Colonel House, President Wilson’s personal representative, who spent some
time in the principal capitals of Europe in the endeavor to ascertain
whether there was any tangible peace sentiment which could be utilized
by the United States as a basis of mediation, has apparently convinced
the President that any movement in that direction would be useless at
present. Col. House came in touch with the leading soldiers and statesmen
of the various belligerent nations, and he found that no nation was ready
to accept any peace terms that the enemy would be likely to offer. One
important phase of public sentiment in Germany, as stated by Col. House
is the idea that Germany’s most important interests lie in colonial
expansion and the incidental development of over-seas commerce, rather
than in territorial expansion in Europe itself. To this end Germany,
it is believed, will demand as a condition of peace the freedom of the
seas—that is, the recognition of the principle that the property, except
contraband, of all private owners shall be exempt from seizure on the
high seas in time of war. This is a principle for which the United States
has always contended. There is no reason why private property on the seas
should not be exempt from seizure the same as is private property on the
land. Germany’s ambition for colonial expansion may be of vital interest
to the United States if that ambition takes the direction of colonial
expansion on any part of the American continents. It may be that when
peace comes to be arranged our Monroe Doctrine will be subject to closer
examination than it ever has been before, and if any disposition is shown
by the contracting powers to contravene it, it will be up to the people
and government of this country to decide whether they will let down the
bars or firmly maintain it. And if we are to maintain it, the question of
our physical power to do so will have to be considered.