was something that had happened many times before in all countries.  But the unprecedented thing was that this same nation had exposed its fault boldly to the world—­had lifted up its hands and cried, “We have sinned!” and then had publicly undone its error.  Proud as Page had always been of his country, that moment was perhaps the most triumphant in his life.  The action of Congress emphasized all that he had been saying of the ideals of the United States, and gave point to his arguments that justice and honour and right, and not temporary selfish interest, should control the foreign policy of any nation which really claimed to be enlightened.  The general feeling of Great Britain was perhaps best expressed by the remark made to Mrs. Page, on this occasion, by Lady D——­: 

“The United States has set a high standard for all nations to live up to.  I don’t believe that there is any other nation that would have done it.”

One significant feature of this great episode was the act of Congress in accepting the President’s statement that the repeal of the Panama discrimination was a necessary preliminary to the success of American foreign policy.  Mr. Wilson’s declaration, that, unless this legislation should be repealed, he would not “know how to deal with other matters of even greater delicacy and nearer consequence” had puzzled Congress and the country.  The debates show the keenest curiosity as to what the President had in mind.  The newspapers turned the matter over and over, without obtaining any clew to the mystery.  Some thought that the President had planned to intervene in Mexico, and that the tolls legislation was the consideration demanded by Great Britain for a free hand in this matter.  But this correspondence has already demolished that theory.  Others thought that Japan was in some way involved—­but that explanation also failed to satisfy.

Congress accepted the President’s statement trustfully and blindly, and passed the asked-for legislation.  Up to the present moment this passage in the Presidential message has been unexplained.  Page’s papers, however, disclose what seems to be a satisfactory solution to the mystery.  They show that the President and Colonel House and Page were at this time engaged in a negotiation of the utmost importance.  At the very time that the tolls bill was under discussion Colonel House was making arrangements for a visit to Great Britain, France, and Germany, the purpose of which was to bring these nations to some kind of an understanding that would prevent a European war.  This evidently was the great business that could not be disclosed at the time and for which the repeal of the tolls legislation was the necessary preliminary.

FOOTNOTES: 

[Footnote 44:  The Committee to celebrate the centennial of the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812.  The plan to make this an elaborate commemoration of a 100 years’ peace between the English-speaking peoples was upset by the outbreak of the World War.]