delegates, and then the representatives of the British Dominions. When those from South Africa were about to sign, General Jan Christian Smuts announced that he did so under protest, and filed a document setting forth that in some respects the treaty was unsatisfactory. M. Clémenceau and the French delegates were the next to sign; then came the Japanese, then the Italians, and after them the delegates from the small Powers. The seats assigned the Chinese delegates were vacant; they did not attend because of the provisions in the treaty regarding the peninsula of Shantung. At a quarter before four o'clock all was over, and the Germans left the Hall.

My fellow countrymen [said President Wilson in an address to the People of the United States]: The Treaty of Peace has been signed. If it is ratified and acted upon in full and sincere execution of its terms, it will furnish the charter for a new order of affairs in the world. It is a severe treaty in the duties and penalties it imposes upon Germany, but it is severe only because great wrongs done by Germany are to be righted and repaired; it imposes nothing that Germany cannot do, and she can regain her rightful standing in the world by the prompt and honorable fulfillment of its terms. And it is much more than a treaty of peace with Germany. It liberates great peoples who have never before been able to find the way to liberty. It ends, once for all, an old and intolerable order, under which small groups of selfish men could use the peoples of great empires to serve their ambition for power and dominion. It associates the free governments of the world in a permanent league, in which they are pledged to use their united power to maintain peace by maintaining right and justice. It makes international law a reality, supported by imperative sanctions. It does away with the right of conquest, and rejects the policy of annexation, and substitutes a new order under which backward nations, populations which have not yet come to political consciousness, and peoples who are ready for independence, but not yet quite prepared to dispense with protection and guidance, shall no more be subjected to the domination and exploitation of a stronger nation, but shall be put under the friendly direction, and afforded the helpful assistance of governments which undertake to be responsible to the opinion of mankind in the execution of their task by accepting the direction of the League of Nations.

It recognizes the inalienable rights of nationality, the rights of minorities, and the sanctity of religious belief and practice. It lays the basis for conventions which shall free the commercial intercourse of the world from unjust and vexatious restrictions, and for every sort of international coöperation that will serve to cleanse the life of the world, and facilitate its common action in beneficent service of every kind. It furnishes guarantees such as were never given, or even contemplated, for the fair treatment of all who labor at the daily tasks of the world.

It is for this reason that I have spoken of it as a great charter for a new order of affairs. There is ground here for deep satisfaction, universal reassurance, and confident hope.

His work done, the President, on the evening of the 28th, left for Brest to board the George Washington waiting to carry him home. Before leaving Paris he bade a formal farewell to France:

As I look back over the eventful months I have spent in France my memory is not of conferences and hard work alone, but also of innumerable acts of generosity and friendship which have made me feel how genuine the sentiments of France are toward the people of America, and how fortunate I have been to be the representative of our people in the midst of a nation which knows how to show us kindness with so much charm, and so much open manifestation of what is in its heart.

Deeply happy as I am at the prospects of joining my own countrymen again, I leave France with genuine regret, my deep sympathy for her people, and belief in her future confirmed; my thought enlarged by the privilege of association with her public men, conscious of more than one affectionate friendship formed, and profoundly grateful for unstinted hospitality, and for countless kindnesses which have made me feel welcome and at home.

I take the liberty of bidding France godspeed as well as good-by, and of expressing once more my abiding interest and entire confidence in her future.

That same day King George sent a message to the President saying:

In this glorious hour, when the long struggle of nations for right, justice and freedom is at last crowned by a triumphant peace, I

greet you, Mr. President, and the great American people in the name of the British nation.

At a time when fortune seemed to frown, and the issues of the war trembled in the balance, the American people stretched out the hand of fellowship to those who on this side of the ocean were battling for a righteous cause. Light and hope at once shone brighter

in our hearts, and a new day dawned.

Together we have fought to a happy end, together we lay down. our arms in proud consciousness of valiant deeds nobly done.

Mr. President, it is on this day one of our happiest thoughts that the American and British people, brothers in arms, will continue forever to be brothers in peace. United before by language, traditions, kinship, and ideals, there has been set upon our fellowship the sacred seal of common sacrifice.

CHAPTER IX

THE TREATY REJECTED

THOUGH the treaty was signed and ratified by Germany, no official copy had been seen by the public. Again and again attempts were made to secure one. The French Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the French budget committee had each requested copies from M. Clémenceau, but the Premier had firmly refused to send them. Meantime the Germans were spreading printed copies broadcast, and giving this as a reason the French Chamber of Deputies called for the treaty and were informed that the request could not be granted. Thereupon a Paris journal, Bon Soir, secured six hundred copies of the book from Switzerland, and presented them to the Chamber, whose authorities posted a notice informing members that each could obtain one at the questor's office, as a present from Bon Soir. Copies found their way from Denmark to private parties in New York, and were seen by Senators. Mr. Lodge stated on the floor of the Senate that when in New York he had in his hand, and looked over for an hour and a half, a copy of the treaty, and heard of the existence in that city of three more. Senator Borah said they were in the possession of certain interests particularly concerned in the treaty. Here was a matter to be investigated. How did they get their copies? Who gave them out? Had our representatives in Paris allowed interests in New York to secure them for their own selfish uses?

A resolution was accordingly introduced, and adopted unanimously without a roll call. It set forth that Mr. Borah, the Senator from Idaho, has stated in the Senate that certain interests in New York City have secured copies of the peace

treaty with Germany, while the American people have not been able to procure one; that the Senator from Massachusetts, Mr. Lodge, has stated in the Senate that he knew of four copies in New York; that the only place where it is not allowed to come is the United States Senate; and that the Senator from Idaho has stated that the interests in possession of copies are particularly interested in the treaty. Therefore, the Committee on Foreign Relations is directed to investigate and report to the Senate the names of the persons, corporations, or interests, which have secured copies of the treaty, from whom and by what means they were secured, and to what extent the interests are particularly concerned in the treaty. By another resolution the Secretary of State was requested to furnish the full text of the document, if not incompatible with the public interest.

A few days later Senator Borah rose in the Senate and said that he had in his possession a copy of the treaty; that he was about to ask permission of the Senate to print it as a Senate document; that he was permitted to offer it by the consent of those who gave it to him; that the particular copy he was offering was brought to this country by a staff correspondent of the Chicago Tribune, and was delivered to him as a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations. He entertained no doubt that it was a true and correct copy, and asked unanimous consent that it be printed as a Senate document.

Unanimous consent having been refused, the Senator moved that the document be printed in the Record. A hot debate followed; but the motion was carried by forty-seven yeas to twenty-four nays. Nine Democrats voted for printing; one Republican voted against it. A motion to reconsider was soon made and the debate was renewed more hotly than before. In the midst of it Senator Borah, having obtained the floor, said that the authenticity of his copy had been questioned. Therefore he would prove it genuine by reading it. A storm of opposition arose at once from Democratic Senators. It was contrary to all precedent to present a treaty in open session;