The Irish standard., 1919-12-27
THE AMERICAN NUMBER, 10 DOWNING
STREET.

The AMERICAN NUMBEK, III OOWN1NO
STREET.
"Apprecating the Importance of Col. House as
factor in the ambitions of Great Britain, Sir
William Wiseman, naturally, cultivated the most
trusted friend and adviser of President Wilson: In
order to facilitate convenience of contact, Sir Will
liam acquired an apartment in the same apartment
house where Col. House was domiced, No. lis East
Fifty-third street (New York;
'In England. No us East Fifty y-third street was
locularly referred to as the American No. 10
Downing street. which is the London designation
for the British Foreign Office.
Col. House unquestonaby Aattered by the
attentions paid him and persons in position to know
have always held this friendly relation between Col.
House and the British officials to be largely respon-
sble for the surrender by the United States the
freedom of the seas issue. X
There was and is every reason to believe that
when President Wilson started for Paris he was
freedom Of the seas issue in the permanent peace
treaty The British diplomats who appeared to be
greatly alarmed over the prospects Of having the
issue revived by the American President, prepared
to convert him to their way of thinking with char
acteristic fnessc and political intelligence.
Having accomplished the captuation of Col.
House in the armistce negotiations British officials
set out to win President Wilson to their way Of
"Lord Robert Cecil, one of the cleverest of the
younger British diplomats, assumed the leadership
in arousing Great Britain in the support of the
League of Nations.
the day after last Christmas * x the heads Of
the British government set out to convert him to
their view that the proper tribunal to define the
rights Of all nations was the League Of Nations
A TREMENDOUS NATIONAL VICTORY.
"In British official circles, Lord Robert Cecil is
given the full credit for having accomplished tre-
tnendous national victory. * He (Wilson)
assented to the contention of Lord Robert Cecil
that the whole subject relating to the future control
Of the should be intrustcd to the League of
Nations"
His work completed, Wiseman returned to Eng
land.
The friendship of his new neighbour Sir William
Wiseman, meant much for COL House. The New
York World article says of him:
"Col. House credited with having directed or
suggested the appointment of more attaches than
any other member of the Peace Mission, not except
ing President Wilson He had an impressive staff
of retainers. The most active of these and the
dent champion of the Colonel Gordon Auchin-
Gloss, who married the Colonels daughter. Auchin-
Gloss was ever ready to acclaim the Colonel the
most important man on the American Peace Com
mission. He enjoyed many privileges but he did
not fully realize his ambition be present at the
meetings of the Big Four although Col. House is
understood to have exerted tremendous pressure to
crafty his ambition. + II
Some of the other close connections of the Colo
nei who served with the Peace Commission a
nephew, who had enlisted in the navy and was made
Ensign under unusual circumstances David
Hunter Miller. law partner of Gordon Auchincloss
and Dr.. Sidney Mezes his brother-in-law.
CDR Mezes participated in of the most i'm
portant features of the Peace Conference More
than score of other retainers of the American
Peace Commission made secret of the fact that
they owed their good fortune to the influences Of
Col House. y y
"When the Colonel reached New York he ap-
peared to be very sick man, ,-probably because
of his inability to return to the United States as he
had planned, with Viscount Grey, the British AM
bassador to Washington.
Col. House remained in his apartment at the
American Number 10 Downing Street until No
vember g. when he journeyed to Boston to visit his
daughter.
Sir William Wiseman returned to England about
two months ago, secure in the thought that his
neighbors" were ready and able to deliver the
United States of America into the hands of the Brit
ish Empire. But Sir William reckoned without his
host. AS Justice Cohalan has clearly put it months
ago.:
England may control statesman, + = she may
purchase poets but ever and always there
will be men rising up to thwart her schemes,
She may succeed in cajoling + the
spokesmen of free peoples at the Conference of Ver
sailles she may write the terms of peace there
as she wrote them at Vienna century before y
but she cannot stihe the conscience of the world.
Let England beware lest the aroused public
opinion of mankind shall sweep them as it swept
their, German and Russian cousins into oblivion and
break into bits the British Empire-the last bull
liberty and democracy"
THAT SINN FEM plot"
Although the Prince of Wales said, before leaving
New York that not even Objectionable letter had