The sun., 1919-08-23


dare sbate a slasle item OF the pro-
sramme which constitutes our in
structions"
"Our instructions :" Not one man
IN a hundred thousand Of those to
whom President WrsoN thus conf
IDENTIFY presented his alleged credeu-
tails and declared his mandate from
the American Government and ma
ton appreciated the fact that his
credentials were non-existent, his
mandate the product solely of his own
individual purposes, his authority to
demand of the Europeans n League
of Nations and to trade American
power and prestige In procuring Eu-
ropean assent TO his covenant abso-
lutely without foundation in truth.
He had no authority thus to speak
for America in regard to the League.
He had no mandate to demand a
League or to bargain for 1t. He had
no instructions from his Government
or his people to tie up the United
States in his personally conceived
scheme Of world control. So far from
there being any instructions to that
effect, the Republic had voted by over
whelmlng majorities less than three
months before this speech in the Con-
ference and on his own direct and
unqualified application and appeal to
his fellow countrymen to grant him
this power-voted with unmistakable
emphasis to withhold such instruc-
tons, to refuse to him such mandate
and to leave him unclothed with such
representative authority as he de-
clared to Europe was his by Amer
ica's sovereign will.
Not one European In q hundred
thousand, we say, knew then that this
was the case. Some of the cannier
statesmen Of the associated Powers
knew 1t and used the Presidents OBJ
session and pretenslons to the ma
tional advantage Of their respective
Governments In the matching Of
minds for trade and barter which
then Immediately began. Since that
time a perception of the non-ethical
characterize put the matter in the
most respectful way possible-of
President WILSON'S original pretence
to Europe that he was the authorized
| Of Ann In tln a y
of the League, that he had definite
instructions from his people, that he
dare not return to his own country
with the mandate unfulflled, has be-
come quite general on the other side
of the Atlantic. We have seen by
numerous manifestations how general
also is the indifference over there to
the whole scheme, In which his indi-
vidual notions were tolerated merely
because 1t was believed, on the
strength Of his own repeated declara-
tons, that he spoke with authority
and in the name of the American
people.
This is looking backward. Now
turn to the situation to-day existing
here in the United States. Having
induced the European Governments
to accept his covenant on the ground
that America passionately demanded
IL, the same President WILSON, now
facing the other way, is planning in
August an appeal to his fellow coun-
trymen for that very mandate and
those very instructions which he mis-
leadingly presented to Europe in jan
| uary last as the reasons for his pres
ence In Paris. He or his supporters
are denouncing the Senators as OBJ
| structionists and delayers of peace
for taking half the time to consider
the lasting effect on Americas future
of the project thus by him promoted.
He is imploring the American people
10 swallow his League with all 1t i'm
plies and without the change Of n
sentence, word, q syllable or pune
tuation mark on the plea that Eu-
rope passionately demands 1t, that the
heart Of the world will be broken IL
1t falls through the Senate's action,
that 1t will be deserving our allies and
staining the national honor to amend
the covenant in any particular or to
make reservations concerning 1t.
In the language of SHAKESPEARE
and the late Senator CHANDLER of
New Hampshire, Can such things be
and overcome us like a summers
cloud, without our special wonder"