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.

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
unprivil