Hughes what
Harvey should do in the Supreme Council. Mr. Brandegee has the gift
of direct and forceful speech. In his earnestness, he dispenses
with the elegancies and amenities. The upper ranges of his voice
are not conciliatory.
In this tone, he developed views regarding this country's foreign
relations with which Mr. Hughes could not agree. The Secretary of
State combatted the Senator from Connecticut precisely as he
combats counsel of the other side when a $500,000 fee is at stake.
The discussion was energetic and divergent.
Mr. Brandegee hurried back to the Capitol and summoned other
senators to his office, all those who were especially concerned
about the exposure of Colonel Harvey to European entanglements.
He was excited. His voice was nasal. His language, in that select
gathering, did not have to be parliamentary. He told the senators
that they could expect the Versailles treaty by the next White
House messenger; that "that whiskered,"--but nothing lies like
direct quotes,--that "that whiskered" Secretary of State would soon
get us into the League of Nations, being able for his purposes to
wind President Harding about his little finger!
His excitement in such an emergency naturally communicated itself
to his hearers. What to do? It was unanimously decided that the
only adequate course was for Senator Henry Cabot Lodge to resign as
Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, by way of
protest.
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