e Italian Government might
much more probably have accepted Wilson's standpoint than after final
victory. Then they could not do it. At Versailles they were the slaves
of their promises. And does anyone believe that Lloyd George would
have had the power at Versailles to extend the Wilson principle of the
right of self-determination to Ireland and the Dominions? Naturally,
he did not wish to do otherwise than he did; but that is not the
question here, but rather that neither could have acted very
differently even had he wished to do so.

It seems to me that the historical moment is the year 1917 when Wilson
lost his power, which was swallowed up in Imperialism, and when the
President of the United States neglected to force his programme on his
Allies. Then power was still in his hands, as the American troops were
so eagerly looked for; but later, when victory came, he no longer held
it.

And thus there came about what is now a fact. A dictated peace of the
most terrible nature was concluded and a foundation laid for a
continuance of unimaginable disturbances, complications and wars.

In spite of all the apparent power of victorious armies, in spite of
all the claims of the Council of Four, a world has expired at
Versailles--the world of militarism. Solely bent on exterminating
Prussian militarism, the Entente have gained so complete a victory
that all fences and barriers have been pulled down and they can give
themselves up unchecked to a torrent of violence, vengeance and
passion. And the Entente are so swallowed up by their revengeful
paroxysm of destruction that they do not appear to see that, while
they imagine they still rule and command, they are even now but
instruments in a world revolution.

The Entente, who would not allow the war to end and kept up the
blockade for months after the cessation of hostilities, has made
Bolshevism a danger to the world. War is its father, famine its
mother, despair its godfather. The poison of Bolshevism will course in
the veins of Europe for many a long year.

Versailles is not the end of the war, it is only a phase of it. The
war goes on, though in another form. I think that the coming
generation will not call the great drama of the last five years the
world-war, but the world-revolution, which it will realise began with
the world-war.

Neither at Versailles nor St. Germain has any lasting work been done.
The germs of decomposition and death lie in this peace. The paroxy