I feel that in the treaty we have not yet achieved the real peace
to which our peoples were looking, and I feel that the real work of
making peace will only begin after this treaty has been signed....
The promise of the new life, the victory of the great human ideals,
for which the peoples have shed their blood and their treasure
without stint, the fulfillment of their aspirations towards a new
international order, and a fairer, better world, are not written in
this treaty.... A new spirit of generosity and humanity, born in
the hearts of the peoples in this great hour of common suffering
and sorrow, can alone heal the wounds which have been inflicted on
the body of Christendom.... There are territorial settlements which
in my humble judgment will need revision. There are guarantees laid
down, which we all hope will soon be found out of harmony with the
new peaceful temper and unarmed state of our former enemy. There
are punishments foreshadowed, over most of which a calmer mood may
yet prefer to pass the sponge of oblivion. There are indemnities
stipulated, which cannot be exacted without grave injury to the
industrial revival of Europe, and which it will be in the interests
of all to render more tolerable and moderate. There are numerous
pin-pricks which will cease to pain under the healing influence of
the new international atmosphere.
The real peace of the peoples ought to follow, complete, and amend
the peace of the statesmen.... The enemy peoples should at the
earliest possible date join the League, and in collaboration with
the Allied peoples learn to practice the great lesson of this war,
that not in separate ambitions or in selfish domination, but in
common service for the great human causes, lies the true path of
national progress. This joint collaboration is especially necessary
to-day for the reconstruction of a ruined and broken world.
President Wilson also issued a statement after the signing of the
treaty, in which he asserted that it contained many things that others
failed to find in it. He spoke of it as “a great charter for a new
order of affairs.” From this time Mr. Wilson became an ardent champion
and defender of the treaty, taking in regard to it the attitude
that literal inspirationists take in regard to the Bible. He set
forth the theory on June 28, 1919, that the important feature of the
Treaty of Versailles was the League of Nations, which he believed
would immediately assume the dominant position in the conduct of
international affairs. Because of the Treaty of Versailles, declared
Mr. Wilson,
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