That was its character in the days of peace, and it has not altered its character in the days of war. It is a great minority of the press, and it does not represent any section of the British public. Throughout the British nation, there is, I sincerely believe, a feeling of the deepest respect and affection for the American nation. There is, I believe, the desire to grow closer and closer in their relationship with the American people. It is an ideal that I hope will one day be achieved, that the English-speaking people will come closer together; and when I say that, I am not thinking of an alliance offensive to other nations; I am simple speaking of the English and American nations using their great inheritance in order to secure the peace of the world. I remember with gratitude that during the war the one great constructive suggestion made in any country for the help of the belligerent world has been in America-the proposal of the league of nations to secure the peace of the world. I do not inquite whether that in itself is adequate, and I do not say it is not open to many criticisms, but I do say that it has the great value of being a constructive proposal, that it knows the end it seeks to achieve, and it makes at least tentative suggestions to secure that end. I say that America, by giving such constructive proposals, is doing a great service to the world, and that what the whole world now wants is the wisdom of America, the thought of America, expressed in the form of constructive suggestion. I believe, if I may say so with great humility, that there is before the American nation today an opportunity that comes not once in the history of a nation, but only once, perhaps, in the history of a world. It is no less than the opportunity that America has, from her position of unmistakable moral power and from her position of detachment from the war now raging, to give the belligerent world the fruits of her own wisdom, not only to help the belligerent world, it may be, to peace in this struggle, but to help the whole world, belligerent and neutral alike, so to organize the international life, so to set up final courts of arbitration, so to assist in the change of outlook in the nations of the world, as to make war forever

impossible and secure the international brotherhood of the world, and help forward the dawn of that day,-I wish that we could feel that we saw it today above the hill tops of time,—when men shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks and learn war no more.

PRESIDENT WILSON'S LACK OF POLICY IN

MEXICO

[The author of this article is an American of high standing and reputation who has had intimate knowledge of Mexican conditions from the days of Diaz to the present. Due to his Mexican connections it seems unwise to have his name appear at this time.-EDITORS.]

Strictly speaking President Wilson has had no definite constructive Mexican policy. His whole course in dealing with Mexico has been characterized by lack of policy, by vacillation, inconsistency and harmful meddling. Apparently oblivious to the gravity of the situation, he has preferred to drift on the current of events, shifting his position to meet the changing needs of the hour and to "trust to luck" that all might turn out well, rather than adopt a settled policy based upon a full comprehension of the facts of the situation. Deliberately he has closed his eyes to the facts or, what is worse, has sought to bend those facts that have been thrust upon him by the development of events to fit a preconceived theory. But the chief vice of his Mexican performance lies in the fact that he has talked one way and acted another. It is this practice that has caused friends to doubt his sincerity and strangers to suspect him of duplicity and double dealing. Protesting all the while that the affairs of Mexico were not our business or the business of any other foreign power, and constantly asserting that he would not interfere in the affairs of that country or permit anyone else to interfere, he has in fact and in truth been interfering continuously since he entered the presidency, and to no useful purpose. The records show this. In his famous Indianapolis speech, in which he defined his attitude towards Mexico, he said:

It is none of my business, and none of your business, how long they (the Mexicans) take in determining who shall be their governors or what their government shall be. It is none of your business, and none of my business, how they go about the busi

ness. It is theirs. The country is theirs. The government is theirs. And so far as my influence goes, while I am President, nobody shall interfere with them.

FIRST ACT OF INTERFERENCE

Notwithstanding this and numerous other similar utterances, President Wilson began his administration by interfering in Mexican affairs for the purpose of overthrowing the government of Victoriana Huerta. Raising the slogan "Huerta must go," he first undertook to do this by peaceful means and to that end sent John Lind on a diplomatic mission to persuade General Huerta to renounce the presidency. Mr. Lind exhorted General Huerta to resign, offering as an inducement that the United States would render Mexico financial aid (a thing which neither he nor President Wilson had any constitutional right to do) and finally went so far as to serve notice on him that the Washington government would not consent to his becoming a candidate for the presidency at the coming elections. This unprecedented act of interference was resented by all Mexicans, Huertistas and Carranzistas alike. It betrayed President Wilson's lack of understanding of the Mexican character and of the elemental facts which underlay the problem with which he was dealing, filled his friends with mortification and made himself the laughing stock of foreign nations. Nothing could be more ridiculous than the spectacle of the President of the United States attempting to remove from the presidency of Mexico by means of moral suasion an old Indian who had waded through treason and assassination to that position. The Lind mission of course was a great failure and a greater blunder.

SECOND ACT OF INTERFERENCE

President Wilson's second act of interference was the blockading of the city of Vera Cruz, Mexico's principal seaport, by our fleet and the capture of that city by our marines and soldiers. This cost the United States the lives of nineteen American seamen and sixteen millions of treas

ure. It cost Mexico the lives of several hundred of her citizens. This was nothing short of an act of war. It was armed intervention. It was done ostensibly to force the individual Huerta, whom President Wilson would not recognize as president of the de facto government of Mexico, to salute the American flag in reparation for an offense committed against the dignity of the United States by some of Huerta's soldiers at the city of Tampico. The flag was not saluted and had it been, President Wilson, in accordance with international usage, would have been obliged to return the salute and thus accord Huerta the official recognition he had resolved to withhold from him. In view of the foregoing facts, it can hardly be said that the reason given by President Wilson for the Vera Cruz expedition was such as to commend itself to the good judgment of mankind. But whatever he might have had in mind, there can be no dispute about the fact that the act itself was nothing short of intervention by armed force in Mexico, and this at the very time when he was insisting that he would never interfere or permit anyone else to interfere in the affairs of that country.

THIRD ACT OF INTERFERENCE

President Wilson interfered a third time in Mexican affairs when, during the Villa revolution, he threw the moral influence of the Washington government in favor of Villa and against Carranza. When Carranza, with the aid of President Wilson, had overthrown Huerta, it was clear to all who knew the situation, that Carranza was menaced by a revolt in his own ranks, headed by Villa. President Wilson was notified of this fact at the time and was urged to use his influence to prevent Villa and the men who were behind him from taking this step. The revolt came. Mr. Wilson declined to interfere on the ground that the quarrel was a domestic one and one to be settled by the parties themselves and announced he would take no part in it. Within four weeks after he had made this announcement, the moral influence of the Wilson administration was