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WKBTO LISTOCT 1 1924.
THE
LIFE AND LETTERS
OF
WALTER H. PAGE
Sir Edward Grey (now Viscount Grey of Fallodon) , Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs, 1905-1916
THE
LIFE AND LETTERS OF
WALTER H. PAGE
BY
BURTON J. HENDRIGK
VOLUME
II
- M- 3Q
GARDE NCITY NEW YORK
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
1922
E
PJ5H45
COPYRIGHT, 1921, 1922, BY
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION
INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES
AT
THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y.
First Edition
after the printing of 877 de luxe copies
CONTENTS
VOLUME II
CHAPTER PAGE
XIV. THE "LUSITANIA" AND AFTER ... 1
XV. THE AMBASSADOR AND THE LAWYERS . 53
XVI. DARK DAYS FOR THE ALLIES ... 81
XVII. CHRISTMAS IN ENGLAND, 1915 ... 103
XVIII. A PERPLEXED AMBASSADOR .... 128
XIX. WASHINGTON IN THE SUMMER OF 1916. 148
XX. " PEACE WITHOUT VICTORY". ... 189
XXI. THE UNITED STATES AT WAR 215
XXII. THE BALFOUR MISSION TO THE UNITED
STATES 248
XXIII. PAGE THE MAN 295
XXIV. A RESPITE AT ST. IVES 321
XXV. GETTING THE AMERICAN TROOPS TO
FRANCE 349
XXVI. LAST DAYS IN ENGLAND 37^
XXVII. THE END 404
APPENDIX 407
INDEX 425
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Sir Edward Grey Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
Col. Edward M. House. From a painting by P. A.
Laszlo 88
The Rt. Hon. Herbert Henry Asquith, Prime Minis-
ter of Great Britain, 1908-1916 89
Herbert C. Hoover, in 1914 104
A facsimile page from the Ambassador's letter of
November 24, 1916, resigning his Ambassador-
ship 105
Walter H. Page, at the time of America's entry into
the war, April, 1917 216
Resolution passed by the two Houses of Parliament,
April 18, 1917, on America's entry into the war 217
The Rt. Hon. David Lloyd George, Prime Minister
of Great Britain, 1916- 232
The Rt. Hon. Arthur James Balfour (now the Earl of
Balfour), Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,
1916-1919 233
Lord Robert Cecil, Minister of Blockade, 1916-1918,
Assistant Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,
1918 344
vii
VU1 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
General John J. Pershing, Commander-in-Chief of
the American Expeditionary Force in the Great
War 345
Admiral William Sowden Sims, Commander of
American Naval Forces operating in European
waters during the Great War 360
A silver model of the Mayflower, the farewell gift
of the Plymouth Council to Mr. Page ... 361
THE
LIFE AND LETTERS
OF
WALTER H. PAGE
THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF
WALTER H. PAGE
CHAPTER XIV
THE "LUSITANIA" AND AFTER
THE news of the Lusitania was received at the Amer-
ican Embassy at four o'clock on the afternoon of
May 7, 1915. At that time preparations were under way
for a dinner in honour of Colonel and Mrs. House; the
first Lusitania announcement declared that only the ship
itself had been destroyed and that all the passengers and
members of the crew had been saved; there was, therefore,
no good reason for abandoning this dinner.
At about seven o'clock, the Ambassador came home;
his manner showed that something extraordinary had
taken place ; there were no outward signs of emotion, but
he was very serious. The first news, he now informed
Mrs. Page, had been a mistake ; more than one thousand
men, women, and children had lost their lives, and more
than one hundred of these were American citizens. It was
too late to postpone the dinner but that affair was one of
the most tragic in the social history of London. The
Ambassador was constantly receiving bulletins from his
Chancery, and these, as quickly as they were received, he
read to his guests. His voice was quiet and subdued;
there were no indications of excitement in his manner or
in that of his friends, and hardly of suppressed emotion.
2 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
The atmosphere was rather that of dumb stupefaction.
The news seemed to have dulled everyone's capacity for
thought and even for feeling. If any one spoke, it was in
whispers. Afterward, in the drawing room, this same men-
tal state was the prevailing one; there was little denuncia-
tion of Germany and practically no discussion as to the
consequences of the crime; everyone's thought was en-
grossed by the harrowing and unbelievable facts which
the Ambassador was reading from the little yellow slips
that were periodically brought in. An irresistible fasci-
nation evidently kept everybody in the room; the guests
stayed late, eager for every new item. When they
finally left, one after another, their manner was still ab-
stracted and they said their good-nights in low voices.
There were two reasons for this behaviour. The first was
that the Ambassador and his guests had received the de-
tails of the greatest infamy which any supposedly civilized
state had perpetrated since the massacre of Saint Barthol-
omew. The second was the conviction that the United
States would at once declare war on Germany.
On this latter point several of the guests expressed their
ideas and one of the most shocked and outspoken was
Colonel House. For a month the President's personal
representative had been discussing with British statesmen
possible openings for mediation, but all his hopes in this
direction now vanished. That President Wilson would
act with the utmost energy Colonel House took for
granted. This act, he evidently believed, left the United
States no option. "We shall be at war with Germany
within a month," he declared.
The feeling that prevailed in the Embassy this evening
was the one that existed everywhere in London for several
days. Emotionally the event acted like an anaesthetic.
This was certainly the condition of all Americans asso-
THE "LUSITANIA" AND AFTER 3
ciated with the American Embassy, especially Page him-
self. A day or two after the sinking the Ambassador
went to Euston Station, at an early hour in the morning,
to receive the American survivors. The hundred or more
men and women who shambled from the train made a list-
less and bedraggled gathering. Their grotesque clothes,
torn and unkempt for practically none had had the op-
portunity of obtaining a change of dress their expres-
sionless faces, their lustreless eyes, their uncertain and
bewildered walk, faintly reflected an experience such as
comes to few people in this world. The most noticeable
thing about these unfortunates was their lack of interest
in their surroundings; everything had apparently been
reduced to a blank; the fact that practically none made
any reference to their ordeal, or could be induced to dis-
cuss it, was a matter of common talk in London. And
something of this disposition now became noticeable in
Page himself. He wrote his dispatches to Washington
in an abstracted mood; he went through his duties almost
with the detachment of a sleep-walker; like the Lusitania
survivors, he could not talk much at that time about the
scenes that had taken place off the coast of Ireland. Yet
there were many indications that he was thinking about
them, and his thoughts, as his letters reveal, were con-
cerned with more things than the tragedy itself. He
believed that his country was now face to face with its
destiny. What would Washington do?
Page had a characteristic way of thinking out his prob-
lems. He performed his routine work at the Chancery
in the daytime, but his really serious thinking he did in
his own room at night. The picture is still a vivid one
in the recollection of his family and his other intimates.
Even at this time Page's health was not good, yet he fre-
quently spent the evening at his office in Grosvenor
4 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
Gardens, and when the long day's labours were finished,
he would walk rather wearily to his home at No. 6 Gros-
venor Square. He would enter the house slowly and his
walk became slower and more tired as the months went
by go up to his room and cross to the fireplace, so ap-
parently wrapped up in his own thoughts that he hardly
greeted members of his own family. A wood fire was kept
burning for him, winter and summer alike; Page would
put on his dressing gown, drop into a friendly chair, and
sit there, doing nothing, reading nothing, saying nothing
only thinking. Sometimes he would stay for an hour;
not infrequently he would remain till two, three, or four
o'clock in the morning; occasions were not unknown when
his almost motionless figure would be in this same place
at daybreak. He never slept through these nights, and
he never even dozed ; he was wide awake, and his mind was
silently working upon the particular problem that was
uppermost in his thoughts. He never rose until he had
solved it or at least until he had decided upon a course of
action. He would then get up abruptly, go to bed, and
sleep like a child. The one thing that made it possible
for a man of his delicate frame, racked as it was by anx-
iety and over work, to keep steadily at his task, was the
wonderful gift which he possessed of sleeping.
Page had thought out many problems in this way. The
tension caused by the sailing of the Dacia, in January,
1915, and the deftness with which the issue had been
avoided by substituting a French for a British cruiser,
has already been described. Page discovered this solu-
tion on one of these all-night self-communings. It was
almost two o'clock in the morning that he rose, said to
himself, "I've got it!" and then went contentedly to bed.
And during the anxious months that followed theLusitania,
the Arabic, and those other outrages which have now
THE "LUSITANIA" AND AFTER 5
taken their place in history, he spent night after night
turning the matter over in his mind. But he found no
way out of the humiliations presented by the policy of
Washington.
"Here we are swung loose in time," he wrote to his son
Arthur, a few days after the first Lusitania note had been
sent to Germany, "nobody knows the day or the week or
the month or the year and we are caught on this island,
with no chance of escape, while the vast slaughter goes on
and seems just beginning, and the degradation of war
goes on week by week; and we live in hope that the United
States will come in, as the only chance to give us standing
and influence when the reorganization of the world must
begin. (Beware of betraying the word 'hope'!) It has
all passed far beyond anybody's power to describe. I
simply go on day by day into unknown experiences and
emotions, seeing nothing before me very clearly and re-
membering only dimly what lies behind. I can see only
one proper thing: that all the world should fall to and hunt
this wild beast down.
'Two photographs of little Mollie 1 on my mantelpiece
recall persons and scenes and hopes unconnected with the
war: few other things can. Bless the baby, she couldn't
guess what a sweet purpose she serves."
The sensations of most Americans in London during
this crisis are almost indescribable. Washington's failure
promptly to meet the situation affected them with aston-
ishment and humiliation. Colonel House was confident
that war was impending, and for this reason he hurried
his preparations to leave England ; he wished to be in the
United States, at the President's side, when the declara-
tion was made. With this feeling about Mr. Wilson,
1 The Ambassador's granddaughter.
6 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
Colonel House received a fearful shock a day or two after
the Lusitania had gone down: while walking in Piccadilly,
he caught a glimpse of one of the famous sandwich men,
bearing a poster of an afternoon newspaper. This glaring
broadside bore the following legend: "We are too proud
to fight Woodrow Wilson." The sight of that placard
was Colonel House's first intimation that the President
might not act vigorously. He made no attempt to conceal
from Page and other important men at the American Em-
bassy the shock which it had given him. Soon the whole
of England was ringing with these six words; the news-
papers were filled with stinging editorials and cartoons,
and the music halls found in the Wilsonian phrase mater-
ials for their choicest jibes. Even in more serious quarters
America was the subject of the most severe denunciation.
No one felt these strictures more poignantly than Presi-
dent Wilson's closest confidant. A day or two before sail-
ing home he came into the Embassy greatly depressed at
the prevailing revulsion against the United States. "I
feel," Colonel House said to Page, "as though I had been
given a kick at every lamp post coming down Constitution
Hill." A day or two afterward Colonel House sailed for
America.
ii
And now came the period of distress and of disillusion-
ment. Three Lusitania notes were sent and were evas-
ively answered, and Washington still seemed to be mark-
ing time. The one event in this exciting period which
gave Page satisfaction was Mr. Bryan's resignation as
Secretary of State. For Mr. Bryan personally Page had a
certain fondness, but as head of the State Department the
Nebraska orator had been a cause of endless vexation.
Many of Page's letters, already printed, bear evidence of
THE "LUSITANIA" AND AFTER 7
the utter demoralization which existed in this branch of
the Administration and this demoralization became es-
pecially glaring during the Lusitania crisis. No attempt
was made even at this momentous period to keep the Lon-
don Embassy informed as to what was taking place in
Washington; Page's letters and cablegrams were, for the
most part, unacknowledged and unanswered, and the
American Ambassador was frequently obliged to obtain
his information about the state of feeling in Washington
from Sir Edward Grey. It must be said, in justice to Mr.
Bryan, that this carelessness was nothing particularly new,
for it had worried many ambassadors before Page. Readers
of Charles Francis Adams's correspondence meet with the
same complaints during the Civil War; even at the time
of the Trent crisis, when for a fortnight Great Britain and
the United States were living on the brink of war, Adams
was kept entirely in the dark about the plans of
Washington. 1 The letters of John Hay show a similar
condition during his brief ambassadorship to Great Britain
in 1897-1898. 2
But Mr. Bryan's incumbency w r as guilty of diplomatic
vices which were peculiarly its own. The "leaks" in the
State Department, to which Page has already referred,
were constantly taking place ; the Ambassador would send
the most confidential cipher dispatches to his superior,
cautioning the Department that they must be held in-
violably secret, and then he would pick up the London
newspapers the next morning and find that everything
had been cabled from Washington. To most readers, the
informal method of conducting foreign business, as it is
disclosed in these letters, probably comes as something of
!"A Cycle of Adams Letters, 1861-1865," edited by Worthington Chauncey
Ford. Vol. I, p. 84.
2"The Life and Letters of John Hay," by William Roscoe Thayer. Vol. II,
p. 166.
8 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
a shock. Page is here discovered discussing state mat-
ters, not in correspondence with the Secretary of State,
but in private unofficial communications to the Presi-
dent, and especially to Colonel House the latter at that
time not an official person at all. All this, of course,
was extremely irregular and, in any properly organized
State Department, it would have been even reprehensible.
But the point is that there was no properly organized
State Department at that time, and the impossibility of
conducting business through the regular channels com-
pelled Page to adopt other means. "There is only one
way to reform the State Department," he informed Colo-
nel House at this time. "That is to raze the whole build-
ing, with its archives and papers, to the ground, and begin
all over again."
This state of affairs in Washington explains the curious
fact that the real diplomatic history of the United States
and Great Britain during this great crisis is not to be found
in the archives of the State Department, for the official
documents on file there consist of the most routine tele-
grams, which are not particularly informing, but in the
Ambassador's personal correspondence with the President,
Colonel House, and a few other intimates. The State
Department did not have the first requisite of a properly
organized foreign office, for it could not be trusted with
confidential information. The Department did not tell
Page what it was doing, but it apparently told the whole
world what Page was doing. It is an astonishing fact that
Page could not write and cable the most important de-
tails, for he was afraid that they would promptly be given
to the reporters.
"I shall not send another confidential message to the
State Department," Page wrote to Colonel House,
THE "LUSITANIA" AND AFTER 9
September 15, 1914; "it's too dangerous. Time and time
again now the Department has leaked. Last week, I
sent a dispatch and I said in the body of it, 'this is confi-
dential and under no condition to be given out or made public,
but to be regarded as inviolably secret.' The very next
morning it was telegraphed from Washington to the London
newspapers. Bryan telegraphed me that he was sure it
didn't get out from the Department and that he now had
so fixed it that there could be no leak. He's said that at
least four times before. The Department swarms with
newspaper men, I hear. But whether it does or not the
leak continues. I have to go with my tail between my
legs and apologize to Sir Edward Grey and to do myself that
shame and to do my very best to keep his confidence
against these unnecessary odds. The only way to be safe
is to do the job perfunctorily, to answer the questions the
Department sends and to do nothing on your own ac-
count. That's the reason so many of our men do their
jobs in that way or one reason and a strong one. We can
never have an alert and energetic and powerful service
until men can trust the Department and until they can
get necessary information from it. I wrote the President
that of course I'd go on till the war ended and all the ques-
tions growing out of it were settled, and that then he must
excuse me, if I must continue to be exposed to this danger
and humiliation. In the meantime, I shall send all my
confidential matter in private letters to him."
Page did not regard Mr. Bryan's opinions and attitudes
as a joke : to him they were a serious matter and, in his
eyes, Bryan was most interesting as a national menace.
He regarded the Secretary as the extreme expression of
an irrational sentimentalism that was in danger of under-
mining the American character, especially as the kind of
10 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
thought he represented was manifest in many phases of
American life. In a moment of exasperation, Page gave
expression to this feeling in a letter to his son:
To Arthur W. Page
London, June 6, 1915.
DEAR ARTHUR:
. . . We're in danger of being feminized and fad-
ridden grape juice (God knows water's good enough:
why grape juice?); pensions; Christian Science; peace
cranks; efficiency-correspondence schools; aid-your-
memory; women's clubs; co-this and co-t'other and cod-
dling in general; Billy Sunday; petticoats where breeches
ought to be and breeches where petticoats ought to be;
white livers and soft heads and milk-and-water; I don't
want war: nobody knows its horrors or its degradations or
its cost. But to get rid of hyphenated degenerates per-
haps it's worth while, and to free us from 'isms and soft
folk. That's the domestic view of it. As for being
kicked by a sauerkraut caste Lord, give us backbone !
Heartily yours,
W. H. P.
In the bottom of this note, Page has cut a notch in the
paper and against it he has written: "This notch is the
place to apply a match to this letter."
"Again and ever I am reminded," Page also wrote in
reference to Bryan's resignation, "of the danger of hav-
ing to do with cranks. A certain orderliness of mind and
conduct seems essential for safety in this short life.
Spiritualists, bone-rubbers, anti-vivisectionists, all sort
of anti's in fact, those who have fads about education or
fads against it, Perfectionists, Daughters of the Dove of
Peace, Sons of the Roaring Torrent, itinerant peace-
THE "LUSITANIA AND AFTER 11
mongers all these may have a real genius among them
once in forty years; but to look for an exception to the
common run of yellow dogs and damfools among them is
like opening oysters with the hope of finding pearls. It's
the common man we want and the uncommon common
man when we can find him never the crank. This is
the lesson of Bryan."
At one time, however, Mr. Bryan's departure seemed
likely to have important consequences for Page. Colonel
House and others strongly urged the President to call him
home from London and make him Secretary of State.
This was the third position in President Wilson's Cabinet
for which Page had been considered. The early plans
to make him Secretary of the Interior or Secretary of
Agriculture have already been described. Of all cabinet
posts, however, the one that would have especially at-
tracted him would have been the Department of State.
But President Wilson believed that the appointment of an
Ambassador at one of the belligerent capitals, especially
of an Ambassador whose sympathies for the Allies were
so pronounced as were Page's, would have been an "un-
neutral" act, and, therefore, Colonel House's recommen-
dation was not approved.
From Edward M. House
Roslyn, Long Island,
June 25th, 1915.
DEAR PAGE:
The President finally decided to appoint Lansing to
succeed Mr. Bryan. In my opinion, he did wisely, though
I would have preferred his appointing you.
The argument against your appointment was the fact
that you are an Ambassador at one of the belligerent
12 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
capitals. The President did not think it would do, and
from what I read, when your name was suggested I take
it there would have been much criticism. I am sorry
sorrier than I can tell you, for it \vould have worked ad-
mirably in the general scheme of things.
However, I feel sure that Lansing will do the job, and
that you will find your relations with him in every way
satisfactory.
The President spent yesterday with me and we talked
much of you. He is looking well and feeling so.
I read the President your letter and he enjoyed it as
much as I did.
I am writing hastily, for I am leaving for Manchester,
Massachusetts, where I shall be during July and August.
Your sincere friend,
E. M. HOUSE.
in
But, in addition to the Lusitania crisis, a new terror now
loomed on the horizon. Page's correspondence reveals
that Bryan had more reasons than one for his resignation;
he was now planning to undertake a self-appointed mission
to Europe for the purpose of opening peace negotiations
entirely on his own account.
From Edward M. House
Manchester, Massachusetts,
August 12th, 1915.
DEAR PAGE:
The Bryans have been stopping with the X's. X
writes me that Bryan told him that he intended to go to
Europe soon and try peace negotiations. He has Lloyd
George in mind in England, and it is then his purpose to
go to Germany.
THE "LUSITANIA" AND AFTER 13
I take it he will want credentials from the President
which, of course, he will not want to give, but just what
he will feel obliged to give is another story. I anticipated
this when he resigned. I knew it was merely a matter of
time when he would take this step.
He may find encouragement in Germany, for he is in
high favour now in that quarter. It is his purpose to
oppose the President upon the matter of "preparedness,"
and, from what we can learn, it will not be long before
there will be open antagonism between the Administra-
tion and himself.
It might be a good thing to encourage his going to
Europe. He would probably come back a sadder and
wiser man. I take it that no one in authority in England
would discuss the matter seriously with him, and, in
France, I do not believe he could even get a hearing.
Please let me have your impressions upon this subject.
I wish I could be near you to-day for there are so many
things I could tell that I cannot write.
Your friend,
E. M. HOUSE.
To Edward M. House
American Embassy, London [Undated].
DEAR HOUSE:
Never mind about Bryan. Send him over here if you
wish to get rid of him. He'll cut no more figure than a
tar-baby at a Negro camp-meeting. If he had come while
he was Secretary, I should have jumped off London
Bridge and the country would have had one ambassador
less. But I shall enjoy him now. You see some peace
crank from the United States comes along every week-
some crank or some gang of cranks. There Ve been two
this week. Ever since the Daughters of the Dove of
14 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
Peace met at The Hague, the game has become popular
in America; and I haven't yet heard that a single one has
been shot so far. I think that some of them are likely
soon to be hanged, however, because there are signs that
they may come also from Germany. The same crowd
that supplies money to buy labour-leaders and the press
and to blow up factories in the United States keeps a good
supply of peace-liars on tap. It'll be fun to watch Bryan
perform and never suspect that anybody is lying to him
or laughing at him; and he'll go home convinced that he's
done the job and he'll let loose doves all over the land till
they are as thick as English sparrows. Not even the
President could teach him anything permanently. He
can do no harm on this side the world. It's only your
side that's in any possible danger; and, if I read the signs
right, there's a diminishing danger there.
No, there's never yet come a moment when there was
the slightest chance of peace. Did the Emperor not say
last year that peace would come in October, and again
this year in October? Since he said it, how can it come?
The ambitions and the actions of men, my friend, are
determined by their antecedents, their surroundings, and
their opportunities the great deeds of men before them
whom consciously or unconsciously they take for models,
the codes they are reared by, and the chances that they
think they see. These influences shaped Alexander and
Caesar, and they shaped you and me. Now every mon-
arch on the Continent has behind him the Napoleonic
example. " Can I do that? " crosses the mind of every one.
Of course every one thinks of himself as doing it benefi-
cently for the good of the world. Napoleon, himself,
persuaded himself of his benevolent intentions, and the
devil of it was he persuaded other people also. Now the
only monarch in Europe in our time who thought he had a
THE " LUSITANIA " AND AFTER 15
chance is your friend in Berlin. When he told you last
year (1914) that of course he didn't want war, but that he
was "ready," that's what he meant. A similar ambition,
of course, comes into the mind of every professional
soldier of the continent who rises to eminence. In Berlin
you have both the absolute monarch and the military
class of ambitious soldiers and their fighting machine.
Behind these men walks the Napoleonic ambition all the
time, just as in the United States we lie down every night
in George Washington's feather-bed of no entangling
alliances.
Then remember, too, that the German monarchy is a
cross between the Napoleonic ambition and its inheritance
from Frederick the Great and Bismarck. I suppose the
three damnedest liars that were ever born are these
three old Frederick, Napoleon, and Bismarck not, I
take it, because they naturally loved lying, but because
the game they played constantly called for lying. There
was no other way to play it: they had to fool people all the
time. You have abundant leisure do this: Read the
whole career of Napoleon and write down the startling
and exact parallels that you will find there to what is
happening to-day. The French were united and patriotic,
just as the Germans now are. When they invaded other
people's territory, they said they were attacked and that
the other people had brought on war. They had their
lying diplomats, their corruption funds ; they levied money
on cities and states; they took booty; and they were God's
elect. It's a wonderful parallel not strangely, because
the game is the same and the moral methods are the same.
Only the tools are somewhat different the submarine, for
example. Hence the Lusitania disaster (not disavowed,
you will observe), the Arabic disaster, the propaganda,
underground and above, in the United States. And
16 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
there'll be more. The Napoleonic Wars were about eleven
years long. I fancy that we shall have war and wars
from this attempt to dominate Europe, for perhaps as
long a period. The Balkans can't be quieted by this war
only, nor Russia and Italy perhaps. And Germany may
have a series of earthquakes herself internal explosions.
Then Poland and perhaps some of the Scandinavian
States. Nobody can tell.
I cannot express my admiration of the President's
management, so far at least, of his colossal task of leading
us right. He has shown his supreme wisdom up to this
point and I have the profoundest confidence in his judg-
ment. But I hope he doesn't fool himself about the fu-
ture; I'm sure he doesn't. I see no possible way for us to
keep out, because I know the ignorance and falseness of
the German leaders. They'll drown or kill more Amer-
icans on the sea and in America. They may at last even
attack one of our own passenger ships, or do something
that will dramatically reveal them to the whole American
people. Then, of course, the tune will be called. It's
only a question of time ; and I am afraid the war will last
long enough to give them time. An early peace is all that
can prevent them from driving us at last into war; and I
can see no chance of an early peace. You had as well pre-
pare as fast as the condition of public opinion will permit.
There could be no better measure of the immeasurable
moral advance that the United States has made over
Europe than the incredulity of our people. They simply
can't comprehend what the Napoleonic legend can do,
nor the low political morality of the Continent of Berlin
in particular. Hence they don't believe it. We have
gone on for 100 years working might and main to better
our condition and the condition of people about us the
greatest effort made by the largest number of people since
THE "LUSITANIA" AND AFTER 17
the world began to further the mood and the arts of peace.
