ns. And his Minister of Foreign Affairs followed
him."[346] 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.

"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."[347]

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 _Stampa_ 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. _Versailles is a
Brest-Litovsk_, 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."[348]

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 states