The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-11-07

alone possessing resources unimpaired by
war.
But when the President came home and
the United States Senate refused to ratify
the treaty unamended then the United
States disappeared as a factor and the whole
situation was thrown into confusion. The
Italians, the French. the Rumanians, the
Poles escaped from British control. A long
series of incidents disclosed the complete
transformation. France occupied German
cities without waiting for British approba-
ton. Poland made war for her existence
when British advice aimed at a restriction
of Polish frontiers to limits and a curtail-
ment of her rights to a degree which repre-
sented practical extinction. Rumania took
and holds Bessarabia. D'Annunzio went to
Fiume and stayed there. as Zelgousxi more
recently went to Wilma and still remains
there.
AT Paris British conceptions Of the reor-
ganization of the world followed the ira
ditional lines of British policy for three
centuries For the British the war was over
the German danger was abolished, the Ger
man fleet had ceased to exist the commert ial
navy was mainly transferred to the British
flag. A new German menace upon the blue
water was unthnkable. What was now i'm
portant was to preserve the balance Of power
In Europe, to permit Germany to regain
commercial health as soon as possible and
to reopen German markets to British trade
British representatives opposed extreme
French claims at the expense OF Germany
extreme Polish claims at the expense of Ger
many and Russia Britain had desired Ger
many defeated, but British policy had no
desire to erect French supremacy upon
the Continent
Easy to Mark Down Claims of Other Ma
tions by Wilson's Points.
In all British policy Mr.. Wilson's Fourteen
Points with the point" of the freedom of
the seas left out and the other point" deal
ing with German colonies skilfuly disposed
of by the mandate fiction, were welcomed
with enthusiasm as specially designed to
enable both Britain and the United States
to mark down the claims Of all other nations.
1t was always easy to prove that French
claims In Syria, Polish aspirations in the
Danzig Corridor" Greek traditions in east
ern Thrace. did violence to one or more of
the Fourteen Points. And merely to submit
proof was to insure American veto to the
proposed extension of French, Polish or
Italian rule, which seemed undesirable from
British point of view.
The thing few Americans appreciated at
Paris, or since Paris, was how completely
Mr.. Wilson's idealistic conceptions fell In
with material British policies Nor was II
appreciated to what extent. exactly these
same idealistic conceptions did violence, not
only to the aspirations of certain peoples,
but In some cases to their very security as
independent nations.
France fearful Of new perils from the east,
Italy anxious for her Adriatic shores, Poland
perceiving the menace of new partitions, all
made claims which met with British dis
approval for very sound material reaso. s.
Alone, Britain could not have blocked these
ambitions Of the continental States, but as
ISOLATED with the United States she was not
only able to block them but to give the
appearance of having been forced by Amer
lean influence to adopt an unsympathetic
course
Now the real injury which the United
States has done to Great Britain by with
drawing from European affairs has been that