innovation, the certain effect of which will be to +weaken national unity and extend regionalism at its +expense. From this point of view the reform is portentous.</p> + +<p>Another of the signs of the new times which calls for +mention is the spread and militancy of the labor movement, +to which the war and its concomitants gave a +potent impulse. It is differentiated from all previous +ferments by this, that it constitutes merely an episode +in the universal insurgency of the masses, who are fast +breaking through the thin social crust formed by the +upper classes and are emerging rapidly above the surface. +One of the most impressive illustrations of this general +phenomenon is the rise of wages, which in Paris has set +the municipal street-sweepers above university professors, +the former receiving from 7,600 to 8,000 francs a year, +whereas the salary of the latter is some 500 francs less.<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44" href="#Footnote_44_44" >[44]</a></p> + +<p>This general disturbance is the outcome of many +causes, among which are the over-population of the +world, the spread of education and of equal opportunity, +the anonymity of industrial enterprises, scientific and +unscientific theories, the specialization of labor and its +depressing influence.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45" href="#Footnote_45_45" >[45]</a> These factors produced a labor +organization which the railways, newspapers, and telegraph +contributed to perfect and transform into a proletarian +league, and now all progressive humanity is tending +steadily and painfully to become one vast collectivity +for producing and sharing on more equitable lines the +means of living decently. This consummation is coming +about with the fatality of a natural law, and the utmost +the wisest of governments can do is to direct it through +pacific channels and dislodge artificial obstacles in its +course.</p> + +<p>One of the first reforms toward which labor is tending +with more or less conscious effort is the abolition of the +hereditary principle in the possession of wealth and influence +and of the means of obtaining them. The division +of labor in the past caused the dissociation of the so-called +nobler avocations from manual work, and gradually +those who followed higher pursuits grew into a sort of +hereditary caste which bestowed relative immunity from +the worst hardships of life's struggle and formed a ruling +class. To-day the masses have their hands on the +principal levers for shattering this top crust of the social +sphere and seem resolved to press them.</p> + +<p>The problem for the solution of which they now +menacingly clamor is the establishment of an approximately +equitable principle for the redistribution of the +world's resources—land, capital, industries, monopolies, +mines, transports, and colonies. Whether socialization—their +favorite prescription—is the most effectual way +of achieving this object may well be doubted, but must +be thoroughly examined and discussed. The end once +achieved, it is expected that mankind will have become +one gigantic living entity, endowed with senses, nerves, +heart, arteries, and all the organs necessary to operate +and employ the forces and wealth of the planet. The +process will be complex because the factors are numerous +and of various orders, and for this reason few political +thinkers have realized that its many phases are aspects of +one phenomenon. That is also a partial explanation of +the circumstance that at the Conference the political +questions were separated from the economic and treated +by politicians as paramount, the others being relegated +to the background. The labor legislation passed in Paris +reduced itself, therefore, to counsels of perfection.</p> + +<p>That the Conference was incapable of solving a problem +of this magnitude is self-evident. But the delegates +could and should have referred it to an international +parliament, fully representative of all the interests concerned. +For the best way of distributing the necessaries +and comforts of life, which have been acquired or created +by manual toil, is a problem that can neither be ignored +nor reasoned away. So long as it remains a problem it +will be a source of intermittent trouble and disorder +throughout the civilized world. The titles, which the +classes heretofore privileged could invoke in favor of +possession, are now being rapidly acquired by the workers, +who in addition dispose of the force conferred by organization, +numbers, and resolve. At the same time +most of the stimuli and inventives to individual enterprise +are being gradually weakened by legislation, which +it would be absurd to condemn and dangerous to regard +as a settlement. In the meanwhile productivity is +falling off, while the demand for the products of labor +is growing proportionately to the increase of population +and culture.</p> + +<p>Hitherto the laws of distribution were framed by the +strong, who were few and utilized the many. To-day +their relative positions have shifted; the many have waxed +strong and are no longer minded to serve as instruments +in the hands of a class, hereditary or selected. But the +division of mankind into producers and utilizers has ever +been the solid and durable mainstay of that type of +civilization from which progressive nations are now fast +moving away, and the laws and usages against which the +proletariat is up in arms are but its organic expression.</p> + +<p>From the days of the building of the Pyramids down to +those of the digging of the Panama Canal the chasm between +the two social orders remained open. The abolition +of slavery changed but little in the arrangement—was, +indeed, effected more in the interests of the old +economics than in deference to any strong religious or +moral sentiment. In substance the traditional ordering +continued to exist in a form better adapted to the modified +conditions. But the filling up of that chasm, which +is now going forward, involves the overthrow of the +system in its entirety, and the necessity of either rearing +a wholly new structure, of which even the keen-sighted +are unable to discern the outlines, or else the restoration +of the old one on a somewhat different basis. And the +only basis conceivable to-day is that which would start +from the postulate that some races of men come into the +world devoid of the capacity for any more useful part in +the progress of mankind than that which was heretofore +allotted to the proletariat. It cannot be gainsaid that +there are races on the globe which are incapable of assimilating +the higher forms of civilization, but which +might well be made to render valuable services in the +lower without either suffering injustice themselves or +demoralizing others. And it seems nowise impossible +that one day these reserves may be mobilized and systematically +employed in virtue of the principle that the +weal of the great progressive community necessitates +such a distribution of parts as will set each organ to +perform the functions for which it is best qualified.</p> + +<p>Since the close of the war internationalism was in the +air, and the labor movement intensified it. It stirred +the thought and warmed the imagination alike of exploiters +and exploited. Reformers and pacifists yearned +for it as a means of establishing a well-knit society of +progressive and pacific peoples and setting a term to +sanguinary wars. Some financiers may have longed for +it in a spirit analogous to that in which Nero wished that +the Roman people had but one neck. And the Conference +chiefs seemed to have pictured it to themselves—if, +indeed, they meditated such an abstract matter—in +the guise of a <i>pax Anglo-Saxonica</i>, the distinctive +feature of which would lie in the transfer to the two +principal peoples—and not to a board representing all +nations—of those attributes of sovereignty which the other +states would be constrained to give up. Of these three +currents flowing in the direction of internationalism only +one—that of finance—appears for the moment likely to +reach its goal....</p> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + + +<p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36" href="#FNanchor_36_36"> [36]</a> <i>L'Humanité,</i> March 6 and 18, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37" href="#FNanchor_37_37"> [37]</a> Cf. <i>L'Humanité</i>, April 10,1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38" href="#FNanchor_38_38"> [38]</a> The sentence was subsequently commuted.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39" href="#FNanchor_39_39"> [39]</a> <i>La Gazette de Lausanne</i>, May 26, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40" href="#FNanchor_40_40"> [40]</a> 128th Division.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41" href="#FNanchor_41_41"> [41]</a> It was reproduced by the French Syndicalist organ, <i>L'Humanité</i> of +July 7, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42" href="#FNanchor_42_42"> [42]</a> R. de Saussure. Cf. <i>Journal de Genève</i>, August 18, and also May 26, +1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43" href="#FNanchor_43_43"> [43]</a> d, r, t, l, g (partly) and p, except at the beginning of a word.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44" href="#FNanchor_44_44"> [44]</a> Cf. the French papers generally for the month of May—also <i>Bonsoir</i>, +July 26, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45" href="#FNanchor_45_45"> [45]</a> Walther Rathenau has dealt with this question in several of his recent +pamphlets, which are not before me at the moment.</p> + + +<hr /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III" />III</h3> + +<h3>THE DELEGATES</h3> + + +<p>The plenipotentiaries, who became the world's arbiters for a while, were +truly representative men. But they mirrored forth not so much the souls +of their respective peoples as the surface spirit that flitted over an +evanescent epoch. They stood for national grandeur, territorial +expansion, party interests, and even abstract ideas. Exponents of a +narrow section of the old order at its lowest ebb, they were in no sense +heralds of the new. Amid a labyrinth of ruins they had no clue to guide +their footsteps, in which the peoples of the world were told to follow. +Only true political vision, breadth of judgment, thorough mastery of the +elements of the situation, an instinct for discerning central issues, +genuine concern for high principles of governance, and the rare moral +courage that disregards popularity as a mainspring of action—could have +fitted any set of legislators to tackle the complex and thorny problems +that pressed for settlement and to effect the necessary preliminary +changes. That the delegates of the principal Powers were devoid of many +of these qualities cannot fairly be made a subject of reproach. It was +merely an accident. But it was as unfortunate as their honest conviction +that they could accomplish the grandiose enterprise of remodeling the +communities of the world without becoming conversant with their +interests, acquainted with their needs, or even aware of their +whereabouts. For their failure, which was inevitable, was also bound to +be tragic, inasmuch as it must involve, not merely their own ambition to +live in history as the makers of a new and regenerate era, but also the +destinies of the nations and races which confidently looked up to them +for the conditions of future pacific progress, nay, of normal existence.</p> + +<p>During the Conference it was the fashion in most European countries to +question the motives as well as to belittle the qualifications of the +delegates. Now that political passion has somewhat abated and the +atmosphere is becoming lighter and clearer, one may without provoking +contradiction pay a well-deserved tribute to their sincerity, high +purpose, and quick response to the calls of public duty and moral +sentiment. They were animated with the best intentions, not only for +their respective countries, but for humanity as a whole. One and all +they burned with the desire to go as far as feasible toward ending the +era of destructive wars. Steady, uninterrupted, pacific development was +their common ideal, and they were prepared to give up all that they +reasonably could to achieve it. It is my belief, for example, that if +Mr. Wilson had persisted in making his League project the cornerstone of +the new world structure and in applying his principles without favor, +the Italians would have accepted it almost without discussion, and the +other states would have followed their example. All the delegates must +have felt that the old order of things, having been shaken to pieces by +the war and its concomitants, could not possibly survive, and they +naturally desired to keep within evolutionary bounds the process of +transition to the new system, thus accomplishing by policy what +revolution would fain accomplish by violence. It was only when they came +to define that policy with a view to its application that their +unanimity was broken up and they split into two camps, the pacifists and +the militarists, or the democrats and imperialists, as they have been +roughly labeled. Here, too, each member of the assembly worked with +commendable single-mindedness, and under a sense of high responsibility, +for that solution of the problem which to him seemed the most conducive +to the general weal. And they wrestled heroically one with the other for +what they held to be right and true relatively to the prevalent +conditions. The circumstance that the cause and effects of this clash of +opinions and sentiments were so widely at variance with early +anticipations had its roots partly in their limited survey of the +complex problem, and partly, too, in its overwhelming vastness and their +own unfitness to cope with it.</p> + +<p>The delegates who aimed at disarmament and a society of pacific peoples +made out as good a case—once their premises were admitted—as those who +insisted upon guarantees, economic and territorial. Everything depended, +for the theory adopted, upon each individual's breadth of view, and for +its realization upon the temper of the peoples and that of their +neighbors. As under the given circumstances either solution was sure to +encounter formidable opposition, which only a doughty spirit would dare +to affront, compromise, offering a side-exit out of the quandary, was +avidly taken. In this way the collective sagacities, working in +materials the nature of which they hardly understood, brought forth +strange products. Some of the incongruities of the details, such, for +instance, as the invitation to Prinkipo, despatched anonymously, +occasionally surpass satire, but their bewildered authors are entitled +to the benefit of extenuating circumstances.</p> + +<p>On the momentous issue of a permanent peace based on Mr. Wilson's +pristine concept of a league of nations, and in accordance with rigid +principles applied equally to all the states, there was no discussion. +In other words, it was tacitly agreed that the fourteen points should +not form a bar to the vital postulates of any of the Great Powers. It +was only on the subject of the lesser states and the equality of nations +that the debates were intense, protracted, and for a long while +fruitless. At times words flamed perilously high. For months the +solutions of the Adriatic, the Austrian, Turkish, and Thracian problems +hung in poignant suspense, the public looking on with diminishing +interest and waxing dissatisfaction. The usual optimistic assurances +that all would soon run smoothly and swiftly fell upon deaf ears. Faith +in the Conference was melting away.</p> + +<p>The plight of the Supreme Council and the vain exhortations to believe +in its efficiency reminded me of the following story.</p> + +<p>A French parish priest was once spiritually comforting a member of his +flock who was tormented by doubts about the goodness of God as measured +by the imperfection of His creation. Having listened to a vivid account +of the troubled soul's high expectation of its Maker and of its deep +disappointment at His work, the pious old curé said: "Yes, my child. The +world is indeed bad, as you say, and you are right to deplore it. But +don't you think you may have formed to yourself an exaggerated idea of +God?" An analogous reflection would not be out of place when passing +judgment on the Conference which implicitly arrogated to itself some of +the highest attributes of the Deity, and thus heightened the contrast +between promise and achievement. Certainly people expected much more +from it than it could possibly give. But it was the delegates themselves +who had aroused these expectations announcing the coming of a new epoch +at their fiat. The peoples were publicly told by Mr. Lloyd George and +several of his colleagues that the war of 1914-18 would be the last. His +"Never again" became a winged phrase, and the more buoyant optimists +expected to see over the palace of arbitration which was to be +substituted for the battlefield, the inspiring inscription: "A la +dernière des guerres, l'humanité reconnaissante."<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46" href="#Footnote_46_46" >[46]</a> Mr. Wilson's vast +project was still more attractive.</p> + +<p>Mr. Lloyd George is too well known in his capacity of British +parliamentarian to need to be characterized. The splendid services he +rendered the Empire during the war, when even his defects proved +occasionally helpful, will never be forgotten. Typifying not only the +aims, but also the methods, of the British people, he never seems to +distrust his own counsels whencesoever they spring nor to lack the +courage to change them in a twinkling. He stirred the soul of the nation +in its darkest hour and communicated his own glowing faith in its star. +During the vicissitudes of the world struggle he was the right man for +the responsible post which he occupied, and I am proud of having been +one of the first to work in my own modest way to have him placed there. +But a good war-leader may be a poor peace-negotiator, and, as a matter +of fact, there are few tasks concerned with the welfare of the nation +which Mr. Lloyd George could not have tackled with incomparably greater +chances of accomplishing it than that of remodeling the world. His +antecedents were all against him. His lack of general equipment was +prohibitive; even his inborn gifts were disqualifications. One need not +pay too great heed to acrimonious colleagues who set him down as a +word-weaving trimmer, between whose utterances and thoughts there is no +organic nexus, who declines to take the initiative unless he sees +adequate forces behind him ready to his to his support, who lacks the +moral courage that serves as a parachute for a fall from popularity, +but possesses in abundance that of taking at the flood the rising tide +which balloon-like lifts its possessor high above his fellows. But +judging him in the light of the historic events in which he played a +prominent part, one cannot dismiss these criticisms as groundless.</p> + +<p>Opportunism is an essential element of statecraft, which is the art of +the possible. But there is a line beyond which it becomes shiftiness, +and it would be rash to assert that Mr. Lloyd George is careful to keep +on the right side of it. At the Conference his conduct appeared to +careful observers to be traced mainly by outside influences, and as +these were various and changing the result was a zigzag. One day he +would lay down a certain proposition as a dogma not to be modified, and +before the week was out he would advance the contrary proposition and +maintain that with equal warmth and doubtless with equal conviction. +Guided by no sound knowledge and devoid of the ballast of principle, he +was tossed and driven hither and thither like a wreck on the ocean. Mr. +Melville Stone, the veteran American journalist, gave his countrymen his +impression of the first British delegate. "Mr. Lloyd George," he said, +"has a very keen sense of humor and a great power over the multitude, +but with this he displays a startling indifference to, if not ignorance +of, the larger affairs of nations." In the course of a walk Mr. Lloyd +George expressed surprise when informed that in the United States the +war-making power was invested in Congress. "What!" exclaimed the +Premier, "you mean to tell me that the President of the United States +cannot declare war? I never heard that before." Later, when questions of +national ambitions were being discussed, Mr. Lloyd George asked, "What +is that place Rumania is so anxious to get?" meaning Transylvania.<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47" href="#Footnote_47_47" >[47]</a></p> + +<p>The stories current of his praiseworthy curiosity about the places +which he was busy distributing to the peoples whose destinies he was +forging would be highly amusing if the subject were only a private +individual and his motive a desire for useful information, but on the +representative of a great Empire they shed a light in which the dignity +of his country was necessarily affected and his own authority deplorably +diminished. For moral authority at that conjuncture was the sheet anchor +of the principal delegates. Although without a program, Mr. Lloyd George +would appear to have had an instinctive feeling, if not a reasoned +belief, that in matters of general policy his safest course would be to +keep pace with the President of the United States. For he took it for +granted that Mr. Wilson's views were identical with those of the +American people. One of his colleagues, endeavoring to dispel this +illusion, said: "Your province at this Conference is to lead. Your +colleagues, including Mr. Wilson, will follow. You have the Empire +behind you. Voice its aspirations. They coincide with those of the +English-speaking peoples of the world. Mr. Wilson has lost his +elections, therefore he does not stand for as much as you imagine. You +have won your elections, so you are the spokesman of a vast community +and the champion of a noble cause. You can knead the Conference at your +will. Assert your will. But even if you decide to act in harmony with +the United States, that does not mean subordinating British interests to +the President's views, which are not those of the majority of his +people." But Mr. Lloyd George, invincibly diffident—if diffidence it +be—shrank from marching alone, and on certain questions which mattered +much Mr. Wilson had his way.</p> + +<p>One day there was an animated discussion in the twilight of the Paris +conclave while the press was belauding the plenipotentiaries for their +touching unanimity. The debate lay between the United States as voiced +by Mr. Wilson and Great Britain as represented by Mr. Lloyd George. On +the morrow, before the conversation was renewed, a colleague adjured the +British Premier to stand firm, urging that his contention of the +previous day was just in the abstract and beneficial to the Empire as +well. Mr. Lloyd George bowed to the force of these motives, but yielded +to the greater force of Mr. Wilson's resolve. "Put it to the test," +urged the colleague. "I dare not," was the rejoinder. "Wilson won't +brook it. Already he threatens, if we do, to leave the Conference and +return home." "Well then, let him. If he did, we should be none the +worse off for his absence. But rest assured, he won't go. He cannot +afford to return home empty-handed after his splendid promises to his +countrymen and the world." Mr. Lloyd George insisted, however, and said, +"But he will take his army away, too." "What!" exclaimed the tempter. +"His army? Well, I only ..." but it would serve no useful purpose to +quote the vigorous answer in full.</p> + +<p>This odd mixture of exaggerated self-confidence, mismeasurement of +forces, and pliability to external influences could not but be baleful +in one of the leaders of an assembly composed, as was the Paris +Conference, of men each with his own particular ax to grind and +impressible only to high moral authority or overwhelming military force. +It cannot be gainsaid that no one, not even his own familiars, could +ever foresee the next move in Mr. Lloyd George's game of statecraft, and +it is demonstrable that on several occasions he himself was so little +aware of what he would do next that he actually advocated as +indispensable measures diametrically opposed to those which he was to +propound, defend, and carry a week or two later. A conversation which +took place between him and one of his fellow-workers gives one the +measure of his irresolution and fitfulness. "Do tell me," said this +collaborator, "why it is that you members of the Supreme Council are +hurriedly changing to-day the decisions you came to after five months' +study, which you say was time well spent?"</p> + +<p>"Because of fresh information we have received in the meanwhile. We know +more now than we knew then and the different data necessitate different +treatment."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but the conditions have not changed since the Conference opened. +Surely they were the same in January as they are in June. Is not that +so?"</p> + +<p>"No doubt, no doubt, but we did not ascertain them before June, so we +could not act upon them until now."</p> + +<p>With the leading delegates thus drifting and the pieces on the political +chessboard bewilderingly disposed, outsiders came to look upon the +Conference as a lottery. Unhappily, it was a lottery in which there were +no mere blanks, but only prizes or heavy forfeits.</p> + +<p>To sum up: the first British delegate, essentially a man of expedients +and shifts, was incapable of measuring more than an arc of the political +circle at a time. A comprehensive survey of a complicated situation was +beyond his reach. He relied upon imagination and intuition as +substitutes for precise knowledge and technical skill. Hence he himself +could never be sure that his decision, however carefully worked out, +would be final, seeing that in June facts might come to his cognizance +with which five months' investigations had left him unacquainted. This +incertitude about the elements of the problem intensified the ingrained +hesitancy that had characterized his entire public career and warped his +judgment effectually. The only approach to a guiding principle one can +find in his work at the Conference was the loosely held maxim that Great +Britain's best policy was to stand in with the United States in all +momentous issues and to identify Mr. Wilson with the United States for +most purposes of the Congress. Within these limits Mr. Lloyd George was +unyielding in fidelity to the cause of France, with which he merged that +of civilization.</p> + +<p>M. Clemenceau is the incarnation of the tireless spirit of destruction. +Pulling down has ever been his delight, and it is largely to his success +in demolishing the defective work of rivals—and all human work is +defective—that he owes the position of trust and responsibility to +which the Parliament raised him during the last phase of the war. +Physically strong, despite his advanced age, he is mentally brilliant +and superficial, with a bias for paradox, epigram, and racy, +unconventional phraseology. His action is impulsive. In the Dreyfus days +I saw a good deal of M. Clemenceau in his editorial office, when he +would unburden his soul to M.M. Vaughan, the poet Quillard, and others. +Later on I approached him while he was chief of the government on a +delicate matter of international combined with national politics, on +which I had been requested to sound him by a friendly government, and I +found him, despite his developed and sobering sense of responsibility, +whimsical, impulsive, and credulous as before. When I next talked with +him he was the rebellious editor of _L'Homme Enchaîné_, whose corrosive +strictures upon the government of the day were the terror of Ministers +and censors. Soon afterward he himself became the wielder of the great +national gagging-machine, and in the stringency with which he +manipulated it he is said by his own countrymen to have outdone the +government of the Third Empire. His _alter ego_, Georges Mandel, is +endowed with qualities which supplement and correct those of his +venerable chief. His grasp of detail is comprehensive and firm, his +memory retentive, and his judgment bold and deliberate. A striking +illustration of the audacity of his resolve was given in the early part +of 1918. Marshal Joffre sent a telegram to President Wilson in +Washington, and because he had omitted to despatch it through the War +Ministry, M. Mandel, who is a strict disciplinarian, proposed that he be +placed under arrest. It was with difficulty that some public men moved +him to leniency.</p> + +<p>M. Clemenceau, the professional destroyer, who can boast that he +overthrew eighteen Cabinets, or nineteen if we include his own, was +unquestionably the right man to carry on the war. He acquitted himself +of the task superbly. His faith in the Allies' victory was unwavering. +He never doubted, never flagged, never was intimidated by obstacles nor +wheedled by persons. Once during the armistice, in May or June, when +Marshal Foch expressed his displeasure that the Premier should have +issued military orders to troops under his command<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48" href="#Footnote_48_48" >[48]</a> without first +consulting him, he was on the point of dismissing the Marshal and +appointing General Pétain to succeed him.<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49" href="#Footnote_49_49" >[49]</a> Whether the qualities +which stood him in such good stead during the world struggle could be of +equal, or indeed of much, avail in the general constructive work for +which the Conference was assembled is a question that needs only to be +formulated. But in securing every advantage that could be conferred on +his own country his influence on the delegates was decisive. M. +Clemenceau, who before the war was the intimate friend of Austrian +journalists, hated his country's enemies with undying hate. And he loved +France passionately. I remember significant words of his, uttered at the +end of the year 1899 to an enterprising young man who had founded a +Franco-German review in Munich and craved his moral support. "Is it +possible," he exclaimed, "that it has already come to that? Well, a +nation is not conquered until it accepts defeat. Whenever France gives +up she will have deserved her humiliation."</p> + +<p>At the Conference M. Clemenceau moved every lever to deliver his country +for all time from the danger of further invasions. And, being a realist, +he counted only on military safeguards. At the League of Nations he was +wont to sneer until it dawned upon him that it might be forged into an +effective weapon of national defense. And then he included it in the +litany of abstract phrases about right, justice, and the +self-determination of peoples which it became the fashion to raise to +the inaccessible heights where those ideals are throned which are to be +worshiped but not incarnated. The public somehow never took his +conversion to Wilsonianism seriously, neither did his political friends +until the League bade fair to become serviceable in his country's hands. +M. Clemenceau's acquaintanceship with international politics was at once +superior to that of the British Premier and very slender. But his +program at the Conference was simple and coherent, because independent +of geography and ethnography: France was to take Germany's leading +position in the world, to create powerful and devoted states in eastern +Europe, on whose co-operation she could reckon, and her allies were to +do the needful in the way of providing due financial and economic +assistance so as to enable her to address herself to the cultural +problems associated with her new rôle. And he left nothing undone that +seemed conducive to the attainment of that object. Against Mr. Wilson he +maneuvered to the extent which his adviser, M. Tardieu, deemed safe, and +one of his most daring speculations was on the President's journey to +the States, during which M. Clemenceau and his European colleagues hoped +to get through a deal of work on their own lines and to present Mr. +Wilson with the decisions ready for ratification on his return. But the +stratagem was not merely apparent; it was bruited abroad with indiscreet +details, whereupon the first American delegate on his return broke the +tables of their laws—one of which separated the Treaty from the +Covenant—and obliged them to begin anew. It is fair to add that M. +Clemenceau was no uncompromising partisan of the conquest of the left +bank of the Rhine, nor of colonial conquests. These currents took their +rise elsewhere. "We don't want protesting deputies in the French +Parliament," he once remarked in the presence of the French Minister of +Foreign Affairs.<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50" href="#Footnote_50_50" >[50]</a> Offered the choice between a number of bridgeheads +in Germany and the military protection of the Anglo-Saxon peoples, he +unhesitatingly decided for the latter, which had been offered to him by +President Wilson after the rejection of the Rhine frontier.</p> + +<p>M. Clemenceau, whose remarkable mental alacrity, self-esteem, and love +of sharp repartee occasionally betrayed him into tactless sallies and +epigrammatic retorts, deeply wounded the pride of more than one delegate +of the lesser Powers in a way which they deemed incompatible alike with +circumspect statesmanship and the proverbial hospitality of his country. +For he is incapable of resisting the temptation to launch a _bon mot_, +however stinging. It would be ungenerous, however, to attach more +importance to such quickly forgotten utterances than he meant them to +carry. An instance of how he behaved toward the representatives of +Britain and France is worth recording, both as characterizing the man +and as extenuating his offense against the delegates of the lesser +Powers.</p> + +<p>One morning<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51" href="#Footnote_51_51" >[51]</a> M. Clemenceau appeared at the Conference door, and +seemed taken aback by the large number of unfamiliar faces and figures +behind Mr. Balfour, toward whom he sharply turned with the brusque +interrogation: "Who are those people behind you? Are they English?" +"Yes, they are," was the answer. "Well, what do they want here?" "They +have come on the same errand as those who are now following you." +Thereupon the French Premier, whirling round, beheld with astonishment +and displeasure a band of Frenchmen moving toward him, led by M. Pichon, +the Minister of Foreign Affairs. In reply to his question as to the +motive of their arrival, he was informed that they were all experts, who +had been invited to give the Conference the benefit of their views about +the revictualing of Hungary. "Get out, all of you. You are not wanted +here," he cried in a commanding voice. And they all moved away meekly, +led by M. Pichon, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Their services proved +to be unnecessary, for the result reached by the Conference was +negative.</p> + +<p>M. Tardieu cannot be separated from his chief, with whom he worked +untiringly, placing at his disposal his intimate knowledge of the nooks +and crannies of professional and unprofessional diplomacy. He is one of +the latest arrivals and most pushing workers in the sphere of the Old +World statecraft, affects Yankee methods, and speaks English. For +several years political editor of the _Temps_, he obtained access to the +state archives, and wrote a book on the Agadir incident which was well +received, and also a monograph on Prince von Bülow, became Deputy, aimed +at a ministerial portfolio, and was finally appointed Head Commissary to +the United States. Faced by difficulties there—mostly the specters of +his own former utterances evoked by German adversaries—his progress at +first was slow. He was accused of having approved some of the drastic +methods—especially the U-boat campaign—which the Germans subsequently +employed, because in the year 1912, when he was writing on the subject, +France believed that she herself possessed the best submarines, and she +meant to employ them. He was also challenged to deny that he had +written, in August, 1912, that in every war churches and monuments of +art must suffer, and that "no army, whatever its nationality, can +renounce this." He was further charged with having taken a kindly +interest in air-war and bomb-dropping, and given it as his opinion that +it would be absurd "to deprive of this advantage those who had made most +progress in perfecting this weapon." But M. Tardieu successfully +exorcised these and other ghosts. And on his return from the United +States he was charged with organizing a press bureau of his own, to +supply American journalists with material for their cablegrams, while at +the same time he collaborated with M. Clemenceau in reorganizing the +political communities of the world. It is only in the French Chamber, of +which he is a distinguished member, that M. Tardieu failed to score a +brilliant success. Few men are prophets in their own country, and he is +far from being an exception. At the Conference, in its later phases, he +found himself in frequent opposition to the chief of the Italian +delegation, Signor Tittoni. One of the many subjects on which they +disagreed was the fate of German Austria and the political structure and +orientation of the independent communities which arose on the ruins of +the Dual Monarchy. M. Tardieu favored an arrangement which would bring +these populations closely together and impart to the whole an +anti-Teutonic impress. If Germany could not be broken up into a number +of separate states, as in the days of her weakness, all the other +European peoples in the territories concerned could, and should, be +united against her, and at the least hindered from making common cause +with her. The unification of Germany he considered a grave danger, and +he strove to create a countervailing state system.</p> + +<p>To the execution of this project there were formidable difficulties. +For one thing, none of the peoples in question was distinctly +anti-German. Each one was for itself. Again, they were not particularly +enamoured of one another, nor were their interests always concordant, +and to constrain them by force to unite would have been not to prevent +but to cause future wars. A Danubian federation—the concrete shape +imagined for this new bulwark of European peace—did not commend itself +to the Italians, who had their own reasons for their opposition besides +the Wilsonian doctrine, which they invoked. If it be true, Signor +Tittoni argues, that Austria does not desire to be amalgamated with +Germany, why not allow her to exercise the right of self-determination +accorded to other peoples? M. Tardieu, on the other hand, not content +with the prohibition to Germany to unite with Austria, proposed<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52" href="#Footnote_52_52" >[52]</a> that +in the treaty with Austria this country should be obliged to repress the +unionist movement in the population. This amendment was inveighed +against by the Italian delegation in the name of every principle +professed and transgressed by the world-mending Powers. Even from the +French point of view he declared it perilous, inasmuch as there was, and +could be, no guarantee that a Danubian confederation would not become a +tool in Germany's hands.</p> + +<p>Two things struck me as characteristic of the principal +plenipotentiaries: as a rule, they eschewed first-rate men as +fellow-workers, one integer and several zeros being their favorite +formula, and they took no account of the flight of time, planning as +though an eternity were before them and then suddenly improvising as +though afraid of being late for a train or a steamer. These +peculiarities were baleful. The lesser states, having mainly first-class +men to represent them, illustrated the law of compensation, which +assigned many mediocrities to the Great Powers. The former were also the +most strenuous toilers, for their task bristled with difficulties and +abounded in startling surprises, and its accomplishment depended on the +will of others. Time and again they went over the ground with infinite +care, counting and gaging the obstacles in their way, devising means to +overcome them, and rehearsing the effort in advance. So much stress had +been laid during the war on psychology, and such far-reaching +consequences were being drawn from the Germans' lack of it, that these +public men made its cultivation their personal care. Hence, besides +tracing large-scale maps of provinces and comprehensive maps<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53" href="#Footnote_53_53" >[53]</a> of the +countries to be reconstituted, and ransacking history for arguments and +precedents, they conscientiously ascertained the idiosyncrasies of their +judges, in order to choose the surest ways to impress, convince, or +persuade them. And it was instructive to see them try their hand at this +new game.</p> + +<p>One and all gave assent to the axiom that moderation would impress the +arbiters more favorably than greed, but not all of them wielded +sufficient self-command to act upon it. The more resourceful delegates, +whose tasks were especially redoubtable because they had to demand large +provinces coveted by others, prepared the ground by visiting personally +some of the more influential arbiters before these were officially +appointed, forcibly laying their cases before them and praying for their +advice. In reality they were striving to teach them elementary +geography, history, and politics. The Ulysses of the Conference, M. +Venizelos, first pilgrimaged to London, saying: "If the Foreign Office +is with Greece, what matters it who is against her." He hastened to call +on President Wilson as soon as that statesman arrived in Europe, and, +to the surprise of many, the two remained a long time closeted together. +"Whatever did you talk about?" asked a colleague of the Greek Premier. +"How did you keep Wilson interested in your national claims all that +time? You must have—" "Oh no," interrupted the modest statesman. "I +disposed of our claims succinctly enough. A matter of two minutes. Not +more. I asked him to dispense me from taking up his time with such +complicated issues which he and his colleagues would have ample +opportunity for studying. The rest of the time I was getting him to give +me the benefit of his familiarity with the subject of the League of +Nations. And he was good enough to enumerate the reasons why it should +be realized, and the way in which it must be worked. I was greatly +impressed by what he said." "Just fancy!" exclaimed a colleague, +"wasting all that time in talking about a scheme which will never come +to anything!" But M. Venizelos knew that the time was not misspent. +President Wilson was at first nowise disposed to lend a favorable ear to +the claims of Greece, which he thought exorbitant, and down to the very +last he gave his support to Bulgaria against Greece whole-heartedly. The +Cretan statesman passed many an hour of doubt and misgiving before he +came within sight of his goal. But he contrived to win the President +over to his way of envisaging many Oriental questions. He is a +past-master in practical psychology.</p> + +<p>The first experiments of M. Venizelos, however, were not wholly +encouraging. For all the care he lavished on the chief luminaries of the +Conference seemingly went to supplement their education and fill up a +few of the geographical, historical, philological, ethnological, and +political gaps in their early instruction rather than to guide them in +their concrete decisions, which it was expected would be always left to +the "commissions of experts." But the fruit which took long to mature +ripened at last, and Greece had many of her claims allowed. Thus in +reorganizing the communities of the world the personal factor played a +predominant part. Venizelos was, so to say, a fixed star in the +firmament, and his light burned bright through every rift in the clouds. +His moderation astonished friends and opponents. Every one admired his +_exposé_ of his case as a masterpiece. His statesman-like setting, in +perspective, the readiness with which he put himself in the place of his +competitor and struck up a fair compromise, endeared him to many, and +his praises were in every one's mouth. His most critical hour—it lasted +for months—struck when he found himself struggling with the President +of the United States, who was for refusing the coast of Thrace to Greece +and bestowing it on Bulgaria. But with that dispute I deal in another +place.</p> + +<p>Of Italy's two plenipotentiaries during the first five months one was +the most supple and the other the most inflexible of her statesmen, +Signor Orlando and Baron Sonnino. If her case was presented to the +Conference with less force than was attainable, the reasons are obvious. +Her delegates had a formal treaty on which they relied; to the attitude +of their country from the outbreak of the war to its finish they rightly +ascribed the possibility of the Allies' victory, and they expected to +see this priceless service recognized practically; the moderation and +suppleness of Signor Orlando were neutralized by the uncompromising +attitude of Baron Sonnino, and, lastly, the gaze of both statesmen was +fixed upon territorial questions and sentimental aspirations to the +neglect of economic interests vital to the state—in other words, they +beheld the issues in wrong perspective. But one of the most popular +figures among the delegates was Signor Orlando, whose eloquence and +imagination gave him advantages which would have been increased a +hundredfold if he might have employed his native language in the +conclave. For he certainly displayed resourcefulness, humor, a historic +sense, and the gift of molding the wills of men. But he was greatly +hampered. Some of his countrymen alleged that Baron Sonnino was his evil +genius. One of the many sayings attributed to him during the Conference +turned upon the quarrels of some of the smaller peoples among +themselves. "They are," the Premier said, "like a lot of hens being held +by the feet and carried to market. Although all doomed to the same fate, +they contrive to fight one another while awaiting it."</p> + +<p>After the fall of Orlando's Cabinet, M. Tittoni repaired to Paris as +Italy's chief delegate. His reputation as one of Europe's principal +statesmen was already firmly established; he had spent several years in +Paris as Ambassador, and he and the late Di San Giuliano and Giolitti +were the men who broke with the Central Empires when these were about to +precipitate the World War. In French nationalist circles Signor Tittoni +had long been under a cloud, as the man of pro-German leanings. The +suspicion—for it was nothing more—was unfounded. On the contrary, M. +Tittoni is known to have gone with the Allies to the utmost length +consistent with his sense of duty to his own country. To my knowledge he +once gave advice which his Italian colleagues and political friends and +adversaries now bitterly regret was disregarded. The nature of that +counsel will one day be disclosed....</p> + +<p>Of Japan's delegates, the Marquis Saionji and Baron Makino, little need +be said, seeing that their qualifications for their task were +demonstrated by the results. Mainly to statesmanship and skilful +maneuvering Japan is indebted for her success at the Paris Conference, +where her cause was referred by Mr. Lloyd George and M. Clemenceau to +Mr. Wilson to deal with. The behavior of her representatives was an +illuminating object-lesson in the worth of psychological tactics in +practical politics. They hardly ever appeared in the footlights, +remained constantly silent and observant, and were almost ignored by the +press. But they kept their eyes fixed on the goal. Their program was +simple. Amid the flitting shadows of political events they marched +together with the Allies, until these disagreed among themselves, and +then they voted with Great Britain and the United States. Occasionally +they went farther and proposed measures for the lesser states which +Britain framed, but desired to second rather than propose. Japan, at the +Conference, was a stanch collaborator of the two English-speaking +principals until her own opportunity came, and then she threw all her +hoarded energies into her cause, and by her firm resolve dispelled any +opposition that Mr. Wilson may have intended to offer. One of the most +striking episodes of the Conference was the swift, silent, and +successful campaign by which Japan had her secret treaty with China +hall-marked by the puritanical President of the United States, whose +sense of morality could not brook the secret treaties concluded by Italy +and Rumania with the Greater and Greatest Powers of Europe. Again, it +was with statesman-like sagacity that the Japanese judged the Russian +situation and made the best of it—first, shortly before the invitation +to Prinkipo, and, later, before the celebrated eight questions were +submitted to Admiral Kolchak. I was especially struck by an occurrence, +trivial in appearance, which demonstrated the weight which they rightly +attached to the psychological side of politics. Everybody in Paris +remarked, and many vainly complained of, the indifference, or rather, +unfriendliness, of which Russians were the innocent victims. Among the +Allied troops who marched under the Arc de Triomphe on July 14th there +were Rumanians, Greeks, Portuguese, and Indians, but not a single +Russian. A Russian general drove about in the forest of flags and +banners that day looking eagerly for symbols of his own country, but for +hours the quest was fruitless. At last, when passing the Japanese +Embassy, he perceived, to his delight, an enormous Russian flag waving +majestically in the breeze, side by side with that of Nippon. "I shed +tears of joy," he told his friend that evening, "and I vowed that +neither I nor my country would ever forget this touching mark of +friendship."</p> + +<p>Japanese public opinion criticized severely the failure of their +delegates to obtain recognition of the equality of races or nations. +This judgment seems unjust, for nothing that they could have done or +said would have wrung from Mr. Wilson and Mr. Hughes their assent to the +doctrine, nor, if they had been induced to proclaim it, would it have +been practically applied.</p> + +<p>In general, the lawyers were the most successful in stating their cases. +But one of the delegates of the lesser states who made the deepest +impression on those of the greater was not a member of the bar. The head +of the Polish delegation, Roman Dmowski, a picturesque, forcible +speaker, a close debater and resourceful pleader, who is never at a loss +for an image, a comparison, an _argumentum ad hominem_, or a repartee, +actually won over some of the arbiters who had at first leaned toward +his opponents—a noteworthy feat if one realizes all that it meant in an +assembly where potent influences were working against some of the +demands of resuscitated Poland. His speech in September on the future of +eastern Galicia was a veritable masterpiece.</p> + +<p>M. Dmowski appeared at the Conference under all the disadvantages that +could be heaped upon a man who has incurred the resentment of the most +powerful international body of modern times. He had the misfortune to +have the Jews of the world as his adversaries. His Polish friends +explained this hostility as follows. His ardent nationalist sentiments +placed him in antagonism to every movement that ran counter to the +progress of his country on nationalist lines. For he is above all things +a Pole and a patriot. And as the Hebrew population of Poland, +disbelieving in the resurrection of that nation, had long since struck +up a cordial understanding with the states that held it in bondage, the +gifted author of a book on the _Foundations of Nationalism_, which went +through four editions, was regarded by the Hebrew elements of the +population as an irreconcilable enemy. In truth, he was only the leader +of a movement that was a historical necessity. One of the theses of the +work was the necessity of cultivating an anti-German spirit in Poland as +the only antidote against the Teuton virus introduced from Berlin +through economic and other channels. And as the Polish Jews, whose idiom +is a corrupted German dialect and whose leanings are often Teutonic, +felt that the attack upon the whole was an attack on the part, they +anathematized the author and held him up to universal obloquy. And there +has been no reconciliation ever since. In the United States, where the +Jewish community is numerous and influential, M. Dmowski found spokes in +his wheel at every stage of his journey, and in Paris, too, he had to +full-front a tremendous opposition, open and covert. Whatever unbiased +people may think of this explanation and of his hostility to the Germans +and their agents, Roman Dmowski deservedly enjoys the reputation of a +straightforward and loyal fighter for his country's cause, a man who +scorns underhand machinations and proclaims aloud—perhaps too +frankly—the principles for which he is fighting. Polish Jews who +appeared in Paris, some of them his bitterest antagonists, recognized +the chivalrous way in which he conducts his electoral and other +campaigns. Among the delegates his practical acquaintanceship with East +European polities entitled him to high rank. For he knows the world +better than any living statesman, having traveled over Europe, Asia, and +America. He undertook and successfully accomplished a delicate mission +in the Far East in the year 1905, rendering valuable services to his +country and to the cause of civilization.</p> + +<p>"M. Dmowski's activity," his friends further assert, "is impassioned and +unselfish. The ambition that inspires and nerves him is not of the +personal sort, nor is his patriotism a ladder leading to place and +power. Polish patriotism occupies a category apart from that of other +European peoples, and M. Dmowski has typified it with rare fidelity and +completeness. If Wilsonianism had been realized, Polish nationalism +might have become an anachronism. To-day it is a large factor in +European politics and is little understood in the West. M. Dmowski lives +for his country. Her interests absorb his energies. He would probably +agree with the historian Paolo Sarpi, who said, 'Let us be Venetians +first and Christians after.' Of the two widely divergent currents into +which the main stream of political thought and sentiment throughout the +world is fast dividing itself, M. Dmowski moves with the national away +from the international championed by Mr. Wilson. The frequency with +which the leading spirits of Bolshevism turn out to be Jews—to the +dismay and disgust of the bulk of their own community—and the ingenuity +they displayed in spreading their corrosive tenets in Poland may not +have been without effect upon the energy of M. Dmowski's attitude toward +the demand of the Polish Jews to be placed in the privileged position of +wards of the League of Nations. But the principle of the protection of +minority—Jewish or Gentile—is assailable on grounds which have nothing +to do with race or religion." Some of the most interesting and +characteristic incidents at the Conference had the Polish statesman for +their principal actor, and to him Poland owes some of the most solid and +enduring benefits conferred on her at the Conference.</p> + +<p>Of a different temper is M. Paderewski, who appeared in Paris to plead +his country's cause at a later stage of the labors of the Conference. +This eminent artist's energies were all blended into one harmonious +whole, so that his meetings with the great plenipotentiaries were never +disturbed by a jarring note. As soon as it was borne in upon him that +their decisions were as irrevocable as decrees of Fate, he bowed to them +and treated the authors as Olympians who had no choice but to utter the +stern fiat. Even when called upon to accept the obnoxious clause +protecting religious and ethnic minorities against which his colleague +had vainly fought, M. Paderewski sunk political passion in reason and +attuned himself to the helpful role of harmonizer. He held that it would +have been worse than useless to do otherwise. He was grieved that his +country must acquiesce in that decree, he regretted intensely the +necessity which constrained such proven friends of Poland as the Four to +pass what he considered a severe sentence on her; but he resigned +himself gracefully to the inevitable and thanked Fate's executioners for +their personal sympathy. This attitude evoked praise and admiration from +Messrs. Lloyd George and Wilson, and the atmosphere of the conclave +seemed permeated with a spirit that induced calm satisfaction and the +joy of elevated thoughts. M. Paderewski made a deep and favorable +impression on the Supreme Council.</p> + +<p>Belgium sent her most brilliant parliamentarian, M. Hymans, as first +plenipotentiary to the Conference. He was assisted by the chief of the +Socialist party, M. Vandervelde, and by an eminent authority on +international law, M. Van den Heuvel. But for reasons which elude +analysis, none of the three delegates hit it off with the duumvirate +who were spinning the threads of the world's destinies. M. Hymans, +however, by his warmth, sincerity, and courage impressed the +representatives of the lesser states, won their confidence, became their +natural spokesman, and blazed out against all attempts—and they were +numerous and deliberate—to ignore their existence. It was he who by his +direct and eloquent protest took M. Clemenceau off his guard and +elicited the amazing utterance that the Powers which could put twelve +million soldiers in the field were the world's natural arbiters. In this +way he cleared the atmosphere of the distorting mists of catchwords and +shibboleths.</p> + +<p>How decisive a role internal politics played in the designation of +plenipotentiaries to the Conference was shown with exceptional clearness +in the case of Rumania. That country had no legislature. The Constituent +Assembly, which had been dissolved owing to the German invasion, was +followed by no fresh elections. The King, with whom the initiative thus +rested, had reappointed M. Bratiano Chief of the Government, and M. +Bratiano was naturally desirous of associating his own historic name +with the aggrandizement of his country. But he also desired to secure +the services of his political rival, M. Take Jonescu, whose reputation +as a far-seeing statesman and as a successful negotiator is world-wide. +Among his qualifications are an acquaintanceship with European countries +and their affairs and a rare facility for give and take which is of the +essence of international politics. He can assume the initiative in +_pourparlers_, however uncompromising the outlook; frame plausible +proposals; conciliate his opponents by showing how thoroughly he +understands and appreciates their point of view, and by these means he +has often worked out seemingly hopeless negotiations to a satisfactory +issue. M. Clemenceau wrote of him, "C'est un grand Européen."<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54" href="#Footnote_54_54" >[54]</a></p> + +<p>M. Bratiano's bid for the services of his eminent opponent was coupled +with the offer of certain portfolios in the Cabinet to M. Jonescu and to +a number of his parliamentary supporters. While negotiations were slowly +proceeding by telegraph, M. Jonescu, who had already taken up his abode +in Paris, was assiduously weaving his plans. He began by assuming what +everybody knew, that the Powers would refuse to honor the secret treaty +with France, Britain, and Russia, which assigned to Rumania all the +territories to which she had laid claim, and he proposed first striking +up a compromise with the other interested states, then compacting +Rumania, Jugoslavia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Greece into a solid +block, and asking the Powers to approve and ratify the new league. Truly +it was a genial conception worthy of a broad-minded statesman. It aimed +at a durable peace based on what he considered a fair settlement of +claims satisfactory to all, and it would have lightened the burden of +the Big Four. But whether it could have been realized by peoples moved +by turbid passions and represented by trustees, some of whom were +avowedly afraid to relinquish claims which they knew to be exorbitant, +may well be doubted.</p> + +<p>But the issue was never put to the test. The two statesmen failed to +agree on the Cabinet question; M. Jonescu kept aloof from office, and +the post of second delegate fell to Rumania's greatest diplomatist and +philologist, M. Mishu, who had for years admirably represented his +country as Minister in the British capital. From the outset M. +Bratiano's position was unenviable, because he based his country's case +on the claims of the secret treaty, and to Mr. Wilson every secret +treaty which he could effectually veto was anathema. Between the two +men, in lieu of a bond of union, there was only a strong force of mutual +repulsion, which kept them permanently apart. They moved on different +planes, spoke different languages, and Rumania, in the person of her +delegates, was treated like Cinderella by her stepmother. The Council of +Three kept them systematically in the dark about matters which it +concerned them to know, negotiated over their heads, transmitted to +Bucharest injunctions which only they were competent to receive, +insisted on their compromising to accept future decrees of the +Conference without an inkling as to their nature, and on their admitting +the right of an alien institution—the League of Nations—to intervene +in favor of minorities against the legally constituted government of the +country. M. Bratiano, who in a trenchant speech inveighed against these +claims of the Great Powers to take the governance of Europe into their +own hands, withdrew from the Conference and laid his resignation in the +hands of the King.</p> + +<p>One of the most remarkable debaters in this singular parliament, where +self-satisfied ignorance and dullness of apprehension were so hard to +pierce, was the youthful envoy of the Czechoslovaks, M. Benes. This +politician, who before the Conference came to an end was offered the +honorable task of forming a new Cabinet, which he wisely declined, +displayed a masterly grasp of Continental politics and a rare gift of +identifying his country's aspirations with the postulates of a settled +peace. A systematic thinker, he made a point of understanding his case +at the outset. He would begin his _exposé_ by detaching himself from all +national interests and starting from general assumptions recognized by +the Olympians, and would lead his hearers by easy stages to the +conclusions which he wished them to draw from their own premises. And +two of them, who had no great sympathy with his thesis, assured me that +they could detect no logical flaw in his argument. Moderation and +sincerity were the virtues which he was most eager to exhibit, and they +were unquestionably the best trump cards he could play. Not only had he +a firm grasp of facts and arguments, but he displayed a sense of measure +and open-mindedness which enabled him to implant his views on the minds +of his hearers.</p> + +<p>Armenia's cause found a forcible and suasive pleader in Boghos Pasha, +whose way of marshaling arguments in favor of a contention that was +frowned upon by many commanded admiration. The Armenians asked for a +vast stretch of territory with outlets on the Black Sea and the +Mediterranean, but they were met with the objections that their total +population was insignificant; that only in one province were they in a +majority, and that their claim to Cilicia clashed with one of the +reserved rights of France. The ice, therefore, was somewhat thin in +parts, but Boghos Pasha skated over it gracefully. His description of +the Armenian massacres was thrilling. Altogether his _exposé_ was a +masterpiece, and was appreciated by Mr. Wilson and M. Clemenceau.</p> + +<p>The Jugoslav delegates, MM. Vesnitch and Trumbitch, patriotic, +tenacious, uncompromising, had an early opportunity of showing the stuff +of which they were made. When they were told that the Jugoslav state was +not yet recognized and that the kingdom of Serbia must content itself +with two delegates, they lodged an indignant protest against both +decisions, and refused to appear at the Conference unless they were +allowed an adequate number of representatives. Thereupon the Great +Powers compromised the matter by according them three, and with stealthy +rage they submitted to the refusal of recognition. They were not again +heard of until one day they proposed that their dispute with Italy +about Fiume and the Dalmatian coast should be solved by submitting it to +President Wilson for arbitration. The expedient was original. President +Wilson, people remembered, had had an animated talk on the subject with +the Italian Premier, Orlando, and it was known that he had set his face +against Italy's claim and against the secret treaty that recognized it. +Consequently the Serbs were running no risk by challenging Signor +Orlando to lay the matter before the American delegate. Whether, all +things considered, it was a wise move to make has been questioned. +Anyhow, the Italian delegation declined the suggestion on a number of +grounds which several delegates considered convincing. The Conference, +it urged, had been convoked precisely for the purpose of hearing and +settling such disputes as theirs, and the Conference consisted, not of +one, but of many delegates, who collectively were better qualified to +deal with such problems than any one man. Europeans, too, could more +fully appreciate the arguments, and the atmosphere through which the +arguments should be contemplated, than the eminent American idealist, +who had more than once had to modify his judgment on European matters. +Again, to remove the discussion from the international court might well +be felt as a slight put upon the men who composed it. For why should +their verdict be less worth soliciting than that of the President of the +United States? True, Italy's delegates were themselves judges in that +tribunal, but the question to be tried was not a matter between two +countries, but an issue of much wider import—namely, what frontiers +accorded to the embryonic state of Jugoslavia would be most conducive to +the world's peace. And nobody, they held, could offer a more complete or +trustworthy answer than they and their European colleagues, who were +conversant with all the elements of the problem. Besides—but this +objection was not expressly formulated—had not Mr. Wilson already +decided against Italy? On these and other grounds, then, they decided to +leave the matter to the Conference. It was a delicate subject, and few +onlookers cared to open their minds on its merits.</p> + +<p>Albania was represented by an old friend of mine, the venerable Turkhan +Pasha, who had been in diplomacy ever since the Congress of Berlin in +the 'seventies of last century, and who looked like a modernized Nestor. +I made his acquaintance many years ago, when he was Ambassador of Turkey +in St. Petersburg. He was then a favorite everywhere in the Russian +capital as a conscientious Ambassador, a charming talker, and a +professional peace-maker, who wished well to everybody. The Young Turks +having recalled him from St. Petersburg, he soon afterward became Grand +Vizier to the Mbret of Albania. Far resonant events removed the Mbret +from the throne, Turkhan Pasha from the Vizierate, and Albania from the +society of nations, and I next found my friend in Switzerland ill in +health, eating the bitter bread of exile, temporarily isolated from the +world of politics and waiting for something to turn up. A few years more +gave the Allies an unexpectedly complete victory and brought back +Turkhan Pasha to the outskirts of diplomacy and politics. He suddenly +made his appearance at the Paris Conference as the representative of +Albania and the friend of Italy.</p> + +<p>Another Albanian friend of mine, Essad Pasha, whose plans for the +regeneration of his country differed widely from those of Turkhan, was +for a long while detained in Saloniki. By dint of solicitations and +protests, he at last obtained permission to repair to Paris and lay his +views before the Conference, where he had a curious interview with Mr. +Wilson. The President, having received from Albanians in the United +States many unsolicited judgments on the character and antecedents of +Essad Pasha, had little faith in his fitness to introduce and popularize +democratic institutions in Albania. And he unburdened himself of these +doubts to friends, who diffused the news. The Pasha asked for an +audience, and by dint of patience and perseverance his prayer was heard. +Five minutes before the appointed hour he was at the President's house, +accompanied by his interpreter, a young Albanian named Stavro, who +converses freely in French, Greek, and Turkish, besides his native +language. But while in the antechamber Essad, remembering that the +American President speaks nothing but pure English, suggested that +Stavro should drive over to the Hôtel Crillon for an interpreter to +translate from French. Thereupon one of the secretaries stopped him, +saying: "Although he cannot speak French, the President understands it, +so that a second interpreter will be unnecessary." Essad then addressed +Mr. Wilson in Albanian, Stavro translated his words into French, and the +President listened in silence. It was the impression of those in the +room that, at any rate, Mr. Wilson understood and appreciated the gist +of the Pasha's sharp criticism of Italy's behavior. But, to be on the +safe side, the President requested his visitor to set down on paper at +his leisure everything he had said and to send it to him.</p> + + +<p class='center'>PRESIDENT WILSON</p> + + +<p>President Wilson, before assuming the redoubtable rôle of world arbiter, +was hardly more than a name in Europe, and it was not a synonym for +statecraft. His ethical objections to the rule of Huerta in Mexico, his +attempt to engraft democratic principles there, and the anarchy that +came of it were matters of history. But the President of the nation to +whose unbounded generosity and altruism the world owes a debt of +gratitude that can only be acknowledged, not repaid, deservedly enjoyed +a superlative measure of respect from his foreign colleagues, and the +author of the project which was to link all nations together by ties of +moral kinship was literally idolized by the masses. Never has it fallen +to my lot to see any mortal so enthusiastically, so spontaneously +welcomed by the dejected peoples of the universe. His most casual +utterances were caught up as oracles. He occupied a height so far aloft +that the vicissitudes of everyday life and the contingencies of politics +seemingly could not touch him. He was given credit for a rare degree of +selflessness in his conceptions and actions and for a balance of +judgment which no storms of passion could upset. So far as one could +judge by innumerable symptoms, President Wilson was confronted with an +opportunity for good incomparably vaster than had ever before been +within the reach of man.</p> + +<p>Soon after the opening of the Conference the shadowy outlines of his +portrait began to fill in, slowly at first, and before three months had +passed the general public beheld it fairly complete, with many of its +natural lights and shades. The quality of an active politician is never +more clearly brought out than when, raised to an eminent place, he is +set an arduous feat in sight of the multitude. Mr. Wilson's task was +manifestly congenial to him, for it was deliberately chosen by himself, +and it comprised the most tremendous problems ever tackled by man born +of woman. The means by which he set to work to solve them were +startlingly simple: the regeneration of the human race was to be +compassed by means of magisterial edicts secretly drafted and sternly +imposed on the interested peoples, together with a new and not wholly +appropriate nomenclature.</p> + +<p>In his own country, where he has bitter adversaries as well as devoted +friends, Mr. Wilson was regarded by many as a composite being made up +of preacher, teacher, and politician. To these diverse elements they +refer the fervor and unction, the dogmatic tone, and the practised +shrewdness that marked his words and acts. Independent American opinion +doubted his qualifications to be a leader. As a politician, they said, +he had always followed the crowd. He had swum with the tide of public +sentiment in cardinal matters, instead of stemming or canalizing and +guiding it. Deficient in courageous initiative, he had contented himself +with merely executive functions. No new idea, no fresh policy, was +associated with his name. His singular attitude on the Mexican imbroglio +had provoked the sharp criticism even of friends and the condemnation of +political opponents. His utterances during the first stages of the World +War, such as the statement that the American people were too proud to +fight and had no concern with the causes and objects of the war,<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55" href="#Footnote_55_55" >[55]</a> +when contrasted with the opposite views which he propounded later on, +were ascribed to quick political evolution—but were not taken as +symptoms of a settled mind. He seemed a pacifist when his pride revolted +at the idea of settling any intelligible question by an appeal to +violence, and a semi-militarist when, having in his own opinion created +a perfectly safe and bloodless peace guarantee in the shape of the +League of Nations, he agreed to safeguard it by a military compact which +sapped its foundation. He owed his re-election for a second term partly, +it was alleged, to the belief that during the first he had kept his +country out of the war despite the endeavors of some of its eminent +leaders to bring it in; yet when firmly seated in the saddle, he +followed the leaders whom he had theretofore with-stood and obliged the +nation to fight.</p> + +<p>As chief of the great country, his domestic critics add, which had just +turned victory's scale in favor of the Allies, Mr. Wilson saw a superb +opportunity to hitch his wagon to a star, and now for the first time he +made a determined bid for the leadership of the world. Here the idealist +showed himself at his best. But by the way of preparation he asked the +nation at the elections to refuse their votes to his political +opponents, despite the fact that they were loyally supporting his +policy, and to return only men of his own party, and in order to silence +their misgivings he declared that to elect Republican Senators would be +to repudiate the administration of the President of the United States at +a critical conjuncture. This was urged against him as the inexpiable +sin. The electors, however, sent his political opponents to the Senate, +whereupon the President organized his historic visit to Europe. It might +have become a turning-point in the world's history had he transformed +his authority and prestige into the driving-power requisite to embody +his beneficent scheme. But he wasted the opportunity for lack of moral +courage. Thus far American criticism. But the peoples of Europe ignored +the estimates of the President made by his fellow-countrymen, who, as +such, may be forgiven for failing to appreciate his apostleship, or set +the full value on his humanitarian strivings. The war-weary masses +judged him not by what he had achieved or attempted in the past, but by +what he proposed to do in the future. And measured by this standard, his +spiritual statue grew to legendary proportions.</p> + +<p>Europe, when the President touched its shores, was as clay ready for the +creative potter. Never before were the nations so eager to follow a +Moses who would take them to the long-promised land where wars are +prohibited and blockades unknown. And to their thinking he was that +great leader. In France men bowed down before him with awe and +affection. Labor leaders in Paris told me that they shed tears of joy in +his presence, and that their comrades would go through fire and water to +help him to realize his noble schemes.<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56" href="#Footnote_56_56" >[56]</a> To the working classes in +Italy his name was a heavenly clarion at the sound of which the earth +would be renewed. The Germans regarded him and his humane doctrine as +their sheet-anchor of safety. The fearless Herr Muehlon said, "If +President Wilson were to address the Germans, and pronounce a severe +sentence upon them, they would accept it with resignation and without a +murmur and set to work at once." In German-Austria his fame was that of +a savior, and the mere mention of his name brought balm to the suffering +and surcease of sorrow to the afflicted. A touching instance of this +which occurred in the Austrian capital, when narrated to the President, +moved him to tears. There were some five or six thousand Austrian +children in the hospitals at Vienna who, as Christmas was drawing near, +were sorely in need of medicaments and much else. The head of the +American Red Cross took up their case and persuaded the Americans in +France to send two million dollars' worth of medicaments to Vienna. +These were duly despatched, and had got as far as Berne, when the French +authorities, having got wind of the matter, protested against this +premature assistance to infant enemies on grounds which the other +Allies had to recognize as technically tenable, and the medicaments were +ordered back to France from Berne. Thereupon Doctor Ferries, of the +International Red Cross, became wild with indignation and laid the +matter before the Swiss government, which undertook to send some +medicaments to the children, while the Americans were endeavoring to +move the French to allow at least some of the remedies to go through. +The children in the hospitals, when told that they must wait, were +bright and hopeful. "It will be all right," some of them exclaimed. +"Wilson is coming soon, and he will bring us everything."</p> + +<p>Thus Mr. Wilson had become a transcendental hero to the European +proletarians, who in their homely way adjusted his mental and moral +attributes to their own ideal of the latter-day Messiah. His legendary +figure, half saint, half revolutionist, emerged from the transparent +haze of faith, yearning, and ignorance, as in some ecstatic vision. In +spite of his recorded acts and utterances the mythopeic faculty of the +peoples had given itself free scope and created a messianic democrat +destined to free the lower orders, as they were called, in each state +from the shackles of capitalism, legalized thraldom, and crushing +taxation, and each nation from sanguinary warfare. Truly, no human being +since the dawn of history has ever yet been favored with such a superb +opportunity. Mr. Wilson might have made a gallant effort to lift society +out of the deep grooves into which it had sunk, and dislodge the secular +obstacles to the enfranchisement and transfiguration of the human race. +At the lowest it was open to him to become the center of a countless +multitude, the heart of their hearts, the incarnation of their noblest +thought, on condition that he scorned the prudential motives of +politicians, burst through the barriers of the old order, and deployed +all his energies and his full will-power in the struggle against sordid +interests and dense prejudice. But he was cowed by obstacles which his +will lacked the strength to surmount, and instead of receiving his +promptings from the everlasting ideals of mankind and the inspiriting +audacities of his own highest nature and appealing to the peoples +against their rulers, he felt constrained in the very interest of his +cause to haggle and barter with the Scribes and the Pharisees, and ended +by recording a pitiful answer to the most momentous problems couched in +the impoverished phraseology of a political party.</p> + +<p>Many of his political friends had advised the President not to visit +Europe lest the vast prestige and influence which he wielded from a +distance should dwindle unutilized on close contact with the realists' +crowd. Even the war-god Mars, when he descended into the ranks of the +combatants on the Trojan side, was wounded by a Greek, and, screaming +with pain, scurried back to Olympus with paling halo. But Mr. Wilson +decided to preside and to direct the fashioning of his project, and to +give Europe the benefit of his advice. He explained to Congress that he +had expressed the ideals of the country for which its soldiers had +consciously fought, had had them accepted "as the substance of their own +thoughts and purpose" by the statesmen of the associated governments, +and now, he concluded: "I owe it to them to see to it, in so far as in +me lies, that no false or mistaken interpretation is put upon them, and +no possible effort omitted to realize them. It is now my duty to play my +full part in making good what they offered their lives and blood to +obtain. I can think of no call to service which could transcend +this."<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57" href="#Footnote_57_57" >[57]</a> No intention could well be more praiseworthy.</p> + +<p>Soon after the _George Washington_, flying the presidential flag, had +steamed out of the Bay on her way to Europe, the United Press received +from its correspondent on board, who was attached to Mr. Wilson's +person, a message which invigorated the hopes of the world and evoked +warm outpourings of the seared soul of suffering man in gratitude toward +the bringer of balm. It began thus: "The President sails for Europe to +uphold American ideals, and literally to fight for his Fourteen Points. +The President, at the Peace Table, will insist on the freedom of the +seas and a general disarmament.... The seas, he holds, ought to be +guarded by the whole world."</p> + +<p>Since then the world knows what to think of the literal fighting at the +Peace Table. The freedom of the seas was never as much as alluded to at +the Peace Table, for the announcement of Mr. Wilson's militant +championship brought him a wireless message from London to the effect +that that proposal, at all events, must be struck out of his program if +he wished to do business with Britain. And without a fight or a +remonstrance the President struck it out. The Fourteen Points were not +discussed at the Conference.<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58" href="#Footnote_58_58" >[58]</a> One may deplore, but one cannot +misunderstand, what happened. Mr. Wilson, too, had his own fixed aim to +attain: intent on associating his name with a grandiose humanitarian +monument, he was resolved not to return to his country without some sort +of a covenant of the new international life. He could not afford to go +home empty-handed. Therein lay his weakness and the source of his +failure. For whenever his attitude toward the Great Powers was taken to +mean, "Unless you give me my Covenant, you cannot have your Treaty," the +retort was ready: "Without our Treaty there will be no Covenant."</p> + +<p>Like Dejoces, the first king of the Medes, who, having built his palace +at Ecbatana, surrounded it with seven walls and permanently withdrew his +person from the gaze of his subjects, Mr. Wilson in Paris admitted to +his presence only the authorized spokesmen of states and causes, and not +all of these. He declined to receive persons who thought they had a +claim to see him, and he received others who were believed to have none. +During his sojourn in Paris he took many important Russian affairs in +hand after having publicly stated that no peace could be stable so long +as Russia was torn by internal strife. And as familiarity with Russian +conditions was not one of his accomplishments, he presumably needed +advice and help from those acquainted with them. Now a large number of +Russians, representing all political parties and four governments, were +in Paris waiting to be consulted. But between January and May not one of +them was ever asked for information or counsel. Nay, more, those who +respectfully solicited an audience were told to wait. In the meanwhile +men unacquainted with the country and people were sent by Mr. Wilson to +report on the situation, and to begin by obtaining the terms of an +acceptable treaty from the Bolshevik government.</p> + +<p>The first plenipotentiary of one of the principal lesser states was for +months refused an audience, to the delight of his political adversaries, +who made the most of the circumstance at home. An eminent diplomatist +who possessed considerable claims to be vouchsafed an interview was put +off from week to week, until at last, by dint of perseverance, as it +seemed to him, the President consented to see him. The diplomatist, +pleased at his success, informed a friend that the following Wednesday +would be the memorable day. "But are you not aware," asked the friend, +"that on that day the President will be on the high seas on his way back +to the United States?" He was not aware of it. But when he learned that +the audience had been deliberately fixed for a day when Mr. Wilson would +no longer be in France he felt aggrieved.</p> + +<p>In Italy the President's progress was a veritable triumph. Emperors and +kings had roused no such enthusiasm. One might fancy him a deity +unexpectedly discovered under the outward appearance of a mortal and now +being honored as the god that he was by ecstatic worshipers. Everything +he did was well done, everything he said was nobly conceived and worthy +of being treasured up. In these dispositions a few brief months wrought +a vast difference.</p> + +<p>In this respect an instructive comparison might be made between Tsar +Alexander I at the Vienna Congress and the President of the United +States at the Conference of Paris. The Russian monarch arrived in the +Austrian capital with the halo of a Moses focusing the hopes of all the +peoples of Europe. His reputation for probity, public spirit, and lofty +aspirations had won for him the good-will and the anticipatory blessings +of war-weary nations. He, too, was a mystic, believed firmly in occult +influences, so firmly indeed that he accepted the fitful guidance of an +ecstatic lady whose intuition was supposed to transcend the sagacity of +professional statesmen. And yet the Holy Alliance was the supreme +outcome of his endeavors, as the League of Nations was that of Mr. +Wilson's. In lieu of universal peace all eastern Europe was still +warring and revolting in September and the general outlook was +disquieting. The disheartening effect of the contrast between the +promise and the achievement of the American statesman was felt +throughout the world. But Mr. Wilson has the solace to know that people +hardly ever reach their goal—though they sometimes advance fairly near +to it. They either die on the way or else it changes or they do.</p> + +<p>It was doubtless a noble ambition that moved the Prime Ministers of the +Great Powers and the chief of the North American Republic to give their +own service to the Conference as heads of their respective missions. For +they considered themselves to be the best equipped for the purpose, and +they were certainly free from such prejudices as professional traditions +and a confusing knowledge of details might be supposed to engender. But +in almost every respect it was a grievous mistake and the source of +others still more grievous. True, in his own particular sphere each of +them had achieved what is nowadays termed greatness. As a war leader Mr. +Lloyd George had been hastily classed with Marlborough and Chatham, M. +Clemenceau compared to Danton, and Mr. Wilson set apart in a category to +himself. But without questioning these journalistic certificates of fame +one must admit that all three plenipotentiaries were essentially +politicians, old parliamentary hands, and therefore expedient-mongers +whose highest qualifications for their own profession were drawbacks +which unfitted them for their self-assumed mission. Of the concrete +world which they set about reforming their knowledge was amazingly +vague. "Frogs in the pond," says the Japanese proverb, "know naught of +the ocean." There was, of course, nothing blameworthy in their +unacquaintanceship with the issues, but only in the offhandedness with +which they belittled its consequences. Had they been conversant with the +subject or gifted with deeper insight, many of the things which seemed +particularly clear to them would have struck them as sheer inexplicable, +and among these perhaps their own leadership of the world-parliament.</p> + +<p>What they lacked, however, might in some perceptible degree have been +supplied by enlisting as their helpers men more happily endowed than +themselves. But they deliberately chose mediocrities. It is a mark of +genial spirits that they are well served, but the plenipotentiaries of +the Conference were not characterized by it. Away in the background some +of them had familiars or casual prompters to whose counsels they were +wont to listen, but many of the adjoints who moved in the limelight of +the world-stage were gritless and pithless.</p> + +<p>As the heads of the principal governments implicitly claimed to be the +authorized spokesmen of the human race and endowed with unlimited +powers, it is worth noting that this claim was boldly challenged by the +peoples' organs in the press. Nearly all the journals read by the masses +objected from the first to the dictatorship of the group of Premiers, +Mr. Wilson being excepted. "The modern parasite," wrote a respectable +democratic newspaper,<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59" href="#Footnote_59_59" >[59]</a> "is the politician. Of all the privileged +beings who have ever governed us he is the worst. In that, however, +there is nothing surprising ... he is not only amoral, but incompetent +by definition. And it is this empty-headed individual who is intrusted +with the task of settling problems with the very rudiments of which he +is unacquainted." Another French journal<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60" href="#Footnote_60_60" >[60]</a> wrote: "In truth it is a +misfortune that the leaders of the Conference are Cabinet chiefs, for +each of them is obsessed by the carking cares of his domestic policy. +Besides, the Paris Conference takes on the likeness of a lyrical drama +in which there are only tenors. Now would even the most beautiful work +in the world survive this excess of beauties?"</p> + +<p>The truth as revealed by subsequent facts would seem to be that each of +the plenipotentiaries recognizing parliamentary success as the source of +his power was obsessed by his own political problems and stimulated by +his own immediate ends. As these ends, however incompatible with each +other, were believed by each one to tend toward the general object, he +worked zealously for their attainment. The consequences are notorious. +M. Clemenceau made France the hub of the universe. Mr. Lloyd George +harbored schemes which naturally identified the welfare of mankind with +the hegemony of the English-speaking races. Signor Orlando was inspired +by the "sacred egotism" which had actuated all Italian Cabinets since +Italy entered the war, and President Wilson was burning to associate his +name and also that of his country with the vastest and noblest +enterprise inscribed in the annals of history. And each one moved over +his own favorite route toward his own goal. It was an apt illustration +of the Russian fable of the swan, the crab, and the pike being harnessed +together in order to remove a load. The swan flew upward, the crab +crawled backward, the pike made with all haste for the water, and the +load remained where it was.</p> + +<p>A lesser but also a serious disadvantage of the delegation of government +chiefs made itself felt in the procedure. Embarrassing delays were +occasioned by the unavoidable absences of the principal delegates whom +pressure of domestic politics called to their respective capitals, as +well as by their tactics, and their colleagues profited by their absence +for the sake of the good cause. Thus all Paris, as we saw, was aware +that the European chiefs, whose faith in Wilsonian orthodoxy was still +feeble at that time, were prepared to take advantage of the President's +sojourn in Washington to speed up business in their own sense and to +confront him on his return with accomplished facts. But when, on his +return, he beheld their handiwork he scrapped it, and a considerable +loss of time ensued for which the world has since had to pay very +heavily.</p> + +<p>Again, when Premier Orlando was in Rome after Mr. Wilson's appeal to +the Italian people, a series of measures was passed by the delegates in +Paris affecting Italy, diminishing her importance at the Conference, and +modifying the accepted interpretation of the Treaty of London. Some of +these decisions had to be canceled when the Italians returned. These +stratagems had an undesirable effect on the Italians.</p> + +<p>Not the least of the Premiers' disabilities lay in the circumstance that +they were the merest novices in international affairs. Geography, +ethnography, psychology, and political history were sealed books to +them. Like the rector of Louvain University who told Oliver Goldsmith +that, as he had become the head of that institution without knowing +Greek, he failed to see why it should be taught there, the chiefs of +state, having attained the highest position in their respective +countries without more than an inkling of international affairs, were +unable to realize the importance of mastering them or the impossibility +of repairing the omission as they went along.</p> + +<p>They displayed their contempt for professional diplomacy and this +feeling was shared by many, but they extended that sentiment to certain +diplomatic postulates which can in no case be dispensed with, because +they are common to all professions. One of them is knowledge of the +terms of the problems to be solved. No conjuncture could have been less +favorable for an experiment based on this theory. The general situation +made a demand on the delegates for special knowledge and experience, +whereas the Premiers and the President, although specialists in nothing, +had to act as specialists in everything. Traditional diplomacy would +have shown some respect for the law of causality. It would have sent to +the Conference diplomatists more or less acquainted with the issues to +be mooted and also with the mentality of the other negotiators, and it +would have assigned to them a number of experts as advisers. It would +have formed a plan similar to that proposed by the French authorities +and rejected by the Anglo-Saxons. In this way at least the technical +part of the task would have been tackled on right lines, the war would +have been liquidated and normal relations quickly re-established among +the belligerent states. It may be objected that this would have been a +meager contribution to the new politico-social fabric. Undoubtedly it +would, but, however meager, it would have been a positive gain. Possibly +the first stone of a new world might have been laid once the ruins of +the old were cleared away. But even this modest feat could not be +achieved by amateurs working in desultory fashion and handicapped by +their political parties at home. The resultant of their apparent +co-operation was a sum in subtraction because dispersal or effort was +unavoidably substituted for concentration.</p> + +<p>Whether one contemplates them in the light of their public acts or +through the prism of gossip, the figures cut by the delegates of the +Great Powers were pathetic. Giants in the parliamentary sphere, they +shrank to the dimensions of dwarfs in the international. In matters of +geography, ethnography, history, and international politics they were +helplessly at sea, and the stories told of certain of their efforts to +keep their heads above water while maintaining a simulacrum of dignity +would have been amusing were the issues less momentous. "Is it after +Upper or Lower Silesia that those greedy Poles are hankering?" one +Premier is credibly reported to have asked some months after the Polish +delegation had propounded and defended its claims and he had had time to +familiarize himself with them. "Please point out to me Dalmatia on the +map," was another characteristic request, "and tell me what connection +there is between it and Fiume." One of the principal plenipotentiaries +addressed a delegate who is an acquaintance of mine approximately as +follows: "I cannot understand the spokesmen of the smaller states. To me +they seem stark mad. They single out a strip of territory and for no +intelligible reason flock round it like birds of prey round a corpse on +the field of battle. Take Silesia, for example. The Poles are clamoring +for it as if the very existence of their country depended on their +annexing it. The Germans are still more crazy about it. But for their +eagerness I suppose there is some solid foundation. But how in Heaven's +name do the Armenians come to claim it? Just think of it, the Armenians! +The world has gone mad. No wonder France has set her foot down and +warned them off the ground. But what does France herself want with it? +What is the clue to the mystery?" My acquaintance, in reply, pointed out +as considerately as he could that Silesia was the province for which +Poles and Germans were contending, whereas the Armenians were pleading +for Cilicia, which is farther east, and were, therefore, frowned upon by +the French, who conceive that they have a civilizing mission there and +men enough to accomplish it.</p> + +<p>It is characteristic of the epoch, and therefore worthy of the +historian's attention, that not only the members of the Conference, but +also other leading statesmen of Anglo-Saxon countries, were wont to make +a very little knowledge of peoples and countries go quite a far way. Two +examples may serve to familiarize the reader with the phenomenon and to +moderate his surprise at the defects of the world-dictators in Paris. +One English-speaking statesman, dealing with the Italian government<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61" href="#Footnote_61_61" >[61]</a> +and casting around for some effective way of helping the Italian people +out of their pitiable economic plight, fancied he hit upon a felicitous +expedient, which he unfolded as follows. "I venture," he said, "to +promise that if you will largely increase your cultivation of bananas +the people of my country will take them all. No matter how great the +quantities, our market will absorb them, and that will surely make a +considerable addition to your balance on the right side." At first the +Italians believed he was joking. But finding that he really meant what +he said, they ruthlessly revealed his idea to the nation under the +heading, "Italian bananas!"</p> + +<p>Here is the other instance. During the war the Polish people was +undergoing unprecedented hardships. Many of the poorer classes were +literally perishing of hunger. A Polish commission was sent to an +English-speaking country to interest the government and people in the +condition of the sufferers and obtain relief. The envoys had an +interview with a Secretary of State, who inquired to what port they +intended to have the foodstuffs conveyed for distribution in the +interior of Poland. They answered: "We shall have them taken to Dantzig. +There is no other way." The statesman reflected a little and then said: +"You may meet with difficulties. If you have them shipped to Dantzig you +must of course first obtain Italy's permission. Have you got it?" "No. +We had not thought of that. In fact, we don't yet see why Italy need be +approached." "Because it is Italy who has command of the Mediterranean, +and if you want the transport taken to Dantzig it is the Italian +government that you must ask!"<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62" href="#Footnote_62_62" >[62]</a></p> + +<p>The delegates picked up a good deal of miscellaneous information about +the various countries whose future they were regulating, and to their +credit it should be said that they put questions to their informants +without a trace of false pride. One of the two chief delegates wending +homeward from a sitting at which M. Jules Cambon had spoken a good deal +about those Polish districts which, although they contained a majority +of Germans, yet belonged of right to Poland, asked the French delegate +why he had made so many allusions to Frederick the Great. "What had +Frederick to do with Poland?" he inquired. The answer was that the +present German majority of the inhabitants was made up of colonists who +had immigrated into the districts since the time of Frederick the Great +and the partition of Poland. "Yes, I see," exclaimed the statesman, "but +what had Frederick the Great to do with the partition of Poland?" ... In +the domain of ethnography there were also many pitfalls and accidents. +During an official _exposé_ of the Oriental situation before the Supreme +Council, one of the Great Four, listening to a narrative of Turkish +misdeeds, heard that the Kurds had tortured and killed a number of +defenseless women, children, and old men. He at once interrupted the +speaker with the query: "You now call them Kurds. A few minutes ago you +said they were Turks. I take it that the Kurds and the Turks are the +same people?" Loath to embarrass one of the world's arbiters, the +delegate respectfully replied, "Yes, sir, they are about the same, but +the worse of the two are the Kurds."<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63" href="#Footnote_63_63" >[63]</a></p> + +<p>Great Britain's first delegate, with engaging candor sought to disarm +criticism by frankly confessing in the House of Commons that he had +never before heard of Teschen, about which such an extraordinary fuss +was then being made, and by asking: "How many members of the House have +ever heard of Teschen? Yet," he added significantly, "Teschen very +nearly produced an angry conflict between two allied states."<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64" href="#Footnote_64_64" >[64]</a></p> + +<p>The circumstance that an eminent parliamentarian had never heard of +problems that agitate continental peoples is excusable. Less so was his +resolve, despite such a capital disqualification, to undertake the task +of solving those problems single-handed, although conscious that the +fate of whole peoples depended on his succeeding. It is no adequate +justification to say that he could always fall back upon special +commissions, of which there was no lack at the Conference. Unless he +possessed a safe criterion by which to assess the value of the +commissions' conclusions, he must needs himself decide the matter +arbitrarily. And the delegates, having no such criterion, pronounced +very arbitrary judgments on momentous issues. One instance of this +turned upon Poland's claims to certain territories incorporated in +Germany, which were referred to a special commission under the +presidency of M. Cambon. Commissioners were sent to the country to study +the matter on the spot, where they had received every facility for +acquainting themselves with it. After some weeks the commission reported +in favor of the Polish claim with unanimity. But Mr. Lloyd George +rejected their conclusions and insisted on having the report sent back +to them for reconsideration. Again the commissioners went over the +familiar ground, but felt obliged to repeat their verdict anew. Once +more, however, the British Premier demurred, and such was his tenacity +that, despite Mr. Wilson's opposition, the final decision of the +Conference reversed that of the commission and non-suited the Poles. By +what line of argument, people naturally asked, did the first British +delegate come to that conclusion? That he knew more about the matter +than the special Inter-Allied commission is hardly to be supposed. +Indeed, nobody assumed that he was any better informed on that subject +than about Teschen. The explanation put in circulation by interested +persons was that, like Socrates, he had his own familiar demon to prompt +him, who, like all such spirits, chose to flourish, like the violet, in +the shade. That this source of light was accessible to the Prime +Minister may, his apologists hold, one day prove a boon to the peoples +whose fate was thus being spun in darkness and seemingly at haphazard. +Possibly. But in the meanwhile it was construed as an affront to their +intelligence and a violation of the promise made to them of "open +covenants openly arrived at." The press asked why the information +requisite for the work had not been acquired in advance as these +semi-mystical ways of obtaining it commended themselves to nobody. +Wholly mystical were the methods attributed to one or other of the men +who were preparing the advent of the new era. For superstition of +various kinds was supposed to be as well represented at the Paris +Conference as at the Congress of Vienna. Characteristic of the epoch was +the gravity with which individuals otherwise well balanced exercised +their ingenuity in finding out the true relation of the world's peace to +certain lucky numbers. For several events connected with the Conference +the thirteenth day of the month was deliberately, and some occultists +added felicitously, chosen. It was also noticed that an effort was made +by all the delegates to have the Allies' reply to the German +counter-proposals presented on the day of destiny, Friday, June 13th. +When it miscarried a flutter was caused in the dovecotes of the +illuminated. The failure was construed as an inauspicious omen and it +caused the spirits of many to droop. The principal clairvoyante of +Paris, Madame N——, who plumes herself on being the intermediary +between the Fates that rule and some of their earthly executors, was +consulted on the subject, one knows not with what result.<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65" href="#Footnote_65_65" >[65]</a> It was +given out, however, as the solemn utterance of the oracle in vogue that +Mr. Wilson's enterprise was weighted with original sin; he had made one +false step before his arrival in Europe, and that had put everything out +of gear. By enacting fourteen commandments he had countered the magic +charm of his lucky thirteen. One of the fourteen, it was soothsaid, must +therefore be omitted—it might be, say, that of open covenants openly +arrived at, or the freedom of the seas—in a word, any one so long as +the mystic number thirteen remained intact. But should that be +impossible, seeing that the Fourteen Points had already become +house-hold words to all nations and peoples, then it behooved the +President to number the last of his saving points 13a.<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66" href="#Footnote_66_66" >[66]</a></p> + +<p>This odd mixture of the real and the fanciful—a symptom, as the +initiated believed, of a mood of fine spiritual exaltation—met with +little sympathy among the impatient masses whose struggle for bare life +was growing ever fiercer. Stagnation held the business world, prices +were rising to prohibitive heights, partly because of the dawdling of +the world's conclave; hunger was stalking about the ruined villages of +the northern departments of France, destructive wars were being waged in +eastern Europe, and thousands of Christians were dying of hunger in +Bessarabia.<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67" href="#Footnote_67_67" >[67]</a> Epigrammatic strictures and winged words barbed with +stinging satire indicated the feelings of the many. And the fact remains +on record that streaks of the mysticism that buoyed up Alexander I at +the Congress of Vienna, and is supposed to have stimulated Nicholas II +during the first world-parliament at The Hague, were noticeable from +time to time in the environment of the Paris Conference. The disclosure +of these elements of superstition was distinctly harmful and might have +been hindered easily by the system of secrecy and censorship which +effectively concealed matters much less mischievous.</p> + +<p>The position of the plenipotentiaries was unenviable at best and they +well deserve the benefit of extenuating circumstances. For not even a +genius can efficiently tackle problems with the elements of which he +lacks acquaintanceship, and the mass of facts which they had to deal +with was sheer unmanageable. It was distressing to watch them during +those eventful months groping and floundering through a labyrinth of +obstacles with no Ariadne clue to guide their tortuous course, and +discovering that their task was more intricate than they had imagined. +The ironic domination of temper and circumstance over the fitful +exertions of men struggling with the partially realized difficulties of +a false position led to many incongruities upon which it would be +ungracious to dwell. One of them, however, which illustrates the +situation, seems almost incredible. It is said to have occurred in +January. According to the current narrative, soon after the arrival of +President Wilson in Paris, he received from a French publicist named +M.B. a long and interesting memorandum about the island of Corsica, +recounting the history, needs, and aspirations of the population as well +as the various attempts they had made to regain their independence, and +requesting him to employ his good offices at the Conference to obtain +for them complete autonomy. To this demand M.B. is said to have received +a reply<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68" href="#Footnote_68_68" >[68]</a> to the effect that the President "is persuaded that this +question will form the subject of a thorough examination by the +competent authorities of the Conference" Corsica, the birthplace of +Napoleon, and as much an integral part of France as the Isle of Man is +of England, seeking to slacken the ties that link it to the Republic and +receiving a promise that the matter would be carefully considered by the +delegates sounds more like a mystification than a sober statement of +fact. The story was sent to the newspapers for publication, but the +censor very wisely struck it out.</p> + +<p>These and kindred occurrences enable one better to appreciate the +motives which prompted the delegates to shroud their conversations and +tentative decisions in a decorous veil of secrecy.</p> + +<p>It is but fair to say that the enterprise to which they set their hands +was the vastest that ever tempted lofty ambitions since the +tower-builders of Babel strove to bring heaven within reach of the +earth. It transcended the capacity of the contemporary world's greatest +men.<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69" href="#Footnote_69_69" >[69]</a> It was a labor for a wonder-worker in the pristine days of +heroes. But although to solve even the main problems without residue was +beyond the reach of the most genial representatives of latter-day +statecraft, it needed only clearness of conception, steadiness of +purpose, and the proper adjustment of means to ends, to begin the work +on the right lines and give it an impulse that might perhaps carry it to +completion in the fullness of time.</p> + +<p>But even these postulates were wanting. The eminent parliamentarians +failed to rise to the gentle height of average statecraft. They appeared +in their new and august character of world-reformers with all the roots +still clinging to them of the rank electoral soil from which they +sprang. Their words alone were redolent of idealism, their deeds were +too often marred by pettifogging compromises or childish +blunders—constructive phrases and destructive acts. Not only had they +no settled method of working, they lacked even a common proximate aim. +For although they all employed the same phraseology when describing the +objects for which their countries had fought and they themselves were +ostensibly laboring, no two delegates attached the same ideas to the +words they used. Yet, instead of candidly avowing this root-defect and +remedying it, they were content to stretch the euphemistic terms until +these covered conflicting conceptions and gratified the ears of every +hearer. Thus, "open covenants openly arrived at" came to mean arbitrary +ukases issued by a secret conclave, and "the self-determination of +peoples" connoted implicit obedience to dictatorial decrees. The new +result was a bewildering phantasmagoria.</p> + +<p>And yet it was professedly for the purpose of obviating such +misunderstandings that Mr. Wilson had crossed the Atlantic. Having +expressed in plain terms the ideals for which American soldiers had +fought, and which became the substance of the thoughts and purposes of +the associated statesmen, "I owe it to them," he had said, "to see to +it, in so far as in me lies, that no false or mistaken interpretation is +put upon them and no possible effort omitted to realize them." And that +was the result achieved.</p> + +<p>No such juggling with words as went on at the Conference had been +witnessed since the days of medieval casuistry. New meanings were +infused into old terms, rendering the help of "exegesis" indispensable. +Expressions like "territorial equilibrium" and "strategic frontiers" +were stringently banished, and it is affirmed that President Wilson +would wince and his expression change at the bare mention of these +obnoxious symbols of the effete ordering which it was part of his +mission to do away with forever. And yet the things signified by those +words were preserved withal under other names. Nor could it well be +otherwise. One can hardly conceive a durable state system in Europe +under the new any more than the old dispensation without something that +corresponds to equilibrium. An architect who should boastingly discard +the law of gravitation in favor of a different theory would stand little +chance of being intrusted with the construction of a palace of peace. +Similarly, a statesman who, while proclaiming that the era of wars is +not yet over, would deprive of strategic frontiers the pivotal states of +Europe which are most exposed to sudden attack would deserve to find few +disciples and fewer clients. Yet that was what Mr. Wilson aimed at and +what some of his friends affirm he has achieved. His foreign colleagues +re-echoed his dogmas after having emasculated them. It was instructive +and unedifying to watch how each of the delegates, when his own +country's turn came to be dealt with on the new lines, reversed his +tactics and, sacrificing sound to substance, insisted on safeguards, +relied on historic rights, invoked economic requirements, and appealed +to common sense, but all the while loyally abjured "territorial +equilibrium" and "strategic guarantees." Hence the fierce struggles +which MM. Orlando, Dmowski, Bratiano, Venizelos, and Makino had to carry +on with the chief of that state which is the least interested in +European affairs in order to obtain all or part of the territories which +they considered indispensable to the security and well-being of their +respective countries.</p> + +<p>At the outset Mr. Wilson stood for an ideal Europe of a wholly new and +undefined type, which would have done away with the need for strategic +frontiers. Its contours were vague, for he had no clear mental picture +of the concrete Europe out of which it was to be fashioned. He spoke, +indeed, and would fain have acted, as though the old Continent were like +a thinly inhabited territory of North America fifty years ago, +unencumbered by awkward survivals of the past and capable of receiving +any impress. He seemingly took no account of its history, its peoples, +or their interests and strivings. History shared the fate of Kolchak's +government and the Ukraine; it was not recognized by the delegates. What +he brought to Europe from America was an abstract idea, old and +European, and at first his foreign colleagues treated it as such. Some +of them had actually sneered at it, others had damned it with faint +praise, and now all of them honestly strove to save their own countries' +vital interests from its disruptive action while helping to apply it to +their neighbors. Thus Britain, who at that time had no territorial +claims to put forward, had her sea-doctrine to uphold, and she upheld it +resolutely. Before he reached Europe the President was notified in plain +terms that his theory of the freedom of the seas would neither be +entertained nor discussed. Accordingly, he abandoned it without +protest. It was then explained away as a journalistic misconception. +That was the first toll paid by the American reformer in Europe, and it +spelled failure to his entire scheme, which was one and indivisible. It +fell to my lot to record the payment of the tribute and the abandonment +of that first of the fourteen commandments. The mystic thirteen +remained. But soon afterward another went by the board. Then there were +twelve. And gradually the number dwindled.