Ill

THE CONFERENCE

39

and his Notes, had displayed a spirit and a purposeso admirable that the last desire of his sympathiserswas to criticise details,—the details, they felt, werequite rightly not filled in at present, but would be indue course. It was commonly believed at the com-mencement of the Paris Conference that the Presidenthad thought out, with the aid of a large body ofadvisers, a comprehensive scheme not only for theLeague of Nations , but for the embodiment of theFourteen Points in an actual Treaty of Peace. Butin fact the President had thought out nothing; whenit came to practice his ideas were nebulous andincomplete. He had no plan, no scheme, no con-structive ideas whatever for clothing with the fleshof life the commandments which he had thunderedfrom the White House . He could have preacheda sermon on any of them or have addressed a statelyprayer to the Almighty for their fulfilment; but hecould not frame their concrete application to theactual state of Europe .

He not only had no proposals in detail, but hewas in many respects, perhaps inevitably, ill-informedas to European conditions. And not only was heill-informed — that was true of Mr. Lloyd George also—but his mind was slow and unadaptable. ThePresident's slowness amongst the Europeans wasnoteworthy. He could not, all in a minute, take inwhat the rest were saying, size up the situation witha glance, frame a reply, and meet the case by a