nd
privileges of weak peoples and small states as secure against aggression
and denial in the future as the rights and privileges of the great and
powerful states now at war." This idea was elaborated in several
sentences of a similar strain, the general purport of the whole passage
being that there was little to choose between the combatants, inasmuch
as both were apparently fighting for about the same things. Mr. Wilson's
purpose in this paragraph is not obscure; he was making his long
expected appearance as a mediator, and he evidently believed that it was
essential to this role that he should not seem to be prejudiced in
favour of either side, but should hold the balance impartially between
them.

It is true that a minute reading indicates that Mr. Wilson was merely
quoting, or attempting to paraphrase, the statements of the leaders of
both sides, but there is such a thing as quoting with approval, and no
explanation could convince the British public that the ruler of the
greatest neutral nation had not declared that the Allies and the Central
Powers stood morally upon the same level. The popular indignation which
this caused in Great Britain was so intense that it alarmed the British
authorities. The publication of this note in the British press was
withheld for several hours, in order to give the Government an
opportunity to control the expression of editorial opinion; otherwise it
was feared that this would be so unrestrained in its bitterness that
relations with the United States might be imperilled. The messages which
the London correspondents were permitted to send to the United States
were carefully censored for the same reason. The dispatch sent by the
Associated Press was the product of a long struggle between the Foreign
Office and its London correspondent. The representatives spent half an
hour considering whether the American correspondents could cable their
country that the note had been received in England with "surprise and
irritation." After much discussion it was decided that "irritation"
could not be used, and the message of the Associated Press, after
undergoing this careful editing by the Foreign Office, was a weak and
ridiculous description of the high state of excitement which prevailed
in Great Britain. The fact that the British Foreign Office should have
given all this trouble over the expressions sent to American newspapers
and should even have spent half an hour debating whether a particula