</p> + +<p>This recognition of hard realities was a bitter disappointment to all +the friends of the spiritual and social renovation of the world. It was +a spectacle for cynics. It rendered a frank return to the ancient system +unavoidable and brought grist to the mill of the equilibrists. And yet +the conclusion was shriked. But even the tough realities might have been +made to yield a tolerable peace if they had been faced squarely. If the +new conception could not be realized at once, the old one should have +been taken back into favor provisionally until broader foundations could +be laid, but it must be one thing or the other. From the political angle +of vision at which the European delegates insisted on placing +themselves, the Old World way of tackling the various problems was alone +admissible. Their program was coherent and their reasoning strictly +logical. The former included strategic frontiers and territorial +equilibrium. Doubtless this angle of vision was narrow, the survey it +allowed was inadequate, and the results attainable ran the risk of being +ultimately thrust aside by the indignant peoples. For the world problem +was not wholly nor even mainly political. Still, the method was +intelligible and the ensuing combinations would have hung coherently +together. They would have satisfied all those—and they were many—who +believed that the second decade of the twentieth century differs in no +essential respect from the first and that latter-day world problems may +be solved by judicious territorial redistribution. But even that +conception was not consistently acted on. Deviations were permitted here +and insisted upon there, only they were spoken of unctuously as +sacrifices incumbent on the lesser states to the Fourteen Points. For +the delegates set great store by their reputation for logic and +coherency. Whatever other charges against the Conference might be +tolerated, that of inconsistency was bitterly resented, especially by +Mr. Wilson. For a long while he contended that he was as true to his +Fourteen Points as is the needle to the pole. It was not until after his +return to Washington, in the summer, that he admitted the perturbations +caused by magnetic currents—sympathy for France he termed them.</p> + +<p>The effort of imagination required to discern consistency in such of the +Council's decisions as became known from time to time was so far beyond +the capacity of average outsiders that the ugly phrase "to make the +world safe for hypocrisy" was early coined, uttered, and propagated.</p> + + + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46" href="#FNanchor_46_46"> [46]</a> Cf. <i>Le Temps</i>, May 23, 1919. It is an adaptation of the inscription over +the Pantheon, "Aux grands hommes, la Patrie reconnaissante."</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47" href="#FNanchor_47_47"> [47]</a> <i>The Daily Mail</i>, April 25, 1919 (Paris edition).</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48" href="#FNanchor_48_48"> [48]</a> In Germany.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49" href="#FNanchor_49_49"> [49]</a> General Pétain is said to have rejected the suggestion.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50" href="#FNanchor_50_50"> [50]</a> Cf. <i>Bulletin des Droits de l'Homme</i>, 19ème année, p. +461.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51" href="#FNanchor_51_51"> [51]</a> It was either Friday, the 4th, or Saturday, the 5th of +July.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52" href="#FNanchor_52_52"> [52]</a> At the end of August, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53" href="#FNanchor_53_53"> [53]</a> One delegate from a poor and friendless country had to +take the maps of a rival state and retouch them in accordance with the +ethnographical data, which he considered alone correct.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54" href="#FNanchor_54_54"> [54]</a> <i>L'Homme Enchatné</i>, December 14, 1914.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55" href="#FNanchor_55_55"> [55]</a> "With its causes and objects we have no concern." Speech +delivered by Mr. Wilson before the League to Enforce Peace in Washington +on May 24, 1916.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56" href="#FNanchor_56_56"> [56]</a> The testimony of a leading French press organ is worth +reproducing here: "La situation du Président Wilson dans nos démocraties +est magnifique, souveraine et extrêmement périlleuse. On ne connaît pas +d'hommes, dans les temps contemporains, ayant eu plus d'autorité et de +puissance; la popularité lui a donné ce que le droit divin ne conférait +pas toujours aux monarques héréditaires. En revanche et par le fait du +choc en retour, sa responsabilité est supérieure à celle du prince le +plus absolu. S'il réussit à organiser le monde d'après ses rêves, sa +gloire dominera les plus hautes gloires; mais il faut dire hardiment que +s'il échouait il plongerait le monde dans un chaos dont le bolchevisme +russe ne nous offre qu'une faible image; et sa responsabilité devant la +conscience humaine dépasserait ce que peut supporter un simple mortel. +Redoutable alternative!"—Cf. <i>Le Figaro</i>, February 10, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57" href="#FNanchor_57_57"> [57]</a> From Mr. Wilson's address to Congress read on December 2, +1918. Cf. <i>The Times</i>, December 4, 1918.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58" href="#FNanchor_58_58"> [58]</a> Cf. Secretary Lansing's evidence before the Senate Foreign +Relations Committee, <i>The Chicago Tribune</i>, August 27, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59" href="#FNanchor_59_59"> [59]</a> <i>La Démocratie Nouvelle</i>, May 27, 1919</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60" href="#FNanchor_60_60"> [60]</a> <i>Le Figaro</i>, March 26, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61" href="#FNanchor_61_61"> [61]</a> Both of them occurred before the armistice, but during the +war.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62" href="#FNanchor_62_62"> [62]</a> For the accuracy of this and the preceding story I vouch +absolutely. I have the names of persons, places, and authorities, which +are superfluous here.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63" href="#FNanchor_63_63"> [63]</a> The Kurds are members of the great Indo-European family to +which the Greeks, Italians, Celts, Teutons, Slavs, Hindus, Persians, and +Afghans belong, whereas the Turks are a branch of a wholly different +stock, the Ural-Altai group, of which the Mongols, Turks, Tartars, +Finns, and Magyars are members.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64" href="#FNanchor_64_64"> [64]</a> April 16, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65" href="#FNanchor_65_65"> [65]</a> Madame N—— showed a friend of mine an autograph letter +which she claims to have received from one of her clients, "a world's +famous man." I was several times invited to inspect it at the +clairvoyante's abode, or at my own, if I preferred.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66" href="#FNanchor_66_66"> [66]</a> Articles on the subject appeared in the French press. To +the best of my recollection there was one in _Bonsoir_.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67" href="#FNanchor_67_67"> [67]</a> The American Red Cross buried sixteen hundred of them in +August, 1919. _The Chicago Tribune_ (Paris edition), August 30, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68" href="#FNanchor_68_68"> [68]</a> The reply, of which I possess what was given to me as a +copy, is dated Paris, January 9, 1919, and is in French.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69" href="#FNanchor_69_69"> [69]</a> Imagine, for instance, the condition of mind into which +the following day's work must have thrown the American statesman, beset +as he was with political worries of his own. The extract quoted is taken +from <i>The Daily Mail</i> of April 18, 1919 (Paris edition). +</p> +<blockquote><p>President Wilson had a busy day yesterday, as the following list of +engagements shows:<br /> +11 A.M. Dr. Wellington Koo, to present the Chinese Delegation to the +Peace Conference.<br /> +11.10 A.M. Marquis de Vogué had a delegation of seven others, +representing the Congrès Français, to present their view as to the +disposition of the left bank of the Rhine.<br /> +11.30 A.M. Assyrian and Chaldean Delegation, with a message from the +Assyrian-Chaldean nation.<br /> +11.45 A.M. Dalmatian Delegation, to present to the President the result +of the plebiscite of that part of Dalmatia occupied by Italians.<br /> +<i>Noon</i>. M. Bucquet, Chargé d'Affaires of San Marino, to convey the +action of the Grand Council of San Marino, conferring on the President +Honorary Citizenship in the Republic of San Marino.<br /> +12.10 P.M. M. Colonder, Swiss Minister of Foreign Affairs.<br /> +12.20 P.M. Miss Rose Schneiderman and Miss Mary Anderson, delegates of +the National Women's Trade Union League of the United States.<br /> +12.30 P.M. The Patriarch of Constantinople, the head of the Orthodox +Eastern Church.<br /> +12.45 P.M. Essad Pasha, delegate of Albania, to present the claims of +Albania.<br /> +1 P.M. M. M.L. Coromilas, Greek Minister at Rome, to pay his respects.<br /> +<i>Luncheon</i>. Mr. Newton D. Baker, Secretary for War. +4 P.M. Mr. Herbert Hoover.<br /> +4.15 P.M. M. Bratiano, of the Rumanian Delegation.<br /> +4.30 P.M. Dr. Affonso Costa, former Portuguese Minister, Portuguese +Delegate to the Peace Conference.<br /> +4.45 P.M. Boghos Nubar Pasha, president of the Armenian National +Delegation, accompanied by M.A. Aharoman and Professor A. Der Hagopian, +of Robert College.<br /> +5.15 P.M. M. Pasitch, of the Serbian Delegation.<br /> +5.30 P.M. Mr. Frank Walsh, of the Irish-American Delegation.</p> +</blockquote> + + +<hr /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV" />IV</h3> + +<h3>CENSORSHIP AND SECRECY</h3> + + +<p>Never was political veracity in Europe at a lower +ebb than during the Peace Conference. The blinding +dust of half-truths cunningly mixed with falsehood +and deliberately scattered with a lavish hand, obscured +the vision of the people, who were expected to adopt or +acquiesce in the judgments of their rulers on the various +questions that arose. Four and a half years of continuous +and deliberate lying for victory had disembodied the +spirit of veracity and good faith throughout the world of +politics. Facts were treated as plastic and capable of +being shaped after this fashion or that, according to the +aim of the speaker or writer. Promises were made, not +because the things promised were seen to be necessary +or desirable, but merely in order to dispose the public +favorably toward a policy or an expedient, or to create +and maintain a certain frame of mind toward the enemies +or the Allies. At elections and in parliamentary discourses, +undertakings were given, some of which were +known to be impossible of fulfilment. Thus the ministers +in some of the Allied countries bound themselves to compel +the Germans not only to pay full compensation for +damage wantonly done, but also to defray the entire cost +of the war.</p> + +<p>The notion that the enemy would thus make good all +losses was manifestly preposterous. In a century the +debt could not be wiped out, even though the Teutonic +people could be got to work steadily and selflessly for the +purpose. For their productivity would be unavailing if +their victorious adversaries were indisposed to admit the +products to their markets. And not only were the +governments unwilling, but some of the peoples announced +their determination to boycott German wares on their +own initiative. None the less the nations were for +months buoyed up with the baleful delusion that all their +war expenses would be refunded by the enemy.<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70" href="#Footnote_70_70" >[70]</a></p> + +<p>It was not the governments only, however, who, after +having for over four years colored and refracted the +truth, now continued to twist and invent "facts." The +newspapers, with some honorable exceptions, buttressed +them up and even outstripped them. Plausible unveracity +thus became a patriotic accomplishment and a +recognized element of politics. Parties and states employed +it freely. Fiction received the hall-mark of truth +and fancies were current as facts. Public men who had +solemnly hazarded statements belied by subsequent +events denied having ever uttered them. Never before +was the baleful theory that error is helpful so systematically +applied as during the war and the armistice. If the +falsehoods circulated and the true facts suppressed were +to be collected and published in a volume, one would +realize the depth to which the standard of intellectual +and moral integrity was lowered.<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71" href="#Footnote_71_71" >[71]</a></p> + +<p>The censorship was retained by the Great Powers during +the Conference as a sort of soft cushion on which the self-constituted +dispensers of Fate comfortably reposed. In +Paris, where it was particularly severe and unreasoning, +it protected the secret conclave from the harsh strictures +of the outside world, concealing from the public, not only +the incongruities of the Conference, but also many of the +warnings of contemporary history. In the opinion of +unbiased Frenchmen no such rigorous, systematic, and +short-sighted repression of press liberty had been known +since the Third Empire as was kept up under the rule of +the great tribune whose public career had been one continuous +campaign against every form of coercion. This +twofold policy of secrecy on the part of the delegates and +censorship on the part of the authorities proved incongruous +as well as dangerous, for, upheld by the eminent +statesmen who had laid down as part of the new gospel +the principle of "open covenants openly arrived at," +it furnished the world with a fairly correct standard by +which to interpret the entire phraseology of the latter-day +reformers. Events showed that only by applying that +criterion could the worth of their statements of fact and +their promises of amelioration be gaged. And it soon +became clear that most of their utterances like that about +open covenants were to be construed according to the +maxim of <i>lucus a non lucendo</i>.</p> + +<p>It was characteristic of the system that two American +citizens were employed to read the cablegrams arriving +from the United States to French newspapers. The +object was the suppression of such messages as tended to +throw doubt on the useful belief that the people of the +great American Republic were solid behind their President, +ready to approve his decisions and acts, and that his +cherished Covenant, sure of ratification, would serve as a +safe guarantee to all the states which the application +of his various principles might leave strategically exposed. +In this way many interesting items of intelligence from +the United States were kept out of the newspapers, while +others were mutilated and almost all were delayed. Protests +were unavailing. Nor was it until several months +were gone by that the French public became aware of the +existence of a strong current of American opinion which +favored a critical attitude toward Mr. Wilson's policy +and justified misgivings as to the finality of his decisions. +It was a sorry expedient and an unsuccessful one.</p> + +<p>On another occasion strenuous efforts are reported to +have been made through the intermediary of President +Wilson to delay the publication in the United States of a +cablegram to a journal there until the Prime Minister of +Britain should deliver a speech in the House of Commons. +An accident balked these exertions and the message +appeared.</p> + +<p>Publicity was none the less strongly advocated by the +plenipotentiaries in their speeches and writings. These +were as sign-posts pointing to roads along which they +themselves were incapable of moving. By their own +accounts they were inveterate enemies of secrecy and +censorship. The President of the United States had +publicly said that he "could not conceive of anything +more hurtful than the creation of a system of censorship +that would deprive the people of a free republic such as +ours of their undeniable right to criticize public officials." +M. Clemenceau, who suffered more than most publicists +from systematic repression, had changed the name of his +newspaper from the <i>L'Homme Libre</i> to <i>L'Homme Enchaîné</i>, +and had passed a severe judgment on "those +friends of liberty" (the government) who tempered freedom +with preventive repression measured out according +to the mood uppermost at the moment.<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72" href="#Footnote_72_72" >[72]</a> But as +soon as he himself became head of the government +he changed his tactics and called his journal <i>L'Homme +Libre</i> again. In the Chamber he announced that "publicity +for the 'debates' of the Conference was generally +favored," but in practice he rendered the system of gagging +the press a byword in Europe. Drawing his own +line of demarcation between the permissible and the +illicit, he informed the Chamber that so long as the Conference +was engaged on its arduous work "it must not +be said that the head of one government had put forward +a proposal which was opposed by the head of another +government."<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73" href="#Footnote_73_73" >[73]</a> As though the disagreements, the bickerings, +and the serious quarrels of the heads of the governments +could long be concealed from the peoples whose +spokesmen they were!</p> + +<p>That bargainings went on at the Conference which a +plain-dealing world ought to be apprised of is the conclusion +which every unbiased outsider will draw from the +singular expedients resorted to for the purpose of concealing +them. Before the Foreign Relations Committee +in Washington, State-Secretary Lansing confessed that +when, after the treaty had been signed, the French Senate +called for the minutes of the proceedings on the Commission +of the League of Nations, President Wilson telegraphed +from Washington to the Peace Commission requesting +it to withhold them. He further admitted that +the only written report of the discussions in existence was +left in Paris, outside the jurisdiction of the United States +Senate. When questioned as to whether, in view of this +system of concealment, the President's promise of "open +covenants openly arrived at" could be said to have been +honestly redeemed, Mr. Lansing answered, "I consider +that was carried out."<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74" href="#Footnote_74_74" >[74]</a> It seems highly probable that in +the same and only in the same sense will the Treaty and +the Covenant be carried out in the spirit or the letter.</p> + +<p>During the fateful days of the Conference preventive +censorship was practised with a degree of rigor equaled +only by its senselessness. As late as the month of June, +the columns of the newspapers were checkered with blank +spaces. "Scarcely a newspaper in Paris appears uncensored +at present," one press organ wrote. "Some papers +protest, but protests are in vain."<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75" href="#Footnote_75_75" >[75]</a></p> + +<p>"Practically not a word as to the nature of the Peace +terms that France regards as most vital to her existence +appears in the French papers this morning," complained a +journal at the time when even the Germans were fully informed +of what was being enacted. On one occasion <i>Bonsoir</i> +was seized for expressing the view that the Treaty embodied +an Anglo-Saxon peace;<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76" href="#Footnote_76_76" >[76]</a> on another for reproducing an interview +with Marshal Foch that had already appeared in a +widely circulated Paris newspaper.<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77" href="#Footnote_77_77" >[77]</a> By way of justifying +another of these seizures the French censor alleged that an +article in the paper was deemed uncomplimentary to Mr. Lloyd +George. The editor replied in a letter to the British +Premier affirming that there was nothing in the article +but what Mr. Lloyd George could and should be proud of. +In fact, it only commended him "for having served the +interests of his country most admirably and having had +precedence given to them over all others." The letter +concluded: "We are apprehensive that in the whole business +there is but one thing truly uncomplimentary, and +that is that the French censorship, for the purpose of +strangling the French press, should employ your name, the +name of him who abolished censorship many weeks ago."<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78" href="#Footnote_78_78" >[78]</a></p> + +<p>Even when British journalists were dealing with matters +as unlikely to cause trouble as a description of the historic +proceedings at Versailles at which the Germans received +the Peace Treaty, the censor held back their messages, +from five o'clock in the afternoon till three the next morning.<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79" href="#Footnote_79_79" >[79]</a> +Strange though it may seem, it was at first decided +that no newspaper-men should be allowed to witness the +formal handing of the Treaty to the enemy delegates! +For it was deemed advisable in the interests of the world +that even that ceremonial should be secret.<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80" href="#Footnote_80_80" >[80]</a> These singular +methods were impressively illustrated and summarized +in a cartoon representing Mr. Wilson as "The new wrestling +champion," throwing down his adversary, the press, +whose garb, composed of journals, was being scattered in +scraps of paper to the floor, and under the picture was the +legend: "It is forbidden to publish what Marshal Foch +says. It is forbidden to publish what Mr. George thinks. +It is forbidden to publish the Treaty of Peace with Germany. +It is forbidden to publish what happened at ... +and to make sure that nothing else will be published, the +censor systematically delays the transmission of every +telegram."<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81" href="#Footnote_81_81" >[81]</a></p> + +<p>In the Chamber the government was adjured to suppress +the institution of censorship once the Treaty was +signed by the Germans, and Ministers were reminded of +the diatribes which they had pronounced against that +institution in the years of their ambitions and strivings. +In vain Deputies described and deplored the process of +demoralization that was being furthered by the methods +of the government. "In the provinces as well as in the +capital the journals that displease are seized, eavesdroppers +listen to telephonic conversations, the secrets +of private letters are violated. Arrangements are made +that certain telegrams shall arrive too late, and spies are +delegated to the most private meetings. At a recent +gathering of members of the National Press, two spies +were surprised, and another was discovered at the Federation +of the Radical Committees of the Oise."<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82" href="#Footnote_82_82" >[82]</a> But +neither the signature of the Treaty nor its ratification by +Germany occasioned the slightest modification in the system +of restrictions. Paris continued in a state of siege +and the censors were the busiest bureaucrats in the capital.</p> + +<p>One undesirable result of this régime of keeping the +public in the dark and indoctrinating it in the views always +narrow, and sometimes mischievous, which the authorities +desired it to hold, was that the absurdities which were +allowed to appear with the hall-mark of censorship were +often believed to emanate directly from the government. +Britons and Americans versed in the books of the New +Testament were shocked or amused when told that the +censor had allowed the following passage to appear in an +eloquent speech delivered by the ex-Premier, M. Painlevé: +"As Hall Caine, the great American poet, has put it, 'O +death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?'"<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83" href="#Footnote_83_83" >[83]</a></p> + +<p>Every conceivable precaution was taken against the +leakage of information respecting what was going on in +the Council of Ten. Notwithstanding this, the French +papers contrived now and again, during the first couple +of months, to publish scraps of news calculated to convey +to the public a faint notion of the proceedings, until one +day a Nationalist organ boldly announced that the British +Premier had disagreed with the expert commission and +with his own colleagues on the subject of Dantzig and +refused to give way. This paragraph irritated the British +statesman, who made a scene at the next meeting of the +Council. "There is," he is reported to have exclaimed, +"some one among us here who is unmindful of his obligations," +and while uttering these and other much stronger +words he eyed severely a certain mild individual who is +said to have trembled all over during the philippic. He +also launched out into a violent diatribe against various +French journals which had criticized his views on Poland +and his method of carrying them in council, and he went +so far as to threaten to have the Conference transferred +to a neutral country. In conclusion he demanded an +investigation into the origin of the leakage of information +and the adoption of severe disciplinary measures against +the journalists who published the disclosures.<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84" href="#Footnote_84_84" >[84]</a> Thenceforward +the Council of Ten was suspended and its place +taken by a smaller and more secret conclave of Five, +Four, or Three, according as the state of the plenipotentiaries' +health, the requirements of their home politics, or +their relations among themselves caused one or two to +quit Paris temporarily.</p> + +<p>This measure insured relative secrecy, fostered rumors +and gossip, and rendered criticism, whether helpful or +captious, impossible. It also drove into outer darkness +those Allied states whose interests were described as +limited, as though the interests of Italy, whose delegate +was nominally one of the privileged five, were not being +treated as more limited still. But the point of this last +criticism would be blunted if, as some French and Italian +observers alleged, the deliberate aim of the "representatives +of the twelve million soldiers" was indeed to enable +peace to be concluded and the world resettled congruously +with the conceptions and in harmony with the interests +of the Anglo-Saxon peoples. But the supposition is +gratuitous. There was no such deliberate plan. After +the establishment of the Council of Five, Mr. Lloyd +George and Mr. Wilson made short work of the reports +of the expert commissions whenever these put forward +reasoned views differing from their own. In a word, they +became the world's supreme and secret arbiters without +ceasing to be the official champions of the freedom of the +lesser states and of "open covenants openly arrived at." +They constituted, so to say, the living synthesis of +contradictories.</p> + +<p>The Council of Five then was a superlatively secret +body. No secretaries were admitted to its gatherings and +no official minutes of its proceedings were recorded. +Communications were never issued to the press. It resembled +a gang of benevolent conspirators, whose debates +and resolutions were swallowed up by darkness and +mystery. Even the most modest meeting of a provincial +taxpayers' association keeps minutes of its discussions. +The world parliament kept none. Eschewing traditional +usages, as became naïve shapers of the new world, and +ignoring history, the Five, Four, or Three shut themselves +up in a room, talked informally and disconnectedly without +a common principle, program, or method, and separated +again without having reached a conclusion. It is +said that when one put forth an idea, another would +comment upon it, a third might demur, and that sometimes +an appeal would be made to geography, history, or +ethnography, and as the data were not immediately +accessible either competent specialists were sent for or the +conversation took another turn. They very naturally +refused to allow these desultory proceedings to be put on +record, the only concession which they granted to the +curiosity of future generations being the fixation of their +own physical features by photography and painting. +When the sitting was over, therefore, no one could be +held to aught that he had said; there was nothing to bind +any of the individual delegates to the views he had expressed, +nor was there anything to mark the line to which +the Council as a whole had advanced. Each one was free +to dictate to his secretary his recollections of what had +gone on, but as these <i>précis</i> were given from memory they +necessarily differed one from the other on various important +points. On the following morning, or a few days +later, the world's workers would meet again, and either +begin at the beginning, traveling over the same familiar +field, or else break fresh ground. In this way in one day +they are said to have skimmed the problems of Spitzbergen, +Morocco, Dantzig, and the feeding of the enemy populations, +leaving each problem where they had found it. +The moment the discussion of a contentious question approached +a climax, the specter of disagreement deterred +them from pursuing it to a conclusion, and they passed +on quickly to some other question. And when, after +months had been spent in these Penelopean labors, definite +decisions respecting the peace had to be taken lest the +impatient people should rise up and wrest matters into +their own hands, the delegates referred the various problems +which they had been unable to solve to the wisdom +and tact of the future League of Nations.</p> + +<p>When misunderstandings arose as to what had been said +or done it was the official translator, M. Paul Mantoux—one +of the most brilliant representatives of Jewry at the +Conference—who was wont to decide, his memory being +reputed superlatively tenacious. In this way he attained +the distinction of which his friends are justly proud, +of being a living record—indeed, the sole available record—of +what went on at the historic council. He was the recipient +and is now the only repository of all the secrets of +which the plenipotentiaries were so jealous, lest, being a +kind of knowledge which is in verity power, it should be +used one day for some dubious purpose. But M. Mantoux +enjoyed the esteem and confidence not only of +Mr. Wilson, but also of the British Prime Minister, who, +it was generally believed, drew from his entertaining +narratives and shrewd appreciations whatever information +he possessed about French politics and politicians. +It was currently affirmed that, being a man of method +and foresight, M. Mantoux committed everything to +writing for his own behoof. Doubts, however, were entertained +and publicly expressed as to whether affairs of +this magnitude, involving the destinies of the world, +should have been handled in such secret and unbusiness-like +fashion. But on the supposition that the general +outcome, if not the preconceived aim, of the policy of the +Anglo-Saxon plenipotentiaries was to confer the beneficent +hegemony of the world upon its peoples, there could, it +was argued, be no real danger in the procedure followed. +For, united, those nations have nothing to fear.</p> + +<p>Although the translations were done rapidly, elegantly, +and lucidly, allegations were made that they lost somewhat +by undue compression and even by the process +of toning down, of which the praiseworthy object was to +spare delicate susceptibilities. For a limited number +of delicate susceptibilities were treated considerately by +the Conference. A defective rendering made a curious +impression on the hearers once, when a delegate said: +"My country, unfortunately, is situated in the midst of +states which are anything but peace-loving—in fact, the +chief danger to the peace of Europe emanates from them." +M. Mantoux's translation ran, "The country represented +by M. X. unhappily presents the greatest danger +to the peace of Europe."</p> + +<p>On several occasions passages of the discourses of the +plenipotentiaries underwent a certain transformation +in the well-informed brain of M. Mantoux before being +done into another language. They were plunged, so to +say, in the stream of history before their exposure to the +light of day. This was especially the case with the +remarks of the English-speaking delegates, some of whom +were wont to make extensive use of the license taken by +their great national poet in matters of geography and +history. One of them, for example, when alluding to the +ex-Emperor Franz Josef and his successor, said: "It +would be unjust to visit the sins of the father on the head +of his innocent son. Charles I should not be made to +suffer for Franz Josef." M. Mantoux rendered the sentence, +"It would be unjust to visit the sins of the uncle +on the innocent nephew," and M. Clemenceau, with a +merry twinkle in his eye, remarked to the ready interpreter, +"You will lose your job if you go on making these +wrong translations."</p> + +<p>But those details are interesting, if at all, only as means +of eking out a mere sketch which can never become a +complete and faithful picture. It was the desire of the +eminent lawgivers that the source of the most beneficent +reforms chronicled in history should be as well hidden as +those of the greatest boon bestowed by Providence upon +man. And their motives appear to have been sound +enough.</p> + +<p>The pains thus taken to create a haze between themselves +and the peoples whose implicit confidence they were +continuously craving constitute one of the most striking +ethico-psychological phenomena of the Conference. They +demanded unreasoning faith as well as blind obedience. +Any statement, however startling, was expected to carry +conviction once it bore the official hall-mark. Take, for +example, the demand made by the Supreme Four to +Bela Kuhn to desist from his offensive against the Slovaks. +The press expressed surprise and disappointment that he, +a Bolshevist, should have been invited even hypothetically +by the "deadly enemies of Bolshevism" to delegate +representatives to the Paris Conference from which the +leaders of the Russian constructive elements were excluded. +Thereupon the Supreme Four, which had taken +the step in secret, had it denied categorically that such +an invitation had been issued. The press was put up to +state that, far from making such an undignified advance, +the Council had asserted its authority and peremptorily +summoned the misdemeanant Kuhn to withdraw his +troops immediately from Slovakia under heavy pains and +penalties.</p> + +<p>Subsequently, however, the official correspondence was +published, when it was seen that the implicit invitation +had really been issued and that the denial ran directly +counter to fact. By this exposure the Council of Four, +which still sued for the full confidence of their peoples, +was somewhat embarrassed. This embarrassment was not +allayed when what purported to be a correct explanation +of their action was given out and privately circulated +by a group which claimed to be initiated. It was summarized +as follows: "The Israelite, Bela Kuhn, who is +leading Hungary to destruction, has been heartened by +the Supreme Council's indulgent message. People are at +a loss to understand why, if the Conference believes, +as it has asserted, that Bolshevism is the greatest scourge +of latter-day humanity, it ordered the Rumanian troops, +when nearing Budapest for the purpose of overthrowing +it in that stronghold, first to halt, and then to withdraw.<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85" href="#Footnote_85_85" >[85]</a> +The clue to the mystery has at last been found in a secret +arrangement between Kuhn and a certain financial group +concerning the Banat. About this more will be said later. +In one of my own cablegrams to the United States I wrote: +"People are everywhere murmuring and whispering that +beneath the surface of things powerful undercurrents +are flowing which invisibly sway the policy of the +secret council, and the public believes that this accounts +for the sinister vacillation and delay of which it +complains."<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86" href="#Footnote_86_86" >[86]</a></p> + +<p>In the fragmentary utterances of the governments and +their press organs nobody placed the slightest confidence. +Their testimony was discredited in advance, on grounds +which they were unable to weaken. The following +example is at once amusing and instructive. The French +Parliamentary Committee of the Budget, having asked +the government for communication of the section of the +Peace Treaty dealing with finances, were told that their +demand could not be entertained, every clause of the +Treaty being a state secret. The Committee on Foreign +Affairs made a like request, with the same results. The +entire Chamber next expressed a similar wish, which +elicited a firm refusal. The French Premier, it should be +added, alleged a reason which was at least specious. +"I should much like," he said, "to communicate to you +the text you ask for, but I may not do so until it has been +signed by the President of the Republic. For such is the +law as embodied in Article 8 of the Constitution." Now +nobody believed that this was the true ground for his +refusal. His explanation, however, was construed as a +courteous conventionality, and as such was accepted. +But once alleged, the fiction should have been respected, +at any rate by its authors. It was not. A few weeks +later the Premier ordered the publication of the text of +the Treaty, although, in the meantime, it had not been +signed by M. Poincaré. "The excuse founded upon +Article 8 was, therefore, a mere humbug," flippantly +wrote an influential journal.<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87" href="#Footnote_87_87" >[87]</a></p> + +<p>An amusing joke, which tickled all Paris was perpetrated +shortly afterward. The editor of the <i>Bonsoir</i> +imported six hundred copies of the forbidden Treaty +from Switzerland, and sent them as a present to the +Deputies of the Chamber, whereupon the parliamentary +authorities posted up a notice informing all Deputies who +desired a copy to call at the questor's office, where they +would receive it gratuitously as a present from the <i>Bonsoir.</i> +Accordingly the Deputies, including the Speaker, Deschanel, +thronged to the questor's office. Even solemn-faced +Ministers received a copy of the thick volume which I +possessed ever since the day it was issued.</p> + +<p>Another glaring instance of the lack of straightforwardness +which vitiated the dealings of the Conference with the +public turned upon the Bullitt mission to Russia. Mr. +Wilson, who in the depths of his heart seems to have +cherished a vague fondness for the Bolshevists there, +which he sometimes manifested in utterances that startled +the foreigners to whom they were addressed, despatched +through Colonel House some fellow-countrymen of his to +Moscow to ask for peace proposals which, according to +the Moscow government, were drafted by himself and +Messrs. House and Lansing. Mr. Bullitt, however, who +must know, affirms that the draft was written by Mr. +Lloyd George's secretary, Mr. Philip Kerr, and himself and +presented to Lenin by Messrs. Bullitt, Steffins, and Petit. +If the terms of this document should prove acceptable the +American envoys were empowered to promise that an +official invitation to a new peace conference would be sent +to them as well as to their opponents by April 15th. The +conditions—eleven in number—with a few slight modifications +in which the Americans acquiesced—were accepted by +the dictator, who was bound, however, not to permit their +publication. The facts remained secret until Mr. Bullitt, +thrown over by Mr. Wilson, who recoiled from taking the +final and decisive step, resigned, and in a letter reproduced +by the press set forth the reasons for his decision.<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88" href="#Footnote_88_88" >[88]</a></p> + +<p>Now, vague reports that there was such a mission had +found its way into the Paris newspapers at a relatively +early date. But an authoritative denial was published +without delay. The statement, the public was assured, +was without foundation. And the public believed the +assurance, for it was confirmed authoritatively in England. +Sir Samuel Hoare, in the House of Commons, +asked for information about a report that "two Americans +have recently returned from Russia bringing offers of +peace from Lenin," and received from Mr. Bonar Law +this noteworthy reply: "I have said already that there is +not the shadow of foundation for this information, otherwise +I would have known it. Moreover, I have communicated +with Mr. Lloyd George in Paris, who also +declares that he knows nothing about the matter."<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89" href="#Footnote_89_89" >[89]</a> +<i>E pur si muove</i>. Mr. Lloyd George knew nothing about +President Wilson's determination to have the Covenant +inserted in the Peace Treaty, even after the announcement +was published to the world by the Havas Agency, +and the confirmation given to pressmen by Lord Robert +Cecil. The system of reticence and concealment, coupled +with the indifference of this or that delegation to questions +in which it happened to take no special interest, led to +these unseemly air-tight compartments.</p> + +<p>From this rank soil of secrecy, repression, and unveracity +sprang noxious weeds. False reports and mendacious +insinuations were launched, spread, and credited, +impairing such prestige as the Conference still enjoyed, +while the fragmentary announcements ventured on now +and again by the delegates, in sheer self-defense, were +summarily dismissed as "eye-wash" for the public.</p> + +<p>For a time the disharmony between words and deeds +passed unnoticed by the bulk of the masses, who were +edified by the one and unacquainted with the other. +But gradually the lack of consistency in policy and of +manly straightforwardness and moral wholeness in method +became apparent to all and produced untoward consequences. +Mr. Wilson, whose authority and influence were +supposed to be paramount, came in for the lion's share of +criticism, except in the Polish policy of the Conference, +which was traced to Mr. Lloyd George and his unofficial +prompters. The American press was the most censorious +of all. One American journal appearing in Paris gave +utterance to the following comments on the President's +rôle:<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90" href="#Footnote_90_90" >[90]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>President Wilson is conscious of his power of persuasion. That +power enables him to say one thing, do another, describe the act as +conforming to the idea, and, with act and idea in exact contradiction +to each other, convince the people, not only that he has been consistent +throughout, but that his act cannot be altered without peril to the +nation and danger to the world.</p> + +<p>We do not know which Mr. Wilson to follow—the Mr. Wilson who +says he will not do a thing or the Mr. Wilson who does that precise +thing.</p> + +<p>A great many Americans have one fixed idea. That idea is that the +President is the only magnanimous, clear-visioned, broad-minded +statesman in the United States, or the entire world, for that matter.</p> + +<p>When he uses his powers of persuasion Americans become as the +children of Hamelin Town. Inasmuch as Mr. Wilson of the word +and Mr. Wilson of the deed seem at times to be two distinct identities, +some of his most enthusiastic supporters for the League of Nations, +being unfortunately gifted with memory and perception, are fairly +standing on their heads in dismay.</p> + +<p>And yet Mr. Wilson himself was a victim of the policy +of reticence and concealment to which the Great Powers +were incurably addicted. At the time when they were +moving heaven and earth to induce him to break with +Germany and enter the war, they withheld from him the +existence of their secret treaties. Possibly it may not be +thought fair to apply the test of ethical fastidiousness to +their method of bringing the United States to their side +and to their unwillingness to run the risk of alienating the +President. But it appears that until the close of hostility +the secret was kept inviolate, nor was it until Mr. +Wilson reached the shores of Europe for the purpose of +executing his project that he was faced with the huge +obstacles to his scheme arising out of those far-reaching +commitments. With this depressing revelation and the +British <i>non possumus</i> to his demand for the freedom of +the seas, Mr. Wilson's practical difficulties began. It +was probably on that occasion that he resolved, seeing +that he could not obtain everything he wanted, to content +himself with the best he could get. And that was not a +society of peoples, but a rough approximation to the +hegemony of the Anglo-Saxon nations.</p> + + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70" href="#FNanchor_70_70"> [70]</a> The French Minister of Finances made this the cornerstone of his +policy and declared that the indemnity to be paid by the vanquished Teutons +would enable him to set the finances of France on a permanently sound +basis. In view of this expectation new taxation was eschewed.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71" href="#FNanchor_71_71"> [71]</a> A selection of the untruths published in the French press during the +war has been reproduced by the Paris journal, <i>Bonsoir</i>. It contains abundant +pabulum for the cynic and valuable data for the psychologist. The +example might be followed in Great Britain. The title is: "Anthologie +du Bourrage de Crâne." It began in the month of July, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72" href="#FNanchor_72_72"> [72]</a> Cf. <i>The New York Herald</i> (Paris edition), June 2, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73" href="#FNanchor_73_73"> [73]</a> Cf. <i>The Daily Mail</i> (Paris edition), January 17, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74" href="#FNanchor_74_74"> [74]</a> Cf. <i>The Chicago Tribune</i>, August 27, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75" href="#FNanchor_75_75"> [75]</a> Cf. <i>The New York Herald</i> (Paris edition), June 10, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76" href="#FNanchor_76_76"> [76]</a> Cf. <i>Bonsoir</i>, June 20, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77" href="#FNanchor_77_77"> [77]</a> On April 27th.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78" href="#FNanchor_78_78"> [78]</a> <i>Bonsoir</i>, June 21, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79" href="#FNanchor_79_79"> [79]</a> <i>The New York Herald</i>, May 15. 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80" href="#FNanchor_80_80"> [80]</a> <i>The New York Herald</i> (Paris edition), May 3,1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81" href="#FNanchor_81_81"> [81]</a> <i>The New York Herald</i>, June 6, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82" href="#FNanchor_82_82"> [82]</a> Cf. <i>Le Matin</i>, July 9, 1919. The chief speakers alluded to were MM. +Renaudel, Deshayes, Lafont, Paul Meunier, Vandame.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83" href="#FNanchor_83_83"> [83]</a> <i>The New York Herald</i> (Paris edition), April 29, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84" href="#FNanchor_84_84"> [84]</a> Quoted in the Paris <i>Temps</i> of March 28,1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85" href="#FNanchor_85_85"> [85]</a> This explanation deals exclusively with the first advance of the Rumanian +army into Hungary.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86" href="#FNanchor_86_86"> [86]</a> Cabled to <i>The Public Ledger</i> of Philadelphia, April 20,1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87" href="#FNanchor_87_87"> [87]</a> <i>Bonsoir</i>, June 21, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88" href="#FNanchor_88_88"> [88]</a> Cf. <i>The Daily News</i>, July 5,1919. <i>L'Humanité</i>, July 8, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89" href="#FNanchor_89_89"> [89]</a> Cf. <i>The New York Herald</i> (Paris edition), April 4, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90" href="#FNanchor_90_90"> [90]</a> <i>The Chicago Tribune</i> (Paris edition), July 31, 1919.</p> +</div> + + +<hr /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V" />V</h3> + +<h3>AIMS AND METHODS</h3> + + +<p>The policy of the Anglo-Saxon plenipotentiaries was +never put into words. For that reason it has to +be judged by their acts, despite the circumstance that +these were determined by motives which varied greatly at +different times, and so far as one can conjecture were +not often practical corollaries of fundamental principles. +From these acts one may draw a few conclusions which +will enable us to reconstruct such policy as there was. +One is that none of the sacrifices imposed upon the members +of the League of Nations was obligatory on the +Anglo-Saxon peoples. These were beyond the reach of +all the new canons which might clash with their interests +or run counter to their aspirations. They were the givers +and administrators of the saving law rather than its observers. +Consequently they were free to hold all that was +theirs, however doubtful their title; nay, they were besought +to accept a good deal more under the mandatory +system, which was molded on their own methods of +governance. It was especially taken for granted that the +architects would be called to contribute naught to the +new structure but their ideas, and that they need renounce +none of their possessions, however shady its origin, however +galling to the population its retention. It was in +deference to this implicit doctrine that President Wilson +withdrew without protest or discussion his demand for +the freedom of the seas, on which he had been wont to lay +such stress.</p> + +<p>Another way of putting the matter is this. The principal +aim of the Conference was to create conditions +favorable to the progress of civilization on new lines. +And the seed-bearers of true, as distinguished from spurious, +civilization and culture being the Anglo-Saxons, it +is the realization of their broad conceptions, the furtherance +of their beneficent strivings, that are most conducive +to that ulterior aim. The men of this race in the widest +sense of the term are, therefore, so to say, independent +ends in themselves, whereas the other peoples are to be +utilized as means. Hence the difference of treatment +meted out to the two categories. In the latter were implicitly +included Italy and Russia. Unquestionably the +influence of Anglo-Saxondom is eminently beneficial. It +tends to bring the rights and the dignity as well as the +duties of humanity into broad day. The farther it extends +by natural growth, therefore, the better for the +human race. The Anglo-Saxon mode of administering +colonies, for instance, is exemplary, and for this reason +was deemed worthy to receive the hall-mark of the Conference +as one of the institutions of the future League. +But even benefits may be transformed into evils if imposed +by force.</p> + +<p>That, in brief, would seem to be the clue—one can +hardly speak of any systematic conception—to the unordered +improvisations and incongruous decisions of the +Conference.</p> + +<p>I am not now concerned to discuss whether this unformulated +maxim, which had strong roots that may not +always have reached the realm of consciousness, calls for +approval as an instrument of ethico-political progress or +connotes an impoverishment of the aims originally propounded +by Mr. Wilson. Excellent reasons may be +assigned why the two English-speaking statesmen proceeded +without deliberation on these lines and no other. +The matter might have been raised to a higher plane, but +for that the delegates were not prepared. All that one +need retain at present is the orientation of the Supreme +Council, inasmuch as it imparts a sort of relative unity to +seemingly heterogeneous acts. Thus, although the conditions +of the Peace Treaty in many respects ran directly +counter to the provisions of the Covenant, none the less +the ultimate tendency of both was to converge in a distant +point, which, when clearly discerned, will turn out to +be the moral guidance of the world by Anglo-Saxondom +as represented at any rate in the incipient stage by both +its branches. Thus the discussions among the members +of the Conference were in last analysis not contests about +mere abstractions. Beneath the high-sounding principles +and far-resonant reforms which were propounded but not +realized lurked concrete racial strivings which a patriotic +temper and robust faith might easily identify with the +highest interests of humanity.</p> + +<p>When the future historian defines, as he probably will, +the main result of the Conference's labors as a tendency +to place the spiritual and political direction of the world +in the hands of the Anglo-Saxon race, it is essential to a +correct view of things that he should not regard this trend +as the outcome of a deliberate concerted policy. It was +anything but this. Nobody who conversed with the +statesmen before and during the Conference could detect +any sure tokens of such ultimate aims, nor, indeed, of a +thorough understanding of the lesser problems to be settled. +Circumstance led, and the statesmen followed. +The historian may term the process drift, and the humanitarian +regret that such momentous issues should ever have +been submitted to a body of uninformed politicians out +of touch with the people for whose behoof they claimed +to be legislating. To liquidate the war should have been +the first, as it was the most urgent, task. But it was complicated, +adjourned, and finally botched by interweaving +it with a mutilated scheme for the complete readjustment +of the politico-social forces of the planet. The result was +a tangled skein of problems, most of them still unsolved, +and some insoluble by governments alone. Out of the +confusion of clashing forces towered aloft the two dominant +Powers who command the economic resources of the +world, and whose democratic institutions and internal +ordering are unquestionably more conducive to the large +humanitarian end than those of any other, and gradually +their overlordship of the world began to assert itself. +But this tendency was not the outcome of deliberate +endeavor. Each representative of those vast states was +solicitous in the first place about the future of his own +country, and then about the regeneration of the human +race. One would like to be able to add that all were +wholly inaccessible to the promptings of party interests +and personal ambitions.</p> + +<p>Planlessness naturally characterized the exertions of +the Anglo-Saxon delegates from start to finish. It is a +racial trait. Their hosts, who were experts in the traditions +of diplomacy, had before the opening of the Conference +prepared a plan for their behoof, which at the +lowest estimate would have connoted a vast improvement +on their own desultory way of proceeding. The French +proposed to distribute all the preparatory work among +eighteen commissions, leaving to the chief plenipotentiaries +the requisite time to arrange preliminaries and become +acquainted with the essential elements of the problems. +But Messrs. Wilson and Lloyd George are said to have +preferred their informal conversations, involving the loss +of three and a half months, during which no results were +reached in Paris, while turmoil, bloodshed, and hunger +fed the smoldering fires of discontent throughout the +World.</p> + +<p>The British Premier, like his French colleague, was +solicitous chiefly about making peace with the enemy +and redeeming as far as possible his election pledges to his +supporters. To that end everything else would appear to +have been subordinated. To the ambitious project of a +world reform he and M. Clemenceau gave what was +currently construed as a nominal assent, but for a long +time they had no inkling of Mr. Wilson's intention to +interweave the peace conditions with the Covenant. So +far, indeed, were they both from entertaining the notion +that the two Premiers expressly denied—and allowed +their denial to be circulated in the press—that the two +documents were or could be made mutually interdependent. +M. Pichon assured a group of journalists that no +such intention was harbored.<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91" href="#Footnote_91_91" >[91]</a> Mr. Lloyd George is +understood to have gone farther and to have asked what +degree of relevancy a Covenant for the members of the +League could be supposed to possess to a treaty concluded +with a nation which for the time being was denied admission +to that sodality. And as we saw, he was incurious +enough not to read the narrative of what had been done +by his own American colleagues even after the Havas +Agency announced it.</p> + +<p>To President Wilson, on the other hand, the League +was the <i>magnum opus</i> of his life. It was to be the crown +of his political career, to mark the attainment of an end +toward which all that was best in the human race had for +centuries been consciously or unconsciously wending +without moving perceptibly nearer. Instinctively he +must have felt that the Laodicean support given to him +by his colleagues would not carry him much farther and +that their fervor would speedily evaporate once the Conference +broke up and their own special aims were definitely +achieved or missed. With the shrewdness of an experienced +politician he grasped the fact that if he was ever +to present his Covenant to the world clothed with the +authority of the mightiest states, now was his opportunity. +After the Conference it would be too late. And the only +contrivance by which he could surely reckon on success +was to insert the Covenant in the Peace Treaty and set +before his colleagues an irresistible incentive for elaborating +both at the same time.</p> + +<p>He had an additional motive for these tactics in the +attitude of a section of his own countrymen. Before +starting for Paris he had, as we saw, made an appeal to +the electorate to return to the legislature only candidates +of his own party to the exclusion of Republicans, and the +result fell out contrary to his expectations. Thereupon +the oppositional elements increased in numbers and displayed +a marked combative disposition. Even moderate +Republicans complained in terms akin to those employed +by ex-President Taft of Mr. Wilson's "partizan exclusion +of Republicans in dealing with the highly important +matter of settling the results of the war. He solicited a +commission in which the Republicans had no representation +and in which there were no prominent Americans +of any real experience and leadership of public opinion."<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92" href="#Footnote_92_92" >[92]</a></p> + +<p>The leaders of this opposition sharply watched the +policy of the President at the Conference and made no +secret of their resolve to utilize any serious slip as a +handle for revising or rejecting the outcome of his labors. +Seeing his cherished cause thus trembling in the scale, +Mr. Wilson hit upon the expedient of linking the Covenant +with the Peace Treaty and making of the two an inseparable +whole. He announced this determination in a +forcible speech<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93" href="#Footnote_93_93" >[93]</a> to his own countrymen, in which he said, +"When the Treaty comes back, gentlemen on this side +will find the Covenant not only in it, but so many threads +of the Treaty tied to the Covenant that you cannot dissect +the Covenant from the Treaty without destroying the +whole vital structure." This scheme was denounced by +Mr. Wilson's opponents as a trick, but the historian will +remember it as a maneuver, which, however blameless or +meritorious its motive, was fraught with lamentable +consequences for all the peoples for whose interests the +President was sincerely solicitous. To take but one +example. The misgivings generated by the Covenant +delayed the ratification of the Peace Treaty by the United +States Senate, in consequence of which the Turkish +problem had to be postponed until the Washington +government was authorized to accept or compelled to +refuse a mandate for the Sultan's dominions, and in the +meanwhile mass massacres of Greeks and Armenians +were organized anew.</p> + +<p>A large section of the press and the majority of the +delegates strongly condemned the interpolation of the +Covenant. What they demanded was first the conclusion +of a solid peace and then the establishment of suitable +international safeguards. For to be safeguarded, peace +must first exist. "A suit of armor without the warrior +inside is but a useless ornament," wrote one of the +American journals.<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94" href="#Footnote_94_94" >[94]</a></p> + +<p>But the course advocated by Mr. Wilson was open to +another direct and telling objection. Peace between the +belligerent adversaries was, in the circumstances, conceivable +only on the old lines of strategic frontiers and +military guaranties. The Supreme Council implied as +much in its official reply to the criticisms offered by the +Austrians to the conditions imposed on them, making the +admission that Italy's new northern frontiers were determined +by considerations of strategy. The plan for the +governance of the world by a league of pacific peoples, on +the other hand, postulated the abolition of war preparations, +including strategic frontiers. Consequently the +more satisfactory the Treaty the more unfavorable would +be the outlook for the moral reconstitution of the family +of nations, and <i>vice versa</i>. And to interlace the two +would be to necessitate a compromise which would necessarily +mar both.</p> + +<p>In effect the split among the delegates respecting their +aims and interests led to a tacit understanding among the +leaders on the basis of give-and-take, the French and +British acquiescing in Mr. Wilson's measures for working +out his Covenant—the draft of which was contributed by +the British—and the President, giving way to them on +matters said to affect their countries' vital interests. +How smoothly this method worked when great issues were +not at stake may be inferred from the perfunctory way +in which it was decided that the Kaiser's trial should take +place in London. A few days before the Treaty was +signed there was a pause in the proceedings of the Supreme +Council during which the secretary was searching for a +mislaid document. Mr. Lloyd George, looking up casually +and without addressing any one in particular, remarked, +"I suppose none of you has any objection to +the Kaiser being tried in London?" M. Clemenceau +shrugged his shoulders, Mr. Wilson raised his hand, and +the matter was assumed to be settled. Nothing more +was said or written on the subject. But when the news +was announced, after the President's departure from +France, it took the other American delegates by surprise +and they disclaimed all knowledge of any such decision. +On inquiry, however, they learned that the venue had +in truth been fixed in this offhand way.<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95" href="#Footnote_95_95" >[95]</a></p> + +<p>Mr. Wilson found it a hard task at first to obtain acceptance +for his ill-defined tenets by France, who declined +to accept the protection of his League of Nations in +lieu of strategic frontiers and military guaranties. Insurmountable +obstacles barred his way. The French government +and people, while moved by decent respect for +their American benefactors<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96" href="#Footnote_96_96" >[96]</a> to assent to the establishment +of a league, flatly refused to trust themselves to its protection +against Teuton aggression. But they were quite prepared +to second Mr. Wilson's endeavors to oblige some +of the other states to content themselves with the guaranties +it offered, only, however, on condition that their +own country was first safeguarded in the traditional way. +Territorial equilibrium and military protection were the +imperative provisos on which they insisted. And as +France was specially favored by Mr. Wilson on sentimental +grounds which outweighed his doctrine, and as she was +also considered indispensable to the Anglo-Saxon peoples +as their continental executive, she had no difficulty in +securing their support. On this point, too, therefore, the +President found himself constrained to give way. And +only did he abandon his humanitarian intentions and +his strongest arguments to be lightly brushed aside, +he actually recoiled so far into the camp of his opponents +that he gave his approval to an indefensible clause +in the Treaty which would have handed over to France +the German population of the Saar as the equivalent of a +certain sum in gold. Coming from the world-reformer +who, a short time before, had hurled the thunderbolts +of his oratory against those who would barter human +beings as chattels, this amazing compromise connoted a +strange falling off. Incidentally it was destructive of all +faith in the spirit that had actuated his world-crusade. +It also went far to convince unbiased observers that the +only framework of ideas with decisive reference to which +Mr. Wilson considered every project and every objection +as it arose, was that which centered round his own goal—the +establishment, if not of a league of nations cemented +by brotherhood and fellowship, at least of the nearest +approach to that which he could secure, even though it +fell far short of the original design. These were the first-fruits +of the interweaving of the Covenant with the +Treaty.</p> + +<p>In view of this readiness to split differences and sacrifice +principles to expediency it became impossible even to the +least observant of Mr. Wilson's adherents in the Old +World to cling any longer to the belief that his cosmic +policy was inspired by firm intellectual attachment to the +sublime ideas of which he had made himself the eloquent +exponent and had been expected to make himself the +uncompromising champion. In every such surrender to +the Great Powers, as in every stern enforcement of his +principles on the lesser states, the same practical spirit of +the professional politician visibly asserted itself. One +can hardly acquit him of having lacked the moral courage +to disregard the veto of interested statesmen and governments +and to appeal directly to the peoples when the consequence +of this attitude would have been the sacrifice of +the makeshift of a Covenant which he was ultimately +content to accept as a substitute for the complete reinstatement +of nations in their rights and dignity.</p> + +<p>The general tendency of the labors of the Conference +then was shaped by those two practical maxims, the immunity +of the Anglo-Saxon peoples and of their French +ally from the restrictions to be imposed by the new +politico-social ordering in so far as these ran counter to +their national interests, and the determination of the +American President to get and accept such a league of +nations as was feasible under extremely inauspicious conditions +and to content himself with that.</p> + +<p>To this estimate exception may be taken on the ground +that it underrates an effort which, however insufficient, +was well meant and did at any rate point the way to a +just resettlement of secular problems which the war had +made pressing and that it fails to take account of the +formidable obstacles encountered. The answer is, that +like efforts had proceeded more than once before from +rulers of men whose will, seeing that they were credited +with possessing the requisite power, was assumed to be +adequate to the accomplishment of their aim, and that +they had led to nothing. The two Tsars, Alexander I +at the Congress of Vienna, and Nicholas II at the first +Conference of The Hague, are instructive instances. +They also, like Mr. Wilson, it is assumed, would fain +have inaugurated a golden age of international right and +moral fellowship if verbal exhortations and arguments +could have done it. The only kind of fresh attempt, +which after the failure of those two experiments could +fairly lay claim to universal sympathy, was one which +should withdraw the proposed politico-social rearrangement +from the domain alike of rhetoric and of empiricism +and substitute a thorough systematic reform covering all +the aspects of international intercourse, including all the +civilized peoples on the globe, harmonizing the vital +interests of these and setting up adequate machinery +to deal with the needs of this enlarged and unified state +system. And it would be fruitless to seek for this in +Mr. Wilson's handiwork. Indeed, it is hardly too much +to affirm that empiricism and opportunism were among +the principal characteristics of his policy in Paris, and +that the outcome was what it must be.</p> + +<p>Disputes and delays being inevitable, the Conference +began its work at leisure and was forced to terminate it +in hot haste. Having spent months chaffering, making +compromises, and unmaking them again while the peoples +of the world were kept in painful suspense, all of them +condemned to incur ruinous expenditure and some to +wage sanguinary wars, the springs of industrial and commercial +activity being kept sealed, the delegates, menaced +by outbreaks, revolts, and mutinies, began, after months +had been wasted, to speed up and get through their work +without adequate deliberation. They imagined that they +could make up for the errors of hesitancy and ignorance +by moments of lightning-like improvisation. Improvisation +and haphazard conclusions were among their chronic +failings. Even in the early days of the Conference they +had promulgated decisions, the import and bearings of +which they missed, and when possible they canceled them +again. Sometimes, however, the error committed was +irreparable. The fate reserved for Austria was a case in +point. By some curious process of reasoning it was +found to be not incompatible with the Wilsonian doctrine +that German-Austria should be forbidden to throw in her +lot with the German Republic, this prohibition being in +the interest of France, who could not brook a powerful +united Teuton state. The wishes of the Austrian-Germans +and the principle of self-determination accordingly +went for nothing. The representations of Italy, who +pleaded for that principle, were likewise brushed aside.</p> + +<p>But what the delegates appear to have overlooked was +the decisive circumstance that they had already "on +strategic grounds" assigned the Brenner line to Italy and +together with it two hundred and twenty thousand Tyrolese +of German race living in a compact mass—although +a much smaller alien element was deemed a bar to annexation +in the case of Poland. And what was more to +the point, this allotment deprived Tyrol of an independent +economic existence, cutting it off from the southern +valley and making it tributary to Bavaria. Mr. Wilson, +the public was credibly informed, "took this grave decision +without having gone deeply into the matter, and +he repents it bitterly. None the less, he can no longer go +back."<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97" href="#Footnote_97_97" >[97]</a></p> + +<p>Just as Tyrol's loss of Botzen and Meran made it dependent +on Bavaria, so the severance of Vienna from +southern Moravia—- the source of its cereal supplies, situated +at a distance of only thirty-six miles—transformed +the Austrian capital into a head without a body. But +on the eminent anatomists who were to perform a variety +of unprecedented operations on other states, this spectacle +had no deterrent effect.</p> + +<p>Whenever a topic came up for discussion which could +not be solved offhand, it was referred to a commission, +and in many cases the commission was assisted by a mission +which proceeded to the country concerned and within +a few weeks returned with data which were assumed to +supply materials enough for a decision, even though most +of its members were unacquainted with the language of +the people whose condition they had been studying. How +quick of apprehension these envoys were supposed to be +may be inferred from the task with which the American +mission under General Harbord was charged, and the +space of time accorded him for achieving it. The members +of this mission started from Brest in the last decade +of August for the Caucasus, making a stay at Constantinople +on the way, and were due back in Paris early in +October. During the few intervening weeks "the mission," +General Harbord said, "will go into every phase of +the situation, political, racial, economic, financial, and +commercial. I shall also investigate highways, harbors, +agricultural and mining conditions, the question of raising +an Armenian army, policing problems, and the raw materials +of Armenia."<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98" href="#Footnote_98_98" >[98]</a> Only specialists who have some practical +acquaintanceship with the Caucasus, its conditions, +peoples, languages, and problems, can appreciate the +herculean effort needed to tackle intelligently any one of +the many subjects all of which this improvised commission +under a military general undertook to master in four +weeks. Never was a chaotic world set right and reformed +at such a bewildering pace.</p> + +<p>Bad blood was caused by the distribution of places on +the various commissions. The delegates of the lesser +nations, deeming themselves badly treated, protested +vehemently, and for a time passion ran high. Squabbles +of this nature, intensified by fierce discussions within the +Council, tidings of which reached the ears of the public +outside, disheartened those who were anxious for the +speedy restoration of normal conditions in a world that +was fast decomposing. But the optimism of the three +principal plenipotentiaries was beyond the reach of the +most depressing stumbles and reverses. Their buoyant +temper may be gaged from Mr. Balfour's words, reported +in the press: "It is true that there is a good deal of discussion +going on, but there is no real discord about ideas +or facts. We are agreed on the principal questions and +there only remains to find the words that embody the +agreements."<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99" href="#Footnote_99_99" >[99]</a> These tidings were welcomed at the time, +because whatever defects were ascribed to the distinguished +statesmen of the Conference by faultfinders, a +lack of words was assuredly not among them. This cheery +outlook on the future reminded me of the better grounded +composure of Pope Pius IX during the stormy proceedings +at the Vatican Council. A layman, having expressed +his disquietude at the unruly behavior of the prelates, +the Pontiff replied that it had ever been thus at ecclesiastical +councils. "At the outset," he went on to explain, +"the members behave as men, wrangle and quarrel, +and nothing that they say or do is worth much. That is +the first act. The second is ushered in by the devil, who +intensifies the disorder and muddles things bewilderingly. +But happily there is always a third act in which the Holy +Ghost descends and arranges everything for the best."</p> + +<p>The first two phases of the Conference's proceedings +bore a strong resemblance to the Pope's description, but +as, unlike ecclesiastical councils, it had no claim to infallibility, +and therefore no third act, the consequences to +the world were deplorable. The Supreme Council never +knew how to deal with an emergency and every week +unexpected incidents in the world outside were calling for +prompt action. Frequently it contradicted itself within +the span of a few days, and sometimes at one and the same +time its principal representatives found themselves in +complete opposition to one another. To give but one +example: In April M. Clemenceau was asked whether +he approved the project of relieving famine-stricken Russia. +His answer was affirmative, and he signed the document +authorizing it. His colleagues, Messrs. Wilson, +Lloyd George, and Orlando, followed suit, and the matter +seemed to be settled definitely. But at the same time +Mr. Hoover, who had been the ardent advocate of the +plan, officially received a letter from the French Minister +of Foreign Affairs signifying the refusal of the French +government to acquiesce in it.<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100" href="#Footnote_100_100" >[100]</a> On another occasion<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101" href="#Footnote_101_101" >[101]</a> the +Supreme Council thought fit to despatch a mission to Asia +Minor in order to ascertain the views of the populations +of Syria and Mesopotamia on the régime best suited to +them. France, whose secular relations with Syria, where +she maintains admirable educational establishments, are +said to have endeared her to the population, objected to +this expedient as superfluous and mischievous. Superfluous +because the Francophil sentiments of the people +are supposed to be beyond all doubt, and mischievous +because plebiscites or substitutes for plebiscites could +have only a bolshevizing effect on Orientals. Seemingly +yielding to these considerations, the Supreme Council +abandoned the scheme and the members of the mission +made other plans.<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102" href="#Footnote_102_102" >[102]</a> After several weeks' further reflection, +however, the original idea was carried out, and the mission +visited the East.</p> + +<p>The reader may be glad of a momentary glimpse of the +interior of the historic assembly afforded by those who +were privileged to play a part in it before it was transformed +into a secret conclave of five, four, or three. +Within the doors of the chambers whence fateful decrees +were issued to the four corners of the earth the delegates +were seated, mostly according to their native languages, +within earshot of the special pleaders. M. Clemenceau, +at the head of the table, has before him a delegate charged +with conducting the case, say, of Greece, Poland, Serbia, +or Czechslovakia. The delegate, standing in front of the +stern but mobile Premier, and encircled by other more or +less attentive plenipotentiaries, looks like a nervous schoolboy +appearing before exacting examiners, struggling with +difficult questions and eager to answer them satisfactorily. +Suppose the first language spoken is French. As many +of the plenipotentiaries do not understand it, they cannot +be blamed for relaxing attention while it is being employed, +and keeping up a desultory conversation among themselves +in idiomatic English, which forms a running bass +accompaniment to the voice, often finely modulated, of +the orator. Owing to this embarrassing language difficulty, +as soon as a delegate pauses to take his breath, his +arguments and appeals are done by M. Mantoux into +English, and then it is the turn of the French plenipotentiaries +to indulge in a quiet chat until some question is +put in English, which has forthwith to be rendered into +French, after which the French reply is translated into +English, and so on unendingly, each group resuming its +interrupted conversations alternately.</p> + +<p>One delegate who passed several hours undergoing this +ordeal said that he felt wholly out of sympathy with the +atmosphere at the Conference Hall, adding: "While arguing +or appealing to my country's arbiters I felt I was +addressing only a minority of the distinguished judges, +while the thoughts of the others were far away. And +when the interpreter was rendering, quickly, mechanically, +and summarily, my ideas without any of the explosive +passion that shot them from my heart, I felt discouraged. +But suddenly it dawned on me that no judgment would +be uttered on the strength of anything that I had said or +left unsaid. I remembered that everything would be +referred to a commission, and from that to a sub-commission, +then back again to the distinguished plenipotentiaries,"</p> + +<p>Another delegate remarked: "Many years have elapsed +since I passed my last examination, but it came back to +me in all its vividness when I walked up to Premier +Clemenceau and looked into his restless, flashing eyes. +I said to myself: When last I was examined I was painfully +conscious that my professors knew a lot more about +the subject than I did, but now I am painfully aware +that they know hardly anything at all and I am fervently +desirous of teaching them. The task is arduous. It +might, however, save time and labor if the delegates would +receive our typewritten dissertations, read them quietly +in their respective hotels, and endeavor to form a judgment +on the data they supply. Failing that, I should like at +least to provide them with a criterion of truth, for after +me will come an opponent who will flatly contradict me, +and how can they sift truth from error when the winnow +is wanting? It is hard to feel that one is in the presence +of great satraps of destiny, but I made an act of faith +in the possibilities of genial quantities lurking behind +those everyday faces and of a sort of magic power of calling +into being new relations of peace and fellowship between +individual classes and peoples. It was an act of faith."</p> + +<p>If the members of the Supreme Council lacked the +graces with which to draw their humbler colleagues and +were incapable of according hospitality to any of the +more or less revolutionary ideas floating in the air, they +were also utterly powerless to enforce their behests in +eastern Europe against serious opposition. Thus, although +they kept considerable Inter-Allied forces in Germany, +they failed to impose their decrees there, notwithstanding +the circumstance that Germany was disorganized, +nearly disarmed, and distracted by internal feuds. +The Conference gave way when Germany refused to let +the Polish troops disembark at Dantzig, although it had +proclaimed its resolve to insist on their using that port. +It allowed Odessa to be evacuated and its inhabitants +to be decimated by the bloodthirsty Bolsheviki. It +ordered the Ukrainians and the Poles to cease hostilities,<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103" href="#Footnote_103_103" >[103]</a> +but hostilities went on for months afterward. An +American general was despatched to the warring peoples +to put an end to the fighting, but he returned despondent, +leaving things as he had found them. General +Smuts was sent to Budapest to strike up an agreement +with Kuhn and the Magyar Bolshevists, but he, too, +came back after a fruitless conversation. The Supreme +Council's writ ran in none of those places.</p> + +<p>About March 19th the Inter-Allied commission gave Erzberger +twenty-four hours in which to ratify the convention +between Germany and Poland and to carry out the conditions +of the armistice. But Erzberger declined to +ratify it and the Allies were unable or unwilling to impose +their will on him. From this state of things the Rumanian +delegates drew the obvious corollary. Exasperated by +the treatment they received, they quitted the Conference, +pursued their own policy, occupied Budapest, presented +their own peace conditions to Hungary, and relegated, +with courteous phrases and a polite bow to the Council, +the directions elaborated for their guidance to the region +of pious counsels.</p> + +<p>In these ways the well-meant and well-advertised +endeavors to substitute a moral relationship of nations +for the state of latent warfare known as the balance of +power were steadily wasted. On the one side the subtle +skill of Old World diplomacy was toiling hard and successfully +to revive under specious names its lost and +failing causes, while on the other hand the New World +policy, naïvely ignoring historical forces and secular +prejudices, was boldly reaching out toward rough and +ready modes of arranging things and taking no account +of concrete circumstances. Generous idealists were thus +pitted against old diplomatic stagers and both secretly +strove to conclude hastily driven bargains outside the +Council chamber with their opponents. As early as the +first days of January I was present at some informal +meetings where such transactions were being talked over, +and I afterward gave it as my impression that "if things +go forward as they are moving to-day the outcome will +fall far short of reasonable expectations. The first striking +difference between the transatlantic idealists and the +Old World politicians lies in their different ways of +appreciating expeditiousness, on the one hand, and the +bases of the European state-system, on the other hand. +A statesman when dealing with urgent, especially revolutionary, +emergencies should never take his eyes from +the clock. The politicians in Paris hardly ever take +account of time or opportunity. The overseas reformers +contend that the territorial and political balance of forces +has utterly broken down and must be definitely scrapped +in favor of a league of nations, and the diplomatists hold +that the principle of equilibrium, far from having spent +its force, still affords the only groundwork of international +stability and requires to be further intensified."<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104" href="#Footnote_104_104" >[104]</a></p> + +<p>Living in the very center of the busy world of destiny-weavers, +who were generously, if unavailingly, devoting +time and labor to the fabrication of machinery for the +good government of the entire human race out of scanty +and not wholly suitable materials, a historian in presence +of the manifold conflicting forces at work would have +found it difficult to survey them all and set the daily +incidents and particular questions in correct perspective. +The earnestness and good-will of the plenipotentiaries +were highly praiseworthy and they themselves, as we saw, +were most hopeful. Nearly all the delegates were characterized +by the spirit of compromise, so valuable in +vulgar politics, but so perilous in embodying ideals. +Anxious to reach unanimous decisions even when unanimity +was lacking, the principal statesmen boldly had +recourse to ingenious formulas and provisional agreements, +which each party might construe in its own way, and paid +scant attention to what was going on outside. I wrote +at the time:<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105" href="#Footnote_105_105" >[105]</a></p> + +<p>"But parallel with the Conference and the daily lectures +which its members are receiving on geography, ethnography, +and history there are other councils at work, some +publicly, others privately, which represent the vast masses +who are in a greater hurry than the political world to +have their urgent wants supplied. For they are the +millions of Europe's inhabitants who care little about +strategic frontiers and much about life's necessaries which +they find it increasingly difficult to obtain. Only a visitor +from a remote planet could fully realize the significance of +the bewildering phenomena that meet one's gaze here +every day without exciting wonder.... The sprightly +people who form the rind of the politico-social world ... are +wont to launch winged words and coin witty epigrams +when characterizing what they irreverently term the efforts +of the Peace Conference to square the circle; they contrast +the noble intentions of the delegates with the grim +realities of the workaday world, which appear to mock +their praiseworthy exertions. They say that there never +were so many wars as during the deliberations of these +famous men of peace. Hard fighting is going on in Siberia; +victories and defeats have just been reported from the +Caucasus; battles between Bolshevists and peace-lovers +are raging in Esthonia; blood is flowing in streams in the +Ukraine; Poles and Czechs have only now signed an agreement +to sheath swords until the Conference announces its +verdict; the Poles and the Germans, the Poles and the +Ukrainians, the Poles and the Bolshevists, are still decimating +each other's forces on territorial fragments of what +was once Russia, Germany, or Austria."</p> + +<p>Sinister rumors were spread from time to time in Paris, +London, and elsewhere, which, wherever they were credited, +tended to shake public confidence not only in the dealings +of the Supreme Council with the smaller countries, but +also in the nature of the occult influences that were believed +to be occasionally causing its decisions to swerve +from the orthodox direction. And these reports were +believed by many even in Conference circles. Time and +again I was visited by delegates complaining that this or +that decision was or would be taken in response to the +promptings not of land-grabbing governments, but of +wealthy capitalists or enterprising captains of industry. +"Why do you suppose that there is so much talk now of an +independent little state centering around Klagenfurt?" +one of them asked me. "I will tell you: for the sake of +some avaricious capitalists. Already arrangements are +being pushed forward for the establishment of a bank of +which most of the shares are to belong to X." Another +said: "Dantzig is needed for politico-commercial reasons. +Therefore it will not be made part of Poland.<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106" href="#Footnote_106_106" >[106]</a> Already +conversations have begun with a view to giving the ownership +of the wharves and various lucrative concessions to +English-speaking pioneers of industry. If the city were +Polish no such liens could be held on it because the state +would provide everything needful and exploit its resources." +The part played in the Banat Republic by +motives of a money-making character is described elsewhere.</p> + +<p>A friend and adviser of President Wilson publicly +affirmed that the Fiume problem was twice on the point +of being settled satisfactorily for all parties, when the +representatives of commercial interests cleverly interposed +their influence and prevented the scheme from going +through in the Conference. I met some individuals who +had been sent on a secret mission to have certain subjects +taken into consideration by the Supreme Council, and +a man was introduced to me whose aim was to obtain +through the Conference a modification of financial legislation +respecting the repayment of debts in a certain +republic of South America. This optimist, however, returned +as he had come and had nothing to show for his +plans. The following significant passage appeared in a +leading article in the principal American journal published +in Paris<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107" href="#Footnote_107_107" >[107]</a> on the subject of the Prinkipo project +and the postponement of its execution:</p> + +<p>"From other sources it was learned that the doubts and +delays in the matter are not due so much to the declination +[<i>sic</i>] of several of the Russian groups to participate +in a conference with the Bolshevists, but to the pulling +against one another of the several interests represented by +the Allies. Among the Americans a certain very influential +group backed by powerful financial interests +which hold enormously rich oil, mining, railway, and +timber concessions, obtained under the old régime, and +which purposes obtaining further concessions, is strongly +in favor of recognizing the Bolshevists as a <i>de facto</i> +government. In consideration of the <i>visa</i> of these old +concessions by Lenin and Trotzky and the grant of new +rights for the exploitation of rich mineral territory, they +would be willing to finance the Bolshevists to the tune of +forty or fifty million dollars. And the Bolshevists are +surely in need of money. President Wilson and his supporters, +it is declared, are decidedly averse from this +pretty scheme."</p> + +<p>That President Wilson would naturally set his face +against any such deliberate compromise between Mammon +and lofty ideals it was superfluous to affirm. He +stood for a vast and beneficent reform and by exhorting +the world to embody it in institutions awakened in some +people—in the masses were already stirring—thoughts +and feelings that might long have remained dormant. +But beyond this he did not go. His tendencies, or, say, +rather velleities—for they proved to be hardly more—were +excellent, but he contrived no mechanism by which +to convert them into institutions, and when pressed by +gainsayers abandoned them.</p> + +<p>An economist of mark in France whose democratic +principles are well known<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108" href="#Footnote_108_108" >[108]</a> communicated to the French +public the gist of certain curious documents in his possession. +They let in an unpleasant light on some of the +whippers-up of lucre at the expense of principle, who +flocked around the dwelling-places of the great continent-carvers +and lawgivers in Paris. His article bears this +repellent heading: "Is it true that English and American +financiers negotiated during the war in order to secure +lucrative concessions from the Bolsheviki? Is it true +that these concessions were granted to them on February +4, 1919? Is it true that the Allied governments played +into their hands?"<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109" href="#Footnote_109_109" >[109]</a></p> + +<p>The facts alleged as warrants for these questions are +briefly as follows: On February 4, 1919, the Soviet of the +People's Commissaries in Moscow voted the bestowal of a +concession for a railway linking Ob-Kotlass-Saroka and +Kotlass-Svanka, in a resolution which states "(1) that +the project is feasible; (2) that the transfer of the concession +to representatives of foreign capital may be +effected if production will be augmented thereby; (3) that +the execution of this scheme is indispensable; and (4) that +in order to accelerate this solution of the question the +persons desirous of obtaining the concession shall be +obliged to <i>produce proofs of their contact with Allied</i> and +neutral enterprises, and of their capacity to financing the +work and supply the materials requisite for the construction +of the said line." On the other hand, it appears from +an <i>official</i> document bearing the date of June 26, 1918, +that a demand for the concession of this line was lodged +by two individuals—the painter A.A. Borissoff (who +many years ago received from me a letter of introduction +to President Roosevelt asking him to patronize this +gentleman's exhibition of paintings in the United States), +and Herr Edvard Hannevig. Desirous of ascertaining +whether these petitioners possessed the qualifications +demanded, the Bolshevist authorities made inquiries +and received from the Royal Norwegian Consulate at +Moscow a certificate<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110" href="#Footnote_110_110" >[110]</a> setting forth that "citizen Hannevig +was a co-associate of the large banks Hannevig situated +in London and in America." Consequently negotiations +might go forward. The document adds: "In +October Borissoff and Hannevig renewed their request, +whereupon the journals <i>Pravda</i>, <i>Izevestia</i>, and <i>Ekonomitsheskaya +Shizn</i> discussed the subject with animation. At +a sitting held on October 12th the project was approved +with certain modifications, and on February 1, 1919, the +Supreme Soviet of National Economy approved it anew."</p> + +<p>The magnitude of the concession may be inferred from +the circumstance that one of its clauses conceded "<i>the +exploitation of eight millions of forest land</i> which even +to-day, <i>despite existing conditions, can bring in a revenue +of three hundred million rubles a year</i>."</p> + +<p>What it comes to, therefore, assuming that these +official documents are as they seem, based on facts, is +that from June 26th, that is to say during the war, the +Bolshevist government was petitioned to accord an important +railway concession and also the exploitation of a +forest capable of yielding three hundred million rubles +a year to a Russian citizen who alleged that he was acting +on behalf of English and American capitalists, and that +Edvard Hannevig, having proved that he was really the +mandatory of these great allied financiers, the concession +was first approved by two successive commissions<a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111" href="#Footnote_111_111" >[111]</a> and +then definitely conferred by the Soviet of the People's +Commissaries.<a name="FNanchor_112_112" id="FNanchor_112_112" href="#Footnote_112_112" >[112]</a></p> + +<p>The eminent author of the article proceeds to ask +whether this can indeed be true; whether English and +American capitalists petitioned the Bolsheviki for vast +concessions during the war; whether they obtained them +while the Conference was at its work and soldiers of their +respective countries were fighting in Russia against the +Bolsheviki who were bestowing them. "Is it true," he +makes bold to ask further, "that that is the explanation of +the incredible friendliness displayed by the Allied governments +toward the Bolshevist bandits with whom they +were willing to strike up a compromise, whom they were +minded to recognize by organizing a conference on the +Princes' Island?... Many times already rank-smelling +whiffs of air have blown upon us; they suggested the +belief that behind the Peace Conference there lurked not +merely what people feared, but something still worse or +an immense political Panama. If this is not true, gentlemen, +deny it. Otherwise one day you will surely have +an explosion."<a name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113" href="#Footnote_113_113" >[113]</a></p> + +<p>Whether these grave innuendoes, together with the +statement made by Mr. George Herron,<a name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114" href="#Footnote_114_114" >[114]</a> the incident of +the Banat Republic and the ultimatum respecting the +oil-fields unofficially presented to the Rumanians suffice +to establish a <i>prima facie</i> case may safely be left to the +judgment of the public. The conscientious and impartial +historian, however firm his faith in the probity of the +men representing the powers, both of unlimited and +limited interests, cannot pass them over in silence.</p> + +<p>One of the shrewdest delegates in Paris, a man who +allowed himself to be breathed upon freely by the old +spirit of nationalism, but was capable withal of appreciating +the passionate enthusiasm of others for a more +altruistic dispensation, addressed me one evening as +follows: "Say what you will, the Secret Council is a +Council of Two, and the Covenant a charter conferred +upon the English-speaking peoples for the government +of the world. The design—if it be a design—may be +excellent, but it is not relished by the other peoples. It +is a less odious hegemony than that of imperialist Germany +would have been, but it is a hegemony and odious. +Surely in a quest of this kind after the most effectual +means of overcoming the difficulties and obviating the +dangers of international intercourse, more even than in +the choice of a political régime, the principle of self-determination +should be allowed free play. Was that +not to have been one of the choicest fruits of victory? +But no; force is being set in motion, professedly for the +good of all, but only as their good is understood by the +'all-powerful Two.' And to all the others it is force and +nothing more. Is it to be wondered at that there are so +many discontented people or that some of them are +already casting about for an alternative to the Anglo-Saxon +hegemony misnamed the Society of Nations?"</p> + +<p>It cannot be gainsaid that the two predominant partners +behaved throughout as benevolent despots, to whom +despotism came more easily than benevolence. As we +saw, they kept their colleagues of the lesser states as much +in the dark as the general public and claimed from them +also implicit obedience to all their behests. They went +farther and demanded unreasoning acquiescence in decisions +to be taken in the future, and a promise of prompt +acceptance of their injunctions—a pretension such as was +never before put forward outside the Catholic Church, +which, at any rate, claims infallibility. Asked why he +had not put up a better fight for one of the states of +eastern Europe, a sharp-tongued delegate irreverently +made answer, "What more could you expect than I did, +seeing that I was opposed by one colleague who looks +upon himself as Napoleon and by another who believes +himself to be the Messiah."</p> + +<p>Among the many epigrammatic sayings current in Paris +about the Conference, the most original was ascribed to +the Emir Faissal, the son of the King of the Hedjaz. +Asked what he thought of the world's areopagus, he is said +to have answered: "It reminds me somewhat of one of +the sights of my own country. My country, as you +know, is the desert. Caravans pass through it that may +be likened to the armies of delegates and experts at the +Conference—caravans of great camels solemnly trudging +along one after the other, each bearing its own load. They +all move not whither they will, but whither they are led. +For they have no choice. But between the two there is +this difference: that whereas the big caravan in the +desert has but one leader—a little ass—the Conference in +Paris is led by two delegates who are the great Ones of +the earth." In effect, the leaders were two, and no one +can say which of them had the upper hand. Now it +seemed to be the British Premier, now the American +President. The former scored the first victory, on the +freedom of the seas, before the Conference opened. The +latter won the next, when Mr. Wilson firmly insisted on +inserting the Covenant in the Treaty and finally overrode +the objections of Mr. Lloyd George and M. Clemenceau, +who scouted the idea for a while as calculated to +impair the value of both charters. There was also a +moment when the two were reported to have had a serious +disagreement and Mr. Lloyd George, having suddenly +quitted Paris for rustic seclusion, was likened to Achilles +sulking in his tent. But one of the two always gave way +at the last moment, just as both had given way to M. +Clemenceau at the outset. When the difference between +Japan and China cropped up, for example, the other delegates +made Mr. Wilson their spokesman. Despite M. +Clemenceau's resolve that the public should not "be +apprized that the head of one government had ever put +forward a proposal which was opposed by the head of +another government," it became known that they occasionally +disagreed among themselves, were more than +once on the point of separating, and that at best their +unanimity was often of the verbal order, failing to take +root in identity of views. To those who would fain predicate +political tact or statesmanship of the men who thus +undertook to set human progress on a new and ethical +basis, the story of these bickerings, hasty improvisations, +and amazing compromises is distressing. The incertitude +and suspense that resulted were disconcerting. Nobody +ever knew what was coming. A subcommission might +deliver a reasoned judgment on the question submitted +to it, and this might be unanimously confirmed by the +commission, but the Four or Three or Two or even One +could not merely quash the report, but also reverse the +practical consequences that followed. This was done over +and over again.</p> + +<p>And there were other performances still more amazing. +When, for example, the Polish problem became so pressing +that it could not be safely postponed any longer, the +first delegates were at their wits' ends. Unable to agree +on any of the solutions mooted, they conceived the idea +of obtaining further data and a lead from a special commission. +The commission was accordingly appointed. +Among its members were Sir Esmé Howard, who has since +become Ambassador in Rome, the American General +Kernan, and M. Noulens, the ex-Ambassador of France +in Petrograd. These envoys and their colleagues set out +for Poland to study the problem on the spot. They +exerted themselves to the utmost to gather data for a +serious judgment, and returned to Paris after a sojourn +of some two months, legitimately proud of the copious +and well-sifted results of their research. And then they +waited. Days passed and weeks, but nobody took the +slightest interest in the envoys. They were ignored. At +last the chief of the commission, M. Noulens, taking the +initiative, wrote direct to M. Clemenceau, informing him +that the task intrusted to him and his colleagues had been +achieved, and requesting to be permitted to make their +report to the Conference. The reply was an order dissolving +the commission unheard.</p> + +<p>Once when the relations between Messrs. Wilson and +Lloyd George were somewhat spiced by antagonism of +purpose and incompatibility of methods, a political +friend of the latter urged him to make a firm stand. +But the British Premier, feeling, perhaps, that there +were too many unascertained elements in the matter, or +identifying the President with the United States, drew +back. More than once, too, when a certain delegate was +stating his case with incisive emphasis Mr. Wilson, who +was listening with attention and in silence, would suddenly +ask, "Is this an ultimatum?" The American President +himself never shrank from presenting an ultimatum +when sure of his ground and morally certain of victory. +On one such occasion a proposal had been made to Mr. +Lloyd George, who approved it whole-heartedly. But +it failed to receive the <i>placet</i> of the American statesman. +Thereupon the British Premier was strongly urged to +stand firm. But he recoiled, his plea being that he had +received an ultimatum from his American colleague, +who spoke of quitting France and withdrawing the American +troops unless the point were conceded. And Mr. +Wilson had his way. One might have thought that +this success would hearten the President to other and +greater achievements. But the leader who incarnated +in his own person the highest strivings of the age, and +who seemed destined to acquire pontifical ascendancy +in a regenerated world, lacked the energy to hold his own +when matters of greater moment and high principle +were at stake.</p> + +<p>These battles waged within the walls of the palace +on the Quai d'Orsay were discussed out-of-doors by an +interested and watchful public, and the conviction was +profound and widespread that the President, having +set his hand to the plow so solemnly and publicly, and +having promised a harvest of far-reaching reforms, would +not look back, however intractable the ground and however +meager the crop. But confronted with serious +obstacles, he flinched from his task, and therein, to my +thinking, lay his weakness. If he had come prepared +to assert his personal responsibility, to unfold his scheme, +to have it amply and publicly discussed, to reject pusillanimous +compromise in the sphere of execution, and to +appeal to the peoples of the world to help him to carry +it out, the last phase of his policy would have been worthy +of the first, and might conceivably have inaugurated the +triumph of the ideas which the indolent and the men of +little faith rejected as incapable of realization. To this +hardy course, which would have challenged the approbation +of all that is best in the world, there was an alternative: +Mr. Wilson might have confessed that his judgment +was at fault, mankind not being for the moment +in a fitting mood to practise the new tenets, that a speedy +peace with the enemy was the first and most pressing +duty, and that a world-parliament should be convened +for a later date to prepare the peoples of the universe +for the new ordering. But he chose neither alternative. +At first it was taken for granted that in the twilight +of the Conference hall he had fought valiantly for the +principles which he had propounded as the groundwork +of the new politico-social fabric, and that it was only when +he found himself confronted with the insuperable antagonism +of his colleagues of France and Britain that he +reluctantly receded from his position and resolved to +show himself all the more unbending to the envoys of +the lesser countries. But this assumption was refuted +by State-Secretary Lansing, who admitted to the Senate +Foreign Relations Committee that the President's Fourteen +Points, which he had vowed to carry out, were not +even discussed at the Conference. The outcome of this +attitude—one cannot term it a policy—was to leave the +best of the ideas which he stood for in solution, to embitter +every ally except France and Britain, and to scatter +explosives all over the world.</p> + +<p>To this dwarfing parliamentary view of world-policy +Mr. Lloyd George likewise fell a victim. But his fault +was not so glaring. For it should in fairness be remembered +that it was not he who first preached the advent of +the millennium. He had only given it a tardy and cold +assent, qualified by an occasional sally of keen pleasantry. +Down to the last moment, as we saw, he not only was +unaware that the Covenant would be inserted in the +Peace Treaty, but he was strongly of the opinion, as +indeed were M. Pichon and others, that the two instruments +were incompatible. He also apparently inclined +to the belief that spiritual and moral agencies, if not +wholly impotent to bring about the requisite changes in +the politico-social world, could not effect the transformation +for a long while to come, and that in the interval it +behooved the governments to fall back upon the old +system of so-called equilibrium, which, after Germany's +collapse, meant an informal kind of Anglo-Saxon overlordship +of the world and a <i>pax Britannica</i> in Europe. +As for his action at the Conference, in so far as it did not +directly affect the well-being of the British Empire, which +was his first and main care, one might describe it as one +of general agreement with Mr. Wilson. He actually +threw it into that formula when he said that whenever +the interests of the British Empire permitted he would +like to find himself at one with the United States. It was +on that occasion that the person addressed warned him +against identifying the President with the people of the +United States.</p> + +<p>In truth, it was difficult to follow the distinguished +American idealist, because one seldom knew whither +he would lead. Neither, apparently, did he himself. +Some of his own countrymen in Paris held that he had +always been accustomed to follow, never to guide. Certainly +at the Conference his practice was to meet the more +powerful of his contradictors on their own ground and +come to terms with them, so as to get at least a part of +what he aimed at, and that he accepted, even when the +instalment was accorded to him not as such, but as a +final settlement. So far as one can judge by his public +acts and by the admissions of State-Secretary Lansing, +he cannot have seriously contemplated staking the success +of his mission on the realization of his Fourteen +Points. The manner in which he dealt with his Covenant, +with the French demand for concrete military guaranties +and with secret treaties, all afford striking illustrations +of his easy temper. Before quitting Paris for Washington +he had maintained that the Covenant as drafted was +satisfactory, nay, he contended that "not even a period +could be changed in the agreement." The Monroe +Doctrine, he held, needed no special stipulation. But as +soon as Senator Lodge and others took issue with him +on the subject, he shifted his position and hedged that +doctrine round with defenses which cut off a whole continent +from the purview of the League, which is nothing +if not cosmic in its functions.<a name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115" href="#Footnote_115_115" >[115]</a> Again, there was to be no +alliance. The French Premier foretold that there would +be one. Mr. Wilson, who was in England at the time, +answered him in a speech declaring that the United +States would enter into no alliance which did not include +all the world: "no combination of power which is not a +combination of all of us." Well, since then he became a +party to a kind of triple alliance and in the judgment of +many observers it constitutes the main result of the +Conference. In the words of an American press organ: +"Clemenceau got virtually everything he asked. President +Wilson virtually dropped his own program, and +adopted the French and British, both of them imperialistic."<a name="FNanchor_116_116" id="FNanchor_116_116" href="#Footnote_116_116" >[116]</a></p> + +<p>Again, when the first commission of experts reported +upon the frontiers of Poland, the British Premier objected +to a section of the "corridor," on the ground that as certain +districts contained a majority of Germans their annexation +would be a danger to the future peace and therefore +to Poland herself, and also on the ground that it +would run counter to one of Mr. Wilson's fundamental +points; the President, who at that time dissented from +Mr. Lloyd George, rose and remarked that his principles +must not be construed too literally. "When I said that +Poland must be restored, I meant that everything indispensable +to her restoration must be accorded. Therefore, +if that should involve the incorporation of a number of +Germans in Polish territory, it cannot be helped, for it +is part of the restoration. Poland must have access to +the sea by the shortest route, and everything else which +that implies." None the less, the British Premier, whose +attitude toward the claims of the Poles was marked by a +degree of definiteness and persistency which could hardly +be anticipated in one who had never even heard of Teschen +before the year 1919, maintained his objections with emphasis +and insistence, until Mr. Wilson and M. Clemenceau +gave in.</p> + +<p>Or take the President's way of dealing with the non-belligerent +states. Before leaving Paris for Washington, +Mr. Wilson, officially questioned by one of his colleagues +at an official sitting as to whether the neutrals would also +sign the Covenant, replied that only the Allies would be +admitted to affix their signatures. "Don't you think it +would be more conducive to the firm establishment of the +League if the neutrals were also made parties to it now?" +insisted the plenipotentiary. "No, I do not," answered +the President. "I think that it would be conferring too +much honor on them, and they don't deserve it." The +delegate was unfavorably impressed by this reply. It +seemed lacking in breadth of view. Still, it was tenable +on certain narrow, formal grounds. But what he could +not digest was the eagerness with which Mr. Wilson, on +his return from Washington, abandoned his way of thinking +and adopted the opposite view. Toward the end of +April the delegates and the world were surprised to learn +that not only would Spain be admitted to the orthodox +fold, but that she would have a voice in the management +of the flock with a seat in the Council. The chief of the +Portuguese delegation<a name="FNanchor_117_117" id="FNanchor_117_117" href="#Footnote_117_117" >[117]</a> at once delivered a trenchant protest +against this abrupt departure from principle, and as +a jurisconsult stigmatized the promotion of Spain to a +voice in the Council as an irregularity, and then retired +in high dudgeon.</p> + +<p>Thus the grave reproach cannot be spared Mr. Wilson +of having been weak, vague, and inconsistent with himself. +He constituted himself the supreme judge of a +series of intricate questions affecting the organization and +tranquillity of the European Continent, as he had previously +done in the case of Mexico, with the results we +know. This authority was accorded to him—with certain +reservations—in virtue of the exalted position which +he held in a state disposing of vast financial and economic +resources, shielded from some of the dangers that continually +overhang European nations, and immune from +the immediate consequences of the mistakes it might +commit in international politics. For every continental +people in Europe is in some measure dependent on the +good-will of the United States, and therefore anxious to +deserve it by cultivating the most friendly relations with +its chief. This predisposition on the part of his wards +was an asset that could have been put to good account. +It was a guaranty of a measure of success which would +have satisfied a generous ambition; it would have enabled +him to effect by a wise policy what revolution threatened to +accomplish by violence, and to canalize and lead to fruitful +fields the new-found strength of the proletarian masses.