The President's Message seems to us in every way sound
and wise. Reading between the lines, we see there his ever-present consciousness of the fact that the majority in both Houses of Congress is now against him. For good or for ill, the swing of feeling against the President in the United States has gone further than has hitherto been recognized in this country. The real wisdom of President Wilson is displayed in the fact that he has no thought of refusing to pay the ordinary premiums of military security before the new order of the world is established. Thus he has urged strongly the necessity of carrying out promptly the new American naval programme of Dreadnoughts. It must be remembered that the governing fact in all the foreign politics of the United States is the absolute power of the Senate. No foreign Treaty can be ratified unless two-thirds of the Senate are in its favour. In other words, President Wilson has not the least chance of getting any Treaty ratified which is repugnant to the sentiments of the Republican Party. We take it that the opinions of the Republican Party may fairly be summarized by saying that they are framed in unreserved support of Great Britain and France. It is well to understand this situation, as it enables us to approach the Peace Conference with all confidence. It gives ourselves and the French a position of great power which we must neither abuse nor fail to use.
Previous page
