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A REVISION OF THE TREATY

CHAP.

partly impossible and endangered the life of Europe ;but that public passions and public ignorance playa part in the world of which he who aspires to leada democracy must take account; that the Peace ofVersailles was the best momentary settlement whichthe demands of the mob and the characters of thechief actors conjoined to permit; and for the life ofEurope , that he has spent his skill and strength fortwo years in avoiding or moderating the dangers.

Such claims would be partly true and cannot bebrushed away. The private history of the PeaceConference, as it has been disclosed by French andAmerican participators, displays Mr. Lloyd George ina partly favourable light, generally striving againstthe excesses of the Treaty and doing what he could,short of risking a personal defeat. The public historyof the two years which have followed it exhibit himas protecting Europe from as many of the evil con-sequences of his own Treaty, as it lay in his powerto prevent, with a craft few could have bettered,preserving the peace, though not the prosperity, ofEurope , seldom expressing the truth, yet often actingunder its influence. He would claim, therefore, thatby devious paths, a faithful servant of the possible,he was serving Man.

He may judge rightly that this is the best ofwhich a democracy is capable,—to be jockeyed, hum-bugged, cajoled along the right road. A preferencefor truth or for sincerity as a method may be a pre-