The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-06-13
What Lodge Thinks of Lodge.
New York World. J

We sometimes wonder what Henry
Cabot Lodge. the historian. thinks Of
Henry Cabot Lodge, senator in the
congress of the United States from
Massachusetts, and what MIR, Lodge,
The historian. would have 10 say about
Mr.. Lodge. the senator. II he were 10
deal with that gentleman in the calm,
judicial manner in which he has dealt
with other eminent persons IN the af
fairs of the republic.
For example. in his life of George
Washington, Henry Cabot Lodge. the
historian. discussed certain aspects of
the opposition to the Jay treaty in a
manner that must make Henry Cabot
Lodge, the senator. thankful that Mr..
Lodge, the historian will probably
never and the time and inclination 10
deal dispassonately with the antics of
Mr.. Lodge the senator, during the
last week
This treaty with England was nego-
tiated by John Jay. who was chief
Justice of the United States supreme
court According TO Henry Cabot
Lodge. the historian:
The treaty reached Pniladel-
phia on March :. Nothing was
said Of it's arrival. which does not
seem 10 have been known to any
one but the president and Ran
dotph who had meantime sue
ceeded Jefferson as secretary OF
state. Three months later, on June
S, the senate was called together
in special session, and the treaty
| was laid before them.
| So far. SO good. The senate ratified
the treaty by exactly the necessary
wo-thirdS vote. with a proviso that
related to the modification of the West
Indian article. But although the
! treaty was ratified IL was not made
public, and now we come again to
Henry Cabot Lodge the historian.
who is a stern and unbendng cham
pion of senatorial proprieties Listen
to this Just and upright Judge the
while he pronounces sentence upon
one stevens Thompson Mason, a
miserable anti-federafist from yir-
ginia:
Bache had the substance Of
the treaty in the Aurora" on
June 90. and Mr.. Stevens Thorn
son Mason, senator from Vir-
GINA, was so panied by some
slight inaccuracies in this YER
sion that he wrote Mr. Bache
note and sent him copy OF the
treaty despite the injunction of
secrecy by which be rs senator
was bound. Mr.. Mason gained
great present glory by this
frank breach of promise, and
curious enough this single dis
crcditabIe act is the only thing
that keeps his name and memory
alive in history, All that ne
achieved at the moment was to
hurry The inevitable disclosure of
the contents of n treaty which no
one desired tn conceal except in
Difference to official form.
Yet the treaty which Senator
Mason made public in so scandalous
a fashion, as narrated by Henry
Cabot Lodge. the historian. was a
treaty which had already been nego-
tiated by the president and ratified
by the senate. Senator Mason did
not rise in his seat in the senate while
the negotiations were in progress,
dramatically declare that a friend in
New York had shown him a copy Of
the tentative draft Of the treaty, that
this draft had been sent to private
persons in a clandstine manner by
order OF the president OF the United
States, obviously from Improper mo-
tfves, and by false accusations that
the senate was being deprieved of its
constitutional rights, endeavor 10 the
best of his ability to embarrass the
president in the final negotiation OF
the treaty.
AS we said before all that Stevens
Thompson Mason did was to make
public a treaty that had already been
negotiated and ratified. Yet when
we read tho scathing Judgment passed
upon his conduct by Henry Cabot
Lodge, the historian. we wonder
more than ever what Mr.. Lodge. the
historian, would say about the recent
performance of Henry Cabot Lodge.
senator in the congress of the United
! States Possibly the fact that Mr..
Lodge the senator in republican OF ir-
lreproachable Federalist antecedents
and not wretched democrat of anti
federalist extraction might soften and
, temper the language Of Mr. Lodge.
the biographer of George Washington.
Otherwise the official hide of Henry
Cabot Lodge, the senator. would forth
with be nailed for all time TO the
barn door OF history.