, 1918._

"Le Populaire," Paris, November 18, 1918.

* * * * *

A few days later (December 4, 1918), "Le Populaire" published a
letter from Romain Rolland to Jean Longuet, wherein Romain Rolland
laid bare his most intimate thought and gave the reasons for his
attitude towards Wilson. The letter was reprinted by "L'Humanite"
in the issue of December 14, 1918, a special "Wilson Number."

I am no Wilsonian. I see all too plainly that the president's message,
as clever as it is generous, aims (in good faith) at realising
throughout the world the ideal of the bourgeois republic of the
Franco-American type.

This is a conservative ideal and it no longer satisfies me.

Nevertheless, despite our personal predilections and our reserves for
the future, I believe that the best thing we can do for the moment is to
support the action of President Wilson. He alone will be able to curb
the greedy appetites, the ambitions, and the fierce instincts, which
will seat themselves at the peace banquet. Through his action alone is
there any chance of bringing about a modus vivendi in Europe, one which
provisionally at least shall be fairly just. This great bourgeois
embodies what is purest, most disinterested, most humane, in the
mentality of his class.[91] No one is better fitted than he to act as
Arbiter.

R. R.

_June, 1919._

XXV

AGAINST VICTORIOUS BISMARCKISM

"Le Populaire" asked Romain Rolland to write an article on the
occasion of President Wilson's arrival in France. Romain Rolland,
who was ill at the time, wrote from Villeneuve as follows.

THURSDAY, _December 12, 1918._

DEAR LONGUET,

Your letter of the 6th inst. did not reach me until to-day, of course
after being opened by the military censorship. It finds me in bed, where
I have been for a fortnight, suffering from an obstinate attack of
influenza. It is therefore impossible for me to write the article you
want.

All that I will say is that, during the last fortnight, the news from
France has often made me more uneasy than my fever. The Allies believe
themselves victorious. In my view (if they fail to pull themselves
together) they are vanquished, beaten, infected, by Bismarckism.

Unless there is an extensive turn in events, I foresee a century of
hatreds, of new wars of revenge, and the destruction of European
civilisation. Let me add that the destruction of European civilisa