In the American Senate on Friday week Senator Lodge criticized
President Wilson's fourteen points at length. According to the Times report, Mr. Lodge declared his disagreement with five points. He said that the United States had never seen more secret diplo- macy than in the last four years under Mr. Wilson. As regards freedom of the seas, he pointed out that there was now complete freedom in time of peace. Whatever Mr. Wilson's proposals might be, therefore, they must refer to war. He defended the right of blockade as Lincoln asserted it in the Civil War, and said that he could not imagine that Great Britain would for one moment think of abandoning that right. As regards the great American naval programme, he said that the rumour that the Navy was to be used to compel Britain to agree to disarmament under the menace of naval competition was "entirely unworthy" and was not believed by any responsible man. Another. explanation was that the enlerged American Navy was to be used for police duty by the League of Nations. "I will merely say," added Mr. Lodge, "that it seems to me extraordinary that we should enter upon a scheme for eternal peace by proposing to build a Navy which in seven years is to be the equal of that of England."
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