President I can now see that he chafed under the restraints imposed by
usage and even by enacted laws if they interfered with his acting in a
way which seemed to him right or justified by conditions. I do not say
that he was lawless. He was not that, but he conformed grudgingly and
with manifest displeasure to legal limitations. It was a thankless task
to question a proposed course of action on the ground of illegality,
because he appeared to be irritated by such an obstacle to his will and
to transfer his irritation against the law to the one who raised it as
an objection. I think that he was especially resentful toward any one
who volunteered criticism based on a legal provision, precept, or
precedent, apparently assuming that the critic opposed his purpose on
the merits and in order to defeat it interposed needless legal
objections. It is unnecessary to comment on the prejudice which such an
attitude of mind made evident.

After the President's exceptionally strong address at the Metropolitan
Opera House in New York on September 27, 1918, I realized the great
importance which he gave to the creation of a League of Nations and in
view of this I devoted time and study to the subject, giving particular
attention to the British and French suggestions, both of which
emphasized judicial settlement. Knowing that the President had been in
consultation with Colonel House on the various phases of the peace to be
negotiated as well as on the terms of the armistice, I asked the latter
what he knew about the former's scheme for a League of Nations.

The Colonel discreetly avoided disclosing the details of the plan, but
from our conversation I gained an idea of the general principles of the
proposed organization and the way in which the President intended to
apply them.