PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1756, 1 November 1905, Page 64

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT.

For some weeks past the centre of political interest in the world, has been a spot on American territory. Those who ostensibly played the chief part at Portsmouth were not Americans, but all the while there was an American in the background who exerted such a decisive influence on the issue that, if any one is to have the title of protagonist, he probably deserves it best. When peace became assured, the puissant figure of the President emerged into open day. The whole world realised that he had not only made peace possible by inviting the belligerents to a conference, but that, having called them together, his indefatigable diplomacy had not rested until they were brought to one and the same mind. From every quarter a chorus of praise and gratitude has gone out to Mr Roosevelt. Every one feels that, as the Japanese and Russian plenipotentiaries have once more declared in their messages to the President announcing the actual signature, of the Treaty, he has done a service to humanity 'such as few men have either the opportunity or the spirit to perform. As is entirely natural, the volume of eulogy and admiration is stronger in his own country than in any other. The American people are justly proud that it has been reserved for a citizen of their own nationality to lay the cause of peace and civilisation under this great debt. They marvel, as we all do, at the mere bigness of Mr Roosevelt’s act; and they appreciate it, no doubt, all the more intensely because they live on a big continent and have a traditional fondness for hig things. They reflect that the achievement is entirely characteristic of the man who has done it, and that it could scarcely have been done by any other mam. Where else is the statesman or the Sovereign who could have prevailed upon two warring peoples, which had only paused for a breathing space in the oonflict, and presented apparently irreconcilable demands, to lay down their arms and seek peace instead of continuing the struggle ? When we have paid the fullest tribute to the moderation and magnanimity of the Japanese, we must still allow that this great result would not have been secured without President Roosevelt’s initiative and persistence. Seldom in human history is it given to a disinterested spectator to sway the fortunes of nearly two million combatants, and the President’s exploit, if we cannot call it an act of arbitration, must act as one of the most extraordinary acts of conciliation upon record. All these considerations, which are an-

parent to everybody, must be present with tenfold force to Mr Roosevelt’s fellow-countrymen. They raised him to power by a sweeping majority ; they have seen him use that power in a way no man can refuse to honour. Though the Union, in Lincoln’s words, is dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, it admires, like all other Republics, the man who soars above the crowd. The pride and confidence which the majority of Americans felt in Mr Roosex-elt’s personality before the Peace Conference have been enormously enhanced by this last proof of hi® exceptional abilities and masterful strength, of will. The peace ha® given President Roosevelt a great position before the world. It has given him a greater hold than ever on the imagination of the American people. How long will this impression, now so vivid, last P That is a question which must occur to the minds of many who are not Americans, but who are equally interested in the fortunes of the United States and the remarkable individuality of its President. For the moment Mr Roosevelt enjoys such undisputed popular approval that American journals are saying he must reconsider hi® publicly expressed decision not to be a candidate for a second term. At present we need hardly follow the American papers quite so far into the future. It is sufficient to ask how far the President’s popularity is likely to carry him through the difficult and stormy period of legislation that appar mt-ly lies ahead. Congress is summoned to meet in extra Session about the middle of November-, and then, either in this short additional period, or in the regular Session which succeeds it, several problems will come to the front which are by no means of an easy nature. —London “primes.”