February 27, 1919

Much to our surprise Clemenceau, unannounced, dropped in on House this morning. He looked rather shaky (he had been shot on the nineteenth) but was in fine spirits. “I have come to pay homage to the American delegation on the birthday of our joint father, the immortal George. Of course I had planned to come on the twenty-second, that is a date I shall never forget, but was prevented by an ‘unpleasant incident over which the police had no control.’“

The Tiger was in a rollicking humor and gave amusing accounts of the birthday celebrations in which he had participated during his happy years of exile, as he called them, in New York, in Rochester, and in Stamford. Then he grew serious and the real purpose of his call was revealed.

“My dear House, during many sleepless nights I have cudgeled my brains, what is left of them, for a substitute policy that would be more palatable to Wilson and to you, but I can’t find it. There is no other way to secure the security of France than by the annexation of the Rhine lands or the establishment of the Rhenish republic. Wilson told me he could not consider even for a moment direct annexation, so I have come to tell you that after due consideration the French government will insist upon the creation of the Rhenish republic. Those lands furnish easy access to the very heart of France, access that has been availed of so frequently in the past, as the Prussian invasions of our country during the last hundred years reveal. The keys to France must be in the custody of Frenchmen. I am sorry we cannot accept the American view. We probably would, had we enjoyed the same pleasant neighbors as you have during your national existence, but unfortunately we have been up against quite a different breed.”