Lot 173
Knox, Philander Chase (1853-1921), American lawyer and politician who served as Attorney General under McKinley and T. Roosevelt (1901-04), U.S. Senator, Secretary of State under Taft (1909-13). Manuscript Signed "Philander Knox", three pages, each a separate leaf, 5½ x 8¾ the text of a speech denouncing the Treaty of Versailles, given before the Senate and President Woodrow Wilson, August 29, 1919, in part:
"Mr. President, I wish at the outset to make my own position perfectly clear … No one more abhors Germany's lawlessness, her cruelty, her gross inhumanity in the conduct of this war than do I … I am vitally concerned in the peace of this world, and peace we must have if it be attainable. But … I am convinced after the most painstaking consideration…that this treaty does not spell peace but war - war more woeful and devastating than the one we have but now closed. The instrument before us is not the treaty but the truce of Versailles … For one of the great defects thus far incident to the treaty is that too few minds have functioned on its provisions, and perusing it one finds it impossible to believe that any responsible mind had sought to coordinate its provisions and trace out their ultimate logical conclusions. Nothing in all our history … has called for a clearer perception of present and future, a keener or juster understanding of our free institutions, a clearer vision of the mighty mission of our great Nation in the world, or the dedication of a purer and loftier patriotism than the consideration of this treaty. Unless … we shall have the guidance of the infinite wisdom we shall fail in our duty, and, wrecking our beloved country, earn the odium of its treasonable betrayal."
The three pages tipped together at the left edge, Very Fine.
Estimate 400 - 500
IN HIS SPEECH KNOX ELOQUENTLY PRESAGES THE FAILURE OF THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES, AND CORRECTLY PREDICTS THAT ITS CONDITIONS WOULD ULTIMATELY LEAD TO ANOTHER GREAT WAR.
The Treaty of Versailles, which ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers, was signed on June 28, 1919. One of its most important and controversial provisions required Germany and its allies to accept full responsibility for causing the war and to disarm, make substantial territorial concessions and pay reparations to certain countries that had formed the Entente powers. But Germany was neither pacified nor conciliated and began underming the treaty as early as 1922 and by the mid 1930s was completely ignoring it. The Nazi Party, in its rise to power, played upon the German people's sense of betrayal and dishonor caused by the signing of the Treaty, and eventually as an excuse to violate the treaty's terms.
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| Realized $700 |