There is no other such chapter in human history as our
work for a hundred years. Yet just a hundred years ago
the Capitol at Washington was burned by a political
oligarchy in the freest country of Europe as damnable
an atrocity as you will find in history. The Germans
are a hundred years behind the English in political devel-
opment and political morality.
So, let Willum J. come. He can't hurt Europe nor
help it; and you can spare him. Let all the Peace-gang
come. You can spare them, too; and they can do no harm
here. Let somebody induce Hoke Smith to come, too.
You have hit on a great scheme friendly deportation.
And Bryan won't be alone. Daughters of the Dove of
Peace and Sons of the Olive Branch come every week.
The latest Son came to see me to-day. He said that the
German Chancellor told him that he wanted peace-
wants it now and wants it bad, and that only one thing
stood in the way if England would agree not to take
Belgium, Germany would at once make peace! This
otherwise sensible American wanted me to take him to see
Sir Edward to tell him this, and to suggest to him to go
over to Holland next week to meet the German Chancellor
and fix it up. A few days ago a pious preacher chap
(American) who had come over to "fix it all up," came
back from France and called on me. He had seen some-
thing in France he was excited and he didn't quite make
it clear what he had seen; but he said that if they'd only
let him go home safely and quickly he'd promise not to
mention peace any more did I think the American boats
entirely safe? So, you see, I do have some fun even in
these dark days.
Yours heartily,
W. H. PAGE.
18 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
IV
This letter discloses that Page was pinning his faith in
President Wilson, and that he still had confidence in the
President's determination to uphold the national honour.
Page was not one of those who thought that the United
States should declare war immediately after the Lusitania.
The President's course, in giving Germany a chance to
make amends, and to disavow the act, met with his ap-
proval, and he found, also, much to admire in Mr. Wilson's
first Lusitania note. His judgment in this matter was
based first of all upon the merits of the case ; besides this,
his admiration for Mr. Wilson as a public man was strong.
To think otherwise of the President would have been a
great grief to the Ambassador and to differ with his
chief on the tremendous issue of the war would have
meant for Page the severance of one of the most cherished
associations of his life. The interest which he had shown
in advocating Wilson's presidential candidacy has already
been set forth; and many phases of the Wilson adminis-
tration had aroused his admiration. The President's
handling of domestic problems Page regarded as a master-
piece in reconciling statesmanship with practical politics,
and his energetic attitude on the Panama Tolls had in-
troduced new standards into American foreign relations.
Page could not sympathize with all the details of the Wil-
sonian Mexican policy, yet he saw in it a high-minded
purpose and a genuine humanitarianism. But the out-
break of war presented new aspects of Mr. Wilson's mind.
The President's attitude toward the European struggle,
his conception of "neutrality," and his failure to grasp
the meaning of the conflict, seemed to Page to show a lack
of fundamental statesmanship; still his faith in Wilson
was deep-seated, and he did not abandon hope that the
THE "LUSITANIA" AND AFTER 19
President could be brought to see things as they really
were. Page even believed that he might be instrumental
in his conversion.
But in the summer and autumn of 1915 one agony
followed another. The "too proud to fight" speech was
in Page's mind nothing less than a tragedy. The presi-
dent's first Lusitania note for a time restored the Ambas-
sador's confidence; it seemed to show that the President
intended to hold Germany to that "strict accountability"
which he had threatened. But Mr. Wilson's course now
presented new difficulties to his Ambassador. Still Page
believed that the President, in his own way and in
his own time, would find a path out of his dilemma
that would protect the honour and the safety of the
United States. If any of the Embassy subordinates
became impatient over the procedure of Washington, he
did not find a sympathetic listener in the Ambassador.
The whole of London and of Europe might be resounding
with denunciations of the White House, but Page would
tolerate no manifestations of hostility in his presence.
'The problem appears different to Washington than it
does to us," he would say to his confidants. "We see
only one side of it; the President sees all sides. If we give
him all the facts, he will decide the thing wisely." Eng-
lishmen with whom the Ambassador came into contact
soon learned that they could not become flippant or crit-
ical about Mr. Wilson in his presence; he would resent
the slightest hostile remark, and he had a way of phrasing
his rebukes that usually discouraged a second attempt.
About this time Page began to keep closely to himself,
and to decline invitations to dinners and to country houses,
even those with which he was most friendly. The rea-
son was that he could not meet Englishmen and English-
women, or even Americans who were resident in England,
20 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
on his old easy familiar terms; he knew the ideas which
everybody entertained about his country, and he knew
also what they were saying, when he was not among them ;
the restraint which his presence necessarily put upon his
friends produced an uncongenial atmosphere, and the
Ambassador therefore gave up, for a time, those dis-
tractions which had ordinarily proved such a delightful
relief from his duties. For the first time since he had come
to England he found himself a solitary man. He even
refused to attend the American Luncheon Club in London
because, in speeches and in conversation, the members
did not hesitate to assail the Wilson policies.
Events, however, eventually proved too strong for the
most devoted supporter of President Wilson. After the
Arabic and the Hesperian, Page's official intimates saw
signs that the Ambassador was losing confidence in his old
friend. He would discuss Mr. Wilson occasionally, with
those secretaries, such as Mr. Laughlin, in whom his con-
fidence was strongest ; his expressions, however, were never
flippant or violent. That Page could be biting as well as
brilliant in his comments on public personages his let-
ters abundantly reveal, yet he never exercised his talent
for sarcasm or invective at the expense of the White
House. He never forgot that Mr. Wilson was President
and that he was Ambassador; he would still defend
the Administration; and he even now continued to
find consolation in the reflection that Mr. Wilson was
living in a different atmosphere and that he had diffi-
culties to confront of which a man in London could know
nothing. The Ambassador's emotion was rather one of
disappointment and sorrow, mingled with anxiety as to
the plight into which his country was being led. As to
his duty in this situation, however, Page never hesi-
tated. In his relations with his Embassy and with the
THE LUSITANIA AND AFTER 21
British world he maintained this non-critical attitude ; but
in his letters to President Wilson and Colonel House,
he was describing the situation, and expressing his con-
victions, with the utmost freedom and frankness. In
both these attitudes Page was consistent and absolutely
loyal. It was his duty to carry out the Wilson instruc-
tions and he had too high a conception of the Ambassa-
dorial office to show to the world any unfavourable opin-
ions he may have held about his country's course. His
duty to his post made it just as imperative that he set
forth to the President the facts exactly as they were.
And this the Ambassador now proceeded to do. For the
mere ornamental dignities of an Ambassadorship Page
cared nothing; he was wasting his health in his duties and
exhausting his private resources; much as he loved the
English and congenial as were his surroundings, the fear
of being recalled for "disloyalty" or insubordination
never influenced him. The letters which he now wrote
to Colonel House and to President Wilson himself are
probably without parallel in the diplomatic annals of this
or of any other country. In them he told the President
precisely what Englishmen thought of him and of the ex-
tent to which the United States was suffering in European
estimation from the Wilson policy. His boldness some-
times astounded his associates. One day a friend and
adviser of President Wilson's came into the Ambassador's
office just as Page had finished one of his communications
to Washington.
"Read that!" the Ambassador said, handing over the
manuscript to his visitor.
As the caller read, his countenance displayed the pro-
gressive stages of his amazement. When he had finished,
his hands dropped helplessly upon his knees.
" Is that the way you write to the President? " he gasped.
22 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
"Of course," Page replied, quietly. "Why not? Why
shouldn't I tell him the truth? That is what I am here
for."
"There is no other person in the world who dare talk to
him like that!" was the reply.
This is unquestionably the fact. That President Wil-
son did not like people about him whose views were opposed
to his own is now no secret, and during the period when his
policy was one of the great issues of the world there was
probably no one except Page who intruded upon his solitude
with ideas that so abruptly disagreed with the opinions of
the White House. The letters which Page wrote Colonel
House were intended, of course, for the President him-
self, and practically all of them Colonel House read
aloud to the head of the nation. The two men would
closet themselves in the old cabinet room on the second
floor of the White House that same room in which Lin-
coln had met his advisers during Civil War days; and here
Colonel House would quietly read the letters in which Page
so mercilessly portrayed the situation as it appeared in
English and European eyes. The President listened im-
passively, giving no sign of approval or disapproval, and
hardly, at times, of much interest. In the earlier days,
when Page's letters consisted of pictures of English life
and English men, and colourful descriptions of England
under the stress of war, the President was vastly enter-
tained; he would laugh loudly at Page's wit, express his
delight at his graphic and pungent style and feel deeply
the horrors of war as his Ambassador unfolded them. " I
always found Page compelling on paper," Mr. Wilson re-
marked to Mr. Laughlin, during one of the latter's visits
to Washington. "I could never resist him I get more
information from his letters than from any other single
source. Tell him to keep it up." It was during this
THE LUSITANIA AND AFTER 23
period that the President used occasionally to read Page's
letters to the Cabinet, expressing his great appreciation of
their charm and historical importance. "The President
quoted from one of the Ambassador's letters to the Cab-
inet to-day," a member of the Cabinet wrote to Mrs.
Page in February, 1915. "Some day,' the President
said, 'I hope that Walter Page's letters will be published.
They are the best letters I have ever read. They make
you feel the atmosphere in England, understand the peo-
ple, and see into the motives of the great actors." The
President repeated this statement many times, and his
letters to Page show how greatly he enjoyed and profited
from this correspondence. But after the sinking of the
Lusitania and the Arabic his attitude toward Page and his
letters changed.
He now found little pleasure or satisfaction in the Page
communications. When Mr. Wilson found that one of his
former confidants had turned out to be a critic, that man
instantaneously passed out of his life. And this was now
Page's fate ; the friendship and associations of forty years
were as though they had never been. Just why Mr.
Wilson did not recall his Ambassador is a question that
has puzzled Page's friends. He would sometimes refer
to him as a man who was "more British than the British,"
as one who had been taken completely captive by British
blandishments, but he never came to the point of dis-
missing him. Perhaps he did not care to face the public
scandal that such an act would have caused; but a more
plausible reason is that Page, despite the causes which he
had given for irritation, was indispensable to him. Page's
early letters had furnished the President ideas which had
taken shape in Wilson's policies, and, disagreeable as the
communications now became, there are evidences that
they influenced the solitary statesman in the White House,
24 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
and that they had much to do in finally forcing Mr. Wil-
son into the war. The alternative question, as to why
Page did not retire when he found himself so out of sym-
pathy with the President, will be sufficiently answered in
subsequent chapters; at present it may be said that he did
resign and only consented to remain at the urgent request
of Washington. In fact, all during 1915 and 1916, there
seemed to be a fear in Washington that Page would defi-
nitely abandon the London post. On one occasion, when the
newspapers published rumours to this effect, Page received
an urgent despatch from Mr. Lansing. The message
came at a time the date was October 26, 1915 when
Page was especially discouraged over the Washington
policy. " Representatives of the press," said Mr. Lansing,
"have repeated rumours that you are planning to resign.
These have been brought to the President's attention,
and both he and I have denied them. Still these rumours
persist, and they cause both the President and me great
anxiety. We cannot believe that they are well founded.
" In view of the fact that they are so persistent, we have
thought it well to inform you of them and to tell you how
earnestly we hope that they are baseless. We trust that
you will set both our minds at rest."
If Page had ever had any compunction about addressing
the President in blunt phrases these expressions certainly
convinced him that he was a free agent.
Yet Page himself at times had his doubts as to the value
of this correspondence. He would frequently discuss the
matter with Mr. Laughlin. "That's a pretty harsh let-
ter," he would say. "I don't like to talk that way to the
President, yet it doesn't express half what I feel."
"It's your duty to tell the President the real state of
affairs," Mr. Laughlin would urge.
" But do you suppose it does any good? " Page would ask.
THE "LUSITANIA' AND AFTER 25
"Yes, it's bound to, and whether it does or not, it's
your business to keep him informed."
If in these letters Page seems to lay great stress on the
judgment of Great Britain and Europe on American
policy, it must be remembered that that was his particular
province. One of an Ambassador's most important du-
ties is to transmit to his country the public opinion of the
country to which he is accredited. It w~as Page's place to
tell Washington what Great Britain thought of it; it was
Washington's business to formulate policy, after giving
due consideration to this and other matters.
To Edward M. House
July 21, 1915.
DEAR HOUSE:
I enclose a pamphlet in ridicule of the President. I
don't know who wrote it, for my inquiries so far have
brought no real information. I don't feel like sending it
to him. I send it to you to do with as you think best.
This thing alone is, of course, of no consequence. But it
is symptomatic. There is much feeling about the slowness
with which he acts. One hundred and twenty people
(Americans) were drowned on the Lusitania and we are
still writing notes about it to the damnedest pirates that /
ever blew up a ship. Anybody who knows the Germans
knows, of course, that they are simply playing for time,
that they are not going to "come down," that Von Tirpitz
is on deck, that they'd just as lief have war with us as not
perhaps had rather because they don't want any large
nation left fresh when the war ends. They'd like to have
the whole world bankrupt. There is a fast growing feeling
here, therefore, that the American Government is pusillan-
imous dallies with 'em, is affected by the German propa-
ganda, etc., etc. Of course, such a judgment is not fair.
26 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
It is formed without knowing the conditions in the United
States. But I think you ought to realize the strength of
this sentiment. No doubt before you receive this, the
President will send something to Germany that will
amount to an ultimatum and there will be at least a mo-
mentary change of sentiment here. But looking at the
thing in a long-range way, we're bound to get into the war.
For the Germans will blow up more American travellers
without notice. And by dallying with them we do not
change the ultimate result, but we take away from ourselves
the spunk and credit of getting in instead of being kicked
I and cursed in. We've got to get in: they won't play the
game in any other way. I have news direct from a high
German source in Berlin which strongly confirms this. . . .
It's a curious thing to say. But the only solution that
I see is another Lusitania outrage, which would force war.
W. H. P.
P. S. The London papers every day say that the Presi-
dent will send a strong note, etc. And the people here
say, "Damn notes: hasn't he written enough?" Writing
notes hurts nobody changes nothing. The Washington
correspondents to the London papers say that Burleson,
the Attorney-General, and Daniels are Bryan men and
are holding the President back.
The prophecy contained in this letter was quickly ful-
filled. A week or two after Colonel House had received
it, the Arabic was sunk with loss of American life.
Page was taking a brief holiday with his son Frank in
Rowsley, Derbyshire, when this news came. It was tele-
graphed from the Embassy.
" That settles it," he said to his son. " They have sunk
the Arabic. That means that we shall break with Ger-
many and I've got to go back to London."
THE LUSITANIA AND AFTER 27
To Edward M. House
American Embassy, London, August 23, 1915.
DEAR HOUSE :
The sinking of the Arabic is the answer to the President
and to your letter to me. And there'll be more such an-
swers. You said to me one day after you had got back /
from your last visit to Berlin: "They are impossible." **
I think you told the truth, and surely you know your Ger-
man and you know your Berlin or you did know them
when you were here.
The question is not what we have done for the Allies,
not what any other neutral country has done or has failed
to do such comparisons, I think, are far from the point.
The question is when the right moment arrives for us to ^
save our self-respect, our honour, and the esteem and fear
(or the contempt) in which the w r orld will hold us.
Berlin has the Napoleonic disease. If you follow Na-
poleon's career his excuses, his evasions, his inventions,
the wild French enthusiasm and how he kept it up you
will find an exact parallel. That becomes plainer every
day. Europe may not be wholly at peace in five years
may be ten.
Hastily and heartily,
W. H. P.
I have your note about Willum J. . . . Crank once, crank
always. My son, never tie up with a crank, w JT P
To Edward M. House
London, September 2nd, 1915.
DEAR HOUSE:
You write me about pleasing the Allies, the big Ally in
particular. That doesn't particularly appeal to me. We
J
28 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
don't owe them anything. There's no obligation. I'd
never confess for a moment that we are under any obli-
gation to any of them nor to anybody. I'm not out to
"please" anybody, as a primary purpose: that's not my
game nor my idea nor yours either. As for England in
particular, the account was squared when she twice sent
an army against us in her folly especially the last time
when she burnt our Capitol. There's been no obligation
since. The obligation is on the other foot. We've set
her an example of what democracy will do for men, an
example of efficiency, an example of freedom of oppor-
tunity. The future is ours, and she may follow us and
profit by it. Already we have three white English-
speaking men to every two in the British Empire: we
are sixty per cent, of the Anglo-Saxons in the world. If
there be any obligation to please, the obligation is on her
to please us. And she feels and sees it now.
My point is not that, nor is it what we or any other
neutral nation has done or may do Holland or any other.
This war is the direct result of the over-polite, diplomatic,
standing-aloof, bowing-to-one-another in gold lace, which
all European nations are guilty of in times of peace-
castes and classes and uniforms and orders and such
folderol, instead of the proper business of the day. Every
nation in Europe knew that Germany was preparing
for war. If they had really got together not mere
Hague Sunday-school talk and resolutions but had
really got together for business and had said to Ger-
many, "The moment you fire a shot, we'll all fight
against you; we have so many millions of men, so many
men-of-war, so many billions of money; and we'll increase
all these if you do not change your system and your
building-up of armies^' then there would have been no
war.
THE "LUSITANIA" AND AFTER 29
My point is not sentimental. It is:
(1) We must maintain our own self-respect and J
safety. If we submit to too many insults, that will in
time bring Germany against us. We've got to show at
some time that we don't believe, either, in the efficacy of
Sunday-School resolves for peace that we are neither
Daughters of the Dove of Peace nor Sons of the Olive
Branch, and
(2) About nagging and forever presenting technical)
legal points as lawyers do to confuse juries the point is
the point of efficiency. If we do that, we can't carry
our main points. I find it harder and harder to get
answers now to important questions because we ask so
many unimportant and nagging ones.
I've no sentiment perhaps not enough. My gushing
days are gone, if I ever had 'em. The cutting-out of the
"100 years of peace" oratory, etc., etc., was one of the
blessings of the war. But we must be just and firm and
preserve our own self-respect and keep alive the fear that
other nations have of us; and we ought to have the cour-
age to make the Department of State more than a bureau
of complaints. We must learn to say "No" even to a
Gawdamighty independent American citizen when he
asks an improper or impracticable question. Public
opinion in the United States consists of something more
than the threats of Congressmen and the bleating of news-
papers ; it consists of the judgment of honourable men on
courageous and frank actions a judgment that cannot
be made up till action is taken.
Heartily yours,
W. H. P.
30 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
To Edward M. House
American Embassy, London, Sept. 8, 1915.
(This is not prudent. It is only true nothing more.)
DEAR HOUSE:
I take it for granted that Dumba 1 is going, of course.
But I must tell you that the President is being laughed
at by our best friends for his slowness in action. I hardly
ever pick up a paper without seeing some sarcastic re-
mark. I don't mean they expect us to come into the war.
They only hoped we would be as good as our word
would regard another submarine attack on a ship carry-
ing Americans as an unfriendly act and would send Berns-
torff home. Yet the Arabic and now the Hesperian have
had no effect in action. Bernstorff s personal note to
Lansing, 2 even as far as it goes, does not bind his Government.
The upshot of all this is that the President is fast losing
hi the minds of our best friends here all that he gained
by his courageous stand on the Panama tolls. They feel
that if he takes another insult keeps taking them and
is satisfied with Bernstorff s personal word, which is
proved false in four days he'll take anything. And the
British will pay less attention to what we say. That's
inevitable. If the American people and the President
accept the Arabic and the Hesperian and do nothing to
Dumba till the Government here gave out his letter,
which the State Department had (and silently held) for
*On September 6th, certain documents seriously compromising Dr. Constantin
Dumba, Austro-Hungarian Ambassador to the United States, were published in
the British press. They disclosed that Dr. Dumba was fomenting strikes in the
United States and conducting other intrigues. The American Government gave
Dr. Dumba his passports on September 17th.
2 On August 26th, Count Bernstorff gave a pledge to the United States Govern-
ment, that, in future, German submarines would not attack liners without warn-
ing. This promise was almost immediately violated.
THE LUSITANIA AND AFTER 31
several days then nobody on this side the world will
pay much heed to anything we say hereafter.
This, as I say, doesn't mean that these (thoughtful)
people wish or expect us to go to war. They wish only
that we'd prove ourselves as good as the President's word.
That's the conservative truth; we're losing influence
more rapidly than I supposed it were possible.
Dumba's tardy dismissal will not touch the main
matter, which is the rights of neutrals at sea, and keeping
our word in action.
Yours sincerely,
W. H. P.
P. S. They say it's Mexico over again watchful waiting /
and nothing doing. And the feeling grows that Bryan has
really conquered, since his programme seems to prevail.
To Edward M. House
London, Tuesday night, Sept. 8, 1915.
DEAR HOUSE:
The Germans seem to think it a good time to try to
feel about for peace. They have more to offer now than
they may have again. That's all. A man who seriously
talks peace now in Paris or in London on any terms that
the Germans will consider, would float dead that very
night in the Seine or in the Thames. The Germans have
for the time being "done-up" the Russians; but the
French have shells enough to plough the German trenches
day and night (they've been at it for a fortnight now);
Joffre has been to see the Italian generalissimo; and the
English destroy German submarines now almost as fast
as the Germans send them out. I am credibly told that
several weeks ago a group of Admiralty men who are in
32 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
the secret had a little dinner to celebrate the destruction
of the 50th submarine.
While this is going on, you are talking on your side of
the water about a change in German policy! The only
change is that the number of submarines available be-
comes smaller and smaller, and that they wish to use
Uncle Sam's broad, fat back to crawl down on when
they have failed.
Consequently, they are laughing at Uncle Sam here
it comes near to being ridicule, in fact, for seeming to
jump at BernstorfTs unfrank assurances. And, as I
have telegraphed the President, English opinion is
well, it is very nearly disrespectful. Men say here (I
mean our old friends) that with no disavowal of the
Lusitania, the Falaba, the Gulflight, or the Arabic or of the
Hesperian, the Germans are "stuffing" Uncle Sam, that
Uncle Sam is in the clutches of the peace-at-any-price
public opinion, that the United States will suffer any
insult and do nothing. I hardly pick up a paper that
does not have a sarcastic paragraph or cartoon. We are
on the brink of convincing the English that we'll not
act, whatever the provocation. By the English, I do
not mean the lighter, transitory public opinion, but I
mean the thoughtful men who do not wish us or expect
us to fire a gun. They say that the American democracy,
since Cleveland's day, has become a mere agglomeration
of different races, without national unity, national aims,
and without courage or moral qualities. And (I deeply
regret to say) the President is losing here the high esteem
he won by his Panama tolls repeal. They ask, why on
earth did he raise the issue if under repeated provocation
he is unable to recall Gerard or to send Bernstorff home?
The Hesperian follows the Arabic; other "liners" will
follow the Hesperian, if the Germans have submarines.
THE "LUSITANIA" AND AFTER 33
And, when Sackville-West 1 was promptly sent home for
answering a private citizen's inquiry about the two political
parties, Dumba is (yet awhile) retained in spite of a far
graver piece of business. There is a tone of sad disappoint-
ment here not because the most thoughtful men want us
in the war (they don't), but because for some reason, which
nobody here understands, the President, having taken a
stand, seems unable to do anything.
All this is a moderate interpretation of sorrowful
public opinion here. And the result will inevitably be
that they will pay far less heed to anything we may here-
after say. In fact men now say here every day that the
American democracy has no opinion, can form no opinion,
has no moral quality, and that the word of its President
never gets as far as action even of the mildest form. The
atmosphere is very depressing. And this feeling has ap-
parently got beyond anybody's control. I've even heard
this said : "The voice of the United States is Mr. Wilson's :
its actions are controlled by Mr. Bryan."
So, you see, the war will go on a long long time. So far as
English opinion is concerned, the United States is useful
to make ammunition and is now thought of chiefly in
this connection. Less and less attention is paid to what
we say. Even the American telegrams to the London
papers have a languid tone.
Yet recent revelations have made it clearer than ever
that the same qualities that the English accuse us of
having are in them and that these qualities are directly
to blame for this war. I recall that when I was in Ger-
many a few weeks, six years ago, I became convinced that
iSir Lionel Sackville-West was British Minister to the United States from 1881
to 1888. In the latter year a letter was published which he had written to an
American citizen of British origin, the gist of which was that the reelection of
President Cleveland would be of advantage to British interests. For this gross
interference in American domestic affairs, President Cleveland immediately
handed Sir Lionel his passports. The incident ended his diplomatic career.
34 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
Germany had prepared to fight England; I didn't know
when, but I did know that was what the war-machine had
in mind. Of course, I had no opportunities to find out
anything in particular. You were told practically that
same thing by the Kaiser, before the war began. "We
are ready," said he. Of course the English feared it and
Sir Edward put his whole life into his effort to prevent it.
The day the war began, he told me with tears that it
seemed that his life had been wasted that his life work
had gone for naught. Nobody could keep from won-
dering why England didn't
(Here comes a parenthesis. Word came to me a little
while ago that a Zeppelin was on its way to London.
Such a remark doesn't arouse much attention. But just
as I had finished the fifth line above this, Frank and Mrs.