</p> + +<p>The compulsion of working with others is often a wholesome +corrective. It helps one to realize the need of accommodating +measures to people's needs. But Mr. Wilson +deliberately segregated himself from the nations for +whose behoof he was laboring, and from some of their +authorized representatives. And yet the aspirations and +conceptions of a large section of the masses differed very +considerably from those of the two statesmen with whom +he was in close collaboration. His avowed aims were at +the opposite pole to those of his colleagues. To reconcile +internationalism and nationalism was sheer impossible. +Yet instead of upholding his own, taking the peoples into +his confidence, and sowing the good seed which would +certainly have sprouted up in the fullness of time, he set +himself, together with his colleagues, to weld contradictories +and contributed to produce a synthesis composed +of disembodied ideas, disintegrated communities, embittered +nations, conflicting states, frenzied classes, and a +seething mass of discontent throughout the world.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wilson has fared ill with his critics, who, when in +quest of explanations of his changeful courses, sought for +them, as is the wont of the average politician, in the least +noble parts of human nature. In his case they felt especially +repelled by his imperial aloofness, the secrecy of his +deliberations, and the magisterial tone of his judgments, +even when these were in flagrant contradiction with one +another. Obstinacy was also included among the traits +which were commonly ascribed to him. As a matter of +fact he was a very good listener, an intelligent questioner, +and amenable to argument whenever he felt free to give +practical effect to the conclusions. When this was not +the case, arguments necessarily failed of their effect, and +on these occasions considerations of expediency proved a +lever sufficient to sway his decision. But, like his more +distinguished colleagues, he had to rely upon counsel from +outside, and in his case, as in theirs, the official adviser +was not always identical with the real prompter. He, too, +as we saw, set aside the findings of the commissions when +they disagreed with his own. In a word, Mr. Wilson's +fatal stumble was to have sacrificed essentials in order to +score on issues of secondary moment; for while success +enabled him to obtain his paper Covenant from his co-delegates +in Paris, and to bring back tangible results to +Washington, it lost him the leadership of the world. The +cost of this deplorable weakness to mankind can be estimated +only after its worst effects have been added up +and appraised.</p> + +<p>In matters affecting the destinies of the lesser states +Mr. Wilson was firm as a rock. Prom the position once +taken up nothing could move him. Their economic +dependence on his own country rendered their arguments +pointless and lent irresistible force to his injunctions. +Greece's dispute with Bulgaria was a classic instance. +The Bulgars repaired to Paris more as claimants in support +of indefeasible rights than as vanquished enemies +summoned to learn the conditions imposed on them by +the nations which they had betrayed and assailed. Victory +alone could have justified their territorial pretensions; +defeat made them grotesque. All at once, however, it +was bruited abroad that President Wilson had become +Bulgaria's intercessor and favored certain of her exorbitant +claims. One of these was for the annexation of +part of the coast of western Thrace, together with a seaport +at the expense of the Greeks, the race which had +resided on the seaboard for twenty-five hundred consecutive +years. M. Venizelos offered them instead one commercial +outlet<a name="FNanchor_118_118" id="FNanchor_118_118" href="#Footnote_118_118" >[118]</a> and special privileges in another, and the +plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, France, and Japan +considered the offer adequate.</p> + +<p>But Mr. Wilson demurred. A commercial outlet +through foreign territory, he said, might possibly be as +good as a direct outlet through one's own territory in +peace-time, but not in time of war, and, after all, one +must bear in mind the needs of a country during hostilities. +In the mouth of the champion of universal peace that was +an unexpected argument. It had been employed by +Italy in favor of her claim to Fiume. Mr. Wilson then +met it by invoking the economic requirements of Jugoslavia, +and by declaring that the Treaty was being devised +for peace, not for war, that the League of Nations would +hinder wars, or at the very least supply the deficiencies +of those states which had sacrificed strategical positions +for humanitarian aims. But in the case of Bulgaria he +was taking what seems the opposite position and transgressing +his own principle of nationality in order to +maintain it.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wilson, pursuing his line of argument, further +pointed out that the Supreme Council had not accepted +as sufficient for Poland an outlet through German territory, +but had created the city-state of Dantzig in order +to confer a greater degree of security upon the Polish +republic. To that M. Venizelos replied that there was no +parity between the two instances. Poland had no outlet +to the sea except through Dantzig, and could not, therefore, +allow that one to remain in the hands of an unfriendly +nation, whereas Bulgaria already possessed two +very commodious ports, Varna and Burgas, on the Black +Sea, which becomes a free sea in virtue of the internationalization +of the straits. The possession of a third outlet on +the Ægean could not, therefore, be termed a vital question +for his protégée. Thus the comparison with Poland was +irrelevant.</p> + +<p>If Poland, which is a very much greater state than +Bulgaria, can live and prosper with a single port, and that +not her own—if Rumania, which is also a much more +numerous and powerful nation, can thrive with a single +issue to the sea, by what line of argument, M. Venizelos +asked, can one prove that little Bulgaria requires three +or four exits, and that her need justifies the abandonment +to her tender mercies of seven hundred and fifty thousand +Greeks and the violation of one of the fundamental principles +underlying the new moral ordering.</p> + +<p>Compliance with Bulgaria's demand would prevent +Greece from including within her boundaries the three-quarters +of a million Greeks who have dwelt in Thrace +for twenty-five centuries, preserving their nationality intact +through countless disasters and tremendous cataclysms. +Further, the Greek Premier, taking a leaf from +Wilson's book, turned to the aspect which the problem +would assume in war-time. Bulgaria, he argued, is essentially +a continental state, whose defense does not depend +upon naval strength, whereas Greece contains an +island population of nearly a million and a half and looks +for protection against aggression chiefly to naval precautions. +In case of war, Bulgaria, if her claim to an +issue on the Ægean were allowed, could with her submarines +delay or hinder the transport and concentration +in Macedonia of Greek forces from the islands and thus +place Greece in a position of dangerous inferiority.</p> + +<p>Lastly, if Greece's claims in Thrace were rejected, she +would have a population of 1,790,000 souls outside her +national boundaries—that is to say, more than one-third +of the population which is within her state. Would this +be fair? Of the total population of Bulgarian and +Turkish Thrace the Turks and Greeks together form +85 per cent., the Bulgars only 6 per cent., and the latter +nowhere in compact masses. Moreover—and this ought +to have clinched the matter—the Hellenic population +formed an absolute as well as a relative majority in the +year 1919.</p> + +<p>These arguments and various other considerations +drawn from the inordinate ambitions, the savage cruelty,<a name="FNanchor_119_119" id="FNanchor_119_119" href="#Footnote_119_119" >[119]</a> +and the Punic faith of the Bulgars convinced the British, +French, and Japanese delegates of the soundness of +Greece's pleas, and they sided with M. Venizelos. But +Mr. Wilson clung to his idea with a tenacity which could +not be justified by argument, and was concurrently +explained by motives irrelevant to the merits of the case. +Whether the influence of Bulgarophil American missionaries +and strong religious leanings were at the root of his +insistence, as was generally assumed, or whether other +considerations weighed with him, is immaterial. And +yet it is worth recording that a Bulgarian journal<a name="FNanchor_120_120" id="FNanchor_120_120" href="#Footnote_120_120" >[120]</a> +announced with the permission of the governmental censor +that the American missionaries in Bulgaria and the +professors of Robert College of Constantinople had so +primed the American delegates at the Conference on the +question of Thrace, and generally on the Bulgarian +problem, that all M. Venizelos's pains to convince them +of the justice of his contention would be lost labor."<a name="FNanchor_121_121" id="FNanchor_121_121" href="#Footnote_121_121" >[121]</a></p> + +<p>However this may be, Mr. Wilson's attitude was the +subject of adverse comment throughout Europe. His +implied claim to legislate for the world and to take over +its moral leadership earned for him the epithet of "Dictator," +and provoked such epigrammatic comments among +his own countrymen and the French as this: "Louis XIV +said, 'I am the state!' Mr. Wilson, outdoing him, exclaimed, +'I am all the states!'"</p> + +<p>The necessity of winning over dissentient colleagues to +his grandiose scheme of world reorganization and of satisfying +their demands, which were of a nature to render +that scheme abortive, was the most influential agency in +impairing his energies and upsetting his plans. This remark +assumes what unhappily seems a fact, that those +plans were mainly mechanical. It is certain that they +made no provision for directly influencing the masses, for +giving them sympathetic guidance, and enabling them to +suffuse with social sentiments the aspirations and strivings +which were chiefly of the materialistic order, with a +view to bringing about a spiritual transformation of the +social basis. Indeed we have no evidence that the need +of such a transformation of the basis of political thought, +which was still rooted in the old order, was grasped by +any of those who set their hand to the legislative part of +the work.</p> + +<p>These unfavorable impressions were general. Almost +every step subsequently taken by the Conference confirmed +them, and long before the Treaty was presented to +the Germans, public confidence was gone in the ability +of the Supreme Council to attain any of the moral victories +over militarism, race-hatred, and secret intrigues +which its leaders had encouraged the world to expect.</p> + +<p>"The leaders of the Conference," wrote an influential +press organ,<a name="FNanchor_122_122" id="FNanchor_122_122" href="#Footnote_122_122" >[122]</a> "are under suspicion. They may not know +it, but it is true. The suspicion is doubtless unjust, but +it exists. What exists is a fact; and men who ignore +facts are not statesmen. The only way to deal with facts +is to face them. The more unpleasant they are the more +they need to be faced.</p> + +<p>"Some of the Conference leaders are suspected of having, +at various times and in various circumstances, thought +more of their own personal and political positions and +ambitions than of the rapid and practical making of peace. +They are suspected, in a word, of a tendency to subordinate +policy to politics.</p> + +<p>"In regard to some important matters they are suspected +of having no policy. They are also suspected of +unwillingness to listen to their own competent advisers, +who could lay down for them a sound policy. Some of +them are even suspected of being under the spell of some +benumbing influence that paralyzes their will and befogs +their minds, when high resolve and clear visions are +needful."</p> + +<p>Another accusation of the same tenor was thus formulated: +"In various degrees<a name="FNanchor_123_123" id="FNanchor_123_123" href="#Footnote_123_123" >[123]</a> and with different qualities +of guilt all the Allied and Associated leaders have dallied +with dishonesty. While professing to seek naught save +the welfare of mankind, they have harbored thoughts of +self-interest. The result has been a progressive loss of +faith in them by their own peoples severally, and by the +Allied, Associated, and neutral peoples jointly. The tide +of public trust in them has reached its lowest ebb."</p> + +<p>At the Conference, as we saw, the President of the +United States possessed what was practically a veto on +nearly all matters which left the vital interests of Britain +and France intact. And he frequently exercised it. Thus +the dispute about the Thracian settlement lay not between +Bulgaria and Greece, nor between Greece and the Supreme +Council, but between Greece and Mr. Wilson. In the +quarrel over Fiume and the Dalmatian coast it was the +same. When the Shantung question came up for settlement +it was Mr. Wilson alone who dealt with it, his colleagues, +although bound by their promises to support +Japan, having made him their mouthpiece. The rigor he +displayed in dealing with some of the smaller countries +was in inverse ratio to the indulgence he practised toward +the Great Powers. Not only were they peremptorily bidden +to obey without discussion the behests which had +been brought to their cognizance, but they were ordered, +as we saw, to promise to execute other injunctions which +might be issued by the Supreme Council on certain matters +in the future, the details of which were necessarily +undetermined.</p> + +<p>In order to stifle any velleities of resistance on the part +of their governments, they were notified that America's +economic aid, of which they were in sore need, would +depend on their docility. It is important to remember +that it was the motive thus clearly presented that determined +their formal assent to a policy which they deprecated. +A Russian statesman summed up the situation in +the words: "It is an illustration of one of our sayings, +'Whose bread I eat, his songs I sing.'" Thus it was reported +in July that an agreement come to by the financial +group Morgan with an Italian syndicate for a yearly +advance to Italy of a large sum for the purchase of American +food and raw stuffs was kept in abeyance until the +Italian delegation should accept such a solution of the +Adriatic problem as Mr. Wilson could approve. The +Russian and anti-Bolshevists were in like manner compelled +to give their assent to certain democratic dogmas +and practices. It is also fair, however, to bear in mind +that whatever one may think of the wisdom of the policy +pursued by the President toward these peoples, the motives +that actuated it were unquestionably admirable, and +the end in view was their own welfare, as he understood it. +It is all the more to be regretted that neither the arguments +nor the example of the autocratic delegates were +calculated to give these the slightest influence over the +thought or the unfettered action of their unwilling wards. +The arrangements carried out were entirely mechanical.</p> + +<p>In the course of time after the vital interests of Britain, +France, and Japan had been disposed of, and only those +of the "lesser states," in the more comprehensive sense of +this term, remained, President Wilson exercised supreme +power, wielding it with firmness and encountering no +gainsayer. Thus the peace between Italy and Austria +was put off from month to month because he—and only +he—among the members of the Supreme Council rejected +the various projects of an arrangement. Into the merits +of this dispute it would be unfruitful to enter. That +there was much to be said for Mr. Wilson's contention, +from the point of view of the League of Nations, and also +from that of the Jugoslavs, will not be denied. That +some of the main arguments to which he trusted his case +were invalidated by the concessions which he had made +to other countries was Italy's contention, and it cannot +be thrust aside as untenable.</p> + +<p>At last Mr. Wilson ventured on a step which challenged +the attention and stirred the disquietude of his friends. +He despatched a note<a name="FNanchor_124_124" id="FNanchor_124_124" href="#Footnote_124_124" >[124]</a> to Turkey, warning her that if the +massacres of Armenians were not discontinued he would +withdraw the twelfth of his Fourteen Points, which provides +for the maintenance of Turkish sovereignty over +undeniable Turkish territories. The intention was excellent, +but the necessary effects of his action were contrary +to what the President can have aimed at. He had not +consulted the Conference on the important change which +he was about to make respecting a point which was +supposed to be part of the groundwork of the new ordering. +This from the Conference point of view was a +momentous decision, which could be taken only with the +consent of the Supreme Council. Even as a mere threat +it was worthless if it did not stand for the deliberate +will of that body which the President had deemed it +superfluous to consult. As it happened, the British +authorities were just then organizing a body of gendarmes +to police the Turkish territories in question, and they were +engaged in this work with the knowledge and approval +of the Supreme Council. Mr. Wilson's announcement +could therefore only be construed—and was construed—as +the act of an authority superior to that of the Council.<a name="FNanchor_125_125" id="FNanchor_125_125" href="#Footnote_125_125" >[125]</a> +The Turks, who are shrewd observers, must have drawn +the obvious conclusion from these divergent measures +as to the degree of harmony prevailing among the Allied +and Associated Powers.</p> + +<p>M. Clemenceau had a conversation on the subject with +Mr. Polk, who explained that the note was informal and +given verbally, and conveyed the idea only of one nation +in connection with the Armenian situation. This explanation, +accepted by the French government, did not commend +itself to public opinion, either in France or elsewhere. +Moreover, the French were struck by another aspect of +this arbitrary exercise of supreme power. "President +Wilson," wrote an eminent French publicist, "throws +himself into the attitude of a man who can bind and +loose the Turkish Empire at the very moment when the +Senate appears opposed to accepting any mandate, +European or Asiatic, at the moment when Mr. Lansing +declares to the Congress that the government of which +he is a member does not desire to accept any mandate. +But is it not obvious that if Mr. Wilson sovereignly determines +the lot of Turkey he can be held in consequence to +the performance of certain duties? We have often had to +deplore the absence of policy common to the Allies. But +has each one of them, considered separately, at least a +policy of its own? Does it take action otherwise than at +haphazard, yielding to the impulse of a general, a consul, +or a missionary?"<a name="FNanchor_126_126" id="FNanchor_126_126" href="#Footnote_126_126" >[126]</a></p> + +<p>It soon became manifest even to the most obtuse that +whenever the Supreme Council, following its leaders +and working on such lines as these, terminated its labors, +the ties between the political communities of Europe +would be just as flimsy as in the unregenerate days of +secret diplomacy, secret alliances, and secret intrigues, +unless in the meanwhile the peoples themselves intervened +to render them stronger and more enduring. It +would, however, be the height of unfairness to make +Mr. Wilson alone answerable for this untoward ending +to a far resonant beginning. He had been accused by the +press of most countries of enwrapping personal ambition +in the attractive covering of disinterestedness and altruism, +just as many of his foreign colleagues were said to +go in fear of the "malady of lost power." But charges of +this nature overstep the bounds of legitimate criticism. +Motive is hardly ever visible, nor is it often deducible +from deliberate action. If, for example, one were to +infer from the vast territorial readjustments and the still +vaster demands of the various belligerents at the Conference, +the motives that had determined them to enter +the war, the conclusion—except in the case of the American +people, whose disinterestedness is beyond the reach of +cavil—would indeed be distressing. The President of the +United States merited well of all nations by holding up +to them an ideal for realization, and the mere announcement +of his resolve to work for it imparted an appreciable +if inadequate incentive to men of good-will. The task, +however, was so gigantic that he cannot have gaged its +magnitude, discerned the defects of the instruments, +nor estimated aright the force of the hindrances before +taking the world to witness that he would achieve it. +Even with the hearty co-operation of ardent colleagues +and the adoption of a sound method he could hardly +have hoped to do more than clear the ground—perhaps +lay the foundation-stone—of the structure he dreamt of. +But with the partners whom circumstance allotted him, +and the gainsayers whom he had raised up and irritated +in his own country, failure was a foregone conclusion +from the first. The aims after which most of the European +governments strove were sheer incompatible with +his own. Doubtless they all were solicitous about the +general good, but their love for it was so general and so +diluted with attachment to others' goods as to be hardly +discernible. The reproach that can hardly be spared to +Mr. Wilson, however, is that of pusillanimity. If his +faith in the principles he had laid down for the guidance +of nations were as intense as his eloquent words suggested, +he would have spurned the offer of a sequence of high-sounding +phrases in lieu of a resettlement of the world. +And his appeal to the peoples would most probably have +been heard. The beacon once lighted in Paris would +have been answered in almost every capital of the world. +One promise he kept religiously: he did not return to +Washington without a paper covenant. Is it more? Is +it merely a paradox to assert that as war was waged in +order to make war impossible, so a peace was made that +will render peace impossible?</p> + + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91" href="#FNanchor_91_91"> [91]</a> In March.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92" href="#FNanchor_92_92"> [92]</a> Quoted by <i>The Chicago Tribune</i> (Paris edition), August 10, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93" href="#FNanchor_93_93"> [93]</a> Delivered at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York on March +4, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94" href="#FNanchor_94_94"> [94]</a> <i>The New York Herald</i>, March 19, 1919 (Paris edition).</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95" href="#FNanchor_95_95"> [95]</a> Cf. <i>The New York Herald</i>, July 8, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96" href="#FNanchor_96_96"> [96]</a> The semi-official journals manifested a steady tendency to lean toward +the Republican opposition in the United States, down to the month of +August, when the amendments proposed by various Senators bade fair to +jeopardize the Treaties and render the promised military succor doubtful.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97" href="#FNanchor_97_97"> [97]</a> <i>Journal de Genève</i>, May 18, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98" href="#FNanchor_98_98"> [98]</a> <i>The New York Herald</i> (Paris edition), August 14, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99" href="#FNanchor_99_99"> [99]</a> Cf. Paris papers of February 2, 1919, and <i>The Public Ledger</i> (Philadelphia), +February 4, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100" href="#FNanchor_100_100"> [100]</a> Cf. <i>L'Echo de Paris</i>, April 19, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101" href="#FNanchor_101_101"> [101]</a> In April, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102" href="#FNanchor_102_102"> [102]</a> About April 10,1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103" href="#FNanchor_103_103"> [103]</a> On March 19, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104" href="#FNanchor_104_104"> [104]</a> Cf. my cablegram published in <i>The Public Ledger</i> (Philadelphia), +January 12, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105" href="#FNanchor_105_105"> [105]</a> Cf. <i>The Public Ledger</i> (Philadelphia), February 5, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106" href="#FNanchor_106_106"> [106]</a> Doctor Bunke, Councilor at the court of Dantzig, endeavors in <i>The Dantzig +Neueste Nachrichten</i> to prove that the problem of Dantzig was solved +exclusively in the interests of the Naval Powers, America and Britain, +who need it as a basis for their commerce with Poland, Russia, and Germany. +Cf. also <i>Le Temps</i>, August 23, 1919</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107" href="#FNanchor_107_107"> [107]</a> <i>The New York Herald</i> (Paris edition), March 1, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108" href="#FNanchor_108_108"> [108]</a> Lysis, author of <i>Demain</i>, and many other remarkable studies of economic +problems, and editor of <i>Le Démocratie Nouvelle</i>, May 30, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109" href="#FNanchor_109_109"> [109]</a> For an account of analogous bargainings with Bela Kuhn, see the +Chapter on Rumania.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110" href="#FNanchor_110_110"> [110]</a> Bearing the number 3882.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111" href="#FNanchor_111_111"> [111]</a> On October 12, 1918, and February 1, 1919</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112" href="#FNanchor_112_112"> [112]</a> On February 4, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113" href="#FNanchor_113_113"> [113]</a> <i>La Démocratie Nouvelle</i>, May 30, 1919</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114" href="#FNanchor_114_114"> [114]</a> See his admirable article in <i>The New York Herald</i> (Paris edition) of +May 21, 1919, from which the following extract is worth quoting: "I have +said that certain great forces have steadily and occultly worked for a German +peace. But I mean, in fact, one force—an international finance to +which all other forces hostile to the freedom of nations and of the individual +soul are contributory. The influence of this finance had permeated +the Conference, delaying the decisions as long as possible, increasing +divisions between people and people, between class and class, between +peace-makers and peace-makers, in order to achieve two definite ends, which +two ends are one and the same. +</p><p> +"The first end was so to manipulate the minds of the peace-makers, of +their hordes of retainers and 'experts,' as to bring about, if possible, a peace +that would not be destructive to industrial Germany. The second end was +so to delay the Russian question, so to complicate and thwart every proposed +solution, that, at last, either during or after the Peace Conference, +a recognition of the Bolshevist power as the <i>de facto</i> government of Russia +would be the only possible solution."</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115" href="#FNanchor_115_115"> [115]</a> "What confidence can be commanded by men who, asserting one week +that the ultimate of human wisdom has been attained in a document, confess +the next week that the document is frail? When are we to believe +that their confessions are at an end?"—<i>The Chicago Tribune</i> (Paris edition), +August 23, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116" href="#FNanchor_116_116"> [116]</a> <i>The Chicago Tribune</i> (Paris edition), July 31, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117" href="#FNanchor_117_117"> [117]</a> M. Affonso Costa, who shortly before had succeeded the Minister of +Foreign Affairs, M. Monas Egiz.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118" href="#FNanchor_118_118"> [118]</a> Dedeagatch.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119" href="#FNanchor_119_119"> [119]</a> See <i>Rapports et Enquêtes de la Commission Interalliée sur les Violations +du droit des gens commises en Macédoine Orientale par les armées bulgares</i>. +The conclusion of the report is one of the most terrible indictments ever +drawn up by impartial investigators against what is practically a whole +people.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_120_120" id="Footnote_120_120" href="#FNanchor_120_120"> [120]</a> <i>Zora</i>, August 11th. Cf. <i>Le Temps</i>, August 28, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_121_121" id="Footnote_121_121" href="#FNanchor_121_121"> [121]</a> Mr. Charles House published a statement in the press of Saloniki to +the effect that the Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions forbids +missionaries to take an active part in politics. He added that if this injunction +was transgressed—and in Paris the current belief was that it had +been—it would not be tolerated by the Missionary Board, nor recognized +by the American government.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_122_122" id="Footnote_122_122" href="#FNanchor_122_122"> [122]</a> <i>The Daily Mail</i> (Paris edition), March 31, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_123_123" id="Footnote_123_123" href="#FNanchor_123_123"> [123]</a> <i>The Daily Mail</i> (Paris edition), April 6, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_124_124" id="Footnote_124_124" href="#FNanchor_124_124"> [124]</a> Somewhere between August 17 and 20, 1919. It was transmitted by +Admiral Bristol, American member of the Inter-Allied Inquiry Mission at +Smyrna.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_125_125" id="Footnote_125_125" href="#FNanchor_125_125"> [125]</a> Cf. <i>L'Echo de Paris</i>, August 28, 1919. Article by Pertinax.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_126_126" id="Footnote_126_126" href="#FNanchor_126_126"> [126]</a> <i>L'Echo de Paris</i>, August 28, 1919. Article by Pertinax.</p> +</div> + + +<hr /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI" />VI</h3> + +<h3>THE LESSER STATES</h3> + + +<p>Before the Anglo-Saxon statesmen thus set themselves +to rearrange the complex of interests, forces, +policies, nationalities, rights, and claims which constituted +the politico-social world of 1919, they were expected +to deal with all the Allied and Associated nations, +without favor or prejudice, as members of one family. +This expectation was not fulfilled. It may not have been +warranted. From the various discussions and decisions +of which we have knowledge, a number of delegates drew +the inference that France was destined for obvious reasons +to occupy the leading position in continental Europe, +under the protection of Anglo-Saxondom; and that a +privileged status was to be conferred on the Jews in +eastern Europe and in Palestine, while the other states +were to be in the leading-strings of the Four. This view +was not lightly expressed, however inadequately it may +prove to have been then supported by facts. As to the +desirability of forming this rude hierarchy of states, the +principal plenipotentiaries were said to have been in +general agreement, although responding to different motives. +There was but one discordant voice—that of +France—who was opposed to the various limitations set +to Poland's aggrandizement, and also to the clause placing +the Jews under the direct protection of the League of +Nations, and investing them with privileges in which the +races among whom they reside are not allowed to participate. +Bulgaria had a position unique in her class, +for she was luckier than most of her peers in having +enlisted on her side the American delegation and Mr. +Wilson as leading counsel and special pleader for her +claim to an outlet to the Ægean Sea.</p> + +<p>At the Conference each state was dealt with according +to its class. Entirely above the new law, as we saw, +stood its creators, the Anglo-Saxons. To all the others, +including the French, the Wilsonian doctrine was applied +as fully as was compatible with its author's main object, +the elaboration of an instrument which he could take back +with him to the United States as the great world settlement. +Within these limits the President was evidently +most anxious to apply his Fourteen Points, but he kept +well within these. Thus he would, perhaps, have been +quite ready to insist on the abandonment by Britain of +her supremacy on the seas, on a radical change in the +international status of Egypt and Ireland, and much +else, had these innovations been compatible with his own +special object. But they were not. He was apparently +minded to test the matter by announcing his resolve to +moot the problem of the freedom of the seas, but when +admonished by the British government that it would +not even brook its mention, he at once gave it up and, +presumably drawing the obvious inference from this +downright refusal, applied it to the Irish, Egyptian, and +other issues, which were forthwith eliminated from the +category of open or international problems. But France's +insistent demand, on the other hand, for the Rhine +frontier met with an emphatic refusal.<a name="FNanchor_127_127" id="FNanchor_127_127" href="#Footnote_127_127" >[127]</a></p> + +<p>The social reformer is disheartened by the one-sided +and inexorable way in which maxims proclaimed to be of +universal application were restricted to the second-class +nations.</p> + +<p>Russia's case abounds in illustrations of this arbitrary, +unjust, and impolitic pressure. The Russians had been +our allies. They had fought heroically at the time when +the people of the United States were, according to their +President, "too proud to fight." They were essential +factors in the Allies' victory, and consequently entitled +to the advantages and immunities enjoyed by the Western +Powers. In no case ought they to have been placed on +the same level as our enemies, and in lieu of recompense +condemned to punishment. And yet this latter conception +of their deserts was not wholly new. Soon after +their defection, and when the Allies were plunged in the +depths of despondency, a current of opinion made itself +felt among certain sections of the Allied peoples tending +to the conclusion of peace on the basis of compensations +to Germany, to be supplied by the cession of Russian +territory. This expedient was advocated by more than +one statesman, and was making headway when fresh +factors arose which bade fair to render it needless.</p> + +<p>At the Paris Conference the spirit of this conception +may still have survived and prompted much that was +done and much that was left unattempted. Russia was +under a cloud. If she was not classed as an enemy she +was denied the consideration reserved for the Allies and +the neutrals. Her integrity was a matter of indifference +to her former friends; almost every people and nationality +in the Russian state which asked for independence +found a ready hearing at the Supreme Council. And +some of them before they had lodged any such claim were +encouraged to lose no time in asking for separation. In +one case a large sum of money and a mission were sent +to "create the independent state of the Ukraine," so +impatient were peoples in the West to obtain a substitute +for the Russian ally whom they had lost in the East, +and great was their consternation when their protégés misspent +the funds and made common cause with the +Teutons.</p> + +<p>Disorganized Russia was in some ways a godsend to +the world's administrators in Paris. To the advocate of +alliances, territorial equilibrium, and the old order of +things it offered a facile means of acquiring new helpmates +in the East by emancipating its various peoples +in the name of right and justice. It held out to the +capitalists who deplored the loss of their milliards a +potential source whence part of that loss might be made +good.<a name="FNanchor_128_128" id="FNanchor_128_128" href="#Footnote_128_128" >[128]</a> To the zealots of the League of Nations it +offered an unresisting body on which all the requisite +operations from amputation to trepanning might be performed +without the use of anesthetics.</p> + +<p>The various border states of Russia were thus quietly +lopped off without even the foreknowledge, much less the +assent, of the patient, and without any pretense at +plebiscites. Finland, Esthonia, Latvia, Georgia were +severed from the chaotic Slav state offhandedly, and +the warrant was the doctrine propounded by President +Wilson—that every people shall be free to choose its own +mode of living and working. Every people? Surely not, +remarked unbiased onlookers. The Egyptians, the +Irish, the Austrians, the Persians, to name but four +among many, are disqualified for the exercise of these indefeasible +rights. Perhaps with good reason? Then +modify the doctrine. Why this difference of treatment? +they queried. Is it not because the supreme judge knows +full well that Great Britain would not brook the discussion +of the Egyptian or the Irish problem, and that +France, in order to feel quite secure, must hinder the +Austrian-Germans from coalescing with their brethren +of the Reich? But if Britain and France have the right +to veto every self-denying measure that smacks of disruption +or may involve a sacrifice, why is Russia bereft +of it? If the principle involved be of any value at all, +its application must be universal. To an equal all-round +distribution of sacrifice the only alternative is the +supremacy of force in the service of arbitrary rule. And +to this force, accordingly, the Supreme Council had +recourse. The only cases in which it seriously vindicated +the rights of oppressed or dissatisfied peoples to self-determination +against the will of the ruling race or nation +were those in which that race or nation was powerless to +resist. Whenever Britain or France's interests were +deemed to be imperiled by the putting in force of any +of the Fourteen Points, Mr. Wilson desisted from its +application. Thus it came about that Russia was put +on the same plane with Germany and received similar, +in some respects, indeed, sterner, treatment. The Germans +were at least permitted to file objections to the +conditions imposed and to point out flaws in the arrangements +drafted, and their representations sometimes +achieved their end. It was otherwise with the Russians. +They were never consulted. And when their representatives +in Paris respectfully suggested that all such changes +as might be decided upon by the Great Powers during their +country's political disablement should be taken to be +provisional and be referred for definite settlement to the +future constituent assembly, the request was ignored.</p> + +<p>Of psychological rather than political interest was +Mr. Wilson's conscientious hesitation as to whether the +nationalities which he was preparing to liberate were +sufficiently advanced to be intrusted with self-government. +As stated elsewhere, his first impulse would seem to have +been to appoint mandatories to administer the territories +severed from Russia. The mandatory arrangement under +the ubiquitous League is said to have been his own. +Presumably he afterward acquired the belief that the +system might be wisely dispensed with in the case of some +of Russia's border states, for they soon afterward received +promises of independence and implicitly of protection +against future encroachments by a resuscitated +Russia.</p> + +<p>In this connection a scene is worth reproducing which +was enacted at the Peace Table before the system of administering +certain territories by proxy was fully elaborated. +At one of the sittings the delegates set themselves +to determine what countries should be thus governed,<a name="FNanchor_129_129" id="FNanchor_129_129" href="#Footnote_129_129" >[129]</a> +and it was understood that the mandatory system was to +be reserved for the German colonies and certain provinces +of the Turkish Empire. But in the course of the conversation +Mr. Wilson casually made use of the expression, +"The German colonies, the territories of the Turkish +Empire and other territories." One of the delegates +promptly put the question, "What other territories?" +to which the President replied, unhesitatingly, "Those +of the late Russian Empire." Then he added by way of +explanation: "We are constantly receiving petitions from +peoples who lived hitherto under the scepter of the +Tsars—Caucasians, Central Asiatic peoples, and others—who +refuse to be ruled any longer by the Russians and +yet are incapable of organizing viable independent states +of their own. It is meet that the desires of these nations +should be considered." At this the Czech delegate, +Doctor Kramarcz, flared up and exclaimed: "Russia? +Cut up Russia? But what about her integrity? Is that +to be sacrificed?" But his words died away without +evoking a response. "Was there no one," a Russian +afterward asked, "to remind those representatives of the +Great Powers of their righteous wrath with Germany +when the Brest-Litovsk treaty was promulgated?"</p> + +<p>Toward Italy, who, unlike Russia, was not treated as an +enemy, but as relegated to the category of lesser states, +the attitude of President Wilson was exceptionally firm +and uncompromising. On the subject of Fiume and +Dalmatia he refused to yield an inch. In vain the +Italian delegation argued, appealed, and lowered its +claims. Mr. Wilson was adamant. It is fair to admit +that in no other way could he have contrived to get even +a simulacrum of a League. Unless the weak states were +awed into submitting to sacrifices for the great aim which +he had made his own, he must return to Washington as +the champion of a manifestly lost cause. On the other +hand, it cannot be denied that his thesis was not destitute +of arguments to support it. Accordingly the deadlock +went on for months, until the Italian Cabinet fell and +people wearied of the Adriatic problems.</p> + +<p>Poland was another of the communities which had to +bend before Anglo-Saxon will, represented in her case +mainly by Mr. Lloyd George, not, however, without the +somewhat tardy backing of his colleague from Washington. +It is important for the historian and the political +student to observe that as the British Premier was not +credited with any profound or original ideas about the +severing or soldering of east European territories, the +authorship of the powerful and successful opposition +to the allotting of Dantzig to Poland was rightly or +wrongly ascribed not to him, but to what is euphemistically +termed "international finance" lurking in the background, +whose interest in Poland was obviously keen, +and whose influence on the Supreme Council, although +less obvious, was believed to be far-reaching. The same +explanation was currently suggested for the fixed resolve +of Mr. Lloyd George not to assign Upper Silesia to Poland +without a plebiscite. His own account of the matter was +that although the inhabitants were Polish—they are as two +to one compared with the Germans—it was conceivable +that they entertained leanings toward the Germans, and +might therefore desire to throw in their lot with these. +When one compares this scrupulous respect for the likes +and dislikes of the inhabitants of that province with the +curt refusal of the same men at first to give ear to the +ardent desire of the Austrians to unite with the Germans, +or to abide by a plebiscite of the inhabitants of Fiume or +Teschen, one is bewildered. The British Premier's wish +was opposed by the official body of experts appointed to +report on the matter. Its members had no misgivings. +The territory, they said, belonged of right to Poland, +the great majority of its population was unquestionably +Polish, and the practical conclusion was that it should +be handed over to the Polish government as soon as +feasible. Thereupon the staff of the commission was +changed and new members were substituted for the old.<a name="FNanchor_130_130" id="FNanchor_130_130" href="#Footnote_130_130" >[130]</a> +But that was not enough. The British Premier still encountered +such opposition among his foreign colleagues +that it was only by dint of wordy warfare and stubbornness +that he finally won his point.</p> + +<p>The stipulation for which the first British delegate toiled +thus laboriously was that within a fortnight after the +ratification of the Treaty the German and Polish forces +should evacuate the districts in which the plebiscite was +to be held, that the Workmen's Councils there should be +dissolved, and that the League of Nations should take +over the government of the district so as to allow the +population to give full expression to its will. But the +League of Nations did not exist and could not be constituted +for a considerable time. It was therefore decided<a name="FNanchor_131_131" id="FNanchor_131_131" href="#Footnote_131_131" >[131]</a> +that some temporary substitute for the League should be +formed at once, and the Supreme Council decided that +Inter-Allied troops should occupy the districts. That was +the first instalment of the price to be paid for the British +Premier's tenderness for plebiscites, which the expert commissions +deprecated as unnecessary, and which, as events +proved in this case, were harmful.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile Bolshevist—some said German—agents +were stirring up the population by suasion and by +terrorism until it finally began to ferment. Thousands +of working-men responded to the goad, "turned down" +their tools and ceased work. Thereupon the coal-fields +of Upper Silesia, the production of which had already +dropped by 50 per cent, since the preceding November, +ceased to produce anything. This consummation grieved +the Supreme Council, which turned for help to the Inter-Allied +armies. For the Silesian coal-fields represented +about one-third of Germany's production, and both France +and Italy were looking to Germany for part of their fuel-supply. +The French press pertinently asked whether it +would not have been cheaper, safer, and more efficacious +to have forgone the plebiscite and relied on the Polish +troops from the outset.<a name="FNanchor_132_132" id="FNanchor_132_132" href="#Footnote_132_132" >[132]</a> For, however ideal the intentions +of Mr. Lloyd George may have been, the net result of his +insistence on a plebiscite was to enable an ex-newspaper +vender named Hoersing, who had undertaken to prevent +the detachment of Upper Silesia from Germany, to set +his machinery for agitation in motion and cause general +unrest in the Silesian and Dombrova coal-mining districts. +When the strike was declared the workmen, who are Poles +to a man, rejected all suggestions that they should refer +their grievances to arbitration courts. For these tribunals +were conducted by Germans. The consequence of Mr. +Lloyd George's spirited intervention was, in the words of +an unbiased observer, to "raise the specters of starvation, +freezing and Bolshevism in eastern Europe" during the +ensuing winter—a heavy price to pay for pedantic adherence +to the letter of an irrelevant ordinance, at a +moment when the spirit of basic principles was being allowed +to evaporate.</p> + +<p>Rumania was chastened and qualified in severer fashion +for admission to the sodality of nations until her delegates +quitted the Conference in disgust, struck out their own +policy, and courteously ignored the Great Powers. Then +the Supreme Council changed its note for the moment +and abandoned the position which it had taken up respecting +the armistice with Hungary, to revert to it +shortly afterward.<a name="FNanchor_133_133" id="FNanchor_133_133" href="#Footnote_133_133" >[133]</a> The joy with which the upshot of +this revolt was hailed by all the lesser states was an evil +omen. For their antipathy toward the Supreme Council +had long before hardened into a sentiment much more +intense, and any stick seemed good enough to break the +rod of the self-constituted governors of the planet.</p> + +<p>The concrete result of this tinkering and cobbling could +only be a ramshackle structure, built without any reference +to the canons of political architecture. It was shaped +neither by the Fourteen Points nor by the canons of the +balance of power and territory. It was hardly more than +an abortive attempt to make a synthesis of the two. +Created by force, it could be perpetuated only by force; +but if symptoms are to be trusted, it is more likely to be +broken up by force. As an American press organ remarked +in August: "The Council of Five complains that +no one now condescends to recognize the League of Nations. +Even the small nations are buying war material, +quite oblivious of the fact that there are to be no more +wars, now that the League is there to prevent them. +Sweden is buying large supplies from Germany, and Spain +is sending a commission to Paris to negotiate for some of +France's war equipment."<a name="FNanchor_134_134" id="FNanchor_134_134" href="#Footnote_134_134" >[134]</a></p> + +<p>Belgium, too, was treated with scant consideration. +The praise lavished on her courageous people during the +war was apparently deemed an adequate recompense for +the sacrifices she had made and the losses she endured. +For the revision of the treaties of 1839, indispensable to +the economic development of the country, no diplomatic +preparation was made down to May, and among the +Treaty clauses then drafted Belgium's share of justice was +so slight and insufficient that the unbiased press published +sharp strictures on the forgetfulness or egotism of +the Supreme Council. "The little that has leaked out of +the decisions taken regarding the conditions which affect +Belgium," wrote one journal, "has caused not only bitter +disappointment in Belgium, but also indignation everywhere.... +The Allies having decided not to accord moral +satisfaction to Belgium (they chose Geneva as the capital +of the League of Nations), it was perhaps to be expected +that they would not accord her material satisfaction. +And such expectations are being fulfilled. The Limburg +province, annexed to Holland in 1839, the province which +gave the retreating enemy unlawful refuge in 1918, a rank +violation of Dutch neutrality, is apparently not to be +restored to Belgium. Even the right, vital to the safety +and welfare of Belgium, the right of unimpeded navigation +of the Scheldt between Antwerp and the sea, has not +yet been conceded. And the raw material that is indispensable +if Belgian industry is to be revived is withheld; +the Allies, however, are quite willing to flood the country +with manufactured articles."<a name="FNanchor_135_135" id="FNanchor_135_135" href="#Footnote_135_135" >[135]</a></p> + +<p>And yet Belgium's demands were extremely modest.<a name="FNanchor_136_136" id="FNanchor_136_136" href="#Footnote_136_136" >[136]</a> +They were formulated, not as the guerdon for her heroic +defense of civilization, but as a plain corollary flowing +direct from each and every principle officially recognized +by the heads of the Conference—right, nationality, legitimate +guarantees, and economic requirements. Tested +by any or all of these accepted touchstones, everything +asked for was reasonable and fair in itself, and seemingly +indispensable to the durability of the new world-structure +which the statesmen were endeavoring to raise on the +ruins of the old. Belgium's forlorn political and territorial +plight embodied all the worst vices of the old balance +of power stigmatized by President Wilson: the mutilation +of the country; the forcible separation of sections +of its population from each other; the distribution of +these lopped, ethnic fragments among alien states and +dynasties; the control of her waterways handed over to +commercial rivals; the transformation of cities and districts +that were obviously destined to figure among her +sources of national well-being and centers of culture +into dead towns that paralyze her effort and hinder her +progress. In a word, Belgium had had no political +existence for her own behoof. She was not an organic +unit in the sodality of nations, but a mere cog in the +mechanism of European equilibrium.</p> + +<p>Ruined by the war, Belgium was sorely tried by the +Peace Conference. She complained of two open wounds +which poisoned her existence, stunted her economic +growth, and rendered her self-defense an impossibility: +the vast gap of Limburg on the east and the blocking +of the Scheldt on the west. The great national <i>réduit</i>, +Antwerp, cut off from the sea, inaccessible to succor in +case of war, on the one side, and Limburg opening to +Germany's armies the road through central Belgium, +on the other—these were the two standing dangers which +it was hoped would be removed. How dangerous they +are events had demonstrated. In October, 1914, Antwerp +fell because Holland had closed the Scheldt and forbidden +the entrance to warships and transports, and in November, +1918, a German army of over seventy thousand men +eluded pursuit by the Allies by passing through Dutch +Limburg, carrying with them vast war materials and +booty. Militarily Belgium is exposed to mortal perils +so long as the treaties which ordained this preposterous +division of territories are maintained in vigor.</p> + +<p>Economically, too, the consequences, especially of the +status of the Scheldt, are admittedly baleful. To Holland +the river is practically useless—indeed, the only advantage +it could confer would be the power of impeding the growth +and prosperity of Antwerp for the benefit of its rival, +Rotterdam. All that the Belgians desired there was the +complete control of their national river, with the right +of carrying out the works necessary to keep it navigable. +A like demand was put forward for the canal of Terneuzen, +which links the city of Ghent with the Scheldt; and the +suppression of the checks and hindrances to Belgium's +free communications with her hinterland—<i>i.e.</i>, the basins +of the Meuse and the Rhine. Prom every point of +view, including that of international law, the claims +made were at once modest and grounded. But the +Supreme Council had no time to devote to such subsidiary +matters, and, like more momentous issues, they +were adjourned.</p> + +<p>The Belgian delegation did not ask that Holland's +territory should be curtailed. On the contrary, they +would have welcomed its increase by the addition of +territory inhabited by people of her own idiom, under +German sway.<a name="FNanchor_137_137" id="FNanchor_137_137" href="#Footnote_137_137" >[137]</a> But the Dutch demurred, as Denmark +had done in the matter of the third Schleswig zone, for +fear of offending Germany. And the Supreme Council +acquiesced in the refusal. Again, when issues were under +discussion that turned upon the Rhine country and +affected Belgian interests, her delegates were never consulted. +They were systematically ignored by the Conference. +When the capital of the League of Nations +was to be chosen, their hopes that Brussels would be +deemed worthy of the honor were blasted by President +Wilson himself. One of the American delegates informed +a foreign colleague "that the capital of the League must +be situate in a tranquil country, must have a steady, +settled population and a really good climate." "A good +climate?" asked a continental statesman. "Then why +not choose Monte Carlo?"</p> + +<p>But the decision in favor of Geneva was sent by courier +from Switzerland ready made to President Wilson. The +chief grounds which lent color to the belief that religious +bias played a larger part in the Conference's decisions +than was apparent were the following: It was from +Geneva that the spirit of religious and political liberty +first went forth to be incarnated among the various +nations of the world. It is to John Calvin, rather than +to Martin Luther, that the birth of the Scotch Covenanters +and of English Puritanism is traceable. Hence Geneva +is the parent of New England. So, too, it was Rousseau—a +true child of Calvin—who was the author of America's +Declaration of Independence. Again, one of the first +pacifists and advocates of international arbitration was +born in Geneva. John Knox sat for two years at the feet +of Calvin. Consequently the Puritan Revolution, the +French Revolution, and the American Revolution all +had their springs in Geneva.</p> + +<p>These were the considerations which weighed with +President Wilson when he refused to fix his choice on +Brussels. In vain the Belgians argued and pleaded, +urging that if the Conference were to vote for London, +Washington, or Paris, they would receive the announcement +with respectful acquiescence, but that among the +lesser states they conceived that their country's claims +were the best grounded. To the Americans who objected +that Switzerland's mountains and lakes, being free from +hateful war memories, offer more fitting surroundings +for the capital of the League of Peace than Brussels, where +vestiges of the odious struggle will long survive, they +answered that they could only regret that Belgium's +resistance to the lawless invaders should be taken to +disqualify her for the honor.</p> + +<p>It is worth while pursuing this matter a step farther. +The Federal Council in Berne having soon afterward +officially recommended<a name="FNanchor_138_138" id="FNanchor_138_138" href="#Footnote_138_138" >[138]</a> the nation to enter the League +which guarantees it neutrality,<a name="FNanchor_139_139" id="FNanchor_139_139" href="#Footnote_139_139" >[139]</a> an illuminating discussion +ensued. And it was elicited that as there is an obligation +imposed on all member-states to execute the decrees of +the League for the coercion of rebellious fellow-members, +it follows that in such cases Switzerland, too, would be +obliged to take an active part in the struggle between the +League and the recalcitrant country. From military +operations, however, Switzerland is dispensed, but it +would certainly be bound to adopt economic measures of +pressure, and to this extent abandon its neutrality. Now +not only would that attitude be construed by the disobedient +nation as unfriendly, and the usual consequences +drawn from it, but as Switzerland is freed from military +co-operation, it follows that the League could not fix the +headquarters of its military command in its own capital, +Geneva, as that would constitute a violation of Swiss +neutrality. And, if it did, Switzerland would in self-defense +be bound to oppose the decision!</p> + +<p>The Belgians were discouraged by the disdainful demeanor +and grudging disposition of the Supreme Council, +and irritated by the arbitrariness of its decrees and the +indefensible way in which it applied principles that were +propounded as sacred. Before restoring the diminutive +cantons of Eupen and Malmedy to Belgium, for example, +Mr. Wilson insisted on ascertaining the will of the population +by plebiscite. In itself the measure was reasonable, +but the position of these little districts was substantially +on all-fours with Alsace-Lorraine, which was restored +to France without any such test. In Fiume, also, +the will of the inhabitants went for nothing, Mr. Wilson +refusing to consult them. Further, Austria, whose people +were known to favor union with Germany, was systematically +jockeyed into ruinous isolation. "Now what, in +the light of these conflicting judgments," asked the Belgians, +"is the true meaning of the principle of self-determination?" +The only reply they received was that Mr. +Wilson was right when he told his fellow-countrymen that +his principles stood in need of interpretation, and that, as +he was the sole authorized interpreter, his presence was +required in Europe.</p> + +<p>In money matters, too, the chief plenipotentiaries can +hardly be acquitted of something akin to niggardliness +toward the country which had saved theirs from a catastrophe. +Down to the month of May, 1921, two and a +half milliard francs was the maximum sum allotted to +Belgium by the Supreme Council. And for the work of +restoring the devastated country, which the Great Powers +had spontaneously promised to accomplish, it was alleged +by experts to be wholly inadequate. Other financial +grievances were ignored—for a time. Further, it was decided +that Germany should surrender her African colonies +to the Great Powers; yet Belgium, who contributed materially +to their conquest, was not to be associated with them.</p> + +<p>Irritated by this illiberality, the Belgian delegation, having +consulted with M. Renkin, to whose judgment in these +matters special weight attached, resolved to make a firm +stand, and refused to sign the Treaty unless at least certain +modest financial, economic, and colonial claims, +which ought to have been settled spontaneously, were +accorded under pressure. And the Supreme Council, +rather than be arraigned before the world on the charge +of behaving unjustly as well as ungenerously toward +Belgium, ultimately gave way, leaving, however, an impression +behind which seemed as indelible as it was profound....</p> + +<p>The domination which is now being exercised by the +principal Powers over the remaining states of the world is +fraught with consequences which were not foreseen, and +have not yet been realized by those who established it. +Among the least momentous, but none the less real, is one +to which Belgium is exposed. Hitherto there was a language +problem in that heroic country which, being an +internal controversy, could be settled without noteworthy +perturbations by the good-will of the Walloons and the +Flemings. The danger, which one fervently hopes will +be warded off, consists in the possible transformation of +that dispute into an international question, in consequence +of possible accords of a military or economic nature. The +subject is too delicate to be handled by a foreigner, and +the Belgian people are too practical and law-loving not +to avoid unwary steps that might turn a linguistic problem +into a racial issue.</p> + +<p>The Supreme Council soon came to be looked upon as +the prototype of the future League, and in that light its +action was sharply scrutinized by all whom the League +concerned. Foremost among these were the representatives +of the lesser states, or, as they were termed, "states +with limited interests." This band of patriots had pilgrimaged +to Paris full of hope for their respective countries, +having drunk in avidly the unstinted praise and +promises which had served as pabulum for their attachment +to the Allied cause during the war. But their illusions +were short-lived. At one of their first meetings with +the delegates of the Great Powers a storm burst which +scattered their expectations to the winds. When the sky +cleared it was discovered that from indispensable fellow-workers +they had shrunk to dwarfish protégées, mere +units of an inferior category, who were to be told what to +do and would be constrained to do it thoroughly if not +unmurmuringly.</p> + +<p>At the historic sitting of January 26th, the delegates of +the lesser states protested energetically against the purely +decorative part assigned to them at a Conference in the +decisions of which their peoples were so intensely interested. +The Canadian Minister, having spoken of the +"proposal" of the Great Powers, was immediately corrected +by M. Clemenceau, who brusquely said that it was +not a proposal, but a decision, which was therefore definitive +and final. Thereupon the Belgian delegate, M. +Hymans, delivered a masterly speech, pleading for genuine +discussion in order to elucidate matters that so closely +concerned them all, and he requested the Conference to +allow the smaller belligerent Allies more than two delegates. +Their demand was curtly rejected by the French +Premier, who informed his hearers that the Conference +was the creation of the Great Powers, who intended to +keep the direction of its labors in their own hands. He +added significantly that the smaller nations' representatives +would probably not have been invited at all if the +special problem of the League of Nations had not been +mooted. Nor should it be forgotten, he added, that the +five Great Powers represented no less than twelve million +fighting-men.... In conclusion, he told them that they +had better get on with their work in lieu of wasting precious +time in speechmaking. These words produced a +profound and lasting effect, which, however, was hardly +the kind intended by the French statesman.</p> + +<p>"Conferential Tsarism" was the term applied to this +magisterial method by one of the offended delegates. +He said to me on the morrow: "My reply to M. Clemenceau +was ready, but fear of impairing the prestige of the +Conference prevented me from uttering it. I could have +emphasized the need for unanimity in the presence of +vigilant enemies, ready to introduce a wedge into every +fissure of the edifice we are constructing. I could have +pointed out that, this being an assembly of nations +which had waged war conjointly, there is no sound reason +why its membership should be diluted with states which +never drew the sword at all. I might have asked what +has become of the doctrine preached when victory was +still undecided, that a league of nations must repose +upon a free consent of all sovereign states. And above +all things else I could have inquired how it came to pass +that the architect-in-chief of the society of nations which +is to bestow a stable peace on mankind should invoke +the argument of force, of militarism, against the pacific +peoples who voluntarily made the supreme sacrifice for +the cause of humanity and now only ask for a hearing. +Twelve million fighting-men is an argument to be employed +against the Teutons, not against the peace-loving, law-abiding +peoples of Europe.</p> + +<p>"Premier Clemenceau seemed to lay the blame for the +waste of time on our shoulders, but the truth is that we +were never admitted to the deliberations until yesterday; +although two and one-half months have elapsed since the +armistice was concluded, and although the progress +made by these leading statesmen is manifestly limited, +he grudged us forty-five minutes to give vent to our views +and wishes.</p> + +<p>"The French Tiger was admirable when crushing the +enemies of civilization with his twelve million fighting-men; +but gestures and actions which were appropriate to +the battlefield become sources of jarring and discord when +imported into a concert of peoples."</p> + +<p>Much bitterness was generated by those high-handed +tactics, whereupon certain slight concessions were made +in order to placate the offended delegates; but, being doled +out with a bad grace, they failed of the effect intended. +Belgium received three delegates instead of two, and +Jugoslavia three; but Rumania, whose population was +estimated at fourteen millions, was allowed but two. This +inexplicable decision caused a fresh wound, which was +kept continuously open by friction, although it might +readily have been avoided. Its consequences may be +traced in Rumania's singular relations to the Supreme +Council before and after the fall of Kuhn in Hungary.</p> + +<p>But even those drastic methods might be deemed warranted +if the policy enforced were, in truth, conducive to +the welfare of the nations on whom it was imposed. But +hastily improvised by one or two men, who had no claim +to superior or even average knowledge of the problems +involved, and who were constantly falling into egregious +and costly errors, it was inevitable that their intervention +should be resented as arbitrary and mischievous by the +leaders of the interested nations whose acquaintanceship +with those questions and with the interdependent issues +was extensive and precise. This resentment, however, +might have been not, indeed, neutralized, but somewhat +mitigated, if the temper and spirit in which the Duumvirate +discharged its self-set functions had been free from +hauteur and softened by modesty. But the magisterial +wording in which its decisions were couched, the abruptness +with which they were notified, and the threats that +accompanied their imposition would have been repellent +even were the authors endowed with infallibility.</p> + +<p>One of the delegates who unbosomed himself to me on +the subject soon after the Germans had signed the +Treaty remarked: "The Big Three are superlatively unsympathetic +to most of the envoys from the lesser belligerent +states. And it would be a wonder if it were otherwise, +for they make no effort to hide their disdain for us. +In fact, it is downright contempt. They never consult +us. When we approach them they shove us aside as +importunate intruders. They come to decisions unknown +to us, and carry them out in secrecy, as though we were +enemies or spies. If we protest or remonstrate, we are +imperialists and ungrateful.</p> + +<p>"Often we learn only from the newspapers the burdens +or the restrictions that have been imposed on us."</p> + +<p>A couple of days previously M. Clemenceau, in an unofficial +reply to a question put by the Rumanian delegation, +directed them to consult the financial terms of the +Treaty with Austria, forgetting that the delegates of the +lesser states had not been allowed to receive or read those +terms. Although communicated to the Austrians, they +were carefully concealed from the Rumanians, whom they +also concerned. At the same time, the Rumanian government +was called upon to take and announce a decision +which presupposed acquaintanceship with those conditions, +whereupon the Rumanian Premier telegraphed from +Bucharest to Paris to have them sent. But his <i>locum tenens</i> +did not possess a copy and had no right to demand one.<a name="FNanchor_140_140" id="FNanchor_140_140" href="#Footnote_140_140" >[140]</a> +Incongruities of this character were frequent.</p> + +<p>One statesman in Paris, who enjoys a world-wide +reputation, dissented from those who sided with the lesser +states. He looked at their protests and tactics from an +angle of vision which the unbiased historian, however +emphatically he may dissent from it, cannot ignore. He +said: "All the smaller communities are greedy and insatiable. +If the chiefs of the World Powers had understood +their temper and ascertained their aspirations in +1914, much that has passed into history since then would +never have taken place. During the war these miniature +countries were courted, flattered, and promised the sun +and the moon, earth and heaven, and all the glories therein. +And now that these promises cannot be redeemed, they +are wroth, and peevishly threaten the great states with +disobedience and revolt. This, it is true, they could not +do if the latter had not forfeited their authority and +prestige by allowing their internal differences, hesitations, +contradictions, and repentances to become manifest to +all. To-day it is common knowledge that the Great +Powers are amenable to very primitive incentives and +deterrents. If in the beginning they had been united and +said to their minor brethren: 'These are your frontiers. +These your obligations,' the minor brethren would have +bowed and acquiesced gratefully. In this way the +boundary problems might have been settled to the satisfaction +of all, for each new or enlarged state would have +been treated as the recipient of a free gift from the World +Powers. But the plenipotentiaries went about their task +in a different and unpractical fashion. They began by +recognizing the new communities, and then they gave +them representatives at the Conference. This they did +on the ground that the League of Nations must first be +founded, and that all well-behaved belligerents on the +Allied side have a right to be consulted upon that. And, +finally, instead of keeping to their program and liquidating +the war, they mingled the issues of peace with the clauses +of the League and debated them simultaneously. In +these debates they revealed their own internal differences, +their hesitancy, and the weakness of their will. And the +lesser states have taken advantage of that. The general +results have been the postponement of peace, the physical +exhaustion of the Central Empires, and the spread of +Bolshevism."</p> + +<p>It should not be forgotten that this mixture of the +general and the particular of the old order and the new +was objected to on other grounds. The Italians, for +example, urged that it changed the status of a large +number of their adversaries into that of highly privileged +Allies. During the war they were enemies, before the +peace discussions opened they had obtained forgiveness, +after which they entered the Conference as cherished +friends. The Italians had waged their war heroically +against the Austrians, who inflicted heavy losses on them. +Who were these Austrians? They were composed of the +various nationalities which made up the Hapsburg +monarchy, and in especial of men of Slav speech. These +soldiers, with notable exceptions, discharged their duty +to the Austrian Emperor and state conscientiously, according +to the terms of their oath. Their disposition +toward the Italians was not a whit less hostile than was +that of the common German man against the French and +the English. Why, then, argued the Italians, accord +them privileges over the ally who bore the brunt of the +fight against them? Why even treat the two as equals? +It may be replied that the bulk of the people were indifferent +and merely carried out orders. Well, the same +holds good of the average German, yet he is not being +spoiled by the victorious World Powers. But the Croats +and others suddenly became the favorite children of the +Conference, while the Germans and Teuton-Austrians, +who in the meanwhile had accepted and fulfilled President +Wilson's conditions for entry into the fellowship of nations, +were not only punished heavily—which was perfectly +just—but also disqualified for admission into the +League, which was inconsistent.</p> + +<p>The root of all the incoherences complained of lay in +the circumstance that the chiefs of the Great Powers +had no program, no method; Mr. Wilson's pristine scheme +would have enabled him to treat the gallant Serbs and +their Croatian brethren as he desired. But he had failed +to maintain it against opposition. On the other hand, the +traditional method of the balance of power would have +given Italy all that she could reasonably ask for, but +Mr. Wilson had partially destroyed it. Nothing remained +then but to have recourse to a <i>tertium quid</i> which +profoundly dissatisfied both parties and imperiled the +peace of the world in days to come. And even this makeshift +the eminent plenipotentiaries were unable to contrive +single-handed. Their notion of getting the work done +was to transfer it to missions, commissions, and sub-commissions, +and then to take action which, as often as +not, ran counter to the recommendations of these selected +agents. Oddly enough, none of these bodies received +adequate directions. To take a concrete example: a +central commission was appointed to deal with the Polish +frontier problems, a second commission under M. Jules +Cambon had to study the report on the Polish Delimitation +question, but although often consulted, it was seldom +listened to. Then there was a third commission, which +also did excellent work to very little purpose. Now all +the questions which formed the subjects of their inquiries +might be approached from various sides. There +were historical frontiers, ethnographical frontiers, political +and strategical and linguistic frontiers. And this does not +exhaust the list. Among all these, then, the commissioners +had to choose their field of investigation as the +spirit moved them, without any guidance from the +Supreme Council, which presumably did not know what +it wanted.</p> + +<p>As an example of the Council's unmethodical procedure, +and of its slipshod way of tackling important work, the +following brief sketch of a discussion which was intended +to be decisive and final, but ended in mere waste of time, +may be worth recording. The topic mooted was disarmament. +The Anglo-Saxon plenipotentiaries, feeling +that they owed it to their doctrines and their peoples to +ease the military burdens of the latter and lessen temptations +to acts of violence, favored a measure by which +armaments should be reduced forthwith. The Italian +delegates had put forward the thesis, which was finally accepted, +that if Austria, for instance, was to be forbidden +to keep more than a certain number of troops under arms, +the prohibition should be extended to all the states of +which Austria had been composed, and that in all these +cases the ratio between the population and the army +should be identical. Accordingly, the spokesmen of the +various countries interested were summoned to take +cognizance of the decision and intimate their readiness +to conform to it.</p> + +<p>M. Paderewski listened respectfully to the decree, and +then remarked: "According to the accounts received +from the French military authorities, Germany still has +three hundred and fifty thousand soldiers in Silesia." +"No," corrected M. Clemenceau, "only three hundred +thousand." "I accept the correction," replied the Polish +Premier. "The difference, however, is of no importance +to my contention, which is that according to the symptoms +reported we Poles may have to fight the Germans and to +wage the conflict single-handed. As you know, we have +other military work on hand. I need only mention our +strife with the Bolsheviki. If we are deprived of effective +means of self-defense, on the one hand, and told to expect +no help from the Allies, on the other hand, the consequence +will be what every intelligent observer foresees. Now +three hundred thousand Germans is no trifle to cope with. +If we confront them with an inadequate force and are +beaten, what then?" "Undoubtedly," exclaimed M. +Clemenceau, "if the Germans were victorious in the east +of Europe the Allies would have lost the war. And that +is a perspective not to be faced."</p> + +<p>M. Bratiano spoke next. "We too," he said, "have to +fight the Bolsheviki on more than one front. This struggle +is one of life and death to us. But it concerns, if only +in a lesser degree, all Europe, and we are rendering services +to the Great Powers by the sacrifices we thus offer +up. Is it desirable, is it politic, to limit our forces without +reference to these redoubtable tasks which await them? +Is it not incumbent on the Powers to allow these states +to grow to the dimensions required for the discharge of +their functions?" "What you advance is true enough +for the moment," objected M. Clemenceau; "but you +forget that our limitations are not to be applied at once. +We fix a term after the expiry of which the strength of the +armies will be reduced. We have taken all the circumstances +into account." "Are you prepared to affirm," +queried the Rumanian Minister, "that you can estimate +the time with sufficient precision to warrant our risking +the existence of our country on your forecast?" "The +danger will have completely disappeared," insisted the +French Premier, "by January, 1921." "I am truly +glad to have this assurance," answered M. Bratiano, +"for I doubt not that you are quite certain of what you +advance, else you would not stake the fate of your eastern +allies on its correctness. But as we who have not been +told the grounds on which you base this calculation are +asked to manifest our faith in it by incurring the heaviest +conceivable risks, would it be too much to suggest that +the Great Powers should show their confidence in their +own forecast by guaranteeing that if by the insurgence +of unexpected events they proved to be mistaken and +Rumania were attacked, they would give us prompt and +adequate military assistance?" To this appeal there +was no affirmative response; whereupon M. Bratiano +concluded: "The limitation of armaments is highly +desirable. No people is more eager for it than ours. +But it has one limitation which must, I venture to think, +be respected. So long as you have a restive or dubious +neighbor, whose military forces are subjected neither to +limitation nor control, you cannot divest yourself of your +own means of self-defense. That is our view of the matter."</p> + +<p>Months later the same difficulty cropped up anew, this +time in a concrete form, and was dealt with by the +Supreme Council in its characteristic manner. Toward +the end of August Rumania's doings in Hungary and her +alleged designs on the Banat alarmed and angered the +delegates, whose authority was being flouted with impunity; +and by way of summarily terminating the scandal +and preventing unpleasant surprises M. Clemenceau +proposed that all further consignments of arms to +Rumania should cease. Thereupon Italy's chief representative, +Signor Tittoni, offered an amendment. He +deprecated, he said, any measure leveled specially against +Rumania, all the more that there existed already an +enactment of the old Council of Four limiting the armaments +of all the lesser states. The Military Council of +Versailles, having been charged with the study of this +matter, had reached the conclusion that the Great Powers +should not supply any of the governments with war material. +Signor Tittoni was of the opinion, therefore, that +those conclusions should now be enforced.</p> + +<p>The Council thereupon agreed with the Italian delegate, +and passed a resolution to supply none of the lesser +countries with war material. And a few minutes later +it passed another resolution authorizing Germany to +cede part of her munitions and war material to Czechoslovakia +and some more to General Yudenitch!<a name="FNanchor_141_141" id="FNanchor_141_141" href="#Footnote_141_141" >[141]</a></p> + +<p>When the commissions to which all the complex +problems had to be referred were being first created,<a name="FNanchor_142_142" id="FNanchor_142_142" href="#Footnote_142_142" >[142]</a> +the lesser states were allowed only five representatives +on the Financial and Economic commissions, and were +bidden to elect them. The nineteen delegates of these +States protested on the ground that this arrangement +would not give them sufficient weight in the councils by +which their interests would be discussed. These malcontents +were headed by Senhor Epistacio Pessoa, the +President-elect of the United States of Brazil. The +Polish delegate, M. Dmowski, addressing the meeting, +suggested that they should not proceed to an election, +the results of which might stand in no relation to the +interests which the states represented had in matters of +European finance, but that they should ask the Great +Powers to appoint the delegates. To this the President-elect +of Brazil demurred, taking the ground that it would +be undignified for the lesser states to submit to have their +spokesman nominated by the greater. Thereupon they +elected five delegates, all of them from South American +countries, to deal with European finance, leaving the +Europeans to choose five from among themselves. This +would have given ten in all to the communities whose +interests were described as limited, and was an affront +to the Great Powers.</p> + +<p>This comedy was severely judged and its authors +reprimanded by the heads of the Conference, who, while +quashing the elections, relented to the extent of promising +that extra delegates might be appointed for the lesser +nations later on. As a matter of fact, the number of +commissions was of no real consequence, because on all +momentous issues their findings, unless they harmonized +with the decisions of the chief plenipotentiaries, were +simply ignored.</p> + +<p>The curious attitude of the Supreme Council toward +Rumania may be contemplated from various angles of +vision. But the safest coign of vantage from which to +look at it is that formed by the facts.</p> + +<p>Rumania's grievances were many, and they began at +the opening of the Conference, when she was refused more +than two delegates as against the five attributed to each +of the Great Powers and three each for Serbia and Belgium, +whose populations are numerically inferior to hers. +Then her treaty with Great Britain, France, and Russia, +on the strength of which she entered the war, was upset +by its more powerful signatories as soon as the frontier +question was mooted at the Conference. Further, the +existence of the Rumanian delegation was generally +ignored by the Supreme Council. Thus, when the treaty +with Germany was presented to Count von Brockdorff-Rantzau, +a mere journalist<a name="FNanchor_143_143" id="FNanchor_143_143" href="#Footnote_143_143" >[143]</a> at the Conference possessed +a complete copy, whereas the Rumanian delegation, +headed by the Prime Minister Bratiano, had cognizance +only of an incomplete summary. When the fragmentary +treaty was drafted for Austria, the Rumanian delegation +saw the text only on the evening before the presentation, +and, noticing inacceptable clauses, formulated reservations. +These reservations were apparently acquiesced in +by the members of the Supreme Council. That, at any +rate, was the impression of MM. Bratiano and Misu. +But on the following day, catching a glimpse of the draft, +they discovered that the obnoxious provisions had been +left intact. Then they lodged their reserves in writing, +but to no purpose. One of the obligations imposed on +Rumania by the Powers was a promise to accept in advance +any and every measure that the Supreme Council +might frame for the protection of minorities in the country, +and for further restricting the sovereignty of the state +in matters connected with the transit of Allied goods. +And, lastly, the Rumanians complained that the action of +the Supreme Council was creating a dangerous ferment in +the Dobrudja, and even in Transylvania, where the Saxon +minority, which had willingly accepted Rumanian sway, +was beginning to agitate against it. In Bessarabia the +non-Rumanian elements of the population were fiercely +opposing the Rumanians and invoking the support of the +Peace Conference. The cardinal fact which, in the judgment +of the Rumanians, dominated the situation was the +<i>quasi</i> ultimatum presented to them in the spring, when +they were summoned unofficially and privately to grant +industrial concessions to a pushing body of financiers, or +else to abide by the consequences, one of which, they were +told, would be the loss of America's active assistance. +They had elected to incur the threatened penalty after +having carefully weighed the advantages and disadvantages +of laying the matter before President Wilson himself, +and inquiring officially whether the action in question +was—as they felt sure it must be—in contradiction with +the President's east European policy. For it would be +sad to think that abundant petroleum might have washed +away many of the tribulations which the Rumanians had +afterward to endure, and that loans accepted on onerous +conditions would, as was hinted, have softened the hearts +of those who had it in their power to render the existence +of the nation sour or sweet.<a name="FNanchor_144_144" id="FNanchor_144_144" href="#Footnote_144_144" >[144]</a> "Look out," exclaimed a +Rumanian to me. "You will see that we shall be spurned +as Laodiceans, or worse, before the Conference is over." +Rumania's external situation was even more perilous than +her domestic plight. Situated between Russia and Hungary, +she came more and more to resemble the iron between +the hammer and the anvil. A well-combined move +of the two anarchist states might have pulverized her. +Alive to the danger, her spokesmen in Paris were anxious +to guard against it, but the only hope they had at the +moment was centered in the Great Powers, whose delegates +at the Conference were discharging the functions which +the League of Nations would be called on to fulfil whenever +it became a real institution. And their past experience +of the Great Powers' mode of action was not calculated +to command their confidence. It was the Great +Powers which, for their own behoof and without the +slightest consideration for the interests of Rumania, had +constrained that country to declare war against the Central +Empires<a name="FNanchor_145_145" id="FNanchor_145_145" href="#Footnote_145_145" >[145]</a> and had made promises of effective support +in the shape of Russian troops, war material of every kind, +officers, and heavy artillery. But neither the promises of +help nor the assurances that Germany's army of invasion +would be immobilized were redeemed, and so far as one +can now judge they ought never to have been made. For +what actually came to pass—the invasion of the country +by first-class German armies under Mackensen—might +easily have been foreseen, and was actually foretold.<a name="FNanchor_146_146" id="FNanchor_146_146" href="#Footnote_146_146" >[146]</a> +The entire country was put to sack, and everything of +value that could be removed was carried off to Hungary, +Germany, or Austria. The Allies lavished their verbal +sympathies on the immolated nation, but did little else +to succor it, and want and misery and disease played havoc +with the people.</p> + +<p>After the armistice things became worse instead of +better. The Hungarians were permitted to violate the +conditions and keep a powerful army out of all proportion +to the area which they were destined to retain, and as the +Allies disposed of no countering force in eastern Europe, +their commands were scoffed at by the Budapest Cabinet. +In the spring of 1919 the Bolshevists of Hungary waxed +militant and threatened the peace of Rumania, whose +statesmen respectfully sued for permission to occupy certain +commanding positions which would have enabled +their armies to protect the land from invasion. But the +Duumviri in Paris negatived the request. They fancied +that they understood the situation better than the people +on the spot. Thereupon the Bolshevists, ever ready for +an opportunity, seized upon the opening afforded them by +the Supreme Council, attacked the Rumanians, and invaded +their territory. Nothing abashed, the two Anglo-Saxon +statesmen comforted M. Bratiano and his colleagues +with the expression of their regret and the promise that +tranquillity would not again be disturbed. The Supreme +Council would see to that. But this promise, like those +that preceded it, was broken.</p> + +<p>The Rumanians went so far as to believe that the +Supreme Council either had Bolshevist leanings or underwent +secret influences—perhaps unwittingly—the nature +of which it was not easy to ascertain. In support of these +theories they urged that when the Rumanians were on +the very point of annihilating the Red troops of Kuhn, +it was the Supreme Council which interposed its authority +to save them, and did save them effectually, when nothing +else could have done it. That Kuhn was on the point +of collapsing was a matter of common knowledge. A +radio-telegram flashed from Budapest by one of his +lieutenants contained this significant avowal: "He +[Kuhn] has announced that the Hungarian forces are in +flight. The troops which occupied a good position at the +bridgehead of Gomi have abandoned it, carrying with +them the men who were doing their duty. In Budapest +preparations are going forward for equipping fifteen +workmen's battalions." In other words, the downfall +of Bolshevism had begun. The Rumanians were on the +point of achieving it. Their troops on the bank of the +river Tisza<a name="FNanchor_147_147" id="FNanchor_147_147" href="#Footnote_147_147" >[147]</a> were preparing to march on Budapest. +And it was at that critical moment that the world-arbiters +at the Conference who had anathematized the Bolshevists +as the curse of civilization interposed their authority +and called a halt. If they had solid grounds for intervening +they were not avowed. M. Clemenceau sent for +M. Bratiano and vetoed the march in peremptory terms +which did scant justice to the services rendered and the +sacrifices made by the Rumanian state. Secret arrangements, +it was whispered, had been come to between agents +of the Powers and Kuhn. At the time nobody quite +understood the motive of the sudden change of disposition +evinced by the Allies toward the Magyar Bolshevists. +For it was assumed that they still regarded the Bolshevist +leaders as outlaws. One explanation was that they objected +to allow the Rumanian army alone to occupy the +Hungarian capital. But that would not account for their +neglect to despatch an Inter-Allied contingent to restore +order in the city and country. For they remained absolutely +inactive while Kuhn's supporters were rallying +and consolidating their scattered and demoralized forces, +and they kept the Rumanians from balking the Bolshevist +work of preparing another attack. As one of their +French critics<a name="FNanchor_148_148" id="FNanchor_148_148" href="#Footnote_148_148" >[148]</a> remarked, they dealt exclusively in negatives—some +of them pernicious enough, whereas a positive +policy was imperatively called for. To reconstruct a +nation, not to say a ruined world, a series of contradictory +vetoes is hardly sufficient. But another explanation of +their attitude was offered which gained widespread acceptance. +It will be unfolded presently.</p> + +<p>The dispersed Bolshevist army, thus shielded, soon recovered +its nerve, and, feeling secure on the Rumanian +front, where the Allies held the invading troops immobilized, +attacked the Slovaks and overran their country. +For Bolshevism is by nature proselytizing. The Prague +Cabinet was dismayed. The new-born Czechoslovak +state was shaken. A catastrophe might, as it seemed, +ensue at any moment. Rumania's troops were on the +watch for the signal to resume their march, but it came +not. The Czechoslovaks were soliciting it prayerfully. +But the weak-kneed plenipotentiaries in Paris were +minded to fight, if at all, with weapons taken from a different +arsenal. In lieu of ordering the Rumanian troops +to march on Budapest, they addressed themselves to the +Bolshevist leader, Kuhn, summoned him to evacuate the +Slovak country, and volunteered the promise that they +would compel the Rumanians to withdraw. This amazing +line of action was decided on by the secret Council of +Three without the assent or foreknowledge of the nation +to whose interests it ran counter and the head of whose +government was rubbing shoulders with the plenipotentiaries +every day. But M. Bratiano's existence and that +of his fellow-delegate was systematically ignored. It is +not easy to fathom the motives that inspired this supercilious +treatment of the spokesman of a nation which was +sacrificing its sons in the service of the Allies as well as +its own. Personal antipathy, however real, cannot be +assumed without convincing grounds to have been the +mainspring.</p> + +<p>But there was worse than the contemptuous treatment +of a colleague who was also the chief Minister of a +friendly state. If an order was to be given to the Rumanian +government to recall its forces from the front +which they occupied, elementary courtesy and political +tact as well as plain common sense would have suggested +its being communicated, in the first instance, to the +chief of that government—who was then resident in +Paris—as head of his country's delegation to the Conference. +But that was not the course taken. The statesmen +of the Secret Council had recourse to the radio, and, +without consulting M. Bratiano, despatched a message +"to the government in Bucharest" enjoining on it the +withdrawal of the Rumanian army. For they were +minded scrupulously to redeem their promise to the Bolshevists. +One need not be a diplomatist to realize the +amazement of "the Rumanian government" on receiving +this abrupt behest. The feelings of the Premier, +when informed of these underhand doings, can readily +be imagined. And it is no secret that the temper of a +large section of the Rumanian people was attuned by these +petty freaks to sentiments which boded no good to the +cause for which the Allies professed to be working. In +September M. Bratiano was reported as having stigmatized +the policy adopted by the Conference toward +Rumania as being of a "malicious and dangerous +character."<a name="FNanchor_149_149" id="FNanchor_149_149" href="#Footnote_149_149" >[149]</a></p> + +<p>The frontier to which the troops were ordered to withdraw +had, as we saw, just been assigned to Rumania<a name="FNanchor_150_150" id="FNanchor_150_150" href="#Footnote_150_150" >[150]</a> +without the assent of her government, and with a degree +of secrecy and arbitrariness that gave deep offense, not +only to her official representatives, but also to those +parliamentarians and politicians who from genuine attachment +or for peace' sake were willing to go hand in +hand with the Entente. "If one may classify the tree +by its fruits," exclaimed a Rumanian statesman in my +hearing, "the great Three are unconscious Bolshevists. +They are undermining respect for authority, tradition, +plain, straightforward dealing, and, in the case of Rumania, +are behaving as though their staple aim were to +detach our nation from France and the Entente. And +this aim is not unattainable. The Rumanian people +were heart and soul with the French, but the bonds which +were strong a short while ago are being weakened among +an influential section of the people, to the regret of all +Rumanian patriots."</p> + +<p>The answer given by the "Rumanian government in +Bucharest" to the peremptory order of the Secret Council +was a reasoned refusal to comply. Rumania, taught by +terrible experience, declined to be led once more into +deadly peril against her own better judgment. Her +statesmen, more intimately acquainted with the Hungarians +than were Mr. Lloyd George, Mr. Wilson, and M. +Clemenceau, required guaranties which could be supplied +only by armed forces—Rumanian or Allied. Unless and +until Hungary received a government chosen by the +free will of the people and capable of offering guaranties +of good conduct, the troops must remain where they were. +For the line which they occupied at the moment could be +defended with four divisions, whereas the new one could +not be held by less than seven or eight. The Council +was therefore about to commit another fateful mistake, +the consequences of which it was certain to shift to the +shoulders of the pliant people. It was then that Rumania's +leaders kicked against the pricks.</p> + +<p>To return to the dispute between Bucharest and Paris: +the Rumanian government would have been willing to +conform to the desire of the Supreme Council and withdraw +its troops if the Supreme Council would only make +good its assurance and guarantee Rumania effectually +from future attacks by the Hungarians. The proviso +was reasonable, and as a measure of self-defense imperative. +The safeguard asked for was a contingent of Allied +force. But the two supreme councilors in Paris dealt +only in counters. All they had to offer to M. Bratiano +were verbal exhortations before the combat and lip-sympathy +after defeat, and these the Premier rejected. +But here, as in the case of the Poles, the representatives +of the "Allied and Associated" Powers insisted. They +were profuse of promises, exhortations, and entreaties +before passing to threats—of guaranties they said nothing—but +the Rumanian Premier, turning a deaf ear to +cajolery and intimidation, remained inflexible. For he +was convinced that their advice was often vitiated by +gross ignorance and not always inspired by disinterestedness, +while the orders they issued were hardly more than +the velleities of well-meaning gropers in the dark who +lacked the means of executing them.</p> + +<p>The eminent plenipotentiaries, thus set at naught by a +little state, ruminated on the embarrassing situation. +In all such cases their practice had been to resign themselves +to circumstances if they proved unable to bend +circumstances to their schemes. It was thus that President +Wilson had behaved when British statesmen declined +even to hear him on the subject of the freedom of the +seas, when M. Clemenceau refused to accept a peace +that denied the Saar Valley and a pledge of military +assistance to France, and when Japan insisted on the +retrocession of Shantung. Toward Italy an attitude of +firmness had been assumed, because owing to her economic +dependence on Britain and the United States she could +not indulge in the luxury of nonconformity. Hence the +plenipotentiaries, and in particular Mr. Wilson, asserted +their will inexorably and were painfully surprised that +one of the lesser states had the audacity to defy it.</p> + +<p>The circumstance that after their triumph over Italy +the world's trustees were thus publicly flouted by a little +state of eastern Europe was gall and wormwood to them. +It was also a menace to the cause with which they were +identified. None the less, they accepted the inevitable +for the moment, pitched their voices in a lower key, and +decided to approve the Rumanian thesis that Neo-Bolshevism +in Hungary must be no longer bolstered up,<a name="FNanchor_151_151" id="FNanchor_151_151" href="#Footnote_151_151" >[151]</a> +but be squashed vicariously. They accordingly invited +the representatives of the three little countries on which +the honor of waging these humanitarian wars in the +anarchist east of Europe was to be conferred, and sounded +them as to their willingness to put their soldiers in the +field, and how many as to the numbers available. M. +Bratiano offered eight divisions. The Czechoslovaks did +not relish the project, but after some delay and fencing +around agreed to furnish a contingent, whereas the Jugoslavs +met the demand with a plain negative, which was +afterward changed to acquiescence when the Council +promised to keep the Italians from attacking them. As +things turned out, none but the Rumanians actually +fought the Hungarian Reds. Meanwhile the members +of the American, British, and Italian missions in Hungary +endeavored to reach a friendly agreement with the +criminal gang in Budapest.</p> + +<p>The plan of campaign decided on had Marshal Foch +for its author. It was, therefore, business-like. He demanded +a quarter of a million men,<a name="FNanchor_152_152" id="FNanchor_152_152" href="#Footnote_152_152" >[152]</a> to which it was +decided that Rumania should contribute 120,000, Jugoslavia +50,000, and Czechoslovakia as many as she could +conveniently afford. But the day before the preparations +were to have begun,<a name="FNanchor_153_153" id="FNanchor_153_153" href="#Footnote_153_153" >[153]</a> Bela Kuhn flung his troops<a name="FNanchor_154_154" id="FNanchor_154_154" href="#Footnote_154_154" >[154]</a> against +the Rumanians with initial success, drove them across the +Tisza with considerable loss, took up commanding positions, +and struck dismay into the members of the Supreme +Council. The Semitic Dictator, with grim humor, +explained to the crestfallen lawgivers, who were once +more at fault, that a wanton breach of the peace was alien +to his thoughts; that, on the contrary, his motive for +action deserved high praise—it was to compel the rebellious +Rumanians to obey the behest of the Conference +and withdraw to their frontiers. The plenipotentiaries +bore this gibe with dignity, and decided to have recourse +once more to their favorite, and, indeed, only method—the +despatch of exhortative telegrams. Of more efficacious +means they were destitute. This time their message, +which lacked a definite address, was presumably intended +for the anti-Bolshevist population of Hungary, whom it +indirectly urged to overthrow the Kuhn Cabinet and +receive the promised reward—namely, the privilege of entering +into formal relations with the Entente and signing +the death-warrant of the Magyar state. It is not +easy to see how this solution alone could have enabled the +Supreme Council to establish normal conditions and tranquillity +in the land. But the Duumvirate seemed utterly +incapable of devising a coherent policy for central or +eastern Europe. Even when Hungary had a government +friendly to the Entente they never obtained any advantage +from it. They had had no use for Count Karolyi. They +had allowed things to slip and slide, and permitted—nay, +helped—Bolshevism to thrive, although they had brand-marked +it as a virulent epidemic to be drastically stamped +out. Temper, education, and training disqualified them +for seizing opportunity and pressing the levers that stood +ready to their hand.</p> + +<p>In consequence of the vacillation of the two chiefs, who +seldom stood firm in the face of difficulties, the members +of the predatory gang which concealed its alien origin +under Magyar nationality and its criminal propensities<a name="FNanchor_155_155" id="FNanchor_155_155" href="#Footnote_155_155" >[155]</a> +under a political mask had been enabled to go on playing +an odious comedy, to the disgust of sensible people and +the detriment of the new and enlarged states of Europe. +For the cost of the Supreme Council's weakness had to +be paid in blood and substance, little though the two delegates +appeared to realize this. The extent to which the +ruinous process was carried out would be incredible were +it not established by historic facts and documents.</p> + +<p>The permanent agents of the Powers in Hungary,<a name="FNanchor_156_156" id="FNanchor_156_156" href="#Footnote_156_156" >[156]</a> preferring +conciliation to force, now exhorted the Hungarians +to rid themselves of Kuhn and promised in return +to expel the Rumanians from Hungarian territory once +more and to have the blockade raised. At the close of +July some Magyars from Austria met Kuhn at a frontier +station<a name="FNanchor_157_157" id="FNanchor_157_157" href="#Footnote_157_157" >[157]</a> and strove to persuade him to withdraw quietly +into obscurity, but he, confiding in the policy of the Allies +and his star, scouted the suggestion. It was at this juncture +that the Rumanians, pushing on to Budapest, resolved, +come what might, to put an end to the intolerable +situation and to make a clean job of it once for all. And +they succeeded.</p> + +<p>For Rumania's initial military reverse<a name="FNanchor_158_158" id="FNanchor_158_158" href="#Footnote_158_158" >[158]</a> was the result +of a surprise attack by some eighty thousand men. But +her troops rapidly regained their warlike spirit, recrossed +the river Tisza, shattered the Neo-Bolshevist regime, and +reached the environs of Budapest.</p> + +<p>By the 1st of August the lawless band that was ruining +the country relinquished the reins of power, which were +taken over at first by a Socialist Cabinet of which an influential +French press organ wrote: "The names of the +new ... commissaries of the people tell us nothing, because +their bearers are unknown. But the endings of their +names tell us that most of them are, like those of the preceding +government, of Jewish origin. Never since the +inauguration of official communism did Budapest better +deserve the appellation of Judapest, which was assigned +to it by the late M. Lueger, chief of the Christian Socialists +of Vienna. That is an additional trait in common with +the Russian Soviets."<a name="FNanchor_159_159" id="FNanchor_159_159" href="#Footnote_159_159" >[159]</a></p> + +<p>The Rumanians presented a stiff ultimatum to the new +Hungarian Cabinet. They were determined to safeguard +their country and its neighbors from a repetition of the +danger and of the sacrifices it entailed; in other words, to +dictate the terms of a new armistice. The Powers demurred +and ordered them to content themselves with the +old one concluded by the Serbian Voyevod Mishitch and +General Henrys in November of the preceding year and +violated subsequently by the Magyars. But the objections +to this course were many and unanswerable. In +fact they were largely identical with the objections which +the Supreme Council itself had offered to the Polish-Ukrainian +armistice. And besides these there were others. +For example, the Rumanians had had no hand or part in +drafting the old armistice. Moreover it was clearly inapplicable +to the fresh campaign which was waged and +terminated nine months after it had been drawn up. +Experience had shown that it was inadequate to guarantee +public tranquillity, for it had not hindered Magyar attacks +on the Rumanians and Czechoslovaks. The Rumanians, +therefore, now that they had worsted their adversaries, +were resolved to disarm them and secure a real peace. +They decided to leave fifteen thousand troops for the +maintenance of internal order.<a name="FNanchor_160_160" id="FNanchor_160_160" href="#Footnote_160_160" >[160]</a> Rumania's insistence on +the delivery of live-stock, corn, agricultural machinery, +and rolling-stock for railways was, it was argued, necessitated +by want and justified by equity. For it was no +more than partial reparation for the immense losses wantonly +inflicted on the nation by the Magyars and their +allies. Until then no other amends had been made or +even offered. The Austrians, Hungarians, and Germans, +during their two years' occupation of Rumania, had seized +and carried off from the latter country two million five +hundred thousand tons of wheat and hundreds of thousands +of head of cattle, besides vast quantities of clothing, +wool, skins, and raw material, while thousands of Rumanian +homes were gutted and their contents taken away +and sold in the Central Empires. Factories were stripped +of their machinery and the railways of their engines and +wagons. When Mackensen left there remained in Rumania +only fifty locomotives out of the twelve hundred +which she possessed before the war. The material, therefore, +that Rumania removed from Hungary during the +first weeks of the occupation represented but a small +part of the quantities of which she had been despoiled +during the war.</p> + +<p>It was further urged that at the beginning the Rumanian +delegates would have contented themselves with +reparation for losses wantonly inflicted and for the +restitution of the property wrongfully taken from them +by their enemies, on the lines on which France had obtained +this offset. They had asked for this, but were +informed that their request could not be complied with. +They were not even permitted to send a representative +to Germany to point out to the Inter-Allied authorities +the objects of which their nation had been robbed, as +though the plunderers would voluntarily give up their +ill-gotten stores! It was partly because of these restrictions +that the Rumanian authorities resolved to take +what belonged to them without more ado. And they +could not, they said, afford to wait, because they were +expecting an attack by the Russian Bolsheviki and it +behooved them to have done with one foe before taking +on another. These explanations irritated in lieu of calming +the Supreme Council.</p> + +<p>"Possibly," wrote the well-informed <i>Temps</i>, "Rumania +would have been better treated if she had closed with +certain proposals of loans on crushing terms or complied +with certain demands for oil concessions."<a name="FNanchor_161_161" id="FNanchor_161_161" href="#Footnote_161_161" >[161]</a> Possibly. +But surely problems of justice, equity, and right +ought never to have been mixed up with commercial and +industrial interests, whether with the connivance or by +the carelessness of the holders of a vast trust who needed +and should have merited unlimited confidence. It is +neither easy nor edifying to calculate the harm which +transactions of this nature, whether completed or merely +inchoate, are capable of inflicting on the great community +for whose moral as well as material welfare the Supreme +Council was laboring in darkness against so many obstacles +of its own creation. Is it surprising that the +states which suffered most from these weaknesses of the +potent delegates should have resented their misdirection +and endeavored to help themselves as best they could? +It may be blameworthy and anti-social, but it is unhappily +natural and almost unavoidable. It is sincerely +to be regretted that the art of stimulating the nations—about +which the delegates were so solicitous—to enthusiastic +readiness to accept the Council as the "moral guide +of the world" should have been exercised in such bungling +fashion.</p> + +<p>The Supreme Council then feeling impelled to assert +its dignity against the wilfulness of a small nation decided +on ignoring alike the service and the disservice +rendered by Rumania's action. Accordingly, it proceeded +without reference to any of the recent events except the +disappearance of the Bolshevist gang. Four generals were +accordingly told off to take the conduct of Hungarian +affairs into their hands despite their ignorance of the +actual conditions of the problem.<a name="FNanchor_162_162" id="FNanchor_162_162" href="#Footnote_162_162" >[162]</a> They were ordered to +disarm the Magyars, to deliver up Hungary's war material +to the Allies, of whom only the Rumanians and the +Czechoslovaks had taken the field against the enemy +since the conclusion of the armistice the year before, and +they were also to exercise their authority over the Rumanian +victors and the Serbs, both of whom occupied +Hungarian territory. The <i>Temps</i> significantly remarked +that the Supreme Council, while not wishing to deal with +any Hungarian government but one qualified to represent +the country, "seems particularly eager to see resumed +the importation of foreign wares into Hungary. +Certain persons appear to fear that Rumania, by retaking +from the Magyars wagons and engines, might check the +resumption of this traffic."<a name="FNanchor_163_163" id="FNanchor_163_163" href="#Footnote_163_163" >[163]</a></p> + +<p>What it all came to was that the Great Powers, who had +left Rumania to her fate when she was attacked by the +Magyars, intervened the moment the assailed nation, +helping itself, got the better of its enemy, and then they +resolved to balk it of the fruits of victory and of the +safeguards it would fain have created for the future. +It was to rely upon the Supreme Council once more, to +take the broken reed for a solid staff. That the Powers +had something to urge in support of their interposition +will not be denied. They rightly set forth that Rumania +was not Hungary's only creditor. Her neighbors also +possessed claims that must be satisfied as far as feasible, +and equity prompted the pooling of all available assets. +This plea could not be refuted. But the credit which the +pleaders ought to have enjoyed in the eyes of the Rumanian +nation was so completely sapped by their antecedents +that no heed was paid to their reasoning, suasion, +or promises.</p> + +<p>Rumania, therefore, in requisitioning Hungarian property +was formally in the wrong. On the other hand, it +should be borne in mind that she, like other nations, +was exasperated by the high-handed action of the Great +Powers, who proceeded as though her good-will and loyalty +were of no consequence to the pacification of eastern +Europe.</p> + +<p>After due deliberation the Supreme Council agreed upon +the wording of a conciliatory message, not to the Rumanians, +but to the Magyars, to be despatched to +Lieutenant-Colonel Romanelli. The gist of it was the old +refrain, "to carry out the terms of the armistice<a name="FNanchor_164_164" id="FNanchor_164_164" href="#Footnote_164_164" >[164]</a> and +respect the frontiers traced by the Supreme Council<a name="FNanchor_165_165" id="FNanchor_165_165" href="#Footnote_165_165" >[165]</a> +and we will protect you from the Rumanians, who have +no authority from us. We are sending forthwith an Inter-Allied +military commission<a name="FNanchor_166_166" id="FNanchor_166_166" href="#Footnote_166_166" >[166]</a> to superintend the disarmament +and see that the Rumanian troops withdraw."</p> + +<p>It cannot be denied that the Rumanian conditions were +drastic. But it should be remembered that the provocation +amounted almost to justification. And as for the +crime of disobedience, it will not be gainsaid that a large +part of the responsibility fell on the shoulders of the lawgivers +in Paris, whose decrees, coming oracularly from +Olympian heights without reference to local or other +concrete circumstances, inflicted heavy losses in blood +and substance on the ill-starred people of Rumania. And +to make matters worse, Rumania's official representatives +at the Conference had been not merely ignored, but reprimanded +like naughty school-children by a harsh dominie +and occasionally humiliated by men whose only excuse was +nervous tenseness in consequence of overwork combined +with morbid impatience at being contradicted in matters +which they did not understand. Other states had contemplated +open rebellion against the big ferrule of the +"bosses," and more than once the resolution was taken +to go on strike unless certain concessions were accorded +them. Alone the Rumanians executed their resolve.