The Washington herald., 1919-02-17
BY JOHN LLOYD BALDERSTON.
Copyright. 1919. Ivy the Mcclure Newspaper
Syu1Irgf,D


SyudicatI
London. Jan. 4-Woodrow Wilson
has come. he has seen and been
seen, and he has conquered. Eng
land. at least. is with him to the
finish. I feel safe in predicting that
any trouble the American peace pro-
gram may encounter viii arise not
in these Islands. but on the Cont
neEt.
The bogv o. the FREEDOM of tn"
seas" that scared Englishmcn stin
because they didn't know what Will
son was after. was laid in hve min
uteS conversation between the Presi
dent and Lloyd Georgia. five min
utes in which the President did most
Of the talking
Last Saturday morning l stood be
hind the President for an hour and
Il half. as he received in the Ambas-
Sador's room at the American n Embas-
sy a large number of dis istinguishod
Enslishm"n. He ran forward with
both hands ouJstretchcd TO meet for
the first time in the flesh one OF the
original advoca ties of the League of
Nations. Lord Gray.
And his welcome to other scarce
less distin-uishsd Britons was not
much less hearty; during all the dis
CuSSiOns. the "WilsOn smile" that has
surprised and delighted Europe sell
dom came off its wearer's face.
Happy as SchooIbOy.
The President was as happy as
schUolboy over his reCep>On here.
and didn't care who knew it, His
lucky day is Friday, and it was an
historic Friday, the day after his
arrival here, that he spent in con-
ference morning and afternoon with
Lloyd George, BalfCur and the chief
tains of the empire. Lloyd George's
statement that the two countries
were agreed. made the following night,
tells briefly what took place.
1t would he difficult to exaggerate
the relief. the delight and the warmth
with which the assembled British
statesmen listened to Wilson in Down
ing street. "IIc spoke" one of them
told me a week afterwards, like
man inspired. We all sat around like
schoolboys and let him talk. breaking
in only with questions. In two hours
he had converted respectful but
somewhat skeptical and secretly
alarmed erouD of men into enthusi-
how baseIess were our fears of Ameri-
can policy. and then in the lengthy
discussion that followed he made US
believe, if not in the certainty. at
least in the possibility. of that new
order in the world based upon a COM
munity of power upon which he has
set his heart"
In the controversy as to whether the
new world order shall be based upon
the old balance of power to which
Clemenceau is committed. or on the
community of power to which Will
son has pledged the United States,
Great Britain is with Wilson. Eng
Iishmen of all parties and shades of
opinion with whom I have talked
are in favor of the league of ma
tions, provided only that no attempt
be made to cripple or hamper the
control of the seas by the British
navy Rightly or wrongly, it is now
assumed here that the President has
given satisfactory assurance on this
point.
Same as Americas.
The sea issue out of the way, Brit
ons feel that their interests are the
same as Americas. Great Britain for
generations held the position that
America has now assumed. Sitting
apart, divided by the seas, anxious to
keep out of Continental complica tions,
the Island Empire has thrown her
sword into the scales from time to
time to prevent Spain, France, Ger
many gaining the leadership of the
Continent. And on the side that Brit
ain intervened victory always de-
Scended.
This time the odds were too great
The new world has to be called in to
redress the balance of the old. For
the first time Britain could not turn
the scale against the wouId-be world
conqueror; SO the United States,
whose interests are the same as Brit
aims, had to come in and do Eng
lands job. That is how Englishmen
view Americas intervention.