Page came in and challenged me to play a game of cards
before we should go to bed. We sat down, the cards
were dealt, and bang! bang! with the deep note of an
explosion. A third, a fourth shot. We went into the
street. There the Zeppelin was revealed by a searchlight
sailing along. I think it had probably dropped its
bombs; but the aircraft guns were cracking away at it.
Some of them shot explosive projectiles to find the range.
Now and then one such explosive would almost reach the
Zeppelin, but it was too high for them and it sailed away,
the air guns doing their ineffectual best. I couldn't see
whether airplanes were trying to shoot it or not. The
searchlight revealed the Zeppelin but nothing else.
While we were watching this battle in the air, the maids
came down from the top of the house and went into the
cellar. I think they've already gone back. You can't
imagine how little excitement it caused. It produces
less fright than any other conceivable engine of war.
We came back as soon as the Zeppelin was out of sight
THE "LUSITANIA" AND AFTER 35
and the firing had ceased; we played our game of cards;
and here I am writing you the story all within about
half an hour. There was a raid over London last
night, too, wherein a dozen or two women and children
and a few men were killed. I haven't the slightest idea
what harm this raid to-night has done. For all I know
it may not be all done. But of all imaginable war-
experiences this seems the most futile. It interrupted a
game of cards for twenty minutes!)
Now to go on with my story: I have wandered ever
since the war began why the Allies were not better pre-
pared especially England on land. England has just
one big land gun no more. Now it has turned out, as
you have doubtless read, that the British Government
were as good as told by the German Government that
Germany was going to war pretty soon this in 1912 when
Lord Haldane 1 was sent to make friends with Germany.
The only answer he brought back was a proposition
that England should in any event remain neutral stand
aside while Germany whipped Russia and France. This
insulting proposal was kept secret till the other day.
Now, why didn't the British Cabinet inform the people
and get ready? They were afraid the English people
wouldn't believe it and would accuse them of fomenting
war. The English people were making money and pur-
suing their sports. Probably they wouldn't have be-
lieved it. So the Liberal Cabinet went on in silence,
knowing that war was coming, but not exactly when it
was coming, and they didn't make even a second big gun.
J In this passage the Ambassador touches on one of the bitterest controversies
of the war. In order completely to understand the issues involved and to obtain
Lord Haldane's view, the reader should consult the very valuable book recently
published by Lord Haldane: "Before the War." Chapter II tells the story of
Lord Haldane's visit to the Kaiser, and succeeding chapters give the reasons why
the creation of a huge British army in preparation for the war was not a simple
matter.
36 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
Now here was the same silence in this "democracy"
that they now complain of in ours. Rather an interest-
ing and discouraging parallel isn't it? Public opinion
has turned Lord Haldane out of office because he didn't
tell the public what he declares they wouldn't have be-
lieved. If the English had raised an army in 1912, and
made a lot of big guns, Austria would not have trampled
Serbia in the earth. There would have been no war
now; and the strong European Powers might have made
then the same sort of protective peace-insurance com-
bine that they will try to make after this war is ended.
Query: A democracy's inability to act how much is this
apparently inherent quality of a democracy to blame for
this war and for other things?
When I am asked every day "Why the United States
doesn't do something send Dumba and Bernstorff
home?" Well, it is not the easiest question in the world
to answer.
Yours heartily,
W. H. P.
P. S. This is the most comical of all worlds: While I
was writing this, it seems the maids went back upstairs
and lighted their lights without pulling their shades down
they occupy three rooms, in front. The doorbell rang
furiously. Here were more than half a dozen policemen
and special constables must investigate! "One light
would be turned on, another would go out; another one
on! " etc., etc. Frank tackled them, told 'em it was only
the maids going to bed, forgetting to pull down the shades.
Spies and signalling were in the air! So, in the morning,
I'll have to send over to the Foreign Office and explain.
The Zeppelin did more " frightf ulness " than I had sup-
posed, after all. Doesn't this strike you as comical?
W. H. P.
THE "LUSITANIA" AND AFTER 37
Friday, September 10, 1915.
P. S. The news is just come that Dumba is dismissed.
That will clear the atmosphere a little, but only a little.
Dumba committed a diplomatic offence. The German
Government has caused the death of United States citi-
zens, has defied us, has declared it had changed its policy
and yet has gone on with the same old policy. Besides,
Bernstorff has done everything that Dumba did except
employ Archibald, which was a mere incident of the
game. The President took a strong stand: they have
disregarded it no apology nor reparation for a single
boat that has been sunk. Now the English opinion of
the Germans is hardly a calm, judicial opinion of course
not. There may be facts that have not been made
known. There must be good reasons that nobody here
can guess, why the President doesn't act in the long suc-
cession of German acts against us. But I tell you with
all solemnity that British opinion and the British Govern- J
ment have absolutely lost their respect for us and their former
high estimate of the President. And that former respect is
gone for good unless he acts now very quickly. 1 They will
pay nothing more than formal and polite attention to
anything we may hereafter say. This is not resentful.
They don't particularly care for us to get into the war.
Their feeling (I mean among our best old friends) is not
resentful. It is simply sorrowful. They had the highest
respect for our people and our President. The Germans
defy us; we sit in silence. They conclude here that we'll
submit to anything from anybody. We'll write strong
notes nothing more.
I can't possibly exaggerate the revulsion of feeling.
Members of the Government say (in private, of course)
that we'll submit to any insult. The newspapers refuse
l The italics are Page's.
38 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
to publish articles which attempt to make the President's
silence reasonable. "It isn't defensible," they say,
"and they would only bring us thousands of insulting
letters from our readers." I can't think of a paper nor
of a man who has a good word to say for us except,
perhaps, a few Quaker peace-at-any-price people. And
our old friends are disappointed and sorrowful. They
feel that we have dropped out of a position of influence
in the world.
I needn't and can't write more. Of course there are
J more important things than English respect. But the
English think that every Power has lost respect for us
the Germans most of all. And (unless the President acts
very rigorously and very quickly) we'll have to get along
a long time without British respect.
W. H. P.
P. S. The last Zeppelin raid which interrupted the
game of cards killed more than twenty persons and de-
stroyed more than seven million dollars' worth of private
business property all non-combatants'!
W. H. P.
To Edward M. House
21st of September, 1915.
DEAR HOUSE:
The insulting cartoon that I enclose (destroy it with-
out showing it) is typical of, I suppose, five hundred that
have appeared here within a month. This represents the
feeling and opinion of the average man. They say we
wrote brave notes and made courageous demands, to
none of which a satisfactory reply has come, but only
more outrages and no guarantee for the future. Yet
we will not even show our displeasure by sending Berns-
THE "LUSITANIA" AND AFTER 39
torff home. We've simply "gone out," like a snuffed
candle, in the regard and respect of the vast volume of
British opinion. (The last Punch had six ridiculing
allusions to our "fall.")
It's the loneliest time I've had in England. There's a
tendency to avoid me.
They can't understand here the continued declaration
in the United States that the British Government is
trying to take our trade to use its blockade and navy
with the direct purpose of giving British trade profit out
of American detentions. Of course, the Government had
no such purpose and has done no such thing with any
such purpose. It isn't thinking about trade but only
about war.
The English think they see in this the effect on our
Government and on American opinion of the German
propaganda. I have had this trade-accusation investi-
gated half a dozen times the accusation that this Gov-
ernment is using its military power for its own trade ad-
vantage to our detriment: it simply isn't true. They stop
our cargoes, not for their advantage, but wholly to keep
things from the enemy. Study our own trade reports.
In a word, our importers are playing (so the English
think) directly into the hands of the Germans. So mat-
ters go on from bad to worse.
Bryce 1 is very sad. He confessed to me yesterday
the utter hopelessness of the two people's ever under-
standing one another.
The military situation is very blue very blue. The
general feeling is that the long war will begin next March
and end nobody dares predict.
W. H. P.
1 Viscount Bryce, author of "The American Commonwealth" and British Am-
bassador to the United States, 1907-1913.
40 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
P. S. There's not a moral shadow of a doubt (1) that
the commander of the submarine that sunk the Arabic is
dead although he makes reports to his government!
nor (2) that the Hesperian was torpedoed. The State
Department has a piece of the torpedo.
The letters which Page sent directly to the President
were just as frank. "Incidents occur nearly every day,"
he wrote to President Wilson in the autumn of 1915,
"which reveal the feeling that the Germans have taken
us in. Last week one of our naval men, Lieutenant
McBride, who has just been ordered home, asked the
Admiralty if he might see the piece of metal found on
the deck of the Hesperian. Contrary to their habit, the
British officer refused. 'Take my word for it,' he said.
'She was torpedoed. Why do you wish to investigate?
Your country will do nothing will accept any excuse,
any insult and do nothing.' When McBride told me
this, I went at once to the Foreign Office and made a
formal request that this metal should be shown to our
naval attache, who (since Symington is with the British
fleet and McBride has been ordered home) is Lieutenant
Towers. Towers was sent for and everything that the
Admiralty knows was shown to him and I am send-
ing that piece of metal by this mail. But to such a pass
has the usual courtesy of a British naval officer come.
There are many such instances of changed conduct.
They are not hard to endure nor to answer and are of no
consequence in themselves but only for what they denote.
They're a part of war's bitterness. But my mind runs
ahead and I wonder how Englishmen will look at this
subject five years hence, and it runs afield and I wonder
how the Germans will regard it. A sort of pro-German
THE "LUSITANIA" AND AFTER 41
American newspaper correspondent came along the other
day from the German headquarters; and he told me that
one of the German generals remarked to him: 'War with
America? Ach no I Not war. If trouble should come,
we'd send over a platoon of our policemen to whip your
little army.' (He didn't say just how he'd send 'em.)"
To the President
American Embassy, London, Oct. 5, 1915.
DEAR MR. PRESIDENT :
I have two letters that I have lately written to you but
which I have not sent because they utterly lack good
cheer. After reading them over, I have not liked to send
them. Yet I should fail of my duty if I did not tell you
bad news as well as good.
The high esteem in which our Government was held
when the first Lusitania note to Germany was sent seems
all changed to indifference or pity not hatred or
hostility, but a sort of hopeless and sad pity. That ship
was sunk just five months ago; the German Government
(or its Ambassador) is yet holding conversations about
the principle involved, making "concessions" and prom-
ises for the future, and so far we have done nothing to
hold the Germans to accountability. 1 In the meantime
their submarine fleet has been so reduced that probably
the future will take care of itself and we shall be used as a
sort of excuse for their failure. This is what the English
think and say; and they explain our failure to act by con-
cluding that the peace-at-any-price sentiment dominates
the Government and paralyzes it. They have now, I
think, given up hope that we will ever take any action.
J ln a communication sent February 10, 1915, President Wilson warned the
German Government that he would hold it to a "strict accountability" for the
loss of American lives by illegal submarine attack.
42 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
So deeply rooted (and, I fear, permanent) is this feeling
that every occurrence is made to fit into and to strengthen
this supposition. When Dumba was dismissed, they said:
"Dumba, merely the abject tool of German intrigue.
Why not Bernstorff?" When the Anglo-French loan 1
was oversubscribed, they said: "The people's sympathy
is most welcome, but their Government is paralyzed."
Their respect has gone at least for the time being.
It is not that they expect us to go to war: many, in fact,
do not wish us to. They expected that we would be as
good as our w r ord and hold the Germans to accountability.
Now I fear they think little of our word. I shudder to
think what our relations might be if Sir Edward Grey
were to yield to another as Foreign Minister, as, of course,
he must yield at some time.
The press has less to say than it had a few weeks ago.
Punch, for instance, which ridiculed and pitied us in six
cartoons and articles in each of two succeeding numbers,
entirely forgets us this week. But they've all said their
say. I am, in a sense, isolated lonely in a way that I
have never before been. I am not exactly avoided, I
hope, but I surely am not sought. They have a polite
feeling that they do not wish to offend me and that to
make sure of this the safest course is to let me alone.
\ There is no mistaking the great change in the attitude of
men I know, both in official and private life.
It comes down and comes back to this that for five
months after the sinking of the Lusitania the Germans are
^ yet playing with us, that we have not sent Bernstorff
home, and hence that we will submit to any rebuff or any
indignity. It is under these conditions under this judg-
ment of us that we now work the English respect for
*A reference to the Anglo-French loan for $500,000,000, placed in the United
States in the autumn of 1915.
THE LUSITANIA AND AFTER 43
our Government indefinitely lessened and instead of the
old-time respect a sad pity. I cannot write more.
Heartily yours,
WALTER H. PAGE.
" I have authoritatively heard," Page writes to President
Wilson in early September, "of a private conversation be-
tween a leading member of the Cabinet and a group of im-
portant officials all friendly to us in which all sorrowfully
expressed the opinion that the United States will submit
to any indignity and that no effect is now to be hoped for
from its protests against unlawful submarine attacks or
against anything else. The inactivity of our Government,
or its delay, which they assume is the same as inactivity,
is attributed to domestic politics or to the lack of national,
consciousness or unity.
"No explanation has appeared in the British press of
our Government's inactivity or of any regret or promise of
reparation by Germany for the sinking of the Lusitania,
the Falaba, the Gulflight, the Nebraskan, the Arabic, or
the Hesperian, nor any explanation of a week's silence
about the Dumba letter; and the conclusion is drawn
that, in the absence of action by us, all these acts have
been practically condoned.
"I venture to suggest that such explanations be made
public as will remove, if possible, the practically unanimous
conclusion here that our Government will permit these and
similar future acts to be explained away. I am surprised
almost every hour by some new evidence of the loss of re-
spect for our Government, which, since the sinking of the
Arabic, has become so great as to warrant calling it a com-
plete revulsion of English feeling toward the United States.
There is no general wish for us to enter the war, but there
is genuine sorrow that we are thought to submit to any
44 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
indignity, especially after having taken a firm stand. I
conceive I should be lacking in duty if I did not report
this rapid and unfortunate change in public feeling, which
seems likely to become permanent unless facts are quickly
made public which may change it."
There are many expressions of such feelings in Page's
letters of this time. They brought only the most per-
functory acknowledgment from the White House. On
January 3, 1916, Page sent the President a mass of clip-
pings from the British press, all criticizing the Wilson Ad-
ministration in unrestrained terms. In his comment on
these, he writes the President:
" Public opinion, both official and unofficial, is expressed
by these newspaper comments, with far greater restraint
than it is expressed in private conversation. Ridicule of
the Administration runs through the programmes of the
theatres; it inspires hundreds of cartoons; it is a staple of
conversation at private dinners and in the clubs. The
most serious class of Englishmen, including the best
friends of the United States, feel that the Administration's
reliance on notes has reduced our Government to a third-
or fourth-rate power. There is even talk of spheres of
German influence in the United States as in China. No
government could fall lower in English opinion than we
shall fall if more notes are sent to Austria or to Germany.
The only way to keep any shred of English respect is the
immediate dismissal without more parleying of every
German and Austrian official at Washington. Nobody
here believes that such an act would provoke war.
"I can do no real service by mincing matters. My
previous telegrams and letters have been purposely re-
strained as this one is. We have now come to the part-
ing of the ways. If English respect be worth preserving
THE "LUSITANIA" AND AFTER 45
at all, it can be preserved only by immediate action.
Any other course than immediate severing of diplomatic
relations with both Germany and Austria will deepen the
English opinion into a conviction that the Administra-
tion was insincere when it sent the Lusitania notes and
that its notes and protests need not be taken seriously on
any subject. And English opinion is allied opinion. The
Italian Ambassador 1 said to me, 'What has happened?
The United States of to-day is not the United States I
knew fifteen years ago, when I lived in Washington.'
French officers and members of the Government who
come here express themselves even more strongly than
do the British. The British newspapers to-day publish
translations of ridicule of the United States from German
papers."
To the President
London,
January 5, 1916.
DEAR MR. PRESIDENT:
I wish an impossible thing of course that some sort
of guidance could be given to the American correspondents
of the English newspapers. Almost every day they tele-
graph about the visits of the Austrian Charge or the
German Ambassador to the State Department to assure
Mr. Lansing that their governments will of course make a
satisfactory explanation of the latest torpedo-act in the
Mediterranean or to "take one further step in reaching a
satisfactory understanding about the Lusitania" They
usually go on to say also that more notes are in prepara-
tion to Germany or to Austria. The impression made up-
on the European mind is that the German and Austrian
officials in Washington are leading the Administration on
Marquis Imperiali.
46 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
to endless discussion, endless notes, endless hesitation.
Nobody in Europe regards their pledges or promises as
worth anything at all: the Arabic follows the Lusitania,
the Hesperian follows the Arabic, the Persia follows the
Ancona. "Still conferences and notes continue," these
people say, "proving that the American Government,
which took so proper and high a stand in the Lusitania
notes, is paralyzed in a word is hoodwinked and 'worked'
by the Germans." And so long as these diplomatic
representatives are permitted to remain in the United
States, "to explain," "to parley" and to declare that the
destruction of American lives and property is disavowed
by their governments, atrocities on sea and land will of
course continue; and they feel that our Government, by
keeping these German and Austrian representatives in
Washington, condones and encourages them and their
governments.
This is a temperate and even restrained statement of the
English feeling and (as far as I can make out) of the whole
European feeling.
It has been said here that every important journal
published in neutral or allied European countries, daily,
weekly, or monthly, which deals with public affairs, has
expressed a loss of respect for the United States Govern-
ment and that most of them make continuous severe
criticisms (with surprise and regret) of our failure by ac-
tion to live up to the level of our Lusitania notes. I had
(judiciously) two American journalists, resident here
men of judgment and character to inquire how true this
declaration is. After talking with neutral and allied
journalists here and with men whose business it is to read
the journals of the Continent, they reported that this
declaration is substantially true that the whole European
press (outside Germany and its allies) uses the same tone
THE LUSITANIA ' AND AFTER 47
toward our Government that the English press uses
to-day, disappointment verging on contempt; and many
of them explain our keeping diplomatic intercourse with
Germany by saying that we are afraid of the German vote,
or of civil war, or that the peace-at-any-price people really
rule the United States and have paralyzed our power to
act even to cut off diplomatic relations with governments
that have insulted and defied us.
Another (similar) declaration is that practically all men
of public influence in England and in the European allied J
and neutral countries have publicly or privately expressed
themselves to the same effect. The report that I have
about this is less definite than about the newspapers, for,
of course, no one can say just what proportion of men of
public influence have so expressed themselves; but the
number who have so expressed themselves is overwhelming.
In this Kingdom, where I can myself form some opinion
more or less accurate, and where I can check or verify my
opinion by various methods I am afraid, as I have fre-
quently already reported, that the generation now living
will never wholly regain the respect for our Government
that it had a year ago. I will give you three little indi-
cations of this feeling; it would be easy to write down hun-
dreds of them:
(One) The governing class: Mr. X [a cabinet member]
told Mrs. Page a few nights ago that for sentimental rea-
sons only he would be gratified to see the United States in
the war along with the Allies, but that merely sentimental
reasons were not a sufficient reason for war by no means ;
that he felt most grateful for the sympathetic attitude of
the large mass of the American people, that he had no
right to expect anything from our Government, whose
neutral position was entirely proper. Then he added;
"But what I can't for the life of me understand is your
48 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
Government's failure to express its disapproval of the
German utter disregard of its Lusitania notes. After
eight months, it has done nothing but write more notes.
My love for America, I must confess, is offended at this
inaction and puzzled. I can't understand it. You
will pardon me, I am sure."
(Two) "Middle Class" opinion: A common nickname
for Americans in the financial and newspaper districts of
London is "Too-prouds."
(Three) The man in the street : At one of the moving
picture shows in a large theatre a little while ago they filled
in an interval by throwing on the screen the picture of the
monarch, or head of state, and of the flag of each of the
principal nations. When the American picture appeared,
there was such hissing and groaning as caused the man-
agers hastily to move that picture off the screen.
Some time ago I wrote House of some such incidents
and expressions as these; and he wrote me that they were
only part and parcel of the continuous British criticism
of their own Government in other words, a part of the
passing hysteria of war. This remark shows how House
was living in an atmosphere of illusion.
As the matter stands to-day our Government has sunk
lower, as regards British and European opinion, than it
has ever been in our time, not as a part of the hysteria of
war but as a result of this process of reasoning, whether it
be right or wrong:
We said that we should hold the Germans to strict ac-
countability on account of the Lusitania. We have not
settled that yet and we still allow the German Ambassa-
dor to discuss it after the Hesperian and other such acts
showed that his Arabic pledge was worthless.
The Lusitania grows larger and larger in European
memory and imagination. It looks as if it would become
THE LUSITANIA AND AFTER 49
the great type of war atrocities and barbarities. I have
seen pictures of the drowned women and children used
even on Christmas cards. And there is documentary
proof in our hands that the warning, which was really an
advance announcement, of that disaster was paid for by
the German Ambassador and charged to his Government.
It is the Lusitania that has caused European opinion to
regard our foreign policy as w r eak. It is not the wish for
us to go to war. No such general wish exists.
I do not know, Mr. President, who else, if anybody,
puts these facts before you with this complete frankness.
But I can do no less and do my duty.
No Englishman except two who were quite intimate
friends has spoken to me about our Government for
months, but I detect all the time a tone of pity and grief
in their studied courtesy and in their avoidance of the
subject. And they talk with every other American in
this Kingdom. It is often made unpleasant for Amer-
icans in the clubs and in the pursuit of their regular bus-
iness and occupations; and it is always our inaction about
the Lusitania. Our controversy with the British Govern-
ment causes little feeling and that is a sort of echo of the
Lusitania. They feel that we have not lived up to our
promises and professions.
That is the whole story.
Believe me always heartily,
WALTER H. PAGE.
This dismissal of Dumba and of the Attaches has had
little more effect on opinion here than the dismissal of
the Turkish Ambassador. 1 Sending these was regarded as
^ustem Bey, the Turkish Ambassador to the United States, was sent home
early in the war, for publishing indiscreet newspaper and magazine articles.
50 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
merely kicking the dogs of the man who had stolen our
sheep.
VI
One of the reasons why Page felt so intensely about
American policy at this time was his conviction that the
/ severance of diplomatic relations, in the latter part of 1915,
or the early part of 1916, in itself would have brought the
European War to an end. This was a conviction from
which he never departed. Count Bernstorff was indus-
triously creating the impression in the United States that
his dismissal would immediately cause war between Ger-
many and the United States, and there is little doubt
that the Administration accepted this point of view. But
Page believed that this was nothing but Prussian bluff.
The severance of diplomatic relations at that time, in
Page's opinion, would have convinced the Germans of the
hopelessness of their cause. In spite of the British
blockade, Germany was drawing enormous quantities of
food supplies from the United States, and without these
supplies she could not maintain indefinitely her resist-
ance. The severance of diplomatic relations would
naturally have been accompanied by an embargo sus-
pending trade between the United States and the Father-
land. Moreover, the consideration that was mainly
leading Germany to hope for success was the belief that
she could embroil the United States and Great Britain
over the blockade. A break with Germany would of
course mean an end to that manoeuvre. Page regarded
all Mr. Wilson's attempts to make peace in 1914 and early
1915 before the Lusitania as mistakes, for reasons that
have already been set forth. Now, however, he be-
lieved that the President had a real opportunity to end
the war and the unparalleled suffering which it was caus-
THE LUSITANIA AND AFTER 51
ing. The mere dismissal of Bernstorff, in the Ambassa-
dor's opinion, would accomplish this result.
In a communication sent to the President on February
15, 1916, he made this plain.
To the President
February 15, 7 p. M.
The Cabinet has directed the Censor to suppress, as far
as he can with prudence, comment which is unfavourable
to the United States. He has taken this action because
the public feeling against the Administration is constantly
increasing. Because the Lusitania controversy has been
going on so long, and because the Germans are using it in
their renewed U-boat campaign, the opinion of this coun-
try has reached a point where only prompt action can
bring a turn in the tide. Therefore my loyalty to you
would not be complete if I should refrain from sending,
in the most respectful terms, the solemn conviction which
I hold about our opportunity and our duty.
If you immediately refuse to have further parley or to
yield one jot or tittle of your original Lusitania notes, and
if you at once break diplomatic relations with the German
Empire, and then declare the most vigorous embargo of
the Central Powers, you will quickly end the war. There
will be an immediate collapse in German credit. If there
are any Allies who are wavering, such action will hold
them in line. Certain European neutrals Sweden, Ru-
mania, Greece, and others will put up a firm resistance
to Germanic influences and certain of them will take part
with Great Britain and France. There will be an end at
once to the German propaganda, which is now world-
wide. The moral weight of our country will be a deter-
mining influence and bring an early peace. The credit
52 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
you will receive for such a decision will make you immortal
and even the people of Germany will be forever grateful.
It is my conviction that we would not be called upon
to fire a gun or to lose one human life.
Above all, such an action will settle the whole question
of permanent peace. The absolute and grateful loyalty
of the whole British Empire, of the British Fleet, and of
all the Allied countries will be ours. The great English-
speaking nations will be able to control the details of the
peace and this without any formal alliance. There will
be an incalculable saving of human life and of treasure.