</p> + +<p>Naturally the destiny-weavers of peoples and nations +in Paris were dismayed at the prospect and apprehensive +lest the Rumanians should end the war in their own way. +They despatched three notes in quick succession to the +Bucharest government, one of which reads like a peevish +indictment hastily drafted before the evidence had been +sifted or even carefully read. It raked up many of the +old accusations that had been leveled against the Rumanians, +tacked them on to the crime of insubordination, and +without waiting for an answer—assuming, in fact, that +there could be no satisfactory answer—summoned them +to prove publicly by their acts that they accepted and +were ready to execute in good faith the policy decided +upon by the Conference.<a name="FNanchor_167_167" id="FNanchor_167_167" href="#Footnote_167_167" >[167]</a></p> + +<p>That note seemed unnecessarily offensive and acted +on the Rumanians as a powerful irritant,<a name="FNanchor_168_168" id="FNanchor_168_168" href="#Footnote_168_168" >[168]</a> besides exposing +the active members of the Supreme Council to scathing +criticism. The Rumanians asked their Entente friends +in private to outline the policy which they were accused +of countering, and were told in reply that it was beyond +the power of the most ingenious hair-splitting casuist +to define or describe. "As for us," wrote one of the +stanchest supporters of the Entente in French journalism, +"who have followed with attention the labors and +the utterances, written and oral, of the Four, the Five, +the Ten, of the Supreme and Superior Councils, we have +not yet succeeded in discovering what was the 'policy +decided by the Conference.' We have indeed heard or +read countless discourses pronounced by the choir-masters. +They abound in noble thought, in eloquent expositions, +in protests, and in promises. But of aught that could +be termed a policy we have not found a trace."<a name="FNanchor_169_169" id="FNanchor_169_169" href="#Footnote_169_169" >[169]</a> This +verdict will be indorsed by the historian.</p> + +<p>The Rumanians seemed in no hurry to reply to the +Council's three notes. They were said to be too busy +dealing out what they considered rough and ready justice +to their enemies, and were impatient of the intervention +of their "friends." They seized rolling-stock, cattle, +agricultural implements, and other property of the kind +that had been stolen from their own people and sent +the booty home without much ado. Work of this kind +was certain to be accompanied by excesses and the Conference +received numerous protests from the aggrieved +inhabitants. But on the whole Rumania, at any rate +during the first few weeks of the occupation, had the +substantial sympathy of the largest and most influential +section of the world's press. People declared that they +were glad to see the haze of self-righteousness and cant at +last dispelled by a whiff of wholesome egotism. From the +outspoken comments of the most widely circulating +journals in France and Britain the dictators in Paris, +who were indignant that the counsels of the strong should +carry so little weight in eastern Europe, could acquaint +themselves with the impression which their efforts at +cosmic legislation were producing among the saner elements +of mankind.</p> + +<p>In almost every language one could read words of +encouragement to the recalcitrant Rumanians for having +boldly burst the irksome bonds in which the peoples of +the world were being pinioned. "It is our view," wrote +one firm adherent of the Entente, "that having proved +incapable of protecting the Rumanians in their hour of +danger, our alliance cannot to-day challenge the safeguards +which they have won for themselves."<a name="FNanchor_170_170" id="FNanchor_170_170" href="#Footnote_170_170" >[170]</a></p> + +<p>"If liberty had her old influence," one read in another +popular journal,<a name="FNanchor_171_171" id="FNanchor_171_171" href="#Footnote_171_171" >[171]</a> "the Great Powers would not be bringing +pressure to bear on Rumania with the object of saving +Hungary from richly deserved punishment." "Instead +of nagging the Rumanians," wrote an eminent French +publicist, "they would do much better to keep the Turks +in hand. If the Turks in despair, in order to win American +sympathies, proclaim themselves socialists, syndicalists, +or laborists, will President Wilson permit them to +renovate Armenia and other places after the manner of +Jinghiz Khan?"<a name="FNanchor_172_172" id="FNanchor_172_172" href="#Footnote_172_172" >[172]</a></p> + +<p>But what may have weighed with the Supreme Council +far more than the disapproval of publicists were its own +impotence, the undignified figure it was cutting, and the +injury that was being done to the future League of Nations +by the impunity with which one of the lesser states +could thus set at naught the decisions of its creators and +treat them with almost the same disrespect which they +themselves had displayed toward the Rumanian delegates +in Paris. They saw that once their energetic representations +were ignored by the Bucharest government they +were at the end of their means of influencing it. To +compel obedience by force was for the time being out +of the question. In these circumstances the only issue +left them was to make a virtue of necessity and veer round +to the Rumanian point of view as unobtrusively as might +be, so as to tide over the transient crisis. And that was +the course which they finally struck out.</p> + +<p>Matters soon came to the culminating point. The +members of the Allied Military Mission had received full +powers to force the commanders of the troops of occupation +to obey the decisions of the Conference, and when +they were confronted with M. Diamandi, the ex-Minister +to Petrograd, they issued their orders in the name of the +Supreme Council. "We take orders here only from our +own government, which is in Bucharest," was the answer +they received. The Rumanians have a proverb which +runs: "Even a donkey will not fall twice into the same +quicksand," and they may have quoted it to General +Gorton when refusing to follow the Allies after their +previous painful experience. Then the mission telegraphed +to Paris for further instructions.<a name="FNanchor_173_173" id="FNanchor_173_173" href="#Footnote_173_173" >[173]</a> In the meanwhile +the Rumanian government had sent its answer to +the three notes of the Council. And its tenor was firm +and unyielding. Undeterred by menaces, M. Bratiano +maintained that he had done the right thing in sending +troops to Budapest, imposing terms on Hungary and +re-establishing order. As a matter of fact he had rendered +a sterling service to all Europe, including France and +Britain. For if Kuhn and his confederates had contrived +to overrun Rumania, the Great Powers would have been +morally bound to hasten to the assistance of their defeated +ally. The press was permitted to announce that the +Council of Five was preparing to accept the Rumanian +position. The members of the Allied Military Mission were +informed that they were not empowered to give orders +to the Rumanians, but only to consult and negotiate +with them, whereby all their tact and consideration were +earnestly solicited.</p> + +<p>But the palliatives devised by the delegates were unavailing +to heal the breach. After a while the Council, +having had no answer to its urgent notes, decided to send +an ultimatum to Rumania, calling on her to restore the +rolling-stock which she had seized and to evacuate the +Hungarian capital. The terms of this document were +described as harsh.<a name="FNanchor_174_174" id="FNanchor_174_174" href="#Footnote_174_174" >[174]</a> Happily, before it was despatched +the Council learned that the Rumanian government had +never received the communications nor seventy others +forwarded by wireless during the same period. Once +more it had taken a decision without acquainting itself +of the facts. Thereupon a special messenger<a name="FNanchor_175_175" id="FNanchor_175_175" href="#Footnote_175_175" >[175]</a> was sent +to Bucharest with a note "couched in stern terms," +which, however, was "milder in tone" than the ultimatum.</p> + +<p>To go back for a moment to the elusive question of +motive, which was not without influence on Rumania's +conduct. Were the action and inaction of the plenipotentiaries +merely the result of a lack of cohesion among +their ideas? Or was it that they were thinking mainly +of the fleeting interests of the moment and unwilling to +precipitate their conceptions of the future in the form +of a constructive policy? The historian will do well to +leave their motives to another tribunal and confine himself +to facts, which even when carefully sifted are numerous +and significant enough.</p> + +<p>During the progress of the events just sketched there +were launched certain interesting accounts of what was +going on below the surface, which had such impartial and +well-informed vouchers that the chronicler of the Conference +cannot pass them over in silence. If true, as they +appear to be, they warrant the belief that two distinct +elements lay at the root of the Secret Council's dealings +with Rumania. One of them was their repugnance to +her whole system of government, with its survivals of +feudalism, anti-Semitism, and conservatism. Associated +with this was, people alleged, a wish to provoke a radical +and, as they thought, beneficent change in the entire régime +by getting rid of its chiefs. This plan had been successfully +tried against MM. Orlando and Sonnino in +Italy. Their solicitude for this latter aim may have +been whetted by a personal lack of sympathy for the +Rumanian delegates, with whom the Anglo-Saxon chiefs +hardly ever conversed. It was no secret that the Rumanian +Premier found it exceedingly difficult to obtain +an audience of his colleague President Wilson, from whom +he finally parted almost as much a stranger as when he +first arrived in Paris.</p> + +<p>It may not be amiss to record an instance of the methods +of the Supreme Council, for by putting himself in the place +of the Rumanian Premier the reader may the more clearly +understand his frame of mind toward that body. In +June the troops of Moritz (or Bela) Kuhn had inflicted a +severe defeat on the Czechoslavs. Thereupon the Secret +Council of Four or Five, whose shortsighted action was +answerable for the reverse, decided to remonstrate with +him. Accordingly they requested him to desist from the +offensive. Only then did it occur to them that if he was +to withdraw his armies behind the frontiers, he must be +informed where these frontiers were. They had already +been determined in secret by the three great statesmen, +who carefully concealed them not merely from an inquisitive +public, but also from the states concerned. The +Rumanian, Jugoslav and Czechoslovak delegates were, +therefore, as much in the dark on the subject as were rank +outsiders and enemies. But as soon as circumstances +forced the hand of all the plenipotentiaries the secret had +to be confided to them all.<a name="FNanchor_176_176" id="FNanchor_176_176" href="#Footnote_176_176" >[176]</a> The Hungarian Dictator +pleaded that if his troops had gone out of bounds it was +because the frontiers were unknown to him. The +Czechoslovaks respectfully demurred to one of the +boundaries along the river Ipol which it was difficult to +justify and easy to rectify. But the Rumanian delegation, +confronted with the map, met the decision with a +frank protest. For it amounted to the abandonment of +one of their three vital irreducible claims which they were +not empowered to renounce. Consequently they felt +unable to acquiesce in it. But the Supreme Council +insisted. The second delegate, M. Misu, was in consequence +obliged to start at once for Bucharest to consult +with the King and the Cabinet and consider what action +the circumstances called for. In the meantime, the entire +question, and together with it some of the practical +consequences involved by the tentative solution, remained +in suspense.</p> + +<p>When certain clauses of the Peace Treaty, which, although +they materially affected Rumania, had been +drafted without the knowledge of her plenipotentiaries, +were quite ready, the Rumanian Premier was summoned to +take cognizance of them. Their tenor surprised and +irritated him. As he felt unable to assent to them, and +as the document was to be presented to the enemy in a +day or two, he deemed it his duty to mention his objections +at once. But hardly had he begun when M. +Clemenceau arose and exclaimed, "M. Bratiano, you are +here to listen, not to comment." Stringent measures may +have been considered useful and dictatorial methods indispensable +in default of reasoning or suasion, but it was +surely incumbent on those who employed them to choose +a form which would deprive them of their sting or make +them less personally painful.</p> + +<p>For whatever one may think of the wisdom of the +policy adopted by the Supreme Council toward the unprivileged +states, it would be difficult to justify the manner +in which they imposed it. Patience, tact, and suasion +are indispensable requisites in men who assume the functions +of leaders and guides, yet know that military force +alone is inadequate to shape the future after their conception. +The delegates could look only to moral power for +the execution of their far-reaching plans, yet they spurned +the means of acquiring it. The best construction one +can put upon their action will represent it as the wrecking +of the substance by the form. By establishing a situation +of force throughout Europe the Council created and sanctioned +the principle that it must be maintained by force.</p> + +<p>But the affronted nations did not stop at this mild criticism. +They assailed the policy itself, cast suspicion on +the disinterestedness of the motives that inspired it, and +contributed thereby to generate an atmosphere of distrust +in which the frail organism that was shortly to be +called into being could not thrive. Contemplated through +this distorting medium, one set of delegates was taunted +with aiming at a monopoly of imperialism and the other +with rank hypocrisy. It is superfluous to remark that +the idealism and lofty aims of the President of the United +States were never questioned by the most reckless Thersites. +The heaviest charges brought against him were +weakness of will, exaggerated self-esteem, impatience of +contradiction, and a naive yearning for something concrete +to take home with him, in the shape of a covenant +of peoples.</p> + +<p>The reports circulating in the French capital respecting +vast commercial enterprises about to be inaugurated by +English-speaking peoples and about proposals that the +governments of the countries interested should facilitate +them, were destructive of the respect due to statesmen +whose attachment to lofty ideals should have absorbed +every other motive in their ethico-political activity. Thus +it was affirmed by responsible politicians that an official +representative of an English-speaking country gave expression +to the view, which he also attributed to his government, +that henceforth his country should play a much +larger part in the economic life of eastern Europe than +any other nation. This, he added, was a conscious aim +which would be steadily pursued, and to the attainment +of which he hoped the politicians and their people would +contribute. So far this, it may be contended, was perfectly +legitimate.</p> + +<p>But it was further affirmed, and not by idle quidnuncs, +that one of Rumania's prominent men had been informed +that Rumania could count on the good-will and financial +assistance of the United States only if her Premier gave +an assurance that, besides the special privileges to be +conferred on the Jewish minority in his country, he would +also grant industrial and commercial concessions to certain +Jewish groups and firms who reside and do business +in the United States. And by way of taking time by the +forelock one or more of these firms had already despatched +representatives to Rumania to study and, if possible, earmark +the resources which they proposed to exploit.</p> + +<p>Now, to expand the trade of one's country is a legitimate +ambition, and to hold that Jewish firms are the best +qualified to develop the resources of Rumania is a tenable +position. But to mix up any commercial scheme with the +ethical regeneration of Europe is, to put it mildly, impolitic. +However unimpeachable the motives of the promoter +of such a project, it is certain to damage both +causes which he has at heart. But the report does not +leave the matter here. It goes on to state that a very +definite proposal, smacking of an ultimatum, was finally +presented, which set before the Rumanians two alternatives +from which they were to choose—either the concessions +asked for, which would earn for them the financial +assistance of the United States, or else no concessions and +no help.</p> + +<p>At a Conference, the object of which was the uplifting +of the life of nations from the squalor of sordid ambitions +backed by brutal force, to ideal aims and moral relationship, +haggling and chaffering such as this seemed wholly +out of place. It reminded one of "those that sold oxen +and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting" +in the temple of Jerusalem who were one day driven out +with "a scourge of small cords." The Rumanians hoped +that the hucksters in the latter-day temple of peace might +be got rid of in a similar way; one of them suggested +boldly asking President Wilson himself to say what he +thought of the policy underlying the disconcerting proposal....</p> + +<p>The other alleged element of the Supreme Council's +attitude needs no qualification. The mystery that enwrapped +the orders from the Conference which suddenly +arrested the march of the Rumanian and Allied troops, +when they were nearing Budapest for the purpose of overthrowing +Bela Kuhn, never perplexed those who claimed +to possess trustworthy information about the goings-on +between certain enterprising officers belonging some to +the Allied Army of Occupation and others to the Hungarian +forces. One of these transactions is alleged to have +taken place between Kuhn himself, who is naturally a +shrewd observer and hard bargain-driver, and a certain +financial group which for obvious reasons remained nameless. +The object of the compact was the bestowal on the +group of concessions in the Banat in return for an undertaking +that the Bolshevist Dictator would be left in power +and subsequently honored by an invitation to the Conference. +The plenipotentiaries' command arresting the +march against Kuhn and their conditional promise to +summon him to the Conference, dovetail with this contract. +These undeniable coincidences are humiliating. +The nexus between them was discovered and announced +before the stipulations were carried out.</p> + +<p>The Banat had been an apple of discord ever since the +close of hostilities. The country, inhabited chiefly by +Rumanians, but with a considerable admixture of Magyar +and Saxon elements, is one of the richest unexploited +regions in Europe. Its mines of gold, zinc, lead, coal, +and iron offer an irresistible temptation to pushing capitalists +and their governments, who feel further attracted +by the credible announcement that it also possesses oil +in quantities large enough to warrant exploitation. It +was partly in order to possess herself of these abundant +resources and create an accomplished fact that Serbia, +who also founded her claim on higher ground, laid hands +on the administration of the Banat. But the experiment +was disappointing. The Jugoslavs having failed to maintain +themselves there, the bargain just sketched was entered +into by officers of the Hungarian and Allied armies. +For concession-hunters are not fastidious about the +nationality or character of those who can bestow what +they happen to be seeking.</p> + +<p>This stroke of jobbery had political consequences. +That was inevitable. For so long as the Banat remained +in Rumania or Serbian hands it could not be alienated +in favor of any foreign group. Therefore secession from +both those states was a preliminary condition to economic +alienation. The task was bravely tackled. An "independent +republic" was suddenly added to the states of +Europe. This amazing creation, which fitted in with the +Balkanizing craze of the moment, was the work of a +few wire-pullers in which the easy-going inhabitants had +neither hand nor part. Indeed, they were hardly aware +that the Republic of the Banat had been proclaimed. +The amateur state-builders were obliging officers of the +two armies, and behind them were speculators and +concession-hunters. It was obvious that the new community, +as it contained a very small population for an +independent state, would require a protector. Its sponsors, +who had foreseen this, provided for it by promising +to assign the humanitarian rôle of protectress of the +Banat Republic to democratic France. And French +agents were on the spot to approve the arrangement. +Thus far the story, of which I have given but the merest +outline.<a name="FNanchor_177_177" id="FNanchor_177_177" href="#Footnote_177_177" >[177]</a></p> + +<p>In this compromising fashion then Bela Kuhn was left +for the time being in undisturbed power, and none of his +friends had any fear that he would be driven out by the +Allies so long as he contrived to hit it off with the Hungarians. +Should these turn away from him, however, +the cosmopolitan financiers, whose cardinal virtues are +suppleness and adaptability, would readily work with his +successor, whoever he might be. The few who knew of +this quickening of high ideals with low intrigue were +shocked by the light-hearted way in which under the ægis +of the Conference a discreditable pact was made with the +"enemy of the human race," a grotesque régime foisted +on a simple-minded people without consideration for the +principle of self-determination, and the very existence of +the Czechoslovak Republic imperiled. Indeed, for a +brief while it looked as though the Bolshevist forces of +the Ukraine and Russia would effect a junction with the +troops of Bela Kuhn and shatter eastern Europe to shreds. +To such dangerous extent did the Supreme Council indirectly +abet the Bolshevist peace-breakers against the +Rumanians and Czechoslovak allies.</p> + +<p>It was at this conjuncture that a Rumanian friend remarked +to me: "The apprehension which our people +expressed to you some months ago when they rejected +the demand for concessions has been verified by events. +Please remember that when striking the balance of +accounts."</p> + +<p>The fact could not be blinked that in the camp of the +Allies there was a serious schism. The partizans of the +Supreme Council accused the Bucharest government of +secession, and were accused in turn of having misled their +Rumanian partners, of having planned to exploit them +economically, of having favored their Bolshevist invaders, +and pursued a policy of blackmail. The rights +and wrongs of this quarrel had best be left to another +tribunal. What can hardly be gainsaid is that in a +general way the Rumanians—and not these alone—were +implicitly classed as people of a secondary category, who +stood to gain by every measure for their good which the +culture-bearers in Paris might devise. These inferior +nations were all incarnate anachronisms, relics of dark +ages which had survived into an epoch of democracy and +liberty, and it now behooved them to readjust themselves +to that. Their institutions must be modernized, their +Old World conceptions abandoned, and their people +taught to imitate the progressive nations of the West. +What the populations thought and felt on the subject +was irrelevant, they being less qualified to judge what was +good for them than their self-constituted guides and +guardians. To the angry voices which their spokesmen +uplifted no heed need be paid, and passive resistance +could be overcome by coercion. This modified version +of Carlyle's doctrine would seem to be at the root of the +Supreme Council's action toward the lesser nations +generally and in especial toward Rumania.</p> + + +<p class='center'>POLAND AND THE SUPREME COUNCIL</p> + +<p>This frequent misdirection by the Supreme Council, +however one may explain it, created an electric state of +the political atmosphere among all nations whose interests +were set down or treated as "limited," and more than +one of them, as we saw, contemplated striking out a +policy of passive resistance. As a matter of fact some +of them timidly adopted it more than once, almost +always with success and invariably with impunity. It +was thus that the Czechoslovaks—the most docile of +them all—disregarding the injunctions of the Conference, +took possession of contentious territory,<a name="FNanchor_178_178" id="FNanchor_178_178" href="#Footnote_178_178" >[178]</a> and remained +in possession of it for several months, and that the Jugoslavs +occupied a part of the district of Klagenfurt and for +a long time paid not the slightest heed to the order issued +by the Supreme Council to evacuate it in favor of the +Austrians, and that the Poles applied the same tactics to +eastern Galicia. The story of this last revolt is characteristic +alike of the ignorance and of the weakness of the +Powers which had assumed the functions of world-administrators. +During the hostilities between the Ruthenians +of Galicia and the Poles the Council, taunted +by the press with the numerous wars that were being +waged while the world's peace-makers were chatting about +cosmic politics in the twilight of the Paris conclave, +issued an imperative order that an armistice must be +concluded at once. But the Poles appealed to events, +which swiftly settled the matter as they anticipated. +Neither the Supreme Council nor the agents it employed +had a real grasp of the east European situation, or of the +rôle deliberately assigned to Poland by its French sponsors—that +of superseding Russia as a bulwark against Germany +in the East—or of the local conditions. Their +action, as was natural in these circumstances, was a +sequence of gropings in the dark, of incongruous behests, +exhortations, and prohibitions which discredited them in +the eyes of those on whose trust and docility the success +of their mission depended.</p> + +<p>Consciousness of these disadvantages may have had +much to do with the rigid secrecy which the delegates +maintained before their desultory talks ripened into discussions. +In the case of Poland, as of Rumania, the veil +was opaque, and was never voluntarily lifted. One day<a name="FNanchor_179_179" id="FNanchor_179_179" href="#Footnote_179_179" >[179]</a> +the members of the Polish delegation, eager to get an +inkling of what had been arranged by the Council of Four +about Dantzig, requested M. Clemenceau to apprize them +at least of the upshot if not of the details. The French +Premier, who has a quizzing way and a keen sense of +humor, replied, "On the 26th inst. you will learn the precise +terms." But Poland's representative insisted and +pleaded suasively for a hint of what had been settled. +The Premier finally consented and said, "Tell the General +Secretary of the Conference, M. Dutasta, from me, +that he may make the desired communication to you." +The delegate accordingly repaired to M. Dutasta, preferred +his request, and received this reply: "M. Clemenceau +may say what he likes. His words do not bind the +Conference. Before I consider myself released from +secrecy I must have the consent of all his colleagues as +well. If you would kindly bring me their express authorization +I will communicate the information you demand." +That closed the incident.</p> + +<p>When the Council finally agreed to a solution, the delegates +were convoked to learn its nature and to make a +vow of obedience to its decisions. During the first stage +of the Conference the representatives of the lesser states +had sometimes been permitted to put questions and present +objections. But later on even this privilege was +withdrawn. The following description of what went on +may serve as an illustration of the Council's mode of procedure. +One day the Polish delegation was summoned +before the Special Commission to discuss an armistice +between the Ruthenians of Galicia and the Polish Republic. +The late General Botha, a shrewd observer, whose +valuable experience of political affairs, having been confined +to a country which had not much in common with +eastern Europe, could be of little help to him in solving +the complex problems with which he was confronted, was +handicapped from the outset. Unacquainted with any +languages but English and Dutch, the general had to surmount +the additional difficulty of carrying on the conversation +through an interpreter. The form it took was +somewhat as follows:</p> + +<p>"It is the wish of the Supreme Council," the chairman +began, "that Poland should conclude an armistice with +the Ruthenians, and under new conditions, the old ones +having lost their force.<a name="FNanchor_180_180" id="FNanchor_180_180" href="#Footnote_180_180" >[180]</a> Are you prepared to submit your +proposals?" "This is a military matter," replied the Polish +delegate, "and should be dealt with by experts. One of +our most competent military authorities will arrive shortly +in Paris with full powers to treat with you on the subject. +In the meantime, I agree that the old conditions are +obsolete and must be changed. I can also mention three +provisos without which no armistice is possible: (1) The +Poles must be permitted to get into permanent contact +with Rumania. That involves their occupation of eastern +Galicia. The principal grounds for this demand are that +our frontier includes that territory and that the Rumanians +are a law-abiding, pacific people whose interests +never clash with ours and whose main enemy—Bolshevism—is +also ours. (2) The Allies shall purge the Ukrainian +army of the Bolshevists, German and other dangerous +elements that now pervade it and render peace impossible. +(3) The Poles must have control of the oil-fields were it +only because these are now being treated as military resources +and the Germans are receiving from Galicia, which +contains the only supplies now open to them, all the oil +they require and are giving the Ruthenians munitions in +return, thus perpetuating a continuous state of warfare. +You can realize that we are unwilling to have our oil-fields +employed to supply our enemies with war material against +ourselves." General Botha asked, "Would you be satisfied +if, instead of occupying all eastern Galicia at once in +order to get into touch with the Rumanians, the latter +were to advance to meet you?" "Quite. That would +satisfy us as a provisional measure." "But now suppose +that the Supreme Council rejects your three conditions—a +probable contingency—- what course do you propose +to take?" "In that case our action would be swayed by +events, one of which is the hostility of the Ruthenians, +which would necessitate measures of self-defense and the +use of our army. And that would bring back the whole +issue to the point where it stands to-day."<a name="FNanchor_181_181" id="FNanchor_181_181" href="#Footnote_181_181" >[181]</a> To the suggestions +made by the Polish delegate that the question of +the armistice be referred to Marshal Foch, the answer +was returned that the Marshal's views carried no authority +with the Supreme Council.</p> + +<p>General Botha, thereupon adopting an emotional tone, +said: "I have one last appeal to make to you. It behooves +Poland to lift the question from its present petty +surroundings and set it in the larger frame of world issues. +What we are aiming at is the overthrow of militarism and +the cessation of bloodshed. As a civilized nation Poland +must surely see eye to eye with the Supreme Council how +incumbent it is on the Allies to put a stop to the misery +that warfare has brought down on the world and is now +inflicting on the populations of Poland and eastern Galicia." +"Truly," replied the Polish delegate, "and so +thoroughly does she realize it that it is repugnant to her +to be satisfied with a sham peace, a mere pause during +which a bloodier war may be organized. We want a +settlement that really connotes peace, and our intimate +knowledge of the circumstances enables us to distinguish +between that and a mere truce. That is the ground of +our insistence."</p> + +<p>"Bear well in mind," insisted the Boer general, "the +friendly attitude of the great Allies toward your country +at a critical period of its history. They restored it. +They meant and mean to help it to preserve its status. +It behooves the Poles to show their appreciation of this +friendship in a practical way by deferring to their wishes. +Everything they ordain is for your good. Realize that +and carry out their schemes." "For their help we are +and will remain grateful," was the answer, "and we +will go as far toward meeting their wishes as is feasible +without actually imperiling their contribution to the restoration +of our state. But we cannot blink the facts +that their views are sometimes mistaken and their power +to realize them generally imaginary. They have made +numerous and costly mistakes already, which they now +frankly avow. If they persisted in their present plan +they would be adding another to the list. And as to +their power to help us positively, it is nil. Their initial +omission to send a formidable military force to Poland +was an irreparable blunder, for it left them without an +executive in eastern Europe, where they now can help +none of their protégées against their respective enemies. +Poles, Rumanians, Jugoslavs are all left to themselves. +From the Allies they may expect inspiriting telegrams, +but little else. In fact, the utmost they can do is to issue +decrees that may or may not be obeyed. Examples are +many. They obtained for us by the armistice the right +of disembarking troops at Dantzig, and we were unspeakably +grateful to them. But they failed to make the +Germans respect that right and we had to resign ourselves +to abandon it. They ordered the Ukrainians to cease +their numerous attacks on us and we appreciated their +thoughtfulness. But the order was disobeyed; we were +assailed and had no one to look to for help but ourselves. +Still we are most thankful for all that they could do. +But if we concluded the armistice which you are pleading +for, this is what would happen: we should have the +Ruthenians arrayed against us on one side and the +Germans on the other. Now if the Ruthenians have +brains, their forces will attack us at the same time as those +of the Germans do. That is sound tactics. But if their +strength is only on paper, they will give admission to the +Bolsheviki. That is the twofold danger which you, in the +name of the Great Powers, are unwillingly endeavoring +to conjure up against us. If you admit its reality you +cannot blame our reluctance to incur it. On the other +hand, if you regard the peril as imaginary, you will draw +the obvious consequences and pledge the word of the +Great Powers that they will give us military assistance +against it should it come?"</p> + +<p>If clear thinking and straightforward action has counted +for anything, the matter would have been settled satisfactorily +then and there. But the Great Powers operated +less with argument than with more forcible stimuli. +Holding the economic and financial resources of the +world in their hands, they sometimes merely toyed with +reasoning and proceeded to coerce where they were unable +to convince or persuade. One day the chief delegate of +one of the states "with limited interests" said to me: +"The unvarnished truth is that we are being coerced. +There is no milder term to signify this procedure. Thus +we are told that unless we indorse the decrees of the +Powers, whose interests are unlimited like their assurance, +they will withhold from us the supplies of food, raw materials, +and money without which our national existence +is inconceivable. Necessarily we must give way, at any +rate for the time being." Those words sum up the relations +of the lesser to the greater Powers.</p> + +<p>In the case of Poland the conversation ended thus—General +Botha, addressing the delegate, said: "If you +disregard the injunctions of the Big Four, who cannot +always lay before you the grounds of their policy, you +run the risk of being left to your own devices. And you +know what that means. Think well before you decide!" +Just then, as it chanced, only a part of General Haller's +soldiers in France had been transported to their own +country,<a name="FNanchor_182_182" id="FNanchor_182_182" href="#Footnote_182_182" >[182]</a> and the Poles were in mortal terror lest the +work of conveying the remainder should be interrupted. +This, then, was an implicit appeal to which they could +not turn a wholly deaf ear. "Well, what is it that the +Big Four ask of us?" inquired the delegate. "The conclusion +of an armistice with the Ruthenians, also that +Poland—as one of the newly created states—should allow +the free transit of all the Allied goods through her territory." +The delegate expressed a wish to be told why +this measure should be restricted to the newly made +states. The answer was because it was in the nature of +an experiment and should, therefore, not be tried over too +large an area. "There is also another little undertaking +which you are requested to give—namely, that you will +accept and act upon the future decisions of the commission +whatever they may be." "Without an inkling +of their character?" "If you have confidence in us you +need have no misgivings as to that." In spite of the deterrents +the Polish delegation at that interview met all +these demands with a firm <i>non possumus</i>. It upheld the +three conditions of the armistice, rejected the free transit +proposal, and demurred to the demand for a promise +to bow to all future decisions of a fallible commission. +"When the Polish dispute with the Czechoslovaks was +submitted to a commission we were not asked in advance +to abide by its decision. Why should a new rule be +introduced now?" argued the Polish delegates. And +there the matter rested for a brief while.</p> + +<p>But the respite lasted only a few days, at the expiry of +which an envoy called on the members of the Polish delegation +and reopened the discussion on new lines. He +stated that he spoke on behalf of the Big Four, of whose +views and intentions he was the authorized exponent. +And doubtless he thought he was. But as a matter of +fact the French government had no cognizance of his visit +or mission or of the conversation to which it led. He presented +arguments before having recourse to deterrents. +Poland's situation, he said, called for prudence. Her +secular enemy was Germany, with whom it would be +difficult, perhaps impossible, ever to cultivate such terms +as would conciliate her permanently. All the more reason, +therefore, to deserve and win the friendship of her +other neighbors, in particular of the Ruthenians. The +Polish plenipotentiary met the argument in the usual way, +where upon the envoy exclaimed: "Well, to make a long +story short, I am here to say that the line of action traced +out for your country emanates from the inflexible will of +the Great Powers. To this you must bend. If it should +lead to hostilities on the part of your neighbors you could, +of course, rely on the help of your protectors. Will this +not satisfy you?" "If the protection were real it certainly +would. But where is it? Has it been vouchsafed +at any moment since the armistice? Have the Allied governments +an executive in eastern Europe? Are they likely +to order their troops thither to assist any of their protégées? +And if they issued such an order, would it be obeyed? +They cannot protect us, as we know to our cost. That is +why we are prepared, in our interests—also in theirs—to +protect ourselves."</p> + +<p>This remarkable conversation was terminated by the +announcement of the penalty of disobedience. "If you +persist in refusing the proposals I have laid before you, I +am to tell you that the Great Powers will withdraw their +aid from your country and may even feel it to be their +duty to modify the advantageous status which they had +decided to confer upon it." To which this answer was +returned: "For the assistance we are receiving we are +and will ever be truly grateful. But in order to benefit +by it the Polish people must be a living organism and your +proposals tend to reduce us to a state of suspended vitality. +They also place us at the mercy of our numerous enemies, +the greatest of whom is Germany."</p> + +<p>But lucid intelligence, backed by unflagging will, was +of no avail against the threat of famine. The Poles had +to give way. M. Paderewski pledged his word to Messrs. +Lloyd George and Wilson that he would have an armistice +concluded with the Ruthenians of eastern Galicia, +and the Duumvirs rightly placed implicit confidence in +his word as in his moral rectitude. They also felt grateful +to him for having facilitated their arduous task by accepting +the inevitable. To my knowledge President Wilson +himself addressed a letter to him toward the end of April, +thanking him cordially for the broad-minded way in which +he had co-operated with the Supreme Council in its efforts +to reconstitute his country on a solid basis. Probably +no other representative of a state "with limited interests" +received such high mark of approval.</p> + +<p>M. Paderewski left Paris for Warsaw, there to win over +the Cabinet. But in Poland, where the authorities were +face to face with the concrete elements of the problem, the +Premier found no support. Neither the Cabinet nor the +Diet nor the head of the state found it possible to redeem +the promise made in their name. Circumstance was +stronger than the human will. M. Paderewski resigned. +The Ruthenians delivered a timely attack on the Poles, +who counter-attacked, captured the towns of Styra, Tarnopol, +Stanislau, and occupied the enemy country right +up to Rumania, with which they desired to be in permanent +contact. Part of the Ruthenian army crossed the +Czech frontier and was disarmed, the remainder melted +away, and there remained no enemy with whom to conclude +an armistice.</p> + +<p>For the "Big Four" this turn of events was a humiliation. +The Ruthenian army, whose interests they had so +taken to heart, had suddenly ceased to exist, and the future +danger which it represented to Poland was seen to have +been largely imaginary. Their judgment was at fault +and their power ineffectual. Against M. Paderewski's +impotence they blazed with indignation. He had given +way to their decision and promptly gone to Warsaw to see +it executed, yet the conditions were such that his words +were treated as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. The +Polish Premier, it is true, had tendered his resignation in +consequence, but it was refused—and even had it been +accepted, what was the retirement of a Minister as compared +with the indignity put upon the world's lawgivers +who represented power and interests which were alike +unlimited? Angry telegrams were flashed over the wires +from Paris to Warsaw and the Polish Premier was summoned +to appear in Paris without delay. He duly returned, +but no new move was made. The die was cast.</p> + +<p>A noteworthy event in latter-day Polish history ensued +upon that military victory over the Ruthenians of eastern +Galicia. The Ukrainian<a name="FNanchor_183_183" id="FNanchor_183_183" href="#Footnote_183_183" >[183]</a> Minister at Vienna was despatched +to request the Poles to sign a unilateral treaty +with them after the model of that which was arranged by +the two Anglo-Saxon states in favor of France. The +proposal was that the Ukraine government would renounce +all claims to eastern Galicia and place their troops +under the supreme command of the Polish generalissimus, +in return for which the Poles should undertake to protect +the Ukrainians against all their enemies. This draft +agreement, while under consideration in Warsaw, was +negatived by the Polish delegates in Paris, who saw no +good reason why their people should bind themselves to +fight Russia one day for the independence of the Ukraine. +Another inchoate state which made an offer of alliance to +Poland was Esthonia, but its advances were declined on +similar grounds. It is manifest, however, that in the new +state system alliances are more in vogue than in the old, +although they were to have been banished from it.</p> + +<p>Throughout all the negotiations that turned upon the +future status and the territorial frontiers of Poland the +British Premier unswervingly stood out against the +Polish claims, just as the President of the United States +inflexibly countered those of Italy, and both united to +negative those of the Rumanians. Whatever one may +think of the merits of these controversies—and various +opinions have been put forward with obvious sincerity—there +can be but one judgment as to the spirit in which +they were conducted. It was a dictatorial spirit, which +was intolerant not merely of opposition, but of enlightened +and constructive criticism. To the representatives of the +countries concerned it seemed made up of bitter prejudice +and fierce partizanship, imbibed, it was affirmed, from +those unseen sources whence powerful and, it was thought, +noxious currents flowed continuously toward the Conference. +For none of the affronted delegates credited with +a knowledge of the subject either Mr. Lloyd George, who +had never heard of Teschen, or Mr. Wilson, whose survey +of Corsican politics was said to be so defective. And yet +to the activity of men engaged like these in settling affairs +of unprecedented magnitude it would be unfair to +apply the ordinary tests of technical fastidiousness. Their +position as trustees of the world's greatest states, even +though they lacked political imagination, knowledge, and +experience, entitled them to the high consideration which +they generally received. But it could not be expected to +dazzle to blindness the eyes of superior men—and the +delegates of the lesser states, Venizelos, Dmowski, and +Benes, were undoubtedly superior in most of the attributes +of statesmanship. Yet they were frequently snubbed and +each one made to feel that he was the fifth wheel in the +chariot of the Conference. No sacred fame, says Goethe, +requires us to submit to contempt, and they winced +under it. The Big Three lacked the happy way of doing +things which goes with diplomatic tact and engaging +manners, and the consequence was that not only were +their arguments mistrusted, but even their good faith +was, as we saw, momentarily subjected to doubt. "Bitter +prejudice, furious antipathy" were freely predicated of the +two Anglo-Saxon statesmen, who were rashly accused of +attempting by circuitous methods to deprive France of +her new Slav ally in eastern Europe. Sweeping recriminations +of this character deserve notice only as indicating +the spirit of discord—not to use a stronger term—prevailing +at a Conference which was professedly endeavoring +to knit together the peoples of the planet in an +organized society of good-fellowship.</p> + +<p>The delegates of the lesser states, to whom one should +not look for impartial judgments, formulated some queer +theories to explain the Allies' unavowed policy and revealed +a frame of mind in no wise conducive to the attainment +of the ostensible ends of the Conference. One +delegate said to me: "I have no longer the faintest doubt +that the firm purpose of the 'Big Two' is the establishment +of the hegemony of the Anglo-Saxon peoples, which +in the fullness of time may be transformed into the +hegemony of the United States of North America. Even +France is in some respects their handmaid. Already she is +bound to them indissolubly. She is admittedly unable to +hold her own without their protection. She will become +more dependent on them as the years pass and Germany, +having put her house in order, regains her economic preponderance +on the Continent. This decline is due to the +operation of a natural law which diplomacy may retard +but cannot hinder. Numbers will count in the future, +and then France's rôle will be reduced. For this reason +it is her interest that her new allies in eastern Europe +should be equipped with all the means of growing and +keeping strong instead of being held in the leading-strings +of the overlords. But perhaps this tutelage is reckoned +one of those means?"</p> + +<p>Against Britain in especial the Poles, as we saw, were +wroth. They complained that whenever they advanced +a claim they found her first delegate on their path barring +their passage, and if Mr. Wilson chanced to be with them +the British Premier set himself to convert him to his way +of thinking or voting. Thus it was against Mr. Lloyd +George that the eastern Galician problem had had to be +fought at every stage. At the outset the British Premier +refused Galicia to Poland categorically and purposed +making it an entirely separate state under the League +of Nations. This design, of which he made no secret, +inspired the insistence with which the armistice with the +Ruthenians of Galicia was pressed. The Polish delegates, +one of them a man of incisive speech, left no stone unturned +to thwart that part of the English scheme, and they +finally succeeded. But their opponents contrived to drop +a spoonful of tar in Poland's pot of honey by ordering a +plebiscite to take place in eastern Galicia within ten or fifteen +years. Then came the question of the Galician Constitution. +The Poles proposed to confer on the Ruthenians +a restricted measure of home rule with authority to arrange +in their own way educational and religious matters, +local communications, and the means of encouraging +industry and agriculture, besides giving them a proportionate +number of seats in the state legislature in +Warsaw. But again the British delegates—experienced in +problems of home rule—expressed their dissatisfaction and +insisted on a parliament or diet for the Ukraine invested +with considerable authority over the affairs of the province. +The Poles next announced their intention to have a +governor of eastern Galicia appointed by the President +of the Polish Republic, with a council to advise him. +The British again amended the proposal and asked that +the governor should be responsible to the Galician parliament, +but to this the Poles demurred emphatically, and +finally it was settled that only the members of his council +should be responsible to the provincial legislature. The +Poles having suggested that military conscription should +be applied to eastern Galicia on the same terms as to the +rest of Poland, the British once more joined issue with +them and demanded that no troops whatever should be +levied in the province. The upshot of this dispute was +that after much wrangling the British Commission gave +way to the Poles, but made it a condition that the troops +should not be employed outside the province. To this +the Poles made answer that the massing of so many +soldiers on the Rumanian frontier might reasonably be +objected to by the Rumanians—and so the amoebean +word-game went on in the subcommission. In a word, +when dealing with the eastern Galician problem, Mr. +Lloyd George played the part of an ardent champion +of complete home rule.</p> + +<p>To sum up, the Conference linked eastern Galicia with +Poland, but made the bonds extremely tenuous, so that +they might be severed at any moment without involving +profound changes in either country, and by this arrangement, +which introduced the provisional into the definitive, +a broad field of operations was allotted to political agitation +and revolt was encouraged to rear its crest.</p> + +<p>The province of Upper Silesia was asked for on grounds +which the Poles, at any rate, thought convincing. But +Mr. Lloyd George, it was said, declared them insufficient. +The subject was thrashed out one day in June when the +Polish delegates were summoned before their all-powerful +colleagues to be told of certain alterations that had been +recently introduced into the Treaty which concerned them +to know. They appeared before the Council of Five.<a name="FNanchor_184_184" id="FNanchor_184_184" href="#Footnote_184_184" >[184]</a> +President Wilson, addressing the two delegates, spoke +approximately as follows: "You claim Silesia on the +ground that its inhabitants are Poles and we have +given your demand careful consideration. But the +Germans tell us that the inhabitants, although Polish +by race, wish to remain under German rule as heretofore. +That is a strong objection if founded on fact. At present +we are unable to answer it. In fact, nobody can answer +it with finality but the inhabitants themselves. Therefore +we must order a plebiscite among them." One of the +Polish delegates remarked: "If you had put the question +to the inhabitants fifty years ago they would have expressed +their wish to remain with the Germans because +at that time they were profoundly ignorant and their +national sentiment was dormant. Now it is otherwise. +For since then many of them have been educated, and +the majority are alive to the issue and will therefore +declare for Poland. And if any section of the territory +should still prefer German sway to Polish and their district +in consequence of your plebiscite becomes German, the +process of enlightenment which has already made such +headway will none the less go on, and their children, +conscious of their loss, will anathematize their fathers +for having inflicted it. And then there will be trouble."</p> + +<p>Mr. Wilson retorted: "You are assuming more than +is meet. The frontiers which we are tracing are provisional, +not final. That is a consideration which ought +to weigh with you. Besides, the League of Nations will +intervene to improve what is imperfect." "O League +of Nations, what blunders are committed in thy name!" +the delegate may have muttered to himself as he listened +to the words meant to comfort him and his countrymen.</p> + +<p>Much might have been urged against this proffered +solace if the delegates had been in a captious mood. +The League of Nations had as yet no existence. If its +will, intelligence, and power could indeed be reckoned +upon with such confidence, how had it come to pass that +its creators, Britain and the United States, deemed them +dubious enough to call for a reinforcement in the shape +of a formal alliance for the protection of France? If this +precautionary measure, which shatters the whole Wilsonian +system, was indispensable to one Ally it was at +least equally indispensable to another. And in the case +of Poland it was more urgent than in the case of France, +because if Germany were again to scheme a war of conquest +the probability is infinitesimal that she would invade +Belgium or move forward on the western front. The +line of least resistance, which is Poland, would prove +incomparably more attractive. And then? The absence +of Allied troops in eastern Europe was one of the principal +causes of the wars, tumults, and chaotic confusion that +had made nervous people tremble for the fate of civilization +in the interval between the conclusion of the armistice +and the ratification of the Treaty. In the future the +absence of strongly situated Allies there, if Germany were +to begin a fresh war, would be more fatal still, and the +Polish state might conceivably disappear before military +aid from the Allied governments could reach it. Why +should the safety of Poland and to some extent the +security of Europe be made to depend upon what is at +best a gambler's throw?</p> + +<p>But no counter-objections were offered. On the contrary, +M. Paderewski uttered the soft answer that turneth +away wrath. He profoundly regretted the decision of +the lawgivers, but, recognizing that it was immutable, +bowed to it in the name of his country. He knew, he said, +that the delegates were animated by very friendly feelings +toward his country and he thanked them for their help. +M. Paderewski's colleague, the less malleable M. Dmowski, +is reported to have said: "It is my desire to be quite +sincere with you, gentlemen. Therefore I venture to +submit that while you profess to have settled the matter +on principle, you have not carried out that principle +thoroughly. Doubtless by inadvertence. Thus there +are places inhabited by a large majority of Poles which +you have allotted to Germany on the ground that they are +inhabited by Germans. That is inconsistent." At this +Mr. Lloyd George jumped up from his place and asked: +"Can you name any such places?" M. Dmowski gave +several names. "Point them out to me on the map," +insisted the British Premier. They were pointed out +on the map. Twice President Wilson asked the delegate +to spell the name Bomst for him.<a name="FNanchor_185_185" id="FNanchor_185_185" href="#Footnote_185_185" >[185]</a> Mr. Lloyd George +then said: "Well, those are oversights that can be +rectified." "Oh yes," added Mr. Wilson, "we will see +to that."<a name="FNanchor_186_186" id="FNanchor_186_186" href="#Footnote_186_186" >[186]</a> M. Dmowski also questioned the President +about the plebiscite, and under whose auspices the voting +would take place, and was told that there would be an +Inter-Allied administration to superintend the arrangements +and insure perfect freedom of voting. "Through +what agency will that administration work? Is it through +the officials?" "Evidently," Mr. Wilson answered. +"You are doubtless aware that they are Germans?" +"Yes. But the administration will possess the right to +dismiss those who prove unworthy of their confidence." +"Don't you think," insisted M. Dmowski, "that it would +be fairer to withdraw one half of the German bureaucrats +and give their places to Poles?" To which the President +replied: "The administration will be thoroughly impartial +and will adopt all suitable measures to render the voting +free." There the matter ended.</p> + +<p>The two potentates in council, tackling the future +status of Lithuania, settled it in an offhand and singular +fashion which at any rate bespoke their good intentions. +The principle of self-determination, or what was facetiously +termed the Balkanization of Europe, was at first +applied to that territory and a semi-independent state +created <i>in petto</i> which was to contain eight million inhabitants +and be linked with Poland. Certain obstacles +were soon afterward encountered which had not been +foreseen. One was that all the Lithuanians number only +two millions, or say at the most two millions and one +hundred thousand. Out of these even the Supreme +Council could not make eight millions. In Lithuania +there are two and a half million Poles, one and a half +million Jews, and the remainder are White Russians.<a name="FNanchor_187_187" id="FNanchor_187_187" href="#Footnote_187_187" >[187]</a> +It was recognized that a community consisting of such +disparate elements, situated where it now is, could hardly +live and strive as an independent state. The Lithuanian +Jews, however, were of a different way of thinking, and +they opposed the Polish claims with a degree of steadfastness +and animation which wounded Poland's national +pride and left rankling sores behind.</p> + +<p>It is worth noting that the representatives of Russia, +who are supposed to clutch convulsively at all the states +which once formed part of the Tsardom, displayed a degree +of political detachment in respect of Lithuania which +came as a pleasant surprise to many. The Russian Ambassador +in Paris, M. Maklakoff, in a remarkable address +before a learned assembly<a name="FNanchor_188_188" id="FNanchor_188_188" href="#Footnote_188_188" >[188]</a> in the French capital, announced +that Russia was henceforward disinterested in +the status of Lithuania.</p> + +<p>That the Poles were minded to deal very liberally with +the Lithuanians became evident during the Conference. +General Pilsudski, on his own initiative, visited Vilna and +issued a proclamation to the Lithuanians announcing that +elections would be held, and asking them to make known +their desires, which would be realized by the Warsaw +government. One of the many curious documents of the +Conference is an official missive signed by the General +Secretary, M. Dutasta, and addressed to the first Polish +delegate, exhorting him to induce his government to come +to terms with the Lithuanian government, as behooves +two neighboring states. Unluckily for the soundness of +that counsel there was no recognized Lithuanian state or +Lithuanian government to come to terms with.</p> + +<p>As has been often enough pointed out, the actions and +utterances of the two world-menders were so infelicitous +as to lend color to the belief—shared by the representatives +of a number of humiliated nations—that greed of +new markets was at the bottom of what purported to be +a policy of pure humanitarianism. Some of the delegates +were currently supposed to be the unwitting instruments +of elusive capitalistic influences. Possibly they would +have been astonished were they told this: Great Britain +was suspected of working for complete control of the Baltic +and its seaboard in order to oust the Germans from the +markets of that territory and to have potent levers for +action in Poland, Germany, and Russia. The achievement +of that end would mean command of the Baltic, +which had theretofore been a German lake.<a name="FNanchor_189_189" id="FNanchor_189_189" href="#Footnote_189_189" >[189]</a> It would also +entail, it was said, the separation of Dantzig from Poland, +and the attraction of the Finns, Esthonians, Letts, and +Lithuanians from Germany's orbit into that of Great +Britain. In vain the friends of the delegates declared that +economic interests were not the mainspring of their deliberate +action and that nothing was further from their +intention than to angle for a mandate for those countries. +The conviction was deep-rooted in the minds of many +that each of the Great Powers was playing for its own +hand. That there was some apparent foundation for this +assumption cannot, as we saw, be gainsaid. Widely and +unfavorably commented was the circumstance that in the +heat of those discussions at the Conference a man of confidence +of the Allies put this significant and impolitic +question to one of the plenipotentiaries: "How would +you take it if England were to receive a mandate for +Lithuania?"</p> + +<p>"The Great Powers," observed the most outspoken of +the delegates of the lesser states, "are bandits, but as +their operations are on a large scale they are entitled to +another and more courteous name. Their gaze is fascinated +by markets, concessions, monopolies. They are +now making preparations for a great haul. At this +politicians cannot affect to be scandalized. For it has +never been otherwise since men came together in ordered +communities. But what is irritating and repellent is the +perfume of altruism and philanthropy which permeates +this decomposition. We are told that already they are +purchasing the wharves of Dantzig, making ready for +'big deals' in Libau, Riga, and Reval, founding a bank in +Klagenfurt and negotiating for oil-wells in Rumania. Although +deeply immersed in the ethics of politics, they have +not lost sight of the worldly goods to be picked up and +appropriated on the wearisome journey toward ideal goals. +The atmosphere they have thus renewed is peculiarly +favorable to the growth of cant, and tends to accelerate +the process of moral and social dissolution. And the +effects of this mephitic air may prove more durable than +the contribution of its creators to the political reorganization +of Europe. If we compare the high functions which +they might have fulfilled in relation to the vast needs and +the unprecedented tendencies of the new age with those +which they have unwittingly and deliberately performed +as sophists of sentimental morality and destroyers of the +wheat together with the tares, we shall have to deplore +one of the rarest opportunities missed beyond retrieve."</p> + +<p>In this criticism there is a kernel of truth. The ethico-social +currents to which the war gave rise had a profoundly +moral aspect, and if rightly canalized might have fertilized +many lands and have led to a new and healthy state-system. +One indispensable condition, however, was that +the peoples of the world should themselves be directly +interested in the process, that they should be consulted +and listened to, and helped or propelled into new grooves +of thought and action. Instead of that the delegates contented +themselves with giving new names to old institutions +and tendencies which stood condemned, and with +teaching lawless disrespect for every check and restraint +except such as they chose to acknowledge. They were +powerful advocates for right and justice, democracy and +publicity, but their definitions of these abstract nouns +made plain-speaking people gasp. Self-interest and material +power were the idols which they set themselves to pull +down, but the deities which they put in their places wore +the same familiar looks as the idols, only they were differently +colored.</p> + + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_127_127" id="Footnote_127_127" href="#FNanchor_127_127"> [127]</a> In February, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_128_128" id="Footnote_128_128" href="#FNanchor_128_128"> [128]</a> The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Pichon, undertook to +recognize in principle the independence of Esthonia, provided that Esthonia +would take over her part of the Russian debt.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_129_129" id="Footnote_129_129" href="#FNanchor_129_129"> [129]</a> In the first version of the Covenant, Article XIX deals with this subject. +In the revised version it is Article XXI.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_130_130" id="Footnote_130_130" href="#FNanchor_130_130"> [130]</a> Cf. <i>L'Echo de Paris</i>, August 19, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_131_131" id="Footnote_131_131" href="#FNanchor_131_131"> [131]</a> In July, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_132_132" id="Footnote_132_132" href="#FNanchor_132_132"> [132]</a> <i>L'Echo de Paris</i>, August 19, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_133_133" id="Footnote_133_133" href="#FNanchor_133_133"> [133]</a> The armistice concluded with Hungary was grossly violated by the Hungarians +and had lost its force. The Rumanians, when occupying the country, +demanded a new one, and drafted it. The Supreme Council at first +demurred, and then desisted from dictation. But its attitude underwent +further changes later.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_134_134" id="Footnote_134_134" href="#FNanchor_134_134"> [134]</a> <i>The New York Herald</i>, (Paris ed.), August 20, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_135_135" id="Footnote_135_135" href="#FNanchor_135_135"> [135]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, May 4, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_136_136" id="Footnote_136_136" href="#FNanchor_136_136"> [136]</a> I discussed Belgium's demands in a series of special articles published +in <i>The London Daily Telegraph</i> and <i>The Philadelphia Public Ledger</i> in the +months of January, February, and March, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_137_137" id="Footnote_137_137" href="#FNanchor_137_137"> [137]</a> In Frisia and Ghelderland.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_138_138" id="Footnote_138_138" href="#FNanchor_138_138"> [138]</a> In August, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_139_139" id="Footnote_139_139" href="#FNanchor_139_139"> [139]</a> By Article XXI of the Covenant and Article CCCCXXXV of the +Treaty.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_140_140" id="Footnote_140_140" href="#FNanchor_140_140"> [140]</a> I was in possession of a complete copy.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_141_141" id="Footnote_141_141" href="#FNanchor_141_141"> [141]</a> Cf. <i>Corriere della Sera</i>, August 24, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_142_142" id="Footnote_142_142" href="#FNanchor_142_142"> [142]</a> In February.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_143_143" id="Footnote_143_143" href="#FNanchor_143_143"> [143]</a> Cf. Chapter, "Censorship and Secrecy." The writer of these pages +was the journalist.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_144_144" id="Footnote_144_144" href="#FNanchor_144_144"> [144]</a> <i>Le Temps</i>, July 8, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_145_145" id="Footnote_145_145" href="#FNanchor_145_145"> [145]</a> At the close of August, 1916.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_146_146" id="Footnote_146_146" href="#FNanchor_146_146"> [146]</a> I was one of those who at the time maintained that even in the Allies' +interests Rumania ought not to enter the war at that conjuncture, and anticipation +of that invasion was one of the reasons I adduced.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_147_147" id="Footnote_147_147" href="#FNanchor_147_147"> [147]</a> Also known by the German name of Theiss.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_148_148" id="Footnote_148_148" href="#FNanchor_148_148"> [148]</a> Cf. <i>Le Temps</i>, July 28, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_149_149" id="Footnote_149_149" href="#FNanchor_149_149"> [149]</a> Cf. <i>The Daily Mail</i> (Paris edition), September 5, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_150_150" id="Footnote_150_150" href="#FNanchor_150_150"> [150]</a> On June 13, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_151_151" id="Footnote_151_151" href="#FNanchor_151_151"> [151]</a> On July 11, 1919, some days later, the decision was suspended, owing to +the opinion of General Bliss, who disagreed with Foch.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_152_152" id="Footnote_152_152" href="#FNanchor_152_152"> [152]</a> On July 17, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_153_153" id="Footnote_153_153" href="#FNanchor_153_153"> [153]</a> On July 20th.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_154_154" id="Footnote_154_154" href="#FNanchor_154_154"> [154]</a> Estimated at 85,000.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_155_155" id="Footnote_155_155" href="#FNanchor_155_155"> [155]</a> Moritz Kuhn, who altered his name to Bela Kuhn, was a vulgar criminal. +Expelled from school for larceny, he underwent several terms of +imprisonment, and is alleged to have pilfered from a fellow-prisoner. Even +among some thieves there is no honor.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_156_156" id="Footnote_156_156" href="#FNanchor_156_156"> [156]</a> Italy was represented by Lieutenant-Colonel Romanelli, who resided in +Budapest; Britain, by Col. Sir Thomas Cunningham, who was in Vienna, +as was also Prince Livio Borghese. Later on the Powers delegated generals +to be members of a military mission to the Hungarian capital.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_157_157" id="Footnote_157_157" href="#FNanchor_157_157"> [157]</a> At Bruck.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_158_158" id="Footnote_158_158" href="#FNanchor_158_158"> [158]</a> On July 20th.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_159_159" id="Footnote_159_159" href="#FNanchor_159_159"> [159]</a> <i>Le Journal des Débats</i>, August 4, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_160_160" id="Footnote_160_160" href="#FNanchor_160_160"> [160]</a> This is a larger proportion than was left to the Germans by the Treaty +of Versailles.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_161_161" id="Footnote_161_161" href="#FNanchor_161_161"> [161]</a> <i>Le Temps</i>, July 8, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_162_162" id="Footnote_162_162" href="#FNanchor_162_162"> [162]</a> It was the habitual practice of the Conference to intrust missions abroad +to generals who knew nothing whatever about the countries to which they +were sent.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_163_163" id="Footnote_163_163" href="#FNanchor_163_163"> [163]</a> <i>Le Temps</i>, August 8, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_164_164" id="Footnote_164_164" href="#FNanchor_164_164"> [164]</a> Armistice of November 13, 1918, which had become void.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_165_165" id="Footnote_165_165" href="#FNanchor_165_165"> [165]</a> On June 13, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_166_166" id="Footnote_166_166" href="#FNanchor_166_166"> [166]</a> Composed of four members, one each for Britain, the United States, +France, and Italy.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_167_167" id="Footnote_167_167" href="#FNanchor_167_167"> [167]</a> On July 20th.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_168_168" id="Footnote_168_168" href="#FNanchor_168_168"> [168]</a> Paris journals ascribed it to Mr. Balfour, although it does not bear the +hall-mark of a diplomatist.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_169_169" id="Footnote_169_169" href="#FNanchor_169_169"> [169]</a> <i>Le Journal des Débats</i>, August 13, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_170_170" id="Footnote_170_170" href="#FNanchor_170_170"> [170]</a> Pertinax in <i>L'Echo de Paris</i>, August 10, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_171_171" id="Footnote_171_171" href="#FNanchor_171_171"> [171]</a> <i>The New York Herald</i> (Paris edition), August 10, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_172_172" id="Footnote_172_172" href="#FNanchor_172_172"> [172]</a> <i>Le Journal des Débats</i>, August 13, 1919. Article by Auguste Gauvain.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_173_173" id="Footnote_173_173" href="#FNanchor_173_173"> [173]</a> General Gorton is the one who is said to have despatched the telegram.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_174_174" id="Footnote_174_174" href="#FNanchor_174_174"> [174]</a> In the beginning of September, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_175_175" id="Footnote_175_175" href="#FNanchor_175_175"> [175]</a> The French government having prudently refused to furnish an envoy, +the British chose Sir George Clark.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_176_176" id="Footnote_176_176" href="#FNanchor_176_176"> [176]</a> On June 10, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_177_177" id="Footnote_177_177" href="#FNanchor_177_177"> [177]</a> The actors in this episode were not all officers and civil servants. They +included some men in responsible positions.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_178_178" id="Footnote_178_178" href="#FNanchor_178_178"> [178]</a> In Teschen.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_179_179" id="Footnote_179_179" href="#FNanchor_179_179"> [179]</a> On Friday, April 18, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_180_180" id="Footnote_180_180" href="#FNanchor_180_180"> [180]</a> The Rumanians, on the contrary, had been ordered to keep to the old +conditions, although they, too, had lost their force.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_181_181" id="Footnote_181_181" href="#FNanchor_181_181"> [181]</a> That is exactly what happened in the end. But the delegates would +not believe it until it became an accomplished fact.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_182_182" id="Footnote_182_182" href="#FNanchor_182_182"> [182]</a> About twenty-five thousand had already left France.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_183_183" id="Footnote_183_183" href="#FNanchor_183_183"> [183]</a> The Ruthenians, Ukrainians, and Little Russians are racially the same +people, just as those who speak German in northwestern Germany, Dutch +in Holland, and Flemish in Belgium are racially close kindred. The main +distinctions between the members of each branch are political.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_184_184" id="Footnote_184_184" href="#FNanchor_184_184"> [184]</a> The Messrs. Wilson, George, Clemenceau, Barons Makino and Sonnino. +M. Clemenceau was the nominal chairman, but in reality it was +President Wilson who conducted the proceedings.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_185_185" id="Footnote_185_185" href="#FNanchor_185_185"> [185]</a> Bomst is a canton in the former Province (Regierungs-besirk) of Posen, +with about sixty thousand inhabitants.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_186_186" id="Footnote_186_186" href="#FNanchor_186_186"> [186]</a> Minutes of this conversation exist.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_187_187" id="Footnote_187_187" href="#FNanchor_187_187"> [187]</a> An interesting Russian tribe, dwelling chiefly in the provinces of Minsk +and Grodno (excepting the extreme south), a small part of Suvalki, Vilna +(excepting the northwest corner), the entire provinces of Vitebsk and +Moghileff, the west part of Smolensk, and a few districts of Tshernigoff.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_188_188" id="Footnote_188_188" href="#FNanchor_188_188"> [188]</a> La Société des Études Politiques. The discourse in question was +printed and published.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_189_189" id="Footnote_189_189" href="#FNanchor_189_189"> [189]</a> In Germany and Russia the same view was generally taken of the +motives that actuated the policy of the Anglo-Saxon peoples. The most +elaborate attempt to demonstrate its correctness was made by Cr. Bunke, +in <i>The Dantziger Neueste Nachrichten</i>, already mentioned in this book.</p> +</div> + + +<hr /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII" />VII</h3> + +<h3>POLAND'S OUTLOOK IN THE FUTURE</h3> + + +<p>Casting a parting glance at Poland as she looked +when emerging from the Conference in the leading-strings +of the Great Western Powers, after having escaped +from the Bolshevist dangers that compassed her +round, we behold her about to begin her national existence +as a semi-independent nation, beset with enemies domestic +and foreign. For it would be an abuse of terms to affirm +that Poland, or, indeed, any of the lesser states, is fully +independent in the old sense of the word. The special +treaty imposed on her by the Great Two obliges her to +accord free transit to Allied goods and certain privileges +to her Jewish and other minorities; to accept the supervision +and intervention of the League of Nations, which +the Poles contend means in their case an Anglo-Saxon-Jewish +association; and, at the outset, at any rate, to +recognize the French generalissimus as the supreme commander +of her troops.</p> + +<p>Poland's frontiers and general status ought, if the +scheme of her French protectors had been executed, to +have been accommodated to the peculiar functions +which they destined her to fill in New Europe. France's +plan was to make of Poland a wall between Germany +and Russia. The marked tendency of the other two +Conference leaders was to transform it into a bridge +between those two countries. And the outcome of the +compromise between them has been to construct something +which, without being either, combines all the disadvantages +of both. It is a bridge for Germany and a +wall for Bolshevist Russia. That is the verdict of a +large number of Poles. Although the Europe of the +future is to be a pacific and ethically constituted community, +whose members will have their disputes and +quarrels with one another settled by arbitration courts +and other conciliatory tribunals, war and efficient preparation +for it were none the less uppermost in the minds of +the circumspect lawgivers. Hence the Anglo-Saxon +agreement to defend France against unprovoked aggression. +Hence, too, the solicitude displayed by the French +to have the Polish state, which is to be their mainstay in +eastern Europe, equipped with every territorial and other +guaranty necessary to qualify it for the duties. But +what the French government contrived to obtain for +itself it failed to secure for its new Slav ally. Nay, +oddly enough it voted with the Anglo-Saxon delegates for +keeping all the lesser states under the tutelage of the +League. The Duumvirs, having made the requisite concessions +to France, were resolved in Poland's case to avoid +a further recoil toward the condemned forms of the old +system of equilibrium. Hence the various plebiscites, +home-rule charters, subdivisions of territory, and other +evidences of a struggle for reform along the line of least +resistance, as though in the unavoidable future conflict +between timidly propounded theories and politico-social +forces the former had any serious chance of surviving. In +politics, as in coinage, it is the debased metal that ousts +the gold from circulation.</p> + +<p>Poland's situation is difficult; some people would call +it precarious. She is surrounded by potential enemies +abroad and at home—Germans, Russians, Ukrainians, +Magyars, and Jews. A considerable number of Teutons +are incorporated in her republic to-day, and also a large +number of people of Russian race. Now, Russia and +Germany, even if they renounce all designs of reconquering +the territory which they misruled for such a long span of +time, may feel tempted one day to recover their own +kindred, and what they consider to be their own territory. +And irredentism is one of the worst political plagues for +all the three parties who usually suffer from it. If then +Germany and Russia were to combine and attack Poland, +the consequences would be serious. That democratic Germany +would risk such a wild adventure in the near future +is inconceivable. But history operates with long periods +of time, and it behooves statesmanship to do likewise.</p> + +<p>A Polish statesman would start from the assumption that, +as Russia and Germany have for the time being ceased +to be efficient members of the European state-system, +a good understanding may be come to with both of them, +and a close intimacy cultivated with one. Resourcefulness +and statecraft will be requisite to this consummation. +For some Russians are still uncompromising, and would +fain take back a part of what the revolutionary wave +swept out of their country's grasp, but circumstance +bids fair to set free a potent moderating force in the near +future. Already it is incarnated in statesmen of the new +type. In this connection it is instructive to pass in review +the secret maneuvers by which the recognition of Poland's +independence was, so to say, extorted from a Russian +Minister, who was reputed at the time to be a Democrat +of the Democrats. As some governments have now +become champions of publicity, I venture to hope that this +disclosure will be as helpful to those whom it concerns +as was the systematic suppression of my articles and +telegrams during the space of four years.<a name="FNanchor_190_190" id="FNanchor_190_190" href="#Footnote_190_190" >[190]</a></p> + +<p>On the outbreak of the Russian revolution Poland's +representatives in Britain, who had been ceaselessly +working for the restoration of their country, approached +the British government with a request that the opportunity +should be utilized at once, and the new democratic +Cabinet in Petrograd requested to issue a proclamation +recognizing the independence of Poland. The reasons +for this move having been propounded in detail, orally +and in writing, the Foreign Secretary despatched at once +a telegram to the Ambassador in the Russian capital, +instructing him to lay the matter before the Russian +Foreign Minister and urge him to lose no time in establishing +the claim of the Polish provisional government to the +sympathies of the world, and the redress of its wrongs +by Russia. Sir George Buchanan called on Professor +Milyukoff, then Minister of Foreign Affairs and President +of the Constitutional Democratic party, and propounded +to him the views of the British government, which agreed +with those of France and Italy, and hoped he would see +his way to profit by the opportunity. The answer was +prompt and definite, and within forty-eight hours of Mr. +Balfour's despatch it reached the Foreign Office. The +gist of it was that the Minister of Foreign Affairs regretted +his inability to deal with the problem at that +conjuncture, owing to its great complexity and various +bearings, and also because of his apprehension that the +Poles would demand the incorporation of Russian lands +in their reconstituted state. From this answer many +conclusions might fairly be drawn respecting persons, +parties, and principles on the surface of revolutionary +Russia. But to his credit, Mr. Balfour did not accept it +as final. He again telegraphed to the British Ambassador, +instructing him to insist upon the recognition of Poland, +as the matter was urgent, and to exhort the provisional +government to give in good time the desired proof of the +democratic faith that is to save Russia. Sir George +Buchanan accomplished the task expeditiously. M. Milyukoff +gave way, drafted and issued the proclamation. +Mr. Bonar Law welcomed it in a felicitous speech in the +House of Commons,<a name="FNanchor_191_191" id="FNanchor_191_191" href="#Footnote_191_191" >[191]</a> and the Entente press lauded to the +skies the generous spirit of the new Russian government. +The Russian people and their leaders have traveled far +since then, and have rid themselves of much useless +ballast.</p> + +<p>As Slavs the Poles might have been naturally predisposed +to live in amity with the Russians, were it not +for the specter of the past that stands between them. +But now that Russia is a democracy in fact as well as in +name, this is much more feasible than it ever was before, +and it is also indispensable to the Russians. In the +first place, it is possible that Poland may have consolidated +her forces before her mighty neighbor has recovered the +status corresponding to her numbers and resources. If +the present estimates are correct, and the frontiers, when +definitely traced, leave Poland a republic with some thirty-five +million people, such is her extraordinary birth-rate +and the territorial scope it has for development, that +in the not far distant future her population may exceed +that of France. Assuming for the sake of argument that +armies and other national defenses will count in politics +as much as hitherto, Poland's specific weight will then be +considerable. She will have become not indeed a world +power (to-day there are only two such), but a European +Great Power whose friendship will be well worth acquiring.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile Polish statesmen—the Poles have +one in Roman Dmowski—may strike up a friendly accord +with Russia, abandoning definitely and formally all +claims to so-called historic Poland, disinteresting themselves +in all the Baltic problems which concern Russia so +closely, and envisaging the Ukraine from a point of view +that harmonizes with hers. And if the two peoples +could thus find a common basis of friendly association, +Poland would have solved at least one of her Sphinx +questions.</p> + +<p>As for the internal development of the nation, it is +seemingly hampered with as many hindrances as the +international. It may be likened to the world after +creation, bearing marks of the chaos of the eve. The +German Poles differ considerably from the Austrian, while +the Russian Poles are differentiated from both. The last-named +still show traces of recent servitude in their everyday +avocations. They lack the push and the energy +of purpose so necessary nowadays in the struggle for life. +The Austrian Poles in general are reputed to be likewise +easy-going, lax, and more brilliant than solid, while their +administrative qualities are said to be impaired by a +leaning toward Oriental methods of transacting business. +The Polish inhabitants of the provinces hitherto under +Germany are people of a different temperament. They +have assimilated some of the best qualities of the Teuton +without sacrificing those which are inherent in men of +their own race. A thorough grasp of detail and a gift +for organization characterize their conceptions, and precision, +thoroughness, and conscientiousness are predicated +of their methods. If it be true that the first reform peremptorily +called for in the new republic is an administrative +purge, it follows that it can be most successfully +accomplished with the whole-hearted co-operation of the +German Poles, whose superior education fits them to conform +their schemes to the most urgent needs of the nation +and the epoch.</p> + +<p>The next measure will be internal colonization. There +are considerable tracts of land in what once was Russian +Poland, the population of which, owing to the havoc of +war, is abnormally sparse. Some districts, like that of +the Pripet marshes, which even at the best of times had +but five persons to the kilometer, are practically deserts. +For the Russian army, when retreating before the Germans, +drove before it a huge population computed at +eight millions, who inhabited the territory to the east of +Brest-Litovsk and northward between Lida and Minsk. +Of these eight millions many perished on the way. A +large percentage of the survivors never returned.<a name="FNanchor_192_192" id="FNanchor_192_192" href="#Footnote_192_192" >[192]</a> Roughly +speaking, a couple of millions (mostly Poles and Jews) +went back to their ruined homes. Now the Poles, who +are one of the most prolific races in Europe, might be +encouraged to settle on these thinly populated lands, +which they could convert into ethnographically Polish +districts within a relatively short span of time. These, +however, are merely the ideas of a friendly observer, +whose opinion cannot lay claim to any weight.</p> + +<p>To-day Poland's hope is not, as it has been hitherto, the +nobleman, the professor, and the publicist, but the +peasant. The members of this class are the nucleus of +the new nation. It is from their midst that Poland's +future representatives in politics, arts, and science will be +drawn. Already the peasants are having their sons +educated in high-schools and universities, of which the +republic has a fair number well supplied with qualified +teachers,<a name="FNanchor_193_193" id="FNanchor_193_193" href="#Footnote_193_193" >[193]</a> and they are resolute adversaries of every +movement tainted with Bolshevism.</p> + +<p>Thus the difficulties and dangers with which new +Poland will have to contend are redoubtable. But she +stands a good chance of overcoming them and reaching +the goal where lies her one hope of playing a noteworthy +part in reorganized Europe. The indispensable condition +of success is that the current of opinion and sentiment in +the country shall buoy up reforming statesmen. These +must not only understand the requirements of the new +epoch and be alive to the necessity of penetrating public +opinion, but also possess the courage to place high social +aims at the head of their life and career. Statesmen of +this temper are rare to-day, but Poland possesses at least +one of them. Her resources warrant the conviction which +her chiefs firmly entertain that she may in a relatively +near future acquire the economic leadership of eastern +Europe, and in population, military strength, and area +equal France.</p> + +<p>Parenthetically it may be observed that the enthusiasm +of the Poles for British institutions and for intimate relations +with Great Britain has perceptibly cooled.</p> + +<p>In the limitations to which she is now subjected, her +more optimistic leaders discern the temporarily unavoidable +condition of a beneficent process of working forward +toward indefinite amelioration. Their people's faith, +that may one day raise the country above the highest +summit of its past historical development, if it does not +reconcile them to the present, may nerve them to the +effort which shall realize that high consummation in the +future.</p> + + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_190_190" id="Footnote_190_190" href="#FNanchor_190_190"> [190]</a> Most of my articles written during the last half of the war, and some +during the armistice, were held back on grounds which were presumably +patriotic. I share with those who were instrumental in keeping them +from the public the moral portion of the reward which consists in the +assumption that some high purpose was served by the suppression.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_191_191" id="Footnote_191_191" href="#FNanchor_191_191"> [191]</a> On April 26, 1917.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_192_192" id="Footnote_192_192" href="#FNanchor_192_192"> [192]</a> Mainly White Russians.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_193_193" id="Footnote_193_193" href="#FNanchor_193_193"> [193]</a> The Poles have universities in Cracow, Warsaw, Lvoff (Lemberg), +Liublin, and will shortly open one in Posen. One Polish statesman entertains +a novel and useful idea which will probably be tested in the University +of Posen. Noticing that the greater the progress of technical knowledge +the less is the advance made in the knowledge of men, which is perhaps +the most pressing need of the new age, this statesman proposes to create +a new type of university, where there would be two principal sections, one +for the study of natural sciences and mathematics, and the other for the +study of men, which would include biology, psychology, ethnography, +sociology, philology, history, etc.</p> + + +<hr /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII" />VIII</h3> + +<h3>ITALY</h3> + + +<p>Of all the problems submitted to the Conference, +those raised by Italy's demands may truly be said +to have been among the easiest. Whether placed in the +light of the Fourteen Points or of the old system of the +rights of the victors, they would fall into their places +almost automatically. But the peace criteria were identical +with neither of those principles. They consisted of +several heterogeneous maxims which were invoked alternately, +Mr. Wilson deciding which was applicable to the +particular case under discussion. And from his judgment +there was no appeal.</p> + +<p>It is of the essence of statesmanship to be able to put +oneself in the place—one might almost say in the skin—of +the foreign peoples and governments with which one +is called upon to deal. But the feat is arduous and presupposes +a variety of conditions which the President was +unable to fulfil. His conception of Europe, for example, +was much too simple. It has been aptly likened to that +of the American economist who once remarked to the +manager of an English railway: "You Britishers are +handicapped by having to build your railway lines through +cities and towns. We go to work diligently: we first +construct the road and create the cities afterward."</p> + +<p>And Mr. Wilson happened just then to be in quest of +a fulcrum on which to rest his idealistic lever. For he +had already been driven by egotistic governments from +several of his commanding positions, and people were +gibingly asking whether the new political gospel was being +preached only as a foil for backslidings. Thus he abandoned +the freedom of the seas ... on which he had taken +a determined stand before the world. Although he refused +the Rhine frontier to France, he had reluctantly +given way to M. Clemenceau in the matter of the Saar +Valley, assenting to a monstrous arrangement by which +the German inhabitants of that region were to be handed +over to the French Republic against their expressed will, +as a set-off for a sum in gold which Germany would certainly +be unable to pay.<a name="FNanchor_194_194" id="FNanchor_194_194" href="#Footnote_194_194" >[194]</a> He doubtless foresaw that he +would also yield on the momentous issue of Shantung and +the Chino-Japanese secret treaty. In a word, some of his +more important abstract tenets professed in words were +being brushed aside when it came to acts, and his position +was truly unenviable. Naturally, therefore, he seized +the first favorable occasion to apply them vigorously and +unswervingly. This was supplied by the dispute between +Italy and Jugoslavia, two nations which he held, so to say, +in the hollow of his hand.</p> + +<p>The latter state, still in the making, depended for its +frontiers entirely on the fiat of the American President +backed by the Premiers of Britain and France. And of +this backing Mr. Wilson was assured. Italy, although +more powerful militarily than Jugoslavia, was likewise +economically dependent upon the good-will of the two +English-speaking communities, who were assured in advance +of the support of the French Republic. If, therefore, +she could not be reasoned or cajoled into obeying +the injunctions of the Supreme Council, she could easily +be made malleable by other means. In her case, therefore, +Mr. Wilson's ethical notions might be fearlessly +applied. That this was the idea which underlay the +President's policy is the obvious inference from the calm, +unyielding way in which he treated the Italian delegation. +In this connection it should be borne in mind that there +is no more important distinction between all former peace +settlements and that of the Paris Conference than the +unavowed but indubitable fact that the latter rests upon +the hegemony of the English-speaking communities of the +world, whereas the former were based upon the balance +of power. So immense a change could not be effected +without discreetly throwing out as useless ballast some of +the highly prized dogmas of the accepted political creeds, +even at the cost of impairing the solidarity of the Latin +races. This was effected incidentally. As a matter of +fact, the French are not, properly speaking, a Latin race, +nor has their solidarity with Italy or Spain ever been a +moving political force in recent times. Italy's refusal to +fight side by side with her Teuton allies against France +and her backers may conceivably be the result of racial +affinities, but it has hardly ever been ascribed to that +sentimental source. Sentiment in politics is a myth. In +any case, M. Clemenceau discerned no pressing reason +for making painful efforts to perpetuate the Latin union, +while solicitude for national interests hindered him from +making costly concessions to it.</p> + +<p>Naturally the cardinal innovation of which this was a +corollary was never invoked as the ground for any of the +exceptional measures adopted by the Conference. And +yet it was the motive for several, for although no allusion +was made to the hegemony of Anglo-Saxondom, it was +ever operative in the subconsciousness of the two plenipotentiaries. +And in view of the omnipotence of these +two nations, they temporarily sacrificed consistency to +tactics, probably without conscientious qualms, and certainly +without political misgivings. That would seem +to be a partial explanation of the lengths to which the +Conference went in the direction of concessions to the +Great Powers' imperialist demands. France asked to be +recognized and treated as the personification of that +civilization for which the Allied peoples had fought. And +for many reasons, which it would be superfluous to discuss +here, a large part of her claim was allowed. This concession +was attacked by many as connoting a departure +from principle, but the deviation was more apparent than +real, for under all the wrappings of idealistic catchwords +lay the primeval doctrine of force. The only substantial +difference between the old system and the new was to be +found in the wielders of the force and the ends to which +they intended to apply it. Force remains the granite +foundation of the new ordering, as it had been of the old. +But its employment, it was believed, would be different +in the future from what it had been in the past. Concentrated +in the hands of the English-speaking peoples, +it would become so formidable a weapon that it need +never be actually wielded. Possession of overwhelmingly +superior strength would suffice to enforce obedience to +the decrees of its possessors, which always will, it is +assumed, be inspired by equity. An actual trial of +strength would be obviated, therefore, at least so long +as the relative military and economic conditions of the +world states underwent no sensible change. To this +extent the war specter would be exorcised and trying +abuses abolished.</p> + +<p>That those views were expressly formulated and thrown +into the clauses of a secret program is unlikely. But it +seems to be a fact that the general outlines of such a +policy were conceived and tacitly adhered to. These +outlines governed the action of the two world-arbiters, +not only in the dictatorial decrees issued in the name of +political idealism and its Fourteen Points, which were so +bitterly resented as oppressive by Italy, Rumania, Jugoslavia, +Poland, and Greece, but likewise in those other +concessions which scandalized the political puritans and +gladdened the hearts of the French, the Japanese, the +Jugoslavs, and the Jews. The dictatorial decrees were +inspired by the delegates' fundamental aims, the concessions +by their tactical needs—the former, therefore, +were meant to be permanent, the latter transient.</p> + +<p>All other explanations of the Italian crisis, however +well they may fit certain of its phases, are, when applied +to the pith of the matter, beside the mark. Even if it +were true, as the dramatist, Sem Benelli, wrote, that +"President Wilson evidently considers our people as on the +plane of an African colony, dominated by the will of a few +ambitious men," that would not account for the tenacious +determination with which the President held to his +slighted theory.</p> + +<p>Italy's position in Europe was in many respects peculiar. +Men still living remember the time when her name +was scarcely more than a geographical expression which +gradually, during the last sixty years, came to connote a +hard-working, sober, patriotic nation. Only little by +little did she recover her finest provinces and her capital, +and even then her unity was not fully achieved. Austria +still held many of her sons, not only in the Trentino, but +also on the other shore of the Adriatic. But for thirty +years her desire to recover these lost children was paralyzed +by international conditions. In her own interests, +as well as in those of peace, she had become the third +member of an alliance which constrained her to suppress +her patriotic feelings and allowed her to bend all her energies +to the prevention of a European conflict.</p> + +<p>When hostilities broke out, the attitude of the Italian +government was a matter of extreme moment to France +and the Entente. Much, perhaps the fate of Europe, +depended on whether they would remain neutral or throw +in their lot with the Teutons. They chose the former +alternative and literally saved the situation. The question +of motive is wholly irrelevant. Later on they were +urged to move a step farther and take an active part +against their former allies. But a powerful body of +opinion and sentiment in the country was opposed to +military co-operation, on the ground that the sum total +of the results to be obtained by quiescence would exceed +the guerdon of victory won by the side of the Entente. +The correctness of this estimate depended upon many +incalculable factors, among which was the duration of the +struggle. The consensus of opinion was that it would +be brief, in which case the terms dangled before Italy's +eyes by the Entente would, it was believed by the Cabinet, +greatly transcend those which the Central Powers were +prepared to offer. Anyhow they were accepted and the +compact was negotiated, signed, and ratified by men +whose idealism marred their practical sense, and whose +policy of sacred egotism, resolute in words and feeble +in action, merely impaired the good name of the government +without bringing any corresponding compensation +to the country. The world struggle lasted much longer +than the statesmen had dared to anticipate; Italy's +obligations were greatly augmented by Russia's defection, +she had to bear the brunt of all, instead of a part of +Austria's forces, whereby the sacrifices demanded of her +became proportionately heavier. Altogether it is fair +to say that the difficulties to be overcome and the hardships +to be endured before the Italian people reached their +goal were and still are but imperfectly realized by their +allies. For the obstacles were gigantic, the effort heroic; +alone the results shrank to disappointing dimensions.</p> + +<p>The war over, Italian statesmen confidently believed +that those supererogatory exertions would be appropriately +recognized by the Allies. And this expectation +quickly crystallized into territorial demands. The press +which voiced them ruffled the temper of Anglo-Saxondom +by clamoring for more than it was ever likely to concede, +and buoyed up their own nation with illusory hopes, the +non-fulfilment of which was certain to produce national +discontent. Curiously enough, both the government and +the press laid the main stress upon territorial expansion, +leaving economic advantages almost wholly out of +account.</p> + +<p>It was at this conjuncture that Mr. Wilson made his +appearance and threw all the pieces on the political chessboard +into weird confusion. "You," he virtually said, +"have been fighting for the dismemberment of your secular +enemy, Austria. Well, she is now dismembered and +you have full satisfaction. Your frontiers shall be extended +at her expense, but not at the expense of the new +states which have arisen on her ruins. On the contrary, +their rights will circumscribe your claims and limit your +territorial aggrandizement. Not only can you not have +all the additional territory you covet, but I must refuse +to allot even what has been guaranteed to you by your +secret treaty. I refuse to recognize that because the +United States government was no party to it, was, in +fact, wholly unaware of it until recently. New circumstances +have transformed it into a mere scrap of paper."</p> + +<p>This language was not understood by the Italian people. +For them the sacredness of treaties was a dogma not to +be questioned, and least of all by the champion of right, +justice, and good faith. They had welcomed the new +order preached by the American statesman, but were +unable to reconcile it with the tearing up of existing conventions, +the repudiation of legal rights, the dissolution +of alliances. In particular their treaty with France, Britain, +and Russia had contributed materially to the victory +over the common enemy, had in fact saved the Allies. +"It was Italy's intervention," said the chief of the Austrian +General Staff, Conrad von Hoetzendorff, "that +brought about the disaster. Without that the Central +Empires would infallibly have won the war."<a name="FNanchor_195_195" id="FNanchor_195_195" href="#Footnote_195_195" >[195]</a> And there +is no reason to doubt his assertion. In truth Italy had +done all she had promised to the Allies, and more. She +had contributed materially to save France—wholly gratuitously. +It was also her neutrality, which she could have +bartered, but did not,<a name="FNanchor_196_196" id="FNanchor_196_196" href="#Footnote_196_196" >[196]</a> that turned the scale at Bucharest +against the military intervention of Rumania on the side +of the Teutons.<a name="FNanchor_197_197" id="FNanchor_197_197" href="#Footnote_197_197" >[197]</a> And without the neutrality of both these +countries at the outset of hostilities the course of the +struggle and of European history would have been widely +different from what they have been. And now that the +Allies had achieved their aim they were to refuse to perform +their part of the compact in the name, too, of a moral +principle from the operation of which three great Powers +were dispensed. That was the light in which the matter +appeared to the unsophisticated mind of the average +Italian, and not to him alone. Others accustomed to +abstract reasoning asked whether the best preparation for +the future régime of right and justice, and all that these +imply, is to transgress existing rights and violate ordinary +justice, and what difference there is between the demoralizing +influence of this procedure and that of professional +Bolshevists. There was but one adequate answer to this +objection, and it consisted in the whole-hearted and rigid +application of the Wilsonian tenets to all nations without +exception. But even the author of these tenets did not +venture to make it.</p> + +<p>The essence of the territorial question lay in the disposal +of the eastern shore of the Adriatic.<a name="FNanchor_198_198" id="FNanchor_198_198" href="#Footnote_198_198" >[198]</a> The Jugoslavs +claimed all Istria and Dalmatia, and based their claim +partly on the principle of nationalities and partly on the +vital necessity of having outlets on that sea, and in particular +Fiume, the most important of them all, which they +described as essentially Croatian and indispensable as a +port. The Italian delegates, joining issue with the Jugoslavs, +and claiming a section of the seaboard and Fiume, +argued that the greatest part of the East Adriatic shore +would still remain Croatian, together with all the ports +of the Croatian coast and others in southern Dalmatia—in +a word, twelve ports, including Spalato and Ragusa, and +a thousand kilometers of seaboard. The Jugoslavs met +this assertion with the objection that the outlets in question +were inaccessible, all except Fiume and Metkovitch. +As for Fiume,<a name="FNanchor_199_199" id="FNanchor_199_199" href="#Footnote_199_199" >[199]</a> the Italian delegates contended that +although not promised to Italy by the Treaty of London, +it was historically hers, because, having been for centuries +an autonomous entity and having as such religiously preserved +its Italian character, its inhabitants had exercised +their rights to manifest by plebiscite their desire to be +united with the mother country. They further denied +that it was indispensable to the Jugoslavs because these +would receive a dozen other ports and also because the +traffic between Croatia and Fiume was represented by +only 7 per cent. of the whole, and even that of Croatia, +Slavonia, and Dalmatia combined by only 13 per cent. +Further, Italy would undertake to give all requisite +export facilities in Fiume to the Jugoslavs.</p> + +<p>The latter traversed many of these statements, and in +particular that which described Fiume as a separate +autonomous entity and as an essentially Italian city. +Archives were ransacked by both parties, ancient documents +produced, analyzed, condemned as forgeries or +appealed to as authentic proofs, chance phrases were +culled from various writers of bygone days and offered as +evidence in support of each contention. Thus the contest +grew heated. It was further inflamed by the attitude +of Italy's allies, who appeared to her as either covertly +unfriendly or at best lukewarm.</p> + +<p>M. Clemenceau, who maintained during the peace +negotiations the epithet "Tiger" which he had earned +long before, was alleged to have said in the course of one +of those conversations which were misnamed private, +"For Italy to demand Fiume is to ask for the moon."<a name="FNanchor_200_200" id="FNanchor_200_200" href="#Footnote_200_200" >[200]</a> +Officially he took the side of Mr. Wilson, as did also the +British Premier, and Italy's two allies signified but a cold +assent to those other claims which were covered by their +own treaty. But they made no secret of their desire to +see that instrument wholly set aside. Fiume they would +not bestow on their ally, at least not unless she was +prepared to offer an equivalent to the Jugoslavs and to +satisfy the President of the United States.</p> + +<p>This advocacy of the claims of the Jugoslavs was bitterly +resented by the Italians. For centuries the two +peoples had been rivals or enemies, and during the war +the Jugoslavs fought with fury against the Italians. For +Italy the arch-enemy had ever been Austria and Austria +was largely Slav. "Austria," they say, "was the official +name given to the cruel enemy against whom we fought, +but it was generally the Croatians and other Slavs whom +our gallant soldiers found facing them, and it was they +who were guilty of the misdeeds from which our armies +suffered." Official documents prove this.<a name="FNanchor_201_201" id="FNanchor_201_201" href="#Footnote_201_201" >[201]</a> Orders of +the day issued by the Austrian Command eulogize "the +Serbo-Croatian battalions who vied with the Austro-German +and Hungarian soldiers in resisting the pitfalls +dug by the enemy to cause them to swerve from their +fidelity and take the road to treason.<a name="FNanchor_202_202" id="FNanchor_202_202" href="#Footnote_202_202" >[202]</a> In the last battle +which ended the existence of the Austro-Hungarian +monarchy a large contingent of excellent Croatian troops +fought resolutely against the Italian armies."</p> + +<p>In Italy an impressive story is told which shows how +this transformation of the enemy of yesterday into the +ally of to-day sometimes worked out. The son of an +Italian citizen who was fighting as an aviator was killed +toward the end of the war, in a duel fought in the air, +by an Austrian combatant. Soon after the armistice +was signed the sorrowing father repaired to the place +where his son had fallen. He there found an ex-Austrian +officer, the lucky victor and slayer of his son, wearing in +his buttonhole the Jugoslav <i>cocarde</i>, who, advancing +toward him with extended hand, uttered the greeting, +"You and I are now allies."<a name="FNanchor_203_203" id="FNanchor_203_203" href="#Footnote_203_203" >[203]</a> The historian may smile +at the naïveté of this anecdote, but the statesman will +acknowledge that it characterized the relations between +the inhabitants of the new state and the Italians. One +can divine the feelings of these when they were exhorted +to treat their ex-enemies as friends and allies.</p> + +<p>"Is it surprising, then," the Italians asked, "that we +cannot suddenly conceive an ardent affection for the ruthless +'Austrians' of whose cruelties we were bitterly complaining +a few months back? Is it strange that we cannot +find it in our hearts to cut off a slice of Italian territory +and make it over to them as one of the fruits of—our +victory over them? If Italy had not first adopted +neutrality and then joined the Allies in the war there +would be no Jugoslavia to-day. Are we now to pay +for our altruism by sacrificing Italian soil and Italian +souls to the secular enemies of our race?" In a word, the +armistice transformed Italy's enemy into a friend and +ally for whose sake she was summoned to abandon some +of the fruits of a hard-earned victory and a part of her +secular aspirations. What, asked the Italian delegates, +would France answer if she were told that the Prussians +whom her matchless armies defeated must henceforth be +looked upon as friends and endowed with some new colonies +which would otherwise be hers? The Italian dramatist +Sem Benelli put the matter tersely: "The collapse +of Austria transforms itself therefore into a play of words, +so much so that our people, who are much more precise +because they languished under the Austrian yoke and the +Austrian scourge, never call the Austrians by this name; +they call them always Croatians, knowing well that the +Croatians and the Slavs who constituted Austria were our +fiercest taskmasters and most cruel executioners. It is +naïve to think that the ineradicable characteristics and +tendencies of peoples can be modified by a change of name +and a new flag."</p> + +<p>But there was another way of looking at the matter, +and the Allies, together with the Jugoslavs, made the +most of it. The Slav character of the disputed territory +was emphasized, the principle of nationality invoked, and +the danger of incorporating an unfriendly foreign element +which could not be assimilated was solemnly pointed out. +But where sentiment actuates, reason is generally impotent. +The policy of the Italian government, like +that of all other governments, was frankly nationalistic; +whether it was also statesman-like may well be questioned—indeed +the question has already been answered by some +of Italy's principal press organs in the negative.<a name="FNanchor_204_204" id="FNanchor_204_204" href="#Footnote_204_204" >[204]</a> They +accuse the Cabinet of having deliberately let loose popular +passions which it afterward vainly sought to allay, and +the facts which they allege in support of the charge have +never been denied.</p> + +<p>It was certainly to Italy's best interests to strike up +a friendly agreement with the new state, if that were +feasible, and some of the men in whose hands her destinies +rested, feeling their responsibility, made a laudable attempt +to come to an understanding. Signor Orlando, +whose sagacity is equal to his resourcefulness, was one. +In London he had talked the subject over with the +Croatian leader, M. Trumbic, and favored the movement +toward reconciliation<a name="FNanchor_205_205" id="FNanchor_205_205" href="#Footnote_205_205" >[205]</a> which Baron Sonnino, his colleague, +as resolutely discouraged. A congress was accordingly +held in Rome<a name="FNanchor_206_206" id="FNanchor_206_206" href="#Footnote_206_206" >[206]</a> and an accord projected. The +reciprocal relations became amicable. The Jugoslav +committee in the Italian capital congratulated Signor +Orlando on the victory of the Piave. But owing to +various causes, especially to Baron Sonnino's opposition, +these inchoate sentiments of neighborliness quickly lost +their warmth and finally vanished. No trace of them +remained at the Paris Conference, where the delegates +of the two states did not converse together nor even +salute one another.