The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1921-11-20
French Editor Sees Ia
bles Turned Compared
With Paris.
WILSON'S DEFEAT
AVENGED, HE SAYS
Lauzanne Tells How
Lloyd George Won at
Versailles.
BY STEPHANE LAUZANNE
(Editor-in-Chief Of lie Matin.)


What difference is there between
Cthe Paris conference of 1919 and
the Washington conference of 1922"
My answer is invariably the same:
from the very first day. America was
beaten and England got what she
wanted, whereas at the Washington
conference, from the very first, Eng
land was beaten and America got
what she wanted"
And that is the exact truth.
When. in 1918, America came to
the Paris conference. she sailed with
vague and preconceived ideas. but
she took with her at least one clear
and well-defned principle, the prin-
ciple of freedom of the seas. Amer
ica meant by that-at least. so we
understOod-that after having crush
ed Imperialism upon land there must
be NO imperialism of the sea. and
no nation. however great its role
in the history Of civilization, must
be allowed to be in position to die
tate one day its sovereign wishes
to the universe because she holds
sway over the oceans of that uni
verse
But when America landed for the
conference. she learned to her stu
pefactiOn that this vital. this es-
sentiHl problem. which meant so much
tn her. had -Iready been settled. 1t
WIS SettIrd in the twinkling of an
.yc 10y Mr. Lloyd George and Mr..
ClemcHccau- Read the account that
Nj CIemenceau himself gave of this
r'uarkahIc example Of sleight-of-
hHui before the French chamber of
deputies:
How Lloyd George Won.
have seen President Wilson. '
~u.d rr. 4 communicated to him
a -uavcrSGtion I had had. before
his arrival with Lloyd George.
Iv the course or that conversation.
I.I,.Nd george asked ME: DO you
"s'i; that without tho English
feat this wdr would not have been
vvor Yes said l. Then pur-
sued Lloyd George. will you do
SUythin- that will prevent the Eng
sh feet in the future from acting
in the same way and rendering the
same serviceg No said 1. And
Mr.. Wilson stated to me that he did
not wish to do anything to oppose
either Of us in any way"
You have read. have YOU not, this
extraordinary story. Read il again.
slowly. watch in hand. You will see
that the dialogue of Lloyd George
and Mr.. Clemenceau took exactly
two minutes and a half. So in two
rIinutes and a half. in 1918. Lloyd
George settled. tc England's ad-
vantage. the controverted question
OF freedom of the seas. In two
minutes and a half. even before
anything was discussed. America
was beaten
Hughes Indicates Wilson.
And now. let us take the meeting
of Saturday. November 12. at Me-
mortal Hall. Read once again Mr.
Hughes speech. 1t is longer than
the conversation between Mr.. Glenn
enceau and Lloyd George. 1t lasted
forty minutes. But when the Sec
rotary of State. in his deep voice
gave out the figures which allowed
only 100000 tons of ironclads tC
England and 100000 tons to Amer
lea. il took but a few seconds. And
those seconds were historical They
proclaimed the equality of the two
navies. They proclaimed that there
was no longer one mistress of the
seas. but two. They proclaimed as
a matter of fact. that henceforth
the seas would be free because they
would no longer be subjected to q
single dominion. They publicly
wiped out, in the face Of all peo-
pies, the mysterious colIoquy be.
tween Lloyd George and Mr.. Glenn
enceau. In a few seconds. Mr.
This is what makes the dramatic
interest of the Washington confer
ence, and what differentiates IL
from the Paris conference. In the
first of these. two men secretly set.
tied the question of the empire OF
the sea. In the later conference
one man publicly stated the new
principle. And the impression pro.
duced on the public was so strong
that all had to bow down to IL.
Any number of philosophic con-
clusions can be drawn therefrom
The only sure one is that in thi.
world when a principle is fair, Il
always prevails in the end The
American principle that no one
people has the right Of DOMINATING
on land or on the sea to the ex-
cIusion of others is a principle OF
justice. 1t Is as just as the law
of the pendulum that has ruled our
terrestrial globe for forty CEN
turtles. There always will be ma
tions superior to others through
their intelligence, their work, their
organization But there should be
no one nation dominating all
others.
When the French Academy. whicr
IL
revises the letter H and comes tc
the word "Hegemony." it will have
to add this remark: English
hegemony disappeared on Novem-
Der 12. 1921. after a speech by Mr.
HUGHES the Limited States Secre-