Such an act will make it possible for Germany to give in
honourably and with good grace because the whole world
will be against her. Her bankrupt and blockaded people
will bring such pressure to bear that the decision will be
hastened.
The sympathies of the American people will be brought
in line with the Administration.
If we settle the Lusitania question by compromising
in any way your original demands, or if we permit it to
drag on longer, America can have no part in bringing the
war to an end. The current of allied opinion will run so
strongly against the Administration that no censorship
and no friendly interference by an allied government
can stem the distrust of our Government which is now so
strong in Europe.
We shall gain by any further delay only a dangerous,
thankless, and opulent isolation. The Lusitania is the
turning point in our history. The time to act is now.
PAGE.
CHAPTER XV
THE AMBASSADOR AND THE LAWYERS
REFERENCES in the foregoing letters show that
Page was still having his troubles over the blockade.
In the latter part of 1915, indeed, the negotiations with
Sir Edward Grey on this subject had reached their second
stage. The failure of Washington to force upon Great
Britain an entirely new code of naval warfare the Dec-
laration of London has already been described. This
failure had left both the British Foreign Office and the
American State Department in an unsatisfactory frame
of mind. The Foreign Office regarded Washington with
suspicion, for the American attempt to compel Great
Britain to adopt a code of naval warfare which was ex-
ceedingly unfavourable to that country and exceedingly
favourable to Germany, was susceptible of a sinister inter-
pretation. The British rejection of these overtures, on
the other hand, had evidently irritated the international
lawyers at Washington. Mr. Lansing now abandoned
his efforts to revolutionize maritime warfare and confined
himself to specific protests and complaints. His communi-
cations to the London Embassy dealt chiefly with partic-
ular ships and cargoes. Yet his persistence in regarding
all these problems from a strictly legalistic point of view
Page regarded as indicating a restricted sense of states-
manship.
53
54 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
To Edward M. House
London, August 4, 1915.
MY DEAR HOUSE:
... The lawyer-way in which the Department
goes on in its dealings with Great Britain is losing us the
only great international friendship that we have any
chance of keeping or that is worth having. Whatever
real principle we have to uphold with Great Britain
that's all right. I refer only to the continuous series of
nagging incidents always criticism, criticism, criticism
of small points points that we have to yield at last, and
never anything constructive. I'll illustrate what I mean
by a few incidents that I can recall from memory. If I
looked up the record, I should find a very, very much
larger list.
(1) We insisted and insisted and insisted, not once but
half a dozen times, at the very beginning of the war, on
England's adoption of the Declaration of London entire
in spite of the fact that Parliament had distinctly declined
to adopt it. Of course we had to give in after we had
produced a distinctly unfriendly atmosphere and much
feeling.
(2) We denied the British right to put copper on the
contraband list much to their annoyance. Of course
we had at last to acquiesce. They were within their
rights.
(3) We protested against bringing ships into port to
examine them. Of course we had to give in after pro-
ducing irritation.
(4) We made a great fuss about stopped telegrams.
We have no case at all; but, even after acknowledging
that we have no case, every pouch continues to bring
telegrams with the request that I ask an explanation why
THE AMBASSADOR AND THE LAWYERS 55
they were stopped. Such explanations are practically
refused. I have 500 telegrams. Periodically I wire the
state of the case and ask for more specific instructions.
I never get an answer to these requests. But the De-
partment continues to send the telegrams! We confess-
edly have no case here ; and this method can produce noth-
ing but irritation.
I could extend this list to 100 examples of mere lawyer- /
like methods mere useless technicalities and objections
which it is obvious in the beginning cannot be maintained.
A similar method is now going on about cotton. Now
this is not the way Sir Edward Grey takes up business.
It's not the way I've done business all my life, nor that
you have, nor other frank men who mean what they say
and do not say things they do not mean. The constant
continuation of this method is throwing away the real re-
gard and confidence of the British Government and of the
British public very fast, too.
I sometimes wish there were not a lawyer in the world, j
I heard the President say once that it took him twenty
years to recover from his legal habit of mind. Well, his
Administration is suffering from it to a degree that is
pathetic and that will leave bad results for 100 years.
I suspect that in spite of all the fuss we have made we
shall at last come to acknowledge the British blockade;
for it is pretty nearly parallel to the United States block-
ade of the South during our Civil War. The only differ-
ence is they can't make the blockade of the Baltic
against the traffic from the Scandinavian neutral states
effective. That's a good technical objection; but, since
practically all the traffic between those States and Ger-
many is in our products, much of the real force of it is
lost.
If a protest is made against cotton being made contra-
56 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
band it'll amount to nothing and give only irritation.
It will only play into Hoke Smith -German hands and
accomplish nothing here. We make as much fuss about
points which we have silently to yield later as about a
real principle. Hence they all say that the State Depart-
ment is merely captious, and they pay less and less at-
tention to it and care less and less for American opinion i
if only they can continue to get munitions. We are re-
ducing English regard to this purely mercenary basis. . . .
We are under lawyers' quibbling drifting apart very
rapidly, to our complete isolation from the sympathy of
the whole world.
Yours forever sincerely,
W. H. P.
Page refers in this letter to the "blockade"; this was
the term which the British Government itself used to de-
scribe its restrictive measures against German commerce,
and it rapidly passed into common speech. Yet the truth
is that Great Britain never declared an actual blockade
against Germany. A realization of this fact will clear up
much that is obscure in the naval warfare of the next two
years. At the beginning of the Civil War, President
Lincoln laid an interdict on all the ports of the Confeder-
acy ; the ships of all nations were forbidden entering or
leaving them: any ship which attempted to evade this
restriction, and was captured doing so, was confiscated,
with its cargo. That was a blockade, as the term has
always been understood. A blockade, it is well to keep
in mind, is a procedure which aims at completely closing
the blockaded country from all commercial intercourse
with the world. A blockading navy, if the blockade is
1 Senator Hoke Smith, of Georgia, was at this time and afterward conduct-
ing a bitter campaign against the British blockade and advocating an embargo
as a retaliation.
THE AMBASSADOR AND THE LAWYERS 57
successful, or "effective," converts the whole country into
a beleaguered fortress, just as an army, surrounding a
single town, prevents goods and people from entering or
leaving it. Precisely as it is the purpose of a besieging
army to starve a particular city or territory into submis-
sion, so it is the aim of a blockading fleet to enforce the
same treatment on the nation as a whole. It is also essen-
tial to keep in mind that the question of contraband has
nothing to do with a blockade, for, under this drastic
method of making warfare, everything is contraband.
Contraband is a term applied to cargoes, such as rifles,
machine guns, and the like, which are needed in the pros-
ecution of war.
That a belligerent nation has the right to intercept
such munitions on the way to its enemy has been admitted
for centuries. Differences of opinion have raged only as
to the extent to which this right could be carried the
particular articles, that is, that constituted contraband,
and the methods adopted in exercising it. But the im-
portant point to be kept in mind is that where there is
a blockade, there is no contraband list for everything
automatically becomes contraband. The seizure of con-
traband on the high seas is a war measure which is availed
of only in cases in which the blockade has not been es-
tablished.
Great Britain, when she declared war on Germany, did
not follow President Lincoln's example and lay the whole
of the German coast under interdict. Perhaps one reason
for this inaction was a desire not unduly to offend neutrals,
especially the United States; but the more impelling mo-
tive was geographical. The fact is that a blockade of the
German seacoast would accomplish little in the way of
keeping materials out of Germany. A glance at the map
of northwestern Europe will make this fact clear. In the
58 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
first place the seacoast of Germany is a small affair. In
the North Sea the German coast is a little indentation,
not more than two hundred miles long, wedged in between
the longer coastlines of Holland and Denmark; in the
Baltic it is somewhat more extensive, but the entrances
to this sea are so circuitous and treacherous that the sug-
gestion of a blockade here is not a practicable one. The
greatest ports of Germany are located on this little North
Sea coastline or on its rivers Hamburg and Bremen. It
might therefore be assumed that any nation which success-
fully blockaded these North Sea ports would have strangled
the commerce of Germany. That is far from being the
case. The point is that the political boundaries of Ger-
many are simply fictions, when economic considerations
are involved. Holland, on the west, and Denmark, on
the north, are as much a part of the German transporta-
tion system as though these two countries were parts of
the German Empire. Their territories and the territories
of Germany are contiguous; the railroad and the canal
systems of Germany, Holland, and Denmark are prac-
tically one. Such ports as Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and
Copenhagen are just as useful to Germany for purposes of
commerce as are Hamburg and Bremen, and, in fact, a
special commercial arrangement with Rotterdam has
made that city practically a port of Germany since 1868.
These considerations show how ineffective would be a
blockade of the German coast which did not also compre-
hend the coast of Holland and Denmark. Germany
could still conduct her commerce through these neigh-
bouring countries. And at this point the great difficulty
arose. A blockade is an act of war and can be applied
only to a country upon which war has been declared.
Great Britain had declared war on Germany and could
therefore legally close her ports; she had not declared war
THE AMBASSADOR AND THE LAWYERS 59
on Holland and Denmark, and therefore could not use the
same measure against those friendly countries. Conse-
quently the blockade was useless to Great Britain; and so,
in the first six months of the war, the Admiralty fell back
upon the milder system of declaring certain articles con-
traband of war and seizing ships that were suspected of
carrying them to Germany.
A geographical accident had apparently largely de-
stroyed the usefulness of the British fleet and had guar-
anteed Germany an unending supply of those foodstuffs
without which she could not maintain her resistance for
any extended period. Was Great Britain called upon to
accept this situation and to deny herself the use of the
blockade in this, the greatest struggle in her history?
Unless the British fleet could stop cargoes which were
really destined to Germany but which were bound for
neutral ports, Great Britain could not win the war; if the
British fleet could intercept such cargoes, then the chances
strongly favoured victory. The experts of the Foreign
Office searched the history of blockades and found some-
thing wffich resembled a precedent in the practices of the
American Navy during the Civil War. In that conflict
Nassau, in the Bahamas, and Matamoros, in Mexico,
played a part not unlike that played by Rotterdam and
Copenhagen in the recent struggle. These were both
neutral ports and therefore outside the jurisdiction of the
United States, just as Rotterdam and Copenhagen were
outside the jurisdiction of Great Britain. They were the
ports of powers with which the United States was at
peace, and therefore they could not be blockaded, just as
Amsterdam and Copenhagen were ports of powers with
which Great Britain was now at peace.
Trade from Great Britain to the Bahamas and Mexico
was ostensibly trade from one neutral port to another
60 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
neutral port in the same sense as was trade from the
United States to Holland and Denmark. Yet the fact is
that the "neutrality " of this trade, in the Civil War, from
Great Britain to the Bahamas and Mexico, was the most
transparent subterfuge; such trade was not "neutral" in
the slightest degree. It consisted almost entirely of
contraband of war and was intended for the armies of the
Confederate States, then in arms against the Federal
Government. What is the reason, our Government
asked, that these gentle and unwarlike inhabitants of the
Bahamas have so suddenly developed such an enormous
appetite for percussion caps, rifles, cannon, and other in-
struments of warfare? The answer, of course, lay upon
the surface; the cargoes were intended for reshipment into
the Southern States, and they were, in fact, immediately
so reshipped. The American Government, which has
always regarded realities as more important than logic,
brushed aside the consideration that this trade was con-
ducted through neutral ports, unhesitatingly seized these
ships and condemned both the ships and their cargoes.
Its action was without legal precedent, but our American
courts devised a new principle of international law to
cover the case that of "continuous voyage " or "ultimate
destination." Under this new doctrine it was maintained
that cargoes of contraband could be seized anywhere upon
the high seas, even though they were going from one neu-
tral port to another, if it could be demonstrated that this
contraband was really on its way to the enemy. The
mere fact that it was transshipped at an intermediate
neutral port was not important; the important point was
the "ultimate destination." British shippers naturally
raged over these decisions, but they met with little sym-
pathy from their own government. Great Britain filed
no protest against the doctrine of "continuous voyage,"
THE AMBASSADOR AND THE LAWYERS 61
but recognized its fundamental soundness, and since 1865
this doctrine has been a part of international law.
Great Britain's good sense in acquiescing in our Civil
War practices now met its reward; for these decisions of
American courts proved a godsend in her hour of trial.
The one neutral from which trouble was anticipated was
the United States. What better way to meet this situa-
tion than to base British maritime warfare upon the deci-
sions of American courts? What more ideal solution of the
problem than to make Chief Justice Chase, of the United
States Supreme Court, really the author of the British
"blockade" against Germany? The policy of the Brit-
ish Foreign Office was to use the sea power of Great Brit-
ain to crush the enemy, but to do it in a way that would
not alienate American sympathy and American support;
clearly the one way in which both these ends could be
attained was to frame these war measures upon the pro-
nouncements of American prize courts. In a broad sense
this is precisely what Sir Edward Grey now proceeded to
do. There was a difference, of course, which Great
Britain's enemies in the American Senate such men as
Senator Hoke Smith, of Georgia, and Senator Thomas
Walsh, of Montana proceeded to point out; but it was a
difference of degree. Great Britain based her blockade
measures upon the American principle of "ultimate des-
tination," but it was necessary considerably to extend
that doctrine in order to meet the necessities of the new
situation. President Lincoln had applied this principle
to absolute contraband, such as powder, shells, rifles, and
other munitions of war. Great Britain now proceeded to
apply it to that nebulous class of commodities known as
"conditional contraband," the chief of which was food-
stuffs. If the United States, while a war was pending,
could evolve the idea of "ultimate destination" and apply
62 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
it to absolute contraband, could not Great Britain, while
another war was pending, carry it one degree further and
make it include conditional contraband? Thus reasoned
the British Foreign Office. To this Mr. Lansing replied
that to stop foodstuffs on the way to Germany through a
neutral port was simply to blockade a neutral port, and
that this was something utterly without precedent. Seiz-
ing contraband is not an act of war against the nation
whose ships are seized; blockading a port is an act of war;
what right therefore had Great Britain to adopt measures
against Holland, Denmark, and Sweden which virtually
amounted to a blockade?
This is the reason why Great Britain, in the pronounce-
ment of March 1, 1915, and the Order in Council of March
11, 1915, did not describe these measures as a "blockade."
President Wilson described his attack on Mexico in 1914
as "measures short of war," and now someone referred to
the British restrictions on neutral commerce as "measures
short of blockade." The British sought another escape
from their predicament by justifying this proceeding,
not on the general principles of warfare, but on the ground
of reprisal. Germany declared her submarine warfare
on merchant ships on February 4, 1915; Great Britain
replied with her announcement of March 1st, in which
she declared her intention of preventing "commodities of
any kind from reaching or leaving Germany." The Brit-
ish advanced this procedure as a retaliation for the illegal
warfare which Germany had declared on merchant ship-
ping, both that of the enemy and of neutrals. 'The
British and French governments will therefore hold
themselves free to detain and take into port ships carrying
goods of presumed enemy destination, ownership, and
origin." This sentence accurately describes the purposes
of a blockade to' cut the enemy off from all commercial
THE AMBASSADOR AND THE LAWYERS 63
relations with the outside world; yet the procedure Great
Britain now proposed to follow was not that of a blockade.
When this interdict is classically laid, any ship that at-
tempts to run the lines is penalized with confiscation,
along with its cargo; but such a penalty was not to be
exacted in the present instance. Great Britain now pro-
posed to purchase cargoes of conditional contraband dis-
covered on seized ships and return the ships themselves to
their owners, and this soon became the established prac-
tice. Not only did the Foreign Office purchase all cotton
which was seized on its way to Germany, but it took meas-
ures to maintain the price in the markets of the world.
In the succeeding months Southern statesmen in both
Houses of Congress railed against the British seizure of
their great staple, yet the fact was that cotton was all this
time steadily advancing in price. When Senator Hoke
Smith made a long speech advocating an embargo on the
shipment of munitions as a punishment to Great Britain
for stopping American cotton on the way to Germany,
the acute John Sharp Williams, of Mississippi, arose in the
Senate and completely annihilated the Georgia politician
by demonstrating how the Southern planters were growing
rich out of the war.
That the so-called "blockade" situation was a tortuous
one must be apparent from this attempt to set forth the
salient facts. The basic point was that there could be no
blockade of Germany unless the neutral ports of contig-
uous countries were also blockaded, and Great Britain
believed that she had found a precedent for doing this in
the operations of the American Navy in the Civil War.
T3ut it is obvious that the situation was one which would
provide a great feast for the lawyers. That Page sym-
pathized with this British determination to keep food-
stuffs out of Germany, his correspondence shows. Day
64 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
after day the "protests" from Washington rained upon
his desk. The history of our foreign relations for 1915
and 1916 is largely made up of an interminable corre-
spondence dealing with seized cargoes, and the routine of
the Embassy was an unending nightmare of "demands,"
"complaints," "precedents," "cases," "notes," "deten-
tions" of Chicago meats, of Southern cotton, and the like.
The American Embassy in London contains hundreds of
volumes of correspondence which took place during Page's
incumbency ; more material has accumulated for those five
years than for the preceding century and a quarter of the
Government's existence. The greater part of this mass
deals with intercepted cargoes.
The following extract from a letter which Page wrote
at this time gives a fair idea of the atmosphere that pre-
vailed in London while this correspondence was engaging
the Ambassador's mind:
The truth is, in their present depressed mood, the
United States is forgotten everything's forgotten but
the one great matter in hand. For the moment at least,
the English do not care what we do or what we think or
whether we exist except those critics of things-in-general
who use us as a target since they must take a crack at
somebody. And I simply cannot describe the curious
effect that is produced on men here by the apparent utter
lack of understanding in the United States of the phase
the war has now entered and of the mood that this phase
has brought. I pick up an American paper eight days old
and read solemn evidence to show that the British Gov-
ernment is interrupting our trade in order to advance
its own at our expense, whereas the truth is that the
British Government hasn't given six seconds' thought in
six months to anybody's trade not even its own.
THE AMBASSADOR AND THE LAWYERS 65
When I am asked to inquire why Pfister and Schmidt's
telegram from New York to Schimmelpfenig and Johann
in Holland was stopped (the reason is reasonably obvious),
I try to picture to myself the British Minister in Washing-
ton making inquiry of our Government on the day after
Bull Run, why the sailing boat loaded with persimmon
blocks to make golf clubs is delayed in Hampton Roads.
I think I have neither heard nor read anything from
the United States in three months that didn't seem so
remote as to suggest the captain of the sailing ship from
Hongkong who turned up at Southampton in February
and had not even heard that there was a war. All day
long I see and hear women who come to ask if I can make
inquiry about their sons and husbands, "dead or missing,"
with an interval given to a description of a man half of
whose body was splashed against a brick wall last night on
the Strand when a Zeppelin bomb tore up the street and
made projectiles of the pavement; as I walk to and from
the Embassy the Park is full of wounded and their nurses;
every man I see tells me of a new death; every member of
the Government talks about military events or of Balkan
venality; the man behind the counter at the cigar store
reads me part of a letter just come from his son, telling
how he advanced over a pile of dead Germans and one of
them grunted and turned under his feet they (the Eng-
lish alone) are spending $25,000,000 a day to keep this
march going over dead Germans; then comes a tele-
gram predicting blue ruin for American importers and a
cheerless Christmas for American children if a cargo of
German toys be not quickly released at Rotterdam, and
I dimly recall the benevolent unction with which Amer-
ican children last Christmas sent a shipload of toys to
this side of the world many of them for German children
to the tune of "God bless us all" do you wonder we
66 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
often have to pinch ourselves to find out if we are we ; and
what year of the Lord is it? What is the vital thing
the killing of fifty people last night by a Zeppelin within
sight of St. Paul's on one side and of Westminster Abbey
on the other, or is it making representations to Sir Ed-
ward Grey, who has hardly slept for a week because his
despatches from Sofia, Athens, Belgrade, and Salonika
come at all hours, each possibly reporting on which side
a new government may throw its army to decide perhaps
the fate of the canal leading to Asia, the vast British
Asiatic empire at stake is it making representations to
Sir Edward while his mind is thus occupied, that it is of
the greatest importance to the United States Government
that a particular German who is somewhere in this King-
dom shall be permitted to go to the United States because
he knows how to dye sealskins and our sealskins are
yet undyed and the winter is coming? There will be no
new sealskins here, for every man and woman must give
half his income to keep the cigarman's son marching over
dead Germans, some of whom grunt and turn under his
feet. Dumba is at Falmouth to-day and gets just two
lines in the newspapers. Nothing and nobody gets three
lines unless he or it in some way furthers the war. Every
morning the Washington despatches say that Mr. Lan-
sing is about to send a long note to England. England
won't read it till there comes a lull in the fighting or in
the breathless diplomatic struggle with the Balkans.
London and the Government are now in much the same
mood that Washington and Lincoln's administration
were in after Lee had crossed the Potomac on his way to
Gettysburg. Northcliffe, the Lord of Yellow Journals,
but an uncommonly brilliant fellow, has taken to his bed
from sheer nervous worry. "The revelations that are
imminent," says he, "will shake the world the incom-
THE AMBASSADOR AND THE LAWYERS 67
petence of the Government, the losses along the Darda-
nelles, the throwing away of British chances in the Bal-
kans, perhaps the actual defeat of the Allies." I regard
Lord Northcliffe less as an entity than as a symptom.
But he is always very friendly to us and he knows the
United States better than any Englishman that I know
except Bryce. He and Bryce are both much concerned
about our Note's coming just "at this most distressing
time." "If it come when we are calmer, no matter; but
now it cannot receive attention and many will feel that
the United States has hit on a most unhappy moment
almost a cruel moment to remind us of our sins."-
That's the substance of what they say.
Overwork, or perhaps mainly the indescribable strain
on the nerves and vitality of men, caused by this experi-
ence, for which in fact men are not built, puts one of
our staff after another in bed. None has been seriously
sick: the malady takes some form of "grip." On the
whole we've been pretty lucky in spite of this almost
regular temporary breakdown of one man after another.
I've so far escaped. But I am grieved to hear that
Whitlock is abed "no physical ailment whatever just
worn out," his doctor says. I have tried to induce him
and his wife to come here and make me a visit; but one
characteristic of this war-malady is the conviction of the
victim that he is somehow necessary to hold the world
together. About twice a week I get to the golf links and
take the risk of the world's falling apart and thus escape
both illness and its illusions.
"I cannot begin to express my deep anxiety and even
uneasiness about the relations of these two great gov-
ernments and peoples," Page wrote about this time.
"The friendship of the United States and Great Britain /
68 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
is all that now holds the world together. It is the greatest
asset of civilization left. All the cargoes of copper and
oil in the world are not worth as much to the world. Yet
when a shipper's cargo is held up he does not think of
civilization and of the future of mankind and of free
government; he thinks only of his cargo and of the in-
dignity that he imagines has been done him; and what is
the American Government for if not to protect his rights?
Of course he's right; but there must be somebody some-
where who sees things in their right proportion. The
man with an injury rushes to the Department of State-
quite properly. He is in a mood to bring England to
book. Now comes the critical stage in the journey of his
complaint. The State Department hurries it on to me
very properly; every man's right must be guarded and de-
fended a right to get his cargo to market, a right to get
on a steamer at Queenstown, a right to have his censored
telegram returned, any kind of a right, if he have a right.
Then the Department, not wittingly, I know, but hu-
manly, almost inevitably, in the great rush of overwork,
sends his 'demands' to me, catching much of his tone and
apparently insisting on the removal of his grievance as a
right, without knowing ah 1 the facts in the case. The
telegrams that come to me are full of 'protests' and
' demands ' protest and demand this, protest and demand
that. A man from Mars who should read my book of
telegrams received during the last two months would find
it difficult to explain how the two governments have kept
at peace. It is this serious treatment of trifling griev-
ances which makes us feel here that the exactions and dis-
locations and necessary disturbances of this war are not
understood at home.
" I assure you (and there are plenty of facts to prove it)
that this Government (both for unselfish and selfish rea-
THE AMBASSADOR AND THE LAWYERS 69
sons) puts a higher value on our friendship than on anyv 7
similar thing in the world. They will go they are
going the full length to keep it. But, in proportion to
our tendency to nag them about little things will the value
set on our friendship diminish and will their confidence in
our sincerity decline."
The note which Lord Bryce and Lord NorthclifFe so
dreaded reached the London Embassy in October, 1915.
The State Department had spent nearly six months in
preparing it; it was the American answer to the so-called
blockade established by the Order in Council of the pre-
ceding March. Evidently its contents fulfilled the worst
forebodings:
To Edward M. House
London, November 12, 1915.
DEAR HOUSE:
I have a great respect for the British Navy. Admiral
Jellicoe now has under his command 3,000 ships of all
sorts far and away the biggest fleet, I think, that was
ever assembled. For the first time since the ocean was
poured out, one navy practically commands all the seas:
nothing sails except by its grace. It is this fleet of course
that will win the war. The beginning of the end how-
ever far off yet the end may be is already visible by rea-
son of the economic pressure on Germany. But for this
fleet, by the way, London would be in ruins, all its treas-
ure looted; every French seacoast city and the Italian
peninsula would be as Belgium and Poland are; and thou-
sands of English women would be violated just as dead
French girls are found in many German trenches that have
been taken in France. Hence I greatly respect the Brit-
ish fleet.
