President Wilson defends peace terms as the ‘only hope for mankind’

World leaders return home after peace treaty talks conclude

Washington DC, 11 July 1919 - The United States President, Woodrow Wilson, has offered an impassioned defence of the League of Nations to the U.S. Senate.

While presenting the terms of the Treaty of Versailles to the chamber yesterday, he described the league as an indispensable instrument of the maintenance of the new order the allies were seeking to establish.

Lauding the contribution of Americans to securing the final victory, President Wilson insisted that the purpose of the Paris conference was to turn the triumph of freedom and right into a lasting peace. The League of Nations was not only a means to remedy old wrongs, it was ‘the only hope of mankind’.

The president’s return to the United States was accompanied by significant fanfare. His ship, the USS George Washington, entered New York with an escort of four dreadnoughts and 36 destroyers. Whistles and sirens were sounded as the ship entered the harbour, after which, on the streets of the city, Wilson was met with an equally enthusiastic reception.

There is considerable scepticism that the Treaty of Versailles will be enough to put wartime enmity in the past, but Lloyd George and Wilson have been trying to assuage people's fears (Image: Literary Digest, 12 July 1919)

Lloyd George
Prime Minister David Lloyd George returned to London last week, when he too justified the terms of the peace in a speech to the House of Commons, stressing the fairness and justice inherent in the settlement. He also defended the reparations bill being imposed upon Germany, stating that the defeated power had been spared the total costs of the war and was only being asked to pay what it was capable of paying.

The signing of the peace treaty does not leave all matters resolved; notably there remains the outstanding issue of what to do with Kaiser Wilhelm II.

London-based newspapers are reporting that the Kaiser will be detained in the Tower of London before being put on public trial, with the English Attorney General Sir Gordon Hewart leading the case for the prosecution.

However, for any trial to take place, the Kaiser will need to be extradited from Holland and there remains considerable doubt as to whether the Dutch Government will accede to such a request.

[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]