</p> + +<p>President Wilson's visit to Rome, where, to use an +Italian expression, he was welcomed by Delirium, seemed +to brighten Italy's outlook on the future. Much was +afterward made by the President's enemies of the subsequent +change toward him in the sentiments of the +Italian people. This is commonly ascribed to his failure +to fulfil the expectations which his words or attitude +aroused or warranted. Nothing could well be more misleading. +Mr. Wilson's position on the subject of Italy's +claims never changed, nor did he say or do aught that +would justify a doubt as to what it was. In Rome he +spoke to the Ministers in exactly the same terms as in +Paris at the Conference. He apprized them in January +of what he proposed to do in April and he even contemplated +issuing a declaration of his Italian policy at +once. But he was earnestly requested by the Ministers +to keep his counsel to himself and to make no public +allusion to it during his sojourn in Italy.<a name="FNanchor_207_207" id="FNanchor_207_207" href="#Footnote_207_207" >[207]</a> It was not his +fault, therefore, if the Italian people cherished illusory +hopes. In Paris Signer Orlando had an important +encounter with Mr. Wilson,<a name="FNanchor_208_208" id="FNanchor_208_208" href="#Footnote_208_208" >[208]</a> who told him plainly that +the allotment of the northern frontiers traced for Italy +by the London Treaty would be confirmed, while that of +the territory on the eastern Adriatic would be quashed. +The division of the spoils of Austria there must, he added, +be made congruously with a map which he handed to the +Italian Premier. It was proved on examination to be +identical with one already published by the <i>New Europe</i>.<a name="FNanchor_209_209" id="FNanchor_209_209" href="#Footnote_209_209" >[209]</a> +Signor Orlando glanced at the map and in courteous +phraseology unfolded the reasons why he could not entertain +the settlement proposed. He added that no Italian +parliament would ratify it. Thereupon the President +turned the discussion to politico-ethical lines, pointed out +the harm which the annexation of an alien and unfriendly +element could inflict upon Italy, the great advantages +which cordial relations with her Slav neighbor would +confer on her, and the ease with which she might gain the +markets of the new state. A young and small nation +like the Jugoslavs would be grateful for an act of generosity +and would repay it by lasting friendship—a return +worth far more than the contentious territories. "Ah, +you don't know the Jugoslavs, Mr. President," exclaimed +Signor Orlando. "If Italy were to cede to them Dalmatia, +Fiume, and eastern Istria they would forthwith +lay claim to Trieste and Pola and, after Trieste and Pola, +to Friuli and Gorizia."</p> + +<p>After some further discussion Mr. Wilson said: "Well, +I am unable to reconcile with my principles the recognition +of secret treaties, and as the two are incompatible I +uphold the principles." "I, too," rejoined the Italian +Premier, "condemn secret treaties in the future when the +new principles will have begun to regulate international +politics. As for those compacts which were concluded +during the war they were all secret, not excluding those to +which the United States was a party." The President +demurred to this reservation. He conceived and put his +case briefly as follows: Italy, like her allies, had had +it in her power to accept the Fourteen Points, reject +them, or make reserves. Britain and France had taken +exception to those clauses which they were determined +to reject, whereas Italy signified her adhesion to them all. +Therefore she was bound by the principles underlying +them and had forfeited the right to invoke a secret treaty. +The settlement of the issues turning upon Dalmatia, +Istria, Fiume, and the islands must consequently be +taken in hand without reference to the clauses of that +instrument. Examined on their merits and in the light +of the new arrangements, Italy's claims could not be +upheld. It would be unfair to the Jugoslavs who inhabit +the whole country to cut them off from their own seaboard. +Nor would such a measure be helpful to Italy +herself, whose interest it was to form a homogeneous +whole, consolidate her dominions, and prepare for the +coming economic struggle for national well-being. The +principle of nationality must, therefore, be allowed full +play.</p> + +<p>As for Fiume, even if the city were, as alleged, an +independent entity and desirous of being incorporated in +Italy, one would still have to set against these facts Jugoslavia's +imperative need of an outlet to the sea. Here +the principle of economic necessity outweighs those of +nationality and free determination. A country must live, +and therefore be endowed with the wherewithal to support +life. On these grounds, judgment should be entered +for the Jugoslavs.</p> + +<p>The Italian Premier's answer was equally clear, but he +could not unburden his mind of it all. His government +had, it was true, adhered to the Fourteen Points without +reservation. But the assumptions on which it gave this +undertaking were that it would not be used to upset past +compacts, but would be reserved for future settlements; +that even had it been otherwise the maxims in question +should be deemed relevant in Italy's case only if applied +impartially to all states, and that the entire work of +reorganization should rest on this ethical foundation. A +régime of exceptions, with privileged and unprivileged +nations, would obviously render the scheme futile and +inacceptable. Yet this was the system that was actually +being introduced. If secret treaties were to be abrogated, +then let the convention between Japan and China be also +put out of court and the dispute between them adjudicated +upon its merits. If the Fourteen Points are binding, +let the freedom of the seas be proclaimed. If equal rights +are to be conferred upon all states, let the Monroe Doctrine +be repealed. If disarmament is to become a reality, +let Britain and America cease to build warships. Suppose +for a moment that to-morrow Brazil or Chile were +to complain of the conduct of the United States, the +League of Nations, in whose name Mr. Wilson speaks, +would be hindered by the Monroe Doctrine from intervening, +whereas Britain and the United States in analogous +conditions may intermeddle in the affairs of any of +the lesser states. When Ireland or Egypt or India uplifts +its voice against Britain, it is but a voice in the desert +which awakens no echo. If Fiume were inhabited by +American citizens who, with a like claim to be considered +a separate entity, asked to be allowed to live under the +Stars and Stripes, what would President Wilson's attitude +be then? Would he turn a deaf ear to their prayer? +Surely not. Why, in the case of Italy, does he not do +as he would be done by? What it all comes to is that +the new ordering under the flag of equality is to consist +of superior and inferior nations, of which the former, who +speak English, are to possess unlimited power over the +latter, to decide what is good for them and what is bad, +what is licit and what is forbidden. And against their +fiat there is to be no appeal. In a word, it is to be the +hegemony of the Anglo-Saxon race.</p> + +<p>It is worth noting that Signor Orlando's arguments +were all derived from the merits of the case, not from +the terms or the force of the London Treaty. Fiume, +he said, had besought Italy to incorporate it, and had +made this request before the armistice, at a moment +when it was risky to proclaim attachments to the kingdom.<a name="FNanchor_210_210" id="FNanchor_210_210" href="#Footnote_210_210" >[210]</a> +The inhabitants had invoked Mr. Wilson's own +words: "National aspirations must be respected.... Self-determination +is not a mere phrase." "Peoples and provinces +are not to be bartered about from sovereignty to +sovereignty as if they were mere chattels and pawns in a +game. Every territorial settlement involved in this war +must be made in the interest and for the benefit of the +populations concerned, and not as a part of any adjustment +for compromise of claims among rival states." And +in his address at Mount Vernon the President had advocated +a doctrine which is peculiarly applicable to Fiume—<i>i.e.</i>:</p> + +<p>"The settlement of every question, whether of territory, +of sovereignty, of economic arrangement, or of political +relationship, upon the basis of the free acceptance of that +settlement by the people immediately concerned, and not +upon the basis of material interest or advantage of any +other nation or people which may desire a different settlement, +for the sake of its own exterior influence or mastery."<a name="FNanchor_211_211" id="FNanchor_211_211" href="#Footnote_211_211" >[211]</a> +These maxims laid down by Mr. Wilson implicitly +allot Fiume to Italy.</p> + +<p>Finally as to the objection that Italy's claims would +entail the incorporation of a number of Slavs, the answer +was that the percentage was negligible as compared with +the number of foreign elements annexed by other states. +The Poles, it was estimated, would have some 30 per +cent. of aliens, the Czechs not less, Rumania 17 per +cent., Jugoslavia 11 per cent., France 4 per cent., and +Italy only 3 per cent.</p> + +<p>In February the Jugoslavs made a strategic move, +which many admired as clever, and others blamed as +unwise. They proposed that all differences between their +country and Italy should be submitted to Mr. Wilson's +arbitration. Considering that the President's mind was +made up on the subject from the beginning, and that he +had decided against Italy, it was natural that the delegation +in whose favor his decision was known to incline +should be eager to get it accepted by their rivals. As +neither side was ignorant of what the result of the arbitration +would be, only one of the two could be expected +to close with the offer, and the most it could hope by doing +this was to embarrass the other. The Italian answer was +ingenious. Their dispute, they said, was not with Serbia, +who alone was represented at the Conference; it concerned +Croatia, who had no official standing there, and whose +frontiers were not yet determined, but would in due time +be traced by the Conference, of which Italy was a member. +The decision would be arrived at after an exhaustive +study, and its probable consequences to Europe's peace +would be duly considered. As extreme circumspection +was imperative before formulating a verdict, five plenipotentiaries +would seem better qualified than any one of +them, even though he were the wisest of the group. To +remove the question from the competency of the Conference, +which was expressly convoked to deal with such +issues, and submit it to an individual, would be felt as +a slight on the Supreme Council. And so the matter +dropped.</p> + +<p>Signor Orlando knew that if he had adopted the suggestion +and made Mr. Wilson arbiter, Italy's hopes would +have been promptly extinguished in the name of the +Fourteen Points, and her example held up for all the lesser +states to imitate. The President was, however, convinced +that the Italian people would have ratified the +arrangement with alacrity. It is worth recording that he +was so sure of his own hold on the Italian masses that, +when urging Signor Orlando to relinquish his demand for +Fiume and the Dalmatian coast, he volunteered to provide +him with a message written by himself to serve as +the Premier's justification. Signor Orlando was to read +out this document in Parliament in order to make it clear +to the nation that the renunciation had been demanded +by America, that it would most efficaciously promote +Italy's best interests, and should for that reason be ratified +with alacrity. Signor Orlando, however, declined the certificate +and things took their course.</p> + +<p>In Paris the Italian delegation made little headway. +Every one admired, esteemed, and felt drawn toward the +first delegate, who, left to himself, would probably have +secured for his country advantageous conditions, even +though he might be unable to add Fiume to those secured +by the secret treaty. But he was not left to himself. He +had to reckon with his Minister of Foreign Affairs, who +was as mute as an oyster and almost as unsociable. +Baron Sonnino had his own policy, which was immutable, +almost unutterable. At the Conference he seemed unwilling +to propound, much less to discuss it, even with +those foreign colleagues on whose co-operation or approval +its realization depended. He actually shunned delegates +who would fain have talked over their common interests +in a friendly, informal way, and whose business it was to +strike up an agreement. In fact, results which could be +secured only by persuading indifferent or hostile people +and capturing their good-will he expected to attain by +holding aloof from all and leading the life of a hermit, one +might almost say of a misanthrope. One can imagine +the feelings, if one may not reproduce the utterances, of +English-speaking officials, whose legitimate desire for a +free exchange of views with Italy's official spokesman was +thwarted by the idiosyncrasies of her own Minister of +Foreign Affairs. In Allied circles Baron Sonnino was distinctly +unpopular, and his unpopularity produced a +marked effect on the cause he had at heart. He was +wholly destitute of friends. He had, it is true, only two +enemies, but they were himself and the foreign element +who had to work with him. Italy's cause was therefore +inadequately served.</p> + +<p>Several months' trial showed the unwisdom of Baron +Sonnino's attitude, which tended to defeat his own policy. +Italy was paid back by her allies in her own coin, aloofness +for aloofness. After she had declined the Jugoslavs' +ingenious proposal to refer their dispute to Mr. Wilson +the three delegates<a name="FNanchor_212_212" id="FNanchor_212_212" href="#Footnote_212_212" >[212]</a> agreed among themselves to postpone +her special problems until peace was signed with Germany, +but Signor Orlando, having got wind of the matter, +moved every lever to have them put into the forefront +of the agenda. He went so far as to say that he would +not sign the Treaty unless his country's claims were first +settled, because that document would make the League +of Nations—and therefore Italy as a member of the +League—the guarantor of other nations' territories, +whereas she herself had no defined territories for others +to guarantee. She would not undertake to defend the +integrity of states which she had helped to create while +her own frontiers were indefinite. But in the art of procrastination +the Triumvirate was unsurpassed, and, as the +time drew near for presenting the Treaty to Germany, +neither the Adriatic, the colonial, the financial, nor the +economic problems on which Italy's future depended were +settled or even broached. In the meanwhile the plenipotentiaries +in secret council, of whom four or five were +wont to deliberate and two to take decisions, had disagreed +on the subject of Fiume. Mr. Wilson was inexorable +in his refusal to hand the city over to Italy, and +the various compromises devised by ingenious weavers +of conflicting interests failed to rally the Italian delegates, +whose inspirer was the taciturn Baron Sonnino. The +Italian press, by insisting on Fiume as a <i>sine qua non</i> of +Italy's approval of the Peace Treaty and by announcing +that it would undoubtedly be accorded, had made it +practically impossible for the delegates to recede. The +circumstance that the press was inspired by the government +is immaterial to the issue. President Wilson, who +had been frequently told that a word from him to the +peoples of Europe would fire their enthusiasm and carry +them whithersoever he wished, even against their own +governments, now purposed wielding this unique power +against Italy's plenipotentiaries. As we saw, he would +have done this during his sojourn in Rome, but was dissuaded +by Baron Sonnino. His intention now was to +compel the delegates to go home and ascertain whether +their inflexible attitude corresponded with that of their +people and to draw the people into the camp of the +"idealists." He virtually admitted this during his conversation +with Signor Orlando. What he seems to have +overlooked, however, is that there are time limits to every +policy, and that only the same causes can be set in motion +to produce the same results. In Italy the President's +name had a very different sound in April from the clarion-like +tones it gave forth in January, and the secret of his +popularity even then was the prevalent faith in his firm +determination to bring about a peace of justice, irrespective +of all separate interests, not merely a peace with +indulgence for the strong and rigor for the weak. The +time when Mr. Wilson might have summoned the peoples +of Europe to follow him had gone by irrevocably. It is +worth noting that the American statesman's views about +certain of Italy's claims, although originally laid down +with the usual emphasis as immutable, underwent considerable +modifications which did not tend to reinforce +his authority. Thus at the outset he had proclaimed the +necessity of dividing Istria between the two claimant +nations, but, on further reflection, he gave way in Italy's +favor, thus enabling Signor Orlando to make the point +that even the President's solutions needed corrections. +It is also a fact that when the Italian Premier insisted +on having the Adriatic problems definitely settled before +the presentation of the Treaty to the Germans<a name="FNanchor_213_213" id="FNanchor_213_213" href="#Footnote_213_213" >[213]</a> his +colleagues of France and Britain assured him that this +reasonable request would be complied with. The circumstance +that this promise was disregarded did not +tend to smooth matters in the Council of Five.</p> + +<p>The decisive duel between Signor Orlando and Mr. +Wilson was fought out in April, and the overt acts which +subsequently marked their tense relations were but the +practical consequences of that. On the historic day each +one set forth his program with a <i>ne varietur</i> attached, and +the President of the United States gave utterance to an +estimate of Italian public opinion which astonished and +pained the Italian Premier, who, having contributed to +form it, deemed himself a more competent judge of its +trend than his distinguished interlocutor. But Mr. Wilson +not only refused to alter his judgment, but announced +his intention to act upon it and issue an appeal to the +Italian nation. The gist of this document was known to +M. Clemenceau and Mr. Lloyd George. It has been +alleged, and seems highly probable, that the British +Premier was throughout most anxious to bring about a +workable compromise. Proposals were therefore put forward +respecting Fiume and Dalmatia, some of which were +not inacceptable to the Italians, who lodged counter-proposals +about the others. On the fate of these counter-proposals +everything depended.</p> + +<p>On April 23d I was at the Hôtel Edouard VII, the headquarters +of the Italian delegation, discussing the outlook +and expecting to learn that some agreement had been +reached. In an adjoining room the members of the +delegation were sitting in conference on the burning subject, +painfully aware that time pressed, that the Damocles's +sword of Mr. Wilson's declaration hung by a thread over +their heads, and that a spirit of large compromise was +indispensable. At three o'clock Mr. Lloyd George's +secretary brought the reply of the Council of Three to +Italy's maximum of concessions. Only one point remained +in dispute, I was told, but that point hinged upon +Fiume, and, by a strange chance, it was not mentioned in +the reply which the secretary had just handed in. The +Italian delegation at once telephoned to the British +Premier asking him to receive the Marquis Imperiali, +who, calling shortly afterward, learned that Fiume was +to be a free city and exempt from control. It was when +the marquis had just returned that I took leave of my +hosts and received the assurance that I should be informed +of the result. About half an hour later, on +receipt of an urgent message, I hastened back to the +Italian headquarters, where consternation prevailed, and +I learned that hardly had the delegates begun to discuss +the contentious clause when a copy of the <i>Temps</i> was +brought in, containing Mr. Wilson's appeal to the Italian +people "over the heads of the Italian government."</p> + +<p>The publication fell like a powerful explosive. The +public were at a loss to fit in Mr. Wilson's unprecedented +action with that of his British and French colleagues. +For if in the morning he sent his appeal to the newspapers, +it was asked, why did he allow his Italian colleagues +to go on examining a proposal on which he manifestly +assumed that they were no longer competent to treat? +Moreover a rational desire to settle Italy's Adriatic +frontiers, it was observed, ought not to have lessened his +concern about the larger issues which his unwonted +procedure was bound to raise. And one of these was +respect for authority, the loss of which was the taproot of +Bolshevism. Signor Orlando replied to the appeal in a +trenchant letter which was at bottom a reasoned protest +against the assumed infallibility of any individual and, +in particular, of one who had already committed several +radical errors of judgment. What the Italian Premier +failed to note was the consciousness of overwhelming +power and the will to use it which imparted its specific +mark to the whole proceeding. Had he realized this element, +his subsequent tactics would perhaps have run +on different lines.</p> + +<p>The suddenness with which the President carried out +his purpose was afterward explained as the outcome of +misinformation. In various Italian cities, it had been +reported to him, posters were appearing on the walls announcing +that Fiume had been annexed. Moreover, it +was added, there were excellent grounds for believing that +at Rome the Italian Cabinet was about to issue a decree +incorporating it officially, whereby things would become +more tangled than ever. Some French journals gave +credit to these allegations, and it may well be that Mr. +Wilson, believing them, too, and wanting to be beforehand, +took immediate action. This, however, is at most an +explanation; it hardly justifies the precipitancy with +which the Italian plenipotentiaries were held up to the +world as men who were misrepresenting their people. +As a matter of fact careful inquiry showed that all those +reports which are said to have alarmed the President were +groundless. Mr. Wilson's sources of information respecting +the countries on which he was sitting in judgment were +often as little to be depended on as presumably were the +decisions of the special commissions which he and Mr. +Lloyd George so unceremoniously brushed aside.</p> + +<p>On the following morning Signori Orlando and Sonnino +called on the British Premier in response to his urgent +invitation. To their surprise they found Mr. Wilson and +M. Clemenceau also awaiting them, ready, as it might +seem, to begin the discussion anew, curious in any case +to observe the effect of the declaration. But the Italian +Premier burned his boats without delay or hesitation. +"You have challenged the authority of the Italian government," +he said, "and appealed to the Italian people. Be +it so. It is now become my duty to seek out the representatives +of my people in Parliament and to call upon +them to decide between Mr. Wilson and me." The President +returned the only answer possible, "Undoubtedly +that is your duty." "I shall inform Parliament then that +we have allies incapable of agreeing among themselves on +matters that concern us vitally." Disquieted by the +militant tone of the Minister, Mr. Lloyd George uttered a +suasive appeal for moderation, and expressed the hope +that in his speech to the Italian Chamber, Signor Orlando +would not forget to say that a satisfactory solution may +yet be found. He would surely be incapable of jeopardizing +the chances of such a desirable consummation. "I +will make the people arbiters of the whole situation," the +Premier announced, "and in order to enable them to +judge with full knowledge of the data, I herewith ask your +permission to communicate my last memorandum to the +Council of Four. It embodies the pith of the facts which +it behooves the Parliament to have before it. In the meantime, +the Italian government withdraws from the Peace +Conference." On this the painful meeting terminated and +the principal Italian plenipotentiaries returned to Rome. +In France a section of the press sympathized with the +Italians, while the government, and in particular M. +Clemenceau, joined Mr. Wilson, who had promised to +restore the sacredness of treaties<a name="FNanchor_214_214" id="FNanchor_214_214" href="#Footnote_214_214" >[214]</a> in exhorting Signor +Orlando to give up the Treaty of London. The clash +between Mr. Wilson and Signor Orlando and the departure +of the Italian plenipotentiaries coincided with the +arrival of the Germans in Versailles, so that the Allies +were faced with the alternative of speeding up their desultory +talks and improvising a definite solution or giving +up all pretense at unanimity in the presence of the enemy. +One important Paris journal found fault with Mr. Wilson +and his "Encyclical," and protested emphatically against +his way of filling every gap in his arrangements by wedging +into it his League of Nations. "Can we harbor any +illusion as to the net worth of the League of Nations when +the revised text of the Covenant reveals it shrunken to +the merest shadow, incapable of thought, will, action, or +justice?... Too often have we made sacrifices to the Wilsonian +doctrine."<a name="FNanchor_215_215" id="FNanchor_215_215" href="#Footnote_215_215" >[215]</a> ... Another press organ compared +Fiume to the Saar Valley and sympathized with Italy, +who, relying on the solidarity of her allies, expected to +secure the city.<a name="FNanchor_216_216" id="FNanchor_216_216" href="#Footnote_216_216" >[216]</a></p> + +<p>While those wearisome word-battles—in which the personal +element played an undue part—were being waged +in the twilight of a secluded Valhalla, the Supreme Economic +Council decided that the seized Austrian vessels +must be pooled among all the Allies. When the untoward +consequences of this decision were flashed upon the Italians +and the Jugoslavs, the rupture between them was seen to +be injurious to both and profitable to third parties. For +if the Austrian vessels were distributed among all the +Allied peoples, the share that would fall to those two +would be of no account. Now for the first time the adversaries +bestirred themselves. But it was not their diplomatists +who took the initiative. Eager for their respective +countries' share of the spoils of war, certain +business men on both sides met,<a name="FNanchor_217_217" id="FNanchor_217_217" href="#Footnote_217_217" >[217]</a> deliberated, and worked +out an equitable accord which gave four-fifths of the tonnage +to Italy and the remainder to the Jugoslavs, who +otherwise would not have obtained a single ship.<a name="FNanchor_218_218" id="FNanchor_218_218" href="#Footnote_218_218" >[218]</a> They +next set about getting the resolution of the Economic +Council repealed, and went on with their conversations.<a name="FNanchor_219_219" id="FNanchor_219_219" href="#Footnote_219_219" >[219]</a> +The American delegation was friendly, promised to plead +for the repeal, and added that "if the accord could be +extended to the Adriatic problem Mr. Wilson would be +delighted and would take upon himself to ratify it <i>even +without the sanction of the Conference</i>.<a name="FNanchor_220_220" id="FNanchor_220_220" href="#Footnote_220_220" >[220]</a> Encouraged by this +promise, the delegates made the attempt, but as the +Italian Premier had for some unavowed reason limited +the intercourse of the negotiators to a single day, on the +expiry of which he ordered the conversation to cease,<a name="FNanchor_221_221" id="FNanchor_221_221" href="#Footnote_221_221" >[221]</a> +they failed. Two or three days later the delegates in +question had quitted Paris.</p> + +<p>What this exchange of views seems to have demonstrated +to open-minded Italians was that the Jugoslavs, +whose reputation for obstinacy was a dogma among all +their adversaries and some of their friends, have chinks +in their panoply through which reason and suasion may +penetrate.</p> + +<p>When the Italian withdrew from the Conference he +had ample reason for believing that in his absence peace +could not be signed, and many thought that, by departing, +he was giving Mr. Wilson a Roland for his Oliver. But +this supposed tactical effect formed no part of Orlando's +deliberate plan. It was a coincidence to be utilized, +nothing more. Mr. Wilson had left him no choice but +to quit France and solicit the verdict of his countrymen. +But Mr. Wilson's colleagues were aghast at the thought +that the Pact of London, by which none of the Allies +might conclude a separate peace, rendered it indispensable +that Italy's recalcitrant plenipotentiaries should be co-signatories, +or at any rate consenting parties. About +this interpretation of the Pact there was not the slightest +doubt. Hence every one feared that the signing of the +Peace Treaty would be postponed indefinitely because +of the absence of the Italian plenipotentiaries from the +Conference. That certainly was the belief of the remaining +delegates. There was no doubt anywhere that the +presence or the express assent of the Italians was a <i>sine +qua non</i> of the legality of the Treaty. It certainly was +the conviction of the French press, and was borne out by +the most eminent jurists throughout the world.<a name="FNanchor_222_222" id="FNanchor_222_222" href="#Footnote_222_222" >[222]</a> That +the Italian delegates might refuse to sign, as Signor +Orlando had threatened, until Italy's affairs were arranged +satisfactorily was taken for granted, and the remaining +members of the inner Council set to work to checkmate +this potential maneuver and dispense with her co-operation. +This aim was attained during the absence of the +Italian delegation by the decree that the signature of any +three of the Allied and Associated governments would be +deemed adequate. The legality and even the morality +of this provision were challenged by many.</p> + +<p>But it may be maintained that the imperative nature +of the task which confronted the Conference demanded +a chart of ideas and principles different from that by +which Old World diplomacy had been guided and that respect +for the letter of a compact should not be allowed to +destroy its spirit. There is much to be said for this +contention, which was, however, rejected by Italian +jurists as destructive of the sacredness of treaties. They +also urged that even if it were permissible to dash formal +obstacles aside in order to clear the path for the furtherance +of a good cause, it is also indispensable that the +result should be compassed with the smallest feasible +sacrifice of principle. Hopes were accordingly entertained +by the Italian delegates that, on their return to +Paris, at least a formal declaration might be made that +Italy's signature was indispensable to the validity of the +Treaty. But they were not, perhaps could not, be fulfilled +at that conjuncture.</p> + +<p>Advantage was taken in other ways of the withdrawal +of Italy's representatives from the Conference. For +example, a clause of the Treaty with Germany dealing +with reparations was altered to Italy's detriment. Another +which turned upon Austro-German relations was +likewise modified. Before the delegates left for Rome +it had been settled that Germany should be bound over +to respect Austria's independence. This obligation was +either superfluous, every state being obliged to respect +the independence of every other, or else it had a cryptic +meaning which would only reveal itself in the application +of the clause. As soon as the Conference was freed from +the presence of the Italians the formula was modified, +and Germany was plainly forbidden to unite with Austria, +even though Austria should expressly desire amalgamation. +As this enactment runs directly counter to the +principle of self-determination, the Italian Minister Crespi +raised his voice in energetic protest against this and the +financial changes,<a name="FNanchor_223_223" id="FNanchor_223_223" href="#Footnote_223_223" >[223]</a> whereupon the Triumvirs, giving way +on the latter point, consented to restore the primitive +text of the financial condition.<a name="FNanchor_224_224" id="FNanchor_224_224" href="#Footnote_224_224" >[224]</a> Germany is obliged to +supply France with seven million tons of coal every year +by way of restitution for damage done during the war. +At the price of fifty francs a ton, the money value of this +tribute would be three hundred and fifty million francs, +of which Italy would be entitled to receive 30 per cent. +But during the absence of the Italian representatives a +supplementary clause was inserted in the Treaty<a name="FNanchor_225_225" id="FNanchor_225_225" href="#Footnote_225_225" >[225]</a> conferring +a special privilege on France which renders Italy's +claim of little or no value. It provides that Germany +shall deliver annually to France an amount of coal equal +to the difference between the pre-war production of the +mines of Pas de Calais and the Nord, destroyed by the +enemy, and the production of the mines of the same +area during each of the coming years, the maximum limit +to be twenty million tons. As this contribution takes +precedence of all others, and as Germany, owing to +insufficiency of transports and other causes, will probably +be unable to furnish it entirely, Italy's claim is considered +practically valueless.</p> + +<p>The reception of the delegates in Rome was a triumph, +their return to Paris a humiliation. For things had been +moving fast in the meanwhile, and their trend, as we said, +was away from Italy's goal. Public opinion in their own +country likewise began to veer round, and people asked +whether they had adopted the right tactics, whether, in +fine, they were the right men to represent their country +at that crisis of its history. There was no gainsaying +the fact that Italy was completely isolated at the Conference. +She had sacrificed much and had garnered in +relatively little. The Jugoslavs had offered her an +alliance—although this kind of partnership had originally +been forbidden by the Wilsonian discipline; the offer +was rejected and she was now certain of their lasting +enmity. Venizelos had also made overtures to Baron +Sonnino for an understanding, but they elicited no +response, and Italy's relations with Greece lost whatever +cordiality they might have had. Between France and +Italy the threads of friendship which companionship in +arms should have done much to strengthen were strained +to the point of snapping. And worst, perhaps, of all, the +Italian delegates had approved the clause forbidding +Germany to unite with Austria.</p> + +<p>That the fault did not lie wholly in the attitude of +the Allies is obvious. The Italian delegates' lack of +method, one might say of unity, was unquestionably a +contributory cause of their failure to make perceptible +headway at the Conference. A curious and characteristic +incident of the slipshod way in which the work +was sometimes done occurred in connection with the +disposal of the Palace Venezia, in Rome, which had +belonged to Austria, but was expropriated by the Italian +government soon after the opening of hostilities. The +heirs of the Hapsburg Crown put forward a claim to +proprietary rights which was traversed by the Italian +government. As the dispute was to be laid before +the Conference, the Roman Cabinet invited a <i>juris +consult</i> versed in these matters to argue Italy's case. +He duly appeared, unfolded his claim congruously with +the views of his government, but suddenly stopped +short on observing the looks of astonishment on the +faces of the delegates. It appears that on the preceding +day another delegate of the Economic Conference, +also an Italian, had unfolded and defended the contrary +thesis—namely, that Austria's heirs had inherited her +right to the Palace of Venezia.<a name="FNanchor_226_226" id="FNanchor_226_226" href="#Footnote_226_226" >[226]</a></p> + +<p>Passing to more momentous matters, one may pertinently +ask whether too much stress was not laid by the +first Italian delegation upon the national and sentimental +sides of Italy's interests, and too little on the others. +Among the Great Powers Italy is most in need of raw +materials. She is destitute of coal, iron, cotton, and +naphtha. Most of them are to be had in Asia Minor. +They are indispensable conditions of modern life and +progress. To demand a fair share of them as guerdon +for having saved Europe, and to put in her claim at a +moment when Europe was being reconstituted, could not +have been construed as imperialism. The other Allies +had possessed most of those necessaries in abundance long +before the war. They were adding to them now as the +fruits of a victory which Italy's sacrifices had made +possible. Why, then, should she be left unsatisfied? +Bitterly though the nation was disappointed by failure +to have its territorial claims allowed, it became still +more deeply grieved when it came to realize that much +more important advantages might have been secured if +these had been placed in the forefront of the nation's +demands. Emigration ground for Italy's surplus population, +which is rapidly increasing, coal and iron for her +industries might perhaps have been obtained if the +Italian plan of campaign at the Conference had been +rightly conceived and skilfully executed. But this realistic +aspect of Italy's interests was almost wholly lost sight +of during the waging of the heated and unfruitful contests +for the possession of town and ports, which, although sacred +symbols of Italianism, could not add anything to the +economic resources which will play such a predominant +part in the future struggle for material well-being among +the new and old states. There was a marked propensity +among Italy's leaders at home and in Paris to consider +each of the issues that concerned their country as though +it stood alone, instead of envisaging Italy's economic, +financial, and military position after the war as an indivisible +problem and proving that it behooved the Allies +in the interests of a European peace to solve it satisfactorily, +and to provide compensation in one direction for +inevitable gaps in the other. This, to my thinking, was +the fundamental error of the Italian and Allied statesmen +for which Europe may have to suffer. That Italy's policy +cannot in the near future return to the lines on +which it ran ever since the establishment of her national +unity, whatever her allies may do or say, will hardly be +gainsaid. Interests are decisive factors of foreign policy, +and the action of the Great Powers has determined +Italy's orientation.</p> + +<p>Italy undoubtedly gained a great deal by the war, into +which she entered mainly for the purpose of achieving her +unity and securing strong frontiers. But she signed the +Peace Treaty convinced that she had not succeeded in +either purpose, and that her allies were answerable for +her failure. It was certainly part of their policy to build +up a strong state on her frontier out of a race which she +regards as her adversary and to give it command of some +of her strategic positions. And the overt bearing manner +in which this policy was sometimes carried out left as +much bitterness behind as the object it aimed at. It is +alleged that the Italian delegates were treated with an +economy of consideration which bordered on something +much worse, while the arguments officially invoked to +non-suit them appeared to them in the light of bitter +sarcasms. President Wilson, they complained, ignored +his far-resonant principle of self-determination when +Japan presented her claim for Shantung, but refused to +swerve from it when Italy relied on her treaty rights in +Dalmatia. And when the inhabitants of Fiume voted for +union with the mother country, the President abandoned +that principle and gave judgment for Jugoslavia on other +grounds. He was right, but disappointing, they observed, +when he told his fellow-citizens that his presence +in Europe was indispensable in order to interpret his conceptions, +for no other rational being could have construed +them thus.</p> + +<p>The withdrawal of the Italian delegates was construed +as an act of insubordination, and punished as such. The +Marquis de Viti de Varche has since disclosed the fact +that the Allied governments forthwith reduced the credits +accorded to Italy during hostilities, whereupon hardships +and distress were aggravated and the peasantry over a +large area of the country suffered intensely.<a name="FNanchor_227_227" id="FNanchor_227_227" href="#Footnote_227_227" >[227]</a> For Italy +is more dependent on her allies than ever, owing to the +sacrifices which she offered up during the war, and she +was made to feel her dependence painfully. The military +assistance which they had received from her was fraught +with financial and economic consequences which have not +yet been realized by the unfortunate people who must +endure them. Italy at the close of hostilities was burdened +with a foreign debt of twenty milliards of lire, an +internal debt of fifty millards, and a paper circulation four +times more than what it was in pre-war days.<a name="FNanchor_228_228" id="FNanchor_228_228" href="#Footnote_228_228" >[228]</a> Raw +materials were exhausted, traffic and production were +stagnant, navigation had almost ceased, and the expenditure +of the state had risen to eleven milliards a +year.<a name="FNanchor_229_229" id="FNanchor_229_229" href="#Footnote_229_229" >[229]</a></p> + +<p>According to the figures published by the Statistical +Society of Berne, the general rise in prices attributed to +the war hit Italy much harder than any of her allies.<a name="FNanchor_230_230" id="FNanchor_230_230" href="#Footnote_230_230" >[230]</a> +The consequences of this and other perturbations were +sinister and immediate. The nation, bereft of what it +had been taught to regard as its right, humiliated in the +persons of its chiefs, subjected to foreign guidance, insufficiently +clad, underfed, and with no tangible grounds +for expecting speedy improvement, was seething with +discontent. Frequent strikes merely aggravated the general +suffering, which finally led to riots, risings, and the +shedding of blood. The economic, political, and moral +crisis was unprecedented. The men who drew Italy into +the war were held up to public opprobrium because in +the imagination of the people the victory had cost them +more and brought them in less than neutrality would +have done. One of the principal orators of the Opposition, +in a trenchant discourse in the Italian Parliament, +said, "The Salandra-Sonnino Cabinet led Italy into the +war blindfolded."<a name="FNanchor_231_231" id="FNanchor_231_231" href="#Footnote_231_231" >[231]</a></p> + +<p>After the return of the Italian delegation to Paris various +fresh combinations were devised for the purpose of +grappling with the Adriatic problem. One commended +itself to the Italians as a possible basis for discussion. In +principle it was accepted. A declaration to this effect +was made by Signor Orlando and taken cognizance of by +M. Clemenceau, who undertook to lay the matter before +Mr. Wilson, the sole arbitrator in Italian affairs. He +played the part of Fate throughout. Days went by after +this without bringing any token that the Triumvirate +was interested in the Adriatic. At last the Italian Premier +reminded his French colleague that the latest proposal +had been accepted in principle, and the Italian plenipotentiaries +were awaiting Mr. Wilson's pleasure in the +matter. Accordingly, M. Clemenceau undertook to broach +the matter to the American statesman without delay. +The reply, which was promptly given, dismayed the Italians. +It was in the form of one of those interpretations +which, becoming associated with Mr. Wilson's name, +shook public confidence in certain of the statesman-like +qualities with which he had at first been credited. The +construction which he now put upon the mode of voting +to be applied to Fiume, including this city—in a large district +inhabited by a majority of Jugoslavs—imparted to +the project as the Italians had understood it a wholly new +aspect. They accordingly declared it inacceptable. As +after that there seemed to be nothing more for the Italian +Premier to do in Paris, he left, was soon afterward defeated +in the Chamber, and resigned together with his +Cabinet. The vote of the Italian Parliament, which appeared +to the continental press in the light of a protest +of the nation against the aims and the methods of the +Conference, closed for the time being the chapter of Italy's +endeavor to complete her unity, secure strong frontiers, +and perpetuate her political partnership with France and +her intimate relations with the Entente. Thenceforward +the English-speaking states might influence her overt acts, +compel submission to their behests, and generally exercise +a sort of guardianship over her, because they are the dispensers +of economic boons, but the union of hearts, the +mutual trust, the cement supplied by common aims are +lacking.</p> + +<p>One of the most telling arguments employed by President +Wilson to dissuade various states from claiming +strategic positions, and in particular Italy from insisting +on the annexation of Fiume and the Dalmatian coast, +was the effective protection which the League of Nations +would confer on them.<a name="FNanchor_232_232" id="FNanchor_232_232" href="#Footnote_232_232" >[232]</a> Strategical considerations would, +it was urged, lose all their value in the new era, and territorial +guaranties become meaningless and cumbersome +survivals of a dead epoch. That was the principal +weapon with which he had striven to parry the thrusts +of M. Clemenceau and the touchstone by which he tested +the sincerity of all professions of faith in his cherished +project of compacting the nations of the world in a vast +league of peace-loving, law-abiding communities. But +the faith of France's leaders differed little from unbelief. +Guaranties first and the protection of the League afterward +was the French formula, around which many fierce +battles royal were fought. In the end Mr. Wilson, having +obtained the withdrawal of the demand for the Rhine +frontier, gave in, and the Covenant was reinforced by a +compact which in the last analysis is a military undertaking, +a unilateral Triple Alliance, Great Britain and the +United States undertaking to hasten to France's assistance +should her territory be wantonly invaded by Germany. +The case thus provided for is extremely improbable. +The expansion of Germany, when the auspicious +hour strikes, will presumably be inaugurated on wholly +new lines, against which armies, even if they can be mobilized +in time, will be of little avail. But if force were +resorted to, it is almost certain to be used in the direction +where the resistance is least—against France's ally, Poland. +This, however, is by the way. The point made +by the Italians was that the League of Nations being thus +admittedly powerless to discharge the functions which +alone could render strategic frontiers unnecessary, can +consequently no longer be relied upon as an adequate +protection against the dangers which the possession of +the strongholds she claimed on the Adriatic would effectively +displace. Either the League, it was argued, can, +as asserted, protect the countries which give up commanding +positions to potential enemies, or it cannot. In the +former hypothesis France's insistence on a military convention +is mischievous and immoral—in the latter Italy +stands in as much need of the precautions devised as her +neighbor. But her spokesmen were still plied with the +threadbare arguments and bereft of the countervailing +corrective. And faith in the efficacy of the League was +sapped by the very men who were professedly seeking to +spread it.</p> + +<p>The press of Rome, Turin, and Milan pointed to the +loyalty of the Italian people, brought out, they said, in +sharp relief by the discontent which the exclusive character +of that triple military accord engendered among +them. As kinsmen of the French it was natural for +Italians to expect that they would be invited to become +a party to this league within the League. As loyal allies +of Britain and France they felt desirous of being admitted +to the alliance. But they were excluded. Nor was their +exasperation allayed by the assurance of their press that +this was no alliance, but a state of tutelage. An alliance, +it was explained, is a compact by which two or more +parties agree to render one another certain services under +given conditions, whereas the convention in question is a +one-sided undertaking on the part of Britain and the +United States to protect France if wantonly attacked, +because she is unable efficaciously to protect herself. +It is a benefaction. But this casuistry fell upon deaf +ears. What the people felt was the disesteem—the term +in vogue was stronger—in which they were held by the +Allies, whom they had saved perhaps from ruin.</p> + +<p>By slow degrees the sentiments of the Italian nation +underwent a disquieting change. All parties and classes +united in stigmatizing the behavior of the Allies in terms +which even the literary eminence of the poet d'Annunzio +could not induce the censors to let pass. "The Peace +Treaty," wrote Italy's most influential journal, "and +its correlate forbode for the near future the Continental +hegemony of France countersigned by the Anglo-American +alliance."<a name="FNanchor_233_233" id="FNanchor_233_233" href="#Footnote_233_233" >[233]</a> Another widely circulated and respected +organ described the policy of the Entente as a solvent of +the social fabric, constructive in words, corrosive in acts, +"mischievous if ever there was a mischievous policy. +For while raising hopes and whetting appetites, it does +nothing to satisfy them; on the contrary, it does much to +disappoint them. In words—a struggle for liberty, for +nations, for the equality of peoples and classes, for the +well-being of all; in acts—the suppression of the most +elementary and constitutional liberty, the overlordship +of certain nations based on the humiliation of others, the +division of peoples into exploiters and exploited—the +sharpening of social differences—the destruction of collective +wealth, and its accumulation in a few blood-stained +hands, universal misery, and hunger."<a name="FNanchor_234_234" id="FNanchor_234_234" href="#Footnote_234_234" >[234]</a></p> + +<p>Although it is well understood that Italy's defeat at the +Conference was largely the handiwork of President Wilson, +the resentment of the Italian nation chose for its +immediate objects the representatives of France and +Britain. The American "associates" were strangers, here +to-day and gone to-morrow, but the Allies remain, and +if their attitude toward Italy, it was argued, had been +different, if their loyalty had been real, she would have +fared proportionately as well as they, whatever the +American statesmen might have said or done.</p> + +<p>The Italian press breathed fiery wrath against its +French ally, who so often at the Conference had met +Italy's solicitations with the odious word "impossible." +Even moderate organs of public opinion gave free vent +to estimates of France's policy and anticipations of its +consequences which disturbed the equanimity of European +statesmen. "It is impossible," one of these journals +wrote, "for France to become the absolute despot of +Europe without Italy, much less against Italy. What +transcended the powers of Richelieu, who was a lion and +fox combined, and was beyond the reach of Bonaparte, +who was both an eagle and a serpent, cannot be achieved +by "Tiger" Clemenceau in circumstances so much less +favorable than those of yore. We, it is true, are isolated, +but then France is not precisely embarrassed by the choice +of friends." The peace was described as "Franco-Slav +domination with its headquarters in Prague, and a +branch office in Agram." M. Clemenceau was openly +charged with striving after the hegemony of the Continent +for his country by separating Germany from Austria and +surrounding her with a ring of Slav states—Poland, +Jugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and perhaps the non-Slav +kingdom of Rumania. All these states would be in the +leading-strings of the French Republic, and Austria would +be linked to it in a different guise. And in order to +effect this resuscitation of the Hapsburg state under the +name of "Danubian federation," Mr. Wilson, it was +asserted, had authorized a deliberate violation of his own +principle of self-determination, and refused to Austria the +right of adopting the régime which she preferred. It +was, in truth, an odd compromise, these critics continued, +for an idealist of the President's caliber, on whose +every political action the scrutinizing gaze of the world +was fixed. One could not account for it as a sacrifice +made for a high ethical aim—one of those ends which, +according to the old maxim, hallows the means. It +seemed an open response to a secret instigation or impulse +which was unconnected with any recognized or avowable +principle. Even the Socialist organs swelled the chorus +of the accusers. <i>Avanti</i> wrote, "We are Socialists, yet +we have never believed that the American President with +his Fourteen Points entered into the war for the highest +aims of humanity and for the rights of peoples, any more +than we believe at present that his opposition to the +aspirations of the Italian state on the Adriatic are inspired +by motives of idealism."<a name="FNanchor_235_235" id="FNanchor_235_235" href="#Footnote_235_235" >[235]</a></p> + +<p>The fate of the disputed territories on the Adriatic was +to be the outcome of self-determination. Poland's claims +were to be left to the self-determination of the Silesian +and Ruthenian populations. Rumania was told that her +suit must remain in abeyance until it could be tested by +the same principle, which would be applied in the form +of a plebiscite. For self-determination was the cornerstone +of the League of Nations, the holiest boon for which +the progressive peoples of the world had been pouring +out their life-blood and substance for nearly five years. +But when Italy invoked self-determination, she was +promptly non-suited. When Austria appealed to it she +was put out of court. And to crown all, the world was +assured that the Fourteen Points had been triumphantly +upheld. This depravation of principles by the triumph +of the little prudences of the hour spurred some of the +more impulsive critics to ascribe it to influences less +respectable than those to which it may fairly be attributed.</p> + +<p>The directing Powers were hypersensitive to the oft-repeated +charge of meddling in the internal affairs +of other nations. They were never tired of protesting +their abhorrence of anything that smacked of interference. +Among the numerous facts, however, which they could +neither deny nor reconcile with their professions, the following +was brought forward by the Italians, who had a +special interest to draw public attention to it. It had to +do with the abortive attempt to restore the Hapsburg +monarchy in Hungary as the first step toward the formation +of a Danubian federation. "It is certain," wrote +the principal Italian journal, "that the Archduke Joseph's +<i>coup d'état</i> did not take place, indeed (given the conditions +in Budapest) could not take place, without the Entente's +connivance. The official <i>communiqués</i> of Budapest and +Vienna, dated August 9th, recount on this point precise +details which no one has hitherto troubled to deny. The +Peidl government was scarcely three days in power, and, +therefore, was not in a position to deserve either trust or +distrust, when the heads of the 'order-loving organizations' +put forward, to justify the need of a new crisis, the +complaints of the heads of the Entente Missions as to the +anarchy prevailing in Hungary and the urgency of finding +'some one' who could save the country from the abyss. +Then a commission repaired to Alscuth, where it easily +persuaded the Archduke to come to Budapest. Here he +at once visited all the heads of missions and spent the +whole day in negotiations. '<i>As a result of negotiations +with Entente representatives, the Archduke Joseph undertook +a solution of the crisis</i>.' He then called together the old +state police and a volunteer army of eight thousand men. +The Rumanian garrison was kept ready. The Peidl government +naturally did not resist at all. At 10 P.M. on +August 7th all the Entente Missions held a meeting, <i>to +which the Archduke Joseph and the new Premier were invited</i>. +General Gorton presided. <i>The Conference lasted +two hours and reached an agreement on all questions. All +the heads of Missions assured the new government of their +warmest support</i>."<a name="FNanchor_236_236" id="FNanchor_236_236" href="#Footnote_236_236" >[236]</a></p> + +<p>Another case of unwarranted interference which stirred +the Italians to bitter resentment turned upon the obligation +imposed on Austria to renounce her right to unite +with Germany. "It is difficult to discern in the policy of +the Entente toward Austria anything more respectable +than obstinacy coupled with stupidity," wrote the same +journal. "But there is something still worse. It is impossible +not to feel indignant with a coalition which, after +having triumphed in the name of the loftiest ideas ... +treats German-Austria no better than the Holy Alliance +treated the petty states of Italy. But the Congress of +Vienna acted in harmony with the principle of legitimism +which it avowed and professed, whereas the Paris Conference +violates without scruple the canons by which it +claims to be guided.</p> + +<p>"Not a whit more decorous is the intervention of the +Supreme Council in the internal affairs of Germany—a +state which, according to the spirit and the letter of the +Versailles Treaty, is sovereign and not a protectorate. +The Conference was qualified to dictate peace terms to +Germany, but it wanders beyond the bounds of its competency +when it construes those terms and arrogates to +itself—on the strength of forced and equivocal interpretations—the +right of imposing upon a nation which is neither +militarily nor juridically an enemy a constitutional reform. +Whether Germany violates the Treaty by her Constitution +is a question which only a judicial finding of the League of +Nations can fairly determine."<a name="FNanchor_237_237" id="FNanchor_237_237" href="#Footnote_237_237" >[237]</a></p> + +<p>It would be impolitic to overlook and insincere to belittle +the effects of this incoherency upon the relations +between France and Italy. Public opinion in the Peninsula +characterized the attitude of Prance as deliberately +hostile. The Italians at the Conference eagerly scrutinized +every act and word of their French colleagues, with +a view to discovering grounds for dispelling this view. +But the search is reported to have been worse than vain. +It revealed data which, although susceptible of satisfactory +explanations, would, if disclosed at that moment, have +aggravated the feeling of bitterness against France, which +was fast gathering. Signor Orlando had recourse to the +censor to prevent indiscretions, but the intuition of the +masses triumphed over repression, and the existing tenseness +merged into resentment. The way in which Italians +accounted for M. Clemenceau's attitude was this. Although +Italy has ceased to be the important political +factor she once was when the Triple Alliance was in being, +she is still a strong continental Power, capable of placing +a more numerous army in the field than her republican +sister, and her population continues to increase at a high +rate. In a few years she will have outstripped her rival. +France, too, has perhaps lost those elements of her power +and prestige which she derived from her alliance with +Russia. Again, the Slav ex-ally, Russia, may become the +enemy of to-morrow. In view of these contingencies +France must create a substitute for the Rumanian and +Italian allies. And as these have been found in the new +Slav states, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Jugoslavia, she +can afford to dispense with making painful sacrifices to +keep Italy in countenance.</p> + +<p>A trivial incident which affords a glimpse of the spirit +prevailing between the two kindred peoples occurred +at St.-Germain-en-Laye, where the Austrian delegates +were staying. They had been made much of in Vienna +by the Envoy of the French Republic there, M. Allizé, +whose mission it was to hinder Austria from uniting +with the Reich. Italy's policy was, on the contrary, to +apply Mr. Wilson's principle of self-determination and +allow the Austrians to do as they pleased in that respect. +A fervent advocate of the French orthodox doctrine—a +publicist—repaired to the Austrian headquarters at St.-Germain +for the purpose, it is supposed, of discussing +the subject. Now intercourse of any kind between private +individuals and the enemy delegates was strictly +forbidden, and when M. X. presented himself, the Italian +officer on duty refused him admission. He insisted. +The officer was inexorable. Then he produced a written +permit signed by the Secretary of the Conference, M. +Dutasta. How and why this exception was made in his +favor when the rule was supposed to admit of no exceptions +was not disclosed. But the Italian officer, equal +to the occasion, took the ground that a military prohibition +cannot be canceled by a civilian, and excluded the +would-be visitor.</p> + +<p>The general trend of France's European policy was +repugnant to Italy. She looked on it as a well-laid +scheme to assume a predominant rôle on the Continent. +That, she believed, was the ultimate purpose of the veto +on the union of Austria and Germany, of the military +arrangements with Britain and the United States, and of +much else that was obnoxious to Italy. Austria was to +be reconstituted according to the federative plans of the +late Archduke Franz Ferdinand, to be made stronger +than before as a counterpoise to Italy, and to be at the +beck and call of France. Thus the friend, ally, sister of +yesterday became the potential enemy of to-morrow. +That was the refrain of most of the Italian journals, and +none intoned it more fervently than those which had been +foremost in bringing their country into the war. One +of these, a Conservative organ of Lombardy, wrote: +"Until yesterday, we might have considered that two +paths lay open before us, that of an alliance with France +and that of an independent policy. But we can think +so no longer. To offer our friendship to-day to the people +who have already chosen their own road and established +their solidarity with our enemies of yesterday and +to-morrow would not be to strike out a policy, but to +decide on an unseemly surrender. It would be tantamount +to reproducing in an aggravated form the situation +we occupied in the alliance with Germany. Once again +we should be engaged in a partnership of which one of the +partners was in reality our enemy. France taking the +place of Germany, and Jugoslavia that of Austria, the +situation of the old Triple Alliance would be not merely +reproduced, but made worse in the reproduction, because +the <i>Triplice</i> at least guaranteed us against a conflict which +we had grounds for apprehending, whereas the new alliance +would tie our hands for the sake of a little Balkan state +which, single-handed, we are well able to keep in its place.</p> + +<p>"We have had enough of a policy which has hitherto +saddled us with all the burdens of the alliance without +bestowing on us any advantage—which has constrained +us to favor all the peoples whose expansion dovetailed +with French schemes and to combat or neglect those +others whose consolidation corresponded to our interests—which +has led us to support a great Poland and a great +Bohemia and to combat the Ukraine, Hungary, Bulgaria, +Rumania, Spain, to whose destinies the French, but not +we, were indifferent."<a name="FNanchor_238_238" id="FNanchor_238_238" href="#Footnote_238_238" >[238]</a> A press organ of Bologna denounced +the atrocious and ignominious sacrifice "which +her allies imposed on Italy by means of economic blackmailing +and violence with a whip in one hand and a +chunk of bread in the other."<a name="FNanchor_239_239" id="FNanchor_239_239" href="#Footnote_239_239" >[239]</a></p> + +<p>Sharp comments were provoked by the heavy tax on +strangers in Tunisia imposed by the French government,<a name="FNanchor_240_240" id="FNanchor_240_240" href="#Footnote_240_240" >[240]</a> +on strangers, mostly Italians, who theretofore had enjoyed +the same rights as the French and Tunisians. "Suddenly," +writes the principal Italian journal, "and just +when it was hoped that the common sacrifices they had +made had strengthened the ties between the two nations, +the governor of Tunisia issued certain orders which +endangered the interests of foreigners and the effects of +which will be felt mainly by Italians, of whom there are +one hundred and twenty thousand in Tunisia.<a name="FNanchor_241_241" id="FNanchor_241_241" href="#Footnote_241_241" >[241]</a> First +there came an order forbidding the use of any language +but French in the schools. Now the tax referred to in +the House of Lords gives the Tunisian government power +to levy an impost on the buying and selling of property +in Tunisia. The new tax, which is to be levied over and +above pre-existing taxes, ranged from 59 per cent. of the +value when it is not assessed at a higher sum than one +hundred thousand lire to 80 per cent. when its estimated +value is more than five hundred thousand lire." The +article terminates with the remark that boycotting is +hardly a suitable epilogue to a war waged for common +ideals and interests.</p> + +<p>These manifestations irritated the French and were +taken to indicate Italy's defection. It was to no purpose +that a few level-headed men pointed out that the French +government was largely answerable for the state of mind +complained of. "Pertinax," in the <i>Echo de Paris</i>, wrote +"that the alliance, in order to subsist and flourish, should +have retained its character as an Anti-German League, +whereas it fell into the error of masking itself as a Society +of Nations and arrogated to itself the right of bringing +before its tribunal all the quarrels of the planet."<a name="FNanchor_242_242" id="FNanchor_242_242" href="#Footnote_242_242" >[242]</a> Italy's +allies undoubtedly did much to forfeit her sympathies +and turn her from the alliance. It was pointed out that +when the French troops arrived in Italy the Bulletin of +the Italian command eulogized their efforts almost daily, +but when the Italian troops went to France, the <i>communiqués</i> +of the French command were most chary of +allusions to their exploits, yet the Italian army contributed +more dead to the French front than did the +French army to the Italian front.<a name="FNanchor_243_243" id="FNanchor_243_243" href="#Footnote_243_243" >[243]</a> At the Peace Conference, +as we saw, when the terms with Germany were +being drafted, Italy's problems were set aside on the +grounds that there was no nexus between them. The +Allies' interests, which were dealt with as a whole during +the war, were divided after the armistice into essential +and secondary interests, and those of Italy were relegated +to the latter class. Subsequently France, Britain, and +the United States, without the co-operation or foreknowledge +of their Italian friends, struck up an alliance +from which they excluded Italy, thereby vitiating the +only arguments that could be invoked in favor of such a +coalition. When peace was about to be signed they one-sidedly +revoked the treaty which they had concluded in +London, rendering the consent of all Allies necessary to +the validity of the document, and decreed that Italy's +abstention would make no difference. When the instrument +was finally signed, Mr. Wilson returned to the +United States, Mr. Lloyd George to England, and the +Marquis of Saionji to Japan, without having settled any +of Italy's problems. Italy, her needs, her claims, and her +policy thus appear as matters of little account to the +Great Powers. Naturally, the Italian people were disappointed, +and desirous of seeking new friends, the old +ones having forsaken them.</p> + +<p>It would be difficult to exaggerate the consequences +which this attitude of the Allies toward Italy may have +on European politics generally. Her most eminent +statesman, Signor Tittoni, who succeeded Baron Sonnino, +transcending his country's mortifications, exerted himself +tactfully and not unsuccessfully to lubricate the +mechanism of the alliance, to ease the dangerous friction +and to restore the tone. And he seems to have accomplished +in these respects everything which a sagacious +statesman could do. But to arrest the operation of +psychological laws is beyond the power of any individual. +In order to appreciate the Italian point of view, it is nowise +necessary to approve the exaggerated claims put +forward by her press in the spring of 1919. It is enough +to admit that in the light of the Wilsonian doctrine they +were not more incompatible with that doctrine than the +claims made by other Powers and accorded by the +Supreme Council.</p> + +<p>To sum up, Italy acquired the impression that association +with her recent allies means for her not only sacrifices +in their hour of need, but also further sacrifices in their +hour of triumph. She became reluctantly convinced +that they regard interests which she deems vital to herself +as unconnected with their own. And that was unfortunate. +If at some fateful conjuncture in the future her +allies on their part should gather the impression that +she has adjusted her policy to those interests which are so +far removed from theirs, they will have themselves to +blame.</p> + + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_194_194" id="Footnote_194_194" href="#FNanchor_194_194"> [194]</a> This clause, which figured in the draft Treaty, as presented to the +Germans, provoked such emphatic protests from all sides that it was struck +out in the revised version.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_195_195" id="Footnote_195_195" href="#FNanchor_195_195"> [195]</a> In an interview given to the Correspondenz Bureau of Vienna by Conrad +von Hoetzendorff. Cf. <i>Le Temps</i>, July 19, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_196_196" id="Footnote_196_196" href="#FNanchor_196_196"> [196]</a> The Prime Minister, Salandra, declared that to have made neutrality +a matter of bargaining would have been to dishonor Italy.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_197_197" id="Footnote_197_197" href="#FNanchor_197_197"> [197]</a> King Carol was holding a crown council at the time. Bratiano had +spoken against the King's proposal to throw in the country's lot with Germany. +Carp was strongly for carrying out Rumania's treaty obligations. +Some others hesitated, but before it could be put to the vote a telegram +was brought in announcing Italy's resolve to maintain neutrality. The +upshot was Rumania's refusal to follow her allies.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_198_198" id="Footnote_198_198" href="#FNanchor_198_198"> [198]</a> On the eastern Adriatic, the Treaty of London allotted to Italy the +peninsula of Istria, without Fiume, most of Dalmatia, exclusive of Spalato, +the chief Dalmatian islands and the Dodecannesus.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_199_199" id="Footnote_199_199" href="#FNanchor_199_199"> [199]</a> The present population of Fiume is computed at 45,227 souls, of whom +33,000 are Italians, 10,927 Slavs, and 1,300 Magyars.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_200_200" id="Footnote_200_200" href="#FNanchor_200_200"> [200]</a> Another delegate is reported to have answered: "As we need Italy's +friendship, we should pay the moderate price asked and back her claim to +have the moon."</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_201_201" id="Footnote_201_201" href="#FNanchor_201_201"> [201]</a> A number of orders of the day eulogizing individual Slav officers and +collective military entities were quoted by the advocates of Italy's cause +at the Conference.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_202_202" id="Footnote_202_202" href="#FNanchor_202_202"> [202]</a> Official <i>communiqué</i> of June 17, 1918.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_203_203" id="Footnote_203_203" href="#FNanchor_203_203"> [203]</a> <i>Journal de Genève</i>, April 25, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_204_204" id="Footnote_204_204" href="#FNanchor_204_204"> [204]</a> Cf. <i>Il Corriere della Sera</i> and <i>Il Secolo</i> of May 26, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_205_205" id="Footnote_205_205" href="#FNanchor_205_205"> [205]</a> In the Senate he defended this attitude on March 4,1919, and expressed +a desire to dispel the misunderstanding between the two peoples.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_206_206" id="Footnote_206_206" href="#FNanchor_206_206"> [206]</a> In April, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_207_207" id="Footnote_207_207" href="#FNanchor_207_207"> [207]</a> This fact has since been made public by Enrico Ferri in a remarkable +discourse pronounced in the parliament at Rome (July 9, 1919). It was +Baron Sonnino who deprecated the publication of any statement on the +subject by President Wilson. Cf. <i>La Stampa</i>, July 10, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_208_208" id="Footnote_208_208" href="#FNanchor_208_208"> [208]</a> On January 10, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_209_209" id="Footnote_209_209" href="#FNanchor_209_209"> [209]</a> It gave eastern Friuli to Italy, including Gorizia, split Istria into two +parts, and assigned Trieste and Pola also to Italy, but under such territorial +conditions that they would be exposed to enemy projectiles in case +of war.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_210_210" id="Footnote_210_210" href="#FNanchor_210_210"> [210]</a> The National Council of Fiume issued its proclamation before it had +become known that the battle of Vittorio Veneto was begun—<i>i.e.</i>, October +30, 1918.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_211_211" id="Footnote_211_211" href="#FNanchor_211_211"> [211]</a> Speech delivered at Mount Vernon on July 4, 1918.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_212_212" id="Footnote_212_212" href="#FNanchor_212_212"> [212]</a> Of the United States, France, and Great Britain.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_213_213" id="Footnote_213_213" href="#FNanchor_213_213"> [213]</a> Between April 5th and 12th.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_214_214" id="Footnote_214_214" href="#FNanchor_214_214"> [214]</a> In his address to the representatives of organized labor in January, 1918.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_215_215" id="Footnote_215_215" href="#FNanchor_215_215"> [215]</a> <i>L'Echo de Paris</i>, April 29, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_216_216" id="Footnote_216_216" href="#FNanchor_216_216"> [216]</a> <i>Le Gaulois</i>, April 29, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_217_217" id="Footnote_217_217" href="#FNanchor_217_217"> [217]</a> These meetings were held from March 28 till April 23, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_218_218" id="Footnote_218_218" href="#FNanchor_218_218"> [218]</a> See Marco Borsa's article in <i>Il Secolo</i>, June 18, 1919; also <i>Corriere +della Sera</i>, June 19, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_219_219" id="Footnote_219_219" href="#FNanchor_219_219"> [219]</a> From May 5 to 16, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_220_220" id="Footnote_220_220" href="#FNanchor_220_220"> [220]</a> <i>Il Secolo</i>, June 19, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_221_221" id="Footnote_221_221" href="#FNanchor_221_221"> [221]</a> On April 23, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_222_222" id="Footnote_222_222" href="#FNanchor_222_222"> [222]</a> "Can and will our allies treat our absence as a matter of no moment? +Can and will they violate the formal undertaking which forbids the belligerents +to conclude a diplomatic peace?... The London Declaration prohibits +categorically the conclusion of any separate peace with any enemy +state. France and England cannot sign peace with Germany if Italy does +not sign it.... The situation is grave and abnormal, for our allies it is +also grave and abnormal. Italy is isolated, and nations, especially those +of continental Europe, which are not overrich, flee solitude as nature +abhors a vacuum."—<i>Corriere della Sera</i>, April 26, 1919. Again: "'The +Treaty of London' restrains France and England from concluding peace +without Italy. And Italy is minded not to conclude peace with Germany +before she herself has received satisfaction."—<i>Journal de Genève</i>, April 25, +1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_223_223" id="Footnote_223_223" href="#FNanchor_223_223"> [223]</a> On May 6, 1919, at Versailles.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_224_224" id="Footnote_224_224" href="#FNanchor_224_224"> [224]</a> Cf. <i>Corriere della Sera</i>, May 10, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_225_225" id="Footnote_225_225" href="#FNanchor_225_225"> [225]</a> Annex W of the Revised Treaty.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_226_226" id="Footnote_226_226" href="#FNanchor_226_226"> [226]</a> This incident was revealed by Enrico Ferri, in his remarkable speech +in the Italian Parliament on July 9, 1919. Cf. <i>La Stampa</i>, July 10, 1919, +page 2.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_227_227" id="Footnote_227_227" href="#FNanchor_227_227"> [227]</a> Cf. <i>The Morning Post</i>, July 9, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_228_228" id="Footnote_228_228" href="#FNanchor_228_228"> [228]</a> On July 10th the Italian Finance Minister, in his financial statement, announced +that the total cost of the war to Italy would amount to one hundred +milliard lire. He added, however, that her share of the German indemnity +would wipe out her foreign debt, while a progressive tax on all +but small fortunes would meet her internal obligations. Cf. <i>Corriere della +Sera</i>, July 11 and 12, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_229_229" id="Footnote_229_229" href="#FNanchor_229_229"> [229]</a> Cf. <i>Avanti</i>, July 19, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_230_230" id="Footnote_230_230" href="#FNanchor_230_230"> [230]</a> Shown in percentages, the rise in the cost of living was: United States, +220 per cent.; England, 240 per cent.; Switzerland, 257 per cent.; France, +368 per cent.; Italy, 481 per cent.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_231_231" id="Footnote_231_231" href="#FNanchor_231_231"> [231]</a> Enrico Ferri, on July 9, 1919. Cf. <i>La Stampa</i>, July 10, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_232_232" id="Footnote_232_232" href="#FNanchor_232_232"> [232]</a> At a later date the President reiterated the grounds of his decision. In +his Columbus speech (September 4, 1919) he asserted that "Italy desired +Fiume for strategic military reasons, which the League of Nations would +make unnecessary." (<i>The New York Herald</i> (Paris edition), September 6, +1919.) But the League did not render strategic precautions unnecessary +to France.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_233_233" id="Footnote_233_233" href="#FNanchor_233_233"> [233]</a> <i>Corriere della Sera</i>, May 11, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_234_234" id="Footnote_234_234" href="#FNanchor_234_234"> [234]</a> <i>La Stampa</i>, July 16, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_235_235" id="Footnote_235_235" href="#FNanchor_235_235"> [235]</a> <i>Avanti</i>, April 27, 1919. Cf. <i>Le Temps</i>, April 28, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_236_236" id="Footnote_236_236" href="#FNanchor_236_236"> [236]</a> <i>Corriere della Sera</i>, August 9, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_237_237" id="Footnote_237_237" href="#FNanchor_237_237"> [237]</a> <i>Corriere della Sera</i>, September 3, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_238_238" id="Footnote_238_238" href="#FNanchor_238_238"> [238]</a> Quoted in <i>La Stampa</i> of July 20, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_239_239" id="Footnote_239_239" href="#FNanchor_239_239"> [239]</a> <i>Ibidem</i>.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_240_240" id="Footnote_240_240" href="#FNanchor_240_240"> [240]</a> <i>Corriere d' Italia</i>, June 29, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_241_241" id="Footnote_241_241" href="#FNanchor_241_241"> [241]</a> Cf. <i>Modern Italy</i>, July 12, 1919 (page 298).</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_242_242" id="Footnote_242_242" href="#FNanchor_242_242"> [242]</a> <i>Echo de Paris</i>, July 7, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_243_243" id="Footnote_243_243" href="#FNanchor_243_243"> [243]</a> Cf. "An Italian Exposé," published by <i>The Morning Post</i>, July 5, 1919.</p> + + +<hr /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX" />IX</h3> + +<h3>JAPAN</h3> + + +<p>Among the solutions of the burning questions which +exercised the ingenuity and tested the good faith of +the leading Powers at the Peace Conference, none was +more rapidly reached there, or more bitterly assailed outside, +than those in which Japan was specially interested. +The storm that began to rage as soon as the Supreme +Council's decision on the Shantung issue became known +did not soon subside. Far from that, it threatened for +a time to swell into a veritable hurricane. This problem, +like most of those which were submitted to the forum of +the Conference, may be envisaged from either of two +opposite angles of survey; from that of the future society +of justice-loving nations, whose members are to forswear +territorial aggrandizement, special economic privileges, +and political sway in, or at the expense of, other countries; +or from the traditional point of view, which has always +prevailed in international politics and which cannot be +better described than by Signor Salandra's well-known +phrase "sacred egotism." Viewed in the former light, +Japan's demand for Shantung was undoubtedly as much +a stride backward as were those of the United States and +France for the Monroe Doctrine and the Saar Valley respectively. +But as the three Great Powers had set the +example, Japan was resolved from the outset to rebel +against any decree relegating her to the second-or third-class +nations. The position of equality occupied by her +government among the governments of other Great +Powers did not extend to the Japanese nation among the +other nations. But her statesmen refused to admit this +artificial inferiority as a reason for descending another +step in the international hierarchy and they invoked the +principle of which Britain, France, and America had +already taken advantage.</p> + +<p>The Supreme Council, like Janus of old, possessed two +faces, one altruistic and the other egotistic, and, also like +that son of Apollo, held a key in its right hand and a rod +in its left. It applied to the various states, according to +its own interest or convenience, the principles of the old +or the new Covenant, and would fain have dispossessed +Japan of the fruits of the campaign, and allotted to her +the rôle of working without reward in the vineyard of +the millennium, were it not that this policy was excluded +by reasons of present expediency and previous commitments. +The expediency was represented by President +Wilson's determination to obtain, before returning to +Washington, some kind of a compact that might be described +as the constitution of the future society of nations, +and by his belief that this instrument could not be obtained +without Japan's adherence, which was dependent +on her demand for Shantung being allowed. And the previous +commitments were the secret compacts concluded +by Japan with Britain, France, Russia, and Italy before +the United States entered the war.</p> + +<p>Nippon's rôle in the war and the circumstances that +shaped it are scarcely realized by the general public. They +have been purposely thrust in the background. And yet +a knowledge of them is essential to those who wish to +understand the significance of the dispute about Shantung, +which at bottom was the problem of Japan's international +status. Before attempting to analyze them, +however, it may not be amiss to remark that during the +French press campaign conducted in the years 1915-16, +with the object of determining the Tokio Cabinet to take +part in the military operations in Europe, the question +of motive was discussed with a degree of tactlessness which +it is difficult to account for. It was affirmed, for example, +that the Mikado's people would be overjoyed if the +Allied governments vouchsafed them the honor of participating +in the great civilizing crusade against the Central +Empires. That was proclaimed to be such an enviable +privilege that to pay for it no sacrifice of men or +money would be exorbitant. Again, the degree to which +Germany is a menace to Japan was another of the texts +on which Entente publicists relied to scare Nippon into +drastic action, as though she needed to be told by Europeans +where her vital interests lay, from what quarters +they were jeopardized, and how they might be safeguarded +most successfully. So much for the question of +tact and form. Japan has never accepted the doctrine +of altruism in politics which her Western allies have so +zealously preached. Until means have been devised and +adopted for substituting moral for military force in the +relations of state with state, the only reconstruction of +the world in which the Japanese can believe is that which +is based upon treaties and the pledged word. That is +the principle which underlies the general policy and the +present strivings of our Far Eastern ally.</p> + +<p>One of the characteristic traits of all Nippon's dealings +with her neighbors is loyalty and trustworthiness. Her +intercourse with Russia before and after the Manchurian +campaign offers a shining example of all the qualities +which one would postulate in a true-hearted neighbor +and a stanch and chivalrous ally. I had an opportunity +of watching the development of the relations between the +two governments for many years before they quarreled, +and subsequently down to 1914, and I can state that the +praise lavished by the Tsar's Ministers on their Japanese +colleagues was well deserved. And for that reason it +may be taken as an axiom that whatever developments +the present situation may bring forth, the Empire of Nippon +will carry out all its engagements with scrupulous +exactitude, in the spirit as well as the letter.</p> + +<p>To be quite frank, then, the Japanese are what we should +term realists. Consequently their foreign policy is inspired +by the maxims which actuated all nations down +to the year 1914, and still move nearly all of them to-day. +In fact, the only Powers that have fully and authoritatively +repudiated them as yet are Bolshevist Russia, and +to a large extent the United States. Holding thus to the +old dispensation, Japan entered the war in response to a +definite demand made by the British government. The +day before Britain declared war against Germany the +British Ambassador at Tokio officially inquired whether +his government could count upon the active co-operation +of the Mikado's forces in the campaign about to begin. +On August 4th Baron Kato, having in the meanwhile +consulted his colleagues, answered in the affirmative. +Three days later another communication reached Tokio +from London, requesting the <i>immediate</i> co-operation of +Japan, and on the following day it was promised. The +motive for this haste was credibly asserted to be Britain's +apprehension lest Germany should transfer Kiaochow to +China, and reserve to herself, in virtue of Article V of +the Convention of 1898, the right of securing after the +war "a more suitable territory" in the Middle Empire +or Republic. Thereupon they began operations which +were at first restricted to the China seas, but were +afterward extended to the Pacific and Indian Oceans, +and finally to the Mediterranean. The only task that +fell to their lot on land was that of capturing Kiaochow. +But whatever they set their hands to they carried out +thoroughly, and to the complete satisfaction of their +European allies.</p> + +<p>For many years the people of Nippon have been wending +slowly, but with tireless perseverance and unerring +instinct, toward their far-off goal, which to the unbiased +historian will seem not merely legitimate but praiseworthy. +Their intercourse with Russia was the story of +one long laborious endeavor to found a common concern +which should enable Japan to make headway on her mission. +Russia was just the kind of partner whose co-operation +was especially welcome, seeing that it could +be had without the hitches and set-backs attached to +that of most other Great Powers. The Russians were +never really intolerant in racial matters, nor dangerous +in commercial rivalry. They intermarried freely with all +the so-called inferior races and tribes in the Tsardom, and +put all on an equal footing before the law. Twenty-three +years ago I paid a visit to my friend General Tomitch, +the military governor of Kars, and I found myself sitting +at his table beside the Prefect of the city, who was a +Mohammedan. The individual Russian is generally free +from racial prejudices; he has no sense of the "yellow +peril," and no objection to receive the Japanese as a comrade, +a colleague, or a son-in-law.</p> + +<p>And the advances made by Ito and others would have +been reciprocated by Witte and Lamsdorff were it not +that the Tsar, interested in Bezobrazoff's Yalu venture, +subordinated his policy to those vested interests, and compelled +Japan to fight. The master-idea of the policy of +Ito, with whom I had two interesting conversations on +the subject, was to strike up a close friendship with the +Tsardom, based on community of durable interests, and +to bespeak Russia's help for the hour of storm and stress +which one day might strike. The Tsar's government was +inspired by analogous motives. Before the war was terminated +I repaired to London on behalf of Russia, in +order to propose to the Japanese government, in addition +to the treaty of peace which was about to be discussed at +Portsmouth, an offensive and defensive alliance, and to +ask that Prince Ito be sent as first plenipotentiary, invested +with full powers to conclude such a treaty.</p> + +<p>M. Izvolsky's policy toward Japan, frank and statesman-like, +had an offensive and a defensive alliance for +its intended culmination, and the treaties and conventions +which he actually concluded with Viscount Motono, +in drafting which I played a modest part, amounted +almost to this. The Tsar's opposition to the concessions +which represented Russia's share of the compromise +was a tremendous obstacle, which only the threat of the +Minister's resignation finally overcame. And Izvolsky's +energy and insistence hastened the conclusion of a treaty +between them to maintain and respect the <i>status quo</i> in +Manchuria, and, in case it was menaced, to concert +with each other the measures they might deem necessary +for the maintenance of the <i>status quo</i>. And it was no +longer stipulated, as it had been before, that these measures +must have a pacific character. They were prepared +to go farther. And I may now reveal the fact +that the treaty had a secret clause, providing for the +action which Russia afterward took in Mongolia.</p> + +<p>These transactions one might term the first act of the +international drama which is still proceeding. They +indicate, if they did not shape, the mold in which the +bronze of Japan's political program was cast. It necessarily +differed from other politics, although the maxims +underlying it were the same. Japan, having become a +Great Power after her war with China, was slowly developing +into a world Power, and hoped to establish her claim +to that position one day. It was against that day that +she would fain have acquired a puissant and trustworthy +ally, and she left nothing undone to deserve the whole-hearted +support of Russia. In the historic year of 1914, +many months before the storm-cloud broke, the War +Minister Sukhomlinoff transferred nearly all the garrisons +from Siberia to Europe, because he had had assurances +from Japan which warranted him in thus denuding the +eastern border of troops. During the campaign, when +the Russian offensive broke down and the armies of the +enemy were driving the Tsar's troops like sheep before +them, Japan hastened to the assistance of her neighbor, +to whom she threw open her military arsenals, and many +private establishments as well. And when the Petrograd +Cabinet was no longer able to meet the financial liabilities +incurred, the Mikado's advisers devised a generous +arrangement on lines which brought both countries into +still closer and more friendly relations.</p> + +<p>The most influential daily press organ in the Tsardom, +the <i>Novoye Vremya</i>, wrote: "The war with Germany +has supplied our Asiatic neighbor with an opportunity +of proving the sincerity of her friendly assurances. She +behaves not merely like a good friend, but like a stanch +military ally.... In the interests of the future tranquil +development of Japan a more active participation of the +Japanese is requisite in the war of the nations against +the world-beast of prey. An alliance with Russia for +the attainment of this object would be an act of immense +historic significance."<a name="FNanchor_244_244" id="FNanchor_244_244" href="#Footnote_244_244" >[244]</a></p> + +<p>Ever since her entry into the community of progressive +nations, Japan's main aspiration and striving has been to +play a leading and a civilizing part in the Far East, and +in especial to determine China by advice and organization +to move into line with herself, adopt Western methods +and apply them to Far-Eastern aims. And this might +well seem a legitimate as well as a profitable policy, +and a task as noble as most or those to which the world +is wont to pay a tribute of high praise. It appeared all +the more licit that the Powers of Europe, with the exception +of Russia, had denied full political rights to the +colored alien. He was placed in a category apart—an +inferior class member of humanity.</p> + +<p>"In Japan, and as yet in Japan alone, do we find the +Asiatic welcoming European culture, in which, if a tree +may fairly be judged by its fruit, is to be found the best +prospect for the human personal liberty, in due combination +with restraints of law sufficient to, but not in excess +of, the requirements of the general welfare. In this particular +distinctiveness of characteristic, which has thus differentiated +the receptivity of the Japanese from that of +the continental Asiatic, we may perhaps see the influence +of the insular environment that has permitted and favored +the evolution of a strong national personality; and in the +same condition we may not err in finding a promise of +power to preserve and to propagate, by example and by +influence, among those akin to her, the new policy which +she has adopted, and by which she has profited, affording +to them the example which she herself has found in the +development of Eastern peoples."<a name="FNanchor_245_245" id="FNanchor_245_245" href="#Footnote_245_245" >[245]</a></p> + +<p>Now that is exactly what the Japanese aimed at accomplishing. +They were desirous of contributing to the intellectual +and moral advance of the Chinese and other backward +peoples of the Far East, in the same way as France +is laudably desirous of aiding the Syrians, or Great Britain +the Persians. And what is more, Japan undertook to +uphold the principle of the open door, and generally to +respect the legitimate interests of European peoples in +the Far East.</p> + +<p>But the white races had economic designs of their own +on China, and one of the preliminary conditions of their +execution was that Japan's aspirations should be foiled. +Witte opened the campaign by inaugurating the process +of peaceful penetration, but his remarkable efforts were +neutralized and defeated by his own sovereign. The +Japanese, after the Manchurian campaign, which they +had done everything possible to avoid, contrived wholly +to eliminate Russian aggression from the Far East. The +feat was arduous and the masterly way in which it was +tackled and achieved sheds a luster on Japanese statesmanship +as personified by Viscount Motono. The Tsardom, +in lieu of a potential enemy, was transformed into a +stanch and powerful friend and ally, on whom Nippon +could, as she believed, rely against future aggressors. +Russia came to stand toward her in the same political +relationship as toward France. Japanese statesmen took +the alliance with the Tsardom as a solid and durable +postulate of their foreign policy.</p> + +<p>All at once the Tsardom fell to pieces like a house of +cards, and the fragments that emerged from the ruins +possessed neither the will nor the power to stand by their +Far Eastern neighbors. The fruits of twelve years' +statesmanship and heavy sacrifices were swept away +by the Russian revolution, and Japan's diplomatic position +was therefore worse beyond compare than that +of the French Republic in July, 1917, because the latter +was forthwith sustained by Great Britain and the United +States, with such abundance of military and economic +resources as made up in the long run for that of Russia. +Japan, on the other hand, has as yet no substitute for +her prostrate ally. She is still alone among Powers some +of whom decline to recognize her equality, while others +are ready to thwart her policy and disable her for the +coming race.</p> + +<p>The Japanese are firm believers in the law of causality. +Where they desire to reap, there they first sow. They +invariably strive to deal with a situation while there is +still time to modify it, and they take pains to render the +means adequate to the end. Unlike the peoples of +western Europe and the United States, the Japanese +show a profound respect for the principles of authority +and inequality, and reserve the higher functions in the +community for men of the greatest ability and attainments. +It is a fact, however, that individual liberty +has made perceptible progress in the population, and is +still growing, owing to the increase of economic well-being +and the spread of general and technical education. +But although socialism is likewise spreading fast, I feel +inclined to think that in Japan a high grade of instruction +and of social development on latter-day lines will be +found compatible with that extraordinary cohesiveness +to which the race owes the position which it occupies +among the communities of the world. The soul of the +individual Japanese may be said to float in an atmosphere +of collectivity, which, while leaving his intellect intact, +sways his sentiments and modifies his character by rendering +him impressible to motives of an order which has +the weal of the race for its object.</p> + +<p>Japan has borrowed what seemed to her leaders to +be the best of everything in foreign countries. They +analyzed the military, political, and industrial successes +of their friends and enemies, satisfactorily explained and +duly fructified them. They use the school as the seed-plot +of the state, and inculcate conceptions there which the +entire community endeavors later on to embody in acts +and institutions. And what the elementary school has +begun, the intermediate, the technical, and the high +schools develop and perfect, aided by the press, which is +encouraged by the state.</p> + +<p>Japan's ideal cannot be offhandedly condemned as +immoral, pernicious, or illegitimate. Its partizans pertinently +invoke every principle which their Allies applied +to their own aims and strivings. And men of deeper +insight than those who preside over the fortunes of the +Entente to-day recognize that Europeans of high principles +and discerning minds, who perceive the central +issues, would, were they in the position of the Japanese +statesmen, likewise bend their energies to the achievement +of the same aims.</p> + +<p>The Japanese argue their case somewhat as follows:</p> + +<p>"We are determined to help China to put herself in +line with ourselves, and to keep her from falling into +anarchy. And no one can honestly deny our qualifications. +We and they have very much in common, and +we understand them as no Anglo-Saxon or other foreign +people can. On the one hand our own past experience +resembles that of the Middle Kingdom, and on the +other our method of adapting ourselves to the new international +conditions challenged and received the ungrudging +admiration of a world disposed to be critical. The +Peking treaties of May, 1915, between China and Japan, +and the pristine drafts of them which were modified +before signature, enable the outsider to form a fairly +accurate opinion of Japan's economic and political program, +which amounts to the application of a Far Eastern +Monroe Doctrine.</p> + +<p>"What we seek to obtain in the Far East is what the +Western Powers have secured throughout the remainder +of the globe: the right to contribute to the moral and +intellectual progress of our backward neighbors, and to +profit by our exertions. China needs the help which we +are admittedly able to bestow. To our mission no +cogent objection has ever been offered. No Cabinet in +Tokio has ever looked upon the Middle Realm as a +possible colony for the Japanese. The notion is preposterous, +seeing that China is already over-populated. +What Japan sorely needs are sources whence to draw +coal and iron for industrial enterprise. She also needs +cotton and leather."</p> + +<p>In truth, the ever-ready command of these raw materials +at their sources, which must be neither remote nor +subject to potential enemies, is indispensable to the +success of Japan's development. But for the moment the +English-speaking nations have a veto upon them, in virtue +of possession, and the embargo put by the United States +government upon the export of steel during the war +caused a profound emotion in Nippon. For the shipbuilding +works there had increased in number from nine +before the war to twelve in 1917, and to twenty-eight at +the beginning of 1918, with one hundred slips capable +of producing six hundred thousand tons of net register. +The effect of that embargo was to shut down between +70 and 80 per cent. of the shipbuilding works of the +country, and to menace with extinction an industry which +was bringing in immense profits.</p> + +<p>It was with these antecedents and aims that Japan +appeared before the Conference in Paris and asked, not +for something which she lacked before, but merely for +the confirmation of what she already possessed by treaty. +It must be admitted that she had damaged her cause by +the manner in which that treaty had been obtained. To +say that she had intimidated the Chinese, instead of +coaxing them or bargaining with them, would be a +truism. The fall of Tsingtao gave her a favorable opportunity, +and she used and misused it unjustifiably. The +demands in themselves were open to discussion and, if +one weighs all the circumstances, would not deserve a +classification different from some of those—the protection +of minorities or the transit proviso, for example—imposed +by the greater on the lesser nations at the Conference. +But the mode in which they were pressed irritated the +susceptible Chinese and belied the professions made +by the Mikado's Ministers. The secrecy, too, with which +the Tokio Cabinet endeavored to surround them warranted +the worst construction. Yuan Shi Kai<a name="FNanchor_246_246" id="FNanchor_246_246" href="#Footnote_246_246" >[246]</a> regarded +the procedure as a deadly insult to himself and his country. +And the circumstance that the Japanese government +failed either to foresee or to avoid this amazing psychological +blunder lent color to the objections of those who +questioned Japan's qualifications for the mission she had +set herself. The wound inflicted on China by that exhibition +of insolence will not soon heal. How it reacted +may be inferred from the strenuous and well-calculated +opposition of the Chinese delegation at the Conference.</p> + +<p>Nor was that all. In the summer of 1916 a free fight +occurred between Chinese and Japanese soldiers in Cheng-cha-tun, +the rights and wrongs of which were, as is +usual in such cases, obscure. But the Okuma Cabinet, +assuming that the Chinese were to blame, pounced upon +the incident and made it the base of fresh demands to +China,<a name="FNanchor_247_247" id="FNanchor_247_247" href="#Footnote_247_247" >[247]</a> two of which were manifestly excessive. That +China would be better off than she is or is otherwise +likely to become under Japanese guidance is in the highest +degree probable. But in order that that guidance should +be effective it must be accepted, and this can only be the +consequence of such a policy of cordiality, patience, and +magnanimity as was outlined by my friend, the late +Viscount Motono.<a name="FNanchor_248_248" id="FNanchor_248_248" href="#Footnote_248_248" >[248]</a></p> + +<p>At the Conference the policy of the Japanese delegates +was clear-cut and coherent. It may be summarized as +follows: the Japanese delegation decided to give its +entire support to the Allies in all matters concerning the +future relations of Germany and Russia, western Europe, +the Balkans, the African colonies, as well as financial +indemnities and reparations. The fate of the Samoan +Archipelago must be determined in accord with Britain +and the United States. New Guinea should be allotted to +Australia. As the Marshall, Caroline, and Ladrone +Islands, although of no intrinsic value, would constitute a +danger in Germany's hands, they should be taken over by +Japan. Tsingtao and the port of Kiaochow should belong +to Japan, as well as the Tainan railway. Japan would +co-operate with the Allies in maintaining order in Siberia, +but no Power should arrogate to itself a preponderant +voice in the matter of obtaining concessions or other +interests there. Lastly, the principle of the open door was +to be upheld in China, Japan being admittedly the Power +which is the most interested in the establishment and +maintenance of peace in the Far East.</p> + +<p>At the Conference, when the Kiaochow dispute came +up for discussion, the Japanese attitude, according to their +Anglo-Saxon and French colleagues, was calm and dignified, +their language courteous, their arguments were put +with studied moderation, and their resolve to have their +treaty rights recognized was inflexible. Their case was +simple enough, and under the old ordering unanswerable. +The only question was whether it would be invalidated by +the new dispensation. But as the United States had +obtained recognition for its Monroe Doctrine, Britain +for the supremacy of the sea, and France for the occupation +of the Saar Valley and the suspension of the right +of self-determination in the case of Austria, it was obvious +that Japan had abundant and cogent arguments for her +demands, which were that the Chinese territory once +held by Germany, and since wrested from that Power +by Japan, be formally retroceded to Japan, whose claim +to it rested upon the right of conquest and also upon the +faith of treaties which she had concluded with China. +At the same time she expressly and spontaneously disclaimed +the intention of keeping that territory for herself. +Baron Makino said at the Peace Table:</p> + +<p>"The acquisition of territory belonging to one nation +which it is the intention of the country acquiring it to +exploit to its sole advantage is not conducive to amity +or good-will." Japan, although by the fortune of war +Germany's heir to Kiaochow, did not purpose retaining it +for the remaining term of the lease; she had, in fact, +already promised to restore it to China. She maintained, +however, that the conditions of retrocession should form +the subject of a general settlement between Tokio and +Peking.</p> + +<p>The Chinese delegation, which worked vigorously and +indefatigably and won over a considerable number of +backers, argued that Kiaochow had ceased to belong to +Germany on the day when China declared war on that +state, inasmuch as all their treaties, including the lease +of Kiaochow, were abrogated by that declaration, and +the ownership of every rood of Chinese territory held +by Germany reverted in law to China, and should therefore +be handed over to her, and not to Japan. To this +plea Baron Makino returned the answer that with the +surrender of Tsingtao to Japan in 1914<a name="FNanchor_249_249" id="FNanchor_249_249" href="#Footnote_249_249" >[249]</a> the whole imperial +German protectorates of Shantung had passed to +that Power, China being still a neutral. Consequently the +entry of China into the war in 1917 could not affect the +status of the province which already belonged to Nippon +by right of conquest. As a matter of alleged fact, this +capture of the protectorates by the Japanese had been +specially desired by the British government, in order to +prevent Germany from ceding it to China. If that move +meant anything, therefore, it meant that neither China +nor Germany had or could have any hold on the territory +once it was captured by Japan. Further, this conquest +was effected at the cost of vast sums of money and two +thousand Japanese lives.</p> + +<p>Nor was that all. In the year 1915<a name="FNanchor_250_250" id="FNanchor_250_250" href="#Footnote_250_250" >[250]</a> China signed an +agreement with Japan, undertaking "to recognize all matters +that may be agreed upon between the Japanese government +and the German government respecting the disposition +of all the rights, interests, and concessions which, +in virtue of treaties or otherwise, Germany possesses +<i>vis-à-vis</i> China, in relation to the province of Shantung." +This treaty, the Chinese delegates answered, was extorted +by force. Japan, having vainly sought to obtain it by +negotiations that lasted nearly four months, finally presented +an ultimatum,<a name="FNanchor_251_251" id="FNanchor_251_251" href="#Footnote_251_251" >[251]</a> giving China forty-eight hours in +which to accept it. She had no alternative. But at least +she made it known to the world that she was being +coerced. It was on the day on which that document +was signed that the Japanese representative in Peking +sent a spontaneous declaration to the Chinese Minister of +Foreign Affairs, promising to return the leased territory +to China on condition that all Kiaochow be opened as a +commercial port, that a Japanese settlement be established, +and also an international settlement, if the Powers +desired it, and that an arrangement be made beforehand +between the Chinese and Japanese governments with +regard to "the disposal of German public establishments +and populations, and with regard to other conditions and +procedures."</p> + +<p>The Japanese further invoked another and later agreement, +which was, they alleged, signed by the Chinese +without demur.<a name="FNanchor_252_252" id="FNanchor_252_252" href="#Footnote_252_252" >[252]</a> This accord, coming after the entry of +China into the war, was tantamount to the renunciation +of any rights which China might have believed she possessed +as a corollary of her belligerency. It also disposed, +the Japanese argued, of her contention that the territory +in question is indispensable and vital to her—a contention +which Japan met with the promise to deliver it up—and +which was invalidated by China's refusal to fight for it +in the year 1914. This latter argument was controverted +by the Chinese assertion that they were ready and willing +to declare war against Germany at the outset, but that +their co-operation was refused by the Entente, and subsequently +by Japan. This allegation is credible, if we +remember the eagerness exhibited by the British government +that Japan should lose no time in co-operating with +her allies, the representations made by the British Ambassador +to Baron Kato on the subject,<a name="FNanchor_253_253" id="FNanchor_253_253" href="#Footnote_253_253" >[253]</a> and the alleged +motive to prevent the retrocession of Shantung to China +by the German government.</p> + +<p>The arguments of China and Japan were summarily +put in the following questions by a delegate of each country: +"Yes or no, does Kiaochow, whose population is +exclusively Chinese, form an integral part of the Chinese +state? Yes or no, was Kiaochow brutally occupied by +the Kaiser in the teeth of right and justice and to the +detriment of the peace of the Far East, and it may be of +the world? Yes or no, did Japan enter the war against +the aggressive imperialism of the German Empire, and +for the purpose of arranging a lasting peace in the Far +East? Yes or no, was Kiaochow captured by the English +and Japanese troops in 1914 with the sole object of destroying +a dangerous naval base? Yes or no, was China's +co-operation against Germany, which was advocated and +offered by President Yuan Shi Kai in August, 1914, refused +at the instigation of Japan?"<a name="FNanchor_254_254" id="FNanchor_254_254" href="#Footnote_254_254" >[254]</a></p> + +<p>The Japanese catechism ran thus: "Yes or no, was +Kiaochow a German possession in the year 1914? Yes +or no, was the world, including the United States, a consenting +party to the occupation of that province by the +Germans? Why did China, who to-day insists that that +port is indispensable to her, cede it to Germany? Why +in 1914 did she make no effort to recover it, but leave this +task to the Japanese army? Further, who can maintain +that juridically the last war abolished <i>ipso facto</i> all the +cessions of territory previously effected? Turkey formerly +ceded Cyprus to Great Britain. Will it be argued +that this cession is abrogated and that Cyprus must return +to Turkey directly and unconditionally? The Conference +announced repeatedly that it took its stand on +justice and the welfare of the peoples. It is in the name +of the welfare of the peoples, as well as in the name of +justice, that we assert our right to take over Kiaochow. +The harvest to him whose hands soweth the seed."<a name="FNanchor_255_255" id="FNanchor_255_255" href="#Footnote_255_255" >[255]</a></p> + +<p>If we add to all these conflicting data the circumstance +that Great Britain, France, and Russia had undertaken<a name="FNanchor_256_256" id="FNanchor_256_256" href="#Footnote_256_256" >[256]</a> +to support Japan's demands at the Conference, and that +Italy had promised to raise no objection, we shall have a +tolerable notion of the various factors of the Chino-Japanese +dispute, and of its bearings on the Peace Treaty +and on the principles of the Covenant. It was one of the +many illustrations of the incompatibility of the Treaty +and the Covenant, the respective scopes of which were +radically and irreconcilably different. The Supreme +Council had to adjudicate upon the matter from the +point of view either of the Treaty or of the Covenant; +as part of a vulgar bargain of the old, unregenerate days, +or as an example of the self-renunciation of the new ethical +system. The majority of the Council was pledged to the +former way of contemplating it, and, having already promulgated +a number of decrees running counter to the +Covenant doctrine in favor of their own peoples, could +not logically nor politically make an exception to the +detriment of Japan.</p> + +<p>What actually happened at the Peace Table is still a +secret, and President Wilson, who knows its nature, holds +that it is in the best interests of humanity that it should +so remain! The little that has as yet been disclosed comes +mainly from State-Secretary Lansing's answers to the +questions put by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. +America's second delegate, in answer to the questions +with which he was there plied, affirmed that "President +Wilson alone approved the Shantung decision, that +the other members of the American delegation made no +protest against it, and that President Wilson alone knows +whether Japan has guaranteed to return Shantung to +China."