70 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
We have a good navy, too, for its size, and a naval per-
sonnel as good as any afloat. I hear with much joy-
that we are going to make our navy bigger as much
bigger (God save the mark !) as Bryan will permit.
Now, whatever the future bring, since any fighting
enterprise that may ever be thrust on us will be just and
justified, we must see to it that we win, as doubtless we
shall and as hitherto we always have won. We must be
dead sure of winning. Well, whatever fight may be
thrust on us by anybody, anywhere, at any time, for any
reason if it only be generally understood beforehand that
our fleet and the British fleet shoot the same language,
there'll be no fight thrust upon us. The biggest bully in
the world wouldn't dare kick the sorriest dog we have.
Here, therefore, is a Peace Programme for you the
only basis for a permanent peace in the world. There's
no further good in having venerable children build houses
of sand at The Hague; there's no further good in peace
organizations or protective leagues to enforce peace. We
, had as well get down to facts. So far as ensuring peace is
^concerned the biggest fact in the world is the British fleet.
The next biggest fact is the American fleet, because of it-
self and still more because of the vast reserve power of the
Ji United States which it implies. If these two fleets per-
'/ fectly understand one another about the undesirability of
/wars of aggression, there'll be no more big wars as long
as this understanding continues. Such an understanding
calls for no treaty it calls only for courtesy.
And there is no other peace-basis worth talking about
by men who know how the world is governed.
Since I have lived here I have spent my days and nights,
my poor brain, and my small fortune all most freely and
gladly to get some understanding of the men who rule
this Kingdom, and of the women and the customs and
THE AMBASSADOR AND THE LAWYERS 71
the traditions that rule these men to get their trick of
thought, the play of their ideals, the working of their
imagination, the springs of their instincts. It is impos-
sible for any man to know just how well he himself does
such a difficult task how accurately he is coming to
understand the sources and character of a people's actions.
Yet, at the worst, I do know something about the Brit-
ish: I know enough to make very sure of the soundness
of my conclusion that they are necessary to us and we to /
them. Else God would have permitted the world to be w
peopled in some other way. And when we see that the
world will be saved by such an artificial combination as
England and Russia and France and Japan and Serbia, it
calls for no great wisdom to see the natural way whereby
it must be saved in the future.
For this reason every day that I have lived here it has
been my conscious aim to do what I could to bring about a
condition that shall make sure of this that, whenever we J
may have need of the British fleet to protect our shores or
to prevent an aggressive war anywhere, it shall be ours by
a natural impulse and necessity even without the asking.
I have found out that the first step toward that end is
courtesy; that the second step is courtesy, and the third
step such a fine and high courtesy (which includes
courage) as the President showed in the Panama tolls
controversy. We have we and the British common
aims and character. Only a continuous and sincere
courtesy over periods of strain as well as of calm is
necessary for as complete an understanding as will be re-
quired for the automatic guidance of the world in peaceful
ways.
Now, a difference is come between us the sort of
difference that handled as between friends would serve
only to bind us together with a sturdier respect. We
72 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
send a long lawyer's Note, not discourteous but wholly
uncourteous, which is far worse. I am writing now only
of the manner of the Note, not of its matter. There is
not a courteous word, nor a friendly phrase, nor a kindly
turn in it, not an allusion even to an old acquaintance, to
say nothing of an old friendship, not a word of thanks for
courtesies or favours done us, not a hint of sympathy in
the difficulties of the time. There is nothing in its tone
to show that it came from an American to an Englishman:
it might have been from a Hottentot to a Fiji-Islander.
I am almost sure I'll say quite sure that this un-
courteous manner is far more important than its endless
matter. It has greatly hurt our friends, the real men of
the Kingdom. It has made the masses angry which is
of far less importance than the severe sorrow that our
discourtesy of manner has brought to our friends I fear
to all considerate and thoughtful Englishmen.
Let me illustrate: When the Panama tolls controversy
arose, Taft ceased to speak the language of the natural
man and lapsed into lawyer's courthouse zigzagging mut-
terings. Knox wrote a letter to the British Government
that would have made an enemy of the most affectionate
twin brother all mere legal twists and turns, as agreeable
as a pocketful of screws. Then various bovine "interna-
tional lawyers" wrote books about it. I read them and
became more and more confused the further I went: you
always do. It took me some time to recover from this
word-drunk debauch and to find my own natural intelli-
gence again, the common sense that I was born with.
Then I saw that the whole thing went wrong from the place
where that Knox legal note came in. Congressmen in the
backwoods quoted cryptic passages from it, thought they
were saying something, and proceeded to make their
audiences believe that somehow England had hit us with
THE AMBASSADOR AND THE LAWYERS 73
a club or would have hit us but for Knox. That pure
discourtesy kept us apart from English sympathy for
something like two years.
Then the President took it up. He threw the legal
twaddle into the gutter. He put the whole question in
a ten-minutes' speech to Congress, full of clearness and
fairness and high courtesy. It won even the rural Con-
gressmen. It was read in every capital and the men who
conduct every government looked up and said, "This is a
real man, a brave man, a just man." You will recall what
Sir Edward Grey said to me : "The President has taught us
all a lesson and set us all a high example in the noblest
courtesy."
This one act brought these two nations closer together
than they had ever been since we became an independent
nation. It was an act of courtesy. . . .
My dear House, suppose the postman some morning
were to leave at your door a thing of thirty-five heads and
three appendices, and you discovered that it came from
an old friend whom you had long known and greatly
valued this vast mass of legal stuff, without a word or a
turn of courtesy in it what would you do? He had a
grievance, your old friend had. Friends often have.
But instead of explaining it to you, he had gone and had
his lawyers send this many-headed, much-appendiced
ton of stuff. It wasn't by that method that you found
your way from Austin, Texas, to your present eminence
and wisdom. Nor was that the way our friend found
his way from a little law-office in Atlanta, where I first
saw him, to the White House.
More and more I am struck with this that govern-
ments are human. They are not remote abstractions,
nor impersonal institutions. Men conduct them; and
they do not cease to be men. A man is made up of six
74 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
parts of human nature and four parts of facts and other
things a little reason, some prejudice, much provincial-
ism, and of the particular fur or skin that suits his habitat.
When you wish to win a man to do what you want him to
do, you take along a few well-established facts, some rea-
soning and such-like, but you take along also three or
four or five parts of human nature kindliness, courtesy,
and such things sympathy and a human touch.
If a man be six parts human and four parts of other
things, a government, especially a democracy, is seven, or
eight, or nine parts human nature. It's the most human
thing I know. The best way to manage governments
and nations so long as they are disposed to be friendly
is the way we manage one another. I have a confirm-
ation of this in the following comment which came to me
to-day. It was made by a friendly member of Parlia-
ment.
"The President himself dealt with Germany. Even
in his severity he paid the Germans the compliment of a
most courteous tone in his Note. But in dealing with
us he seems to have called in the lawyers of German
importers and Chicago pork-packers. I miss the high
Presidential courtesy that we had come to expect from
Mr. Wilson."
An American banker here has told me of the experience
of an American financial salesman in the city the day
after our Note was published. His business is to make
calls on bankers and other financial men, to sell them se-
curities. He is a man of good address who is popular
with his clients. The first man he called on, on that day,
said: "I don't wish to be offensive to you. But I have
only one way to show my feeling of indignation toward
the United States, and that is, to have nothing more to do
with Americans."
THE AMBASSADOR AND THE LAWYERS 75
The next man said: "No, nothing to-day, I thank you.
No nor to-morrow either; nor the next day. Good
morning."
After four or five such greetings, the fellow gave it up
and is now doing nothing.
I don't attach much importance to such an incident as
this, except as it gives a hint of the general feeling. These
financial men probably haven't even read our Note.
Few people have. But they have all read the short and
sharp newspaper summary which preceded it in the Eng-
lish papers. But what such an incident does indicate is
the prevalence of a state of public feeling which would
prevent the Government from yielding any of our de-
mands even if the Government so wished. It has now been
nearly a week since the Note was published. I have seen
most of the neutral ministers. Before the Note came they
expressed great eagerness to see it: it would champion
their cause. Since it came not one of them has mentioned
it to me. The Secretary of one of them remarked, after
being invited to express himself: " It is too too long! "
And, although I have seen most of the Cabinet this week,
not a man mentioned it to me. People seem studiously
to avoid it, lest they give offense.
I have, however, got one little satisfaction. An Ameri-
can a half-expatriated loafer who talks "art" you
know the intellectually affected and degenerate type
screwed his courage up and told me that he felt ashamed
of his country. I remarked that I felt sure the feeling was
mutual. That, I confess, made me feel better.
As nearly as I can make out, the highwater mark of
English good-feeling toward us in all our history was after
the President's Panama tolls courtesy. The low-water
mark, since the Civil War, I am sure, is now. The Cleve-
land Venezuela message came at a time of no nervous
76 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
strain and did, I think, produce no long-lasting effect.
A part of the present feeling is due to the English convic-
tion that we have been taken in by the Germans in the
submarine controversy, but a large part is due to the lack
of courtesy in this last Note the manner in which it was
written even more than its matter. As regards its mat-
ter, I have often been over what I conceive to be the main
points with Sir Edward Grey very frankly and without
the least offense. He has said: "We may have to arbi-
trate these things," as he might say, "We had better take
a cab because it is raining." It is easily possible or it
was to discuss anything with this Government without
offense. I have, in fact, stood up before Sir Edward's
fire and accused him of stealing a large part of the earth's
surface, and we were just as good friends afterward as be-
fore. But I never drew a lawyer's indictment of him as a
land-thief: that's different.
I suppose no two peoples or governments ever quite un-
derstand one another. Perhaps they never will. That is
too much to hope for. But when one government writes
to another it ought to write (as men do) with some refer-
ence to the personality of the other and to their previous
relations, since governments are more human than men.
Of course I don't know who wrote the Note. Hence I
can talk about it freely to you without implying criticism
of anybody in particular. But the man who wrote it
never saw the British Government and wouldn't know it
if he met it in the road. To him it is a mere legal entity,
a wicked, impersonal institution against which he has the
task of drawing an indictment not the task of trying to
persuade it to confess the propriety of a certain course of
conduct. In his view, it is a wicked enemy to start with
like the Louisiana lottery of a previous generation or
the Standard Oil Company of our time.
THE AMBASSADOR AND THE LAWYERS 77
One would have thought, since we were six months in
preparing it, that a draft of the Note would have been
sent to the man on the ground whom our Government
keeps in London to study the situation at first hand and
to make the best judgment he can about the most effec-
tive methods of approach on delicate and difficult matters.
If that had been done, I should have suggested a courteous
short Note saying that we are obliged to set forth such
and such views about marine law and the rights of neu-
trals, to His Majesty's Government; and that the con-
tention of the United States Government was herewith
sent etc., etc. Then this identical Note (with certain
court-house, strong, shirt-sleeve adjectives left out)
could have come without arousing any feeling whatsoever.
Of course I have no personal vanity in saying this to you.
I am sure I outgrew that foible many years ago. But
such a use of an ambassador of any ambassador is
obviously one of the best and most natural uses he could
be put to ; and all governments but ours do put their am-
bassadors to such a use : that's what they have 'em for.
Per contra: a telegram has just come in saying that a
certain Lichtenstein in New York had a lot of goods
stopped by the British Government, which (by an ar-
rangement made with their attorney here) agreed to buy
them at a certain price: will I go and find out why the
Government hasn't yet paid Lichtenstein and when he
may expect his money? Is it an ambassadorial duty to
collect a private bill for Lichtenstein, in a bargain with
which our Government has had nothing to do? I have
telegraphed the Department, quite calmly, that I don't
think it is. I venture to say no ambassador ever had such
a request as that before from his Government.
My dear House, I often wonder if my years of work
here the kind of high good work I've tried to do have
78 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
not been thrown away. I've tried to take and to busy
myself with a long-range view of great subjects. The
British Empire and the United States will be here long
after we are dead, and their relations will continue to be
one of the most important matters perhaps the most
important matter in the world. Well, now think of
Lichtenstein's bill!
To get back where I started I fear, therefore, that,
when I next meet the Admiral of the Grand Fleet (with
whom I used to discuss everything quite freely before he
sailed away to the war), he may forget to mention that
we may have his 3,000 ships at our need.
Since this present difference is in danger of losing the
healing influence of a kindly touch has become an un-
courteous monster of 35 heads and 3 appendices I see no
early end of it. The British Foreign Office has a lot of
lawyers in its great back offices. They and our lawyers
will now butt and rebut as long as a goat of them is left
alive on either side. The two governments the two
human, kindly groups have retired: they don't touch, on
this matter, now. The lawyers will have the time of their
lives, each smelling the blood of the other.
If more notes must come as the English papers report
over and over again every morning and every afternoon
the President might do much by writing a brief, human
document to accompany the Appendices. If it be done
courteously, we can accuse them of stealing sheep and of
dyeing the skins to conceal the theft without provoking
the slightest bad feeling; and, in the end, they'll pay
another Alabama award without complaint and frame
the check and show it to future ambassadors as Sir Edward
shows the Alabama check to me sometimes.
And it'll be a lasting shame (and may bring other Great
Wars) if lawyers are now permitted to tear the garments
THE AMBASSADOR AND THE LAWYERS 79
with which Peace ought to be clothed as soon as she can
escape from her present rags and tatters.
Yours always heartily,
W. H. P.
P. S. My dear House: Since I have in weeks and
months past both telegraphed and written the De-
partment (and I presume the President has seen what
I've sent) about the feeling here, I've written this letter
to you and not to the President nor Lansing. I will not
run the risk of seeming to complain nor even of seeming
to seem to complain. But if you think it wise to send or
show this letter to the President, I'm willing you should.
This job was botched: there's no doubt about that. We
shall not recover for many a long, long year. The iden-
tical indictment could have been drawn with admirable
temper and the way laid down for arbitration and for
keeping our interpretation of the law and precedents
intact all done in a way that would have given no offense.
The feeling runs higher and higher every day goes
deeper and spreads wider.
Now on top of it comes the Ancona. 1 The English
press, practically unanimously, makes sneering remarks
about our Government. After six months it has got no
results from the Lusitania controversy, which Bernstorff
is allowed to prolong in secret session while factories are
blown up, ships supplied with bombs, and all manner of
outrages go on (by Germans) in the United States. The
English simply can't understand why Bernstorff is allowed
to stay. They predict that nothing will come of the
Ancona case, nor of any other case. Nobody wants us
to get into the war nobody who counts but they are
1 Torpedoed off Sardinia on Nov. 7, 1915, by the Austrians. There was a large
loss of life, including many Americans.
80 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
losing respect for us because we seem to them to submit to
anything.
We've simply dropped out. No English person ever
mentions our Government to me. But they talk to one
another all the time about the political anaemia of the
United States Government. They think that Bernstorff
has the State Department afraid of him and that the
Pacifists dominate opinion the Pacifists-at-any-price.
I no longer even have a chance to explain any of these
things to anybody I know.
It isn't the old question we used to discuss of our having
no friend in the world when the war ends. It's gone far
\ further than that. It is now whether the United States
Government need be respected by anybody.
W. H. P.
CHAPTER XVI
DARK DAYS FOR THE ALLIES
To Edward M. House
June 30, 1915.
MY DEAR HOUSE :
There's a distinct wave of depression here perhaps
I'd better say a period of setbacks has come. So far as
we can find out only the Germans are doing anything in
the war on land. The position in France is essentially
the same as it was in November, only the Germans are
much more strongly entrenched. Their great plenty of
machine guns enables them to use fewer men and to kill
more than the Allies. The Russians also lack ammuni-
tion and are yielding more and more territory. The Allies
so you hear now will do well if they get their little
army away from the Dardanelles before the German-
Turks eat 'em alive, and no Balkan state comes in to help
the Allies. Italy makes progress slowly, of course,
over almost impassable mountains etc., etc. Most of
this doleful recital I think is true; and I find more and
more men here who have lost hope of seeing an end of the
war in less than two or three years, and more and more
who fear that the Germans will never be forced out of
Belgium. And the era of the giant aeroplane seems about
to come a machine that can carry several tons and
several men and go great distances two engines, two
propellers, and the like. It isn't at all impossible, I am
told, that these machines may be the things that will at
last end the war possibly, but I doubt it.
81
82 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
At any rate, it is true that a great wave of discourage-
ment is come. All these events and more seem to prove
to my mind the rather dismal failure the Liberal Govern-
ment made a failure really to grasp the problem. It was
a dead failure. Of course they are waking up now, when
they are faced with a certain dread lest many soldiers
prefer frankly to die rather than spend another winter in
practically the same trenches. You hear rumours, too, of
great impending military scandals God knows whether
there be any truth in them or not.
In a word, while no Englishman gives up or will ever
give up that's all rot the job he has in hand is not going
well. He's got to spit on his hands and buckle up his belt
two holes tighter yet. And I haven't seen a man for a
month who dares hope for an end of the fight within any
time that he can foresee.
I had a talk to-day with the Russian Ambassador. 1 He
wished to know how matters stood between the United
States and Great Britain. I said to him: "I'll give you
a task if you have leisure. Set to and help me hurry up
your distinguished Ally in dealing with our shipping
troubles."
The old man laughed that seemed a huge joke to
him; he threw up his hands and exclaimed "My God!
He is slow about his own business has always been slow
can't be anything else."
After more such banter, the nigger in his wood-pile
poked his head out: "Is there any danger," he asked,
"that munitions may be stopped?"
The Germans have been preparing northern France for
German occupation. No French are left there, of course,
except women and children and old men. They must be
fed or starved or deported. The Germans put them on
1 Count Beckendorff.
DARK DAYS FOR THE ALLIES 83
trains a whole village at a time and run them to the
Swiss frontier. Of course the Swiss pass them on into
France. The French have their own and the Germans
will have northern France without any French popu-
lation, if this process goes on long enough.
The mere bang! bang! frightful era of the war is passed.
The Germans are settling down to permanent business
with their great organizing machine. Of course they talk
about the freedom of the seas and such mush-mush; of/
course they'd like to have Paris and rob it of enough
money to pay what the war has cost them, and London,
too. But what they really want for keeps is seacoast
Belgium and as much of the French coast as they can win.
That's really what they are out gunning for. Of course,
somehow at some time they mean to get Holland, too,
and Denmark, if they really need it. Then they'll have
a very respectable seacoast the thing that they chiefly
lack now.
More and more people are getting their nerves knocked
out. I went to a big hospital on Sunday, twenty-five
miles out of London. They showed me an enormous,
muscular Tommy sitting by himself in a chair under the
trees. He had had a slight wound which quickly got
well. But his speech was gone. That came back, too,
later. But then he wouldn't talk and he'd insist on
going off by himself. He's just knocked out you can't
find out just how much gumption he has left. That's
what the war did for him: it stupefied him. Well, it's
stupefied lots of folks who have never seen a trench.
That's what's happened. Of all the men who started in
with the game, I verily believe that Lloyd George is hold-
ing up best. He organized British finance. Now he's
organizing British industry.
It's got hot in London hotter than I've ever known
84 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
it. It gets lonelier (more people going away) and sadder
more wounded coming back and more visible sorrow.
We seem to be settling down to something that is more
or less like Paris so far less, but it may become more and
more like it. And the confident note of an earlier period
is accompanied by a dull undertone of much less cheerful-
ness. The end is in the lap of the gods.
W. H. P.
To Arthur W. Page
American Embassy, London,
July 25, 1915.
DEAR ARTHUR:
. . . Many men here are very active in their
thought about the future relations of the United States
and Great Britain. Will the war bring or leave them
closer together? If the German machine be completely
smashed (and it may not be completely smashed) the
Japanese danger will remain. I do not know how to
estimate that danger accurately. But there is such a
danger. And, if the German wild beast ever come to life
again, there's an eternal chance of trouble with it. For
defensive purposes it may become of the very first im-
portance that the whole English-speaking world should
stand together not in entangling alliance, but with a
much clearer understanding than we have ever yet had.
I'll indicate to you some of my cogitations on this sub-
ject by trying to repeat what I told Philip Kerr 1 a fort-
night ago one Sunday in the country. I can write this
to you without seeming to parade my own opinions.
Kerr is one of "The Round Table," perhaps the best
group of men here for the real study and free discussion
of large political subjects. Their quarterly, The Round
1 Afterward private secretary to Premier Lloyd George.
DARK DAYS FOR THE ALLIES 85
Table, is the best review, I dare say, in the world. Kerr is
red hot for a close and perfect understanding between
Great Britain and the United States. I told him that,
since Great Britain had only about forty per cent, of
the white English-speaking people and the United States
had about sixty per cent., I hoped in his natural history
that the tail didn't wag the dog. I went on:
"You now have the advantage of us in your aggrega-
tion of three centuries of accumulated wealth the spoil
of all the world and in the talent that you have devel-
oped for conserving it and adding to it and in the insti-
tutions you have built up to perpetuate it your merchant
ships, your insurance, your world-wide banking, your
mortgages on all new lands; but isn't this the only ad-
vantage you have? This advantage will pass. You are
now shooting away millions and millions, and you will
have a debt that is bound to burden industry. On our
side, we have a more recently mixed race than yours;
you've begun to inbreed. We have also (and therefore) J
more adaptability, a greater keenness of mind in our
masses; we are Old- World men set free free of classes
and traditions and all that they connote. Your so-
called democracy is far behind ours. Your aristocracy
and your privileges necessarily bring a social and eco-
nomic burden. Half your people look backward.
"Your leadership rests on your wealth and on the
power that you've built on your wealth."
When he asked me how we were to come closer to-
gether -"closer together, with your old-time distrust of
us and with your remoteness?" I stopped him at "re-
moteness."
"That's the reason," I said. "Your idea of our 're-
moteness. ' 'Remoteness' from what? From you? Are
you not betraying the only real difficulty of a closer sym-
86 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
pathy by assuming that you are the centre of the world?
When you bring yourself to think of the British Empire
as a part of the American Union mind you, I am not
saying that you would be formally admitted but when
you are yourselves in close enough sympathy with us to
wish to be admitted, the chief difficulty of a real union
of thought will be gone. You recall Lord Rosebery's
speech in which he pictured the capital of the British
Empire being moved to Washington if the American
Colonies had been retained under the Crown? Well, it
was the Crown that was the trouble, and the capital of
English-speaking folk has been so moved and you still
remain 'remote.' Drop 'remote' from your vocabu-
lary and your thought and we'll actually be closer to-
gether."
It's an enormous problem just how to bring these
countries closer together. Perhaps nothing can do it but
some great common danger or some great common ad-
venture. But this is one of the problems of your life-
time. England can't get itself clean loose from the con-
tinent nor from continental mediaevalism; and with that
we can have nothing to do. Men like Kerr think that
somehow a great push toward democracy here will be
given by the war. I don't 'quite see how. So far the
aristocracy have made perhaps the best showing in de-
fense of English liberty. They are paying the bills of
the war; they have sent their sons; these sons have died
like men; and their parents never whimper. It's a fine
breed for such great uses as these. There was a fine in-
cident in the House of Lords the other day, which gave
the lie to the talk that one used to hear here about "de-
generacy." Somebody made a perfectly innocent pro-
posal to complete a list of peers and peers' sons who had
fallen in the war a thing that will, of course, be done,
DARK DAYS FOR THE ALLIES 87
just as a similar list will be compiled of the House of
Commons, of Oxford and Cambridge Universities. But
one peer after another objected vigorously lest such a
list appear immodest. "We are but doing our duty,
Let the matter rest there." <K
In a time like this the aristocracy proves its worth. In r
fact, all aristocracies grew chiefly out of wars, and perhaps '
they are better for wars than a real democracy. Here,
you see, you run into one of those contradictions in life
and history which make the world so hard to change. . . .
You know there are some reasons why peace, whenever
it may come, will bring problems as bad as the problems
of the war itself. I can think of no worse task than the
long conferences of the Allies with their conflicting in-
terests and ambitions. Then must come their confer-
ences with the enemy. Then there are sure to be other
conferences to try to make peace secure. And, of course, ,
many are going to be dissatisfied and disappointed, and J
perhaps out of these disappointments other wars may
come. The world will not take up its knitting and sit
quietly by the fire for many a year to come. . . .
Affectionately,
W. H. P.
One happiness came to Mr. and Mrs. Page in the midst
of all these war alarums. On August 4, 1915, their only
daughter, Katharine, was married to Mr. Charles G.
Loring, of Boston, Massachusetts. The occasion gave the
King an opportunity of showing the high regard in which
Page and his family were held. It had been planned
that the wedding should take place in Westminster Ab-
bey, but the King very courteously offered Miss Page
the Royal chapel in St. James's Palace. This was a dis-
tinguished compliment, as it was the first time that any
88 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
marriage, in which both bride and bridegroom were
foreigners, had ever been celebrated in this building, which
for centuries has been the scene of royal weddings. The
special place which his daughter had always held in the
Ambassador's affections is apparent in the many letters
that now followed her to her new home in the United
States. The unique use Page made of the initials of his
daughter's name was characteristic.
To Mrs. Charles G. Loring
London, September 1, 1915.
