Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1919-07-16

living in that shadow, the nations that
had come by our assistance to their
freedom. 1t was our duty to do
power to do to make the triumph of
freedom
Old entanglements Of every kind
stood in the way-prOmises which
governments had made to one anoth-
er in the days when might and right
were confused and the power Of the
victor was without restraint. Entan-
clements which contemplated any
positions Of territory. any extensions
OF sovereignty that might seem to be
to the interest Of those who had the
power to insist upon them. had been
entered into without thought OF what
the peoples concerned might wish or
be honorably brushed aside. It was
not easy to graft the new order OF
ideas on the old, and some Of the
fruits Of the grating may. fear, for
time be bitter. But, with very few
exceptions. the mon who sat with us
at the peace table desired as sincerely
as we did to get away from the bad
Influences. the illegitimate purposes,
the demoralizing ambitions, the inter
national counseis and expcdients out
Of which the sinister designs OF Cor.
mnay had sprung as a natural growth.
1t had been our privilege to formu.
late the principles which were accept
ed as the basis Of tho peace. but they
had been accepted. not because we
had come to hasten and assure the
victory and insisted upon them. but
because they were readily acceded to
as the principles to which honorab,.
and enlightened minds every where hni
been bred. They spoke tho conscience
OF the world. as we'll as tho conscience
Of America. and I am happy to pay
my tribute Of respect and gratitude to
the able. forward-looking men with
whom It was my privilege TO cooper.
ate for tholr unfailing spirit OF coop
GRAFTON, their constant effort to accom-
modate tho interests they represented
to the principles we were all agreed
upon. Tho difficulties, which were
many, lay In the circumstances. not
often In tho mon. Almont without ex-
ception the men who led had caught
the true and full vision OF the prob
lem OF peace as An indivisable whole,
q problem not Of merely adjustments
OF interests, but Of justice and right
action.
The atmosphere in which the con-
ference worked seemed created, not
by the ambitions Of strong govern
ments, but by the hopes and aspira-
tions Of small nations and Of peoples
hitherto under bondage to the power
that victory had shattered and de-
stroyed. Two great empires had
been forced into political bankruptcy,
and we were the receivers. Our task
was not only to make peace with the
central empires and remedy the
wrongs their armies had done. Tho
central empires had lived in open vio-
lation of many Of the rights for which
the war had been fought, dominating
alien peoples over whom they had no
natural right to rule, enforcing, not
obedience, but vcritable bondage, ex-
plotting these who were weak for the
benefit of those who were masters and
oYerlords only by force of arms.
There could be no peace until the
whole order Of central Europe was set
right.
That meant that new nations were
to be created-Poland, Czecho Slo-
vakia. Hungary itself. No part Of an
cient Poland had ever in any true
sense become part Of Germany, or of
Austria, or Of Russia. Bohemia was
alien in every thought and hope to
tho monarchy Of which she had 50
long been an artificial part; and tho