t Wilson, of his leaving France to her fate
until he won his election to the second term of office by the help of
the anti-British and pacifist votes, yet posterity will undoubtedly
acclaim him as Lincoln now is acclaimed. It was he who not only, with
the dreamers of all the years, dreamed the dream of perpetual peace,
but by his unbending will-power forced the nations of Europe to place
that dream, materialised in the League of Nations, in the forefront of
the Treaty of Versailles. That was one of those epoch-making events on
which the history of the world turns. It is idle to think that the
coming generations will not place the man who did that among the
greatest of the human race. And yet to-day his own countrymen can find
no words strong enough to express their contempt and dislike. There is
no more pathetic figure in all the world. A shattered body gains him
no respite from abuse. When the broken man drove for the last time
from the White House to his own home--the burden at last laid down--a
demonstration organised by the League of Nations Union cheered him at
his gate. They would not go away until he spoke. He was taken to a
window, and after saying a few words he pointed to his throat, in token
that he could not further reply to the ovation. History can scarcely
parallel that tragedy. But Woodrow Wilson can comfort himself with the
thought that the hosannas will rise in chorus when he is dead. George
Washington has now a monument 555 feet high; a hundred years hence
Woodrow Wilson will have a monument 666 feet high. The generations of
those who garnish tombs never fail. 'I tremble for my country,' said
President Jefferson, 'when I remember that God is just.'

V

The world has raised a chorus of rejoicing over the results of the
Conference at Washington. While we rejoice at the prospect of reducing
the number of battleships, we can only rejoice with trembling. (It is
America, who had the Japanese navy on the brain, that has the greatest
cause to rejoice.) But agreements and treaties are not going to save
us. The crucial question is not the form and context of a treaty, but
rather whether there is among men sufficient truth and righteousness to
fulfil its terms. The warfare of the future will be a warfare of
chemistry. (According to a statement ascribed to Edison, the whole
population of London can in the future be wiped out in eight hours by
poison gas!) Is there a possibility of restrict