From the time of his arrival in Paris President Wilson held almost daily conversations with the leading foreign statesmen.  It would be of little value to speculate on what took place at these interviews, since the President seldom told the American Commission of the meetings or disclosed to them, unless possibly to Colonel House, the subjects which were discussed.  My conviction is, from the little information which the President volunteered, that these consultations were—­certainly at first—­devoted to inducing the European leaders to give their support to his plan for a League of Nations, and that, as other matters relating to the terms of peace were in a measure involved because of their possible relation to the functions of the League, they too became more and more subjects of discussion.

The introduction of this personal and clandestine method of negotiation was probably due to the President’s belief that he could in this way exercise more effectively his personal influence in favor of the acceptance of a League.  It is not unlikely that this belief was in a measure justified.  In Colonel House he found one to aid him in this course of procedure, as the Colonel’s intimate association with the principal statesmen of the Allied Powers during previous visits to Europe as the President’s personal envoy was an asset which he could utilize as an intermediary between the President and those with whom he wished to confer.  Mr. Wilson relied upon Colonel House for his knowledge of the views and temperaments of the men with whom he had to deal.  It was not strange that he should adopt a method which the Colonel had found successful in the past and that he should seek the latter’s aid and advice in connection with the secret conferences which usually took place at the residence of the President.

Mr. Wilson pursued this method of handling the subjects of negotiation the more readily because he was by nature and by inclination secretive.  He had always shown a preference for a private interview with an individual.  In his conduct of the executive affairs of the Government at Washington he avoided as far as possible general conferences.  He talked a good deal about “taking common counsel,” but showed no disposition to put it into practice.  He followed the same course in the matter of foreign affairs.  At Paris this characteristic, which had often been the subject of remark in Washington, was more pronounced, or at least more noticeable.  He was not disposed to discuss matters with the American Commission as a whole or even to announce to them his decisions unless something arose which compelled him to do so.  He easily fell into the practice of seeing men separately and of keeping secret the knowledge acquired as well as the effect of this knowledge on his views and purposes.  To him this was the normal and most satisfactory method of doing business.