The  great  issue,  as  raised  by  President  Wilson,  was  be
tween  him  and  the  Senate.  As  stated  by  an  eminent  publi
cist,  his  attitude  was  that  "at  no  time  shall  the  Senate  be
permitted  freely  to  perform  its  constitutional  duty,  which
is  equivalent  to  saying  that  one  man  can  absolutely  deter
mine  the  future  destiny  of  the  United  States."  9  The  Sen
ate  perforce  accepted  the  challenge.  The  people  became
referee.  He  sought  to  make  it  appear  that  the  Senate  was
against  a  league  of  nations,  as  he  confused  the  people  at
first  when  he  declared  that  eighty  per  cent  of  the  people
were  in  favor  of  a  league  of  nations.  He  could  as  truth
fully  have  said  ninety  per  cent;  for  very  few  are  not  in
favor  of  a  league.  But  to  favor  some  league  was  one  thing;
to  favor  the  Covenant  which  he  submitted  to  the  Senate  was
quite  another  matter.  Therefore,  the  Senate  wanted  to
change  the  Covenant  so  as  to  meet  America's  demands.  He
refused  to  permit  any  changes  in  the  instrument  itself,

"David  Jayne  Hill  in  North  American  Review  for  November,  1919.
