The new order must offer impartial justice for both victors and vanquished. No special interests ought to prevail over the common interests of all. There could be no special understandings within the league. There could be no self-interested economic combinations, nor any continuation of warlike boycotts or blockades. All international agreements must be entirely public. Once more Wilson claimed to be giving voice to the ‘unclouded’ thoughts ‘of the mass of men’, and he challenged the leaders of Europe, if they dared, to voice their dissent from his principles.
