VII

REMEDIES

267

are now. If I had influence at the United States

Treasury , I would not lend a penny to a single one

of the present Governments of Europe . They are not

to be trusted with resources which they would devote

to the furtherance of policies in repugnance to which,

in spite of the President's failure to assert either the

might or the ideals of the people of the United

States, the Republican and the Democratic parties

are probably united. But if, as we must pray they

will, the souls of the European peoples turn away

this winter from the false idols which have survived

1

the war that created them, and substitute in theirhearts for the hatred and the nationalism, which nowpossess them, thoughts and hopes of the happinessand solidarity of the European family,—then shouldnatural piety and filial love impel the American people to put on one side all the smaller objections ofprivate advantage and to complete the work, that theybegan in saving Europe from the tyranny of organisedforce, by saving her from herself. And even if theconversion is not fully accomplished, and some partiesonly in each of the European countries have espouseda policy of reconciliation, America can still point theway and hold up the hands of the party of peace byhaving a plan and a condition on which she will giveher aid to the work of renewing life.

The impulse which, we are told, is now strong inthe mind of the United States to be quit of theturmoil, the complication, the violence, the expense,