Another glaring instance of the lack of straightforwardness which vitiated the dealings of the Conference with the public turned upon the Bullitt mission to Russia.  Mr. Wilson, who in the depths of his heart seems to have cherished a vague fondness for the Bolshevists there, which he sometimes manifested in utterances that startled the foreigners to whom they were addressed, despatched through Colonel House some fellow-countrymen of his to Moscow to ask for peace proposals which, according to the Moscow government, were drafted by himself and Messrs. House and Lansing.  Mr. Bullitt, however, who must know, affirms that the draft was written by Mr. Lloyd George’s secretary, Mr. Philip Kerr, and himself and presented to Lenin by Messrs. Bullitt, Steffins, and Petit.  If the terms of this document should prove acceptable the American envoys were empowered to promise that an official invitation to a new peace conference would be sent to them as well as to their opponents by April 15th.  The conditions—­eleven in number—­with a few slight modifications in which the Americans acquiesced—­were accepted by the dictator, who was bound, however, not to permit their publication.  The facts remained secret until Mr. Bullitt, thrown over by Mr. Wilson, who recoiled from taking the final and decisive step, resigned, and in a letter reproduced by the press set forth the reasons for his decision.[88]

Now, vague reports that there was such a mission had found its way into the Paris newspapers at a relatively early date.  But an authoritative denial was published without delay.  The statement, the public was assured, was without foundation.  And the public believed the assurance, for it was confirmed authoritatively in England.  Sir Samuel Hoare, in the House of Commons, asked for information about a report that “two Americans have recently returned from Russia bringing offers of peace from Lenin,” and received from Mr. Bonar Law this noteworthy reply:  “I have said already that there is not the shadow of foundation for this information, otherwise I would have known it.  Moreover, I have communicated with Mr. Lloyd George in Paris, who also declares that he knows nothing about the matter."[89] E pur si muove.  Mr. Lloyd George knew nothing about President Wilson’s determination to have the Covenant inserted in the Peace Treaty, even after the announcement was published to the world by the Havas Agency, and the confirmation given to pressmen by Lord Robert Cecil.  The system of reticence and concealment, coupled with the indifference of this or that delegation to questions in which it happened to take no special interest, led to these unseemly air-tight compartments.

From this rank soil of secrecy, repression, and unveracity sprang noxious weeds.  False reports and mendacious insinuations were launched, spread, and credited, impairing such prestige as the Conference still enjoyed, while the fragmentary announcements ventured on now and again by the delegates, in sheer self-defense, were summarily dismissed as “eye-wash” for the public.