<a name="FNanchor_257_257" id="FNanchor_257_257" href="#Footnote_257_257" >[257]</a> Another eminent American, who claims to have +been present when President Wilson's act was officially +explained to the Chinese delegates, states that the President, +disclosing to them his motives, pleaded that political +exigencies, the menace that Japan would abandon the +Conference, and the rumor that England herself might +withdraw, had constrained him to accept the Shantung +settlement in order to save the League.<a name="FNanchor_258_258" id="FNanchor_258_258" href="#Footnote_258_258" >[258]</a> Rumors appear +to have played an undue part in the Conference, influencing +the judgment or the decisions of the Supreme Council. +The reader will remember that it was a rumor to the effect +that the Italian government had already published a +decree annexing Fiume that is alleged to have precipitated +the quarrel between Mr. Wilson and the first Italian delegation. +It is worth noting that the alleged menace that +Japan would quit the Conference if her demands were +rejected was not regarded by Secretary Lansing as serious. +"Could Japan's signature to the League have been obtained +without the Shantung decision?" he was asked. +"I think so," he answered.</p> + +<p>The decision caused tremendous excitement among the +Chinese and their numerous friends. At first they professed +skepticism and maintained that there must be some +misunderstanding, and finally they protested and refused +to sign the Treaty. One of the American journals published +in Paris wrote: "Shantung was at least a moral +explosion. It blew down the front of the temple, and now +everybody can see that behind the front there was a very +busy market. The morals were the morals of a horse +trade. If the muezzin were loud and constant in his calls +to prayer, it probably was to drown the sound of the +dickering in the market. There is no longer any obligation +upon this nation to accept the Covenant as a moral +document. It is not."<a name="FNanchor_259_259" id="FNanchor_259_259" href="#Footnote_259_259" >[259]</a></p> + +<p>All that may be perfectly true, but it sounds odd that +the discovery should not have been made until Japan's +claim was admitted formally to take over Shantung, after +she had solemnly promised to restore it to China. The +Covenant was certainly transgressed long before this, +and much more flagrantly than by President Wilson's +indorsement of Japan's demand for the formal retrocession +of Shantung. But by those infractions nobody +seemed scandalized. <i>Quod licet Jovi non licet bovi.</i> Debts +of gratitude had to be paid at the expense of the Covenant, +and people closed their eyes or their lips. It was not +until the Japanese asked for something which all her +European allies considered to be her right that an outcry +was raised and moral principles were invoked.</p> + +<p>The Japanese press was nowise jubilant over the finding +of the Supreme Council. The journals of all parties +argued that their country was receiving no more than had +already been guaranteed to it by China, and ratified by +the Allies before the Peace Conference met, and to have +obtained what was already hers by rights of conquest and +of treaties was anything but a triumph. What Japan +desired was to have herself recognized practically, not +merely in theory, as the nation which is the most nearly +interested in China, and therefore deserving of a special +status there. In other words, she aimed at the proclamation +of something in the nature of a Far Eastern doctrine +analogous to that of Monroe. As priority of interest had +been conceded to her by the Ishii-Lansing Agreement with +the United States, it was in this sense that her press +was fain to construe the clause respecting non-interference +with "regional understandings."</p> + +<p>That policy is open. The principles underlying it, always +tenable, were never more so than since the Peace +Conference set the Great Powers to direct the lesser +states. Moreover, Japan, it is argued, knows by experience +that China has always been a temptation to the +Western peoples. They sent expeditions to fight her and +divided her territory into zones of influence, although +China was never guilty of an aggressive attitude toward +them, as she was toward Japan. They were actuated by +land greed and all that that implies, and if China were +abandoned to her own resources to-morrow she would +surely fall a prey to her Western protectors. In this connection +they point to an incident which took place during +the Conference, when Signor Tittoni demanded that +Italy should receive the Austrian concession in Tientsin, +which adjoins the Italian concession. But Viscount +Chinda protested and the demand was ruled out. To +sum up, the broad maxim underlying Japan's policy as +defined by her own representatives is that in the resettlement +of the world the principle adopted, whether the +old or the new, shall be applied fairly and impartially +at least to all the Great Powers.</p> + +<p>Every world conflict has marked the close of one epoch +and the opening of another. Into the melting-pot on +the fire kindled by the war many momentous problems +have been flung, any one of which would have sufficed +to bring about a new political, economic, and social constellation. +Japan's advance along the road of progress +is one of these far-ranging innovations. She became a +Great Power in the wars against China and Russia, and is +qualifying for the part of a World Power to-day. And +her statesmen affirm that in order to achieve her purpose +she will recoil from no sacrifice except those of honor and +of truth.</p> + + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_244_244" id="Footnote_244_244" href="#FNanchor_244_244"> [244]</a> <i>Novoye Vremya</i>, June 13-26, 1915.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_245_245" id="Footnote_245_245" href="#FNanchor_245_245"> [245]</a> Cf. <i>The Problem of Asia</i> (Capt. A.T. Mahan), pp. 150-151.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_246_246" id="Footnote_246_246" href="#FNanchor_246_246"> [246]</a> The late President of the Chinese Republic.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_247_247" id="Footnote_247_247" href="#FNanchor_247_247"> [247]</a> These demands were (1) an apology from the Chinese authorities; (2) +an indemnity for the killed and wounded; (3) the policing of certain districts +of Manchuria by the Japanese; and (4) the employment of Japanese +officers to train Chinese troops in Manchuria.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_248_248" id="Footnote_248_248" href="#FNanchor_248_248"> [248]</a> Minister of Foreign Affairs. He repudiated his predecessor's policy.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_249_249" id="Footnote_249_249" href="#FNanchor_249_249"> [249]</a> November 8th.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_250_250" id="Footnote_250_250" href="#FNanchor_250_250"> [250]</a> May 25, 1915.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_251_251" id="Footnote_251_251" href="#FNanchor_251_251"> [251]</a> On May 6, 1915.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_252_252" id="Footnote_252_252" href="#FNanchor_252_252"> [252]</a> On September 24, 1918.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_253_253" id="Footnote_253_253" href="#FNanchor_253_253"> [253]</a> On August 7, 1914.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_254_254" id="Footnote_254_254" href="#FNanchor_254_254"> [254]</a> Cf. <i>Le Matin</i>, April 25, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_255_255" id="Footnote_255_255" href="#FNanchor_255_255"> [255]</a> <i>Le Matin</i>, April 23, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_256_256" id="Footnote_256_256" href="#FNanchor_256_256"> [256]</a> "His Majesty's Government accede with pleasure to the requests of the +Japanese Government for assurances that they will support Japan's claims +in regard to the disposal of Germany's rights in Shantung, and possessions +in islands north of the Equator, on the occasion of a Peace Conference, it +being understood that the Japanese Government will, in the event of a +peace settlement, treat in the same spirit Great Britain's claims to German +islands south of the Equator." (Signed) Conyngham Greene, British +Ambassador, Tokio, February 16, 1917. France gave a similar assurance +in writing on March 1, 1917, and the Russian government had made a like +declaration on February 20, 1917.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_257_257" id="Footnote_257_257" href="#FNanchor_257_257"> [257]</a> As a matter of fact, the entire world knew and knows that she had guaranteed +the retrocession. Baron Makino declared it at the Conference. +Cf. <i>The</i> (London) <i>Times</i>, February 13, 1919; also on May 5, 1919; and +Viscount Uchida confirmed it on May 17, 1919. It had also been stated +in the Japanese ultimatum to Germany, August 15, 1914, and repeated by +Viscount Uchida at the beginning of August, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_258_258" id="Footnote_258_258" href="#FNanchor_258_258"> [258]</a> Mr. Thomas Millard, some of whose letters were published by <i>The New +York Times</i>. Cf. <i>Le Temps</i>, July 29, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_259_259" id="Footnote_259_259" href="#FNanchor_259_259"> [259]</a> <i>The Chicago Tribune</i> (Paris edition), August 20, 1919.</p> + + +<hr /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X" />X</h3> + +<h3>ATTITUDE TOWARD RUSSIA</h3> + + +<p>In their dealings with Russia the principal plenipotentiaries +consistently displayed the qualities and employed +the standards, maxims, and methods which had stood +them in good stead as parliamentary politicians. The +betterment of the world was an idea which took a separate +position in their minds, quite apart from the other political +ideas with which they usually operated. Overflowing +with verbal altruism, they first made sure of the political +and economic interests of their own countries, safeguarding +or extending these sources of power, after which they +proceeded to try their novel experiment on communities +which they could coerce into obedience. Hence the +aversion and opposition which they encountered among +all the nations which had to submit to the yoke, and more +especially among the Russians.</p> + +<p>Russia's opposition, widespread and deep-rooted, is +natural, and history will probably add that it was justified. +It starts from the assumption, which there is no gainsaying, +that the Conference was convoked to make peace between +the belligerents and that whatever territorial changes +it might introduce must be restricted to the countries +of the defeated peoples. From all "disannexations" not +only the Allies' territories, but those of neutrals, were to +be exempted. Repudiate this principle and the demands +of Ireland, Egypt, India to the benefits of self-determination +became unanswerable. Belgium's claim to Dutch +Limburg and other territorial oddments must likewise +be allowed. Indeed, the plea actually put forward +against these was that the Conference was incompetent +to touch any territory actually possessed by either neutral +or Allied states. Ireland, Egypt, and Dutch Limburg +Were all domestic matters with which the Conference +had no concern.</p> + +<p>Despite this fundamental principle Russia, the whilom +Ally, without whose superhuman efforts and heroic sacrifices +her partners would have been pulverized, was tacitly +relegated to the category of hostile and defeated peoples, +and many of her provinces lopped off arbitrarily and +without appeal. None of her representatives was convoked +or consulted on the subject, although all of them, +Bolshevist and anti-Bolshevist, were at one in their resistance +to foreign dictation.</p> + +<p>The Conference repeatedly disclaimed any intention +of meddling in the internal affairs of any other state, +and the Irish, the Egyptian, and several other analogous +problems were for the purposes of the Conference included +in this category. On what intelligible grounds, then, +were the Finnish, the Lettish, the Esthonian, the Georgian, +the Ukrainian problems excluded from it? One cannot +conceive a more flagrant violation of the sovereignty of a +state than the severance and disposal of its territorial +possessions against its will. It is a frankly hostile act, +and as such was rightly limited by the Conference to +enemy countries. Why, then, was it extended to the +ex-Ally? Is it not clear that if reconstituted Russia should +regard the Allied states as enemies and choose the potential +enemies of these as its friends, it will be legitimately +applying the principles laid down by the Allies themselves? +No expert in international law and no person of average +common sense will seriously maintain that any of the +decisions reached in Paris are binding on the Russia of the +future. No problem which concerns two equal parties +can be rightfully decided by only one of them. The +Conference which declared itself incompetent to impose +on Holland the cession to Belgium even of a small strip +of territory on one of the banks of the Belgian river +Scheldt cannot be deemed authorized to sign away vast +provinces that belonged to Russia. Here the plea of +the self-determination of peoples possesses just as much +or as little cogency as in the case of Ireland and Egypt.</p> + +<p>President Wilson and Mr. Lloyd George had inaugurated +their East European policy by publicly proclaiming +that Russia was the key to the world situation, and that +the peace would be no peace so long as her hundred and +fifty million inhabitants were left floundering in chaotic +confusion, under the upas shade of Bolshevism. They +had also held out hopes to their great ex-ally of efficient +help and practical counsel. And there ended what may +be termed the constructive side of their conceptions.</p> + +<p>It was followed by no coherent action. Discourses, +promises, maneuvers, and counter-maneuvers were continuous +and bewildering, but of systematic policy there +was none. Statesmanship in the higher sense of the word +was absent from every decision the delegates took and +from every suggestion they proffered. Nor was it only +by omission that they sinned. Their invincible turn +for circuitous methods, to which severer critics give a +less sonorous name, was manifested <i>ad nauseam</i>. They +worked out cunning little schemes which it was hard to +distinguish from intrigues, and which, if they had not +been foiled in time, would have made matters even worse +than they are. From the outset the British government +was for summoning Bolshevist delegates to the Conference. +A note to this effect was sent by the London Foreign +Office to the Allied governments about a fortnight before +the delegates began their work of making peace. But +the suggestion was withdrawn at the instance of the +French, who doubted whether the services of systematic +lawbreakers would materially conduce to the establishment +of a new society of law-abiding states. Soon afterward +another scheme cropped up, this time for the appointment +of an Inter-Allied committee to watch over Russia's +destinies and serve as a sort of board of Providence. +The representatives of the anti-Bolshevist governments +resented this notion bitterly. They remarked that they +could not be fairly asked to respect decisions imposed on +them exactly as though they were vanquished enemies +like the Germans. The British and American delegates +were swayed in their views mainly by the assumptions +that all central Russia was in the power of Lenin; that +his army was well disciplined and powerful; that he +might contrive to hold the reins of government and maintain +anarchism indefinitely, and that the so-called constructive +elements were inclined toward reaction.</p> + +<p>In other words, the delegates accepted two sets of premises, +from which they drew two wholly different sets of +conclusions. Now they felt impelled to act on the one, +now on the other, but they could never make up their +minds to carry out either. They agreed that Bolshevism +is a potent solvent of society, fraught with peril to all +organized communities, yet they could not resolve to use +joint action to extirpate it.<a name="FNanchor_260_260" id="FNanchor_260_260" href="#Footnote_260_260" >[260]</a> They recognized that so +long as it lasted there was no hope of establishing a community +of nations, but they discarded military intervention +on grounds of their own internal policy, and because +it ran counter to the principle of self-determination. Over +against that principle, however, one had to set the circumstance +that they were already intermeddling in Russian +affairs in Archangel, Murmansk, Odessa, and elsewhere, +and that they ended by creating a new state and +government in northwestern Russia, against which Kolchak +and Denikin vehemently protested.</p> + +<p>In mitigation of judgment it is only fair to take into +account the tremendous difficulties that faced them; their +unfamiliarity with the Russian problem; the want of a +touchstone by which to test the overwhelming mass of +conflicting information which poured in upon them; their +constitutional lack of moral courage, and the circumstance +that they were striving to reconcile contradictories. +Without chart or compass they drifted into strange and +sterile courses, beginning with the Prinkipo incident and +ending with the written examination to which they +naïvely subjected Kolchak in order to legalize international +relations, which could not truly be described as +either war or peace. Neither the causes of Bolshevism +in its morbid manifestations nor the unformulated ideas +underlying whatever positive aspect it may be supposed +to possess, nor the conditions governing its slow but perceptible +evolution, were so much as glanced at, much less +studied, by the statesmen who blithely set about dealing +with it now by military force, now by economic pressure, +and fitfully by tentative forbearance and hints to its +leaders of forthcoming recognition.</p> + +<p>One cannot thus play fast and loose with the destinies +of a community composed of one hundred and fifty million +people whose members are but slackly linked together by +a few tenuous social bonds, without forfeiting the right to +offer them real guidance. And a blind man is a poor +guide to those who can see. Alone the Americans were +equipped with carefully tabulated statistics and huge +masses of facts which they poured out as lavishly as coal-heavers +hurl the contents of their sacks into the cellar. +But they put them to no practical use. Losing themselves +in a labyrinth of details, they failed to get a comprehensive +view of the whole. The other delegations lacked +both data and general ideas. And all the Allies were +destitute of a powerful army in the East, and therefore +of the means of asserting the authority which they +assumed.</p> + +<p>They one and all dealt in vague theories and deceptive +analogies, paying little heed to the ever-shifting necessities +of time, place, and peoples, and indeed to the only +conditions under which any new maxims could be fruitfully +applied. And even such rules as they laid down were +restricted and modified in accordance with their own +countries' interests or their unavowed aims, without specific +warrant or explanation. No account was taken of +the historical needs or aspirations of the people for whom +they were legislating, as though all nations were of the +same age, capable of the same degree of culture, and impressible +to identical motives. It never seemed to have +crossed their minds that races and peoples, like individuals, +have a soul, or that what is meat to one may be +poison to another.</p> + +<p>One of the most Ententophil and moderate press organs +in France put the matter forcibly and plainly as follows: +"The governments of Washington and of London are +aware that we are immutably attached to the alliance +with them. But we owe them the truth. Far too often +they make a bad choice of the agents whose business it +is to keep them informed, and they affect too much disdain +for friendly suggestions which emanate from any +other source. American agents, in particular, civil as +well as military, explore Europe much as their forebears +'prospected' the Far West, and they look upon the most +ancient nations of Europe as Iroquois, Comanches, or +Aztecs. They are astounded at not finding everything +on the old Continent as in New York or Chicago, and they +set to work to reform Europe according to the rules in +force in Oklahoma or Colorado. Now we venture respectfully +to point out to them that methods differ with +countries. In the United States the Colonists were wont +to set fire to the forests in order to clear and fertilize the +land. Certain American agents recommend the employment +in Europe of an analogous procedure in political +matters. They rejoice to behold the Russian and Hungarian +forests burst into flame. In Lenin, Trotzky, Bela +Kuhn, they appreciate useful pioneers of the new civilization. +We crave their permission to view these things +from another side. In old Europe one cannot set fire to +the forests without at the same time burning villages and +cities."<a name="FNanchor_261_261" id="FNanchor_261_261" href="#Footnote_261_261" >[261]</a></p> + +<p>Before and during the armistice I was in almost constant +touch with all Russian parties within the country +and without, and received detailed accounts of the changing +conditions of the people, which, although conflicting +in many details, enabled me to form a tolerably correct +picture of the trend of things and to forecast what was +coming.</p> + +<p>Among other communications I received proposals from +Moscow with the request that I should present them to +one of the British delegates, who was supposed to be then +taking an active interest, or at any rate playing a prominent +part, in the reconstruction of Russia, less for her +own sake than for that of the general peace. But as it +chanced, the eminent statesman lacked the leisure to take +cognizance of the proposal, the object of which was to hit +upon such a <i>modus vivendi</i> with Russia as would enable +her united peoples to enter upon a normal course of +national existence without further delay. Incidentally +it would have put an end to certain conversations then +going forward with a view to a friendly understanding +between Russia and Germany. It would also, I had +reason to believe, have divided the speculative Bolshevist +group from the extreme bloodthirsty faction, produced a +complete schism in the party, and secured an armistice +which would have prevented the Allies' subsequent defeats +at Murmansk, Archangel, and Odessa. Truth +prompts me to add that these desirable by-results, although +held out as inducements and characterized as +readily attainable, were guaranteed only by the unofficial +pledge of men whose good faith was notoriously doubtful.</p> + +<p>The document submitted to me is worth summarizing. +It contained a lucid, many-sided, and plausible account of +the Russian situation. Among other things, it was a +confession of the enormity of the crimes perpetrated, on +both sides, it said, which it ascribed largely to the brutalizing +effects of the World War, waged under disastrous conditions +unknown in other lands. Myriads of practically +unarmed men had been exposed during the campaign to +wholesale slaughter, or left to die in slow agonies where +they fell, or were killed off by famine and disease, for the +triumph of a cause which they never understood, but had +recently been told was that of foreign capitalists. In the +demoralization that ensued all restraints fell away. The +entire social fabric, from groundwork to summit, was rent, +and society, convulsed with bestial passions, tore its own +members to pieces. Russia ran amuck among the nations. +That was the height of war frenzy. Since then, the +document went on, passion had abated sensibly and a +number of well-intentioned men who had been swept +onward by the current were fast coming to their senses, +while others were already sane, eager to stem it and +anxious for moral sympathy from outside.</p> + +<p>From out of the revolutionary welter, the <i>exposé</i> continued, +certain hopeful phenomena had emerged symptomatic +of a new spirit. Conditions conducive to equality +existed, although real equality was still a somewhat remote +ideal. But the tendencies over the whole sphere +of Russian social, moral, and political life had undergone +remarkable and invigorating changes in the direction of +"reasonable democracy." Many wholesome reforms had +been attempted, and some were partially realized, especially +in elementary instruction, which was being spread +clumsily, no doubt, as yet, but extensively and equally, +being absolutely gratuitous.<a name="FNanchor_262_262" id="FNanchor_262_262" href="#Footnote_262_262" >[262]</a></p> + +<p>Various other so-called ameliorations were enumerated +in this obviously partial <i>exposé</i>, which was followed by an +apology for certain prominent individuals, who, having +been swept off their feet by the revolutionary floods, +would gladly get back to firm land and help to extricate the +nation from the Serbonian bog in which it was sinking. +They admitted a share of the responsibility for having +set in motion a vast juggernaut chariot, which, however, +they had arrested, but hoped to expiate past errors by +future zeal. At the same time they urged that it was not +they who had demoralized the army or abolished the +death penalty or thrown open the sluice-gates to anarchist +floods. On the contrary, they claimed to have reorganized +the national forces, reintroduced the severest discipline +ever known, appointed experienced officers, and restored +capital punishment. Nor was it they, but their predecessors, +they added, who had ruined the transport service +of the country and caused the food scarcity.</p> + +<p>These individuals would, it was said, welcome peace +and friendship with the Entente, and give particularly +favorable consideration to any proposal coming from the +English-speaking peoples, in whom they were disposed +to place confidence under certain simple conditions. The +need for these conditions would not be gainsaid by the +British and American governments if they recalled to +mind the treatment which they had theretofore meted +out to the Russian people. At that moment no Russian +of any party regarded or could regard the Allies without +grounded suspicions, for while repudiating interference +in domestic affairs, the French, Americans, and British +were striving hard to influence every party in Russia, +and were even believed to harbor designs on certain +provinces, such as the Caucasus and Siberia. Color was +imparted to these misgivings by the circumstance that the +Allied governments were openly countenancing the dismemberment +of the country by detaching non-Russian +and even Russian elements from the main body. It +behooved the Allies to dissipate this mistrust by issuing +a statement of their policy in unmistakable terms, repudiating +schemes for territorial gains, renouncing interference +in domestic affairs and complicity in the work of +disintegrating the country. Russia and her affairs must +be left to Russians, who would not grudge economic concessions +as a reasonable <i>quid pro quo</i>.</p> + +<p>The proposal further insisted that the declaration of +policy should be at once followed by the despatch of two +or three well-known persons acquainted with Russia and +Russian affairs, and enjoying the confidence of European +peoples, to inquire into the conditions of the country and +make an exhaustive report. This mission, it was added, +need not be official, it might be intrusted to individuals +unattached to any government.</p> + +<p>If a satisfactory answer to this proposal were returned +within a fortnight, an armistice and suspension of the +secret <i>pourparlers</i> with Germany would, I was told, have +followed. That this compact would have led to a +settlement of the Russian problems is more than any +one, however well informed, could vouch for, but I had +some grounds for believing the move to be genuine and +the promises overdone. No reasonable motive suggested +itself for a vulgar hoax. Moreover, the overture disclosed +two important facts, one of which was known at the +time only to the Bolshevist government—namely, that +secret <i>pourparlers</i> were going forward between Berlin and +Moscow for the purpose of arriving at a workable understanding +between the two governments, and that the +Allied troops at Odessa, Archangel, and Murmansk were +in a wretched plight and in direr need of an armistice than +the Bolsheviki.<a name="FNanchor_263_263" id="FNanchor_263_263" href="#Footnote_263_263" >[263]</a></p> + +<p>I mentioned the matter summarily to one of the delegates, +who evinced a certain interest in it and promised +to discuss it at length later on with a view to action. +Another to whom I unfolded it later thought it would be +well if I myself started, together with two or three others, +for Moscow, Petrograd, Ekaterinodar, and other places, +and reported on the situation. But weeks went by and +nothing was done.<a name="FNanchor_264_264" id="FNanchor_264_264" href="#Footnote_264_264" >[264]</a></p> + +<p>I had interesting talks with some influential delegates +on the eve of the invitation issued to all <i>de facto</i> governments +of Russia to forgather at Prinkipo for a symposium. +They admitted frankly at the time that they had no policy +and were groping in the dark, and one of them held to the +dogma that no light from outside was to be expected. +They gave me the impression that underlying the impending +summons was the conviction that Bolshevism, divested +of its frenzied manifestations, was a rough and ready +government calumniously blackened by unscrupulous enemies, +criminal perhaps in its outbursts, but suited in its +feasible aims to the peculiar needs of a peculiar people, +and therefore as worthy of being recognized as any of the +others. It was urged that it had already lasted a considerable +time without provoking a counter-movement +worthy of the name; that the stories circulating about the +horrors of which it was guilty were demonstrably exaggerated; +that many of the bloody atrocities were to be +ascribed to crazy individuals on both sides; that the +witnesses against Lenin were partial and untrustworthy; +that something should be done without delay to solve a +pressing problem, and that the Conference could think +of nothing better, nor, in fact, of any alternative.</p> + +<p>To me the principal scheme seemed a sinister mistake, +both in form and in substance. In form, because it nullified +the motives which determined the help given to the +Greeks, Poles, and Serbs, who were being urged to crush +the Bolshevists, and left the Allies without good grounds +for keeping their own troops in Archangel, Odessa, and +northern Russia to stop the onward march of Bolshevism. +Some governments had publicly stigmatized the Bolshevists +as cutthroats; one had pledged itself never to +have relations with them, but the Prinkipo invitation +bespoke a resolve to cancel these judgments and declarations +and change their tack as an improvement on doing +nothing at all. The scheme was also an error in substance, +because the sole motive that could warrant it +was the hope of reconciling the warring parties. And +that hope was doomed to disappointment from the outset.</p> + +<p>According to the Prinkipo project, which was attributed +to President Wilson,<a name="FNanchor_265_265" id="FNanchor_265_265" href="#Footnote_265_265" >[265]</a> an invitation was to be issued to all +organized groups exercising or attempting to exercise +political authority or military control in Siberia and +northern Russia, to send representatives to confer with +the delegates of the Allied and Associated Powers on +Prince's Islands. It is difficult to discuss the expedient +seriously. One feels like a member of the little people +of yore, who are reported to have consulted an oracle +to ascertain what they must do to keep from laughing +during certain debates on public affairs. It exposed its +ingenuous authors to the ridicule of the world and made +it clear to the dullest apprehension that from that quarter, +at any rate, the Russian people, as a whole, must expect +neither light nor leading, nor intelligent appreciation +of their terrible plight. There is a sphere of influence +in the human intellect between the reason and the imagination, +the boundary line of which is shadowy. That +sphere would seem to be the source whence some of the +most extraordinary notions creep into the minds of men +who have suddenly come into a position of power which +they are not qualified to wield—the <i>nouveaux puissants</i> +of the world of politics.</p> + +<p>To the credit of the Supreme Council it never let +offended dignity stand between itself and the triumph +of any of the various causes which it successively took in +hand. Time and again it had been addressed by the +Russian Bolshevist government in the most opprobrious +terms, and accused not merely of clothing political expediency +in the garb of spurious idealism, but of giving the +fore place in political life to sordid interests, over which +a cloak of humanitarianism had been deftly thrown. +One official missive from the Bolshevist government to +President Wilson is worth quoting from:<a name="FNanchor_266_266" id="FNanchor_266_266" href="#Footnote_266_266" >[266]</a> "We should +like to learn with more precision how you conceive the +Society of Nations? When you insist on the independence +of Belgium, of Serbia, of Poland, you surely mean that +the masses of the people are everywhere to take over the +administration of the country. But it is odd that you +did not also require the emancipation of Ireland, of +Egypt, of India, and of the Philippines....</p> + +<p>"As we concluded peace with the German Kaiser, for +whom you have no more consideration than we have for +you, so we are minded to make peace with you. We +propose, therefore, the discussion, in concert with our +allies, of the following questions: (1) Are the French and +English governments ready to give up exacting the blood +of the Russian people if this people consent to pay them +ransom and to compensate them in that way? (2) If +the answer is in the affirmative, what ransom would the +Allies want (railway concessions, gold mines, or territories)?</p> + +<p>"We also look forward to your telling us exactly +whether the future Society of Nations will be a joint +stock enterprise for the exploitation of Russia, and in +particular—as your French allies require—for forcing +Russia to refund the milliards which their bankers furnished +to the Tsarist government, or whether the Society +of Nations will be something different...."</p> + +<p>As soon as the Prinkipo motion was passed by the +delegates I was informed by telephone, and I lost no time +in communicating the tidings to Russia's official representatives +in Paris. The plan astounded them. They +could hardly believe that, while hopefully negotiating +with the anti-Bolshevists, the Conference was desirous +at the same time of opening <i>pourparlers</i> with the Leninists, +between whom and them antagonism was not merely +political, but personal and vindictive, like that of two +Albanians in a blood feud. I suggested that the scheme +should be thwarted at its inception, and that for this purpose +I should be authorized by the representatives of the +four<a name="FNanchor_267_267" id="FNanchor_267_267" href="#Footnote_267_267" >[267]</a> constructive governments in Russia to make known +their decision. I was accordingly empowered to announce +to the world that they would categorically refuse to send +any representatives to confer with the assassins of their +kinsmen and the destroyers of their country, and that +under no circumstances would they swerve from that +attitude. Having received the authorization, I cabled +to the United States and Britain that the projected meeting +would come to naught, owing to the refusal of all +constructive elements to agree to any compromise with +the Bolsheviki; that in the opinion of Russia's representatives +in Paris the advance made by the plenipotentiaries +would strengthen the Bolshevist movement, render the +civil war more merciless than before, and raise up formidable +difficulties to the establishment of the League of +Nations.</p> + +<p>But the plenipotentiaries did not yet give up their cause +as lost. By way of "saving their face," they unofficially +approached the Russian Ministers in Paris, whom they +had not deigned to consult on the subject before making +the plunge, and exhorted them to give at least a formal +assent to the proposal, which would commit them to nothing +and would enable them to withdraw without loss of +dignity. They, on their part, undertook to smooth the +road to the best of their ability. Thus it would be unnecessary, +they explained, for the Ministers of the constructive +governments or their substitutes to come into +contact with the slayers of their kindred; they would +occupy different wings of the hotel at Prinkipo, and never +meet their adversaries. The delegates would see to that. +"Then why should we go there at all if discussion be +superfluous?" asked the Russians. "Because the Allied +governments desire to ascertain the condition of Russia +and your conception of the measures that would contribute +to ameliorate it," was the reply. "Prince's Islands +is not the right place to study the Russian situation, nor +is it reasonable to expect us to journey thither in order to +tell subordinates, who have no knowledge of our country, +what we can tell them and their principals in Paris in +greater detail and with confirmatory documents. Moreover, +the delegates you have appointed have no qualification +to judge of Russia's plight and potentialities. They +know neither the country nor its language nor its people +nor its politics, yet you want us to travel all the way to +Turkey to tell them what we think, in order that they +should return from Turkey to Paris and report to your +Ministers what we said and what we could have unfolded +directly to the Ministers themselves long ago and are +ready to propound to them to-day or to-morrow.</p> + +<p>"The project is puerile and your tactics are baleful. +Your Ministers branded the Bolshevists as criminals, and +the French government publicly announced that it would +enter into no relations with them. In spite of that, all +the Allied governments have now offered to enter into +relations with them. Now you admit that you made a +slip, and you promise to correct it if only we consent to +save your face and go on a wild-goose chase to Prinkipo. +But for us that journey would be a recantation of our +principles. That is why we are unable to make it."</p> + +<p>The Prinkipo incident, which began in the region of high +politics, ended in comedy. A number of more or less +witty epigrams were coined at the expense of the plenipotentiaries, +the scheme, set in a stronger light than it was +meant to endure, assumed a grotesque shape, and its promoters +strove to consign it as best they could to oblivion. +But the Sphinx question of Russia's future remained, and +the penalties for failure to solve it aright waxed more and +more deterrent. The supreme arbiters had cognizance of +them, had, in fact, enumerated them when proclaiming the +impossibility of establishing a durable peace or a solid +League of Nations as long as Russia continued to be a +prey to anarchy. But even with the prizes and penalties +before their eyes to entice and spur them, they proved +unequal to the task of devising an intelligent policy. Fitful +and incoherent, their efforts were either incapable of +being realized or, when feasible, were mischievous. Thus, +by degrees, they hardened the great Slav nation against +the Entente.</p> + +<p>The reader will be prepared to learn that the overtures +made to the Bolsheviki kindled the anger of the patriotic +Russians at home, who had been looking to the Western +nations for salvation and making veritable holocausts in +order to merit it. Every observer could perceive the repercussion +of this sentiment in Paris, and I received ample +proofs of it from Siberia. There the leaders and the population +unhesitatingly turned for assistance to Japan. For +this there were excellent reasons. The only government +which throughout the war knew its own mind and pursued +a consistent and an intelligible policy toward Russia +was that of Tokio. This point is worth making at a time +when Japan is regarded as a Laodicean convert to the +invigorating ideas of the Western peoples, at heart a backslider +and a potential schismatic. She is charged with +making interest the mainspring of her action in her intercourse +with other nations. The charge is true. Only a +Candide would expect to see her moved by altruism and +self-denial, in a company which penalizes these virtues. +Community of interests is the link that binds Japan to +Britain. A like bond had subsisted between her and +Tsarist Russia. I helped to create it. Her statesmen, +who have no taste for sonorous phraseology, did not think +it necessary to give it a more fashionable name. This did +not prevent the Japanese from being chivalrously loyal to +their allies under the strain of powerful temptations, true +to the spirit and the letter of their engagements. But +although they made no pretense to lofty purpose, their +political maxims differ nowise from those of the great +European states, whose territorial, economic, and military +interests have been religiously safeguarded by the Treaty +of Versailles. True, the statesmen of Tokio shrink from +the hybrid combination of two contradictions linked together +by a sentimental fallacy. Their unpopularity +among Anglo-Saxons is the result of speculations about +their future intentions; in other words, they are being +punished, as certain of the delegates at the Conference +have been eulogized, not for what they actually did, but +for what it is assumed they are desirous of achieving. +Toward Russia they played the same game that their allies +were playing there and in Europe, only more frankly and +systematically. They applied the two principal maxims +which lie at the root of international politics to-day—<i>do +ut des</i>, and the nation that is capable of leading others +has the right and the duty to lead them. And they established +a valuable reputation for fulfilling their compacts +conscientiously. Nippon, then, would have helped her +Russian neighbors, and she expected to be helped by them +in return. Have not the Allies, she asked, compelled +Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Jugoslavia to pay them in +cash for their emancipation?</p> + +<p>Russians, who have no color prejudices, hit it off with +the Japanese, by whom they are liked in return. That +the two peoples should feel drawn to each other politically +is, therefore, natural, and that they will strike up economic +agreements in the future seems to many inevitable and +legitimate. One such agreement was on the point of +being signed between them and the anti-Bolshevists of +Omsk immediately after, and in consequence of, the +Allies' ill-considered invitation to Lenin and Trotzky to +delegate representatives to Prinkipo. This convention, +I have reason to believe, was actually drafted, and was +about to be signed. And the adverse influence that suddenly +made itself felt and hindered the compact came +not from Russia, but from western Europe. It would be +unfruitful to dwell further on this matter here, beyond +recording the belief of many Russians that the zeal of the +English-speaking peoples for the well-being of Siberia, +where they intend to maintain troops after having withdrawn +them from Europe, is the counter-move to Japan's +capacity and wish to co-operate with the population of +that rich country. This assumption may be groundless, +but it will surprise only those who fail to note how often +the flag of principle is unfurled over economic interests.</p> + +<p>The delegates were not all discouraged by their discomfiture +over the Prinkipo project. Some of them still +hankered after an agreement with the Bolshevists which +would warrant them in including the Russian problem +among the tasks provisionally achieved. President Wilson +despatched secret envoys to Moscow to strike up an +accord with Lenin,<a name="FNanchor_268_268" id="FNanchor_268_268" href="#Footnote_268_268" >[268]</a> but although the terms which Mr. +Bullitt obtained were those which had in advance been +declared satisfactory, he drew back as soon as they were +agreed to. And he assigned no reason for this change of +attitude. Whether the brightening of the prospects of Kolchak +and Denikin had modified his judgment on the question +of expediency must remain a matter of conjecture. +It is hardly necessary, however, to point out once more +that this sudden improvisation of schemes which were +abandoned again at the last moment tended to lower the +not particularly high estimate set by the ethnic wards of +the Anglo-Saxon peoples on the moral guidance of their +self-constituted guardians.</p> + +<p>An ardent champion of the Allied nations in France +wrote: "We have never had a Russian policy which was +all of one piece. We have never synthetized any but +contradictory conceptions. This is so true that one may +safely affirm that if Russian patriotism has been sustained +by our velleities of action, Russian destructiveness has +been encouraged by our velleities of desertion. We +joined, so to say, both camps, and our velleities of desertion +occasionally getting the upper hand of our velleities +of action ... we carry out nothing."<a name="FNanchor_269_269" id="FNanchor_269_269" href="#Footnote_269_269" >[269]</a></p> + +<p>Toward Kolchak and Denikin the attitude of the Supreme +Council varied considerably. It was currently reported +in Paris that the Admiral had had the misfortune +to arouse the displeasure of the two Conference chiefs +by some casual manifestation of a frame of mind which +was resented, perhaps a movement of independence, to +which distance or the medium of transmission imparted a +flavor of disrespect. Anyhow, the Russian leader was for +some time under a cloud, which darkened the prospects of +his cause. And as for Denikin, he appeared to the other +great delegate as a self-advertising braggart.</p> + +<p>These mental portraits were retouched as the fortune of +war favored the pair. And their cause benefited correspondingly. +To this improvement influences at work in +London contributed materially. For the anti-Bolshevist +currents which made themselves felt in certain state departments +in that capital, where there were several irreconcilable +policies, were powerful and constant. By +the month of May the Conference had turned half-heartedly +from Lenin and Trotzky to Kolchak and +Denikin, but its mode of negotiating bore the mark peculiar +to the diplomacy of the new era of "open covenants +openly arrived at." The delegates in Paris communicated +with the two leaders in Russia "over the heads" and +without the knowledge of their authorized representatives +in Paris, just as they had issued peremptory orders to +"the Rumanian government at Bucharest" over the heads +of its chiefs, who were actually in the French capital.</p> + +<p>The proximate motives that determined several important +decisions of the Secret Council, although of no +political moment, are of sufficient psychological interest to +warrant mention. They shed a light on the concreteness, +directness, and simplicity of the workings of the statesmen's +minds when engaged in transacting international +business. For example, the particular moment for the +recognition of new communities as states was fixed by +wholly extrinsical circumstances. A food-distributer, for +instance, or the Secretary of a Treasury, wanted a receipt +for expenditure abroad from the people that benefited by +it. As a document of this character presupposes the existence +of a state and a government, the official dispenser +of food or money was loath to go to the aid of any nation +which was not a state or which lacked a properly constituted +government. Hence, in some cases the Conference +had to create both on the spur of the moment. +Thus the reason why Finland's independence received +the hall-mark of the Powers when it did was because +the United States government was generously preparing +to give aid to the Finns and had to get in return proper +receipts signed by competent authorities representing the +state.<a name="FNanchor_270_270" id="FNanchor_270_270" href="#Footnote_270_270" >[270]</a> Had it not been for this immediate need of valid +receipts, the act of recognition might have been postponed +in the same way as was the marking off of the +frontiers. And like considerations led to like results in +other cases. Czechoslovakia's independence was formally +recognized for the same reason, as one of its leading men +frankly admitted.</p> + +<p>One of the serious worries of the Conference chiefs in +their dealings with Russia was the lack of a recognized +government there, qualified to sign receipts for advances +of money and munitions. And as they could not resolve +to accord recognition to any of the existing administrations, +they hit upon the middle course, that of promoting +the anti-Bolshevists to the rank of a community, not, +indeed, sovereign or independent, but deserving of every +kind of assistance except the despatch of Allied troops. +Assistance was already being given liberally, but the +necessity was felt for justifying it formally. And the two +delegates went to work as though they were hatching +some dark and criminal plot. Secretly despatching a +message to Admiral Kolchak, they put a number of +questions to him which he was not qualified to answer +without first consulting his official advisers in Paris. +Yet these advisers were not apprised by the Secret Council +of what was being done. Nay, more, the French +Foreign Office was not notified. By the merest chance I +got wind of the matter and published the official message.<a name="FNanchor_271_271" id="FNanchor_271_271" href="#Footnote_271_271" >[271]</a> +It summoned the Admiral to bind himself to +convene a Constituent Assembly as soon as he arrived in +Moscow; to hold free elections; to repudiate definitely +the old régime and all that it implied; to recognize the +independence of Poland and Finland, whose frontiers +would be determined by the League of Nations; to +avail himself of the advice and co-operation of the +League in coming to an understanding with the border +states, and to acquiesce in the decision of the Peace +Conference respecting the future status of Bessarabia. +Kolchak's answer was described as clear when "decipherable," +and to his credit, he frankly declined to +forestall the will of the Constituent Assembly respecting +those border states which owed their separate existence +to the initiative of the victorious governments. +But the Secret Council of the Conference accepted his +answer, and relied upon it as an adequate reason for +continuing the assistance which they had been giving +him theretofore.</p> + +<p>About the person of Kolchak it ought to be superfluous +to say more than that he is an upright citizen of energy +and resolution, as patriotic as Fabricius, as disinterested +and unambitious as Cincinnatus. To his credit account, +which is considerable, stands his wonder-working faith +in the recuperative forces of his country when its fortunes +were at their lowest ebb. With buoyancy and confidence +he set himself the task of rescuing his fellow-countrymen +when it looked as hopeless as that of Xenophon at +Cunaxa. He created an army out of nothing, induced +his men by argument, suasion, and example to shake off +the virus of indiscipline and sacrifice their individual +judgment and will to the well-being of their fellows. He +enjoined nothing upon others that he himself was not +ready to undertake, and he exposed himself time and +again to risks greater far than any general should deliberately +incur. Whether he succeeds or fails in his +arduous enterprise, Kolchak, by his preterhuman patience +and sustained energy and courage, has deserved exceptionally +well of his country, and could afford to ignore the +current legends that depict him in the crying colors of a +reactionary, even though they were accepted for the time +by the most exalted among the Great Unversed in Russian +affairs. One may dissent from his policy and object to +some of his lieutenants and to many of his partizans, but +from the single-minded, patriotic soldier one cannot withhold +a large meed of praise. Kolchak's defects are mostly +exaggerations of his qualities. His remarkable versatility +is purchased at the price of fitfulness, his energy displays +itself in spurts, and his impulsiveness impairs at times the +successful execution of a plan which requires unflagging +constancy. His judgment of men is sometimes at fault, +but he would never hesitate to confer a high post upon +any man who deserved it. He is democratic in the current +sense of the word, but neither a doctrinaire nor a faddist. +A disciplinarian and a magnetic personality withal, he +charms as effectually as he commands his soldiers. He is +enlightened enough, like the great Western world-menders +in their moments of theorizing, to discountenance +secrecy and hole-and-corner agreements, and, what is still +more praiseworthy, he is courageous enough to practise +the doctrine.</p> + +<p>When the revolution broke out Kolchak was at +Sebastopol. The telegram conveying the sensational +tidings of the outbreak was kept secret by all military +commanders—except himself. He unhesitatingly summoned +the soldiers and sailors, apprised them of what +had taken place, gave them an insight into the true +meaning of the violent upheaval, and asked them to join +with him in a heroic endeavor to influence the course of +things, in the direction of order and consolidation. He +gaged aright the significance of the revolution and the +impossibility of confining it within any bounds, political, +moral, or geographical. But he reasoned that a band of +resolute patriots might contrive to wrest something for +the country from the hands of Fate. It was with this +faith and hope that he set to work, and soon his valiant +army, the reclaimed provinces, and the improved Russian +outlook were eloquent witnesses to his worth, whose +testimony no legendary reports, however well received in +the West, could weaken.</p> + +<p>How ingrained in the plenipotentiaries was their proneness +for what, for want of a better word, may be termed +conspirative and circuitous action may be inferred from +the record of their official and unofficial conversations and +acts. When holding converse with Kolchak's authorized +agents in Paris they would lay down hard conditions, +which were described as immutable; and yet when communicating +with the Admiral direct they would submit +to him terms considerably less irksome, unknown to his +Paris advisers, thus mystifying both and occasioning +friction between them. In many cases the contrast between +the two sets of demands was disconcerting, and in +all it tended to cause misunderstandings and complicate +the relations between Kolchak and his Paris agents. But +he continued to give his confidence to his representatives, +although they were denied that of the delegates. It +would, of course, be grossly unfair to impute anything +like disingenuousness to plenipotentiaries engaged upon +issues of this magnitude, but it was an unfortunate coincidence +that they were known to regard some of the +members of the Russian Council in Paris with disfavor, +and would have been glad to see them superseded. When +Nansen's project to feed the starving population of Russia +was first mooted, Kolchak's Ministers in Paris were approached +on the subject, and the Allies' plan was propounded +to them so defectively or vaguely as to give them +the impression that the co-operation of the Bolshevist +government was part of the program. They were also +allowed to think that during the work of feeding the +people the despatch of munitions and other military +necessaries to Kolchak and his army would be discontinued. +Naturally, the scheme, weighted with these two +accompaniments, was unacceptable to Kolchak's representatives +in Paris. But, strange to say, in the official +notification which the plenipotentiaries telegraphed at the +same time to the Admiral direct, neither of these obnoxious +riders was included, so that the proposal assumed +a different aspect.</p> + +<p>Another example of these singular tactics is supplied by +their <i>pourparlers</i> with the Admiral's delegates about the +future international status of Finland, whose help was +then being solicited to free Petrograd from the Bolshevist +yoke. The Finns insisted on the preliminary recognition +of their complete independence by the Russians. Kolchak's +representatives shrank from bartering any territories +which had belonged to the state on their own sole +responsibility. None the less, as the subject was being +theoretically threshed out in all its bearings, the members +of the Russian Council in Paris inquired of the Allies +whether the Finns had at least renounced their pretensions +to the province of Karelia. But the spokesmen of +the Conference replied elusively, giving them no assurance +that the claim had been relinquished. Thereupon they +naturally concluded that the Finns either still maintained +their demand or else had not yet modified their former +decision on the matter, and they deemed it their duty to +report in this sense to their chief. Yet the plenipotentiaries, +in their message on the subject to Kolchak, which +was sent about the same time, assured him that the annexation +of Karelia was no longer insisted upon, and that +the Finns would not again put forward the claim! One +hardly knows what to think of tactics like these. In their +talks with the spokesmen of certain border states of Russia +the official representatives of the three European +Powers at the Conference employed language that gave +rise to misunderstandings which may have untoward consequences +in the future. One would like to believe that +these misunderstandings were caused by mere slips of the +tongue, which should not have been taken literally by +those to whom they were addressed; but in the meanwhile +they have become not only the source of high, possibly +delusive, hopes, but the basis of elaborate policies. +For example, Esthonian and Lettish Ministers were given +to understand that they would be permitted to send diplomatic +legations to Petrograd as soon as Russia was reconstituted, +a mode of intercourse which presupposes the +full independence of all the countries concerned. A constitution +was also drawn up for Esthonia by one of the +Great Powers, which started with the postulate that each +people was to be its own master. Consequently, the two +nations in question were warranted in looking forward to +receiving that complete independence. And if such was, +indeed, the intention of the Great Powers, there is nothing +further to be said on the score of straightforwardness or +precision. But neither in the terms submitted to Kolchak +nor in those to which his Paris agents were asked to give +their assent was the independence of either country as +much as hinted at.<a name="FNanchor_272_272" id="FNanchor_272_272" href="#Footnote_272_272" >[272]</a></p> + +<p>These may perhaps seem trivial details, but they enable +us to estimate the methods and the organizing arts of the +statesmen upon whose skill in resource and tact in dealing +with their fellows depended the new synthesis of international +life and ethics which they were engaged in realizing. +It would be superfluous to investigate the effect +upon the Russians, or, indeed, upon any of the peoples +represented in Paris, of the Secret Council's conspirative +deliberations and circuitous procedure, which were in +such strong contrast to the "open covenants openly +arrived at" to which in their public speeches they paid +such high tribute.</p> + +<p>The main danger, which the Allies redoubted from failure +to restore tranquillity in Russia, was that Germany +might accomplish it and, owing to her many advantages, +might secure a privileged position in the country and use +it as a stepping-stone to material prosperity, military +strength, and political ascendancy. This feat she could +accomplish against considerable odds. She would achieve +it easily if the Allies unwittingly helped her, as they were +doing.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately the Allied governments had not much +hope of succeeding. If they had been capable of elaborating +a comprehensive plan, they no longer possessed the +means of executing it. But they devised none. "The +fact is," one of the Conference leaders exclaimed, "we +have no policy toward Russia. Neither do we possess +adequate data for one."</p> + +<p>They strove to make good this capital omission by +erecting a paper wall between Germany and her great +Slav neighbor. The plan was simple. The Teutons were +to be compelled to disinterest themselves in the affairs of +Russia, with whose destinies their own are so closely bound +up. But they soon realized that such a partition is useless +as a breakwater against the tidal wave of Teutondom, +and Germany is still destined to play the part of Russia's +steward and majordomo.</p> + +<p>How could it be otherwise? Germany and Russia are +near neighbors. Their economic relations have been continuous +for ages, and the Allies have made them indispensable +in the future; Russia is ear-marked as Germany's +best colony. The two peoples are become interdependent. +The Teuton will recognize the Slav as an ally in economics, +and will pay himself politically. Who will now thwart or +check this process? Russia must live, and therefore buy +and sell, barter and negotiate. Can a parchment treaty +hinder or invalidate her dealings? Can it prevent an +admixture of politics in commercial arrangements, seeing +that they are but two aspects of one and the same transaction? +It is worthy of note that a question which goes +to the quick of the matter was never mooted. It is this: +Is it an essential element of the future ordering of the world +that Germany shall play no part whatever in its progress? +Is it to be assumed that she will always content herself +with being treated as the incorrigible enemy of civilization? +And, if not, what do all these checks and barriers amount to?</p> + +<p>In Russia there are millions of Germans conversant +with the language, laws, and customs of the people. Many +of them have been settled there for generations. They +are passionately attached to their race, and neither unfriendly +nor useless to the country of their adoption. The +trade, commerce, and industry of the European provinces +are largely in their hands and in those of their forerunners +and helpers, the Jews. The Russo-German and Jewish +middlemen in the country have their faces ever turned +toward the Fatherland. They are wont to buy and sell +there. They always obtained their credit in Berlin, Dresden, +or Frankfurt. They acted as commercial travelers, +agents, brokers, bankers, for Russians and Germans. They +are constantly going and coming between the two countries. +How are these myriads to be fettered permanently +and kept from eking out a livelihood in the future on the +lines traced by necessity or interest in the past? The +Russians, on their side, must live, and therefore buy and +sell. Has the Conference or the League the right or power +to dictate to them the persons or the people with whom +alone they may have dealings? Can it narrow the field +of Russia's political activities? Some people flatter themselves +that it can. In this case the League of Nations +must transform itself into an alliance for the suppression +of the German race.</p> + +<p>Burning indignation and moral reprobation were the +sentiments aroused among the high-minded Allies by the +infamous Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. For that mockery of a +peace, even coming from an enemy, transcended the +bounds of human vengeance. It was justly anathematized +by all Entente peoples as the loathsome creation of a +frenzied people. But shortly afterward the Entente +governments themselves, their turn having come, wrought +what Russians of all parties regard as a political patchwork +of variegated injustice more odious far, because +its authors claimed to be considered as the devoted friends +of their victims and the champions of right. Whereas +the Brest-Litovsk Treaty provided for a federative Slav +state, with provincial diets and a federal parliament, the +system substituted by the Allies consisted in carving up +Russia into an ever-increasing number of separate states, +some of which cannot live by themselves, in debarring +the inhabitants from a voice in the matter, in creating a +permanent agency for foreign intervention, and ignoring +Russia's right to reparation from the common enemy. +The Russians were not asked even informally to say +what they thought or felt about what was being done. +This province and that were successively lopped off in a +lordly way by statesmen who aimed at being classed as +impartial dispensers of justice and sowers of the seeds +of peace, but were unacquainted with the conditions and +eschewed investigation. Here, at all events, the usual +symptoms of hesitancy and procrastination were absent. +Swift resolve and thoroughness marked the disintegrating +action by which they unwittingly prepared the battlefields +of the future.</p> + +<p>Nobody acquainted with Russian psychology imagines +that the feelings of a high-souled people can be transformed +by gifts of food, money, or munitions made to some of +their fellow-countrymen. How little likely Russians are +to barter ideal boons for material advantages may be +gathered from an incident worth noting that occurred in +the months of April and May, when the fall of the capital +into the hands of the anti-Bolshevists was confidently +expected.</p> + +<p>At that time, as it chanced, the one thing necessary +for their success against Bolshevism was the capture of +Petrograd. If that city, which, despite its cosmopolitan +character, still retained its importance as the center of +political Russia, could be wrested from the tenacious +grasp of Lenin and Trotzky, the fall of the anarchist +dictators was, people held, a foregone conclusion. The +friends of Kolchak accordingly pressed every lever to set +the machinery in motion for the march against Peter's +city. And as, of all helpers, the Finns and Esthonians +were admittedly the most efficacious, conversations +were begun with their leaders. They were ready to +drive a bargain, but it must be a hard and lucrative one. +They would march on Petrograd for a price. The principal +condition which they laid down was the express +and definite recognition of their complete independence +within frontiers which it would be unfruitful here to discuss. +The Kolchak government was ready to treat +with the Finnish Cabinet, as the <i>de facto</i> government, +and to recognize Finland's present status for what it is +in international law; but as they could not give what +they did not possess, their recognition must, they explained, +be like their own authority, provisional. A +similar reply was made to the Esthonians; to this those +peoples demurred. The Russians stood firm and the +negotiations fell through. It is to be supposed that when +they have recovered their former status they will prove +more amenable to the blandishments of the Allies than +they were to the powerful bribe dangled before their eyes +by the Esthonians and the Finns?</p> + +<p>But if the improvised arrangements entailing dismemberment +which the Great Powers imposed on Russia +during her cataleptic trance are revised, as they may be, +whenever she recovers consciousness and strength, what +course will events then follow? If she seeks to regather +under her wing some of the peoples whose complete +independence the League of Nations was so eager to +guarantee, will that body respond to the appeal of these +and fly to their assistance? Russia, who has not been +consulted, will not be as bound by the canons of the +League, and one need not be a prophet to foretell the +reluctance of Western armies to wage another war in +order to prevent territories, of which some of the plenipotentiaries +may have heard as little as of Teschen, +becoming again integral parts of the Slav state. Europe +may then see its political axis once more shifted and its +outlook obscured. Thus the system of equilibrium, +which was theoretically abolished by the Fourteen Points, +may be re-established by the hundred and one economico-political +changes which Russia's recovery will contribute +to bring about.</p> + +<p>A decade is but a twinkling in the history of a nation. +Within a few years Russia may once more be united. +The army that will have achieved this feat will constitute +a formidable weapon in the hands of the state +that wields it. As everything, even military strength, +is relative, and as the armies of the rest of Europe will not +be impatient to fight in the East, and will therefore count +for considerably less than their numbers, there will be no +real danger of an invasion. Russia is a country easy to get +into, but hard to get out of, and military success against +its armies there would in verity be a victory without glory, +annexation, indemnities, or other appreciable gains.</p> + +<p>It is hard to believe that the distinguished statesmen +of the Conference took these eventualities fully into +account before attempting to reshape amorphous Russia +after their own vague ideal. But whether we assess their +work by the standards of political science or of international +ethics, or explain it as a series of well-meant +expedients begotten by the practical logic of momentary +convenience, we must confess that its gifted authors +lacked a direct eye for the wayward tides of national +and international movements; were, in fact, smitten by +political blindness, and did the best they could in these +distressing circumstances.</p> + + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_260_260" id="Footnote_260_260" href="#FNanchor_260_260"> [260]</a> From whatever angle this Russian business is viewed, the policy of the +Allies, if it can be dignified with that name, seems to be a compound of +weakness, ineptitude, and shilly-shally."—Cf. <i>The Westminster Gazette</i>, +July 5, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_261_261" id="Footnote_261_261" href="#FNanchor_261_261"> [261]</a> Cf. <i>Journal des Débats</i>, August 13, 1919. Article by M. Auguste Gauvain.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_262_262" id="Footnote_262_262" href="#FNanchor_262_262"> [262]</a> There can be no doubt that the Bolshevist government under Lunatcharsky +has made a point of furthering the arts, sciences, and elementary +instruction. All reports from foreign travelers and from eminent Russians—one +of these my university fellow-student, now perpetual secretary of +the Academy—agree about this silver lining to a dark cloud.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_263_263" id="Footnote_263_263" href="#FNanchor_263_263"> [263]</a> This latter fact was doubtless known to the British government, which +decided as early as March to recall the British troops from northern Russia.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_264_264" id="Footnote_264_264" href="#FNanchor_264_264"> [264]</a> I published the facts in <i>The Daily Telegraph</i>, April 21, and <i>The Public +Ledger</i> of Philadelphia, April 10, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_265_265" id="Footnote_265_265" href="#FNanchor_265_265"> [265]</a> Colonel House is said to have dissociated himself from the President on +this occasion.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_266_266" id="Footnote_266_266" href="#FNanchor_266_266"> [266]</a> It was sent at the end of October, 1918, and to my knowledge was not +published in full.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_267_267" id="Footnote_267_267" href="#FNanchor_267_267"> [267]</a> Omsk, Ekaterinodar, Archangel, and the Crimea. The last-named disappeared +soon afterward.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_268_268" id="Footnote_268_268" href="#FNanchor_268_268"> [268]</a> See Chapter IV "Censorship and Secrecy," p. 132.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_269_269" id="Footnote_269_269" href="#FNanchor_269_269"> [269]</a> Pertinax in <i>L'Echo de Paris</i>, July 5, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_270_270" id="Footnote_270_270" href="#FNanchor_270_270"> [270]</a> This admission was made to a distinguished member of the Diplomatic +Corps.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_271_271" id="Footnote_271_271" href="#FNanchor_271_271"> [271]</a> In <i>The Daily Telegraph</i>, June 19, 1919, and in <i>The Public Ledger</i> of +Philadelphia.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_272_272" id="Footnote_272_272" href="#FNanchor_272_272"> [272]</a> In July M. Pichon told the Esthonian delegates that France recognized +the independence of their country in principle. But this declaration was +not taken seriously, either by the Russians or by the French.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI" />XI</h3> + +<h3>BOLSHEVISM</h3> + + +<p>What is Bolshevism? A generic term that stands +for a number of things which have little in common. +It varies with the countries where it appears. In Russia +it is the despotism of an organized and unscrupulous +group of men in a disorganized community. It might also +be termed the frenzy of a few epileptics running amuck +among a multitude of paralytics. It is not so much a +political doctrine or a socialist theory as a psychic disease +of a section of the community which cannot be cured +without leaving permanent traces and perhaps modifying +certain organic functions of the society affected. For +some students at a distance who make abstraction from +its methods—as a critic appreciating the performance of +"Hamlet" might make abstraction from the part of the +Prince of Denmark—it is a modification of the theory of +Karl Marx, the newest contribution to latter-day social +science. In Russia, at any rate, the general condition of +society from which it sprang was characterized not by +the advance of social science, but by a psychic disorder the +germs of which, after a century of incubation, were brought +to the final phase of development by the war. In its +origins it is a pathological phenomenon.</p> + +<p>Four and a half years of an unprecedented campaign +which drained to exhaustion the financial and economic +resources of the European belligerents upset the psychical +equilibrium of large sections of their populations. Goaded +by hunger and disease to lawless action, and no longer +held back by legal deterrents or moral checks, they followed +the instinct of self-preservation to the extent of +criminal lawlessness. Familiarity with death and suffering +dispelled the fear of human punishment, while +numbness of the moral sense made them insensible to the +less immediate restraints of a religious character. These +phenomena are not unusual concomitants of protracted +wars. History records numerous examples of the homecoming +soldiery turning the weapons destined for the +foreign foe against political parties or social classes in their +own country. In other European communities for some +time previously a tendency toward root-reaching and +violent change was perceptible, but as the state retained +its hold on the army it remained a tendency. In the +case of Russia—the country where the state, more than +ordinarily artificial and ill-balanced, was correspondingly +weak—Fate had interpolated a blood-stained page of +red and white terror in the years 1906-08. Although +fitful, unorganized, and abortive, that wild splutter was +one of the foretokens of the impending cataclysm, and +was recognized as such by the writer of these pages. +During the foregoing quarter of a century he had watched +with interest the sowing of the dragon's teeth from which +was one day to spring up a race of armed and frenzied +men. Few observers, however, even in the Tsardom, +gaged the strength or foresaw the effects of the anarchist +propaganda which was being carried on suasively and +perseveringly, oftentimes unwittingly, in the nursery, the +school, the church, the university, and with eminent +success in the army and the navy. Hence the widespread +error that the Russian revolution was preceded by no +such era of preparation as that of the encylopedists in +France.</p> + +<p>Recently, however, publicists have gone to the other +extreme and asserted that Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Gorky, +and a host of other Russian writers were apostles of the +tenets which have since received the name of Bolshevism, +and that it was they who prepared the Russian upheaval +just as it was the authors of the "Encyclopedia" who +prepared the French Revolution. In this sweeping form +the statement is misleading. Russian literature during +the reigns of the last three Tsars—with few exceptions, +like the writings of Leskoff—was unquestionably a +vehicle for the spread of revolutionary ideas. But it +would be a gross exaggeration to assert that the end +deliberately pursued was that form of anarchy which is +known to-day as Bolshevism, or, indeed, genuine anarchy +in any form. Tolstoy and Gorky may be counted among +the forerunners of Bolshevism, but Dostoyevsky, whom I +was privileged to know, was one of its keenest antagonists. +Nor was it only anarchism that he combated. Like +Leskoff, he was an inveterate enemy of political radicalism, +and we university students bore him a grudge in consequence. +In his masterly delineation<a name="FNanchor_273_273" id="FNanchor_273_273" href="#Footnote_273_273" >[273]</a> of a group of +"reformers," in particular of Verkhovensky—whom +psychic tendency, intellectual anarchy, and political +crime bring under the category of Bolshevists—he foreshadowed +the logical conclusion, and likewise the political +consummation, of the corrosive doctrines which in those +days were associated with the name of Bakunin. In the +year 1905-06, when the upshot of the conflict between +Tsarism and the revolution was still doubtful, Count +Witte and I often admired the marvelous intuition of the +great novelist, whose gallery of portraits in the "Devils" +seemed to have become suddenly endowed with life, and +to be conspiring, shooting, and bomb-throwing in the +streets of Moscow, Petersburg, Odessa, and Tiflis. The +seeds of social revolution sown by the novelists, essayists, +and professional guides of the nation were forced by the +wars of 1904 and 1914 into rapid germination.</p> + +<p>As far back as the year 1892, in a work published over +a pseudonym, the present writer described the rotten +condition of the Tsardom, and ventured to foretell its +speedy collapse.<a name="FNanchor_274_274" id="FNanchor_274_274" href="#Footnote_274_274" >[274]</a> The French historian Michelet wrote +with intuition marred by exaggeration and acerbity: +"A barbarous force, a law-hating world, Russia sucks +and absorbs all the poison of Europe and then gives it +off in greater quantity and deadlier intensity. When +we admit Russia, we admit the cholera, dissolution, +death. That is the meaning of Russian propaganda. +Yesterday she said to us, 'I am Christianity.' To-morrow +she will say, 'I am socialism.' It is the revolting +idea of a demagogy without an idea, a principle, a sentiment, +of a people which would march toward the west +with the gait of a blind man, having lost its soul and its +will and killing at random, of a terrible automaton like a +dead body which can still reach and slay.</p> + +<p>"It might commove Europe and bespatter it with blood, +but that would not hinder it from plunging itself into +nothingness in the abysmal ooze of definite dissolution."</p> + +<p>Russia, then, led by domiciled aliens without a fatherland, +may be truly said to have been wending steadily +toward the revolutionary vortex long before the outbreak +of hostilities. Her progress was continuous and perceptible. +As far back as the year 1906 the late Count Witte +and myself made a guess at the time-distance which the +nation still had to traverse, assuming the rate of progress +to be constant, before reaching the abyss. This, however, +was mere guesswork, which one of the many possibilities—and +in especial change in the speed-rate—might belie. +In effect, events moved somewhat more quickly than we +anticipated, and it was the World War and its appalling +concomitants that precipitated the catastrophe.</p> + +<p>As circumstances willed it, certain layers of the people +of central Europe were also possessed by the revolutionary +spirit at the close of the World War. In their case hunger, +hardship, disease, and moral shock were the avenues along +which it moved and reached them. This coincidence was +fraught with results more impressive than serious. The +governments of both these great peoples had long been +the mainstays of monarchic tradition, military discipline, +and the principle of authority. The Teutons, steadily +pursuing an ideal which lay at the opposite pole to anarchy, +had risked every worldly and well-nigh every spiritual +possession to realize it. It was the hegemony of the +world. This aspiration transfigured, possessed, fanaticized +them. Teutondom became to them what Islam is +to Mohammedans of every race, even when they shake +off religion. They eschewed no means, however iniquitous, +that seemed to lead to the goal. They ceased to be +human in order to force Europe to become German. +Offering up the elementary principles of morality on the +altar of patriotism, they staked their all upon the single +venture of the war. It was as the throw of a gambler +playing for his soul with the Evil One. Yet the faith of +these materialists waxed heroic withal, like their self-sacrifice. +And in the fiery ardor of their enthusiasm, hard +concrete facts were dissolved and set floating as illusions +in the ambient mist. Their wishes became thoughts and +their fears were dispelled as fancies. They beheld only +what they yearned for, and when at last they dropped +from the dizzy height of their castles in cloudland their +whole world, era, and ideal was shattered. Unavailing +remorse, impotent rage, spiritual and intense physical exhaustion +completed their demoralization. The more harried +and reckless among them became frenzied. Turning +first against their rulers, then against one another, they +finally started upon a work of wanton destruction relieved +by no creative idea. It was at this time-point that they +endeavored to join hands with their tumultuous Eastern +neighbors, and that the one word "Bolshevism" connoted +the revolutionary wave that swept over some of the Slav +and German lands. But only for a moment. One may +safely assert, as a general proposition, that the same +undertaking, if the Germans and the Russians set their +hands to it, becomes forthwith two separate enterprises, +so different are the conceptions and methods of these two +peoples. Bolshevism was almost emptied of its contents +by the Germans, and little left of it but the empty shell.</p> + +<p>Comparisons between the orgasms of collective madness +which accompanied the Russian welter, on the one hand, +and the French Revolution, on the other, are unfruitful +and often misleading. It is true that at the outset those +spasms of delirium were in both cases violent reactions +against abuses grown well-nigh unbearable. It is also a +fact that the revolutionists derived their preterhuman +force from historic events which had either denuded those +abuses of their secular protection or inspired their victims +with wonder-working faith in their power to sweep them +away. But after this initial stage the likeness vanishes. +The French Revolution, which extinguished feudalism as +a system and the nobility as a privileged class, speedily +ceased to be a mere dissolvent. In its latter phases it +assumed a constructive character. Incidentally it created +much that was helpful in substance if not beautiful in +form, and from the beginning it adopted a positive doctrine +as old as Christianity, but new in its application to +the political sphere. Thus, although it uprooted quantities +of wheat together with the tares, its general effect was +to prepare the ground for a new harvest. It had a distinctly +social purpose, which it partially realized. Nor +should it be forgotten that in the psychological sphere it +kindled a transient outburst of quasi-religious enthusiasm +among its partizans, imbued them with apostolic zeal, inspired +them with a marvelous spirit of self-abnegation, +and nerved their arms to far-resonant exploits. And the +forces which the revolution thus set free changed many of +the forms of the European world, but without reshaping +it after the image of the ideal.</p> + +<p>Has the withering blight known as Bolshevism any such +redeeming traits to its credit account? The consensus of +opinion down to the present moment gives an emphatic, +if summary, answer in the negative. Every region over +which it swept is blocked with heaps of unsightly ruins, +It has depreciated all moral values. It passed like a tornado, +spending its energies in demolition. Of construction +hardly a trace has been discerned, even by indulgent +explorers.<a name="FNanchor_275_275" id="FNanchor_275_275" href="#Footnote_275_275" >[275]</a> One might liken it to a so-called possession +by the spirit of evil, wont of yore to use the human organs +as his own for words of folly and deeds of iniquity. Bolshevism +has operated uniformly as a quick solvent of the +social organism. Doubtless European society in 1917 +sorely needed purging by drastic means, but only a fanatic +would say that it deserved annihilation.</p> + +<p>It has been variously affirmed that the political leaven +of these destructive ferments in eastern and central Europe +was wholesome. Slavs and Germans, it is argued, +stung by the bankruptcy of their political systems, resolved +to alter them on the lines of universal suffrage and +its corollaries, but were carried farther than they meant +to go. This mild judgment is based on a very partial +survey of the phenomena. The improvement in question +was the work, not of the Bolshevists, but of their adversaries, +the moderate reformers. And the political strivings +of these had no organic nexus with the doctrine which +emanated from the nethermost depths in which vengeful +pariahs, outlaws, and benighted nihilists were floundering +before suffocating in the ooze of anarchism. Neither can +one discern any degree of kinship between Spartacists like +Eichhorn or Lenin and moderate reformers as represented, +say, by Theodor Wolff and Boris Savinkoff. The two +pairs are sundered from each other by the distance that +separates the social and the anti-social instinct. Those +are vulgar iconoclasts, these are would-be world-builders. +That the Russian, or, indeed, the German constitutional +reformers should have hugged the delusion that +while thrones were being hurled to the ground, and an +epoch was passing away in violent convulsions, a few +alterations in the electoral law would restore order and +bring back normal conditions to the agonizing nations, is +an instructive illustration of the blurred vision which characterizes +contemporary statesmen. The Anglo-Saxon delegates +at the Conference were under a similar delusion +when they undertook to regenerate the world by a series +of merely political changes.</p> + +<p>No one who has followed attentively the work of the +constitution-makers in Weimar can have overlooked +their readiness to adopt and assimilate the positive elements +of a movement which was essentially destructive. +In this respect they displayed a remarkable degree of open-mindedness +and receptivity. They showed themselves +avid of every contribution which they could glean from +any source to the work of national reorganization, and +even in Teutonized Bolshevism they apparently found +helpful hints of timely innovations. One may safely +hazard the prediction that these adaptations, however +little they may be relished, are certain to spread to +the Western peoples, who will be constrained to accept +them in the long run, and Germany may end by becoming +the economic leader of democratic Europe. The law of +politico-social interchange and assimilation underlying +this phenomenon, had it been understood by the statesmen +of the Entente, might have rendered them less +desirous of seeing the German organism tainted with the +germs of dissolution. For what Germany borrows from +Bolshevism to-day western Europe will borrow from +Germany to-morrow. And foremost among the new +institutions which the revolution will impose upon +Europe is that of the Soviets, considerably modified in +form and limited in functions.</p> + +<p>"In the conception of the Soviet system," writes the +most influential Jewish-German organ in Europe, "there +is assuredly something serviceable, and it behooves us to +familiarize ourselves therewith. Psychologically, it rests +upon the need felt by the working-man to be something +more than a mere cog in the industrial mechanism. The +first step would consist in conferring upon labor committees +juridical functions consonant with latter-day +requirements. These functions would extend beyond +those exercised by the labor committees hitherto. How +far they could go without rendering the industrial enterprise +impossible is a matter for investigation.... This +is not merely a wish of the extremists; it is a psychological +requirement, and therefore it necessitates the establishment +of a closer nexus between legislation and practical +life which unhappily is become so complicated. And +this need is not confined to the laboring class. It is +universal. Therefore, what is good for the one is meet +for the other."<a name="FNanchor_276_276" id="FNanchor_276_276" href="#Footnote_276_276" >[276]</a></p> + +<p>The Soviet system adapted to modern existence is one—and +probably the sole—legacy of Bolshevism to the +new age.</p> + +<p>During the Peace Conference Bolshevism played a +large part in the world's affairs. By some of the eminent +lawgivers there it was feared as a scourge; by others it +was wielded as a weapon, and by a third set it was employed +as a threat. Whenever a delegate of one of the +lesser states felt that he was losing ground at the Peace +Table, and that his country's demands were about to be +whittled down as extravagant, he would point significantly +to certain "foretokens" of an outbreak of Bolshevism +in his country and class them as an inevitable consequence +of the nation's disappointment. Thus the representative +of nearly every state which had a territorial program +declared that that program must be carried out if Bolshevism +was to be averted there. "This or else Bolshevism" +was the peroration of many a delegate's <i>exposé</i>. +More redoubtable than political discontent was the proselytizing +activity of the leaders of the movement in Russia.</p> + +<p>Of the two pillars of Bolshevism one is a Russian, the +other a Jew, the former, Ulianoff (better known as Lenin), +the brain; the other, Braunstein (called Trotzky), the +arm of the sect. Trotzky is an unscrupulous despot, in +whose veins flows the poison of malignity. His element +is cruelty, his special gift is organizing capacity. Lenin +is a Utopian, whose fanaticism, although extensive, has +well-defined limits. In certain things he disagrees profoundly +with Trotzky. He resembles a religious preacher +in this, that he created a body of veritable disciples around +himself. He might be likened to a pope with a college +of international cardinals. Thus he has French, British, +German, Austrian, Czech, Italian, Danish, Swedish, +Japanese, Hindu, Chinese, Buryat, and many other followers, +who are chiefs of proselytizing sections charged +with the work of spreading the Bolshevik evangel throughout +the globe, and are working hard to discharge their +duties. Lenin, however, dissatisfied with the measures +of success already attained, is constantly stimulating +his disciples to more strenuous exertions. He shares +with other sectarian chiefs who have played a prominent +part in the world's history that indefinable quality which +stirs emotional susceptibility and renders those who +approach him more easily accessible to ideas toward +which they began by manifesting repugnance. Lenin +is credibly reported to have made several converts among +his Western opponents.</p> + +<p>The plenipotentiaries, during the first four months, +approached Bolshevism from a single direction, unvaried +by the events which it generated or the modifications +which it underwent. They tested it solely by its accidental +bearings on the one aim which they were intent on +securing—a formal and provisional resettlement of Europe +capable of being presented to their respective parliaments +as a fair achievement. With its real character, its manifold +corollaries, its innovating tendencies over the social, +political, and ethnical domain, they were for the time +being unconcerned. Without the slightest reference to +any of these considerations they were ready to find a +place for it in the new state system with which they +hoped to endow the world. More than once they were on +the point of giving it official recognition. There was no +preliminary testing, sifting, or examining by these empiricists, +who, finding Bolshevism on their way, and discerning +no facile means of dislodging or transforming it, +signified their willingness under easy conditions to hallmark +and incorporate it as one of the elements of the new +ordering. From the crimes laid to its charge they were +prepared to make abstraction. The barbarous methods +to which it owed its very existence they were willing to +consign to oblivion. And it was only a freak of circumstance +that hindered this embodiment of despotism from +beginning one of their accepted means of rendering the +world safe for democracy.</p> + +<p>Political students outside the Conference, going farther +into the matter, inquired whether there was any kernel +of truth in the doctrines of Lenin, any social or political +advantage in the practices of Braunstein (Trotzky), and +the conclusions which they reached were negative.<a name="FNanchor_277_277" id="FNanchor_277_277" href="#Footnote_277_277" >[277]</a> But +inquiries of this theoretical nature awakened no interest +among the empiricists of the Supreme Council. For +them Bolshevism meant nothing more than a group of +politicians, who directed, or misdirected, but certainly +represented the bulk of the Russian people, and who, if +won over and gathered under the cloak of the Conference, +would facilitate its task and bear witness to its triumph. +This inference, drawn by keen observers from many +countries and parties, is borne out by the curious admissions +and abortive acts of the principal plenipotentiaries +themselves.</p> + +<p>In its milder manifestations on the social side Russian +Bolshevism resembles communism, and may be described +as a social revolution effected by depriving one set of +people—the ruling and intelligent class—of power, property, +and civil rights, putting another and less qualified +section in their place, and maintaining the top-heavy +structure by force ruthlessly employed. Far-reaching +though this change undoubtedly is, it has no nexus with +Marxism or kindred theories. Its proximate causes were +many: such, for example, as the breakdown of a tyrannical +system of government, state indebtedness so vast +that it swallowed up private capital, the depreciation of +money, and the corresponding appreciation of labor. It +is fair, therefore, to say that a rise in the cost of production +and the temporary substitution of one class for +another mark the extent to which political forces revolutionized +the social fabric. Beyond these limits they did +not go. The notion had been widespread in most countries, +and deep-rooted in Russia, that a political upheaval +would effect a root-reaching and lasting alteration in the +forces of social development. It was adopted by Lenin, +a fanatic of the Robespierre type, but far superior to +Robespierre in will-power, insight, resourcefulness, and +sincerity, who, having seized the reins of power, made the +experiment.</p> + +<p>It is no easy matter to analyze Lenin's economic policy, +because of the veil of mist that conceals so much of Russian +contemporary history. Our sources are confined to +the untrustworthy statements of a censored press and +travelers' tales.</p> + +<p>But it is common knowledge that the Bolshevist dictator +requisitioned and "nationalized" the banks, took +factories, workshops, and plants from their owners and +handed them over to the workmen, deprived landed proprietors +of their estates, and allowed peasants to appropriate +them. It is in the matter of industry, however, +that his experiment is most interesting as showing the +practical value of Marxism as a policy and the ability +of the Bolsheviki to deal with delicate social problems. +The historic decree issued by the Moscow government on +the nationalization of industry after the opening experiment +had broken down contains data enough to enable +one to affirm that Lenin himself judged Marxism inapplicable +even to Russia, and left it where he had found it—among +the ideals of a millennial future. That ukase +ordered the gradual nationalization of all private industries +with a capital of not less than one million rubles, +but allowed the owners to enjoy the gratuitous usufruct +of the concern, provided that they financed and carried +it on as before. Consequently, although in theory the +business was transferred to the state, in reality the +capitalist retained his place and his profits as under the +old system. Consequently, the principal aims of socialism, +which are the distribution of the proceeds of +industry among the community and the retention of a +certain surplus by the state, were missed. In the Bolshevist +procedure the state is wholly eliminated except for +the purpose of upholding a fiction. It receives nothing +from the capitalist, not even a royalty.</p> + +<p>The Slav is a dreamer whose sense of the real is +often defective. He loses himself in vague generalities +and pithless abstractions. Thus, before opening +a school he will spin out a theory of universal education, +and then bemoan his lack of resources to realize +it. True, many of the chiefs of the sect—for it +is undoubtedly a sect when it is not a criminal conspiracy, +and very often it is both—were not Slavs, +but Jews, who, for the behoof of their kindred, dropped +their Semitic names and adopted sonorous Slav substitutes. +But they were most unscrupulous peculators, incapable +of taking an interest in the scientific aspect of +such matters, and hypnotized by the dreams of lucre which +the opportunity evoked. One has only to call to mind +some of the shabby transactions in which the Semitic +Dictator of Hungary, Kuhn, or Cohen, and Braunstein +(Trotzky) of Petrograd, took an active part. The former +is said to have offered for sale the historic crown of +St. Stephen of Hungary—which to him was but a plain +gold headgear adorned with precious stones and a jeweled +cross—to an old curiosity dealer of Munich,<a name="FNanchor_278_278" id="FNanchor_278_278" href="#Footnote_278_278" >[278]</a> and when +solemnly protesting that he was living only for the Soviet +Republic and was ready to die for it, he was actively engaged +in smuggling out of Hungary into Switzerland fifty +million kronen bonds, thirty-five kilograms of gold, and +thirty chests filled with objects of value.<a name="FNanchor_279_279" id="FNanchor_279_279" href="#Footnote_279_279" >[279]</a> His colleague +Szamuelly's plunder is a matter of history.</p> + +<p>To such adventurers as those science is a drug. They +are primitive beings impressible mainly to concrete motives +of the barest kind. The dupes of Lenin were people +of a different type. Many of them fancied that the great +political clash must inevitably result in an equally great +and salutary social upheaval. This assumption has not +been borne out by events.</p> + +<p>Those fanatics fell into another error; they were in a +hurry, and would fain have effected their great transformation +as by the waving of a magician's wand. Impatient +of gradation, they scorned to traverse the distance between +the point of departure and that of the goal, and by +way of setting up the new social structure without delay, +they rolled away all hindrances regardless of consequences. +In this spirit of absolutism they abolished the services +of the national debt, struck out the claims of Russia's +creditors to their capital or interest, and turned the shops +and factories over to labor boards. That was the initial +blunder which the ukase alluded to was subsequently +issued to rectify. But it was too late. The equilibrium +of the forces of production had been definitely upset and +could no longer be righted.</p> + +<p>One of the basic postulates of profitable production is +the equilibrium of all its essential factors—such as the +laborer's wages, the cost of the machinery and the material, +the administration. Bring discord into the harmony +and the entire mechanism is out of gear.</p> + +<p>The Russian workman, who is at bottom an illiterate +peasant with the old roots of serfdom still clinging to him, +has seldom any bowels for his neighbor and none at all for +his employer. "God Himself commands us to despoil +such gentry," is one of his sayings. He is in a hurry to +enrich himself, and he cares about nothing else. Nor can +he realize that to beggar his neighbors is to impoverish +himself. Hence he always takes and never gives; as a +peasant he destroys the forests, hewing trees and planting +none, and robs the soil of its fertility. On analogous lines +he would fain deal with the factories, exacting exorbitant +wages that eat up all profit, and naïvely expecting the +owner to go on paying them as though he were the trustee +of a fund for enriching the greedy. The only people to +profit by the system, and even they only transiently, were +the manual laborers. The bulk of the skilled, intelligent, +and educated artisans were held up to contempt and ostracized, +or killed as an odious aristocracy. That, it has +been aptly pointed out,<a name="FNanchor_280_280" id="FNanchor_280_280" href="#Footnote_280_280" >[280]</a> is far removed from Marxism. +The Marxist doctrine postulates the adhesion of intelligent +workers to the social revolution, whereas the Russian +experimenters placed them in the same category as the +capitalists, the aristocrats, and treated them accordingly. +Another Marxist postulate not realized in Russia was that +before the state could profitably proceed to nationalization +the country must have been in possession of a well-organized, +smooth-running industrial mechanism. And +this was possible only in those lands in which capitalism +had had a long and successful innings, not in the great +Slav country of husbandmen.</p> + +<p>By way of glozing over these incongruities Lenin's ukase +proclaimed that the measures enacted were only provisional, +and aimed at enabling Russia to realize the great +transformation by degrees. But the impression conveyed +by the history of the social side of Lenin's activity is that +Marxism, whether as understood by its author or as interpreted +and twisted by its Russian adherents, has been +tried and found impracticable. One is further warranted +in saying that neither the visionary workers who are moved +by misdirected zeal for social improvement nor the theorists +who are constantly on the lookout for new and +stimulating ideas are likely to discover in Russian Bolshevism +any aspect but the one alluded to above worthy +of their serious consideration.</p> + +<p>A much deeper mark was made on the history of the +century by its methods.</p> + +<p>Compared with the soul-searing horrors let loose during +the Bolshevist fit of frenzy, the worst atrocities recorded +of Deputy Carrier and his noyades during the French +Revolution were but the freaks of compassionate human +beings. In Bolshevist Russia brutality assumed forms +so monstrous that the modern man of the West shrinks +from conjuring up a faint picture of them in imagination. +Tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands were done to death +in hellish ways by the orders of men and of women. +Eyes were gouged out, ears hacked off, arms and legs torn +from the body in presence of the victims' children or wives, +whose agony was thus begun before their own turn came. +Men and women and infants were burned alive. Chinese +executioners were specially hired to inflict the awful torture +of the "thousand slices."<a name="FNanchor_281_281" id="FNanchor_281_281" href="#Footnote_281_281" >[281]</a> Officers had their limbs +broken and were left for hours in agonies. Many victims +are credibly reported to have been buried alive. History, +from its earliest dawn down to the present day, has recorded +nothing so profoundly revolting as the nameless +cruelties in which these human fiends reveled. One gruesome +picture of the less loathsome scenes enacted will live +in history on a level with the <i>noyades</i> of Nantes. I have +seen several moving descriptions of it in Russian journals. +The following account is from the pen of a French marine +officer:</p> + +<p>"We have two armed cruisers outside Odessa. A few +weeks ago one of them, having an investigation to make, +sent a diver down to the bottom. A few minutes passed +and the alarm signal was heard. He was hauled up and +quickly relieved of his accoutrements. He had fainted +away. When he came to, his teeth were chattering and +the only articulate sounds that could be got from him were +the words: 'It is horrible! It is awful!' A second diver +was then lowered, with the same procedure and a like result. +Finally a third was chosen, this time a sturdy lad +of iron nerves, and sent down to the bottom of the sea. +After the lapse of a few minutes the same thing happened +as before, and the man was brought up. This time, however, +there was no fainting fit to record. On the contrary, +although pale with terror, he was able to state that he +had beheld the sea-bed peopled with human bodies standing +upright, which the swaying of the water, still sensible +at this shallow depth, softly rocked as though they were +monstrous algæ, their hair on end bristling vertically, and +their arms raised toward the surface.... All these corpses, +anchored to the bottom by the weight of stones, took on +an appearance of eerie life resembling, one might say, a +forest of trees moved from side to side by the wind and +eager to welcome the diver come down among them.... +There were, he added, old men, children numerous beyond +count, so that one could but compare them to the +trees of a forest."<a name="FNanchor_282_282" id="FNanchor_282_282" href="#Footnote_282_282" >[282]</a></p> + +<p>From published records it is known that the Bolshevist +thugs, when tired of using the rifle, the machine-gun, the +cord, and the bayonet, expedited matters by drowning +their victims by hundreds in the Black Sea, in the Gulf of +Finland, and in the great rivers. Submarine cemeteries +was the name given to these last resting-places of some of +Russia's most high-minded sons and daughters.<a name="FNanchor_283_283" id="FNanchor_283_283" href="#Footnote_283_283" >[283]</a> It is +not in the French Revolution that those deeds of wanton +destruction and revolting cruelty which are indissolubly +associated with Bolshevism find a parallel, but in Chinese +history, which offers a striking and curious prefiguration +of the Leninist structure.<a name="FNanchor_284_284" id="FNanchor_284_284" href="#Footnote_284_284" >[284]</a> Toward the middle of the +tenth century, when the empire was plunged in dire confusion, +a mystical sect was formed there for the purpose +of destroying by force every vestige of the traditional +social fabric, and establishing a system of complete +equality without any state organization whatever, after +the manner advocated by Leo Tolstoy. Some of the dicta +of these sectarians have a decidedly Bolshevist flavor. +This, for example: "Society rests upon law, property, +religion, and force. But law is injustice and chicane; +property is robbery and extortion; religion is untruth, +and force is iniquity." In those days Chinese political +parties were at strife with each other, and none of them +scorned any means, however brutal, to worst its adversaries, +but for a long while they were divided among themselves +and without a capable chief.</p> + +<p>At last the Socialist party unexpectedly produced a +leader, Wang Ngan Shen, a man of parts, who possessed +the gift of drawing and swaying the multitude. Of agreeable +presence, he was resourceful and unscrupulous, soon +became popular, and even captivated the Emperor, +Shen Tsung, who appointed him Minister. He then set +about applying his tenets and realizing his dreams. +Wang Ngan Shen began by making commerce and trade +a state monopoly, just as Lenin had done, "in order," +he explained, "to keep the poor from being devoured by +the rich." The state was proclaimed the sole owner of +all the wealth of the soil; agricultural overseers were +despatched to each district to distribute the land among +the peasants, each of these receiving as much as he and +his family could cultivate. The peasant obtained also +the seed, but this he was obliged to return to the state +after the ingathering of the harvest. The power of the +overseer went farther; it was he who determined what +crops the husbandman might sow and who fixed day by +day the price of every salable commodity in the district. +As the state reserved to itself the right to buy all agricultural +produce, it was bound in return to save up a +part of the profits to be used for the benefit of the people +in years of scarcity, and also at other times to be employed +in works needed by the community. Wang Ngan Shen +also ordained that only the wealthy should pay taxes, +the proceeds of which were to be employed in relieving +the wants of the poor, the old, and the unemployed. +The theory was smooth and attractive.</p> + +<p>For over thirty years those laws are said to have +remained in force, at any rate on paper. To what extent +they were carried out is problematical. Probably a beginning +was actually made, for during Wang's tenure of +office confusion was worse confounded than before, and +misery more intense and widespread. The opposition +to his régime increased, spread, and finally got the upper +hand. Wang Ngan Shen was banished, together with +those of his partizans who refused to accept the return to +the old system. Such would appear to have been the +first appearance of Bolshevism recorded in history.</p> + +<p>Another less complete parallel, not to the Bolshevist +theory, but to the plight of the country which it ruined, +may be found in the Chinese rebellion organized in the year +1850 by a peasant<a name="FNanchor_285_285" id="FNanchor_285_285" href="#Footnote_285_285" >[285]</a> who, having become a Christian, +fancied himself called by God to regenerate his people. +He accordingly got together a band of stout-hearted +fellows whom he fanaticized, disciplined, and transformed +into the nucleus of a strong army to which brigands, +outlaws, and malcontents of every social layer afterward +flocked. They overran the Yangtse Valley, invaded +twelve of the richest provinces, seized six hundred cities +and towns, and put an end to twenty million people in +the space of twelve years by fire, sword, and famine.<a name="FNanchor_286_286" id="FNanchor_286_286" href="#Footnote_286_286" >[286]</a> +To this bloody expedition Hung Sew Tseuen, a master +of modern euphemism, gave the name of Crusade of the +Great Peace. For twelve years this "Crusade" lasted, +and it might have endured much longer had it not been +for the help given by outsiders. It was there that +"Chinese" Gordon won his laurels and accomplished a +beneficent work.</p> + +<p>There were politicians at the Conference who argued +that Russia, being in a position analogous to that of +China in 1854, ought, like her, to be helped by the Great +Powers. It was, they held, quite as much in the interests +of Europe as in hers. But however forcible their arguments, +they encountered an insurmountable obstacle in +the fear entertained by the chiefs of the leading governments +lest the extreme oppositional parties in their +respective countries should make capital out of the move +and turn them out of office. They invoked the interests +of the cause of which they were the champions for declining +to expose themselves to any such risk. It has been +contended with warmth, and possibly with truth, that if +at the outset the Great Powers had intervened they might +with a comparatively small army have crushed Bolshevism +and re-established order in Russia. On the other hand, +it was objected that even heavy guns will not destroy +ideas, and that the main ideas which supplied the revolutionary +movement with vital force were too deeply +rooted to have been extirpated by the most formidable +foreign army. That is true. But these ideas were not +especially characteristic of Bolshevism. Far from that, +they were incompatible with it: the bestowal of land +on the peasants, an equitable reform of the relations +between workmen and employers, and the abolition of +the hereditary principle in the distribution of everything +that confers an unfair advantage on the individual or +the class are certainly not postulates of Lenin's party. +It is a tenable proposition that timely military assistance +would have enabled the constructive elements of Russia +to restore conditions of normal life, but the worth of +timeliness was never realized by the heads of the governments +who undertook to make laws for the world. They +ignored the maxim that a statesman, when applying +measures, must keep his eye on the clock, inasmuch as the +remedy which would save a nation at one moment may +hasten its ruin at another.</p> + +<p>The expedients and counter-expedients to which the +Conference had recourse in their fitful struggles with +Bolshevism were so many surprises to every one concerned, +and were at times redolent of comedy. But +what was levity and ignorance on the part of the delegates +meant death, and worse than death, to tens of thousands of +their protégées. In Russia their agents zealously egged +on the order-loving population to rise up against the +Bolsheviki and attack their strong positions, promising +them immediate military help if they succeeded. But +when, these exploits having been duly achieved, the agents +were asked how soon the foreign reinforcements might +be expected, they replied, calling for patience. After +a time the Bolsheviki assailed the temporary victors, +generally defeated them, and then put a multitude of +defenseless people to the sword. Deplorable incidents +of this nature, which are said to have occurred several +times during the spring of 1919, shook the credit of the +Allies, and kindled a feeling of just resentment among +all classes of Russians.</p> + + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_273_273" id="Footnote_273_273" href="#FNanchor_273_273"> [273]</a> In the <i>Biessy</i> (Devils).</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_274_274" id="Footnote_274_274" href="#FNanchor_274_274"> [274]</a> <i>Russian Characteristics</i>, by E.B. Lanin (Eblanin, a Russian word +which means native of Dublin, Eblana).</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_275_275" id="Footnote_275_275" href="#FNanchor_275_275"> [275]</a> Educational reforms have been mentioned among its achievements and +attributed to Lunatcharsky. That he exerted himself to spread elementary +instruction must be admitted. But this progress and the effective protection +and encouragement which he has undoubtedly extended to arts and +sciences would seem to exhaust the list of items in the credit account of the +Bolshevist régime.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_276_276" id="Footnote_276_276" href="#FNanchor_276_276"> [276]</a> <i>Frankfurter Zeitung</i>, February 28, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_277_277" id="Footnote_277_277" href="#FNanchor_277_277"> [277]</a> A succinct but interesting study of this question appeared in the <i>Handels-Zeitung</i> +of the <i>Berliner Tageblatt</i>, over the signature of Dr. Felix +Pinner, July 20, 1918.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_278_278" id="Footnote_278_278" href="#FNanchor_278_278"> [278]</a> Cf. <i>Bonsoir</i>, July 29, 1919. The price was not fixed, but the minimum +was specified. It was one hundred thousand kronen.