The sun., 1918-12-18
Quo WarrantO?


To the President Of the United
States travelling in foreign lands and
making frequent speeches to foreign
crs on occasions Of ceremony and
friendly enthusiasm, considerable lat.
itude of expression will rightly be &c
corded. No American, whatever his
views concerning the proprlety Of Mr.
WILSON'S departure from his post OF
duty, will grudge him the enjoyment
OF the present hour or measure too
carefully his utterances.
Nevertheless, there are at least two
statements OF his in q recent address
in Paris which should not have
passed the censor without examlna-
,tion, and which cannot be accepted
here at home quite at their face
lvalue. even when regarded as Incl
dents In the exercise of his admir-.
able talent for festal oratory.
By what warrant, for instance, did
President WILSON inform the City
Government Of Paris, at the Hotel de
Vile on Monday, that he led this M.
ton into war on account of sympathy
for France and Belgium In their suf-
ferings, and Indignation at the hide
,ous practices of the Teuton invaders
His exact language In explaining the
entry of the United States into the
war was this:
Il beg that you will not suppose that
because n wide ocean separated US in
space We we're no. IN effect eyewitnesses
of the shameful ruin that was wrought
and the cruel and unnecessary suffer
ings that were brought upon you. These
sufferings have filled our hearts with in
dignation. We know not only what
they were. but We know what they sig
nifed. and our hearts were touched to
ire quick by them. our imaginations
allied with the whole picture OF what
France and Belgium in particular had
experienced
when the United States entered the
because they were moved by a convic-
ton that the purposes OF the Central
Empires were wrong and must be re-
sisted by men everywhere who loved lib
'erty and the right, but also because the
Illicit ambitions which they were enter
tanning and attempting TO realize had
Jed to the practices which shocked our
hearts as much as they offended our
principles.
Our resolution was formed because
we knew how profoundly great princi-
pies OF right were affected, but our
hearts moved also with our resolution"
That intense sympathy was felt by
most Americans for the sufferings of
the Be!glans and the French, that our
people were profoundly indignant al
the nation which inflicted these cruel
and unnecessary sufferings Is with
out qualification as true as gospel
America knows this, and France
knows 1t, too. But that President
WILSON was moved by this national
sympathy and Indignation to recon.
mend to Congress declaration of
war against the invader OF Belgium
and the devastatOr OF France does
not appear from the record Of his ut
terances. For after the violation of
Belglum's neutrality had amazed the
world and shocked the moral sense
OF civilization and brought Great
Britain to the side Of France, Presi.
debt WILSON was eXhortlng his fellow
countrymen TO be neutral in thought
az we'll as In acts, He said on Au-
gust IS, 1914:
'Trhe United States must be neutral
IN fact as well as In name during these
days that are to try mems souls. We
must be impartial In thought as well as
IN action; must put a curb upon our
sentiments as well as upon every trans
action that might be construed as a
preference of one party TO the struggle
before another"
And on September 16, 1914, after
the Hun policy of frlghtfulness had
developed in its full atrocity, after
the destruction Of Louvain, the muir
ders and mutllations and rapes and
burning OF cities In Belgium and In
northern France had marked the Ger
man Government with the brand in.
delible, President WILSON judlc!ally
remarked to Belgian delegation
which visited him at the White
House TO move his sympathy and stir
his Indignation:
1T would be unwise, II would be pre-.
mature for single Government, how.
ever fortunately separated from the
present struggle, It would be Inconsistent,
with the neutral position OF any nation