Norwich bulletin., 1919-03-05

change of view is indescribable
Take an individual American and
you may often find him selfish, and
confined to his special interests: but
take the American in the mass and
he is willing to die for an idea. The
sweet revenge therefore is this, that
we believed in righteousness, and now
we are ready to make the supreme
sacrifice for it, the supreme sacrifice
OF throwing in our fortunes w.tn se
fortunes OF men everywhere. Nj,
Taft was speaking of Washington's
utterance about entangling alliances
and if he will permit me to say SO he
I.ut the exactly right Interpretation
upon what Washington said, the inter
probation that is inevitable if you
read what he said as most of these
gentlemen do not, and the thing that
The longed for was just what we are
now about to supply; an arrangement
which will disentangle all the alliances
Ill the world.
Nothing entangles, nothing en-
meshes a man except a selfish COM
bination with somebody else. Nothing
entangles a nation, hampers it, binds
it, except to enter into a combination
with some other nation against the
other nations of the world. And this
great disentanglement of all alliances
is now to be accomplished by this
covenant, because one Of the covenants
is that no nation shall enter into any
relationship with another nation in
consistent with the covenants OF the
league OF nations.
Nations promise to have no al
liances. Nations promise not to make
combinations against each other, ma
tions agree that there shall be but one
combination and that is the combina-
ton of all against the wrongdoer. And
so am going back to my task on the
other side with renewed yigor. l had
not forgotten what the spirit of the
I American people is. but / have been
! immensely refreshed by coming i'll
! contact with it again. l did not know
how good home nelt until l got here.
! THE only place a man can feel al
| home is where nothing has to be eX-
planned to him Nothing has to be
| explained to me in America least of
| all the sentiment of the American peo-
! pie. l mean about great fundamental
! things like this. There are many diff
! ferenCes of Judgment as to policy
and perfectly legitimate. Sometimes
profound differences of judgment, but
| those are not differences of sentiment,
| those are not differences of purpose,
| those are not differences of ideals,
And the advantage of not having to
! have anything explained to you. is
that you recognize a wrong eXplana-
ton when you hear it
'Tn a certain rather abandoned part
of the frontier at one time, it was said
they found a man who told the truth;
he was not found telling it, but he
could tell it when he heard it. And
l think l am in that situation with
regard to some of the criticisms | have
heard. They do not make any i'm
preston on me, because l know there
is no medium that will transmit them
that the sentiment of the country is
proof against such narrowness and
such selfishness as that. / commend
these gentlemen to communion with
their fellow citizens.
what are we to say, then as to the
!; future? l think, my fellow citizens
that we can look forward to 1t with
great confidence. | have heard cheer.
ing sews since I came to this side o.
} the water about the progress that i:
being made in Paris towards the dis
Cussion and clarifcation OF a grea
many difficult matters; and | believ,
:. that settlements will begin to be mad
} rather rapidly from this time on a
t those conferences.
l But what | believe-wi1at I know
t as well as believe. is this that tn
. men engaged in those conferences ar
= gathering heart as they go, not losin,
= it; that they are finding community 0
= purpose and community of ideal to a.
extent that perhaps thev did not ex
. pect; and that amidst all the inter
:. play Of influence, there is forwar
7, movement which is running toward
t the right. Men have at last perceive
v that the only permanent thing in tn
+ world is the right, and that a. wron
: settlement is bound to be temporar
d settlement-bound to be a temporar
7 settlement for the very best reason {
), all, that it ought to be a temporar
g settlement and the spirits of men wi
II rebel against it, and the spirits of me
: are now in the saddle
: When I was In Italy, little 1irnr
4 Ing group Of wounded Italian so4t9fer