ctions resulted in a Republican majority of
thirty-nine in the House and two in the Senate. The President had
followed the practice of European premiers in appealing to the people,
but under our constitutional system he could not very well resign. Had
he not issued his appeal, the election would have been regarded as a
repudiation of the Democratic Congress, but not necessarily as a
repudiation of the President. The situation was most unfortunate, but
the President made no comments and soon after announced his intention
of going to Paris. In December Lloyd George went to the country, and
on pledging himself to make Germany pay for the war and to hang the
Kaiser, he was returned by a substantial majority. These pledges were
unnecessary and had a most unfortunate influence on the subsequent
negotiations at Paris.

The President sailed for France December 4, leaving a divided country
behind him. His enemies promptly seized the opportunity to assail him.
Senator Sherman introduced a resolution declaring the presidency vacant
because the President had left the territory of the United States, and
Senator Knox offered another resolution declaring that the Conference
should confine itself solely to the restoration of peace, and that the
proposed league of nations should be reserved for consideration at some
future time.

While his enemies in the Senate were busily organizing all the forces
of opposition against him, the President was welcomed by the war-weary
peoples of Europe with demonstrations of genuine enthusiasm such as had
been the lot of few men in history to receive. Sovereigns and heads of
States bestowed the highest honors upon him, while great crowds of
working men gathered at the railroad stations in order to get a glimpse
of the man who had led the crusade for a peace that would end war and
establish justice as the rule of conduct between the nations of the
world, great and small nations alike.

No mortal man could have fulfilled the hopes and expectations that
centered in Wilson when he landed on the shores of France in December,
1918. The Armistice had been signed on the basis of his ideals, and
the peoples of Europe confidently expected to see those ideals embodied
in the treaty of peace. He still held the moral leadership of the
world, but the war was over, the German menace ended, and national
rivalries and jealousies were beginning to reappear, even among those
nations who had so recently fought