hout
brilliancy. Accident made him a lawyer, but he was really intended
to be an artist; he would have produced no masterpiece, for genius
is not in him, but he would have been happy in his work and perhaps
have given inspiration to men of greater talent. Without being a
fanatic or dogmatic, he is strongly religious; religion to him has
a meaning and is not merely a convention; he has a code which he
has always observed and ideals which he has preserved; he is
charitable in his judgments and has never allowed his prejudices to
influence his actions; he is, to use a word so often misapplied, a
gentleman, and his motto is Noblesse oblige. Typical of the
standard he sets for himself was the admirable restraint he showed
after his abrupt dismissal from the Cabinet. He neither sought
vindication through the newspapers, nor posed as a victim, nor
soothed his feelings by denunciations of the President; he did not
make a nuisance of himself by inflicting the recital of his
grievances upon his friends or hinting darkly at revelations. He
kept quiet and went about his affairs as a gentleman should.

Why, it may be asked, should a man with so many fine qualities have
cut such a sorry figure? The answer perhaps is that he suffers from
the defects of his qualities, fine as we must admit them to be; too
fine, perhaps, for a coarser world.

When a weak and somewhat easy-going man, immensely pleased with his
own exalted position, has to deal with a man of iron will, ruthless
in his methods, he is necessarily at a disadvantage. Considering
Mr. Lansing's temperamental defects and the effect of his training,
his failure is no mystery.

Until Mr. Lansing became Secretary of State he had never known
responsibility. Practically his entire life had been spent as a
subordinate, carrying out with zeal and intelligence the tasks
assigned to him, but always in obedience to a stronger mind.
Nothing more weakens character or intellect than for a man
habitually to turn to another for direction or inspiration; always
to play the part of an inferior to a mental superior. For years Mr.
Lansing had been connected with many international arbitrations
which, theoretically, was a magnificent training for a future
Secretary of State, and actually would have destroyed the creative
and administrative usefulness of a much stronger man than Robert
Lansing.

In the whole mummery of international relations there is nothing
more farcical than an internation