April 14, 1919

There came a telephone call this morning from Charles Seignobos, the historian and eminent professor at the Sorbonne. He said he wanted to see me, and breaking several less important engagements I had him in my office within the hour. Probably I had expected to revel in the optimism as to the outcome of the Conference which he displayed, as my diary proves, only two weeks ago. If I did, I counted without the recent depressing developments. Like Professor Denis he is a champion of the little peoples, the submerged nationalities as we call them here. But today he did not go into that. Their situation he summed up with the words: “They have been brushed off. They are being ignored by the Great Men. They are entirely ignored or relegated to committees which have little knowledge of and no authority to solve their problems.”

He listened patiently when I agreed with him, at least in part. Then I said, “The President has had to throw overboard some of his plans and panaceas. He is concentrating on saving the League and the Covenant from enemies open and concealed. If he fails, the little fish in the stormy seas will indeed be out of luck.”