Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-12-30
BREAKING PRECEDENTS
SENSIBLE, SAYS WILSON
It's Only Following the Rational,
Natural Way, President
Tells BrltiShers.

London. Dec. 30.-Onc Of the most
eloquent utteranccs "A casual speech Il
thr President has delivered since hi
arrival Ill Europe Was delivered at the
Z Mansion Houa4, while d guest Of the
Lord AIavor Of London
The next Of the last paragraph IN the
address Is pointed out as worthy OF the
the best utterancc Of any American.
Tho address reads
"Nr Lord Navor. Your Royal High
ness. our Grace, Ladies and Gentlemen
a.! have again made me feel, sir, the
yerv wonderful and generous welcome
ii this great city, and you have reminded
me- ii what has perhaps become one Of
the habits Of my llic
You have said that | have broken
All prcccicnts III coming across the ocean
~ ioln III the counseis oi the Peace Con
ference, but think those who have been
associated with me III Washington Will
testify that IS nothing surprising
7 e3id to the members of the press In
Washington one evening that one Of the
things that had Interested me most since
| nycd in Washington was that every
time | did anything perfectly natural
i was said to be unprecedented.
II was perfectly natural 10 break this
precedent. natural because the demand
for intimate conference took precedence
over every other duty.
And, after all the breaking Of pre-
ccdrnts, though this may sound strange
doctrine IN England, is the most sensible
thing to do The harness Of precedent
Is sometimes very sad and harasslng
trammel.
In this case, the breaking Of the pre-
ccdent is sensible for reason that Is very
prcttlly illustrated IN q remark attributed
10 Charles Lamb One evening. IN 8
company Of his friends, they were discuss
lug !, person who was not present and
Lamb SAID ia his hesltatlng manner
! h-hato that fellow, Why, Charles,
one oi his friends SAID J did not know that
vou knew hun Oh, he said, i, J.
d-dont. ] c-cant h-hate u man | know.
And perhaps that simple and attactlvc
remark may furnish a secret for cordial
international relationship. Nhcn We know
one another we cannot hate one mother
Il have been very much Interested be
fore coming here to see what sort Of person
| was expected To be SO far rs ] can
make out. | Was expected 10 be perfectly
bloodlc,9 linking machine, whereas ] am
ucrfectlv aware that nave IN ne al the
inSurgcnt clements Of the human race
am sometimes, By reason OF long
scotch tradition, able 10 keep these in.
,tinct- ID restraint The stern Coven,
antcr tradition that is behind ne sends
! nlarA an echo down the years. II is not
( ouly diligently TO pursue business, but
also to seek this sort OF comradeship. that
] feel il is privilege to have come across
/ the seas and in the welcome that you
f. have accorded Mrs Wilson and me, you
4 have made us feel that companionship
/ was accessible to Us in the most delightful
and enjoyable form
! u thank you sincerely for tins welcome
sir, and am very happy to join in love
! feast which Is all the more enjoyable be-
! cause there is behind it background oi
tragical suffering Our spirits are released
! from the darkness Of the clouds that AT
one time seemed to have settled upon
/ the world in q way that could not be dis
4 persed, the suffering Of your own people
| the suffering Of the people 81 France and
/ the infinite suffering Of the people Of
| Belgium.
The whisper Of grief that has been
/ blown all through the world is now silent
| and the sun Of hope seems to spread It's
| rays and to charge the earth with new
prospect Of happiness So, our Joy Is al
/ the more elevated because we know that
our spirits are now lifted ont Of the valley: