Quite some of the most interesting features of the two volumes are the Viscount Esher's reaction to the Armistice is contained in a letter written the day after:
Yes, the ending is wonderful. I pray that the "leaders" of the Ailied peoples will not get "swelled head" and lay the seeds of future wars.
With France and Italy satisfied we might have peace for a generation, provided we do not attempt to crush the soul of eighty millions of German people.
The Peace Conference by the beginning of 1919 had, in Viscount Eshers view, become a hóWped of intrigue and a grouping of rival interests. There was, in his opinion, little inclination on the part of Germany to "kick." There was no impassioned leadership in Germany—if there were; he believed, there would be no signature of peace terms at all. He asks:
..... Well, suppose the Boche refuses ig' Sign. What is to be done? It is all very well to talk of military and havel occupation etc. etc.
A nation of passive resisters is far more formidable "han a motion of fighters. But as I have said, that is no leadership of the higher kind—determination, courage and eloqui in combination!
That he was never to see—for his
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.