into account was the _vis
inertiae_, 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.

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."[349] Suspecting as much, I wrote at the time:[350] "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