Norwich bulletin., 1920-02-14

some one whose mind would more willingly go along with mine.
 I need not tell you with what re- luctance I take advantage of your suggestion, or that I do so with the ! kindliest feeling. In matters of trans cendent importance like this the only 1 wise course is a course of perfect i candor where personal feeling is as | much as possible left out of the reck- | oning.
 Very sincerely yours,
 (Signed) WOODROW WILSON.
 Hon. Robert Lansing, Secretary of State.
 The Secretary of State,
 Washington, FeD. F, 1920.
 My Dear MT. President: l wish to thank yqu sincerely for your candid letter of the 11th in which you state that my resignation would be accept able to you, since it relieves me of the responsibility for action which l have been contemplating and which 1 can now take without hesitation as it meets your wishes
 I have the honor therefore, to ten der you my resignation as secretary of state, the. same to take effect at your convenience.
 In thus severing our official asso- citation l feel, MT. President, that l should make the following statement i which l had prepared recently and which will show you that I have not been unmindful that the continuance l of our present relations was impos- i sible and that 1 realized that it was clearly my duty to bring them to an ] end at the earliest moment compati- 1 ble with the public interest. Ever since January, 1919. I have been conscious of the fact that you l no longer were disposed to welcome my advice in matters pertaining to i the negotiations in Paris, to our for 1 eign service or to international af- 1 fairs in general. Holding these 1 views, l would, if l had consulted my personal inclination alone, have re- 1 signed as secretary of state and as a commissioner to negotiate peace. I l felt. however. that. such a step might i have been misinterpreted both at 1 home and abroad, and that it was my l duty to cause you no embarrassment /, in carrying forward the great task in which you were then engaged. 1 Possibly 1 erred in this, but if 1 did l it was with the best of motives. When 1 returned to Washington in l the latter part of July. 1919, my per- ] sonal wish to resign had not changed, l but again l felt that loyalty to you l and my duty to the administration 1 compelled me to defer action as my resignation might have been miscon- strued into hostility to the ratifica - tion of the treaty of peace or at least l into diSapproval of your views as to the form of ratification. l therefore remained silent, avoiding any con- | ment on the frequent reports that we were not in full agreement. Subse- quently your serious illness, during l which 1 have never seen you, imposed | upon me the duty-at least 1 con- | strued it 10 be my duty-to remain in charge of the department of state un- 1 til your health permitted you to as-
 sume again full direction Of foreign
 affairs. Believing that that time had ar rived, l had prepared my resignation i when my only doubt as to the pro- priety of placing it in your hands
 was removed by your letter indicat-
 ing that it would be entirely accept.
 able to you.
 I think. MT. President. in accord
 ance with the frankness which ha.
 marked this correspondence and fol
 which I am grateful to you. that cannot permit to pass unchaHenget
 the imputation that in calling into
 informal conference the heads of tn
 executive departments I sought tC
 usurp your presidential authority.
 had no such intention. no sucl
 thought. 1 believed then and I believ
 now that the conferences, which wer
 held, were for the best interests O your administration and of the re
 public, and that belief was shared b, 1 others whom l consulted. 1 furthe believe that the conferences wer proper and necessary in the circum
 stances and that I would have beel derelict in my duty if I had failed t act as did
 I also feel. MT. President, that can dor compels me to say that I canno agree with your statement that have tried to forestall your judgmen ; in certain cases by formulat ting ac
 ton and merely asking your apprc 5 val when 1t was impossible for you t form an independent judgment be l cause you had not had an opportuni l " to examine the circumstances wit 5 any degree of independence. I hay, 2 It Is true, when 1 thought a case de manded immediate action, advise , you what, in my opinion, that ac l tion should be stating at the sam time. the reasons on which my opin
 
 be a function of the secretary c state and l have followed the prac 3 tice for the past four years and half. confess that I have bee , surprised and disappointed at tn frequent disapproval of my sugges = tions, but l have never failed to fol low your decisions, however dif1icu
 it made the conduct of our foreig o T.ffairs.
 I need hardly add that I leave tn U office of secretary of state with enl y good will toward you, MT Presiden q and with a sense of profound relic Il Forgetting our differences and re T T membering only your many kind nesses in the past, I have the honc z to be, Mir. President,
 T Sincerely yours,
 (SigneO ROBERT LANSING. The President
 n The White House, .f UJa 10On