The intimate papers of Colonel House arranged as a narrative by Charles Seymour.

EARLY OVERTURES OF MEDIATION

319

down arms. It was no more than a suggestion, and House
himself did not believe that it would lead to practical results.
But the message is significant, for it sketched what was, four
years later, to be the American plan for lasting peace and
in it, as in the Pan-American Pact, is the principle of the
League of Nations Covenant - an organization to guarantee territorial integrity and to provide for disarmament.
Colonel House to Ambassador Gerard
PRIDE'S CROSSING, MASSACHUSETTS
August 17, 1914
DEAR JUDGE:... The Kaiser has stood for peace all these years, and it
would not be inconsistent with his past life and services to be
willing now to consider such overtures. If peace could come
at this hour, it should be upon the general proposition that
every nation at war should be guaranteed its territorial integrity of to-day. Then a general plan of disarmament should
be brought about, for there would be no need under such an
arrangement for larger armies than were necessary for police
purposes.
Of course, this matter would have to be handled very delicately; otherwise sensibilities might be offended.
As far as I am concerned, I would view with alarm and
genuine regret any vital disaster to the German people. The
only feeling in America that has been manifested against
Germany has not been directed against her as a nation, but
merely against her as the embodiment of militarism. Our
people have never admitted that excessive armaments were
guaranties of peace, but they have felt, on the contrary, that
in the end they meant just such conditions as exist to-day.
When neighboring nations with racial differences and prejudices vie with one another in excessive armaments, it
brings about a feeling of distrust which engenders a purpose
to strike first and to strike hard.