On June 22nd the German Assembly ratified the Treaty, and on June 29th it was signed at Versailles by the German envoys. Mr. Lloyd George returned to England and eloquently defended the Treaty before Parliament, which unanimously ratified it on July 3rd.
As far as Great Britain was concerned, Mr. Lloyd George had now achieved peace.
[125] For further particulars of the election see Chapter XXIV.
[126] President Wilson brought with him four delegates, including Secretary Lansing, Colonel House, and one Republican, Mr. Henry White. M. Clemenceau was supported by General Foch, M. Pichon, M. Tardieu, and M. Loucheur.
[127] See, for instance, Dr. Dillon’s very able book The Peace Conference (Hutchinson & Co: London), Peace Making in Paris, by Sisley Huddleston (Fisher Unwin: London), The Peace in the Making, by H. Wilson Harris (The Swarthmore Press: London), and The Economic Consequences of the Peace, by John Maynard Keynes, C.B. (Macmillan & Co., London.)
[128] See Appendix D.
[129] Some of these reported speeches are even more mordant, as for instance—“President Wilson talks like the good Christ, but acts like Lloyd George.”
[130] The Saar Valley was finally given to the League of Nations for fifteen years, giving the French the output of the mines. At the close of that period there is to be a plebiscite, but if the vote goes in favour of Germany the mines must be bought back by Germany from France.
[131] See pp. 1240-2 of the Bullitt evidence: “Hearings before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate,” vol. ii. The minutes of the meeting are given. I give them in full in Appendix C in order to show Mr. Lloyd George’s point of view at this time.