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_279_279" id="Footnote_279_279" href="#FNanchor_279_279"> [279]</a> Cf. <i>Der Tag</i>, Vienna, August 13, 1919. <i>L'Echo de Paris</i>, August 15, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_280_280" id="Footnote_280_280" href="#FNanchor_280_280"> [280]</a> By Dr. F. Pinner, H. Vorst, and others.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_281_281" id="Footnote_281_281" href="#FNanchor_281_281"> [281]</a> The condemned man is tied to a post or a cross, his mouth gagged, and +the execution is made to last several hours. It usually begins with a slit +on the forehead and the pulling down of the skin toward the chin. After +the lapse of a certain time the nose is severed from the face. An interval +follows, then an ear is lopped off, and so the devilish work goes on with +long pauses. The skill of the executioner is displayed in the length of time +during which the victim remains conscious.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_282_282" id="Footnote_282_282" href="#FNanchor_282_282"> [282]</a> Cf. <i>Le Figaro</i>, February 18, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_283_283" id="Footnote_283_283" href="#FNanchor_283_283"> [283]</a> I do not suggest that these crimes were ordered by Lenin. But it will +not be gainsaid that neither he nor his colleagues punished the mass murderers +or even protested against their crimes. Neither can it be maintained +that massacres were confined to any one party.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_284_284" id="Footnote_284_284" href="#FNanchor_284_284"> [284]</a> This pre-Bolshevist movement is described in an interesting study on +the socialist movement and systems, down to the year 1848, by El. Luzatto. +Cf. <i>Der Bund</i>, August 16, 1918.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_285_285" id="Footnote_285_285" href="#FNanchor_285_285"> [285]</a> Hung Sew Tseuen. The rebellion lasted from 1850 to 1864.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_286_286" id="Footnote_286_286" href="#FNanchor_286_286"> [286]</a> The superb city of Nankin, with its temples and porcelain towers, was +destroyed.</p> + + +<hr /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII" />XII</h3> + +<h3>HOW BOLSHEVISM WAS FOSTERED</h3> + + +<p>The Allies, then, might have solved the Bolshevist +problem by making up their minds which of the two +alternative politics—war against, or tolerance of, Bolshevism—they +preferred, and by taking suitable action in +good time. If they had handled the Russian tangle with +skill and repaid a great sacrifice with a small one before +it was yet too late, they might have hoped to harvest in +abundant fruits in the fullness of time. But they belonged +to the class of the undecided, whose members continually +suffer from the absence of a middle word between yes and +no, connoting what is neither positive nor negative. +They let the opportunity slip. Not only did they withhold +timely succor to either side, but they visited some of +the most loyal Russians in western Europe with the utmost +rigor of coercion laws. They hounded them down as +enemies. They cooped them up in cages as though they +were Teuton enemies. They encircled them with barbed +wire. They kept many of them hungry and thirsty, +deprived them of life's necessaries for days, and in some +cases reduced the discontented—and who in their place +would not be discontented?—to pick their food in dustbins +among garbage and refuse. I have seen officers and +men in France who had shed their blood joyfully for the +Entente cause gradually converted to Bolshevism by the +misdeeds of the Allied authorities. In whose interests? +With what helpful results?</p> + +<p>I watched the development of anti-Ententism among +those Russians with painful interest, and in favorable +conditions for observation, and I say without hesitation +that rancor against the Allies burns as vehemently and +intensely among the anti-Bolshevists as among their adversaries. +"My country as a whole is bitterly hostile +to her former allies," exclaimed an eminent Russian, +"for as soon as she had rendered them inestimable services, +at the cost of her political existence, they turned +their backs upon her as though her agony were no affair +of theirs. To-day the nation is divided on many issues. +Dissensions and quarrels have riven and shattered it into +shreds. But in one respect Russia is still united—in the +vehemence of her sentiment toward the Allies, who first +drained her life-blood and then abandoned her prostrate +body to beasts of prey. Some part of the hatred engendered +might have been mitigated if representatives of the +provisional Russian government had been admitted to +the Conference. A statesman would have insisted upon +opening at least this little safety-valve. It would have +helped and could not have harmed the Allies. It would +have bound the Russians to them. For Russia's delegates, +the men sent or empowered by Kolchak and his +colleagues to represent them, would have been the exponents +of a helpless community hovering between life +and death. They could and would have gone far toward +conciliating the world-dictators, to whose least palatable +decisions they might have hesitated to offer unbending +opposition. And this acquiescence, however provisional, +would have tended to relieve the Allies of a sensible part +of their load of responsibility. It would also have linked +the Russians, loosely, perhaps, but perceptibly, to the +Western Powers. It would have imparted a settled +Ententophil direction to Kolchak's policy, and communicated +it to the nation. In short, it might have dispelled +some of the storm-clouds that are gathering in the +east of Europe."</p> + +<p>But the Allies, true to their wont of drifting, put off +all decisive action, and let things slip and slide, for the +Germans to put in order. There were no Russians, +therefore, at the Conference, and there lies no obligation +on any political group or party in the anarchist Slav state +to hold to the Allies. But it would be an error to imagine +that they have a white sheet of paper on which to trace +their line of action and write the names of France and +Britain as their future friends. They are filled with +angry disgust against these two ex-Allies, and of the two +the feeling against France is especially intense.<a name="FNanchor_287_287" id="FNanchor_287_287" href="#Footnote_287_287" >[287]</a></p> + +<p>It is a truism to repeat in a different form what Messrs. +Lloyd George and Wilson repeatedly affirmed, but apparently +without realizing what they said: that the peace +which they regard as the crowning work of their lives +deserves such value as it may possess from the assumption +that Russia, when she recovers from her cataleptic fit, +will be the ally of the Powers that have dismembered her. +If this postulate should prove erroneous, Germany may +form an anti-Allied league of a large number of nations +which it would be invidious to enumerate here. But it is +manifest that this consummation would imperil Poland, +Czechoslovakia, and Jugoslavia, and sweep away the last +vestiges of the peace settlement. And although it would +be rash to make a forecast of the policy which new Russia +will strike out, it would be impolitic to blink the conclusions +toward which recent events significantly point.</p> + +<p>In April a Russian statesman said to me: "The Allied +delegates are unconsciously thrusting from them the only +means by which they can still render peace durable and a +fellowship of the nations possible. Unwittingly they are +augmenting the forces of Bolshevism and raising political +enemies against themselves. Consider how they are behaving +toward us. Recently a number of Russian prisoners +escaped from Germany to Holland, whereupon the +Allied representatives packed them off by force and against +their will to Dantzig, to be conveyed thence to Libau, +where they have become recruits of the Bolshevist Red +Guards. Those men might have been usefully employed +in the Allied countries, to whose cause they were devoted, +but so exasperated were they at their forcible removal to +Libau that many of them declared that they would join +the Bolshevist forces.</p> + +<p>"Even our official representatives are seemingly included +in the category of suspects. Our Minister in +Peking was refused the right of sending ciphered telegrams +and our chargé d'affaires in a European capital suffered +the same deprivation, while the Bolshevist envoy enjoyed +this diplomatic privilege. A councilor of embassy in one +Allied country was refused a passport visa for another +until he declared that if the refusal were upheld he would +return a high order which for extraordinary services +he had received from the government whose embassy +was vetoing his visa. On the national festival of a certain +Allied country the chargé d'affaires of Russia was the +only member of the diplomatic corps who received no +official invitation."</p> + +<p>One day in January, when a crowd had gathered on the +Quai d'Orsay, watching the delegates from the various +countries—British, American, Italian, Japanese, Rumanian, +etc.—enter the stately palace to safeguard the +interests of their respective countries and legislate for +the human race, a Russian officer passed, accompanied +by an illiterate soldier who had seen hard service first +under the Grand Duke Nicholas, and then in a Russian +brigade in France. The soldier gazed wistfully at the +palace, then, turning to the officer, asked, "Are they +letting any of our people in there?" The officer answered, +evasively: "They are thinking it over. Perhaps they +will." Whereupon his attendant blurted out: "Thinking +it over! What thinking is wanted? Did we not fight +for them till we were mowed down like grass? Did not +millions of Russian bodies cover the fields, the roads, and +the camps? Did we not face the German great guns with +only bayonets and sticks? Have we done too little for +them? What more could we have done to be allowed in +there with the others? I fought since the war began, and +was twice wounded. My five brothers were called up at +the same time as myself, and all five have been killed, and +now the Russians are not wanted! The door is shut in +our faces...."</p> + +<p>Sooner or later Russian anarchy, like that of China, +will come to an end, and the leaders charged with the +reconstitution of the country, if men of knowledge, patriotism, +and character, will adopt a program conducive +to the well-being of the nation. To what extent, one +may ask, is its welfare compatible with the <i>status quo</i> +in eastern Europe, which the Allies, distracted by conflicting +principles and fitful impulse, left or created +and hope to perpetuate by means of a parchment instrument?</p> + +<p>The zeal with which the French authorities went to +work to prevent the growth of Bolshevism in their country, +especially among the Russians there, is beyond dispute. +Unhappily it proved inefficacious. Indeed, it is +no exaggeration to say that it defeated its object and +produced the contrary effect. For attention was so completely +absorbed by the aim that no consideration remained +over for the means of attaining it. A few concrete +examples will bring this home to the reader. The +following narratives emanate from an eminent Russian, +who is devoted to the Allies.</p> + +<p>There were scores of thousands of Russian troops in +France. Most of them fought valiantly, others half-heartedly, +and a few refused to fight at all. But instead +of making distinctions the French authorities, moved +by the instinct of self-preservation, and preferring prevention +to cure, tarred them all with the same brush. +"Give a dog a bad name and hang him," says the proverb, +and it was exemplified in the case of the Russians, who +soon came to be regarded as a <i>tertium quid</i> between enemies +of public order and suspicious neutrals. They were profoundly +mistrusted. Their officers were deprived of their +authority over their own men and placed under the command +of excellent French officers, who cannot be blamed +for not understanding the temper of the Slavs nor for +rubbing them against the grain. The privates, seeing +their superiors virtually degraded, concluded that they +had forfeited their claim to respect, and treated them +accordingly. That gave the death-blow to discipline. +The officers, most of whom were devoted heart and soul +to the cause of the Allies, with which they had fondly +identified their own, lost heart. After various attempts +to get themselves reinstated, their feelings toward the +nation, which was nowise to blame for the excessive zeal +of its public servants, underwent a radical change. +Blazing indignation consumed whatever affection they +had originally nurtured for the French, and in many +cases also for the other Allies, and they went home to communicate +their animus to their countrymen. The soldiers, +who now began to be taunted and vilipended as Boches, +threw all discipline to the winds and, feeling every hand +raised against them, resolved to raise their hands against +every man. These were the beginnings of the process of +"bolshevization."</p> + +<p>This anti-Russian spirit grew intenser as time lapsed. +Thousands of Russian soldiers were sent out to work for +private employers, not by the War Ministry, but by +the Ministry of Agriculture, under whom they were +placed. They were fed and paid a wage which under +normal circumstances should have contented them, for +it was more than they used to receive in pre-war days in +their own country. But the circumstances were not +normal. Side by side with them worked Frenchmen, +many of whom were unable physically to compete with +the sturdy peasants from Perm and Vyatka. And when +propagandists pointed out to them that the French worker +was paid 100 per cent. more, they brooded over the +inequality and labeled it as they were told. For overwork, +too, the rate of pay was still more unequal. One +result of this differential treatment was the estrangement +of the two races as represented by the two classes of workmen, +and the growth of mutual dislike. But there was +another. When they learned, as they did in time, that +the employer was selling the produce of their labor at a +profit of 400 and 500 per cent., they had no hesitation +about repeating the formulas suggested to them by +socialist propagandists: "We are working for bloodsuckers. +The bourgeois must be exterminated." In +this way bitterness against the Allies and hatred of the +capitalists were inculcated in tens of thousands of Russians +who a few months before were honest, simple-minded +peasants and well-disciplined soldiers. Many of +these men, when they returned to their country, joined +the Red Guards of Bolshevism with spontaneous ardor. +They needed no pressing.</p> + +<p>There was one young officer of the Guards, in particular, +named G——, who belonged to a very good family and +was an exceptionally cultured gentleman. Music was his +recreation, and he was a virtuoso on the violin. In the +war he had distinguished himself first on the Russian +front and then on the French. He had given of his best, +for he was grievously wounded, had his left hand paralyzed, +and lost his power of playing the violin forever. +He received a high decoration from the French government. +For the English nation he professed and displayed +great affection, and in particular he revered King George, +perhaps because of his physical resemblance to the Tsar. +And when King George was to visit Paris he rejoiced +exceedingly at the prospect of seeing him. Orders were +issued for the troops to come out and line the principal +routes along which the monarch would pass. The French +naturally had the best places, but the Place de l'Étoile +was reserved for the Allied forces. G——, delighted, +went to his superior officer and inquired where the Russians +were to stand. The general did not know, but +promised to ascertain. Accordingly he put the question +to the French commander, who replied: "Russian troops? +There is no place for any Russian troops." With tears +in his eyes G—— recounted this episode, adding: "We, +who fought and bled, and lost our lives or were crippled, +had to swallow this humiliation, while Poles and Czechoslovaks, +who had only just arrived from America in their +brand-new uniforms, and had never been under fire, had +places allotted to them in the pageant. Is that fair to +the troops without whose exploits there would have been +no Polish or Czechoslovak officers, no French victory, no +triumphal entry of King George V into Paris?"</p> + + +<p>FOOTNOTE:</p> + + +<p><a name="Footnote_287_287" id="Footnote_287_287" href="#FNanchor_287_287"> [287]</a> It is right to say that during the summer months a considerable section +of the anti-Bolshevists modified their view of Britain's policy, and expressed +gratitude for the aid bestowed on Kolchak, Denikin, and Yudenitch, without +which their armies would have collapsed.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII" />XIII</h3> + +<h3>SIDELIGHTS ON THE TREATY</h3> + + +<p>From the opening of the Conference fundamental +differences sprang up which split the delegates into +two main parties, of which one was solicitous mainly +about the resettlement of the world and its future mainstay, +the League of Nations, and the other about the +furtherance of national interests, which, it maintained, +was equally indispensable to an enduring peace. The +latter were ready to welcome the League on condition +that it was utilized in the service of their national purposes, +but not if it countered them. To bridge the chasm +between the two was the task to which President Wilson +courageously set his hand. Unluckily, by way of qualifying +for the experiment, he receded from his own strong +position, and having cut his moorings from one shove, +failed to reach the other. His pristine idea was worthy +of a world-leader; had, in fact, been entertained and advocated +by some of the foremost spirits of modern times. +He purposed bringing about conditions under which the +pacific progress of the world might be safeguarded in a +very large measure and for an indefinite time. But being +very imperfectly acquainted with the concrete conditions +of European and Asiatic peoples—he had never before +felt the pulsation of international life—his ideas about the +ways and means were hazy, and his calculations bore no +real reference to the elements of the problem. Consequently, +with what seemed a wide horizon and a generous +ambition, his grasp was neither firm nor comprehensive +enough for such a revolutionary undertaking. In no case +could he make headway without the voluntary co-operation +of the nations themselves, who in their own best +interests might have submitted to heavy sacrifices, to +which their leaders, whom he treated as true exponents +of their will, refused their consent. But he scouted the +notion of a world-parliament. Whenever, therefore, contemplating +a particular issue, not as an independent question +in itself, but as an integral part of a larger problem, +he made a suggestion seemingly tending toward the ultimate +goal, his motion encountered resolute opposition in +the face of which he frequently retreated.</p> + +<p>At the outset, on which so much depended, the peoples +as distinguished from the governments appeared to be +in general sympathy with his principal aim, and it seemed +at the time that if appealed to on a clear issue they would +have given him their whole-hearted support, provided +always that, true to his own principles, he pressed these +to the fullest extent and admitted no such invidious distinctions +as privileged and unprivileged nations. This +belief was confirmed by what I heard from men of mark, +leaders of the labor people, and three Prime Ministers. +They assured me that such an appeal would have evoked +an enthusiastic response in their respective countries. +Convinced that the principles laid down by the President +during the last phases of the war would go far to meet the +exigencies of the conjuncture, I ventured to write on one +of the occasions, when neither party would yield to the +other: "The very least that Mr. Wilson might now do, +if the deadlock continues, is to publish to the world the +desirable objects which the United States are disinterestedly, +if not always wisely, striving for, and leave the +judgment to the peoples concerned."<a name="FNanchor_288_288" id="FNanchor_288_288" href="#Footnote_288_288" >[288]</a></p> + +<p>But he recoiled from the venture. Perhaps it was +already too late. In the judgment of many, his assent to +the suppression of the problem of the freedom of the seas, +however unavoidable as a tactical expedient, knelled the +political world back to the unregenerate days of strategical +frontiers, secret alliances, military preparations, financial +burdens, and the balance of power. On that day, his +grasp on the banner relaxing, it fell, to be raised, it may be, +at some future time by the peoples whom he had aspired +to lead. The contests which he waged after that first +defeat had little prospect of success, and soon the pith +and marrow of the issue completely disappeared. The +utmost he could still hope for was a paper covenant—- which +is a different thing from a genuine accord—to take +home with him to Washington. And this his colleagues +did not grudge him. They were operating with a different +cast of mind upon a wholly different set of ideas. Their +aims, which they pursued with no less energy and with +greater perseverance than Mr. Wilson displayed, were +national. Some of them implicitly took the ground that +Germany, having plunged the world in war, would persist +indefinitely in her nefarious machinations, and must, +therefore, in the interests of general peace, be crippled +militarily, financially, economically, and politically, for +as long a time as possible, while her potential enemies +must for the same reason be strengthened to the utmost +at her expense, and that this condition of things must be +upheld through the beneficent instrumentality of the +League of Nations.</p> + +<p>On these conflicting issues ceaseless contention went +on from the start, yet for lack of a strong personality of +sound, over-ruling judgment the contest dragged on +without result. For months the demon of procrastination +seemed to have possessed the souls of the principal +delegates, and frustrated their professed intentions to +get through the work expeditiously. Even unforeseen +incidents led to dangerous delay. Every passing episode +became a ground for postponing the vital issue, although +each day lost increased the difficulties of achieving the +principal object, which was the conclusion of peace. For +example, the committee dealing with the question of +reparations would reach a decision, say, that Germany +must pay a certain sum, which would entail a century of +strenuous effort, accompanied with stringent thrift and +self-denial; while the Economic Committee decided that +her supply of raw material should be restricted within +such narrow limits as to put such payment wholly out +of her power. And this difference of view necessitated a +postponement of the whole issue. Mr. Hughes, the +Premier of Australia, commenting on this shilly-shallying, +said with truth:<a name="FNanchor_289_289" id="FNanchor_289_289" href="#Footnote_289_289" >[289]</a> "The minds of the people are grievously +perturbed. The long delay, coupled with fears lest that +the Peace Treaty, when it does come, should prove to be a +peace unworthy, unsatisfactory, unenduring, has made +the hearts of the people sick. We were told that the +Peace Treaty would be ready in the coming week, but +we look round and see half a world engaged in war, or +preparation for war. Bolshevism is spreading with the +rapidity of a prairie fire. The Allies have been forced +to retreat from some of the most fertile parts of southern +Russia, and Allied troops, mostly British, at Murmansk +and Archangel are in grave danger of destruction. Yet +we were told that peace was at hand, and that the world +was safe for liberty and democracy. It is not fine phrases +about peace, liberty, and making the world safe for +democracy that the world wants, but deeds. The peoples +of the Allied countries justifiably desire to be reassured +by plain, comprehensible statements, instead of +long-drawn-out negotiations and the thick veil of secrecy +in which these were shrouded."</p> + +<p>It requires an effort to believe that procrastination +was raised to the level of a theory by men whose experience +of political affairs was regarded as a guarantee of the +soundness of their judgment. Yet it is an incontrovertible +fact that dilatory tactics were seriously suggested +as a policy at the Conference. It was maintained that, +far from running risks by postponing a settlement, the +Entente nations were, on the contrary, certain to find +the ground better prepared the longer the day of reckoning +was put off. Germany, they contended, had recovered +temporarily from the Bolshevik fever, but the improvement +was fleeting. The process of decomposition +was becoming intenser day by day, although the symptoms +were not always manifest. Lack of industrial production, +of foreign trade and sound finances, was gnawing +at the vitals of the Teuton Republic. The army of +unemployed and discontented was swelling. Soon the +sinister consequences of this stagnation would take the +form of rebellions and revolts, followed by disintegration. +And this conjunction would be the opportunity of the +Entente Powers, who could then step in, present their +bills, impose their restrictions, and knead the Teuton +dough into any shape they relished. Then it would +be feasible to prohibit the Austrian-Germans from ever +entering the Republic as a federated state. In a word, +the Allied governments need only command, and the +Teutons would hasten to obey. It is hardly credible +that men of experience in foreign politics should build +upon such insecure foundations as these. It is but fair +to say the Conference rejected this singular program +in theory while unintentionally carrying it out.</p> + +<p>Although everybody admitted that the liquidation +of the world conflict followed by a return to normal +conditions was the one thing that pressed for settlement, +so intent were the plenipotentiaries on preventing wars +among unborn generations that they continued to overlook +the pressing needs of their contemporaries. It is +at the beginning and end of an enterprise that the danger +of failure is greatest, and it was the opening moves of +the Allies that proved baleful to their subsequent undertakings. +Germany, one would think, might have been +deprived summarily of everything which was to be +ultimately and justly taken from her, irrespective of its +final destination. The first and most important operation +being the severance of the provinces allotted to +other peoples, their redistribution might safely have been +left until afterward. And hardly less important was the +despatch of an army to eastern Europe. Then Germany, +broken in spirit, with Allied troops on both her fronts, +between the two jaws of a vise, could not have said nay +to the conditions. But this method presupposed a plan +which unluckily did not exist. It assumed that the peace +terms had been carefully considered in advance, whereas +the Allies prepared for war during hostilities, and for +peace during the negotiations. And they went about this +in a leisurely, lackadaisical way, whereas expedition +was the key to success.</p> + +<p>As for a durable peace, involving general disarmament, +it should have been outlined in a comprehensive program, +which the delegates had not drawn up, and it would have +become feasible only if the will to pursue it proceeded +from principle, not from circumstances. In no case +could it be accomplished without the knowledge and +co-operation of the peoples themselves, nor within the +time-limits fixed for the work of the Conference. For +the abolition of war and the creation of a new ordering, +like human progress, is a long process. It admits of a +variety of beginnings, but one can never be sure of the +end, seeing that it presupposes a radical change in the +temper of the peoples, one might almost say a remodeling +of human nature. It can only be the effect of a variety +of causes, mainly moral, operating over a long period of +time. Peace with Germany was a matter for the governments +concerned; the elimination of war could only be +accomplished by the peoples. The one was in the main +a political problem, the other social, economical, and +ethical.</p> + +<p>Mr. Balfour asserted optimistically<a name="FNanchor_290_290" id="FNanchor_290_290" href="#Footnote_290_290" >[290]</a> that the work +of concluding peace with Germany was a very simple +matter. None the less it took the Conference over five +months to arrange it. So desperately slow was the +progress of the Supreme Council that on the 213th day +of the Peace Conference,<a name="FNanchor_291_291" id="FNanchor_291_291" href="#Footnote_291_291" >[291]</a> two months after the Germans +had signed the conditions, not one additional treaty had +been concluded, nay, none was even ready for signature. +The Italian plenipotentiary, Signor Tittoni, thereupon +addressed his colleagues frankly on the subject and asked +them whether they were not neglecting their primary +duty, which was to conclude treaties with the various +enemies who had ceased to fight in November of the +previous year and were already waiting for over nine +months to resume normal life, and whether the delegates +were justified in seeking to discharge the functions of a +supreme board for the government of all Europe. He +pointed out that nobody could hope to profit by the state +of disorder and paralysis for which this procrastination +was answerable, the economic effects making themselves +felt sooner or later in every country. He added that the +cost of the war had been calculated for every month, +every week, every day, and that the total impressed every +one profoundly; but that nobody had thought it worth +his while to count up the atrocious cost of this incredibly +slow peace and of the waste of wealth caused every week +and month that it dragged on. Italy, he lamented, felt +this loss more keenly than her partners because her peace +had not yet been concluded. He felt moved, therefore, +he said, to tell them that the business of governing +Europe to which the Conference had been attending all +those months was not precisely the work for which it was +convoked.<a name="FNanchor_292_292" id="FNanchor_292_292" href="#Footnote_292_292" >[292]</a></p> + +<p>This sharp and timely admonition was the preamble of a +motion. The Conference was just then about to separate +for a "well-earned holiday," during which its members +might renew their spent energies and return in October +to resume their labors, the peoples in the meanwhile +bearing the cost in blood and substance. The Italian +delegate objected to any such break and adjured them to +remain at their posts. Why, he asked, should ill-starred +Italy, which had already sustained so many and such painful +losses, be condemned to sacrifice further enormous +sums in order that the delegates who had been frittering +away their time tackling irrelevant issues, and endeavoring +to rule all Europe, might have a rest? Why should +they interrupt the sessions before making peace with +Austria, with Hungary, with Bulgaria, with Turkey, and +enabling Italy to return to normal life? Why should +time and opportunity be given to the Turks and Kurds +for the massacre of Armenian men, women, and children? +This candid reminder is said to have had a sobering +effect on the versatile delegates yearning for a holiday. +The situation that evoked it will arouse the passing wonder +of level-headed men.</p> + +<p>It is worth recording that such was the atmosphere of +suspicion among the delegates that the motives for this +holiday were believed by some to be less the need of +repose than an unavowable desire to give time to the +Hapsburgs to recover the Crown of St. Stephen as the +first step toward seizing that of Austria.<a name="FNanchor_293_293" id="FNanchor_293_293" href="#Footnote_293_293" >[293]</a> The Austrians +desired exemption from the obligation to make reparations +and pay crushing taxes, and one of the delegates, +with a leaning for that country, was not averse to the idea. +As the states that arose on the ruins of the Hapsburg +monarchy were not considered enemies by the Conference, +it was suggested that Austria herself should enjoy the +same distinction. But the Italian plenipotentiaries objected +and Signor Tittoni asked, "Will it perhaps be +asserted that there was no enemy against whom we +Italians fought for three years and a half, losing half a +million slain and incurring a debt of eighty thousand +millions?"</p> + +<p>A French journal, touching on this Austrian problem, +wrote:<a name="FNanchor_294_294" id="FNanchor_294_294" href="#Footnote_294_294" >[294]</a> "Austria-Hungary has been killed and now France +is striving to raise it to life again. But Italy is furiously +opposed to everything that might lead to an understanding +among the new states formed out of the old possessions +of the Hapsburgs. That, in fact, is why our transalpine +allies were so favorable to the union of Austria with +Germany. France on her side, whose one overruling +thought is to reduce her vanquished enemy to the most +complete impotence, France who is afraid of being +afraid, will not tolerate an Austria joined to the German +Federation." Here the principle of self-determination +went for nothing.</p> + +<p>Before the Conference had sat for a month it was +angrily assailed by the peoples who had hoped so much +from its love of justice—Egyptians, Koreans, Irishmen +from Ireland and from America, Albanians, Frenchmen +from Mauritius and Syria, Moslems from Aderbeidjan, +Persians, Tartars, Kirghizes, and a host of others, who +have been aptly likened to the halt and maimed among +the nations waiting round the diplomatic Pool of Siloam +for the miracle of the moving of the waters that never +came.<a name="FNanchor_295_295" id="FNanchor_295_295" href="#Footnote_295_295" >[295]</a></p> + +<p>These peoples had heard that a great and potent world-reformer +had arisen whose mission it was to redress +secular grievances and confer liberty upon oppressed +nations, tribes, and tongues, and they sent their envoys +to plead before him. And these wandered about the +streets of Paris seeking the intercession of delegates, +Ministers, and journalists who might obtain for them +admission to the presence of the new Messiah or his +apostles. But all doors were closed to them. One of +the petitioners whose language was vernacular English, +as he was about to shake the dust of Paris from his boots, +quoting Sydney Smith, remarked: "They, too, are +Pharisees. They would do the Good Samaritan, but without +the oil and twopence. How has it come to pass that +the Jews without an official delegate commanded the +support—the militant support—of the Supreme Council, +which did not hesitate to tyrannize eastern Europe for +their sake?"</p> + +<p>Involuntarily the student of politics called to mind the +report written to Baron Hager<a name="FNanchor_296_296" id="FNanchor_296_296" href="#Footnote_296_296" >[296]</a> by one of his secret +agents during the Congress of Vienna: "Public opinion +continues to be unfavorable to the Congress. On all +sides one hears it said that there is no harmony, that they +are no longer solicitous about the re-establishment of +order and justice, but are bent only on forcing one +another's hands, each one grabbing as much as he can.... +It is said that the Congress will end because it must, +but that it will leave things more entangled than it +found them.... The peoples, who in consequence of +the success, the sincerity, and the noble-mindedness of this +superb coalition had conceived such esteem for their +leaders and such attachment to them, and now perceive +how they have forgotten what they solemnly promised—justice, +order, peace founded on the equilibrium and +legitimacy of their possessions—will end by losing their +affection and withdrawing their confidence in their +principles and their promises."</p> + +<p>Those words, written a hundred and five years ago, +might have been penned any day since the month of +February, 1919.</p> + +<p>The leading motive of the policy pursued by the +Supreme Council and embodied in the Treaty was aptly +described at the time as the systematic protection of +France against Germany. Hence the creation of the +powerful barrier states, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Jugoslavia, +Greater Rumania, and Greater Greece. French +nationalists pleaded for further precautions more comprehensive +still. Their contention was that France's +economic, strategic, financial, and territorial welfare +being the cornerstone of the future European edifice, +every measure proposed at the Conference, whether +national or general, should be considered and shaped in +accordance with that, and consequently that no possibility +should be accorded to Germany of rising again to +a commanding position because, if she once recovered her +ascendancy in any domain whatsoever, Europe would +inevitably be thrust anew into the horrors of war. Territorially, +therefore, the dismemberment of Germany was +obligatory; the annexation of the Saar Valley, together +with its six hundred thousand Teuton inhabitants, was +necessary to France, and either the annexation of the left +bank of the Rhine or its transformation into a detached +state to be occupied and administered by the French until +Germany pays the last farthing of the indemnity. Further, +Austria must be deprived of the right of determining her +own mode of existence and constrained to abandon the +idea of becoming one of the federated states of the German +Republic, and, if possible, northern Germany should +be kept entirely separate from southern. The Allies +should divide the Teutons in order to sway them. All +Germany's other frontiers should be delimitated in a like +spirit. And at the same time the work of knitting together +the peoples and nations of Europe and forming +them into a friendly sodality was to go forward without +interruption.</p> + +<p>"How to promote our interests in the Rhineland," +wrote M. Maurice Barrès,<a name="FNanchor_297_297" id="FNanchor_297_297" href="#Footnote_297_297" >[297]</a> "is a life-and-death question +for us. We are going to carry to the Rhine our military +and, I hope, our economic frontier. The rest will follow +in its own good time. The future will not fail to secure +for us the acquiescence of the population of the Rhineland, +who will live freely under the protection of our arms, +their faces turned toward Paris."</p> + +<p>Financially it was proposed that the Teutons should be +forced to indemnify France, Belgium, and the other countries +for all the damage they had inflicted upon them; +to pay the entire cost of the war, as well as the pensions +to widows, orphans, and the mutilated. And the military +occupation of their country should be maintained until +this huge debt is wholly wiped out.</p> + +<p>A Nationalist organ,<a name="FNanchor_298_298" id="FNanchor_298_298" href="#Footnote_298_298" >[298]</a> in a leading article, stated with +brevity and clearness the prevailing view of Germany's +obligations. Here is a characteristic passage: "She is +rich, has reserves derived from many years of former +prosperity; she can work to produce and repair all the +evil she has done, rebuild all the ruins she has accumulated, +and restore all the fortunes she has destroyed, however +irksome the burden." After analyzing Doctor +Helfferich's report published six years ago, the article +concluded, "Germany must pay; she disposes of the +means because she is rich; if she refuses we must compel +her without hesitation and without ruth."</p> + +<p>As France, whose cities and towns and very soil were +ruined, could not be asked to restore these places at her +own expense and tax herself drastically like her allies, +the Americans and British, the prior and privileged right +to receive payment on her share of the indemnity should +manifestly appertain to her. Her allies and associates +should, it was argued, accordingly waive their money +claims until hers were satisfied in full. Moreover, as +France's future expenditure on her army of occupation, +on the administration of her colonies and of the annexed +territories, must necessarily absorb huge sums for years +to come, which her citizens feel they ought not to be asked +to contribute, and as her internal debt was already overwhelming, +it is only meet and just that her wealthier +partners should pool their war debts with hers and share +their financial resources with her and all their other allies. +This, it was argued, was an obvious corollary of the war +alliance. Economically, too, the Germans, while permitted +to resume their industrial occupations on a sufficiently +large scale to enable them to earn the wherewithal +to live and discharge their financial obligations, should be +denied free scope to outstrip France, whose material prosperity +is admittedly essential to the maintenance of general +peace and the permanence of the new ordering. In +this condition, it is further contended, our chivalrous ally +was entitled to special consideration because of her low +birth-rate, which is one of the mainsprings of her difficulties. +This may permanently keep her population from +rising above the level of forty million, whereas Germany, +by the middle of the century, will have reached the formidable +total of eighty million, so that competition between +them would not be on a footing of equality. Hence +the chances should be evenly balanced by the action of +the Conference, to be continued by the League. Discriminating +treatment was therefore a necessity. And +it should be so introduced that France should be free to +maintain a protective tariff, of which she had sore need +for her foreign trade, without causing umbrage to her +allies. For they could not gainsay that her position deserved +special treatment.</p> + +<p>Some of the Anglo-Saxon delegates took other ground, +feeling unable to countenance the postulate underlying +those demands, namely, that the Teuton race was to be +forever anathema. They looked far enough ahead to +make due allowance for a future when conditions in Europe +will be very different from what they are to-day. The +German race, they felt, being numerous and virile, will +not die out and cannot be suppressed. And as it is also +enterprising and resourceful it would be a mistake to +render it permanently hostile by the Allies overstepping +the bounds of justice, because in this case neither national +nor general interests would be furthered. You may hinder +Germany, they argued, from acquiring the hegemony +of the world, but not from becoming the principal factor +in European evolution. If thirty years hence the German +population totals eighty million or more, will not +their attitude and their sentiment toward their neighbors +constitute an all-important element of European tranquillity +and will not the trend of these be to a large extent +the outcome of the Allies' policy of to-day? The present, +therefore, is the time for the delegates to deprive that +sentiment of its venomous, anti-Allied sting, not by renouncing +any of their countries' rights, but by respecting +those of others.</p> + +<p>That was the reasoning of those who believed that +national striving should be subordinated to the general +good, and that the present time and its aspirations should +be considered in strict relation to the future of the whole +community of nations. They further contended that +while Germany deserved to suffer condignly for the +heinous crimes of unchaining the war and waging it +ruthlessly, as many of her own people confessed, she +should not be wholly crippled or enthralled in the hope +that she would be rendered thereby impotent forever. +Such hope was vain. With her waxing strength her desire +of vengeance would grow, and together with it the means +of wreaking it. She might yet knead Russia into such +a shape as would make that Slav people a serviceable +instrument of revenge, and her endeavors might conceivably +extend farther than Russia. The one-sided resettlement +of Europe charged with explosives of such incalculable +force would frustrate the most elaborate attempts +to create not only a real league of nations, but +even such a rough approximation toward one as might +in time and under favorable circumstances develop into +a trustworthy war preventive. They concluded that a +league of nations would be worse than useless if transformed +into a weapon to be wielded by one group of +nations against another, or as an artificial makeshift for +dispensing peoples from the observance of natural laws.</p> + +<p>At the same time all the governments of the Allies +were sincere and unanimous in their desire to do everything +possible to show their appreciation of France's +heroism, to recognize the vastness of her sacrifices, and +to pay their debt of gratitude for her services to humanity. +All were actuated by a resolve to contribute in the measure +of the possible to compensate her for such losses as were +still reparable and to safeguard her against the recurrence +of the ordeal from which she had escaped terribly scathed. +The only limits they admitted to this work of reparation +were furnished by the aim itself and by the means of +attaining it. Thus Messrs. Wilson and Lloyd George +held that to incorporate in renovated France millions or +even hundreds of thousands of Germans would be to +introduce into the political organism the germs of fell +disease, and on this ground they firmly refused to sanction +the Rhine frontier, which the French were thus obliged +to relinquish. The French delegates themselves admitted +that if granted it could not be held without a powerful +body of international troops ever at the beck and call of +the Republic, vigilantly keeping watch and ward on the +banks of the Rhine and with no reasonable prospect of +a term to this servitude. For the real ground of this dependence +upon foreign forces is the disproportion between +the populations of Germany and France and between +the resources of the two nations. The ratio of the former +is at present about six to four and it is growing perceptibly +toward seven to four. The organizing capacity in commerce +and industry is said to be even greater. If, therefore, +France cannot stand alone to-day, still less could +she stand alone in ten or fifteen years, and the necessity +of protecting her against aggression, assuming that the +German people does not become reconciled to its status +of forced inferiority, would be more urgent and less practicable +with the lapse of time. For, as we saw, it is largely +a question of the birth-rate. And as neither the British +nor the American people, deeply though they are attached +to their gallant comrades in arms, would consent to this +arrangement, which to them would be a burden and to +the Germans a standing provocation, their representatives +were forced to the conclusion that it would be the height +of folly to do aught that would give the Teutons a convenient +handle for a war of revenge. Let there be no +annexation of territory, they said, no incorporation of +unwilling German citizens. The Americans further argued +that an indefinite occupation of German territory by a +large body of international troops would be a direct encouragement +to militarism.</p> + +<p>The indemnities for which the French yearned, and on +which their responsible financiers counted, were large. +The figures employed were astronomical. Hundreds of +milliards of francs were operated with by eminent publicists +in an offhand manner that astonished the survivor +of the expiring budgetary epoch and rejoiced the hearts +of the Western taxpayers. For it was not only journalists +who wrote as though a stream of wealth were to be +turned into these countries to fertilize industry and commerce +there and enable them to keep well ahead of their +pushing competitors. Responsible Ministers likewise hall-marked +these forecasts with their approval. Before the +fortune of war had decided for the Allies, the finances of +France had sorely embarrassed the Minister, M. Klotz, of +whom his chief, M. Clemenceau, is reported to have said: +"He is the only Israelite I have ever known who is out of +his element when dealing with money matters." Before the +armistice, M. Klotz, when talking of the complex problem +and sketching the outlook, exclaimed: "If we win the war, +I undertake to make both ends meet, far though they now +seem apart. For I will make the Germans pay the entire +cost of the war." After the armistice he repeated his +promise and undertook not to levy fresh taxation.</p> + +<p>Thus, despite fitful gleams of idealism, the atmosphere of +the Paris Conclave grew heavy with interests, passions, +and ambitions. Only people in blinkers could miss the +fact that the elastic formulas launched and interpreted +by President Wilson were being stretched to the snapping-point +so as to cover two mutually incompatible policies. +The chasm between his original prospects and those of +his foreign associates they both conscientiously endeavored +to ignore, and after a time they hit upon a <i>tertium quid</i> +between territorial equilibrium and a sterilized league +tempered by the Monroe Doctrine and a military compact. +This composite resultant carried with it the concentrated +evils of one of these systems and was deprived of its redeeming +features by the other. At a conjuncture in the +world's affairs which postulated internationalism of the +loftiest kind, the delegates increased and multiplied nations +and states which they deprived of sovereignty and +yoked to the first-class races. National ambitions took +precedence of larger interests; racial hatred was raised +to its highest power. In a word, the world's state system +was so oddly pieced together that only economic exhaustion +followed by a speedy return to militarism could insure +for it a moderate duration.</p> + +<p>Territorial self-sufficiency, military strength, and advantageous +alliances were accordingly looked to as the +mainstays of the new ordering, even by those who paid +lip tribute to the Wilsonian ideal. The ideal itself underwent +a disfiguring change in the process of incarnation. +The Italians asked how the Monroe Doctrine could be +reconciled with the charter of the League of Nations, +seeing that the League would be authorized to intervene +in the domestic affairs of other member-states, and if +necessary to despatch troops to keep Germany, Italy, +and Poland in order; whereas if the United States were +guilty of tyrannical aggression against Brazil, the Argentine +Republic, or Mexico, the League, paralyzed by that +Doctrine, must look on inactive. The Germans, alleging +capital defects in the Wilsonian Covenant, which was +adjusted primarily to the Allies' designs, went to Paris +prepared with a substitute which, it must in fairness be +admitted, was considerably superior to that of their +adversaries, and incidentally fraught with greater promise +to themselves.</p> + +<p>It is superfluous to add that the continental view prevailed, +but Mr. Wilson imagined that, while abandoning +his principles in favor of Britain, France, and Bulgaria, +he could readjust the balance by applying them with +rigor to Italy and exaggerating them when dealing with +Greece. He afterward communicated his reasons for this +belief in a message published in Washington.<a name="FNanchor_299_299" id="FNanchor_299_299" href="#Footnote_299_299" >[299]</a> The +alliance—he was understood to have been opposed to all +partial alliances on principle—which guarantees military +succor to France, he had signed, he said, in gratitude to +that country, for he seriously doubted whether the +American Republic could have won its freedom against +Britain's opposition without the gallant and friendly +aid of France. "We recently had the privilege of assisting +in driving enemies, who also were enemies of the +world, from her soil, but that does not pay our debt to +her. Nothing can pay such a debt." His critics retorted +that that is a sentimental reason which might with equal +force have been urged by France and Britain in justification +of their promises to Italy and Rumania, yet was +rejected as irrelevant by Mr. Wilson in the name of a +higher principle.</p> + + +<p>The President of the United States, it was further urged, +is a historian, and history tells him that the help given +to his country against England neither came from the +French people nor was actuated by sympathy for the +American cause. It was the vindictive act of one of +those kings whose functions Mr. Wilson is endeavoring +to abolish. The monarch who helped the Americans +was merely utilizing a favorable opportunity for depriving +with a minimum of effort his adversary of lucrative +possessions. Moreover, the debt which nothing can pay +was already due when in the years 1914-16 France +was in imminent danger of being crushed by a ruthless +enemy. But at that time Mr. Wilson owed his re-election +largely to his refusal to extricate her from that peril. +Instead of calling to mind the debt that can never be +repaid he merely announced that he could not understand +what the belligerents were fighting for and that in any +case France's grateful debtor was too proud to fight. +The motive which finally brought the United States into +the World War may be the noblest that ever yet actuated +any state, but no student of history will allow that Mr. +Wilson has correctly described it.</p> + +<p>The fact is that the French delegates and their supporters +were consistent and, except in their demand for the +Rhine frontier, unbending. They drew up a program and +saw that it was substantially carried out. They declared +themselves quite ready to accept Mr. Wilson's project, +but only on condition that their own was also realized, +heedless of the incompatibility of the two. And Mr. +Wilson felt constrained to make their position his own, +otherwise he could not have obtained the Covenant he +yearned for. And yet he must have known that acquiescence +in the demands put forward by M. Clemenceau +would lower the practical value of his Covenant to that +of a sheet of paper.</p> + +<p>A blunt American journal, commenting on the handiwork +of the Conference, gave utterance to views which +while making no pretense to courtly phraseology are +symptomatic of the way in which the average man thought +and spoke of the Covenant which emanated from the +Supreme Council. "We are convinced," it said, "that +the elder statesmen of Europe, typified by Clemenceau, +consider it a hoax. Clemenceau never before was so +extremely bored by anything in his life as he was by the +necessity of making a pious pretense in the Covenant +when what he wanted was the assurance of the Triple +Alliance. He got that assurance, which, along with the +French watch on the Rhine, the French in the Saar +Valley and in Africa, with German money going into +French coffers, makes him tolerably indulgent of the +altruistic rhetoricians.</p> + +<p>"The English, the intelligent English, we know have +their tongues in their cheeks. The Italians are petulant +imperialists, and Japan doesn't care what happens to the +League so long as Japan says what shall happen in Asia."<a name="FNanchor_300_300" id="FNanchor_300_300" href="#Footnote_300_300" >[300]</a></p> + +<p>Peace was at last signed, not on the basis of the Fourteen +Points nor yet entirely on the lines of territorial equilibrium, +but on those of a compromise which, missing the +advantages of each, combined many of the evils of both +and of others which were generated by their conjunction, +and laid the foundations of the new state fabric on quick-sands. +That was at bottom the view to which Italy, +Rumania, and Greece gave utterance when complaining +that their claims were being dealt with on the principle +of self-denial, whereas those of France had been settled +on the traditional basis of territorial guaranties and +military alliances. Further, the Treaty failed to lay an +ax to the roots of war, did, in fact, increase their number +while purporting to destroy them. Far from that: germs +of future conflicts not only between the late belligerents, +but also between the recent Allies, were plentifully scattered +and may sprout up in the fullness of time.</p> + + +<p>The Paris press expressed its satisfaction with France's +share of the fruits of victory. For the provisions of the +Treaty went as far as any merely political arrangement +could go to check the natural inequality, numerical, +economical, industrial, and financial, between the +Teuton and French peoples. To many this problem +seemed wholly insoluble, because its solution involved +a suspension or a corrective of a law of nature. Take +the birth-rate in France, for example. Before the war it +had long been declining at a rate which alarmed thoughtful +French patriots. And, according to official statistics, +it is falling off still more rapidly to-day, whereas the increase +in other countries is greater than ever before.<a name="FNanchor_301_301" id="FNanchor_301_301" href="#Footnote_301_301" >[301]</a> +Thus, whereas in the year 1911 there were 73,599 births +in the Seine Department, there were only 47,480 in 1918. +Wet nurses, too, are disappearing. Of these, in the year +1911, in the same territory there were 1,363, but in 1918 +only 65. The mortality among foundlings rose from 5 +per cent. before the war to 40 per cent. in the year 1918.<a name="FNanchor_302_302" id="FNanchor_302_302" href="#Footnote_302_302" >[302]</a> +M. Bertillon calculates that for France to increase merely +at the same rate as other nations—not to recover the +place among them which she has already lost, but only +to keep her present one—she needs five hundred thousand +more births than are registered at present. A statistical +table which he drew up of the birth-rate of four +European nations during five decades, beginning with the +year 1861, is unpleasant reading<a name="FNanchor_303_303" id="FNanchor_303_303" href="#Footnote_303_303" >[303]</a> for the friends of that +heroic and artistic people. France, containing in round +numbers 40,000,000 inhabitants, ought to increase annually +by 500,000. Before the war the total number of +births in Germany was computed at one million nine +hundred and fifty thousand, but hardly more than one +million of the children born were viable.<a name="FNanchor_304_304" id="FNanchor_304_304" href="#Footnote_304_304" >[304]</a> The general +conclusion to be drawn from these figures and +from the circumstances that the falling off in the French +population still goes on unchecked, is disquieting for +those who desire to see the French race continue to play +the leading part in continental Europe. One of the +shrewdest observers in contemporary Germany—himself +a distinguished Semite—commented on this decisive +fact as follows:<a name="FNanchor_305_305" id="FNanchor_305_305" href="#Footnote_305_305" >[305]</a> "Within ten years Germany will contain +seventy million inhabitants, and in the torrent of +her fecundity will drown anemic and exhausted France.... +The French nation is dying of exhaustion. There is +no reason, however, for the world to get alarmed ... +for before the French will have vanished from the earth, +other races, virile and healthy, will have come to their +country to take their place." That is what is actually +happening, and it is impressively borne in upon the visitor +to various French cities by the vast number of exotic +names over houses of business and in other ways.</p> + +<p>With this formidable obstacle, then, the three members +of the Supreme Council strenuously coped by exercising +to the fullest extent the power conferred on the victors +over the vanquished. And the result of their combinations +challenged and received the unstinted approval of +all those numerous enemies of Teutondom who believe +the Germans to be incapable of contributing materially +to human progress, unless they are kept in leading-strings +by one of the superior races. The Treaty represents +the potential realization of France's dream, achieved +semi-miraculously by the very statesmen on whom the +Teutons were relying to dispel it. Defeated, disarmed, +incapable of military resistance, and devoid of friends, +Germany thought she could discern her sheet-anchor of +salvation in the Wilsonian gospel, and it was the preacher +of this gospel himself who implicitly characterized her +salvation as more difficult than the passage of a camel +through the eye of a needle. The crimes perpetrated by +the Teutons were unquestionably heinous beyond words, +and no punishment permitted by the human conscience +is too drastic to atone for them. How long this punishment +should endure, whether it should be inflicted on +the entire people as well as on their leaders, and what +form should be given to it, were among the questions +confronting the Secret Council, and they implicitly answered +them in the way we have seen.</p> + +<p>People who consider the answer adequate and justified +give as their reason that it presupposes and attains a +single object—the efficacious protection of France as the +sentinel of civilization against an incorrigible arch-enemy. +And in this they may be right. But if you enlarge +the problem till it covers the moral fellowship of +nations, and if you postulate that as a safeguard of future +peace and neighborliness in the world, then the outcome +of the Treaty takes on a different coloring. Between +France and Germany it creates a sea of bitterness which +no rapturous exultation over the new ethical ordering +can sweeten. The latter nation is assumed to be smitten +with a fell moral disease, to which, however, the physicians +of the Conference have applied no moral remedy, +but only measures of coercion, mostly powerful irritants. +The reformed state of Europe is consequently a state of +latent war between two groups of nations, of which one +is temporarily prostrate and both are naïvely exhorted +to join hands and play a helpful part in an idyllic society +of nations. This expectation is the delight of cynics +and the despair of those serious reformers who are not +interested politicians. Heretofore the most inveterate +optimists in politics were the revolutionaries. But they +have since been outdone by the Paris world-reformers, +who tempt Providence by calling on it to accomplish +by a miracle an object which they have striven hard and +successfully to render impossible by the ordinary operation +of cause and effect. Thus the Covenant mars the +Treaty, and the Treaty the Covenant.</p> + +<p>In Weimar and Berlin the Treaty was termed the death-sentence +of Germany, not only as an empire, but as an +independent political community. Henceforward her +economic efforts, beyond a certain limit, will be struck with +barrenness, her industry will be hindered from outstripping +or overtaking that of the neighboring countries, +and her population will be indirectly kept within definite +bounds. For, instead of exporting manufactures, she +will be obliged to export human beings, whose intellect +and skill will be utilized by such rivals of her own race +as vouchsafe to admit them. Already before the Conference +was over they began to emigrate eastward. And +those who remain at home will not be masters in their own +house, for the doors will be open to various foreign +commissions.</p> + +<p>The assumption upon which the Treaty-framers proceeded +is that the abominations committed by the German +military and civil authorities were constructively +the work of the entire nation, for whose reformation +within a measurable period hope is vain. This view predominated +among the ruling classes of the Entente +peoples with few exceptions. If it be correct, it seems +superfluous to constrain the enemy to enter the league of +law-abiding nations, which is to be cemented only by +voluntary adherence and by genuine attachment to liberty, +right, and justice. Hence the Covenant, by being +inserted in the Peace Treaty, necessarily lost its value +as an eirenicon, and became subsequent to that instrument, +and seems likely to be used as an anti-German +safeguard. But even then its efficacy is doubtful, and +manifestly so; otherwise the reformers, who at the start +set out to abolish alliances as recognized causes of war, +would not have ended by setting up a new Triple Alliance, +which involves military, naval, and aerial establishments, +and the corresponding financial burdens inseparable from +these. An alliance of this character, whatever one may +think of its economic and financial aspects, runs counter +to the spirit of the Covenant, but was an obvious corollary +of the Allies' attitude as mirrored in the Treaty. +And the spirit of the Treaty destroys the letter of the +Covenant. For the world is there implicitly divided +into two camps—the friends and the enemies of liberty, +right, and justice; and the main functions of the League +as narrowed by the Treaty will be to hinder or defeat the +machinations of the enemies. Moreover, the deliberate +concessions made by the Conference to such agencies of +the old ordering as the grouping of two or three Powers +into defensive alliances bids fair to be extended in time. +For the stress of circumstance is stronger than the will of +man. At this rate the last state may be worse than the first.</p> + +<p>The world situation, thus formally modified, remained +essentially unchanged, and will so endure until other forces +are released. The League of Nations forfeited its ideal +character under the pressure of national interests, and +became a coalition of victors against the vanquished. +By the insertion of the Covenant in the Treaty the former +became a means for the execution of the latter. For even +Mr. Wilson, faced with realities and called to practical +counsel, affectionately dismissed the high-souled speculative +projects in which he delighted during his hours of +contemplation. Although the German delegates signed +the Treaty, no one can honestly say that he expects them +to observe it longer than constraint presses, however +solemn the obligations imposed.</p> + +<p>In the press organ of the most numerous and powerful +political party in Germany one might read in an article +on the Germans in Bohemia annexed by Czechoslovakia: +"Assuredly their destiny will not be determined for all +time by the Versailles peace of violence. It behooves +the German nation to cherish its affection for its oppressed +brethren, even though it be powerless to succor +them immediately. What then can it do? Italy has given +it a marvelous lesson in the policy of irredentism, which +she pursued in respect of the Trentino and Trieste."<a name="FNanchor_306_306" id="FNanchor_306_306" href="#Footnote_306_306" >[306]</a></p> + +<p>With the Treaty as it stands, nationalist France of this +generation has reason to be satisfied. One of its framers, +himself a shrewd business man and politician, publicly +set forth the grounds for this satisfaction.<a name="FNanchor_307_307" id="FNanchor_307_307" href="#Footnote_307_307" >[307]</a> Alsace and +Lorraine reunited to the metropolis, he explained, will +assist France materially with an industrious population +and enormous resources in the shape of mineral wealth +and a fruitful soil. Germany's former colonies, Kamerun +and Togoland, are become French, and will doubtless +offer a vast and attractive field for the expansion and +prosperity of the French population. Morocco, freed +from German enterprise, can henceforth be developed +by the French population alone and without let or hindrance, +for the benefit of the natives and in the true sense +of Mr. Wilson's humanitarian ordinances. The potash +deposits, to which German agriculture largely owed its +prosperity, will henceforward be utilized in the service +of French agriculture. "In iron ore the wealth of France +is doubled, and her productive capacity as regards pig-iron +and steel immensely increased. Her production of +textiles is greater than before the war by about a third."<a name="FNanchor_308_308" id="FNanchor_308_308" href="#Footnote_308_308" >[308]</a> +In a word, a vast area of the planet inhabited by various +peoples will look to the French people for everything +that makes their collective life worth living.</p> + +<p>The sole arrangement which for a time caused heart-burnings +in France was that respecting the sums of money +which Germany should have been made to pay to her +victorious enemies. For the opinions on that subject +held by the average man, and connived at or approved +by the authorities, were wholly fantastic, just as were +some of the expectations of other Allied states. The +French people differ from their neighbors in many respects—and +in a marked way in money matters. They will +sacrifice their lives rather than their substance. They +will leave a national debt for their children and their +children's children, instead of making a resolute effort +to wipe it out or lessen it by amortization. In this respect +the British, the Americans, and also the Germans differ +from them. These peoples tax themselves freely, create +sinking funds, and make heavy sacrifices to pay off their +money obligations. This habit is ingrained. The contrary +system is become second nature to the French, +and one cannot change a nation's habits overnight. The +education of the people might, however, have been +undertaken during the war with considerable chances +of satisfactory results. The government might have +preached the necessity of relinquishing a percentage of +the war gains to the state. It was done in Britain and +Germany. The amount of money earned by individuals +during the hostilities was enormous. A considerable percentage +of it should have been requisitioned by the +state, in view of the peace requirements and of the huge +indebtedness which victory or defeat must inevitably +bring in its train. But no Minister had the courage necessary +to brave the multitude and risk his share of popularity +or tolerance. And so things were allowed to slide. +The people were assured that victory would recompense +their efforts, not only by positive territorial gains, but +by relieving them of their new financial obligations.</p> + +<p>That was a sinister mistake. The truth is that the +French nation, if defeated, would have paid any sum +demanded. That was almost an axiom. It would and +could have expected no ruth. But, victorious, it looked +to the enemy for the means of refunding the cost of the +war. The Finance Minister—M. Klotz—often declared +to private individuals that if the Allies were victorious +he would have all the new national debt wiped out by +the enemy, and he assured the nation that milliards +enough would be extracted from Germany to balance +the credit and debit accounts of the Republic. And the +people naturally believed its professional expert. Thus +it became a dogma that the Teuton state was to provide +all the cost of the war. In that illusion the nation lived +and worked and spent money freely, nay, wasted it woefully.</p> + +<p>And yet M. Klotz should have known better. For he +was supplied with definite data to go upon. In October, +1918, the French government, in doubt about the full +significance of that one of Mr. Wilson's Fourteen Points +which dealt with reparations, asked officially for explanations, +and received from Mr. Lansing the answer by +telegraph that it involved the making good by the enemy +of all losses inflicted directly and lawlessly upon civilians, +but none other. That surely was a plain answer and a +just principle. But, in accordance with the practice of +secrecy in vogue among Allied European governments, +the nation was not informed of these restrictive conditions, +but was allowed to hug dangerous delusions.</p> + +<p>But the Ministers knew them, and M. Klotz was a +Minister. Not only, however, did he not reveal what he +knew, but he behaved as though his information was of +a directly contrary tenor, and he also stated that Germany +must also refund the war indemnities of 1870, capitalized +down to November, 1918, and he set down the sum at +fifty milliards of francs. This procedure was not what +reasonably might have been expected from the leader of +a heroic nation stout-hearted enough to face unpleasant +facts. Some of the leading spirits in the country, despite +the intensity of their feelings toward Germany, disapproved +this kind of bookkeeping, but M. Klotz did not +relinquish his method of keeping accounts. He drew up +a bill against the Teutons for one thousand and eighty-six +milliards of francs.</p> + +<p>The Germans at the Conference maintained that if the +wealth of their nation were realized and liquid, it would +amount at most to four hundred milliards, but that to +realize it would involve the stripping of the population of +everything—of its forests, its mines, its railways, its factories, +its cattle, its houses, its furniture, and its ready +money. They further pleaded that the territorial clauses +of the Treaty deprived them of important resources, +which would reduce their solvency to a greater degree +than the Allies realized. These clauses dispossessed the +nation of 21 per cent. of the total crops of cereals and +potatoes. A further falling off in the quantities of food +produced would result from the restrictions on the importation +of raw materials for the manufacture of fertilizers. +Of her coal, Germany was forfeiting about one-third; +three-fourths of her iron ore was also being taken +away from her; her total zinc production would be cut +down by over three-fifths. Add to this the enormous +shortage of tonnage, machinery, and man-power, the total +loss of her colonies, the shrinkage of available raw stuffs, +and the depreciation of the mark.</p> + +<p>At the Conference the Americans maintained their +ground. Invoking the principle laid down by Mr. Wilson +and clearly formulated by Mr. Lansing, they insisted +that reparations should be claimed only for damage done +to civilians directly and lawlessly. After a good deal of +fencing, rendered necessary by the pledges given by +European statesmen to their electors, it was decided +that the criteria provided by that principle should be +applied. But even with that limitation the sums claimed +were huge. It was alleged by the Germans that some of +the demands were for amounts that exceeded the total +national wealth of the country filing the claim. And as +no formula could be devised that would satisfy all the +claimants, it was resolved in principle that, although +Germany should be obliged to make good only certain +classes of losses, the Conference would set no limits to +the sums for which she would thus be liable.</p> + +<p>At this juncture M. Loucheur suggested that a minimum +sum should be demanded of the enemy, leaving the details +to be settled by a commission. And this was the solution +which was finally adopted.<a name="FNanchor_309_309" id="FNanchor_309_309" href="#Footnote_309_309" >[309]</a> It was received with +protests and lamentations, which, however, soon made +place for self-congratulations, official and private.</p> + +<p>The French Minister of Finances, for example, drew a +bright picture in the Chamber of the financial side of the +Treaty, so far as it affected his country: "Within two +years," he announced, "independently of the railway +rolling stock, of agricultural materials and restitutions, +we receive a part, still to be fixed, of the payment of +twenty milliards of marks in gold; another share, also to +be determined, of an emission of bonds amounting to +forty milliard gold marks, bearing interest at the rate of +2 per cent.; a third part, to be fixed, of German shipping +and dyes; seven million tons of coal annually for a period +of ten years, followed by diminishing quantities during +the following years; the repayment of the expenses of +occupation; the right of taking over a part of Germany's +interests in Russia, in particular that of obtaining the +payment of pre-war debts at the pre-war rate of exchange, +likewise the maintenance of such contracts as we may +desire to maintain in force and the return of Alsace-Lorraine +free from all incumbrances. Nor is that all. +In Morocco we have the right to liquidate German property, +to transfer the shares that represent Germany's +interests in the Bank of Morocco, and finally the allotment +under a French mandate of a portion of the German +colonies free from incumbrances of any kind.... We shall +receive four hundred and sixty-three milliard francs, +payable in thirty-six years, without counting the restitutions +which will have been effected. Nor should it be +forgotten that already we have received eight milliards' +worth of securities stolen from French bearers. So do not +consider the Treaty as a misfortune for France."<a name="FNanchor_310_310" id="FNanchor_310_310" href="#Footnote_310_310" >[310]</a></p> + +<p>Soon after the outburst of joy with which the ingathering +of the fruits of France's victory was celebrated, clouds +unexpectedly drifted athwart the cerulean blue of the +political horizon, and dark shadows were flung across the +Allied countries. The second-and third-class nations fell +out with the first-class Powers. Italy, for example, whose +population is almost equal to that of her French sister, +demanded compensation for the vast additions that were +being made to France's extensive possessions. The +grounds alleged were many. Compensation had been +promised by the secret treaty. The need for it was reinforced +by the rejection of Italy's claims in the Adriatic. +The Italian people required, desired, and deserved a fair +and fitting field for legitimate expansion. They are as +numerous as the French, and have a large annual surplus +population, which has to hew wood and draw water for +foreign peoples. They are enterprising, industrious, +thrifty, and hard workers. Their country lacks some of +the necessaries of material prosperity, such as coal, iron, +and cotton. Why should it not receive a territory rich +in some of these products? Why should a large contingent +of Italy's population have to go to the colonies of Spain, +France, and Britain or to South American republics for +a livelihood? The Italian press asked whether the Supreme +Council was bent on fulfilling the Gospel dictum, +"Whosoever hath, to him shall be given...."</p> + +<p>One of the first demands made by Italy was for the +port and town of Djibouti, which is under French sway. +It was rejected, curtly and emphatically. Other requests +elicited plausible explanations why they could not be +complied with. In a word, Italy was treated as a poor +and importunate relation, and was asked to console herself +with the reflection that she was working in the vineyard +of idealism. In vain eminent publicists in Rome, +Turin, and Milan pleaded their country's cause. Adopting +the principle which Mr. Wilson had applied to France +and Britain, they affirmed that even before the war +France, with a larger population and fewer possessions, +had shown that she was incapable of discharging the +functions which she had voluntarily taken upon herself. +Tunis, they alleged, owed its growth and thriving condition +to Italian emigrants. With all the fresh additions +to her territories, the population of the Republic would be +utterly inadequate to the task. To the Supreme Council +this line of reasoning was distinctly unpalatable. Nor +did the Italians further their cause when, by way of +giving emphatic point to their reasoning, their press +quoted that eminent Frenchman, M. d'Estournelles de +Constant, who wrote at that very moment: "France +has too many colonies already—far more in Asia, in +Africa, in America, in Oceania than she can fructify. +In this way she is immobilizing territories, continents, +peoples, which nominally she takes over. And it is +childish and imprudent to take barren possession of them, +when other states allege their power to utilize them in +the general interest. By acting in this manner, France, +do what she may, is placing herself in opposition to the +world's interests, and to those of the League of Nations. +In the long run it is a serious business. Spain, Portugal, +and Holland know this to their cost. Do what she +would, France was not able before the war to utilize all +her immense colonial domain ... for lack of population. +She will be still less able after the war...."<a name="FNanchor_311_311" id="FNanchor_311_311" href="#Footnote_311_311" >[311]</a></p> + +<p>The discussion grew dangerously animated. Epigrams +were coined and sent floating in the heavily charged air. +A tactless comparison was made between the French +nation and a <i>bon vivant</i> of sixty-five who flatters himself +that he can enjoy life's pleasures on the same scale as +when he was only thirty. Little arrows thus barbed +with biting acid often make more enduring mischief +than sledge-hammer blows. Soon the estrangement +between the two sister nations unhappily became wider +and led to marked divergences in their respective policies, +which seem fraught with grave consequences in the +future.</p> + +<p>The Italy of to-day is not the Italy of May, 1915. +She now knows exactly where she stands. When she +unsheathed her sword to fight against the allies of the +state that declared a treaty to be but a scrap of paper, +she was heartened by a solemn promise given in writing +by her comrades in arms. But when she had accomplished +her part of the contract, that document turned +out to be little more than another scrap of paper. Thus +it was one of the piquant ironies of Fate, Italian publicists +said, that the people who had mostly clamored against +that doctrine were indirectly helping it to triumph. Mr. +Wilson, unwittingly sapping public faith in written +treaties, was held up as one of the many pictures in which +the Conference abounded of the delegates refuting their +words by acts. The unbiased historian will readily +admit that the secret treaties were profoundly immoral +from the Wilsonian angle of vision, but that the only +way of canceling them was by a general principle rigidly +upheld and impartially applied. And this the Supreme +Council would not entertain.</p> + +<p>With her British ally, too, France had an unpleasant +falling out about Eastern affairs, and in especial about +Syria and Persia. There was also a demand for the +retrocession by Britain of the island of Mauritius, but +it was not made officially, nor is it a subject for two +such nations to quarrel over. The first rift in the lute +was caused by the deposition of Emir Faisal respecting +the desires of the Arab population. This picturesque +chief, the French press complained, had been too readily +admitted to the Conference and too respectfully listened +to there, whereas the Persian delegation tramped for +months over the Paris streets without once obtaining a +hearing. The Hedjaz, which had been independent +from time immemorial, was formally recognized as a +separate kingdom during the war, and the Grand Sheriff +of Mecca was suddenly raised to the throne in the European +sense by France and Britain. Since then he was +formally recognized by the five Powers. His representatives +in Paris demanded the annexation of all the countries +of Arabic speech which were under Turkish domination. +These included not only Mesopotamia, but also Syria, +on which France had long looked with loving eyes and +respecting which there existed an accord between her and +Britain. The project community would represent a +Pan-Arab federation of about eleven million souls, over +which France would have no guardianship. And yet the +written accord had never been annulled. Palestine was +excluded from this Pan-Arabian federation, and Syria +was to be consulted, and instead of being handed over to +France, as M. Clemenceau demanded, was to be allowed +to declare its own wishes without any injunctions from +the Conference. Mesopotamia would be autonomous +under the League of Nations, but a single mandatory was +asked for by the king of the Hedjaz for the entire eleven +million inhabitants.</p> + +<p>The comments of the French press on Britain's attitude, +despite their studied reserve and conventional phraseology, +bordered on recrimination and hinted at a possible cooling +of friendship between the two nations, and in the course +of the controversy the evil-omened word "Fashoda" +was pronounced. The French <i>Temps's</i> arguments were +briefly these: The populations claimed occupy such a +vast stretch of territory that the sovereignty of the +Hedjaz could hardly be more than nominal and symbolical. +In fact, they cover an area of one-half of the Ottoman +Empire. These different provinces would, in +reality, be under the domination of the Great Power +which was the real creator of this new kingdom, and the +monarch of the Hedjaz would be a mere stalking-horse +of Britain. This, it was urged, would not be independence, +but a masked protectorate, and in the name of the higher +principles must be prevented. Syria must be handed +over to France without consulting the population. The +financial resources of the Hedjaz are utterly inadequate +for the administration of such a vast state as was being +compacted. Who, then, it was asked, would supply the +indispensable funds? Obviously Britain, who had been +providing the Emir Faisal with funds ever since his father +donned the crown. If this political entity came into +existence, it would generate continuous friction between +France and Britain, separate comrades in arms, delight +a vigilant enemy, and violate a written compact which +should be sacred. For these reasons it should be rejected +and Syria placed under the guardianship of France.</p> + +<p>The Americans took the position that congruously with +the high ethical principles which had guided the labors +of the Conference throughout, it was incumbent on its +members, instead of bartering civilized peoples like chattels, +to consult them as to their own aspirations. If it +were true that the Syrians were yearning to become the +wards of France, there could be no reasonable objection +on the part of the French delegates to agree to a plebiscite. +But the French delegates declined to entertain the suggestion +on the ground that Syria's longing for French +guidance was a notorious fact.</p> + +<p>After much discussion and vehement opposition on the +part of the French delegates an Inter-Allied commission +under Mr. Charles Crane was sent to visit the countries +in dispute and to report on the leanings of their populations. +After having visited forty cities and towns and +more than three hundred villages, and received over +fifteen hundred delegations of natives, the commission +reported that the majority of the people "prefer to maintain +their independence," but do not object to live under +the mandatory system for fifty years <i>provided the United +States accepts</i> the mandate. "Syria desires to become a +sovereign kingdom, and most of the population supports +the Emir Faisal as king.<a name="FNanchor_312_312" id="FNanchor_312_312" href="#Footnote_312_312" >[312]</a> The commission further ascertained +that the Syrians, "who are singularly enlightened +as to the policies of the United States," invoked and relied +upon a Franco-British statement of policy<a name="FNanchor_313_313" id="FNanchor_313_313" href="#Footnote_313_313" >[313]</a> which had +been distributed broadcast throughout their country, +"promising complete liberation from the Turks and the +establishment of free governments among the native population +and recognition of these governments by France +and Britain."<a name="FNanchor_314_314" id="FNanchor_314_314" href="#Footnote_314_314" >[314]</a></p> + +<p>The result of the investigation by the Inter-Allied +commission reminds one of the story of the two anglers +who were discussing the merits of two different sauces +for the trout which one of them had caught. As they +were unable to agree they decided to refer the matter to +the trout, who answered: "Gentlemen, I do not wish to +be eaten with any sauce. I desire to live and be free in my +own element." "Ah, now you are wandering from the +question," exclaimed the two, who thereupon struck up +a compromise on the subject of the sauce.</p> + +<p>The tone of this long-drawn-out controversy, especially +in the press, was distinctly acrimonious. It became +dangerously bitter when the French political world was +apprised one day of the conclusion of a treaty between +Britain and Persia as the outcome of secret negotiations +between London and Teheran. And excitement grew +intenser when shortly afterward the authentic text of +this agreement was disclosed. In France, Italy, Germany, +Russia, and the United States the press unanimously declared +that Persia's international status as determined by +the new diplomatic instrument could best be described by +the evil-sounding words "protectorate" and the violation +of the mandatory system adopted by the Conference.</p> + +<p>This startling development shed a strong light upon the +new ordering of the world and its relation to the Wilsonian +gospel, complicated with secret negotiations, protectorates +without mandates, and the one-sided abrogation of +compacts.</p> + +<p>Persia is one of the original members of the League +of Nations,<a name="FNanchor_315_315" id="FNanchor_315_315" href="#Footnote_315_315" >[315]</a> and as such was entitled, the French argued, +to a hearing at the Conference. She had grievances that +called for redress: her neutrality had been violated, +many of her subjects had been put to death, and her titles +to reparation were undeniable. President Wilson, the +comforter of small states and oppressed nationalities, +having proclaimed that the weakest communities would +command the same friendly treatment as the greatest, +the Persian delegates repaired to Paris in the belief that +this treatment would be accorded them. But there they +were disillusioned. For them there was no admission. +Whether, if they had been heard and helped by the +Supreme Council, they would have contrived to exist as an +independent state is a question which cannot be discussed +here. The point made by the French was that on its own +showing the Conference was morally bound to receive the +Persian delegation. The utmost it obtained was that the +Persian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Monalek, who was +head of the delegation, had a private talk with President +Wilson, Colonel House, and Mr. Lansing. These statesmen +unhesitatingly promised to help Persia to secure full +sovereign rights, or at any rate to enable her delegates +to unfold their country's case and file their protests +before the Conference. The delegates were comforted +and felt sure of the success of their mission. They told the +American plenipotentiaries that the United States would +be Persia's creditor for this help and that she would invite +American financiers to put her money matters in order, +American engineers to develop her mining industries, and +the American oil firms to examine and exploit her petrol +deposits.<a name="FNanchor_316_316" id="FNanchor_316_316" href="#Footnote_316_316" >[316]</a> In a word, Persia would be Americanized. +This naïve announcement of the rôle reserved for American +benefactors in the land of the Shah might have impressed +certain commercial and financial interests in the United +States, but was wholly alien to the only order of motives +that could properly move the American plenipotentiaries +to interpose in favor of their would-be wards.</p> + +<p>The promises made by Messrs. Wilson, House, and +Lansing came to nothing. For months the Persian envoys +lived in hope which was strengthened by the assurances of +various members of the Conference that the intervention +of Mr. Wilson would infallibly prove successful. But +events belied this forecast, whereupon the head of the +Persian delegation, after several months of hopes deferred, +quitted France for Constantinople, and his +country's position among the nations was settled in +detail by the new agreement.</p> + +<p>That position does undoubtedly resemble very closely +Egypt's status before the outbreak of the World War. +And Egypt's status could hardly be termed independence. +Henceforward Great Britain has a strong hold on the +Persian customs, the control of the waterways and carriage +routes, the rights of railway construction, the oil-fields—these +were ours before—the right to organize the +army and direct the foreign policy of the kingdom. And +it may fairly be argued that this arrangement may prove +a greater blessing to the Persians than the realization of +their own ambitions. That, at any rate, is my own +personal belief, which for many years I have held and +expressed. None the less it runs diametrically counter +to the letter and the spirit of Wilsonianism, which is now +seen to be a wall high enough to keep out the dwarf +states, but which the giants can easily clear at a bound.</p> + +<p>Against this violation of the new humanitarian doctrine +French publicists flared up. The glaring character of the +transgression revolted them, the plight of the Persians +touched them, and the right of self-determination strongly +appealed to them. Was it not largely for the assertion +of that right that all the Allied peoples had for five years +been making unheard-of sacrifices? What would become +of the League of Nations if such secret and selfish doings +were connived at? In a word, French sympathy for the +victims of British hegemony waxed as strong as the British +fellow-feeling for the Syrians, who objected to be +drawn into the orbit of the French. Those sharp protests +and earnest appeals, it may be noted, were the principal, +perhaps the only, symptoms of tenderness for unprotected +peoples which were evoked by the great ethical +movement headed by the Conference.</p> + +<p>The French further pointed out that the system of +Mandates had been specially created for countries as +backward and helpless as Persia was assumed to be, and +that the only agency qualified to apply it was either the +Supreme Council or the League of Nations. The British +press answered that no such humiliating assumption about +the Shah's people was being made, that the Foreign Office +had distinctly disclaimed the intention of establishing a +protectorate over Persia, who is, and will remain, a sovereign +and independent state. But these explanations +failed to convince our indignant Allies. They argued, +from experience, that no trust was to be placed in those +official assurances and euphemistic phrases which are +generally belied by subsequent acts.<a name="FNanchor_317_317" id="FNanchor_317_317" href="#Footnote_317_317" >[317]</a> They further +lamented that the long and secret negotiations which were +going forward in Teheran while the Persian delegation +was wearily and vainly waiting in Paris to be allowed to +plead its country's cause before the great world-dictators +was not a good example of loyalty to the new cosmic legislation. +Had not Mr. Wilson proclaimed that peoples +were no longer to be bartered and swapped as chattels? +Here the Italians and Rumanians chimed in, reminding +their kinsmen that it was the same American statesmen +who in the peace conditions first presented to Count +Brockdorff-Rantzau made over the German population of +the Saar Valley to France at the end of fifteen years as +the fair equivalent of a sum of money payable in gold, +and that France at any rate had raised no objection to the +barter nor to the principle at the root of it. They reasoned +that if the principle might be applied to one case +it should be deemed equally applicable to the other, and +that the only persons or states that could with propriety +demur to the Anglo-Persian arrangements were those who +themselves were not benefiting by similar transactions.</p> + +<p>At last the Paris press, laying due weight on the alliance +with Britain, struck a new note. "It seems that these +last Persian bargainings offer a theme for conversations +between our government and that of the Allies," one +influential journal wrote.<a name="FNanchor_318_318" id="FNanchor_318_318" href="#Footnote_318_318" >[318]</a> At once the amicable suggestion +was taken up by the British press. The idea was to +join the Syrian with the Persian transactions and make +French concessions on the other. This compromise would +compose an ugly quarrel and settle everything for the +best. For France's intentions toward the people of Syria +were, it was credibly asserted, to the full as disinterested +and generous as those of Britain toward Persia, and if the +Syrians desired an English-speaking nation rather than +the French to be their mentor, it was equally true that the +Persians wanted Americans rather than British to superintend +and accelerate their progress in civilization. But +instead of harkening to the wishes of only one it would +be better to ignore those of both. By this prudent compromise +all the demands of right and justice, for which +both governments were earnest sticklers, would thus be +amply satisfied.</p> + +<p>Our American associates were less easily appeased. In +sooth there was nothing left wherewith to appease them. +Their press condemned the "protectorate" as a breach +of the Covenant. Secretary Lansing let it be known<a name="FNanchor_319_319" id="FNanchor_319_319" href="#Footnote_319_319" >[319]</a> +that the United States delegation had striven to obtain a +hearing for the Persians at the Conference, but had "lost +its fight." A Persian, when apprized of this utterance, +said: "When the United States delegation strove to hinder +Italy from annexing Fiume and obtaining the territories +promised her by a secret treaty, they accomplished +their aim because they refused to give way. Then they +took care not to lose their fight. When they accepted a +brief for the Jews and imposed a Jewish semi-state on +Rumania and Poland, they were firm as the granite rock, +and no amount of opposition, no future deterrents, made +any impression on their will. Accordingly, they had their +way. But in the cause of Persia they lost the fight, +although logic, humanity, justice, and the ordinances +solemnly accepted by the Great Powers were all on their +side." ... One American press organ termed the Anglo-Persian +accord "a coup which is a greater violation of the +Wilsonian Fourteen Points than the Shantung award to +Japan, as it makes the whole of Persia a mere protectorate +for Britain."<a name="FNanchor_320_320" id="FNanchor_320_320" href="#Footnote_320_320" >[320]</a></p> + +<p>Generally speaking, illustrations of the meaning of non-intervention +in the home affairs of other nations were +numerous and somewhat perplexing. Were it not that +Mr. Wilson had come to Europe for the express purpose +of interpreting as well as enforcing his own doctrine, one +would have been warranted in assuming that the Supreme +Council was frequently travestying it. But as the President +was himself one of the leading members of that +Council, whose decisions were unanimous, the utmost +that one can take for granted is that he strove to impose +his tenets on his intractable colleagues and "lost the +fight."</p> + +<p>Here is a striking instance of what would look to the +average man very like intervention in the domestic politics +of another nation—well-meant and, it may be, beneficent +intervention—were it not that we are assured on the +highest authority that it is nothing of the sort. It was +devised as an expedient for getting outside help for the +capture of Petrograd by the anti-Bolshevists. The end, +therefore, was good, and the means seemed effectual to +those who employed them. The Kolchak-Denikin party +could, it was believed, have taken possession of that +capital long before, by obtaining the military co-operation +of the Esthonians. But the price asked by these was the +recognition of their complete independence by the non-Bolshevist +government in the name of all Russia. Kolchak, +to his credit, refused to pay this price, seeing that +he had no powers to do so, and only a dictator would sign +away the territory by usurping the requisite authority. +Consequently the combined attack on Petrograd was not +undertaken. The Admiral's refusal was justified by the +circumstances that he was the spokesman only of a large +section of the Russian people, and that a thoroughly +representative assembly must be consulted on the subject +previous to action being taken. The military stagnation +that ensued lasted for months. Then one day the press +brought the tidings that the difficulty was ingeniously +overcome. This is the shape in which the intelligence +was communicated to the world: "Colonel Marsh, of the +British army, who is representing General Gough, organized +a republic in northwest Russia at Reval, August 12th, +<i>within forty-five minutes</i>, General Yudenitch being nominally +the head of the new government, which is affiliated +with the Kolchak government. Northwest Russia opposes +the Esthonian government only in principle because +it wants guaranties that the Esthonians will not be the +stepping-stone for some big Power like Germany to control +the Russian outlet through the Baltic. If the Esthonians +give such guaranties, the northwestern Russians are +perfectly willing to let them become an independent state."<a name="FNanchor_321_321" id="FNanchor_321_321" href="#Footnote_321_321" >[321]</a></p> + +<p>Here then was a "British colonel" who, in addition to +his military duties, was, according to this account, willing +and able to create an independent republic without any +Supreme Council to assist him, whereas professional diplomatists +and military men of other nations had been +trying for months to found a Rhine republic under Dorten +and had failed. Nor did he, if the newspaper report +be correct, waste much time at the business. From the +moment of its inception until northwestern Russia stood +forth an independent state, promulgating and executing +grave decisions in the sphere of international politics, only +forty-five minutes are said to have elapsed. Forty-five +minutes by the clock. It was almost as quick a feat as +the drafting of the Covenant of Nations. Further, the +resourceful statemaker forged a republic which was qualified +to transfer sovereignly Russian territory to unrecognized +states without consulting the nation or obtaining +authority from any one. More marvelous than any other +detail, however, is the circumstance that he did his work +so well that it never amounted to intervention.<a name="FNanchor_322_322" id="FNanchor_322_322" href="#Footnote_322_322" >[322]</a></p> + +<p>One cannot affect surprise if the distinction between +this amazing exploit of diplomatico-military prestidigitation +and intermeddling in the internal affairs of another +nation prove too subtle for the mental grasp of the average +unpolitical individual.</p> + +<p>It is practices like these which ultimately determine +the worth of the treaties and the Covenant which Mr. +Wilson was content to take back with him to Washington +as the final outcome of what was to have been the most +superb achievement of historic man. Of the new ethical +principles, of the generous renunciation of privileges, of +the righting of secular wrongs, of the respect that was to +be shown for the weak, which were to have cemented the +union of peoples into one pacific if not blissful family, +there remained but the memory. No such bitter draught +of disappointment was swallowed by the nations since +the world first had a political history. Many of the resounding +phrases that once foretokened a new era of peace, +right, and equity were not merely emptied of their contents, +but made to connote their opposites. Freedom of +the seas became supremacy of the seas, which may possibly +turn out to be a blessed consummation for all concerned, +but should not have been smuggled in under a +gross misnomer. The abolition of war means, as British +and American and French generals and admirals have +since told their respective fellow-citizens, thorough preparations +for the next war, which are not to be confined, +as heretofore, to the so-called military states, but are +to extend over all Anglo-Saxondom.<a name="FNanchor_323_323" id="FNanchor_323_323" href="#Footnote_323_323" >[323]</a> "Open covenants +openly arrived at" signify secret conclaves and conspirative +deliberations carried on in impenetrable secrecy +which cannot be dispensed with even after the +whole business has passed into history.<a name="FNanchor_324_324" id="FNanchor_324_324" href="#Footnote_324_324" >[324]</a> The self-determination +of peoples finds its limit in the rights +of every Great Power to hold its subject nationalities +in thrall on the ground that their reciprocal relations +appertain to the domestic policy of the state. It means, +further, the privilege of those who wield superior force +to put irresistible pressure upon those who are weak, +and the lever which it places in their hands for the purpose +is to be known under the attractive name of the protection +of minorities. Abstention from interference in the +home affairs of a neighboring community is made to cover +intermeddling of the most irksome and humiliating character +in matters which have no nexus with international +law, for if they had, the rule would be applicable to all +nations. The lesser peoples must harken to injunctions +of the greater states respecting their mode of treating +alien immigrants and must submit to the control of foreign +bodies which are ignorant of the situation and its requirements. +Nor is it enough that those states should accord +to the members of the Jewish and other races all the rights +which their own citizens enjoy—they must go farther and +invest them with special privileges, and for this purpose +renounce a portion of their sovereignty. They must likewise +allow their more powerful allies to dictate to them +their legislation on matters of transit and foreign commerce.<a name="FNanchor_325_325" id="FNanchor_325_325" href="#Footnote_325_325" >[325]</a> +For the Great Powers, however, this law of +minorities was not written. They are above the law. +Their warrant is force. In a word, force is the trump +card in the political game of the future as it was in that +of the past. And M. Clemenceau's reminder to the petty +states at the opening of the Conference that the wielders +of twelve million troops are the masters of the situation +was appropriate. Thus the war which was provoked by +the transformation of a solemn treaty into a scrap of +paper was concluded by the presentation of two scraps +of paper as a treaty and a covenant for the moral renovation +of the world.</p> + + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_288_288" id="Footnote_288_288" href="#FNanchor_288_288"> [288]</a> <i>The Daily Telegraph</i>, March 28, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_289_289" id="Footnote_289_289" href="#FNanchor_289_289"> [289]</a> In a speech delivered at a dinner given in Paris on April 19, 1919, by +the Commonwealth of Australia to Australian soldiers.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_290_290" id="Footnote_290_290" href="#FNanchor_290_290"> [290]</a> In March, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_291_291" id="Footnote_291_291" href="#FNanchor_291_291"> [291]</a> August 19, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_292_292" id="Footnote_292_292" href="#FNanchor_292_292"> [292]</a> Cf. <i>Corriere delta Sera</i>, August 20, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_293_293" id="Footnote_293_293" href="#FNanchor_293_293"> [293]</a> <i>Ibidem</i> (<i>Corriere della Sera</i>, August 20, 1919).</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_294_294" id="Footnote_294_294" href="#FNanchor_294_294"> [294]</a> <i>L'Humanité,</i> May 21, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_295_295" id="Footnote_295_295" href="#FNanchor_295_295"> [295]</a> <i>The Nation</i>, August 23, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_296_296" id="Footnote_296_296" href="#FNanchor_296_296"> [296]</a> Chief of the Austrian police at Vienna Congress in the years 1814-15.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_297_297" id="Footnote_297_297" href="#FNanchor_297_297"> [297]</a> In <i>L'Echo de Paris</i>, March 2,1919. Cf. <i>The Daily Telegraph</i>, March 4th.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_298_298" id="Footnote_298_298" href="#FNanchor_298_298"> [298]</a> <i>Le Gaulois</i>, March 8, 1919. Cf. <i>The Daily Telegraph</i>, March 10th.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_299_299" id="Footnote_299_299" href="#FNanchor_299_299"> [299]</a> Cf. <i>The Chicago Tribune</i> (Paris edition), August 21, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_300_300" id="Footnote_300_300" href="#FNanchor_300_300"> [300]</a> Cf. <i>The Chicago Tribune</i> (Paris edition), August 23, 1919</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_301_301" id="Footnote_301_301" href="#FNanchor_301_301"> [301]</a> Report of Dr. Jacques Bertillon. Cf. <i>L'Information</i>, January 20, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_302_302" id="Footnote_302_302" href="#FNanchor_302_302"> [302]</a> Cf. <i>Le Matin</i>, August 13, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_303_303" id="Footnote_303_303" href="#FNanchor_303_303"> [303]</a> Excess of births over deaths (yearly average).—Cf. <i>L'Information,</i> +January 20, 1919: +</p> + +<table border='0' cellspacing='10' cellpadding='5' > + <tr class="center"> + <td></td> + <td>Germany</td> + <td>Great Britain</td> + <td>Italy</td> + <td>France</td> + </tr> + <tr class="center"> + <td>1861-70</td> + <td>408,333</td> + <td>365,499</td> + <td>183,196</td> + <td>93,515</td> + </tr> + <tr class="center"> + <td>1871-80</td> + <td>511,034</td> + <td>431,436</td> + <td>191,538</td> + <td>64,063</td> + </tr> + <tr class="center"> + <td>1881-90</td> + <td>551,308</td> + <td>442,112</td> + <td>307,082</td> + <td>66,982</td> + </tr> + <tr class="center"> + <td>1891-1900</td> + <td>730,265</td> + <td>430,000</td> + <td>339,409</td> + <td>23,961</td> + </tr> + <tr class="center"> + <td>1901-10</td> + <td>866,338</td> + <td>484,822</td> + <td>369,959</td> + <td>46,524</td> + </tr> +</table> + + +<p><a name="Footnote_304_304" id="Footnote_304_304" href="#FNanchor_304_304"> [304]</a> Professor L. Marchand. Cf. <i>La Démocratie Nouvelle</i>, April 26, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_305_305" id="Footnote_305_305" href="#FNanchor_305_305"> [305]</a> Dr. Walter Rathenau, in a book entitled <i>The Death of France</i>. I have +not been able to procure a copy of this book. The extracts given above +are taken from a statement published by M. Brudenne in the <i>Matin</i> of +February 16, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_306_306" id="Footnote_306_306" href="#FNanchor_306_306"> [306]</a> <i>Germania</i>, August 11, 1919. Cf. <i>Le Temps</i>, September 9, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_307_307" id="Footnote_307_307" href="#FNanchor_307_307"> [307]</a> M. André Tardieu in a speech delivered on August 17, 1919. Cf. Paris +newspapers of following two days, and in particular <i>New York Herald</i>, +August 19th.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_308_308" id="Footnote_308_308" href="#FNanchor_308_308"> [308]</a> Cf. speech delivered by M. André Tardieu on August 17, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_309_309" id="Footnote_309_309" href="#FNanchor_309_309"> [309]</a> On this subject of reparations the <i>Journal de Genève</i> published several +interesting articles at various times, as, for example, on May 15, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_310_310" id="Footnote_310_310" href="#FNanchor_310_310"> [310]</a> Speech of M. Klotz in the Chamber on September 5, 1919. Cf. <i>L'Echo +de Paris</i>, September 6, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_311_311" id="Footnote_311_311" href="#FNanchor_311_311"> [311]</a> D'Estournelles de Constant. <i>Bulletin des Droits de l'Homme</i>, May 15, +1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_312_312" id="Footnote_312_312" href="#FNanchor_312_312"> [312]</a> <i>The Chicago Tribune</i> (Paris edition), August 24, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_313_313" id="Footnote_313_313" href="#FNanchor_313_313"> [313]</a> Issued on November 9, 1918.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_314_314" id="Footnote_314_314" href="#FNanchor_314_314"> [314]</a> See <i>The Chicago Tribune</i> (Paris edition), August 30, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_315_315" id="Footnote_315_315" href="#FNanchor_315_315"> [315]</a> An American Senator uncharitably conjectured that she received this +honorable distinction in order to contribute an additional vote to the +British.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_316_316" id="Footnote_316_316" href="#FNanchor_316_316"> [316]</a> Cf. interview with a Persian official, published in the Paris edition of +<i>The Chicago Tribune</i>, August 19, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_317_317" id="Footnote_317_317" href="#FNanchor_317_317"> [317]</a> "Unfortunately, Mr. Lloyd George, who has stripped the Foreign Office +of real power, has frequently given assurances of this nature, and his acts +have always contradicted them. As a proof, his last interview with M. +Clemenceau will serve." Cf. <i>L'Echo de Paris</i>, August 15, 1919, article by +Pertinax.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_318_318" id="Footnote_318_318" href="#FNanchor_318_318"> [318]</a> <i>Le Journal des Débats</i>, August 15, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_319_319" id="Footnote_319_319" href="#FNanchor_319_319"> [319]</a> In Washington on August 16, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_320_320" id="Footnote_320_320" href="#FNanchor_320_320"> [320]</a> <i>The Chicago Tribune</i> (Paris edition), August 19, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_321_321" id="Footnote_321_321" href="#FNanchor_321_321"> [321]</a> <i>The Chicago Tribune</i> (Paris edition), August 24, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_322_322" id="Footnote_322_322" href="#FNanchor_322_322"> [322]</a> After the above was written, a French journal, the <i>Echo de Paris</i> of +September 19, 1919, announced that General Marsh declares that his +agents acted without his instructions, but none the less it holds him responsible +for this Baltic policy.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_323_323" id="Footnote_323_323" href="#FNanchor_323_323"> [323]</a> Marshal Douglas Haig, Lord French, the American pacifist, Sydney +Baker, Senator Chamberlain, Representative Kahn, and a host of others +have been preaching universal military training. The press, too, with considerable +exceptions, favors the movement. "We want a democratized +army, which represents all the nation, and it can be found only in universal +service.... Universal service is our best guaranty of peace." Cf. <i>The +Chicago Tribune</i> (Paris edition), August 22, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_324_324" id="Footnote_324_324" href="#FNanchor_324_324"> [324]</a> President Wilson, when at the close of his conference with the Senate +Committee on Foreign Relations—at the White House—asked how the +United States had voted on the Japanese resolution in favor of race equality, +replied: "I am not sure of being free to answer the question, because it +affects a large number of points that were discussed in Paris, and in the +interest of international harmony I think I had better not reply."—<i>The +Daily Mail</i> (Paris edition), August 22, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_325_325" id="Footnote_325_325" href="#FNanchor_325_325"> [325]</a> In virtue of Article LX of the Treaty with Austria.</p> + + +<hr /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV" />XIV</h3> + +<h3>THE TREATY WITH GERMANY</h3> + + +<p>To discuss in detail the peace terms which after many +months' desultory talk were finally presented to +Count Brockdorff-Rantzau would transcend the scope +of these pages. Like every other act of the Supreme +Council, they may be viewed from one of two widely +sundered angles of survey—either as the exercise by a +victorious state of the power derived from victory over +the vanquished enemy, or as one of the measures by which +the peace of the world is to be enforced in the present and +consolidated in the future. And from neither point of +view can it command the approval of unbiased political +students. At first the Germans, and not they alone, +expected that the conditions would be based on the +Fourteen Points, while many of the Allies took it for +granted that they would be inspired by the resolve to +cripple Teutondom for all time. And for each of these +anticipations there were good formal grounds.