182 A REVISION OF THE TREATY chap.

If, indeed, public opinion were an unalterablething, it would be a waste of time to discuss publicaffairs. And though it may be the chief business ofnewsmen and politicians to ascertain its momentaryfeatures, a writer ought to be concerned, rather, withwhat public opinion should be. I record these plati-tudes because many Americans give their advice, asthough it were actually immoral to make suggestionswhich public opinion does not now approve. InAmerica, I gather, an act of this kind is consideredso reckless, that some improper motive is at oncesuspected, and criticism takes the form of an inquiryinto the culprit's personal character and antecedents.

Let us inquire, however, a little more deeply intothe sentiments and emotions which underlie theAmerican attitude to the European debts. Theywant to be generous to Europe , both out of good feelingand because many of them now suspect that any othercourse would upset their own economic equilibrium.But they don't want to be " done." They do notwant it to be said that once again the old cynics inEurope have been one too many for them. Times,too, have been bad and taxation oppressive ; andmany parts of America do not feel rich enough at themoment to favour a light abandonment of a possibleasset. Moreover, these arrangements, between nationswarring together, they liken much more closely thanwe do to ordinary business transactions between indi-viduals. It is, they say, as though a bank having