MY DEAR K. A. P-TAIN:
Here's a joke on your mother and Frank: We three
(and Smith) went up to Broadway in the car, to stay
there a little while and then to go on into Wales, etc.
The hotel is an old curiosity shop; you sit on Eliza-
bethan chairs by a Queen Anne table, on a drunken floor,
and look at the pewter platters on the wall or do your best
to look at them, for the ancient windows admit hardly any
light. "Oh! lovely," cries Frank; and then he and your
mother make out in the half-darkness a perfectly won-
derful copper mug on the mantelpiece; and you go out
and come in the ramshackle door (stooping every time)
after you've felt all about for the rusty old iron latch, and
then you step down two steps (or fall), presently to step
up two more. Well, for dinner we had six kinds of meat
and two meat pies and potatoes and currants! My
dinner was a potato. I'm old and infirm and I have
many ailments, but I'm not so bad off as to be able to
live on a potato a day. And since we were having a va-
cation, I didn't see the point. So I came home where I
have seven courses for dinner, all good; and Mrs. Leggett
took my place in the car. That carnivorous company
Col. Edward M. House. From a painting by P. A. Laszlo
The Rt. Hon. Herbert Henry Asquith, Prime Minister
of Great Britain, 1908-1916
DARK DAYS FOR THE ALLIES 89
went on. They've got to eat six kinds of meat and two
meat pies and currants! I haven't. Your mother calls
me up on the phone every morning me, who am living
here in luxury, seven courses at every dinner and asks
anxiously, "And how are you, dear?" I answer: " Prime,
and how are you?" We are all enjoying ourselves, you
see, and I don't have to eat six kinds of meat and two
meat pies and currants! They do; and may Heaven
save 'em and get 'em home safe!
It's lovely in London now fine, shining days and
showers at night and Ranelagh beautiful, and few people
here; but I don't deny its loneliness somewhat. Yet
sleep is good, and easy and long. I have neither an
ocean voyage nor six kinds of meat and two meat pies
and currants. I congratulate myself and write to you
and mother.
You'll land to-morrow or next day good; I congratu-
late you. Salute the good land for me and present my
respectful compliments to vegetables that have taste and
fruit that is not sour to the sunshine, in fact, and to
everything that ripens and sweetens in its glow.
And you're now (when this reaches you) fixing up
your home your own home, dear Kitty. Bless your
dear life, you left a home here wasn't it a good and nice
one? left it very lonely for the man who has loved you
twenty-four years and been made happy by your pres-
ence. But he'll love you twenty-five more and on and
on always. So you haven't lost that nor can you.
And it's very fit and right that you should build your own
nest; that adds another happy home, you see. And I'm
very sure it will be very happy always. Whatever I can
do to make it so, now or ever, you have only to say. But
your mother took your photograph with her and got
it out of the bag and put it on the bureau as soon as she
90 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
went to her room a photograph taken when you were a
little girl.
Hodson 1 came up to see me to-day and with tears of
gratitude in his voice told me of the present that you and
Chud had made him. He is very genuinely pleased. As
for the rest, life goes on as usual.
I laugh as I think of all your new aunts and cousins
looking you over and wondering if you'll fit, and then
saying to one another as they go to bed: "She is lovely
isn't she?" I could tell 'em a thing or two if I had a
whack at 'em.
And you'll soon have all your pretty things in place in
your pretty home, and a lot more that I haven't seen.
I'll see 'em all before many years and you, too! Tell
me, did Chud get you a dinner book? Keep your record
of things: you'll enjoy it in later years. And you'll have
a nice time this autumn your new kinsfolk, your new
friends and old and Boston and Cambridge. If you run
across Mr. Mifflin, William Roscoe Thayer, James Ford
Rhodes, President Eliot these are my particular old
friends whose names occur at the moment.
My love to you and Chud too,
Affectionately,
W. H. P.
The task of being "German Ambassador to Great
Britain" was evidently not without its irritations.
To Arthur W. Page
September 15, 1915.
DEAR ARTHUR:
Yesterday was my German day. When the boy came
up to my room, I told him I had some official calls to make.
*A messenger in the American Embassy.
DARK DAYS FOR THE ALLIES 91
"Therefore get out my oldest and worst suit." He
looked much confused; and when I got up both my worst
and best suits were laid out. Evidently he thought he
must have misunderstood me. I asked your mother if she
was ready to go down to breakfast. :< Yes."- "Well,
then I'll leave you." She grunted something and when
we both got down she asked: "What did you say to me
upstairs?" I replied: "I regard the incident as closed."
She looked a sort of pitying look at me and a minute or
two later asked: "What on earth is the matter with you?
Can't you hear at all? " I replied : " No. Therefore let's
talk." She gave it up, but looked at me again to make
sure I was all there.
I stopped at the barber shop, badly needing a shave.
The barber got his brush and razor ready. I said: "Cut
my hair." He didn't talk for a few minutes, evidently
engaged in deep thought.
When I got to my office, a case was brought to me of a
runaway American who was caught trying to send news
to Germany. "Very good," said I, "now let it be made
evident that it shall appear therefore that his innocence
having been duly established he shall be shot."
"What, sir?"
;< That since it must be evident that his guilt is genuine
therefore see that he be acquitted and then shot."
Laughlin and Bell and Stabler were seen in an earnest
conference in the next room for nearly half an hour.
Shoecraft brought me a letter. "This is the most
courteous complaint about the French passport bureau
we have yet had. I thought you'd like to see this lady's
letter. She says she knows you."
"Do not answer it, then."
He went off and conferred with the others.
Hodson spoke of the dog he sold to Frank. "Yes,"
92 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
said I, "since he was a very nice dog, therefore he was
worthless."
"Sir?"
And he went off after looking back at me in a queer way.
The day went on in that fashion. When I came out to
go to lunch, the stairs down led upward and I found my-
self, therefore, stepping out of the roof on to the sidewalk
the house upside down. Smith looked puzzled. " Home,
sir?"
"No. Go the other way." After he had driven two
or three blocks, I told him to turn again and go the other
way home !
Your mother said almost as soon as I got into the door
"What was the matter with you this morning?"
"Oh, nothing. You forget that I am the German
Ambassador."
Now this whole narrative is a lie. Nothing in it oc-
curred. If it were otherwise it wouldn't be German.
Affectionately,
W. H. P.
To Mrs. Charles G. Loring
London, 6 Grosvenor Square.
Sunday, September 19, 1915.
MY DEAR KITTY:
You never had a finer autumnal day in the land of the
free than this day has been in this old kingdom fresh
and fair; and so your mother said to herself and me:
"Let's go out to the Laughlins' to lunch," and we went.
There never was a prettier drive. We found out among
other things that you pleased Mrs. Laughlin very much
by your letter. Her garden changes every week or so,
and it never was lovelier than it is now. Then we came
back home and dined alone. Well, since we can't have
DARK DAYS FOR THE ALLIES 93
you and Chud and Frank, I don't care if we do dine
alone sometimes for some time to come. Your mother's
monstrous good company, and sometimes three is a
crowd. And now is a good time to be alone. London
never was so dull or deserted since I've known it, nor
ever so depressed. The military (land) operations are
not cheerful; the hospitals are all full; I see more wounded
soldiers by far than at any previous tune; the Zeppelins
came somewhere to this island every night for a week-
one of them, on the night of the big raid, was visible from
our square for fifteen or twenty minutes in general it is
a dull and depressing time. I have thought that since
you were determined to run off with a young fellow, you
chose a pretty good time to go away. I'm afraid there'll
be no more of what we call "fun" in this town as long
as we stay here.
Worse yet: in spite of the Coalition Government and
everybody's wish to get on smoothly and to do nothing
but to push the war, since Parliament convened there's
been a great row, which doesn't get less. The labour
men give trouble; people blame the politicians: Lloyd
George is saving the country, say some; Lloyd George
ought to be hanged, say others. Down with Northcliffe !
They seem likely to burn him at the stake except those
who contend that he has saved the nation. Some main-
tain that the cabinet is too big twenty-two. More say
that it has no leadership. If you favour conscription,
you are a traitor: if you don't favour it, you are pro-
German. It's the same sort of old quarrel they had be-
fore the war, only it is about more subjects. In fact,
nobody seems very clearly to know what it's about.
Meantime the Government is spending money at a rate
that nobody ever dreamed of before. Three million
pounds a day some days five million. The Germans
94 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
meantime are taking Russia ; the Allies are not taking the
Dardanelles; in France the old deadlock continues. Bos-
ton at its worst must be far more cheerful than this.
Affectionately and with my love to Chud,
W. H. P.
To the President
London, September 26, 1915.
DEAR MR. PRESIDENT :
The suppression of facts about the military situation is
more rigorous than ever since the military facts have be-
come so discouraging. The volume of pretty well authen-
ticated news that I used to hear privately has become
sensibly diminished. Rumours that reach me by the back
door, in all sorts of indirect ways, are not fewer, but fewer
of them are credible. There is great confusion, great fear,
very great depression far greater, I think, than England
has felt, certainly since the Napoleonic scare and probably
since the threat of the Armada. Nobody, I think, sup-
poses that England herself will be conquered: confidence
in the navy is supreme. But the fear of a practical defeat
of the Allies on the continent is become general. Russia
may have to pay a huge indemnity, going far to reimburse
Germany for the cost of the war; Belgium may be per-
manently held unless Germany receive an indemnity to
evacuate, and her seaports may be held anyhow; the Ger-
mans may reach Constantinople before the Allies, and
Germany may thus hold, when the war ends, an open way
to the East; and France may have to pay a large sum to
regain her northern territory now held by the Germans.
These are not the convictions of men here, but they have
distinctly become the fears; and many men's mind are
beginning to adjust themselves to the possible end of the
war, as a draw, with these results. Of course such an
DARK DAYS FOR THE ALLIES 95
end would be a real German victory and another war as
soon as enough men grow up to fight it.
When the more cheerful part of public opinion, espe-
cially when any member of the Government, affects to
laugh at these fears, the people say: "Well, make known
the facts that you base your hope on. Precisely how
many men have volunteered? Is the voluntary system
a success or has it reached its limit? Precisely what is the
situation in the Dardanelles? Are the allied armies
strong enough to make a big drive to break through the
German line in France? Have they big guns and am-
munition enough? What are the facts about the chance
in the Dardanelles? What have we done with reference
to the Balkan States? " Thus an angry and ominous politi-
cal situation is arising. The censorship on war news appar-
ently becomes severer, and the general fear spreads and
deepens. The air, of course, becomes heavily charged
with such rumours as these : that if the Government con-
tinue its policy of secrecy, Lloyd George will resign, see-
ing no hope of a real victory : that, if he do resign, his res-
ignation w r ill disrupt the Government cause a sort of
earthquake; that the Government will probably fall and
Lloyd George will be asked to form another one, since he
is, as the public sees it, the most active and efficient man
in political life; that, if all the Balkan States fail the Allies,
Sir Edward Grey will be reckoned a failure and must
resign; and you even now hear talk of Mr. Balfour's
succeeding him.
It is impossible to say what basis there is for these and
other such rumours, but they show the general very serious
depression and dissatisfaction. Of that there is no doubt.
Nor is there any doubt about grave differences in the
Cabinet about conscription nor of grave fear in the public
mind about the action of labour unions in hindering the
96 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
utmost production of ammunition, nor of the increasing
feeling that the Prime Minister doesn't lead the nation.
Except Lloyd George and the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer 1 the Cabinet seems to suffer a sort of paralysis.
Lord Kitchener's speech in the House of Lords, explaining
the military situation, reads like a series of month-old
bulletins and was a great disappointment. Mr. Asquith's
corresponding speech in the House seemed to lack com-
plete frankness. The nation feels that it is being kept
in the dark, and all the military information that it gets
is discouraging. Sir Edward Grey, as philosophic and
enduring a man as I know, seems much more depressed
than I have ever known him to be; Bryce is very very far
from cheerful; Plunkett, 2 whom also you know, is in the
dumps it's hard to find a cheerful or a hopeful man.
The secrecy of official life has become so great and suc-
cessful that prophecy of political changes must be mere
guess work. But, unless good news come from the Dar-
danelles in particular, I have a feeling that Asquith may
resign be forced out by the gradual pressure of public
opinion; that Lloyd George will become Prime Minister,
and that (probably) Sir Edward Grey may resign. Yet
I cannot take the prevailing military discouragement
at its face value. The last half million men and the last
million pounds will decide the contest, and the Allies will
have these. This very depression strengthens the nation's
resolution to a degree that they for the moment forget.
The blockade and the armies in the field will wear Ger-
many down not absolutely conquer her, but wear her
down probably in another year.
In the meantime our prestige (if that be the right word),
in British judgment, is gone. As they regard it, we have
*The Rt. Hon. Reginald McKenna.
"Sir Horace Plunkett.
DARK DAYS FOR THE ALLIES 97
permitted the Germans to kill our citizens, to carry on a
worldwide underhand propaganda from our country (as
well as in it), for which they have made no apology
and no reparation but only vague assurances for the
future now that their submarine fleet has been almost
destroyed. They think that we are credulous to the
point of simplicity to accept any assurances that Bern-
storff may give in a word, that the peace-at-any-price
sentiment so dominates American opinion and the Amer-
ican Government that we will submit to any indignity
or insult that we will learn the Germans' real char-
acter when it is too late to save our honour or dignity.
There is no doubt of the definiteness or depth of this
opinion.
And I am afraid that this feeling will show itself in our
future dealings with this government. The public opin-
ion of the nation as well as the Government accepts their
blockade as justified as well as necessary. They will not
yield on that point, and they will regard our protests as
really inspired by German influence thus far at least:
that the German propaganda has organized and en-
couraged the commercial objection in the United States,
and that this propaganda and the peace-at-any-price
sentiment demand a stiff controversy with England to
offset the stiff controversy with Germany; and, after all,
they ask, what does a stiff controversy with the United
States amount to? I had no idea that English opinion
could so quickly become practically indifferent as to what
the United States thinks or does. And as nearly as I can
make it out, there is not a general wish that we should go
to war. The prevalent feeling is not a selfish wish for
military help. In fact they think that, by the making of
munitions, by the taking of loans, and by the sale of food
we can help them more than by military and naval action.
98 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
Their feeling is based on their disappointment at our sub
mitting to what they regard as German dallying with us
and to German insults. They believe that, if we had sent
Bernstorff home when his government made its unsatis-
factory reply to our first Lusitania note, Germany would
at once have "come down"; opportunist Balkan States
would have come to the help of the Allies; Holland and
perhaps the Scandinavian States would have got some con-
sideration at Berlin for their losses by torpedoes; that
more attention would have been paid by Turkey to our
protest against the wholesale massacre of the Armenians;
and that a better settlement with Japan about Pacific
islands and Pacific influence would have been possible for
the English at the end of the war. Since, they argue,
nobody is now afraid of the United States, her moral in-
fluence is impaired at every capital; and I now frequently
hear the opinion that, if the war lasts another year and
the Germans get less and less use of the United States as
a base of general propaganda in all neutral countries,
especially all American countries, they are likely them-
selves to declare war on us as a mere defiance of the whole
world and with the hope of stirring up internal trouble
for our government by the activity of the Germans and
the Irish in the United States, which may hinder muni-
tions and food and loans to the Allies.
I need not remark that the English judgment of the
Germans is hardly judicial. But they reply to this that
every nation has to learn the real, incredible character of
the Prussian by its own unhappy experience. France had
so to learn it, and England, Russia, and Belgium; and we
(the United States), they say, fail to profit in time by the
experience of these. After the Germans have used us to
the utmost in peace, they will force us into war or even
flatly declare war on us when they think they can thus
DARK DAYS FOR THE ALLIES 99
cause more embarrassment to the Allies, and when they
conclude that the time is come to make sure that no great
nation shall emerge from the war with a clear commercial
advantage over the others ; and in the meantime they will
prove to the world by playing with us that a democracy
is necessarily pacific and hence (in their view) contempt-
ible. I felt warranted the other day to remark to Lord
Bryce on the unfairness of much of the English judgment
of us (he is very sad and a good deal depressed). ;< Yes,"
he said, "I have despaired of one people's ever really
understanding another even when the two are as closely
related and as friendly as the Americans and the Eng-
lish."
You were kind enough to inquire about my health in
your last note. If I could live up to the popular concep-
tion here of my labours and responsibilities and delicate
duties (which is most flattering and greatly exaggerated),
I should be only a walking shadow of a man. But I am
most inappreciately well. I imagine that in some year
to come, I may enjoy a vacation, but I could not enjoy
it now. Besides since civilization has gone backward
several centuries, I suppose I've gone back with it to a
time when men knew no such thing as a vacation. (Let's
forgive House for his kindly, mistaken solicitude.) The
truth is, I often feel that I do not know myself body or
soul, boots or breeches. This experience is making us
all here different from the men we were but in just
what respects it is hard to tell. We are not within hearing
of the guns (except the guns that shoot at Zeppelins when
they come) ; but the war crowds itself in on us sensibly
more and more. There are more wounded soldiers on the
streets and in the parks. More and more families one
knows lose their sons, more and more women their hus-
bands. Death is so common that it seems a little thing.
100 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
Four persons have come to my house to-day (Sunday) in
the hope that I may find their missing kinsmen, and two
more have appealed to me on the telephone and two
more still have sent me notes. Since I began this let-
ter, Mrs. Page insisted on my going out on the edge of
the city to see an old friend of many years who has
just lost both his sons and whose prospective son-in-
law is at home wounded. The first thing he said was:
"Tell me, what is America going to do?" As we drove
back, we made a call on a household whose nephew is
"missing." "Can't you possibly help us hear definitely
about him?"
J This sort of thing all day every day must have some
effect on any man. Then yesterday morning gave
promise of a calm, clear day. I never know what sen-
sational experience awaits me around the next corner.
Then there was put on my desk the first page of a rep-
utable weekly paper which was filled with an open letter
to me written by the editor and signed. After the usual
description of my multitudinous and delicate duties, I
was called on to insist that my government should protest
against Zeppelin raids on London because a bomb might
kill me! Humour doesn't bubble much now on this side
the world, for the censor had forbidden the publication of
this open letter lest it should possibly cause American-
German trouble! Then the American correspondents
came in to verify a report that a news agency is said to
have had that I was deluged with threatening letters!
More widows, more mothers looking for lost sons! . . .
Once in a while far less often than if I lived in a sane
and normal world I get a few hours off and go to a lonely
golf club. Alas! there is seldom anybody there but now
and then a pair of girls and now and then a pair of old
fellows who have played golf for a century. Yet back in
DARK DAYS FOR THE ALLIES 101
London in the War Office I hear they indulge in dis-
respectful hilarity at the poor game I play. Now how do
they know? (You'd better look to your score with
Grayson: the English have spies in America. A major-
general in their spy-service department told Mrs. Page
that they knew all about Archibald 1 before he got on the
ship in New York.)
All this I send you not because it is of the slightest per-
manent importance (except the English judgment of us)
but because it will prove, if you need proof, that the world
is gone mad. Everything depends on fighting power and
on nothing else. A victory will save the Government.
Even distinctly hopeful military news will. And English
depression will vanish with a turn of the military tide.
If it had been Bernstorff instead of Dumba that would
have affected even the English judgment of us. Tyrrell 2
remarked to me did I write you? "Think of the freaks
of sheer, blind Luck; a man of considerable ability like
Dumba caught for taking a risk that an idiot would have
avoided, and a fool like Bernstorff escaping!" Then he
added: "I hope Bernstorff will be left. No other human
being could serve the English as well as he is serving
them." So, you see, even in his depression the English-
man has some humour left e. g., when that old sea dog
Lord Fisher heard that Mr. Balfour was to become First
Lord of the Admiralty, he cried out: "Damn it! he
won't do: Arthur Balfour is too much of a gentleman."
So John Bull is now, after all, rather pathetic de-
pressed as he has not been depressed for at least a hundred
years. The nobility and the common man are doing their
whole duty, dying on the Bosphorus or in France without
*It was Archibald's intercepted baggage that furnished the documents which
caused Dumba's dismissal.
'Sir William Tyrrell, private secretary to Sir Edward Grey.
102 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
a murmur, or facing an insurrection in India; but the
labour union man and the commercial class are holding
back and hindering a victory. And there is no great
national leader.
Sincerely yours,
WALTER H. PAGE.
CHAPTER XVII
CHRISTMAS IN ENGLAND, 1915
To Edward M. House
London, December 7, 1915.
MY DEAR HOUSE:
I hear you are stroking down the Tammany tiger an
easier job than I have with the British lion. You can
find out exactly who your tiger is, you know the house he
lives in, the liquor he drinks, the company he goes with.
The British lion isn't so easy to find. At times in English
history he has dwelt in Downing Street not so now. So
far as our struggle with him is concerned, he's all over the
Kingdom; for he is public opinion. The governing crowd
in usual times and on usual subjects can here overrun
public opinion can make it, turn it, down it, dodge it.
But it isn't so now as it affects us. Every mother's son
of 'em has made up his mind that Germany must and
shall be starved out, and even Sir Edward's scalp isn't
safe when they suspect that he wishes to be lenient in
that matter. They keep trying to drive him out, on
two counts: (1) he lets goods out of Germany for the
United States "and thereby handicaps the fleet"; and
(2) he failed in the Balkans. Sir Edward is too much of a
gentleman for this business of rough-riding over all neutral
rights and for bribing those Balkan bandits.
I went to see him to-day about the Hocking, etc. He
asked me: "Do you know that the ships of this line are
really owned, in good faith, by Americans?"
"I'll answer your question," said I, "if I may then ask
103
104 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
you one. No, I don't know of my own knowledge. Now,
do you know that they are not owned by Americans?"
He had to confess that he, of his own knowledge, didn't
know.
"Then," I said, "for the relief of us both, I pray you
hurry up your prize court."
When we'd got done quarrelling about ships and I
started to go, he asked me how I liked Wordsworth's war
poems. "The best of all war poems," said he, "because
they don't glorify war but have to do with its philos-
ophy." Then he told me that some friend of his had just
got out a little volume of these war poems selected from
Wordsworth; "and I'm going to send you a copy."
"Just in time," said I, "for I have a copy of 'The Life
and Letters of John Hay' 1 that I'm sending to you."
He's coming to dine with me in a night or two: he'll do
anything but discuss our Note with me. And he's the
J only member of the Government who, I think, would like
to meet our views; and he can't. To use the language of
Lowell about the campaign of Governor Kent these
British are hell-bent on starving the Germans out, and
neutrals have mighty few rights till that job's done.
The worst of it is that the job won't be done for a very
long time. I've been making a sort of systematic round
of the Cabinet to see what these fellows think about things
in general at this stage of the game. Bonar Law (the
Colonies) tells me that the news from the Balkans is
worse than the public or the newspapers know, and that
still worse news will come. Germany will have it all her
own way in that quarter.
"And take Egypt and the canal?"
"I didn't say that," he replied. But he showed that
he fears even that.
*By William Roscoe Thayer, published in 1915.
Herbert C. Hoover, in 1914
A facsimile page from the Ambassador's letter of November 24,
1916, resigning his Ambassadorship
CHRISTMAS IN ENGLAND, 1915 105
I could go on with a dozen of 'em; but I sat down to
write you a Christmas letter, and nothing else. The
best news I have for you is not news at all, but I conceive
it to be one of the best hopes of the future. In spite of
Irishmen past, present, and to come; in spite of Germans,
whose fuss will soon be over; in spite of lawyers, who (if
left alone) would bankrupt empires as their clients and
think they'd won a victory; I'm going to leave things
here in a year and a half so that, if wise men wish to lay
a plan for keeping the peace of the world, all they need
to do will be to say first to Uncle Sam: "This fellow or
that must understand that he can't break loose like a
wild beast." If Uncle Sam agrees (and has a real navy
himself), he'll wink at John Bull, and John will follow
after. You see our blackleg tail-twisters have the whole
thing backward. They say we truckle to the British. /
My plan is to lead the British not for us to go to them
but to have them come to us. We have three white men
to every two white men in their whole Empire; and, when
peace comes, we'll be fairly started on the road to become
as rich as the war will leave them. There are four clubs
in London which have no other purpose than this; and the
best review 1 in the world exists chiefly for this purpose.
All we need to do is to be courteous (we can do what we
like if we do it courteously). Our manners, our politi-
cians, and our newspapers are all that keep the English- /
speaking white man, under our lead, from ruling the
world, without any treaty or entangling alliance whatso-
ever. If, when you went to Berlin to talk to your gen-
tle and timid friend, the Emperor, about disarmament
before the war if about 200 American dreadnaughts and
cruisers, with real grog on 'em, had come over to make a
friendly call, in the North Sea, on the 300 English dread-
lr rhe Ambassador had in mind The Round Table.
106 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
naughts and cruisers just a friendly call, admirals on
admirals the "Star-Spangled Banner" and "God Save
the King" and if General Bell, from the Philippines, had
happened in London just when Kitchener happened to
v be home from Egypt then, there wouldn't have been this
war now. Nothing need have been said no treaty, no
alliance, nothing. For then 100 or more British naval
ships would have joined the Panama naval procession
and any possible enemy would have seen that combined
fleet clean across the Pacific.