</p> + +<p>The only legitimate motive for interweaving the +Covenant with the Treaty was to make of the latter a sort +of corollary of the former and to moderate the instincts +of vengeance by the promptings of higher interests. On +this ground, and only on this, did the friends of far-ranging +reform support Mr. Wilson in his contention +that the two documents should be rendered mutually +interdependent. Reparation for the damage done in +violation of international law and sound guaranties +against its recurrence are of the essence of every peace +treaty that follows a decisive victory. But reparation is +seldom this and nothing more. The lower instincts of +human nature, when dominant as they are during a +bloody war and in the hour of victory, generally outweigh +considerations not only of right, but also of enlightened +egotism, leaving justice to merge into vengeance. +And the fruits are treasured wrath and a secret +resolve on the part of the vanquished to pay out his +victor at the first opportunity. The war-loser of to-day +aims at becoming the war-winner of to-morrow. And +this frame of mind is incompatible with the temper needed +for an era of moral fellowship such as Mr. Wilson was +supposed to be intent on establishing. Consequently, a +peace treaty unmodified by the principles underlying the +Covenant is necessarily a negation of the main possibilities +of a society of nations based upon right and a decisive +argument against joining together the two instruments.</p> + +<p>The other kind of peace which Mr. Wilson was believed +to have had at heart consisted not merely in the liquidation +of the war, but in the uprooting of its permanent +causes, in the renunciation by the various nations of +sanguinary conflicts as a means of determining rival +claims, and in such an amicable rearrangement of international +relations as would keep such disputes from +growing into dangerous quarrels. Right, or as near an +approximation to it as is attainable, would then take the +place of violence, whereby military guaranties would +become not only superfluous, but indicative of a spirit +irreconcilable with the main purpose of the League. +Each nation would be entitled to equal opportunity within +the limits assigned to it by nature and widened by its +own mental and moral capacities. Thus permanently to +forbid a numerous, growing, and territorially cramped +nation to possess overseas colonies for its superfluous +population while overburdening others with possessions +which they are unable to utilize, would constitute a +negation of one of the basic principles of the new ordering.</p> + +<p>Those were the grounds which seemed to warrant the +belief that the Treaty would be not only formally, but +substantially and in its spirit an integral, part of the +general settlement based on the Fourteen Points.</p> + +<p>This anticipation turned out to be a delusion. Wilsonianism +proved to be a very different system from that +of the Fourteen Points, and its author played the part not +only of an interpreter of his tenets, but also of a sort +of political pope alone competent to annul the force of +laws binding on all those whom he should refuse to dispense +from their observance. He had to do with patriotic +politicians permeated with the old ideas, desirous of providing +in the peace terms for the next war and striving +to secure the maximum of advantage over the foe presumptive, +by dismembering his territory, depriving him +of colonies, making him dependent on others for his +supplies of raw stuffs, and artificially checking his natural +growth. Nearly all of them had principles to invoke in +favor of their claims and some had nothing else. And +it was these tendencies which Mr. Wilson sought to +combine with the ethical ideals to be incarnated in the +Society of Nations. Now this was an impossible synthesis. +The spirit of vindictiveness—for that was well +represented at the Conference—was to merge and lose +itself in an outflow of magnanimity; precautions against a +hated enemy were to be interwoven with implicit confidence +in his generosity; a military occupation would +provide against a sudden onslaught, while an approach +to disarmament would bear witness to the absence of +suspicion. Thus Poland would discharge the function of +France's ally against the Teutons in the east, but her +frontiers were to leave her inefficiently protected against +their future attacks from the west. Germany was dismembered, +yet she was credited with self-discipline and +generosity enough to steel her against the temptation to +profit by the opportunity of joining together again what +France had dissevered. The League of Nations was to +be based upon mutual confidence and good fellowship, +yet one of its most powerful future members was so distrusted +as to be declared permanently unworthy to possess +any overseas colonies. Germany's territory in the Saar +Valley is admittedly inhabited by Germans, yet for +fifteen years there is to be a foreign administration there, +and at the end of it the people are to be asked whether +they would like to cut the bonds that link them with their +own state and place themselves under French sway, so +that a premium is offered for French immigration into +the Saar Valley.</p> + +<p>Those are a few of the consequences of the mixture +of the two irreconcilable principles.</p> + +<p>That Germany richly deserved her punishment cannot +be gainsaid. Her crime was without precedent. Some +of its most sinister consequences are irremediable. Whole +sections of her people are still unconscious not only of +the magnitude, but of the criminal character, of their misdeeds. +None the less there is a future to be provided +for, and one of the safest provisions is to influence the +potential enemy's will for evil if his power cannot be +paralyzed. And this the Treaty failed to do.</p> + +<p>The Germans, when they learned the conditions, discussed +them angrily, and the keynote was refusal to sign +the document. The financial clauses were stigmatized +as masked slavery. The press urged that during the +war less than one-tenth of France's territory had been +occupied by their countrymen and that even of this only +a fragment was in the zone of combat. The entire wealth +of France, they alleged, had been estimated before the war +at from three hundred and fifty milliard to four hundred +milliard francs, consequently for the devastated provinces +hardly more than one-twentieth of that sum could fairly +be demanded as reparation, whereas the claim set forth +was incomparably more. They objected to the loss of +their colonies because the justification alleged—that they +were disqualified to administer them because of their +former cruelties toward the natives—was groundless, +as the Allies themselves had admitted implicitly by +offering them the right of pre-emption in the case of the +Portuguese and other overseas possessions on the very +eve of the war.</p> + +<p>But the most telling objections turned upon the clauses +that dealt with the Saar Valley. Its population is entirely +German, yet the treaty-makers provided for its occupation +by the French for a term of fifteen years and its +transference to them if, after that term, the German +government was unable to pay a certain sum in gold +for the coal mines it contained. If that sum were not +forthcoming the population and the district were to be +handed over to France for all time, even though the +former should vote unanimously for reunion with Germany. +Count Brockdorff-Rantzau remarked in his note +on the Treaty "that in the history of modern times there +is no other example of a civilized Power obliging a state +to abandon its people to foreign domination as an equivalent +for a cash payment." One of the most influential +press organs complained that the Treaty "bartered +German men, women, and children for coal; subjected +some districts with a thoroughly German population +to an obligatory plebiscite<a name="FNanchor_326_326" id="FNanchor_326_326" href="#Footnote_326_326" >[326]</a> under interested supervision; +severed others without any consultation from the Fatherland; +delivered over the proceeds of German industry +to the greed of foreign capitalists for an indefinite period; ... +spread over the whole country a network of alien +commissions to be paid by the German nation; withdrew +streams, rivers, railways, the air service, numerous +industrial establishments, the entire economic system, +from the sovereignty of the German state by means either +of internationalization or financial control; conferred on +foreign inspectors rights such as only the satraps of +absolute monarchs in former ages were empowered to +exercise; in a word, they put an end to the existence +of the German nation as such. Germany would become +a colony of white slaves...."<a name="FNanchor_327_327" id="FNanchor_327_327" href="#Footnote_327_327" >[327]</a></p> + +<p>Fortunately for the Allies, the reproach of exchanging +human beings for coal was seen by their leaders to be so +damaging that they modified the odious clause that +warranted it. Even the comments of the friendly neutral +press were extremely pungent. They found fault with +the Treaty on grounds which, unhappily, cannot be reasoned +away. "Why dissimulate it?" writes the foremost +of these journals; "this peace is not what we were led to +expect. It dislodges the old dangers, but creates new +ones. Alsace and Lorraine are, it is true, no longer in +German hands, but ... irredentism has only changed +its camp. In 1914 Germany put her faith in force because +she herself wielded it. But crushed down under a peace +which appears to violate the promises made to her, a +peace which in her heart of hearts she will never accept, +she will turn toward force anew. It will stand out as the +great misfortune of this Treaty that it has tainted the +victory with a moral blight and caused the course of the +German revolution to swerve.... The fundamental +error of the instrument lies in the circumstance that it +is a compromise between two incompatible frames of +mind. It was feasible to restore peace to Europe by +pulling down Germany definitely. But in order to +accomplish this it would have been necessary to crush +a people of seventy millions and to incapacitate them +from rising to their feet again. Peace could also have +been secured by the sole force of right. But in this case +Germany would have had to be treated so considerately +as to leave her no grievance to brood over. M. Clemenceau +hindered Mr. Wilson from displaying sufficient +generosity to get the moral peace, and Mr. Wilson on his +side prevented M. Clemenceau from exercising severity +enough to secure the material peace. And so the result, +which it was easy to foresee, is a régime devoid of the +real guaranties of durability."<a name="FNanchor_328_328" id="FNanchor_328_328" href="#Footnote_328_328" >[328]</a></p> + +<p>The judge of the French syndicalists was still more +severe. "The Versailles peace," exclaimed M. Verfeuil, +"is worse than the peace of Brest-Litovsk ... annexations, +economic servitudes, overwhelming indemnities, +and a caricature of the Society of Nations—these constitute +the balance of the new policy,"<a name="FNanchor_329_329" id="FNanchor_329_329" href="#Footnote_329_329" >[329]</a> The Deputy +Marcel Cachin said: "The Allied armies fought to make +this war the last. They fought for a just and lasting +peace, but none of these boons has been bestowed on us. +We are confronted with the failure of the policy of the +one man in whom our party had put its confidence—President +Wilson. The peace conditions ... are inacceptable +from various points of view, financial, territorial, +economic, social, and human."<a name="FNanchor_330_330" id="FNanchor_330_330" href="#Footnote_330_330" >[330]</a></p> + +<p>It is in this Treaty far more than in the Covenant that +the principles to which Mr. Wilson at first committed +himself are in decisive issue. True, he was wont after +every surrender he made during the Conference to invoke +the Covenant and its concrete realization—the League +of Nations—as the corrective which would set everything +right in the future. But the fact can hardly be blinked +that it is the Treaty and its effects that impress their +character on the Covenant and not the other way round. +As an eminent Swiss professor observed: "No league +of nations would have hindered the Belgian people in +1830 from separating from Holland. Can the future +League of Nations hinder Germany from reconstituting +its geographical unity? Can it hinder the Germans of +Bohemia from smiting the Czech? Can it prevent the +Magyars, who at present are scattered, from working +for their reunion?"<a name="FNanchor_331_331" id="FNanchor_331_331" href="#Footnote_331_331" >[331]</a></p> + +<p>These potential disturbances are so many dangers to +France. For if war should break out in eastern Europe, +is it to be supposed that the United States, the British +colonies, or even Britain herself will send troops to take +part in it? Hardly. Suppose, for instance, that the +Austrians, who ardently desire to be merged in Germany, +proclaim their union with her, as I am convinced they +will one day, does any statesman believe that democratic +America will despatch troops to coerce them back? If the +Germans of Bohemia secede from the Czechoslovaks +or the Croats from the Serbs, will British armies cross +the sea to uphold the union which those peoples repudiate? +And in the name of which of the Fourteen Points would +they undertake the task? That of self-determination? +France's interests, and hers alone, would be affected by +such changes. And France would be left to fight single-handed. +For what?</p> + +<p>It is interesting to note how the conditions imposed +upon Germany were appreciated by an influential body +of Mr. Wilson's American partizans who had pinned their +faith to his Fourteen Points. Their view is expressed +by their press organ as follows:<a name="FNanchor_332_332" id="FNanchor_332_332" href="#Footnote_332_332" >[332]</a></p> + +<p>"France remains the strongest Power on the Continent. +With her military establishment intact she faces a Germany +without a general staff, without conscription, without +universal military training, with a strictly limited +amount of light artillery, with no air service, no fleet, +with no domestic basis in raw materials for armament +manufacture, with her whole western border fifty kilometers +east of the Rhine demilitarized. On top of this +France has a system of military alliances with the new +states that touch Germany. On top of this she secured +permanent representation in the Council of the League, +from which Germany is excluded. On top of that economic +terms which, while they cannot be fulfilled, do +cripple the industrial life of her neighbor. With such a +balance of forces France demands for herself a form of +protection which neither Belgium, nor Poland, nor +Czechoslovakia, nor Italy is granted."</p> + + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_326_326" id="Footnote_326_326" href="#FNanchor_326_326"> [326]</a> One of the three districts of Schleswig. A curious phenomenon was +this zeal of the Supreme Council for Denmark's interests, as compared with +Denmark's refusal to profit by it, the champions of self-determination +urging the Danes to demand a district, as Danish, which the Danes knew +to be German!</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_327_327" id="Footnote_327_327" href="#FNanchor_327_327"> [327]</a> <i>Das Berliner Tageblatt</i>, June 4, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_328_328" id="Footnote_328_328" href="#FNanchor_328_328"> [328]</a> <i>Le Journal de Genève</i>, June 24, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_329_329" id="Footnote_329_329" href="#FNanchor_329_329"> [329]</a> Cf. <i>L'Echo de Paris</i>, May 12, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_330_330" id="Footnote_330_330" href="#FNanchor_330_330"> [330]</a> <i>Ibidem</i>.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_331_331" id="Footnote_331_331" href="#FNanchor_331_331"> [331]</a> In a monograph entitled <i>Plus Jamais</i>.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_332_332" id="Footnote_332_332" href="#FNanchor_332_332"> [332]</a> Cf. <i>The New Republic</i>, August 13, 1919, p. 43.</p> + + +<hr /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV" />XV</h3> + +<h3>THE TREATY WITH BULGARIA</h3> + + +<p>Among all the strange products of the many-sided +outbursts of the leading delegates' reconstructive +activity, the Treaty with Bulgaria stands out in bold +relief. It reveals the high-water mark reached by those +secret, elusive, and decisive influences which swayed so +many of the mysterious decisions adopted by the Conference. +As Bulgaria disposed of an abundant source +of those influences, her chastisement partakes of some +of the characteristics of a reward. Not only did she not +fare as the treacherous enemy that she showed herself, +but she emerged from the ordeal much better off than +several of the victorious states. Unlike Serbia, Rumania, +France, and Belgium, she escaped the horrors of a foreign +invasion and she possessed and fructified all her resources +down to the day when the armistice was concluded. +Her peasant population made huge profits during the +campaign and her armies despoiled Serbia, Rumania, +and Greek Macedonia and sent home enormous booty. +In a word, she is richer and more prosperous than before +she entered the arena against her protectors and former +allies.</p> + +<p>For, owing to the intercession of her powerful friends, +she was treated with a degree of indulgence which, +although expected by all who were initiated into the +secrets of "open diplomacy," scandalized those who were +anxious that at least some simulacrum of justice should +be maintained. Germany was forced to sign a blank +check which her enemies will one day fill in. Austria was +reduced to the status of a parasite living on the bounty of +the Great Powers and denied the right of self-determination. +Even France, exhausted by five years' superhuman +efforts, beholds with alarm her financial future entirely +dependent upon the ability or inability of Germany to +pay the damages to which she was condemned.</p> + +<p>But the Prussia of the Balkans, owing to the intercession +of influential anonymous friends, had no such consequences +to deplore. Although she contracted heavy debts +toward Germany, she was relieved of the effort to pay +them. Her financial obligations were first transferred<a name="FNanchor_333_333" id="FNanchor_333_333" href="#Footnote_333_333" >[333]</a> +to the Allies and then magnanimously wiped out by these, +who then limited all her liabilities for reparations to two +and a quarter milliard francs. An Inter-Allied commission +in Sofia is to find and return the loot to its lawful owners, +but it is to charge no indemnity for the damage done. +Nor will it contain representatives of the states whose +property the Bulgars abstracted. Serbia is allowed +neither indemnity nor reparation. She is to receive a +share which the Treaty neglected to fix of the two and a +quarter milliard francs on a date which has also been +left undetermined. She is not even to get back the +herds of cattle of which the Bulgars robbed her. The +lawgivers in Paris considered that justice would be met +by obliging the Bulgars to restore 28,000 head of cattle +in lieu of the 3,200,000 driven off, so that even if the ill-starred +Serbs should identify, say, one million more, they +would have no right to enforce their claim.<a name="FNanchor_334_334" id="FNanchor_334_334" href="#Footnote_334_334" >[334]</a></p> + +<p>Nor is that the only disconcerting detail in the Treaty. +The Supreme Council, which sanctioned the military occupation +of a part of Germany as a guaranty for the fulfilment +of the peace conditions, dispenses Bulgaria from +any such irksome conditions. Bulgaria's good faith appeared +sufficient to the politicians who drafted the instrument. +"For reasons which one hardly dares touch +upon," writes an eminent French publicist,<a name="FNanchor_335_335" id="FNanchor_335_335" href="#Footnote_335_335" >[335]</a> "several of +the Powers that constitute the famous world areopagus +count on the future co-operation of Bulgaria. We shrink +in dismay from the perspective thus opened to our gaze."<a name="FNanchor_336_336" id="FNanchor_336_336" href="#Footnote_336_336" >[336]</a></p> + +<p>The territorial changes which the Prussia of the +Balkans was condemned to undergo are neither very +considerable nor unjust. Rumania receives no Bulgarian +territory, the frontiers of 1913 remaining unaltered. +Serbia nets some on grounds which cannot be +called in question, and a large part of Thrace which is inhabited, +not by Bulgars, but mainly by Greeks and Turks, +was taken from Bulgaria, but allotted to no state in particular. +The upshot of the Treaty, as it appeared to +most of the leading publicists on the Continent of Europe, +was to leave Bulgaria, whose cruelty and destructiveness +are described by official and unofficial reports as unparalleled, +in a position of economic superiority to Serbia, +Greece, and Rumania. And in the Inter-Allied commission +Bulgaria is to have a representative, while Serbia, +Greece, and Rumania, a part of whose stolen property +the commission has to recover, will have none.</p> + +<p>A comparison between the indulgence lavished upon +Bulgaria and the severity displayed toward Rumania is +calculated to disconcert the stanchest friends of the +Supreme Council. The Rumanian government, in a dignified +note to the Conference, explained its refusal to sign +the Treaty with Austria by enumerating a series of facts +which amount to a scathing condemnation of the work +of the Supreme Council. On the one hand the Council +pleaded the engagements entered into between Japan and +her European allies as a cogent motive for handing over +Shantung to Japan. For treaties must be respected. +And the argument is sound. On the other hand, they +were bound by a similar treaty<a name="FNanchor_337_337" id="FNanchor_337_337" href="#Footnote_337_337" >[337]</a> to give Rumania the +whole Banat, the Rumanian districts of Hungary and the +Bukovina as far as the river Pruth. But at the Conference +they repudiated this engagement. In 1916 they +stipulated that if Rumania entered the war they would +co-operate with ample military forces. They failed to +redeem their promise. And they further undertook that +"Rumania shall have the same rights as the Allies in the +peace preliminaries and negotiations and also in discussing +the issues which shall be laid before the Peace Conference +for its decisions." Yet, as we saw, she was denied these +rights, and her delegates were not informed of the subjects +under discussion nor allowed to see the terms of +peace, which were in the hands of the enemies, and were +only twice admitted to the presence of the Supreme +Council.</p> + +<p>It has been observed in various countries and by the +Allied and the neutral press that between the German +view about the sacredness of treaties and that of the +Supreme Council there is no substantial difference.<a name="FNanchor_338_338" id="FNanchor_338_338" href="#Footnote_338_338" >[338]</a> +Comments of this nature are all the more distressing that +they cannot be thrust aside as calumnious. Again it will +not be denied that Rumania rendered inestimable services +to the Allies. She sacrificed three hundred thousand +of her sons to their cause. Her soil was invaded and her +property stolen or ruined. Yet she has been deprived +of part of her sovereignty by the Allies to whom she gave +this help. The Supreme Council, not content with her +law conferring equal rights on all her citizens, to whatever +race or religion they may belong, ordered her to +submit to the direction of a foreign board in everything +concerning her minorities and demanded from her a +promise of obedience in advance to their future decrees +respecting her policy in matters of international trade +and transit. These stipulations constitute a noteworthy +curtailment of her sovereignty.</p> + +<p>That any set of public men should be carried by extrinsical +motives thus far away from justice, fair play, +and good faith would be a misfortune under any circumstances, +but that at a conjuncture like the present it +should befall the men who set up as the moral guides of +mankind and wield the power to loosen the fabric of +society is indeed a dire disaster.</p> + + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_333_333" id="Footnote_333_333" href="#FNanchor_333_333"> [333]</a> In June, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_334_334" id="Footnote_334_334" href="#FNanchor_334_334"> [334]</a> The comments on these terms, published by M. Gauvain in the <i>Journal +des Débats</i> (September 20, 1919), are well worth reading.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_335_335" id="Footnote_335_335" href="#FNanchor_335_335"> [335]</a> M. Auguste Gauvain.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_336_336" id="Footnote_336_336" href="#FNanchor_336_336"> [336]</a> <i>Le Journal des Débats</i>, September 20, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_337_337" id="Footnote_337_337" href="#FNanchor_337_337"> [337]</a> Concluded in the year 1916.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_338_338" id="Footnote_338_338" href="#FNanchor_338_338"> [338]</a> Cf. <i>The Daily Mail</i> (Paris edition), September 21, 1919.</p> + + +<hr /> +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI" />XVI</h3> + +<h3>THE COVENANT AND MINORITIES</h3> + + +<p>In Mr. Wilson's scheme for the establishment of a +society of nations there was nothing new but his +pledge to have it realized. And that pledge has still to +be redeemed under conditions which he himself has made +much more unfavorable than they were. The idea itself—floating +in the political atmosphere for ages—has come +to seem less vague and unattainable since the days of +Kant. The only heads of states who had set themselves +to embody it in institutions before President Wilson took +it up not only disappointed the peoples who believed in +them, but discredited the idea itself.</p> + +<p>That a merely mechanical organization such as the +American statesman seems to have had in mind, formed +by parliamentary politicians deliberating in secret, could +bind nations and peoples together in moral fellowship, is +conceivable in the abstract. But if we turn to the reality, +we shall find that in that direction nothing durable can +be effected without a radical change in the ideas, aspirations, +and temper of the leaders who speak for the nations +to-day, and, indeed, in those of large sections of the +nations themselves. For to organize society on those +unfamiliar lines is to modify some of the deepest-rooted +instincts of human nature. And that cannot be achieved +overnight, certainly not in the span of thirty minutes, +which sufficed for the drafting of the Covenant. The +bulk of mankind might not need to be converted, but +whole classes must first be educated, and in some countries +re-educated, which is perhaps still more difficult. +Mental and moral training must complement and reinforce +each other, and each political unit be brought to +realize that the interests of the vaster community take +precedence over those of any part of it. And to impress +these novel views upon the peoples of the world takes +time.</p> + +<p>An indispensable condition of success is that the compact +binding the members together must be entered into +by the peoples, not merely by their governments. For +it is upon the masses that the burden of the war lies +heaviest. It is the bulk of the population that supplies +the soldiers, the money, and the work for the belligerent +states, and endures the hardships and makes the sacrifices +requisite to sustain it. Therefore, the peoples are primarily +interested in the abolition of the old ordering and +the forging of the new. Moreover, as latter-day campaigns +are waged with all the resources of the warring +peoples, and as the possession of certain of these resources +is often both the cause of the conflict and the objective +of the aggressor, it follows that no mere political enactments +will meet contemporary requirements. An association +of nations renouncing the sword as a means of +settling disputes must also reduce as far as possible the +surface over which friction with its neighbors is likely to +take place. And nowadays most of that surface is economic. +The possession of raw materials is a more potent +attraction than territorial aggrandizement. Indeed, the +latter is coveted mainly as a means of securing or safeguarding +the former. On these and other grounds, in +drawing up a charter for a society of nations, the political +aspect should play but a subsidiary part. In Paris it +was the only aspect that counted for anything.</p> + +<p>A parliament of peoples, then, is the only organ that can +impart viability to a society of nations worthy of the +name. By joining the Covenant with the Peace Treaty, +and turning the former into an instrument for the execution +of the latter, thus subordinating the ideal to the egotistical, +Mr. Wilson deprived his plan of its sole justification, +and for the time being buried it. The philosopher +Lichtenberg<a name="FNanchor_339_339" id="FNanchor_339_339" href="#Footnote_339_339" >[339]</a> wrote, "One man brings forth a thought, +another holds it over the baptismal font, the third begets +offspring with it, the fourth stands at its deathbed, and +the fifth buries it." Mr. Wilson has discharged the functions +of gravedigger to the idea of a pacific society of +nations, just as Lenin has done to the system of Marxism, +the only difference being that Marxism is as dead as a +door-nail, whereas the society of nations may rise again.</p> + +<p>It was open, then, to the three principal delegates to +insure the peace of the world by moral means or by force. +Having eschewed the former by adopting the doctrines of +Monroe, abandoning the freedom of the seas, and by +according to France strategic frontiers and other privileges +of the militarist order, they might have enlarged +and systematized these concessions to expediency and +forged an alliance of the three states or of two, and undertaken +to keep peace on the planet against all marplots. +I wrote at the time: "The delegates are becoming conscious +of the existence of a ready-made league of nations +in the shape of the Anglo-Saxon states, which, together +with France, might hinder wars, promote good-fellowship, +remold human destinies; and they are delighted thus to +possess solid foundations on which a noble edifice can be +raised in the fullness of time. Tribunals will be created, +with full powers to adjudge disputes; facilities will be +accorded to litigious states, and even an obligation will +be imposed to invoke their arbitration. And the sum +total of these reforms will be known to contemporary +annals as an inchoate League of Nations. The delegates +are already modestly disavowing the intention of realizing +the ideal in all its parts. That must be left to coming +generations; but what with the exhaustion of the peoples, +their aversion from warfare, and the material obstacles +to the renewal of hostilities in the near future, it is calculated +that the peace will not soon be violated. Whether +more salient results will be attained or attempted by the +Conference nobody can foretell."<a name="FNanchor_340_340" id="FNanchor_340_340" href="#Footnote_340_340" >[340]</a></p> + +<p>This expedient, even had it been deliberately conceived +and skilfully wrought out, would not have been an +adequate solution of the world's difficulties, nor would it +have commended itself to all the states concerned. But +it would at least have been a temporary makeshift +capable of being transmuted under favorable circumstances +into something less material and more durable. +But the amateur world-reformers could not make up +their minds to choose either alternative. And the result +is one of the most lamentable failures recorded in human +history.</p> + +<p>I placed my own opinion on record at the time as +frankly as the censorship which still existed for me would +permit. I wrote: "What every delegate with sound +political instinct will ask himself is, whether the League +of Nations will eliminate wars in future, and, if not, he +will feel conscientiously bound to adopt other relatively +sure means of providing against them, and these consist +of alliances, strategic frontiers, and the permanent disablement +of the potential enemy. On one or other of +these alternative lines the resettlement must be devised. +To combine them would be ruinous. Now of what practical +use is a league of nations devoid of supernational +forces and faced by a numerous, virile, and united race, +smarting under a sense of injustice, thirsting for the opportunities +for development denied to it, but granted to +nations which it despises as inferior? Would a league +of nations combine militarily against the gradual encroachments +or sudden aggression of that Power against +its weaker neighbors? Nobody is authorized to answer +this question affirmatively. To-day the Powers cannot +agree to intervene against Bolshevism, which they +deem a scourge of the world, nor can they agree to +tolerate it.</p> + +<p>"In these circumstances, what compelling motives can +be laid before those delegates who are asked to dispense +with strategic frontiers and rely upon a league of nations +for their defense? Take France's outlook. Peace once concluded, +she will be confronted with a secular enemy who +numbers some seventy millions to her forty-five millions. +In ten years the disproportion will be still greater. Discontented +Russia is almost certain to be taken in hand by +Germany, befriended, reorganized, exploited, and enlisted +as an ally."<a name="FNanchor_341_341" id="FNanchor_341_341" href="#Footnote_341_341" >[341]</a></p> + + +<p>Conscious of these reefs and shoals, the French government, +which was at first contemptuous of the Wilsonian +scheme, discerned the use it might be put to as a military +safeguard, and sought to convert it into that. "The +French," wrote a Francophil English journal published in +Paris, "would like the League to maintain what may be +called a permanent military general staff. The duties +of this organization would be to keep a hawklike eye on +the misdemeanors, actual or threatened, of any state or +group of states, and to be empowered with authority to +call into instant action a great international military force +for the frustration or suppression of such aggression. +The French have frankly in mind the possibility that an +unrepentant and unregenerate Germany is the most +likely menace not only to the security of France, but to +the peace of the world in general."<a name="FNanchor_342_342" id="FNanchor_342_342" href="#Footnote_342_342" >[342]</a></p> + +<p>And other states cherished analogous hopes. The +spirit of right and justice was to be evoked like the +spirit that served Aladdin, and to be compelled to enter the +service of nationalism and militarism, and accomplish +the task of armies.</p> + +<p>The paramount Powers prescribed the sacrifices of sovereignty +which membership of the League necessitated, +and forthwith dispensed themselves from making them. +The United States government maintained its Monroe +Doctrine for America—nay, it went farther and identified +its interests with the Hay doctrine for the Far East.<a name="FNanchor_343_343" id="FNanchor_343_343" href="#Footnote_343_343" >[343]</a> +It decided to construct a powerful navy for the defense +of these political assets, and to give the youth of the +country a semi-military training.<a name="FNanchor_344_344" id="FNanchor_344_344" href="#Footnote_344_344" >[344]</a> Defense presupposes +attack. War, therefore, is not excluded—nay, it is admitted +by the world-reformers, and preparations for it are +indispensable. Equally so are the burdens of taxation. +But if liberty of defense be one of the rights of two or three +Powers, by what law is it confined to them and denied +to the others? Why should the other communities be +constrained to remain open to attack? Surely they, too, +deserve to live and thrive, and make the most of their +opportunities. Now if in lieu of a misnamed League of +Nations we had an Anglo-Saxon board for the better +government of the world, these unequal weights and +measures would be intelligible on the principle that special +obligations and responsibilities warrant exceptional rights. +But no such plea can be advanced under an arrangement +professing to be a society of free nations. All that can +with truth be said is what M. Clemenceau told the delegates +of the lesser states at the opening of the Conference—that +the three great belligerents represent twelve million +soldiers and that their supreme authority derives from +that. The rôle of the other peoples is to listen to the +behests of their guardians, and to accept and execute them +without murmur. Might is still a source of right.</p> + +<p>It is fair to say that the disclosure of the true base of +the new ordering, as blurted out by M. Clemenceau at +that historic meeting, caused little surprise among the +initiated. For there was no reason to assume that he, or, +indeed, the bulk of the continental statesmen, were converts +to a doctrine of which its own apostle accepted only +those fragments which commended themselves to his +country or his party. Had not the French Premier +scoffed at the League in public as in private? Had he +not said in the Chamber: "I do not believe that the +Society of Nations constitutes the necessary conclusion +of the present war. I will give you one of my reasons. +It is this: if to-morrow you were to propose to me that +Germany should enter into this society I would not +consent."<a name="FNanchor_345_345" id="FNanchor_345_345" href="#Footnote_345_345" >[345]</a></p> + +<p>"I am certain," wrote one of the ablest and most ardent +champions of the League in France, Senator d'Estournelles +de Constant—"I am certain that he [M. Clemenceau] made +an effort against himself, against his entire past, against +his whole life, against all his convictions, to serve the +Society of Nations. And his Minister of Foreign Affairs +followed him."<a name="FNanchor_346_346" id="FNanchor_346_346" href="#Footnote_346_346" >[346]</a> Exactly. And as with M. Clemenceau, +so it was with the majority of European statesmen; most +of them made strenuous and, one may add, successful +efforts against their convictions. And the result was +inevitable.</p> + +<p>"The governments," we read in the organ of syndicalists, +who had supported Mr. Wilson as long as they believed +him determined to redeem his promises—"the +governments have acquiesced in the Fourteen Points.... +Hypocrisy. Each one cherished mental reservations. +Virtue was exalted and vice practised. The poltroon +eulogized heroism; the imperialist lauded the spirit of +justice. For the past month we have been picking up +ideas about the worth of the adhesions to the Fourteen +Points, and never before has a more sinister or a more +odious comedy been played. Territorial demands have +been heaved one upon the other; contempt of the rights +of peoples—the only right that we can recognize—has +been expressed in striking terms; the last restraints have +vanished; the masks have fallen."<a name="FNanchor_347_347" id="FNanchor_347_347" href="#Footnote_347_347" >[347]</a></p> + + +<p>From every country in Europe the same judgment +came pitched in varying keys. The Italian press condemned +the proceedings of the Conference in language +to the full as strong as that of the German or Austrian +journals. The <i>Stampa</i> affirmed that those who, like +Bissolati, were in the beginning for placing their trust in +one of the two coteries at the Conference were guilty of a +fatal mistake. "The mistake lay in their belief in the +ideal strivings of one of the parties, and in the horror +with which the cupidity of the others was contemplated, +whereas both of them were fighting for ... their interests.... +In verity France was no less militarist or +absolutist than Germany, nor was England less avid than +either. And the proof is enshrined in the peace treaties +which have masked the results of their respective victories. +<i>Versailles is a Brest-Litovsk</i>, aggravated in the +same proportion as the victory of the Entente over Germany, +is more complete than was that of Germany over +Russia. Cupidity does not alter its character, even when +it seeks to conceal itself under a Phrugian cap rather than +wear a helmet."<a name="FNanchor_348_348" id="FNanchor_348_348" href="#Footnote_348_348" >[348]</a></p> + +<p>M. Clemenceau's opening utterance about the twelve +million men, and the unlimited right which such formidable +armies confer on their possessors to sit in judgment +on the tribes and peoples of the planet, was the true +keynote to the Conference. After that the leading statesmen +trimmed their ship, touched the rudder, and sailed +toward downright absolutism.</p> + +<p>The effect of such utterances and acts on the minds of +the peoples are distinctly mischievous. For they tend +to obliterate the sense of public right, which is the main +foundation of international intercourse among progressive +nations.</p> + +<p>And already it had been shaken and weakened by the +campaigns of the past fifty years, and in particular by the +last war. In the relations of nation to nation there were +certain principles—derivatives of ethics diluted with +maxims of expediency—which kept the various governments +from too flagrant breaches of faith. These checks +were the only substitute for morality in politics. Their +highest power was connoted by the word Europeanism, +which stood for a supposed feeling of solidarity among all +the peoples of the old Continent, and for a certain respect +for the treaties on which the state-system reposed. But +it existed mainly among defeated nations when apprehensive +of being isolated or chastised by their victors. +None the less, the idea marked a certain advance toward +an ethical bond of union.</p> + + +<p>Now this embryonic sense, together with respect for +the binding force of a nation's plighted troth, were numbered +by the demoralizing influence of the wars of the last +fifty years. And one of the first and peremptory needs +of the world was their restoration. This could be effected +only by bringing the peoples, not merely of Europe, +but of the world, more closely together, by engrafting +on them a feeling of close solidarity, and impressing +them with the necessity of making common cause in +the one struggle worth their while waging—resistance to +the forces that militate against human welfare and +progress. The feeling was widespread that the way to +effect this was by some form of internationalism, by the +broadening, deepening, and quickening all that was implied +by Europeanism, by co-ordinating the collective +energies of all progressive peoples, and causing them to +converge toward a common and worthy goal. For the +working classes this conception in a restricted form had +long possessed a commanding attraction. What they +aimed at, however, was no more than the catholicity of +labor. They fancied that after the passage of the tidal +wave of destructiveness the ground was cleared of most +of the obstacles which had encumbered it, and that the +forward advance might begin forthwith.</p> + +<p>What they failed to take sufficiently into account was +the <i>vis inertiæ</i>, the survival of the old spirit among the +ruling orders whose members continued to live and move +in the atmosphere of use and wont, and the spirit of hate +and bitterness infused into all the political classes, to +dispel which was a herculean task. It was exclusively +to the leaders of those classes that Mr. Wilson confided +the realization of the abstract idea of a society of nations, +which he may at first have pictured to himself as a vast +family conscious of common interests, bent on moral and +material self-betterment, and willing to eschew such +partial advantages as might hinder or retard the general +progress. But, judging by his attitude and his action, +he had no real acquaintance with the materials out of +which it must be fashioned, no notion of the difficulties +to be met, and no staying power to encounter and surmount +them. And his first move entailed the failure of +the scheme.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, Mr. Wilson came to the Conference +with a home-made charter for the Society of Nations, +which, according to the evidence of Mr. Lansing, "was +never pressed." The State Secretary added that "the +present league Covenant is superior to the American +plan." And as for the Fourteen Points, "They were not +even discussed at the Conference."<a name="FNanchor_349_349" id="FNanchor_349_349" href="#Footnote_349_349" >[349]</a> Suspecting as much, +I wrote at the time:<a name="FNanchor_350_350" id="FNanchor_350_350" href="#Footnote_350_350" >[350]</a> "The President has pinned himself +down to no concrete scheme whatever. His method is +electric, choosing what is helpful and beneficent in the +projects of others, and endeavoring to obtain from the +dissentients a renunciation of ideas belonging to the old +national currents and adherence to the doctrines he deems +salutary. It is, however, already clear that the highest +ideal now attainable is not a league of nations as the +masses understand it, which will abolish wars and likewise +put an end to the costly preparations for them, but +only a coalition of victorious nations, which may hope, +by dint of economic inducements and deterrents, to draw +the enemy peoples into its camp in the not too distant +future. This result would fall very short of the expectations +aroused by the far-resonant promises made at the +outset; but even it will be unattainable without an +international compact binding all the members of the +coalition to make war simultaneously upon the nation +or group of nations which ventures to break the peace. +I am disposed to believe that nothing less than such an +express covenant will be regarded by the continental +Powers of the Entente as an adequate substitute for +certain territorial readjustments which they otherwise +consider essential to secure them from sudden attack.</p> + +<p>"Whether such a condition would prevent future +wars is a question that only experience can answer. +Personally, I am profoundly convinced, with Mr. Taft, +that a genuine league of nations must have teeth in the +guise of supernational, not international, forces. In +these remarks I make abstraction from the larger question +which wholly absorbs this—namely, whether the masses +for whose behoof the lavish expenditure of time, energy, +and ingenuity is undertaken, will accept a coalition of +victorious governments against unregenerate peoples as a +substitute for the Society of Nations as at first conceived."</p> + +<p>The supposed object of the League was the substitution +of right for force, by debarring each individual state from +employing violence against any of the others, and by the +use of arbitration as a means of settling disputes. This +entails the suppression of the right to declare war and to +prepare for it, and, as a corollary, a system of deterrents +to hinder, and of penalties to punish rebellion on the part +of a community. That in those cases where the law is +set at naught efficacious means should be available to +enforce it will hardly be denied; but whether economic +pressure would suffice in all cases is doubtful. To me it +seems that without a supernational army, under the +direct orders of the League, it might under conceivable +circumstances become impossible to uphold the decisions +of the tribunal, and that, on the other hand, the coexistence +of such a military force with national armaments +would condemn the undertaking to failure.</p> + +<p>An analysis of the Covenant lies beyond the limits of +my task, but it may not be amiss to point out a few of its +inherent defects. One of the principal organs of the +League will be the Assembly and the Council. The +former, a very numerous and mainly political body, will +necessarily be out of touch with the peoples, their needs +and their aspirations. It will meet at most three or +four times a year. And its members alone will be invested +with all the power, which they will be chary of delegating. +On the other hand, the Council, consisting at first of nine +members, will meet at least once a year. The members +of both bodies will presumably be appointed by the +governments,<a name="FNanchor_351_351" id="FNanchor_351_351" href="#Footnote_351_351" >[351]</a> who will certainly not renounce their +sovereignty in a matter that concerns them so closely. +Such a system may be wise and conducive to the highest +aims, but it can hardly be termed democratic. The +military Powers who command twelve million soldiers will +possess a majority in the Council.<a name="FNanchor_352_352" id="FNanchor_352_352" href="#Footnote_352_352" >[352]</a> The Secretariat alone +will be permanent, and will naturally be appointed by +the Great Powers.</p> + +<p>Instead of abolishing war, the Conference described +its abolition as beyond the power of man to compass. +Disarmament, which was to have been one of its main +achievements, is eliminated from the Covenant. As the +war that was to have been the last will admittedly be +followed by others, the delegates of the Great Powers +worked conscientiously, as behooved patriotic statesmen, +to obtain in advance all possible advantages for their +respective countries by way of preparing for it. The +new order, which in theory reposes upon right, justice, +and moral fellowship, in reality depends upon powerful +armies and navies. France must remain under arms, +seeing that she has to keep watch on the Rhine. Britain +and the United States are to go on building warships and +aircraft, besides training their youth for the coming +Armageddon. The article of the Covenant which lays +it down that "the members of the League recognize that +the maintenance of peace requires the reduction of +national armaments to the lowest point consistent with +national safety,"<a name="FNanchor_353_353" id="FNanchor_353_353" href="#Footnote_353_353" >[353]</a> is, to use a Russian simile, written +on water with a fork. Britain, France, and the United +States are already agreed that they will combine to repel +unprovoked aggression on the part of Germany. That +evidently signifies that they will hold themselves in readiness +to fight, and will therefore make due preparation. +This arrangement is a substitute for a supernational army, +as though prevention were not better than cure; that +it will prove efficacious in the long run very few believe. +One clear-visioned Frenchman writes: "The inefficacy +of the organization aimed at by the Conference constrains +France to live in continual and increasing insecurity, +owing to the falling off of her population."<a name="FNanchor_354_354" id="FNanchor_354_354" href="#Footnote_354_354" >[354]</a> He adds: +"It follows from this abortive expedient—if it is to +remain definitive—that each member-state must protect +itself, or come to terms with the more powerful ones, as +in the past. Consequently we are in presence of the +maintenance of militarism and the régime of armaments."<a name="FNanchor_355_355" id="FNanchor_355_355" href="#Footnote_355_355" >[355]</a> +This writer goes farther and accuses Mr. Wilson of having +played into the hands of Britain. "President Wilson," +he affirms, "has more or less sacrificed to the English +government the society of nations and the question +of armaments, that of the colonies and that of the freedom +of the seas...."<a name="FNanchor_356_356" id="FNanchor_356_356" href="#Footnote_356_356" >[356]</a> This, however, is an over-statement. +It was not for the sake of Britain that the American +statesman gave up so much; it was for the sake of +saving something of the Covenant. It was in the spirit +of Sir Boyle Roche, whose attachment to the British +Constitution was such that, to save a part of it, he was +willing to sacrifice the whole.</p> + +<p>The arbitration of disputes is provided for by one of the +articles of the Covenant;<a name="FNanchor_357_357" id="FNanchor_357_357" href="#Footnote_357_357" >[357]</a> but the parties may go to war +three months later with a clear conscience and an appeal +to right, justice, self-determination, and the usual abstract +nouns.</p> + +<p>In a word, the directors of the Conference disciplined +their political intelligence on lines of self-hypnotization, +along which common sense finds it impossible to follow +them. There were also among the delegates men who +thought and spoke in terms of reason and logic, but their +voices evoked no echo. One of them summed up his +criticism somewhat as follows:</p> + +<p>"During the war our professions of democratic principles +were far resonant and emphatic. We were fighting +for the nations of the world, especially for those who could +not successfully fight for themselves. All the peoples, +great and small, were exhorted to make the most painful +sacrifices to enable their respective governments to conquer +the enemy. Victory unexpectedly smiled on us, +and the peoples asked that those promises should be made +good. Naturally, expectations ran high. What has happened? +The governments now answer in effect: 'We will +promote your interests, but without your co-operation or +assent. We will make the necessary arrangements in +secret behind closed doors. The machinery we are devising +will be a state machinery, not a popular one. All +that we ask of you is implicit trust. You complain of our +action in the past. You have good cause. You say that +the same men are about to determine your future. Again +you are right. But when you affirm that we are sure to +make the like mistakes, you are wrong, and we ask you to +take our word for it. You complain that we are politicians +who feel the weight of certain commitments and the +fetters of obsolete traditions from which we cannot free +ourselves; that we are mainly concerned to protect and +further the interests of our respective countries, and that +it is inconceivable we should devise an organization which +looks above and beyond those interests. We ask you, +are you willing, then, to abandon the heritage of our +fathers to the foreigner?'</p> + +<p>"That the downtrodden peoples in Austria and Germany +have been emancipated is a moral triumph. But +why has the beneficent principle that is said to have inspired +the deed been restricted in its application? Why +has the experiment been tried only in the enemies' countries? +Or are things quite in order everywhere else? Is +there no injustice in other quarters of the globe? Are +there no complaints? If there be, why are they ignored? +Is it because all acts of oppression are to be perpetuated +which do not take place in the enemy's land? What +about Ireland and about a dozen other countries and +peoples? Are they skeletons not to be touched?</p> + +<p>"By debarring the masses from participation in a +grandiose scheme, the success of which depends upon +their assent, the governments are indirectly but surely +encouraging secret combined opposition, and in some +cases Bolshevism. The masses resent being treated as +children after having been appealed to as arbiters and +rescuers. For four and a half years it was they who bore +the brunt of the war, they who sacrificed their sons and +their substance. In the future it is they to whom the states +will look for the further sacrifices in blood and treasure +which will be necessary in the struggles which they evidently +anticipate. Well, some of them refuse these sacrifices +in advance. They challenge the right of the governments +to retain the power of making war and peace. +That power they are working to get into their own hands +and to wield in their own way, or at any rate to have a +say in its exercise. And in order to secure it, some sections +of the peoples are making common cause with the +socialist revolutionaries, while others have gone the length +of Bolshevism. And that is a serious danger. The agitation +now going on among the people, therefore, starts +with a grievance. The masses have many other grievances +besides the one just sketched—the survivals of the +feudal age, the privileges of class, the inequality of opportunity. +And the kernel formed by these is the element of +truth and equity which imparts force to all those underground +movements, and enables them to subsist and extend. +Error is never dangerous by itself; it is only when +it has an admixture of truth that it becomes powerful for +evil. And it seems a thousand pities that the governments, +whose own interests are at stake, as well as those +of the communities they govern, should go out of their +way to provide an explosive element for Bolshevism and +its less sinister variants."</p> + +<p>The League was treated as a living organism before it +existed. All the problems which the Supreme Councilors +found insoluble were reserved for its judgment. Arduous +functions were allotted to it before it had organs to discharge +them. Formidable tasks were imposed upon it +before the means of achieving them were devised. It is +an institution so elusive and elastic that the French regard +it as capable of being used as a handy instrument for +coercing the Teutons, who, in turn, look upon it as a +means of recovering their place in the world; the Japanese +hope it may become a bridge leading to racial +equality, and the governments which devised it are bent +on employing it as a lever for their own politico-economic +aims, which they identify with the progress of the human +race. How the peoples look upon it the future will show.</p> + +<p>On the Monroe Doctrine in connection with the League +of Nations the less said the soonest mended. But one +cannot well say less than this: that any real society of +peoples such as Mr. Wilson first conceived and advocated +is as incompatible with "regional understandings like the +Monroe Doctrine" as are the maintenance of national +armaments and the bartering of populations. It is immaterial +whether one concludes that a Society of Nations +is therefore impossible in the present conjuncture or that +all those survivals of the old state system are obsolescent +and should be abolished. The two are unquestionably +irreconcilable.</p> + +<p>It would be a mistake to infer from the unanimity with +which Mr. Wilson's Covenant was finally accepted that +it expressed the delegates' genuine conceptions or sentiments. +Mr. Bullitt, one of the expert advisers to the +American Peace Delegation, testified before the Senate +committee in Washington that State-Secretary Lansing +remarked to him: "I consider the League of Nations at +present as entirely useless. The Great Powers have simply +gone ahead and arranged the world to suit themselves. +England and France, in particular, have gotten out of +the Treaty everything they wanted. The League of +Nations can do nothing to alter any unjust clauses of the +Treaty except by the unanimous consent of the League +members. The Great Powers will never consent to +changes in the interests of weaker peoples."<a name="FNanchor_358_358" id="FNanchor_358_358" href="#Footnote_358_358" >[358]</a></p> + +<p>This opinion which Mr. Bullitt ascribed to Mr. Lansing +was, to my knowledge, that of a large number of the representatives +of the nations at the Conference. Among them +all I have met very few who had a good word to say of +the scheme, and of the few one had helped to formulate it, +another had assisted him. And the unfavorable judgments +of the remainder were delivered after the Covenant +was signed.</p> + + +<p>One of those leaders, in conversation with several other +delegates and myself, exclaimed one day: "The League +of Nations indeed! It is an absurdity. Who among +thinking men believes in its reality?" "I do," answered +his neighbor; "but, like the devils, I believe and tremble. +I hold that it is a corrosive poison which destroys much +that is good and will further much that is bad." A +statesman who was not a delegate demurred. "In my +opinion," he said, "it is a response to a demand put forward +by the peoples of the globe, and because of this +origin something good will ultimately come of it. Unquestionably +it is very defective, but in time it may be—nay, +must be—changed for the better." The first speaker +replied: "If you imagine that the League will help +continental peoples, you are, I am convinced, mistaken. +It took the United States three years to go to the help of +Britain and France. How long do you suppose it will +take her to mobilize and despatch troops to succor Poland, +Rumania, or Czechoslovakia? I am acquainted with +British colonial public opinion and sentiment—too often +misunderstood by foreigners—and I can tell you that they +are misconstrued by those who fancy that they would +determine action of that kind. If England tells the +colonies that she needs their help, they will come, because +their people are flesh of her flesh and blood of her blood, +and also because they depend for their defense upon her +navy, and if she were to go under they would go under, +too. But the continental nations have no such claims +upon the British colonies, which would not be in a hurry +to make sacrifices in order to satisfy their appetites or +their passions."</p> + +<p>The second speaker then said: "It is possible, but +nowise certain, that the future League may help to settle +these disputes which professional diplomatists would have +arranged, and in the old way, but it will not affect those +others which are the real causes of wars. If a nation believes +it can further its vital interest by breaking the peace, +the League cannot stop it. How could it? It lacks the +means. There will be no army ready. It would have to +create one. Even now, when such an army, powerful and +victorious, is in the field, the League—for the Supreme +Council is that and more—cannot get its orders obeyed. +How then will its behest be treated when it has no troops +at its beck and call? It is redrawing the map of central +and eastern Europe, and is very satisfied with its work. +But, as we know, the peoples of those countries look upon +its map as a sheet of paper covered with lines and blotches +of color to which no reality corresponds."</p> + +<p>The constitution of the League was termed by Mr. +Wilson a Covenant, a word redolent of biblical and puritanical +times, which accorded well with the motives that +decided him to prefer Geneva to Brussels as the seat of +the League, and to adopt other measures of a supposed +political character. The first draft of this document was, +as we saw, completed in the incredibly short space of some +thirty hours, so as to enable the President to take it with +him to Washington. As the Ententophil <i>Echo de Paris</i> +remarked, "By a fixed date the merchandise has to be +consigned on board the <i>George Washington</i>."<a name="FNanchor_359_359" id="FNanchor_359_359" href="#Footnote_359_359" >[359]</a></p> + + +<p>The discussions that took place after the President's +return from the United States were animated, interesting, +and symptomatic. In April the commission had several +sittings, at which various amendments and alterations +were proposed, some of which would cut deep into international +relations, while others were of slight moment +and gave rise to amusing sallies. One day the proposal +was mooted that each member-state should be free to +secede on giving two years' notice. M. Larnaude, who +viewed membership as something sacramentally inalienable, +seemed shocked, as though the suggestion bordered +on sacrilege, and wondered how any government should +feel tempted to take such a step. Signor Orlando was of +a different opinion. "However precious the privilege of +membership may be," he said, "it would be a comfort +always to know that you could divest yourself of it at will. +I am shut up in my room all day working. I do not go +into the open air any oftener than a prisoner might. But +I console myself with the thought that I can go out whenever +I take it into my head. And I am sure a similar +reflection on membership of the League would be equally +soothing. I am in favor of the motion."</p> + +<p>The center of interest during the drafting of the Covenant +lay in the clause proclaiming the equality of religions, +which Mr. Wilson was bent on having passed at all costs, +if not in one form, then in another. This is one example +of the occasional visibility of the religious thread which +ran through a good deal of his personal work at the Conference. +For it is a fact—not yet realized even by the +delegates themselves—that distinctly religious motives +inspired much that was done by the Conference on what +seemed political or social grounds. The strategy adopted +by the eminent American statesman to have his stipulation +accepted proceeded in this case on the lines of a +humanitarian resolve to put an end to sanguinary wars +rather than on those which the average reformer, bent on +cultural progress, would have traced. Actuality was imparted +to this simple and yet thorny topic by a concrete +proposal which the President made one day. What he is +reported to have said is briefly this: "As the treatment of +religious confessions has been in the past, and may again +in the future be, a cause of sanguinary wars, it seems desirable +that a clause should be introduced into the Covenant +establishing absolute liberty for creeds and confessions." +"On what, Mr. President," asked the first +Polish delegate, "do you found your assertion that wars +are still brought about by the differential treatment +meted out to religions? Does contemporary history bear +out this statement? And, if not, what likelihood is there +that religious inequality will precipitate sanguinary conflicts +in the future?" To this pointed question Mr. Wilson +is said to have made the characteristic reply that he +considered it expedient to assume this nexus between +religious inequality and war as the safest way of bringing +the matter forward. If he were to proceed on any other +lines, he added, there would be truth and force in the +objection which would doubtless be raised, that the Conference +was intruding upon the domestic affairs of sovereign +states. As that charge would damage the cause, it +must be rebutted in advance. And for this purpose he +deemed it prudent to approach the subject from the side +he had chosen.</p> + +<p>This reply was listened to in silence and unfavorably +commented upon later. The alleged relation between +such religious inequality as has survived into the twentieth +century and such wars as are waged nowadays is so obviously +fictitious that one can hardly understand the line +of reasoning that led to its assumption, or the effect which +the fiction could be supposed to have on the minds of +those legislators who might be opposed to the measure +on the ground that it involved undue interference in the +internal affairs of sovereign states. The motion was referred +to a commission, which in due time presented a +report. Mr. Wilson was absent when the report came up +for discussion, his place being taken by Colonel House. +The atmosphere was chilly, only a couple of the delegates +being disposed to support the clause—Rumania's representative, +M. Diamandi, was one, and another was +Baron Makino, whose help Colonel House would gladly +have dispensed with, so inacceptable was the condition it +carried with it.</p> + +<p>Baron Makino said that he entirely agreed with Colonel +House and the American delegates. The equality of +religious confessions was not merely desirable, but necessary +to the smooth working of a Society of Nations such +as they were engaged in establishing. He held, however, +that it should be extended to races, that extension being +also a corollary of the principle underlying the new international +ordering. He would therefore move the insertion +of a clause proclaiming the equality of races and +religions. At this Colonel House looked pensive. Nearly +all the other opinions were hostile to Colonel House's +motion.</p> + +<p>The reasons alleged by each of the dissenting lawgivers +were interesting. Lord Robert Cecil surprised many of +his colleagues by informing them that in England the +Catholics, who are fairly treated as things are, could not +possibly be set on a footing of perfect equality with their +Protestant fellow-citizens, because the Constitution forbids +it. Nor could the British people be asked to alter +their Constitution. He gave as instances of the slight +inequality at present enforced the circumstance that no +Catholic can ascend the throne as monarch, nor sit on the +woolsack as Lord Chancellor in the Upper House.</p> + +<p>M. Larnaude, speaking in the name of France, stated +that his country had passed through a sequence of embarrassments +caused by legislation on the relations between +the Catholics and the state, and that the introduction +of a clause enacting perfect equality might revive +controversies which were happily losing their sharpness. +He considered it, therefore, inadvisable to settle this +delicate matter by inserting the proposed declaration in +the Covenant. Belgium's first delegate, M. Hymans, +pointed out that the objection taken by his government +was of a different but equally cogent character. There +was reason to apprehend that the Flemings might avail +themselves of the equality clause to raise awkward issues +and to sow seeds of dissension. On those grounds he +would like to see the proposal waived. Signor Orlando +half seriously, half jokingly, reminded his colleagues that +none of their countries had, like his, a pope in their +capital. The Italian government must, therefore, proceed +in religious matters with the greatest circumspection, +and could not lightly assent to any measure capable of +being manipulated to the detriment of the public interest. +Hence he was unable to give the motion his support. It +was finally suggested that both proposals be withdrawn. +To this Colonel House demurred, on the ground that +President Wilson, who was unavoidably absent, attached +very great weight to the declaration, to which he hoped +the delegates would give their most favorable consideration. +One of the members then rose and said, "In that +case we had better postpone the voting until Mr. Wilson +can attend." This suggestion was adopted. When the +matter came up for discussion at a subsequent sitting, the +Japanese substituted "nations" for "races."</p> + +<p>In the meantime the usual arts of parliamentary emergency +were practised outside the Conference to induce +the Japanese to withdraw their proposal altogether. They +were told that to accept or refuse it would be to damage +the cause of the future League without furthering their +own. But the Marquis Saionji and Baron Makino refused +to yield an inch of their ground. A conversation +then took place between the Premier of Australia, on the +one side, and Baron Makino and Viscount Chinda, on the +other, with a view to their reaching a compromise. For +Mr. Hughes was understood to be the leader of those +who opposed any declaration of racial equality. The +Japanese statesmen showed him their amendment, and +asked him whether he could suggest a modification that +would satisfy himself and them. The answer was in the +negative. To the arguments of the Japanese delegates +the Australian Premier is understood to have replied: +"I am willing to admit the equality of the Japanese as a +nation, and also of individuals man to man. But I do +not admit the consequence that we should throw open our +country to them. It is not that we hold them to be inferior +to ourselves, but simply that we do not want them. +Economically they are a perturbing factor, because they +accept wages much below the minimum for which our +people are willing to work. Neither do they blend well +with our people. Hence we do not want them to marry +our women. Those are my reasons. We mean no offense. +Our restrictive legislation is not aimed specially +at the Japanese. British subjects in India are affected +by it in exactly the same way. It is impossible that we +should formulate any modifications of your amendment, +because there is no modification conceivable that would +satisfy us both."</p> + +<p>The Japanese delegates were understood to say that +they would maintain their motion, and that unless it +passed they would not sign the document. Mr. Hughes +retorted that if it should pass he would refuse to sign. +Finally the Australian Premier asked Baron Makino +whether he would be satisfied with the following qualifying +proviso: "This affirmation of the principle of equality +is not to be applied to immigration or nationalization." +Baron Makino and Viscount Chinda both answered in +the negative and withdrew.</p> + +<p>The final act<a name="FNanchor_360_360" id="FNanchor_360_360" href="#Footnote_360_360" >[360]</a> is described by eye-witnesses as follows. +Congruously with the order of the day, President +Wilson having moved that the city of Geneva +be selected as the capital of the future League, obtained +a majority, whereupon he announced that the +motion had passed.</p> + +<p>Then came the burning question of the equality of +nations.<a name="FNanchor_361_361" id="FNanchor_361_361" href="#Footnote_361_361" >[361]</a> The Polish delegate arose and opposed it on +the formal ground that nothing ought to be inserted in +the preamble which was not dealt with also in the body +of the Covenant, as otherwise it would be no more than +an isolated theory devoid of organic connection with the +whole. The Japanese delegates delivered speeches of +cogent argument and impressive debating power. Baron +Makino made out a very strong case for the equality of +nations. Viscount Chinda followed in a trenchant discourse, +which was highly appreciated by his hearers, +nearly all of whom recognized the justice of the Japanese +claim. The Japanese delegates refused to be dazzled +by the circumstances that Japan was to be represented +on the Executive Council as one of the five Great Powers, +and that the rejection of the proposed amendment could +not therefore be construed as a diminution of her prestige. +This consideration, they retorted, was wholly irrelevant +to the question whether or no the nations were to be +recognized as equal. They ended by refusing to withdraw +their modified amendment and calling for a vote. +The result was a majority for the amendment. Mr. +Wilson thereupon announced that a majority was insufficient +to justify its adoption, and that nothing less than +absolute unanimity could be regarded as adequate. At +this a delegate objected: "Mr. Wilson, you have just +accepted a majority for your own motion respecting +Geneva; on what grounds, may I ask, do you refuse to +abide by a majority vote on the amendment of the +Japanese delegation?" "The two cases are different," +was the reply. "On the subject of the seat of the League +unanimity is unattainable." This closed the official +discussion.</p> + +<p>Some time later, it is asserted, the Rumanians, who +had supported Mr. Wilson's motion on religious equality, +were approached on the subject, and informed that it +would be agreeable to the American delegates to have +the original proposal brought up once more. Such a +motion, it was added, would come with especial propriety +from the Rumanians, who, in the person of M. Diamandi, +had advocated it from the outset. But the Rumanian +delegates hesitated, pleading the invincible opposition +of the Japanese. They were assured, however, that +the Japanese would no longer discountenance it. Thereupon +they broached the matter to Lord Robert Cecil, +but he, with his wonted caution, replied that it was a +delicate subject to handle, especially after the experience +they had already had. As for himself, he would rather +leave the initiative to others. Could the Rumanian +delegates not open their minds to Colonel House, who +took the amendment so much to heart? They acted on +this suggestion and called on Colonel House. He, too, +however, declared that it was a momentous as well as a +thorny topic, and for that reason had best be referred +to the head of the American delegation. President Wilson, +having originated the amendment, was the person +most qualified to take direct action. It is further affirmed +that they sounded the President as to the advisability of +mooting the question anew, but that he declined to face +another vote, and the matter was dropped for good—in +that form.</p> + +<p>It was publicly asserted later on that the Japanese +decided to abide by the rejection of their amendment +and to sign the Covenant as the result of a bargain on +the Shantung dispute. This report, however, was pulverized +by the Japanese delegation, which pointed out +that the introduction of the racial clause was decided +upon before the delegates left Japan, and when no difficulties +were anticipated respecting Japan's claim to have +that province ceded to her by Germany, and that the +discussion on the amendment terminated on April 11th, +consequently before the Kiaochow issue came up for discussion. +As a matter of fact, the Japanese publicly +announced their intention to adhere to the League of +Nations two days<a name="FNanchor_362_362" id="FNanchor_362_362" href="#Footnote_362_362" >[362]</a> before a decision was reached respecting +their claims to Kiaochow.</p> + +<p>This adverse note on Mr. Wilson's pet scheme to have +religious equality proclaimed as a means of hindering +sanguinary wars brought to its climax the reaction of the +Conference against what it regarded as a systematic +endeavor to establish the overlordship of the Anglo-Saxon +peoples in the world. The plea that wars may be +provoked by such religious inequality as still survives +was so unreal that it awakened a twofold suspicion in the +minds of many of Mr. Wilson's colleagues. Most of them +believed that a pretext was being sought to enable the +leading Powers to intervene in the domestic concerns +of all the other states, so as to keep them firmly in hand, +and use them as means to their own ends. And these +ends were looked upon as anything but disinterested. +Unhappily this conviction was subsequently strengthened +by certain of the measures decreed by the Supreme Council +between April and the close of the Conference. The +misgivings of other delegates turned upon a matter which +at first sight may appear so far removed from any of the +pressing issues of the twentieth century as to seem wholly +imaginary. They feared that a religious—some would +call it racial—bias lay at the root of Mr. Wilson's policy. +It may seem amazing to some readers, but it is none the +less a fact that a considerable number of delegates believed +that the real influences behind the Anglo-Saxon peoples +were Semitic.</p> + +<p>They confronted the President's proposal on the subject +of religious inequality, and, in particular, the odd +motive alleged for it, with the measures for the protection +of minorities which he subsequently imposed on the +lesser states, and which had for their keynote to satisfy +the Jewish elements in eastern Europe. And they concluded +that the sequence of expedients framed and +enforced in this direction were inspired by the Jews, assembled +in Paris for the purpose of realizing their carefully +thought-out program, which they succeeded in having +substantially executed. However right or wrong these +delegates may have been, it would be a dangerous mistake +to ignore their views, seeing that they have since become +one of the permanent elements of the situation. The +formula into which this policy was thrown by the members +of the Conference, whose countries it affected, and who +regarded it as fatal to the peace of eastern Europe, was +this: "Henceforth the world will be governed by the +Anglo-Saxon peoples, who, in turn, are swayed by their +Jewish elements."</p> + +<p>It is difficult to convey an adequate notion of the +warmth of feeling—one might almost call it the heat of +passion—which this supposed discovery generated. The +applications of the theory to many of the puzzles of the +past were countless and ingenious. The illustrations of +the manner in which the policy was pursued, and the +cajolery and threats which were said to have been employed +in order to insure its success, covered the whole +history of the Conference, and presented it through a new +and possibly distorted medium. The morbid suspicions +current may have been the natural vein of men who had +passed a great part of their lives in petty racial struggles; +but according to common account, it was abundantly +nurtured at the Conference by the lack of reserve and +moderation displayed by some of the promoters of the +minority clauses who were deficient in the sense of measure. +What the Eastern delegates said was briefly this: +"The tide in our countries was flowing rapidly in favor of +the Jews. All the east European governments which had +theretofore wronged them were uttering their <i>mea culpa</i>, +and had solemnly promised to turn over a new leaf. +Nay, they had already turned it. We, for example, +altered our legislation in order to meet by anticipation +the legitimate wishes of the Conference and the pressing +demands of the Jews. We did quite enough to obviate +decrees which might impair our sovereignty or lessen our +prestige. Poland and Rumania issued laws establishing +absolute equality between the Jews and their own nationals. +All discrimination had ceased. Immigrant Hebrews +from Russia received the full rights of citizenship +and became entitled to fill any office in the state. In a +word, all the old disabilities were abolished and the +fervent prayer of east European governments was that +the Jewish members of their respective communities +should be gradually assimilated to the natives and become +patriotic citizens like them. It was a new ideal. It +accorded to the Jews everything they had asked for. It +would enable them to show themselves as the French, +Italian, and Belgian Jews had shown themselves, efficient +citizens of their adopted countries.</p> + +<p>"But in the flush of their triumph, the Jews, or rather +their spokesmen at the Conference, were not satisfied +with equality. What they demanded was inequality to +the detriment of the races whose hospitality they were +enjoying and to their own supposed advantage. They +were to have the same rights as the Rumanians, the +Poles, and the other peoples among whom they lived, +but they were also to have a good deal more. Their +religious autonomy was placed under the protection of an +alien body, the League, which is but another name for +the Powers which have reserved to themselves the +governance of the world. The method is to oblige each +of the lesser states to bestow on each minority the same +rights as the majority enjoys, and also certain privileges +over and above. The instrument imposing this obligation +is a formal treaty with the Great Powers which the +Poles, Rumanians, and other small states were summoned +to sign. It contains twenty-one articles. The +first part of the document deals with minorities generally, +the latter with the Jewish elements. The second clause +of the Polish treaty enacts that every individual who +habitually resided in Poland on August 1, 1914, becomes a +citizen forthwith. This is simple. Is it also satisfactory? +Many Frenchmen and Poles doubt it, as we do ourselves. +On August 1st numerous German and Austrian agents and +spies, many of them Hebrews, resided habitually in +Poland. Moreover, the foreign Jewish elements there, +which have immigrated from Russia, having lost—like +everybody else before the war—the expectation of seeing +Polish independence ever restored, had definitely thrown +in their lot with the enemies of Poland. Now to put +into the hands of such enemies constitutional weapons is +already a sacrifice and a risk. The Jews in Vilna recently +voted solidly against the incorporation of that +city in Poland.<a name="FNanchor_363_363" id="FNanchor_363_363" href="#Footnote_363_363" >[363]</a> Are they to be treated as loyal Polish +citizens? We have conceded the point unreservedly. +But to give them autonomy over and above, to create a +state within the state, and enable its subjects to call in +foreign Powers at every hand's turn, against the lawfully +constituted authorities—that is an expedient which does +not commend itself to the newly emancipated peoples."</p> + +<p>The Rumanian Premier Bratiano, whose conspicuous +services to the Allied cause entitled him to a respectful +hearing, delivered a powerful speech<a name="FNanchor_364_364" id="FNanchor_364_364" href="#Footnote_364_364" >[364]</a> before the delegates +assembled in plenary session on this question of +protecting ethnic and religious minorities. He covered +ground unsurveyed by the framers of the special treaties, +and his sincere tone lent weight to his arguments. Starting +from the postulate that the strength of latter-day +states depends upon the widest participation of all the +elements of the population in the government of the +country, he admitted the peremptory necessity of abolishing +invidious distinctions between the various elements of +the population there, ethnic or religious. So far, he was +at one with the spokesmen of the Great Powers. Rumania, +however, had already accomplished this by the +decree enabling her Jews to acquire full citizenship by +expressing the mere desire according to a simple formula. +This act confers the full rights of Rumanian citizens upon +eight hundred thousand Jews. The Jewish press of +Bucharest had already given utterance to its entire satisfaction. +If, however, the Jews are now to be placed in a +special category, differentiated and kept apart from their +fellow-citizens by having autonomous institutions, by the +maintenance of the German-Yiddish dialect, which keeps +alive the Teuton anti-Rumanian spirit, and by being +authorized to regard the Rumanian state as an inferior +tribunal, from which an appeal always lies to a foreign +body—the government of the Great Powers—this would +be the most invidious of all distinctions, and calculated +to render the assimilation of the German-Yiddish-speaking +Jews to their Rumanian fellow-citizens a sheer impossibility. +The majority and the minority would then be +systematically and definitely estranged from each other; +and, seeing this, the elemental instincts of the masses +might suddenly assume untoward forms, which the treaty, +if ratified, would be unavailing to prevent. But, however +baneful for the population, foreign protection is incomparably +worse for the state, because it tends to destroy the +cement that holds the government and people together, +and ultimately to bring about disintegration. A classic +example of this process of disruption is Russia's well-meant +protection of the persecuted Christians in Turkey. In this +case the motive was admirable, the necessity imperative, +but the result was the dismemberment of Turkey and other +changes, some of which one would like to forget.</p> + + +<p>The delegation of Czechoslovakia, Jugoslavia, and Poland +upheld M. Bratiano's contentions in brief, pithy +speeches. President Wilson's lengthy rejoinder, delivered +with more than ordinary sweetness, deprecated M. +Bratiano's comparison of the Allies' proposed intervention +with Russia's protection of the Christians of Turkey, +and represented the measure as emanating from the +purest kindness. He said that the Great Powers were +now bestowing national existence or extensive territories +upon the interested states, actually guaranteeing their +frontiers, and therefore making themselves responsible +for permanent tranquillity there. But the treatment of +the minorities, he added, unless fair and considerate, might +produce the gravest troubles and even precipitate wars. +Therefore it behooved the Powers in the interests of all +Europe, as of each of its individual members, to secure +harmonious relations, and, at any rate, to remove all +manifest obstacles to their establishment. "We guarantee +your frontiers and your territories. That means that +we will send over arms, ships, and men, in case of necessity. +Therefore we possess the right and recognize the +duty to hinder the survival of a set of deplorable conditions +which would render this intervention unavoidable."</p> + +<p>To this line of reasoning M. Bratiano made answer that +all the helpful maxims of good government are of universal +application, and, therefore, if this protection of minorities +were, indeed, indispensable or desirable, it should not +be restricted to the countries of eastern Europe, but should +be extended to all without exception. For it is inadmissible +that two categories of states should be artificially +created, one endowed with full sovereignty and the other +with half-sovereignty. Such an arrangement would destroy +the equality which should lie at the base of a genuine +League of Nations.</p> + +<p>But the Powers had made up their minds, and the special +treaties were imposed on the unwilling governments. +Thereupon the Rumanian Premier withdrew from the +Conference, and neither his Cabinet nor that of the Jugoslavs +signed the treaty with Austria at St.-Germain.</p> + +<p>What happened after that is a matter of history.</p> + +<p>Few politicians are conscious of the magnitude of the +issue concealed by the involved diplomatic phraseology +of the obnoxious treaties, or of the dangers to which their +enactment will expose the minorities which they were +framed to protect, the countries whose hospitality those +minorities enjoy, and possibly other lands, which for the +time being are seemingly immune from all such perilous +race problems. The calculable, to say nothing of the unascertained, +elements of the question might well cause +responsible statesmen to be satisfied with the feasible. +The Jewish elements in Europe, for centuries abominably +oppressed, were justified in utilizing to the fullest the opportunity +presented by the resettlement of the world in +order to secure equality of treatment. And it must be +admitted that their organization is marvelous. For years +I championed their cause in Russia, and paid the penalty +under the governments of Alexander II and III.<a name="FNanchor_365_365" id="FNanchor_365_365" href="#Footnote_365_365" >[365]</a> The +sympathy of every unbiased man, to whatever race or +religion he may belong, will naturally go out to a race or +a nation which is trodden underfoot, as were the ill-starred +Jews of Russia ever since the partition of Poland. +But equality one would have thought sufficient to meet +the grievance. Full equality without reservation. That +was the view taken by numerous Jews in Poland and +Rumania, several of whom called on me in Paris and +urged me to give public utterance to their hopes that the +Conference would rest satisfied with equality and to their +fear of the consequences of an attempt to establish a +privileged status. Why this position should exist only +in eastern Europe and not elsewhere, why it should not +be extended to other races with larger minorities in other +countries, are questions to which a satisfactory response +could be given only by farther-reaching and fateful +changes in the legislation of the world.</p> + +<p>One of the statesmen of eastern Europe made a forcible +appeal to have the minority clauses withdrawn. He took +the ground that the principal aim pursued in conferring +full rights on the Jews who dwell among us is to remove +the obstacles that prevent them from becoming true and +loyal citizens of the state, as their kindred are in France, +Italy, Britain, and elsewhere. "If it is reasonable," he +said, "that they should demand all the rights possessed +by their Rumanian and Polish fellow-subjects, it is equally +fair that they should take over and fulfil the correlate +duties, as does the remainder of the population. For the +gradual assimilation of all the ethnic elements of the community +is our ideal, as it is the ideal of the French, English, +Italian, and other states.</p> + +<p>"Isolation and particularism are the negative of that +ideal, and operate like a piece of iron or wood in the human +body which produces ulceration and gangrene. All our +institutions should therefore be calculated to encourage +assimilation. If we adopt the opposite policy, we inevitably +alienate the privileged from the unprivileged sections +of the community, generate enmity between them, +cause endless worries to the administration and paralyze +in advance our best-intentioned endeavors to fuse the +various ethnic ingredients of the nation into a homogeneous +whole.</p> + +<p>"This argument applies as fully to the other national +fragments in our midst as to the Jews. It is manifest, +therefore, that the one certain result of the minority +clause will be to impose domestic enemies on each of the +states that submits to it, and that it can commend itself +only to those who approve the maxim, <i>Divide et impera</i>.</p> + +<p>"It also entails the noteworthy diminution of the +sovereignty of the state. We are to be liable to be haled +before a foreign tribunal whenever one of our minorities +formulates a complaint against us.<a name="FNanchor_366_366" id="FNanchor_366_366" href="#Footnote_366_366" >[366]</a> How easily, nay, +how wickedly such complaints were filed of late may be +inferred from the heartrending accounts of pogroms +in Poland, which have since been shown by the Allies' +own confidential envoys to be utterly fictitious. Again, +with whom are we to make the obnoxious stipulations? +With the League of Nations? No. We are to bind ourselves +toward the Great Powers, who themselves have +their minorities which complain in vain of being continually +coerced. Ireland, Egypt, and the negroes are +three striking examples. None of their delegates were +admitted to the Conference. If the principle which +those Great Powers seek to enforce be worth anything, it +should be applied indiscriminately to all minorities, not +restricted to those of the smaller states, who already +have difficulties enough to contend against."</p> + +<p>The trend of continental opinion was decidedly opposed +to this policy of continuous control and periodic intervention. +It would be unfruitful to quote the sharp +criticisms of the status of the negroes in the United States.<a name="FNanchor_367_367" id="FNanchor_367_367" href="#Footnote_367_367" >[367]</a> +But it will not be amiss to cite the views of two moderate +French publicists who have ever been among the most +fervent advocates of the Allied cause. Their comments +deal with one of the articles<a name="FNanchor_368_368" id="FNanchor_368_368" href="#Footnote_368_368" >[368]</a> of the special Minority Treaty +which Poland has had to sign. It runs thus: "Jews shall +not be compelled to perform any act which constitutes a +violation of their Sabbath, nor shall they be placed under +any disability by reason of their refusal to attend courts +of law or to perform any legal business on their Sabbath. +This provision, however, shall not exempt Jews from such +obligations as shall be imposed upon all other Polish +citizens for the necessary purposes of military service, +national defense, or the preservation of public order.</p> + +<p>"Poland declares her intention to refrain from ordering +or permitting elections, whether general or local, to be held +on a Saturday, nor will registration for electoral or other +purposes be compelled to be performed on a Saturday."</p> + +<p>M. Gauvain writes: "One may put the question, why +respect for the Sabbath is so peremptorily imposed when +Sunday is ignored among several of the Allied Powers. +In France Christians are not dispensed from appearing +on Sundays before the assize courts. Besides, Poland +is further obliged not to order or authorize elections on a +Saturday. What precautions these are in favor of the +Jewish religion as compared with the legislation of many +Allied states which have no such ordinances in favor +of Catholicism! Is the same procedure to be adopted +toward the Moslems? Shall we behold the famous Mussulmans +of India, so opportunely drawn from the shade +by Mr. Montagu, demanding the insertion of clauses to +protect Islam? Will the Zionists impose their dogmas +in Palestine? Is the life of a nation to be suspended two, +three, or four days a week in order that religious laws +may be observed? Catholicism has adapted itself in +practice to laic legislation and to the exigencies of modern +life. It may well seem that Judaism in Poland could do +likewise. In Rumania, the Jews met with no obstacle +to the exercise of their religion. Indeed, they had contrived +in the localities to the north of Moldavia, where +they formed a majority, to impose their own customs +on the rest of the population. Jewish guardians of toll-bridges +are known to have barred the passage of these +bridges on Saturdays, because, on the one hand, their +religion forbade them to accept money on that day, and, +on the other hand, they could allow no one to pass without +paying. The Big Four might have given their attention +to matters more useful or more pressing than enforcing +respect for the Sabbath.</p> + +<p>"It is comprehensible that M. Bratiano should have +refused to accept in advance the conditions which the +Four or the Five may dictate in favor of ethnic and +religious minorities. Rumania before the war was a +free country governed congruously with the most modern +principles. The restrictions which she had enacted +respecting foreigners in general, and which were on the +point of being repealed, did not exceed those which the +United States and the Dominion of Australia still apply +with remarkable tenacity. Why should the Cabinets of +London and Washington take so much to heart the lot +of ethnic and religious minorities in certain European +countries while they themselves refuse to admit in the +Covenant of the Society of Nations the principle of the +equality of races? Their conduct is awakening among +the states 'whose interests are limited' the belief that +they are the victims of an arbitrary policy. And that is +not without danger."<a name="FNanchor_369_369" id="FNanchor_369_369" href="#Footnote_369_369" >[369]</a></p> + +<p>Another eminent Frenchman, M. Denis Cochin, who +until quite recently was a Cabinet Minister, wrote: "The +Conference, by imposing laws in favor of minorities, has +uselessly and unjustly offended our allies. These laws +oblige them to respect the usages of the Jews, to maintain +schools for them.... I have spent a large part of my +career in demanding for French Catholics exactly that +which the Conference imposes elsewhere. The Catholics +pay taxes in money and taxes in blood. And yet there is +no budget for those schools in which their religion is +taught; no liberty for those schoolmasters who wear the +ecclesiastical habit. I have seen a doctor in letters, fellow +of the university, driven from his class because he +was a Marist brother and did not choose to repudiate the +vocation of his youth. He died of grief. I have seen +young priests, after the long, laborious preparation necessary +before they could take part in the competition for a +university fellowship, thrust aside at the last moment +and debarred from the competition because they wore the +garb of priests. Yet a year later they were soldiers. I +have seen Father Schell presented unanimously by the +Institute and the Professional Corps as worthy to receive +a chair at the Collège de France, and refused by the +Minister. Yet I hereby affirm that if foreigners, even +though they were allies, even friends, were to meddle with +imposing on us the abrogation of these iniquitous laws, +my protest would be uplifted against them, together with +that of M. Combes.<a name="FNanchor_370_370" id="FNanchor_370_370" href="#Footnote_370_370" >[370]</a> I would exclaim, like Sganarelle's +wife, 'And what if I wish to be beaten?' I hold tyranny +in horror, but I hold foreign intervention in greater horror +still. Let us combat bad laws with all our strength, but +among ourselves."<a name="FNanchor_371_371" id="FNanchor_371_371" href="#Footnote_371_371" >[371]</a></p> + +<p>The minority treaties tend to transform each of the +states on which it is imposed into a miniature Balkans, to +keep Europe in continuous turmoil and hinder the growth +of the new and creative ideas from which alone one could +expect that union of collective energy with individual +freedom which is essential to peace and progress. Modern +history affords no more striking example of the force +of abstract bias over the teachings of experience than +this amateur legislation which is scattering seeds of mischief +and conflict throughout Europe.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Casting a final glance at the results of the Conference, +it would be ungracious not to welcome as a precious boon +the destruction of Prussian militarism, a consummation +which we owe to the heroism of the armies rather than to +the sagacity of the lawgivers in Paris. The restoration +of a Polish state and the creation or extension of the other +free communities at the expense of the Central Empires +are also most welcome changes, which, however, ought +never to have been marred by the disruptive wedge of the +minority legislation. Again, although the League is a +mill whose sails uselessly revolve, because it has no corn +to grind, the mere fact that the necessity of internationalism +was solemnly proclaimed as the central idea of the +new ordering, and that an effort, however feeble, was put +forth to realize it in the shape of a covenant of social and +moral fellowship, marks an advance from which there can +be no retrogression.</p> + +<p>Actuality was thereby imparted to the idea, which is +destined to remain in the forefront of contemporary politics +until the peoples themselves embody it in viable +institutions. What the delegates failed to realize is the +truth that a program of a league is not a league.</p> + +<p>On the debit side much might be added to what has +already been said. The important fact to bear in mind—which +in itself calls for neither praise nor blame—is that +the world-parliament was at bottom an Anglo-Saxon assembly +whose language, political conceptions, self-esteem, +and disregard of everything foreign were essentially English. +When speaking, the faces of the principal delegates +were turned toward the future, and when acting they +looked toward the past. As a thoroughly English press +organ, when alluding to the League of Nations, puts it: +"We have done homage to that entrancing ideal by +spatchcocking the Convention into the Treaty. There it +remains as a finger-post to point the way to a new heaven +on earth. But we observe that the Treaty itself is a +good old eighteenth-century piece, drawing its inspiration +from mundane and practical considerations, and paying +a good deal more than lip service to the principle of the +balance of power."<a name="FNanchor_372_372" id="FNanchor_372_372" href="#Footnote_372_372" >[372]</a></p> + +<p>That is a fair estimate of the work achieved by the +delegates. But they sinned in their way of doing it. If +they had deliberately and professedly aimed at these +results, and had led the world to look for none other, most +of the criticisms to which they have rendered themselves +open would be pointless. But they raised hopes which +they refused to realize, they weakened if they did not destroy +faith in public treaties, they intensified distrust and +race hatred throughout the world, they poured strong dissolvents +upon every state on the European Continent, +and they stirred up fierce passions in Russia, and then left +that ill-starred nation a prey to unprecedented anarchy. +In a word, they gathered up all the widely scattered explosives +of imperialism, nationalism, and internationalism, +and, having added to their destructiveness, passed them +on to the peoples of the world as represented by the +League of Nations. Some of them deplored the mess in +which they were leaving the nations, without, however, +admitting the causal nexus between it and their own +achievements.</p> + +<p>General Smuts, before quitting Paris for South Africa, +frankly admitted that the Peace Treaty will not give us +the real peace which the peoples hoped for, and that peace-making +would not begin until after the signing of the +Treaty. The <i>Echo de Paris</i> wrote: "As for us, we never +believed in the Society of Nations."<a name="FNanchor_373_373" id="FNanchor_373_373" href="#Footnote_373_373" >[373]</a> And again: "The +Society of Nations is now but a bladder, and nobody +would venture to describe it as a lantern."<a name="FNanchor_374_374" id="FNanchor_374_374" href="#Footnote_374_374" >[374]</a> The Bolshevist +dictator Lenin termed it "an organization to loot +the world."<a name="FNanchor_375_375" id="FNanchor_375_375" href="#Footnote_375_375" >[375]</a></p> + +<p>The Allies themselves are at sixes and sevens. The +French are suspicious of the British. A large section of +the American people is profoundly dissatisfied with the +part played by the English and the French at the Conference; +Italy is stung to the quick by the treatment +she received from France, Britain, and the United States; +Rumania loathes the very names of those for whom she +staked her all and sacrificed so much; in Poland and +Belgium the English have lost the consideration which +they enjoyed before the Conference; the Greeks are +wroth with the American delegates; the majority of +Russians literally execrate their ex-Allies and turn to the +Germans and the Japanese.</p> + +<p>"The resettlement of central Europe," writes an +American journal,<a name="FNanchor_376_376" id="FNanchor_376_376" href="#Footnote_376_376" >[376]</a> "is not being made for the tranquillity +of the liberated principles, but for the purposes of the +Great Powers, among whom France is the active, and +America and Britain the passive, partners. In Germany +its purpose is the permanent elimination of the German +nation as a factor in European politics.... We cannot +save Europe by playing the sinister game now being +played. There is no peace, no order, no security in it.... +What it can do is to aggravate the mischief and +intensify the schisms."</p> + +<p>A distinguished American, who is a consistent friend +of England,<a name="FNanchor_377_377" id="FNanchor_377_377" href="#Footnote_377_377" >[377]</a> in a review article affirmed that the proposed +League of Nations is slowly undermining the Anglo-American +Entente. "There is in America a growing +sense of irritation that she should be forever entangled +in the spider-web of European politics." ... And if the +Senate in the supposed interests of peace should ratify +the League, he adds, "In my judgment no greater harm +could result to Anglo-American unity than such reluctant +consent."<a name="FNanchor_378_378" id="FNanchor_378_378" href="#Footnote_378_378" >[378]</a></p> + +<p>Some of Mr. Wilson's fellow-countrymen who gave +him their whole-hearted support when he undertook to +establish a régime of right and justice sum up the result +of his labors in Paris as follows:<a name="FNanchor_379_379" id="FNanchor_379_379" href="#Footnote_379_379" >[379]</a></p> + +<p>"His solemn warning against special alliances emerged +as a special alliance with Britain and France. His repeated +condemnations of secret treaties emerges as a +recognition that 'they could not honorably be brushed +aside,' even though they conflicted with equally binding +public engagements entered into after they had been +written. Openly arrived at covenants were not openly +arrived at. The removal, so far as possible, of all economic +barriers was applied to German barriers, and accompanied +by the blockade of a people with whom we have +never been at war. The adequate guaranties to be given +and taken as respects armaments were taken from Germany +and given to no one. The 'unhampered and unembarrassed +opportunity for the independent determination +of her own political development' promised to Russia, +and defined as the 'acid test,' has been worked out +by Mr. Wilson and others to a point where so cautious +a man as Mr. Asquith says he regards it with 'bewilderment +and apprehension.' The righting of the wrong done +in 1871 emerges as a concealed annexation of the boundary +of 1814. The 'clearly recognizable lines of nationality' +which Italy was to obtain has been wheedled into annexations +which have moved Viscount Bryce to denounce +them. 'The freest opportunity of autonomous development' +promised the peoples of Austria-Hungary failed +to define the Austrians as peoples...."</p> + +<p>Whatever the tests one applies to the work of the +Conference—ethical, social, or political—they reveal it +as a factor eminently calculated to sap high interests, to +weaken the moral nerve of the present generation, to fan +the flames of national and racial hatred, to dig an abyss +between the classes and the masses, and to throw open the +sluice-gates to the inrush of the waves of anarchist internationalities. +Truth, justice, equity, and liberty have +been twisted and pressed into the service of economico-political +boards. In the United States the people who +prided themselves on their aloofness are already fighting +over European interests. In Europe every nation's hand +is raised against its neighbors, and every people's hand +against its ruling class. Every government is making +its policy subservient to the needs of the future war which +is universally looked upon as an unavoidable outcome of +the Versailles peace. Imperialism and militarism are +striking roots in soil where they were hitherto unknown. +In a word, Prussianism, instead of being destroyed, has +been openly adopted by its ostensible enemies, and the +huge sacrifices offered up by the heroic armies of the foremost +nations are being misused to give one half of the +world just cause to rise up against the other half.</p> + +<p>THE END</p> + +<p>FOOTNOTES:</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_339_339" id="Footnote_339_339" href="#FNanchor_339_339"> [339]</a> A contemporary of Goethe. His works were republished by Herzog in +the year 1907.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_340_340" id="Footnote_340_340" href="#FNanchor_340_340"> [340]</a> <i>The Daily Telegraph</i>, January 28, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_341_341" id="Footnote_341_341" href="#FNanchor_341_341"> [341]</a> <i>The Daily Telegraph</i>, January 31, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_342_342" id="Footnote_342_342" href="#FNanchor_342_342"> [342]</a> <i>The Daily Mail</i> (Paris edition), February 13, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_343_343" id="Footnote_343_343" href="#FNanchor_343_343"> [343]</a> State-Secretary Hay addressed a note to the Powers in September, 1899, +setting forth America's attitude toward China. It is known as the doctrine +of the "open door." In a subsequent note (July 3, 1900) he enlarged its +scope and promulgated the integrity of China. But Russia ignored it and +flew her flag over the Chinese customs in Newchwang. It was Japan who, +on that occasion, asserted and enforced the doctrine without outside help.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_344_344" id="Footnote_344_344" href="#FNanchor_344_344"> [344]</a> General March intimated, when testifying before the House Military +Committee, that President Wilson approved of universal training, indorsing +the War Department's army program.—<i>New York Herald</i> (Paris edition).</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_345_345" id="Footnote_345_345" href="#FNanchor_345_345"> [345]</a> <i>Bulletin des Droits de l'Homme</i>, No. 10, May 15, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_346_346" id="Footnote_346_346" href="#FNanchor_346_346"> [346]</a> <i>Journal Officiel</i>, November 21, 1917.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_347_347" id="Footnote_347_347" href="#FNanchor_347_347"> [347]</a> <i>Le Populaire</i>, February 10, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_348_348" id="Footnote_348_348" href="#FNanchor_348_348"> [348]</a> <i>La Stampa</i>, June 11, 1919. Cf. <i>L'Humanité,</i> June 13, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_349_349" id="Footnote_349_349" href="#FNanchor_349_349"> [349]</a> Cf. <i>The Chicago Tribune</i> (Paris edition), August 27, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_350_350" id="Footnote_350_350" href="#FNanchor_350_350"> [350]</a> In <i>The Daily Telegraph</i>, February 8, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_351_351" id="Footnote_351_351" href="#FNanchor_351_351"> [351]</a> The Covenant leaves the mode of recruiting them undetermined.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_352_352" id="Footnote_352_352" href="#FNanchor_352_352"> [352]</a> Article IV.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_353_353" id="Footnote_353_353" href="#FNanchor_353_353"> [353]</a> Article VIII.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_354_354" id="Footnote_354_354" href="#FNanchor_354_354"> [354]</a> M. d'Estournelles de Constant, <i>Bulletin des Droits de l'Homme</i>, May +15, 1919, p. 450.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_355_355" id="Footnote_355_355" href="#FNanchor_355_355"> [355]</a> <i>Ibid.</i></p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_356_356" id="Footnote_356_356" href="#FNanchor_356_356"> [356]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 457.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_357_357" id="Footnote_357_357" href="#FNanchor_357_357"> [357]</a> Article XII.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_358_358" id="Footnote_358_358" href="#FNanchor_358_358"> [358]</a> Cf. <i>The New York Herald</i> (Paris edition), September 14, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_359_359" id="Footnote_359_359" href="#FNanchor_359_359"> [359]</a> <i>L'Echo de Paris</i>, February 17, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_360_360" id="Footnote_360_360" href="#FNanchor_360_360"> [360]</a> On April 11, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_361_361" id="Footnote_361_361" href="#FNanchor_361_361"> [361]</a> The wording of the final Japanese amendment was: "By the endorsement +of the principle of equality of nations and just treatment of their +nationals."</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_362_362" id="Footnote_362_362" href="#FNanchor_362_362"> [362]</a> On April 28, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_363_363" id="Footnote_363_363" href="#FNanchor_363_363"> [363]</a> The Jewish coalition in Vilna inscribed on its program the union of +Vilna with Russia.... There was an overwhelming majority in favor of its +retention by Poland.—<i>Le Temps</i>, September 14, 1919. The election took +place on September 7th.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_364_364" id="Footnote_364_364" href="#FNanchor_364_364"> [364]</a> On Saturday, May 31, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_365_365" id="Footnote_365_365" href="#FNanchor_365_365"> [365]</a> I published several series of articles in <i>The Daily Telegraph</i>, <i>The Fortnightly +Review</i>, and other English as well as American periodicals, and a +long chapter in my book entitled <i>Russian Characteristics</i>.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_366_366" id="Footnote_366_366" href="#FNanchor_366_366"> [366]</a> "Poland agrees that any member of the Council of the League of Nations +shall have the right to bring to the attention of the Council any infraction, +or <i>any danger of infraction</i>, of any of these obligations, and that the Council +may thereupon take such action and give such direction as it may deem +proper and effective in the circumstances."—Article XII of the Special +Treaty with Poland.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_367_367" id="Footnote_367_367" href="#FNanchor_367_367"> [367]</a> Cf. <i>La Gazette de Lausanne</i>, April 24, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_368_368" id="Footnote_368_368" href="#FNanchor_368_368"> [368]</a> Article XI of the Special Treaty, <i>L'Etoile Belge</i>, August 17, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_369_369" id="Footnote_369_369" href="#FNanchor_369_369"> [369]</a> <i>Le Journal des Débats</i>, July 7, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_370_370" id="Footnote_370_370" href="#FNanchor_370_370"> [370]</a> M. Emile Combes was the author of the laws which banished religious +congregations from France.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_371_371" id="Footnote_371_371" href="#FNanchor_371_371"> [371]</a> <i>Le Figaro</i>, August 21, 1919. <i>L'Echo de Paris</i>, August 22, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_372_372" id="Footnote_372_372" href="#FNanchor_372_372"> [372]</a> <i>The Morning Post</i>, July 21, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_373_373" id="Footnote_373_373" href="#FNanchor_373_373"> [373]</a> <i>L'Echo de Paris</i>, April 29, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_374_374" id="Footnote_374_374" href="#FNanchor_374_374"> [374]</a> <i>Ibid.</i>, April 14, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_375_375" id="Footnote_375_375" href="#FNanchor_375_375"> [375]</a> <i>The Chicago Tribune</i> (Paris edition), September 17, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_376_376" id="Footnote_376_376" href="#FNanchor_376_376"> [376]</a> <i>The New Republic</i>, August 6, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_377_377" id="Footnote_377_377" href="#FNanchor_377_377"> [377]</a> Mr. James B. Beck.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_378_378" id="Footnote_378_378" href="#FNanchor_378_378"> [378]</a> <i>The North American Review</i>, June, 1919.</p> + +<p><a name="Footnote_379_379" id="Footnote_379_379" href="#FNanchor_379_379"> [379]</a> Cf. <i>The New Republic</i>, August 6, 1919, pp. 5, 6.</p> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14477 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |