losely followed by some of his
fiercest opponents. Senators Johnson and Borah, members of the Foreign
Relations Committee, who might have been expected to remain in Washington
to assist in the consideration of the treaty by the Senate, followed in
Wilson's wake, attempting to counteract the effect of his addresses, and
incidentally distorting many of the treaty's provisions, which it is
charitable to assume they did not comprehend. The impression produced by
the President was varied, depending largely upon the political character
of his audience. East of the Mississippi he was received with comparative
coolness, but as he approached the coast enthusiasm became high, and at
Seattle and Los Angeles he received notable ovations. And yet in these
hours of triumph as in the previous moments of discouragement, farther
east, he must have felt that the issues were not clear. The struggle was
no longer one for a new international order that would ensure peace, so
much as a personal conflict between Lodge and Wilson. Whether the
President were applauded or anathematized, the personal note was always
present.

It was evident, during the tour, that the nervous strain was telling upon
Wilson. He had been worn seriously by his exertions in Paris, where he
was described by a foreign plenipotentiary as the hardest worker in the
Conference. The brief voyage home, which was purposely lengthened to give
him better chance of recuperation, proved insufficient. Forced to resume
the struggle at the moment when he thought victory was his, repudiated
where he expected to find appreciation, the tour proved to be beyond his
physical and nervous strength. At Pueblo, Colorado, on the 25th of
September, he broke down and returned hastily to Washington. Shortly
afterwards the President's condition became so serious that his
physicians forbade all political conferences, insisting upon a period of
complete seclusion and rest, which was destined to continue for many
months.

Thus at the moment of extreme crisis in the fortunes of the treaty its
chief protagonist was removed from the scene of action and the Democratic
forces fighting for ratification were deprived of effective leadership.
Had there been a real leader in the Senate who could carry on the fight
with vigor and finesse, the treaty might even then have been saved; but
Wilson's system had permitted no understudies. There was no one to lead
and no one to negotiate a compromise. From his sick-r