Lodge will not
surrender his convictions he has no scruples about consistency.
Mr. Lodge's principles are so stern that he refused to consent to
Colombia being paid for the territory seized by President
Roosevelt. Mr. Lodge made a report (this was when Mr. Wilson was
President, and I mention it merely as an historical fact) in which
he denounced Colombia's claim as blackmail, resented it as an
insult to the memory of Mr. Roosevelt, and declared in approved
copybook fashion (being fond of platitudes), that friendship
between nations cannot be bought. Later (this was when Mr. Harding
was President, and I mention it merely as an historical fact) as
Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, he brought in a
report urging the ratification of the treaty, and discovered that
Mr. Roosevelt had really been in favor of the treaty, expunged the
unpleasant word blackmail from his lexicon, and sapiently observed,
so impossible is it for him not to indulge in platitudes, that
sometimes a nation has to pay more for a thing than it is really
worth; a reflection that would have done credit to the oracular
wisdom of Captain Jack Bunsby.
Mr. Lodge attacked the treaty of peace with Germany while it was
still in process of negotiation and severely criticised Mr. Wilson
for not having consulted the Senate. That the Senate has no right
to ask about the details of a treaty before the President sends it
in for ratification is a constitutional axiom which Mr.
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