That any set of public men should be carried by extrinsical motives thus far away from justice, fair play, and good faith would be a misfortune under any circumstances, but that at a conjuncture like the present it should befall the men who set up as the moral guides of mankind and wield the power to loosen the fabric of society is indeed a dire disaster.

FOOTNOTES: 

[333] In June, 1919.

[334] The comments on these terms, published by M. Gauvain in the Journal des Debats (September 20, 1919), are well worth reading.

[335] M. Auguste Gauvain.

[336] Le Journal des Debats, September 20, 1919.

[337] Concluded in the year 1916.

[338] Cf. The Daily Mail (Paris edition), September 21, 1919.

XVI

THE COVENANT AND MINORITIES

In Mr. Wilson’s scheme for the establishment of a society of nations there was nothing new but his pledge to have it realized.  And that pledge has still to be redeemed under conditions which he himself has made much more unfavorable than they were.  The idea itself—­floating in the political atmosphere for ages—­has come to seem less vague and unattainable since the days of Kant.  The only heads of states who had set themselves to embody it in institutions before President Wilson took it up not only disappointed the peoples who believed in them, but discredited the idea itself.

That a merely mechanical organization such as the American statesman seems to have had in mind, formed by parliamentary politicians deliberating in secret, could bind nations and peoples together in moral fellowship, is conceivable in the abstract.  But if we turn to the reality, we shall find that in that direction nothing durable can be effected without a radical change in the ideas, aspirations, and temper of the leaders who speak for the nations to-day, and, indeed, in those of large sections of the nations themselves.  For to organize society on those unfamiliar lines is to modify some of the deepest-rooted instincts of human nature.  And that cannot be achieved overnight, certainly not in the span of thirty minutes, which sufficed for the drafting of the Covenant.  The bulk of mankind might not need to be converted, but whole classes must first be educated, and in some countries re-educated, which is perhaps still more difficult.  Mental and moral training must complement and reinforce each other, and each political unit be brought to realize that the interests of the vaster community take precedence over those of any part of it.  And to impress these novel views upon the peoples of the world takes time.