Page:Paul Samuel Reinsch - Secret Diplomacy, How Far Can It Be Eliminated? - 1922.djvu/213



ing this matter the appearance of a great Japa- nese diplomatic victory and of a highly important concession on the part of the United States.

It is not necessary to recall the general disil- lusionment that came about when President "Wil- son agreed to the policy of secrecy at the peace conference. Undoubtedly this decision was based on the motive to secure, with a promptness re- quired by the stress of the times, a settlement which would in general commend itself to the sense of justice of the world, although it might neces- sarily contain details which, if published by them- selves, would cause lengthy public discussion and delay the final solution. If such an expectation was entertained, it was not as a matter of fact fulfilled in the results of these secret consulta- tions. The method adopted did not favor the broad and permanent view, but rather the more shortsighted bargaining in which the old diplo- macy excels. In their solutions neither the con- sultations of the peace conference, nor the sub- sequent diplomatic negotiations among the Al- lies, got beyond the old methods of bartering the destinies of small and weak peoples, which had been used by the Congresses of Vienna and of Berlin with disastrous results. The various con- ferences of 1919 to 1920 recorded a complete re-