Now this may all be a mere Christmas fancy a mere
yarn about what might have been because we wouldn't
have sent ships here in our old mood; the crew would have
missed one Sunday School. But it's this kind of thing
that does the trick. But this means the practice of
courtesy, and we haven't acquired the habit. Two years
or more ago the training ships from Annapolis with the
cadets aboard anchored down the Thames and stayed
several weeks and let the boys loose in England. They
go on such a voyage every two years to some country,
you know. The English didn't know that fact and they
took the visit as a special compliment. Their old admirals
were all greatly pleased, and I hear talk about that yet.
We ought to have two or three of our rear-admirals
here on their fleet now. Symington, of course, is a good
fellow; but he's a mere commander and attache not an
admiral in other words, not any particular compliment
or courtesy to the British Navy. (As soon as the war
began, a Japanese admiral turned up here and he is here
now.) We sent over two army captains as military ob-
servers. The Russians sent a brigadier-general. We
ought to have sent General Wood. You see the differ-
i ence? There was no courtesy in our method. It would
be the easiest and prettiest job in the world to swallow
CHRISTMAS IN ENGLAND, 1915 107
the whole British organization, lock, stock, and barrel
King, Primate, Cabinet, Lords, and Commons, feathers
and all, and to make 'em follow our courteous lead any-
where. The President had them in this mood when the
war started and for a long time after till the Lusitania
seemed to be forgotten and till the lawyers began to write v
his Notes. He can get 'em back, after the war ends, by
several acts of courtesy if we could get into the habit of
doing such things as sending generals and admirals as
compliments to them. The British Empire is ruled by a
wily use of courtesies and decorations. If I had the Pres-
ident himself to do the correspondence, if I had three or
four fine generals and admirals and a good bishop or
two, a thoroughbred senator or two and now and then a
Supreme Court Justice to come on proper errands and
be engineered here in the right way we could do or say
anything we liked and they'd do whatever we'd say. I'd
undertake to underwrite the whole English-speaking world
to keep peace, under our leadership. Instead whereof,
every move we now make is to follow them or to drive
them. The latter is impossible, and the former is unbe-
coming to us.
But to return to Christmas. I could go on writing for
a week in this off-hand, slap-dash way, saying wise things
flippantly. But Christmas that's the thing now. Christ-
mas! What bloody irony it is on this side the world!
Still there will be many pleasant and touching things
done. An Englishman came in to see me the other day
and asked if I'd send $1,000 to Gerard 1 to use in making
the English prisoners in Germany as happy as possible
on Christmas Day only I must never tell anybody who
did it. A lady came on the same errand for the British
Barnes W. Gerard, American Ambassador to Germany, and, as such, in charge
of British interests in Germany.
108 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
prisoners in Turkey, and with a less but still a generous
sum. The heroism, the generosity, the endurance and
self-restraint and courtesy of these people would melt a
pyramid to tears. Of course there are yellow dogs among
'em, here and there; but the genuine, thoroughbred
>/ English man or woman is the real thing one of the realest
things in this world. So polite are they that not a single
English person has yet mentioned our Note to me not
one.
But every one I've met for two days has mentioned
the sending of Von Papen and Boy-Ed 1 home not that
they expect us to get into the war, but because they re-
gard this action as maintaining our self-respect.
Nor do they neglect other things because of the war.
I went to the annual dinner of the Scottish Corporation
the other night an organization which for 251 years has
looked after Scotchmen stranded in London; and they
collected $20,000 then and there. There's a good deal
of Christmas in 'em yet. One fellow in a little patriotic
speech said that the Government is spending twenty-five
million dollars a day to whip the Germans. "Cheap
work, very cheap work. We can spend twice that if
necessary. Why, gentlemen, we haven't exhausted our
pocket-change yet."
Somehow I keep getting away from Christmas. It
doesn't stay put. It'll be a memorable one here for its
sorrows and for its grim determination an empty chair
at every English table. But nowhere in the world will it
be different except in the small neutral states here and in
the lands on your side the world.
How many Christmases the war may last, nobody's
wise enough to know. That depends absolutely on
l The German military and naval attaches, whose persistent and outrageous vio-
lation of American laws led to their dismissal by President Wilson.
CHRISTMAS IN ENGLAND, 1915 109
Germany. The Allies announced their terms ten months
ago, and nothing has yet happened to make them change
them. That would leave the Germans with Germany and
a secure peace no obliteration or any other wild non-
sense, but only a secure peace. Let 'em go back home,
pay for the damage they've done, and then stay there.
I do hope that the actual fighting will be ended by Christ-
mas of next year. Of course it may end with dramatic
suddenness at any time, this being the only way, perhaps,
for the Kaiser to save his throne. Or it may go on for
two or three years. My guess is that it'll end next year
a guess subject to revision, of course, by events that can't
be foreseen.
But as I said before to come back to Christmas. Mrs.
Page and I send you and Mrs. House our affectionate good
wishes and the hope that you keep very well and very
happy in your happy, prosperous hemisphere. We do,
I thank you. We haven't been better for years never
before so busy, never, I think, so free from care. We get
plenty to eat (such as it is in this tasteless wet zone), at a
high cost, of course; we have comfortable beds and shoes
(we spend all our time in these two things, you know);
we have good company, enough to do (!!), no grievances
nor ailments, no ill-will, no disappointments, a keen
interest in some big things all the chips are blue, you
know; we don't feel ready for halos, nor for other un-
comfortable honours; we deserve less than we get and
are content with what the gods send. This, I take it, is
all that Martin 1 would call a comfortable mood for
Christmas; and we are old enough and tough enough to
have thick armour against trouble. When Worry knocks
at the door, the butler tells him we're not at home.
And I see the most interesting work in the world cut
1 E. S. Martin, Editor of Life.
110 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
out for me for the next twenty-five or thirty years to get
such courtesy into our dealings with these our kinsmen
here, public and private as will cause them to follow us
in all the developments of democracy and in keeping
the peace of the world secure. I can't impress it on you
strongly enough that the English-speaking folk have got
to set the pace and keep this world in order. Nobody
else is equal to the job. In all our dealings with the
/ British, public and private, we allow it to be assumed
that they lead: they don't. We lead. They'll foUow, if
we do really lead and are courteous to them. If we hold
back, the Irishman rears up and says we are surrendering
to the English! Suppose we go ahead and the English
surrender to us, what can your Irishmen do then? Or
your German? The British Navy is a pretty good sort
of dog to have to trot under your wagon. If we are
willing to have ten years of thoughtful good manners, I
tell you JeUicoe will eat out of your hand.
Therefore, cheer up! It's not at all improbable that
Ford 1 and his cargo of cranks, if they get across the ocean,
may strike a German mine in the North Sea. Then
they'll die happy, as martyrs; and the rest of us will live
happy, and it'll be a Merry Christmas for everybody.
Our love to Mrs. House.
Always heartily yours,
W. H. P.
To Frank N. Doubleday and Others
London, Christmas, 1915.
DEAR D. P. & Co.
. . . Now, since we're talking about the war, let
me deliver my opinion and leave the subject. They're
^r. Henry Ford at this time was getting together his famous peace ship, which
was to sail to Europe "to get the boys out of the trenches by Christmas."
CHRISTMAS IN ENGLAND, 1915 111
killing one another all right; you needn't have any doubt
about that so many thousand every day, whether there's
any battle or not. When there's "nothing to report"
from France, that means the regular 5,000 casualties that
happen every day. There isn't any way of getting rid of
men that has been forgotten or neglected. Women and
children, too, of course, starve in Serbia and Poland and
are massacred in Turkey. England, though she has by
very much the largest army she ever had, has the smallest
of all the big armies and yet I don't know a family that
had men of fighting age which hasn't lost one or more
members. And the worst is to come. But you never
hear a complaint. Poor Mr. Dent, 1 for instance (two
sons dead), says: "It's all right. England must be
saved."
And this Kingdom alone, as you know, is spending
twenty-five million dollars a day. The big loan placed in
the United States 2 would last but twenty days! If this
pace of slaughter and of spending go on long enough,
there won't be any men or any money left on this side the
world. Yet there will be both left, of course ; for somehow
things never quite go to the ultimate smash that seems to
come. Read the history of the French Revolution. How
did the French nation survive?
It will go on, unless some unexpected dramatic military
event end it, for something like another year at least
many say for two years more, and some, three years
more. It'll stop, of course, whenever Germany will pro-
pose terms that the Allies can consider or something
near such terms; and it won't stop before. By blockade
pressure and by fighting, the Allies are gradually wearing
the Germans out. We can see here the gradual pressure
1 J. M. Dent, the London publisher.
2 $500,000,000.
112 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
of events in that direction. My guess is that they won't
go into a third winter.
Well, dear gentlemen, however you may feel about it,
that's enough for me. My day every day is divided
into these parts: (1) two to three hours listening to Amer-
icans or their agents here whose cargoes are stopped, to
sorrowing American parents whose boys have run away
and gone into the English Army, to nurses and doctors
and shell makers who wish to go to France, to bereaved
English men and women whose sons are "missing": can
I have them found in Germany? (2) to answering letters
about these same cheerful subjects; (3) to going over cases
and documents prepared about all these sorts of troubles
and forty other sorts, by the eight or ten secretaries of
the Embassy, and a conference with every one of them;
(4) the reading of two books of telegrams, one incoming,
the other outgoing, and the preparation of a lot of answers;
(5) going to the Foreign Office, not every day but often,
to discuss more troubles there; (6) home to dinner at 8
o'clock at home or somewhere else, and there is more
talk about the war or about the political troubles. That
for a regular daily routine for pretty nearly a year and a
half! As I say, if anybody is keeping the war up for my
entertainment, he now has my permission to stop. No
time to read, no time to write, little time to think, little
or no time to see the people you most wish to see, I often
don't know the day of the week or of the month: it's a
sort of life in the trenches, without the immediate physical
danger. Then I have my cabinet meetings, my financial
reports (money we spend for four governments: I had till
recently about a million dollars subject to my check);
then the commission for the relief of Belgium; then the
Ambassadors and Ministers of the other neutral states
our task is worse than war!
CHRISTMAS IN ENGLAND, 1915 113
Well, praise God for sleep. I get from seven to nine
hours a night, unbroken; and I don't take Armageddon
to bed with me.
I don't mind telling you (nobody else) that the more I
see just how great statesmen work and manage great
governments the more I see of them at close range
whether in Washington or London or Berlin or Vienna or
Constantinople (for these are my Capitals), the more I
admire the methods of the Long Island farmers. Boys, I
swear I could take our crowd and do a better job than
many of these great men do. I have to spend a lot of
time to correct their moves before the other fellow finds
out the mistake. For instance I know I spent $2,000 in
telegrams before I could make the German Government
understand the British military age, and the British
Government understand the German military age, for
exchanging prisoners who had lost two legs or arms or
both eyes; and I've had to send a man to Berlin to get a
financial report from one man on one floor of a building
there and to take it to another man on the floor above.
Just yesterday I was reminded that I had made eighteen
requests for the same information of the British Govern-
ment, when the nineteenth request for it came from Wash-
ington; and I have now telegraphed that same thing nine-
teen times since the war began. Of course everybody's
worked to death. But something else ails a lot of 'em all
the way from Constantinople to London. Leaving out
common gutter lying (and there's much of it) the sheer
stupidity of governments is amazing. They are all so
human, so mighty human! I wouldn't be a government
for any earthly consideration. I'd rather be a brindled
dog and trot under the wagon.
But it has been an inexpressibly interesting experience
to find all this out for myself. There's a sort of weary
114 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
satisfaction in feeling that you've seen too much of them
to be fooled by 'em any more. And, although most men
now engaged in this game of government are mere common
mortals with most of the common mortal weaknesses, now
and then a really big man does stumble into the business.
I have my doubts whether a really big man ever deliber-
ately goes into it. And most of the men who the
crowd for the moment thinks are big men don't really
turn out so. It's a game like bull fighting. The bull
is likely to kill you pretty sure to do so if you keep
at the business long enough; but in the meantime you have
some exciting experiences and the applause of the audi-
ence. When you get killed, they forget you immedi-
ately. There are two rather big men in this Government,
and you wouldn't guess in three rounds who they are.
But in general the war hasn't so far developed very big
men in any country. Else we are yet too close to them to
recognize their greatness. Joffre seems to have great
stuff in him ; and (I assure you) you needn't ever laugh at a
Frenchman again. They are a great people. As for the
British, there was never such a race. It's odd I hear that
it happens just now to be the fashion in the United States
to say that the British are not doing their share. There
never was a greater slander. They absolutely hold the
Seven Seas. They have caught about seventy subma-
rines and some of them are now destroying German ships
in the Baltic Sea. They've sent to France by several
times the largest army that any people ever sent over the
sea. They are financing most of their allies and they
have turned this whole island into gun and shell factories.
They made a great mistake at the Dardanelles and they
are slower than death to change their set methods. But
no family in the land, from charcoal burners to dukes,
hesitates one moment to send its sons into the army.
CHRISTMAS IN ENGLAND, 1915 115
When the news comes of their death, they never whimper.
When you come right down to hard facts, the courage and
the endurance of the British and the French excel any-
thing ever before seen on this planet. All the old stories
of bravery from Homer down are outdone every day by
these people. I see these British at close range, full-dress
and undress; and I've got to know a lot of 'em as well as
we can ever come to know anybody after we get grown.
There is simply no end to the silly sides of their character.
But, when the real trial comes, they don't flinch; and (ex-
cept the thoroughbred American) there are no such men
in the world.
A seven-foot Kansas lawyer (Kansas all over him) came
to see me yesterday. He came here a month ago on
some legal business. He told me yesterday that he had
always despised Englishmen. He's seen a few with stud-
horse clothes and white spats and monocles on who had
gone through Kansas to shoot in the Rocky Mountains.
He couldn't understand 'em and he didn't like 'em.
"So infernally uppish," said he.
"Well, what do you think of 'em now?"
4 The very best people in the world," said he. I think
he has a notion of enlisting!
You're still publishing books, I hear. That's a good
occupation. I'd like to be doing it myself. But I can't
even get time to read 'em now.
But, as you know, nobody's writing anything but war
books from Kipling to Hall Caine. Poor Kipling! his
boy's dead. I have no doubt of it. I've had all the Ger-
man hospitals and prison camps searched for him in vain.
These writing men and women, by the way, are as true
blue and as thoroughbred as any other class. I can never
forget Maurice Hewlett's brave behaviour when he
thought that his flying corps son had been killed by the
116 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
Germans or drowned at sea. He's no prig, but a real man.
And the women are as fine as the men. . . .
To go back to books: Of course nobody can tell what
effect the war will have on the writing of them, nor what
sort of new writers may come up. You may be sure that
everything is stirred to its profoundest depths and will
be stirred still more. Some old stagers will be laid on
the shelf; that's certain. What sort of new ones will
come? I asked H. G. Wells this question. He has
promised to think it out and tell me. He has the power
to guess some things very well. I'll put that question to
Conrad when I next see him.
Does anybody in the United States take the Prime
Minister, Mr. Asquith, to be a great man? His wife is a
brilliant woman; and she has kept a diary ever since he
became Prime Minister; and he now has passed the long-
est single term in English history. Mr. Dent thinks he's
the biggest man alive, and Dent has some mighty good
instincts.
Talk about troubles! Think of poor Northcliffe. He
thinks he's saved the nation from its miserable govern-
ment, and the government now openly abuses him in
the House of Commons. Northcliffe puts on his brass
knuckles and turns the Times building upside down and
sets all the Daily Mail machine guns going, and has to go
to bed to rest his nerves, while the row spreads and
deepens. The Government keeps hell in the prayer-
book because without it they wouldn't know what to do
with Northcliffe; and Northcliffe is just as sure that he
has saved England as he is sure the Duke of Wellington
did.
To come back to the war. (We always do.) Since
I wrote the first part of this letter, I spent an evening with
a member of the Cabinet and he told me so much bad
CHRISTMAS IN ENGLAND, 1915 117
military news, which they prevent the papers from pub-
lishing or even hearing, that to-night I almost share this
man's opinion that the war will last till 1918. That
isn't impossible. If that happens the offer that I heard
a noble old buck make to a group of ladies the other night
may be accepted. This old codger is about seventy-five,
ruddy and saucy yet. "My dear ladies," said he, "if
the war goes on and on we shall have no young men left.
A double duty will fall on the old fellows. I shall be
ready, when the need comes, to take four extra wives, and
I daresay there are others of my generation who are as
patriotic as I am."
All of which is only my long-winded, round-about dip-
lomatic way of wishing you every one and every one of
yours and all the folk in the office, their assigns, superiors,
dependents, companions in labour all, everyone and
sundry, the happiest of Christmases; and when you take
stock of your manifold blessings, don't forget to be thank-
ful for the Atlantic Ocean. That's the best asset of
safety that we have.
Affectionately yours,
W. H. P.
To Mrs. Charles G. Loring
6 Grosvenor Square,
London, December 7, 1915.
DEAR KITTY:
This is my Christmas letter to you and Chud a poor
thing, but the best I have to give you. At least it carries
my love, dear, and my wishes that every Christmas under
your own roof will be happier than the preceding one.
Since your starting point is on the high level of your first
Christmas in your own home that's a good wish: isn't it?
118 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
I'm beginning to think a good deal of your mother and
me. Here we are left alone by every one of you in a
foreign land; and, contrary to all predictions that any of
you would have made about us four or five years ago,
we're faring pretty well, thank you, and not on the edge
of dying of loneliness at all. I tell you, I think we're
pretty brave and hardy.
We're even capable of becoming cocky and saucy to
every one of you. Be careful, then.
You see if you have a war to live with you don't nec-
essarily need children: you'll have strife enough without
'em. We'll console ourselves with such reflections as
these.
And the truth is at least about me that there isn't
time to think of what you haven't got. Of course, I'm
working, as always, to soften the relations between these
two governments. So far, in spite of the pretty deep
latent feeling on both sides far worse than it ought to be
and far worse than I wish it were I'm working all the
time to keep things as smooth as possible. Happily,
nobody can prove it, but I believe it, that there is
now and there has been all along more danger of a
serious misunderstanding than anybody has known.
The Germans have, of course, worked in 1000 ways to
cause misunderstanding between England and the United
States. Then, of course, there has been constant danger
in the English bull-headed insularity which sees nothing
but the Englishman's immediate need, and in the English
slowness. Add to these causes the American ignorance
of war and of European conditions. It has been a God's
mercy for us that we have so far had a man like Sir
Edward Grey in his post. And in my post, while there
might well have been a better man, this much at least has
been lucky that I do have a consciousness of English
CHRISTMAS IN ENGLAND, 1915 119
history and of our common origin and some sense of the
inevitable destiny of the great English-speaking race
so that, when we have come to sharp corners in the road, /
I have known that whatever happen we must travel in the r
right general direction have known that no temporary
difference must be allowed to assume a permanent qual-
ity. I have thought several times that we had passed the
worst possible place, and then a still worse one would ap-
pear. It does look now as if we had faced most of the
worst difficulties that can come, but I am not sure what
Congress may do or provoke. If we outlast Congress, we
shall be safe. Now to come through this enormous war
even with no worse feeling than already exists between the
two countries that'll be a big thing to have done. But
it's work like the work of the English fleet. Nobody can
prove that Jellicoe has been a great admiral. Yet the fleet
has done the whole job more successfully than if it had
had sea-fights and lost a part of their ships.
Our Note has left a great deal of bad feeling sup-
pressed, but existent. A part of it was inevitable and
(I'd say) even necessary. But we put in a lot of things
that seem to me to be merely disputatious, and we didn't
write it in the best form. It corresponds to what you
once called suburban: do you remember? Not thorough-
bred. But we'll get over even that, especially if the Ad-
ministration and the courts continue to bring the Ger-
mans to book who are insulting our dignity and destroying
our property and killing Americans. If we can satis-
factorily settle the Lusitania trouble, the whole outlook
will be very good.
Your mother and I are hearing much interesting po-
litical talk. We dined last night with Mr. Bonar Law.
Sir Edward Carson was there. To-day we lunched with
Lady P. the other side, you see. There are funda-
120 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
mental differences continually arising. They thought a
few weeks ago that they had the Prime Minister's scalp.
He proved too nimble for them. Now one person after an-
other says to you: "Kitchener doesn't deserve the rever-
ence the people give him." More and more folks say he's
hard to work with is domineering and selfish. Nobody
seems really to know him ; and there are some signs that
there may be a row about him.
We've heard nothing from Harold in quite a little
while. We have, you know, three of our footmen in the
war. Allen was wounded at Loos a flesh, bullet-wound.
He's about well now and is soon going back. Leslie is
in the trenches and a postal card came from him the other
day. The third one, Philip, is a prisoner in Germany.
Your mother sent him a lot of things, but we've never
heard whether he received them or not. The general
strain military, political, financial gets greater. The
streets are darker than ever. The number of wounded
increases rapidly. More houses are turned into hospitals.
The Manchesters', next door, is a hospital now. And
everybody fears worse days are to come. But they have
no nerves, these English. They grit their teeth, but they
go on bravely, enduring everything. We run into ex-
periences every day that melt you, and the heroic things
we hear outnumber and outdo all the stories in all the
books.
I keep forgetting Xmas, Kitty, and this is my Xmas
letter. You needn't put it in your stocking, but you'd
really better burn it up. It would be the ruination of
the world if my frank comments got loose. It's for you
and Chud only. You may fill your stocking full of the
best wishes you ever received enough to fill the polar
bear skin. And I send you both my love.
W. H. P.
CHRISTMAS IN ENGLAND, 1915 121
To Ralph W., Arthur W., and Frank C. Page 1
London, Christmas, 1915.
DEAR BOYS: R. W. P., A. W. P., F. C. P.
A Merry Christmas to you! Good cheer, good com-
pany, good food, good fires, good golf. I suppose (though
the Lord only knows) that I'll have to be here an-
other Christmas; but another after that? Not on your
life!
I think I'm as cheerful and hopeful as I ever was, but
this experience here and the war have caused my general
confidence in the orderly progress of civilization some-
what to readjust itself. I think that any man who looks
over the world and who knows something of the history
of human society I mean any American who really be- >
lieves in democracy and in human progress is somewhat
saddened to see the exceeding slowness of that progress.
In the early days of our Republic hopeful Americans held
the opinion that the other countries of the world would
follow our example; that is to say, would educate the
people, would give the masses a chance to become real /
men, would make their governments and institutions
serve the people, would dispense with kings and gross
privileges and become free. Well, they haven't done it.
France is nominally a republic, but the masses of its
people are far, far backward. Switzerland is a republic,
but a very small one. Denmark is a very free state, in
spite of its monarchical form of government. In South
America they think they have republics, but they haven't
the slightest idea of the real education and freedom of the
people. Practically, therefore, the United States and
the self-governing British colonies are the only really
free countries of much importance in the whole world
x The Ambassador's sons.
122 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
these and this Kingdom. Our example hasn't been fol-
lowed. In Europe, Germany and Russia in particular
have monarchs who are in absolute command. Thus on
both sides the world, so far as government and the danger
/ of war are concerned, there hasn't been very much real
progress in five hundred years.
This is a little disappointing. And it means, of course,
that we are likely to have periodical earthquakes like this
present one till some radical change come. Republics
have their faults, no doubt. But they have at least this
virtue: that no country where the people really have the
control of their government is likely to start out de-
liberately on any war of conquest is not likely to run
amuck and will not regard its population as mere food
for shell and powder.
Nor do I believe that our example of our government
has, relatively to our strength and wealth and population,
J as much influence in the world as we had one hundred
years ago. Our people have no foreign consciousness and
I know that our government knows almost nothing about
European affairs; nor do our people know. As regards
foreign affairs our government lacks proper machinery.
Take this as an illustration: The President wrote vig-
orous and proper notes about the Lusitania and took a
firm stand with Germany. Germany has paid no atten-
tion to the Lusitania outrage. Yet (as I understand it)
the people will not run the risk of war or the Adminis-
tration thinks they will not and hence the President
can do nothing to make his threat good. Therefore we
stand in a ridiculous situation; and nobody cares how
many notes we write. I don't know that the President
could have done differently unless, before he sent the
Lusitania notes, he had called Congress together and
submitted his notes to Congress. But, as the matter
CHRISTMAS IN ENGLAND, 1915 123
stands, the Germans are merely encouraged to blow up
factories and practically to carry on war in the United
States, because they know we can (or will) do nothing.
Mere notes break nobody's skin.
We don't seem to have any machinery to bring any x
influence to bear on foreign governments or on foreign
opinion; and, this being so, it is little wonder that the rest
of the world does not follow our republican example.
And this sort of impotence in influence has curious
effects at home. For example, the ship-purchase bill, as
it was at the last session of Congress, was an economic
crime. See what has happened: We have waked up to
the fact that we must have a big navy. Well, a navy is
of no far-fighting value unless we have auxiliary ships and
a lot of 'em. Admiral Jellicoe has 3,000 ships under his
command; and he couldn't keep his fleet on the job if
he didn't have them. Most of them are commandeered
merchant, passenger, and fishing ships. Now we haven't
merchant, passenger, and fishing ships to commandeer.
