United States Delegation to the Paris Peace Conference

The American delegation is the United States mission to the postwar peace conference in Paris. In the novel, it is seen less as a fully described institution than through the practical network it draws into its orbit: President Woodrow Wilson’s expected presence, a dispatch service reassigned to carry its messages, and staff members traveling between European cities. Its arrival changes Dick Savage’s military posting into a new, more mobile form of service at the peace negotiations.

Mission and Arrival in Paris

On the night of the real armistice, Colonel Edgecombe tells Dick Savage that a peace conference is to be held in Paris and that Woodrow Wilson will attend in person. Edgecombe has been ordered to place his outfit at the disposal of the American delegation, which is expected to arrive soon. The dispatch service will become the delegation’s courier service, linking the mission’s political work to the practical movement of people and communications.

Edgecombe describes the delegation as coming to dictate the peace, a phrase that conveys the authority attached to its assignment without establishing the conference’s eventual outcome. For Dick, the news means he will not have to return home immediately to look for work. He welcomes the prospect of traveling around Europe, while Edgecombe cautions him that service should remain his first thought and stresses that the information is confidential.

Couriers and Contacts

The delegation’s work enters the story through travel arrangements and personal encounters. On a crowded Paris-to-Brindisi train, G. H. Barrow, who says he is attached to the American delegation, asks Captain Dick Savage to let him and a young woman from Near East Relief share the reserved compartment. Dick initially objects that allowing them aboard would violate his orders, then relents as the train starts. The episode shows the delegation’s personnel moving through a strained wartime transport system, where access to a seat depends on negotiation and accommodation as much as formal arrangements.

After arriving in Rome, Dick has to hurry to the embassy with his dispatch cases but makes time to contact Anne Elizabeth Trent at Near East Relief. Barrow warmly shakes Dick’s hand and says he hopes they will meet again; he is eager to establish contacts with people who understand what is happening. His remark presents the delegation’s network as one built not only through official travel but also through relationships with people and organizations already active in Europe. Anne Elizabeth is a relief worker traveling with Barrow, not identified as a member of the delegation.

The Delegation and Dick’s Changing Prospects

The assignment also redirects Dick’s plans. Back in Paris, after tea with Colonel Edgecombe and others, he asks how he might leave the service and find work in the city. Edgecombe points him toward J. Ward Moorehouse, whom he believes will be responsible for publicity work for Standard Oil, and suggests that Moorehouse might help Dick find a position as a public-relations counsel. This is a possible civilian opportunity adjacent to the postwar political and commercial world, not a formal role in the delegation itself.

The delegation therefore has a double significance in Dick’s plot: it provides his wartime unit with a new duty and gives him a reason to remain in Europe, while the people he encounters around its work expose him to possible employment beyond the army. The account supplies no full roster, internal structure, or detailed record of the delegation’s negotiating decisions. Its presence is defined instead by the couriers it requires, the contacts its representatives seek, and the uncertain transition from military service to postwar work.