Taft were about to induce Mr. Harding to accept a
compromise on the League of Nations. Harvey served the purpose of
restoring the equilibrium. At the same time it is quite probable
that the President was impressed by a mind so much more agile than
his own. It was reasonably certain that it would not be diverted or
misled by the intricacies of European diplomacy. And there was
never any doubt of Harvey's Americanism.
The President's selection of Mr. Harvey for the London post is, of
course, accounted for in other ways. There are some persons who
profess to believe that Mr. Harding preferred to have the militant
editor in London and his "Weekly" in the grave rather than to have
him as a censor of Washington activities under the new regime. It
can be said definitely that a sigh of relief went up from many a
Republican bosom when the sacrilegious journal was brought to a
timely end. And this did not happen, it is to be observed, until
the nomination of George Harvey to the Court of St. James was duly
ratified and approved by the Senate of the United States.
But if the "Weekly" has passed, the Republicans are still acutely
conscious that Mr. Harvey is alive,--has he not reminded them of it
in his first ambassadorial utterances?--and the journal is not
beyond resuscitation. That is why Washington does not know whether
to be chagrined or angry, whether to disavow or to condone.
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