We've got to build and buy auxiliary ships to our navy.
This, to my mind, makes the new ship-purchase bill, or
something like it, necessary. Else our navy, when it
comes to the scratch, will be of no fighting value, however
big it be. It's the price we've got to pay for not having
built up a merchant marine. And we haven't built up a
merchant marine because we've had no foreign conscious-
ness. While our Irishmen have been leading us to twist
the Lion's tail, we've been depending almost wholly on
English ships and, in late years, on German ships. You
can't cross the ocean yet in a decent American ship. You
see, we've declared our independence; and, so far as
individual development goes, we've worked it out. But
the governmental machinery for maintaining it and for
making it visible to the world we've simply neglected to
124 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
build it or to shape it. Hence the President's notes hurt
nobody and accomplish nothing; nor could our navy put
up a real fight, for lack of colliers and supply ships. It's
the same way all around the horizon. And these are the
reasons we haven't made our democracy impress the
world more.
A democracy is not a quick-trigger war-engine and
can't be made into one. When the quick-trigger engines
get to work, they forget that a democracy does not con-
sider fighting the first duty of man. You can bend your
energies to peaceful pursuits or you can bend them to
war. It's hard to do both at the same time. The Ger-
mans are the only people who have done both at the same
time; and even they didn't get their navy big enough for
their needs.
When the infernal thing's over that'll be a glad day;
and the European world won't really know what it has
cost in men and money and loss of standards till it is
over. . . .
Affectionately,
W. H. P.
To Walter H. Page, Jr. 1
London, Christmas, 1915.
SIR:
For your first Christmas, I have the honour to send you
my most affectionate greetings; and in wishing you all
good health, I take the liberty humbly to indicate some of
the favours of fortune that I am pleased to think I enjoy
in common with you.
First I hear with pleasure that you are quite well con-
tent with yourself not because of a reasoned conviction
of your own worth, which would be mere vanity and un-
x The Ambassador's infant grandson, son of Arthur W. Page,
CHRISTMAS IN ENGLAND, 1915 125
worthy of you, but by reason of a philosophical dispo-
sition. It is too early for you to bother over problems of
self-improvement as for me it is too late; wherefore we
are alike in the calm of our self-content. What others
may think or say about us is a subject of the smallest
concern to us. Therefore they generally speak well of
us; for there is little satisfaction in speaking ill of men
who care nothing for your opinion of them. Then, too,
we are content to be where we happen to be a fact that
we did not order in the beginning and need not now
concern ourselves about. Consider the eternal coir ing
and going of folk. On every road many are travelling
one way and an equal number are travelling the other way.
It is obvious that, if they were all content to remain at
the places whence they set forth, the distribution of the
population would be the same. Why therefore move
hither and yon at the cost of much time and labour and
money, since nothing is accomplished thereby? We
spare ourselves by being content to remain where we are.
We thereby have the more time for reflection. Nor can
we help observing with a smile that all persons who have
good reasons to see us themselves make the necessary
journey after they discover that we remain fixed.
Again, people about us are continually doing this ser-
vice and that for some other people running errands,
mending fences, bearing messages, building, and tearing
down; and they all demand equal service in return. Thus
a large part of mankind keeps itself in constant motion
like bubbles of water racing around a pool at the foot of a
water-fall or like rabbits hurrying into their warrens
and immediately hurrying out again. Whereas, while
these antics amuse and sadden us, we for the most part
remain where we are. Hence our wants are few; they
are generally most courteously supplied without our ask-
126 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
ing; or, if we happen to be momentarily forgotten, we
can quickly secure anything in the neighbourhood by a
little judicious squalling. Why, then, should we whirl
as bubbles or scurry as rabbits? Our conquering self-
possession gives a masterful charm to life that the victims
of perpetual locomotion never seem to attain.
You have discovered, and my experience confirms yours,
that a perpetual self-consciousness brings most of the
misery of the world. Men see others who are richer than
they; or more famous, or more fortunate so they think;
and they become envious. You have not reached the
period of such empty vanity, and I have long passed it.
Let us, therefore, make our mutual vows not to be dis-
turbed by the good luck or the good graces of others,
but to continue, instead, to contemplate the contented
cat on the rug and the unenvious sky that hangs over all
alike.
This mood will continue to keep our lives simple. Con-
sider our diet. Could anything be simpler or better?
We are not even tempted by the poisonous victuals where-
with mankind destroys itself. The very first sound law
of life is to look to the belly; for it is what goes into a
man that ruins him. By avoiding murderous food, we
may hope to become centenarians. And why not? The
golden streets will not be torn up and we need be in no
indecent haste to travel even on them. The satisfac-
tions of this life are just beginning for us; and we shall
be wise to endure this world for as long a period as pos-
sible.
And sleep is good long sleep and often; and your age
and mine permit us to indulge in it without the sneers of
the lark or the cock or the dawn.
I pray you, sir, therefore, accept my homage as the
philosopher that you are and my assurance of that high
CHRISTMAS IN ENGLAND, 1915 127
esteem indicated by my faithful imitation of your virtues.
I am,
With the most distinguished consideration,
With the sincerest esteem, and
With the most affectionate good wishes,
Sir,
Your proud,
Humble,
Obedient
GRANDDADDY.
To Master Walter Hines Page,
On Christmas, 1915.
CHAPTER XVIII
A PERPLEXED AMBASSADOR
THE beginning of the new year saw no improve-
ment in German-American relations. Germany
and Austria continued to violate the pledge given by
Bernstorff after the sinking of the Arabic if that shifty
statement could be regarded as a "pledge." On Novem-
ber 7, 1915, the Austrians sank the Ancona, in the Medi-
terranean, drowning American citizens under conditions
of particular atrocity, and submarine attacks on mer-
chant ships, without the "warning" or attempt to save
passengers and crew which Bernstorff had promised, took
place nearly every day. On April 18, 1916, the Sussex
was torpedoed in the English Channel, without warning
and with loss of American life. This caused what seemed
to be a real crisis; President Wilson sent what was practi-
cally an ultimatum to Germany, demanding that it "im-
mediately declare and effect an abandonment of its pres-
ent methods of warfare against passenger and freight
carrying vessels," declaring that, unless it did so, the
United States would sever diplomatic relations with the
German Empire. In reply, Germany apparently backed
down and gave the promise the President had demanded.
However, it coupled this concession with an expression
of its expectation that the United States would compel
Great Britain to observe international law in the block-
ade. As this latter statement might be interpreted as a
qualification of its surrender, the incident hardly ended
satisfactorily.
128
A PERPLEXED AMBASSADOR 129
To Arthur W. Page
Eournemouth
May 22, 1916.
DEAR ARTHUR:
I stick on the back of this sheet a letter that Sydney
Brooks wrote from New York (May 1st) to the Daily Mail.
He formulates a question that we have many times asked
ourselves and that, in one way or other, comes into every-
body's mind here. Of course the common fellow in Jones-
ville who has given most of his time and energy to earning
a living for his wife and children has no foreign conscious-
ness, whether his Jonesville be in the United States or in
England or in France or in Zanzibar. The real question
is, Do these fellows in Jonesville make up the United
States? or has there been such a lack of prompt leadership
as to make all the Jonesville people confused? It's hard
for me to judge at this distance just how far the President
has led and just how far he has waited and been pushed
along. Suppose he had stood on the front steps every
morning before breakfast for a month after the Lusitania
went down and had called to the people in the same tone
that he used in his note to Germany had sounded a bugle
call would we have felt as we now feel? What would
the men in Jonesville have done then? Would they
have got their old guns down from over the doors? Or
do they so want peace and so think that they can have
peace always that they've lost their spine? Have they
really been Bryanized, Fordized, Janeaddamsized, Sun-
dayschooled, and Chautauquaed into supine creatures
to whom the United States and the ideals of the Fathers
mean nothing? Who think a German is as good as an
Englishman? Who have no particular aims or aspirations
for our country and for democracy? When T. R. was in
130 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
the White House he surely was an active fellow. He
called us to exercise ourselves every morning. He bawled
"Patriotism" loudly. We surely thought we were awake
during those strenuous years. Were we really awake or
did we only look upon him and his antics as a sort of good
show? All that time Bryan was peace-a- footing and
prince-of-peacing. Now did he really have the minds
of the people or did T. R.P
If we've really gone to sleep and if the United States
stands for nothing but personal comfort and commercial-
ism to our own people, what a job you and the patriotic
men of your generation have cut out for you!
My own conviction (which I don't set great store by)
is that our isolation and prosperity have not gone so far
in softening us as it seems. They've gone a good way,
no doubt; but I think that even the Jonesville people yet
feel their Americanism. What they need is leadership.
Their Congressmen are poor, timid, pork-barrel creatures.
Their governors are in training for the Senate. The Vice-
President reads no official literature of the war, "because
then I might have a conviction about it and that wouldn't
be neutral." And so on. If the people had a real lead-
ership, I believe they'd wake up even in Jonesville.
Well, let's let these things go for the moment. How's
the Ambassador? 1 And the Ambassador's mother and
sister? They're nice folks of whom and from whom I
hear far too little. Give 'em my love. I don't want you
to rear a fighting family. But these kids won't and
mustn't grow up peace-cranks not that anybody objects
* to peace, but I do despise and distrust a crank, a crank
about anything. That's the lesson we've got to learn
from these troubled times. First, let cranks alone the
other side of the street is good enough for them. Then,
*A playful reference to the Ambassador's infant grandson, Walter H. Page, Jr.
A PERPLEXED AMBASSADOR 131
if they persist, I see nothing to do but to kill 'em, and
that's troublesome and inconvenient.
But, as I was saying, bless the babies. I can't begin to
tell you how very much I long to see them, to make their
acquaintance, to chuckle 'em and punch 'em and see 'em
laugh, and to see just what sort of kids they be.
I've written you how in my opinion there's no country
in the world fit for a modern gentleman and man-of-char-
acter to live in except (1) the United States and (2) this
island. And this island is chiefly valuable for the breed
of men the right stock. They become more valuable tew
the world after they go away from home. But the right]
blood's here. This island's breed is the best there is. An\
Englishman or a Scotchman is the best ancestor in this)
world, many as his shortcomings are. Some English-
man asked me one night in what, I thought, the English-
man appeared at his best. I said, "As an ancestor to
Americans ! " And this is the fundamental reason why we
(two peoples) belong close together. Reasons that flow v
from these are such as follows: (1) The race is the sea-
mastering race and the navy-managing race and the ocean-
carrying race; (2) the race is the literary race, (3) the
exploring and settling and colonizing race, (4) the race to
whom fair play appeals, and (5) that insists on individual
development.
Your mother having read these two days 1,734 pages of
memoirs of the Coke family, one of whose members wrote
the great law commentaries, another carried pro-Ameri-
can votes in Parliament in our Revolutionary times, re-
fused peerages, defied kings and begad! here they are
now, living in the same great house and saying and doing
what they darn please we know this generation of 'em!
well, your mother having read these two big volumes
about the old ones and told me 175 good stories out of
132 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
these books, bless her soul! she's gone to sleep in a big chair
on the other side of the table. Well she may, she walked
for two hours this morning over hills and cliffs and through
pine woods and along the beach. I guess I'd better wake
her up and get her to go to bed as the properer thing to
do at this time o'night, viz. 11. My golf this afternoon
was too bad to confess. But I must say that a 650 and
a 730 yard hole argues the audacity of some fellow and the
despair of many more. Nature made a lot of obstructions
there and Man made more. It must be seven or eight
miles around that course! It's almost a three hour task
to follow my slow ball around it. I suggested we play
with howitzers instead of clubs. Good night!
W. H. P.
To Frank N. Doubleday and Others
Royal Bath and East Cliff Hotel,
Bournemouth, May 29, 1916.
DEARD. P. &Co.:
I always have it in mind to write you letters; but there's
no chance in my trenches in London; and, since I have
not been out of London for nearly two years since the
war began only an occasional half day and a night till
now naturally I've concocted no letter. I've been down
here a week a week of sunshine, praise God and peo-
ple are not after me every ten minutes, or Governments
either; and my most admirable and efficient staff (now
grown to one hundred people) permit few letters and
telegrams to reach me. There never was a little rest more
grateful. The quiet sea out my window shows no sign of
crawling submarines; and, in general, it's as quiet and
peaceful here as in Garden City itself.
I'm on the home-stretch now in all my thoughts and
plans. Three of my four years are gone, and the fourth
A PERPLEXED AMBASSADOR 133
will quickly pass. That's not only the limit of my leave,
but it's quite enough for me. I shouldn't care to live
through another such experience, if the chance should ever
come to me. It has changed my whole life and my whole
outlook on life; and, perhaps, you'd like to hear some in-
pressions that it has made upon me.
The first impression perhaps the strongest is a less
of permanent interest in Europe, especially all Europe
outside of this Kingdom. I have never had the illusion
that Europe had many things that we needed to learn.
The chief lesson that it has had, in my judgment, is the
lesson of the art of living the comforts and the courtesies
of life, the refinements and the pleasures of conversation
and of courteous conduct. The upper classes have this
to teach us; and we need and can learn much from them.
But this seems to me all or practically all. What we
care most for are individual character, individual develop-
ment, and a fair chance for every human being. Char-
acter, of course, the English have immense character, /
colossal character. But even they have not the dimmest
conception of what we mean by a fair chance for every
human being not the slightest. In one thousand years
they may learn it from us. Now on the continent, the
only important Nation that has any character worth
mentioning is the French. Of course the little nations
some of them have character, such as Holland, Switzer-
land, Sweden, etc. But these are all. The others are
simply rotten. In giving a free chance to every human
creature, we've nothing to learn from anybody. In char-
acter, I bow down to the English and Scotch; I respect
the Frenchman highly and admire his good taste. But,
for our needs and from our point of view, the English can
teach us only two great lessons character and the art of
living (if you are rich).
134 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
The idea that we were brought up on, therefore, that
I Europe is the home of civilization in general nonsense!
It's a periodical slaughter-pen, with all the vices that this
implies. I'd as lief live in the Chicago stock-yards.
There they kill beeves and pigs. Here they kill men and
(incidentally) women and children. I should no more
think of encouraging or being happy over a child of mine
becoming a European of any Nation than I should be
happy over his fall from Grace in any other way.
Our form of government and our scheme of society-
God knows they need improving are yet so immeasur-
ably superior, as systems, to anything on this side the
world that no comparison need be made.
My first strong impression, then, is not that Europe is
" effete " that isn't it. It is mediaeval far back toward
the Dark Ages, much of it yet uncivilized, held back by
inertia when not held back by worse things. The caste
system is a constant burden almost as heavy as war itself
and often quite as cruel.
The next impression I have is, that, during the thousand
years that will be required for Europe to attain real (mod-
ern) civilization, wars will come as wars have always
come in the past. The different countries and peoples and
governments will not and cannot learn the lesson of feder-
ation and cooperation so long as a large mass of their
people have no voice and no knowledge except of their
particular business. Compare the miles of railway in
proportion to population with the same proportion in
the United States or the telephones, or the use of
the mails, or of bank checks; or make any other practical
measure you like. Every time, you'll come back to the
discouraging fact that the masses in Europe are driven as
cattle. So long as this is true, of course, they'll be driven
periodically into wars. So many countries, so many races,
A PERPLEXED AMBASSADOR 135
so many languages all within so small an area as Europe
positively invite deadly differences. If railroads had
been invented before each people had developed its own
separate language, Europe could somehow have been
coordinated, linked up, federated, made to look at life
somewhat in the same way. As it is, wars will be bred
here periodically for about another thousand years. The
devil of this state of things is that they may not always
be able to keep their wars at home.
For me, then, except England and the smaller ex-
ceptions that I have mentioned, Europe will cut no big
figure in my life. In all the humanities, we are a thousand
years ahead of any people here. So also in the adaptabil-
ities and the conveniences of life, in its versatilities and
in its enjoyments. Most folk are stolid and sad or dull
on this side of the world. Else how could they take their
kings and silly ceremonies seriously?
Now to more immediate and definite impressions. I
have for a year had the conviction that we ought to get
into the war into the economic war for the following
among many reasons.
1. That's the only way to shorten it. We could cause
Germany's credit (such as she has) instantly to collapse,
and we could hasten her hard times at home which would
induce a surrender.
2. That's the only way we can have any real or im-
portant influence in adjusting whatever arrangements can
be made to secure peace.
3. That's the best way we can inspire complete respect
for us in the minds of other nations and thereby, perhaps,
save ourselves from some wars in the future.
4. That's the best way we can assert our own charac-
ter our Americanism, and forever get rid of all kinds of
hyphens.
ff 136 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
5. That's the only way we shall ever get a real and
sensible preparedness, which will be cf enormous educa-
tional value even if no military use should ever be made
of our preparation.
6. That's the only way American consciousness will
ever get back to the self-sacrificing and patriotic point
of view of the Fathers of the Republic.
7. That's the best way to emancipate ourselves from
cranks.
8. That's the only way we'll ever awaken in our whole
people a foreign consciousness that will enable us to assert
our natural influence in the world political, financial,
social, commercial the best way to make the rest of the
world our customers and friends and followers.
All the foregoing I have fired at the Great White Chief
for a year by telegraph and by mail; and I have never
fired it anywhere else till now. Be very quiet, then.
No man with whom I have talked or whose writings I
have read seems to me to have an adequate conception
of the colossal changes that the war is bringing and will
bring. Of course, I do not mean to imply that I have any
adequate conception. Nobody can yet grasp it. The
loss of (say) ten million men from production of work or
wares or children; what a changed world that fact alone
will make! The presence in all Europe of (perhaps)
fifteen or twenty million more women than men will up-
set the whole balance of society as regards the sexes. The
loss of most of the accumulated capital of Europe and the
vast burdens of debt for the future to pay will change the
financial relations of the whole world. From these two
great losses men and money God knows the many
kinds of changes that will come. Women are doing and
will continue to do many kinds of work hitherto done by
men.
A PERPLEXED AMBASSADOR 137
Of course there are some great gains. Many a flabby
or abject fellow will come out of the war a real man: he'll
be nobody's slave thereafter. The criminal luxury of the
rich will not assert itself again for a time. The un-
paralleled addition to the world's heroic deeds will be to
the good of mankind, as the unparalleled suffering has
eclipsed all records. The survivors will be in an heroic
mood for the rest of their lives. In general, life will start
on a new plane and a lot of old stupid habits and old party
quarrels and class prejudices will disappear. To get
Europe going again will call for new resolution and a new
sort of effort. Nobody can yet see what far-reaching
effects it will have on government.
If I could make the English and Scotch over, I could
greatly improve them. I'd cut out the Englishman's
arrogance and key him up to a quicker gait. Lord! he's
a slow beast. But he's worked out the germ and the
beginning of all real freedom, and he has character. He
knows how to conserve and to use wealth. He's a great
John Bull, after all. And as for commanding the sea, for
war or trade, you may properly bow down to him and
pay him homage. The war will, I think, quicken him
up. It will lessen his arrogance to us, at least. I think
it will make him stronger and humbler. And, whatever
his virtues and his faults, he's the only Great Power we
can go hand in hand with ....
These kinds of things have been going on now nearly
two years, and not till these ten days down here have I
had time or chance or a free mind to think them over;
and now there's nothing in particular to think nothing
but just to go on, doing these 40,000 things (and they take
a new turn every day) the best I can, without the slightest
regard to consequences. I've long ago passed the place
where, having acted squarely according to my best judg-
138 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
ment, I can afford to pay the slightest attention to what
anybody thinks. I see men thrown on the scrap heap
every day. Many of them deserve it, but a good many
do not. In the abnormal state of mind that everybody
has, there are inevitable innocent misunderstandings,
which are as fatal as criminal mistakes. The diplomatic
service is peculiarly exposed to misunderstandings: and,
take the whole diplomatic service of all nations as shown
up by this great strain, it hasn't stood the test very well.
I haven't the respect for it that I had when I started.
Yet, God knows, I have a keen sympathy for it. I've
seen some of 'em displaced; some of 'em lie down; some
of 'em die.
As I've got closer and closer to big men, as a rule they
shrink up. They are very much like the rest of us
many of 'em more so. Human nature is stripped in these
times of most of its disguises, and men have to stand and
be judged as a rule by their real qualities. Among all
the men in high place here, Sir Edward Grey stands out
in my mind bigger, not smaller, than he stood in the be-
ginning. He's a square, honourable gentleman, if there
is one in this world. And it is he, of course, with whom
I have had all my troubles. It's been a truly great ex-
perience to work and to quarrel with such a man. We've
kept the best friendship a constantly ripening one.
There are others like him only smaller.
Yet they are all in turn set upon by the press or public
opinion and hounded like criminals. They try (some-
body tries) to drive 'em out of office every once in a while.
If there's anything I'm afraid of, it's the newspapers.
The correspondents are as thick as flies in summer all
hunting sensations especially the yellow American press.
I play the game with these fellows always squarely, some-
times I fear indiscreetly. But what is discretion? That's
A PERPLEXED AMBASSADOR 139
the hardest question of all. We have regular meetings.
I tell 'em everything I can always on the condition that
I'm kept out of the papers. If they'll never mention
me, I'll do everything possible for them. Absolute
silence of the newspapers (as far as I can affect it) is the
first rule of safety. So far as I know, we've done fairly
well; but always in proportion to silence. I don't want
any publicity. I don't want any glory. I don't want
any office. I don't want nothin' but to do this job
squarely, to get out of this scrape, to go off somewhere in
the sunshine and to see if I can slip back into my old self
and see the world sane again. Yet I'm immensely proud
that I have had the chance to do some good to keep our
record straight as far as I can, and to be of what service
I can to these heroic people.
Out of it all, one conviction and one purpose grows and
becomes clearer. The world isn't yet half-organized. In
the United States we've lived in a good deal of a fool's
paradise. The world isn't half so safe a place as we sup-
posed. Until steamships and telegraphs brought the
nations all close together, of course we could enjoy our
isolation. We can't do so any longer. One mad fool in
Berlin has turned the whole earth topsy-turvy. We'd
forgotten what our forefathers learned the deadly dan-
gers of real monarchs and of castes and classes. There
are a lot of 'em left in the world yet. We've grown rich
and weak; we've let cranks and old women shape our
ideas. We've let our politicians remain provincial and
ignorant.
And believe me, dear D. P. & Co. with affectionate
greeting to every one of you and to every one of yours,
collectively and singly,
Yours heartily,
W. H. P.
140 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
Memorandum written after attending the service at
St. Paul's in memory of Lord Kitchener. 1
American Embassy, London.
There were two Kitcheners, as every informed person
knows (1) the popular hero and (2) the Cabinet Minister
with whom it was impossible for his associates to get along.
He made his administrative career as an autocrat dealing
with dependent and inferior peoples. This experience
fixed his habits and made it impossible for him to do team
work or to delegate work or even to inform his associates
of what he had done or was doing. While, therefore, his
name raised a great army, he was in many ways a hin-
drance in the Cabinet. First one thing and then another
was taken out of his hands ordnance, munitions, war
plans. When he went to Gallipoli, some persons pre-
dicted that he would never come back. There was a hot
meeting of the Cabinet at which he was asked to go to
Russia, to make a sort of return visit for the visit that im-
portant Russians had made here, and to link up Russia's
military plans with the plans of the Western Allies. He
is said to have remarked that he was going only because he
had been ordered to go. There was a hope and a feeling
again that he might not come back till after the war.
Now just how much truth there is in all this, one has
to guess; but undoubtedly a good deal. He did much in
raising the army, but his name did more. What an ex-
traordinary situation! The great hero of the Nation an
impossible man to work with. The Cabinet could not
tell the truth about him: the people would not believe it
and would make the Cabinet suffer. Moreover, such a
row would have given comfort to the enemy. Kitchener,
on the Hampshire, June 5, 1916, off the coast of Scotland.
A PERPLEXED AMBASSADOR 141
on his part, could not afford to have an open quarrel.
The only solution was to induce him to go away for a long
time. Both sides saw that. Such thoughts were in
everybody's mind while the impressive funeral service was
said and sung in St. Paul's. The Great Hero, who had
failed, was celebrated of course as a Great Hero quite
truly and yet far from true. For him his death came at
a lucky time: his work was done.
There is even a rumour, which I don't for a moment
believe, that he is alive on the Orkney Islands and pre-
fers to disappear there till the war ends. This is fan-
tastic, and it was doubtless suggested by the story that
he did disappear for several years while he was a young
officer.
I could not help noticing, when I saw all the Cabinet
together at the Cathedral, how much older many of them
look than they looked two years ago. Sir Edward Grey,
Mr. Asquith, Mr. Balfour, who is really an old man,
Lloyd George each of these seems ten years older. And
so does the King. The men in responsible places who are
not broken by the war will be bent. General French,
since his retirement to command of the forces in England,
seems much older. So common is this quick aging that
Lady Jellicoe, who went to Scotland to see her husband
after the big naval battle, wrote to Mrs. Page in a sort of
rhapsody and with evident surprise that the Admiral
really did not seem older! The weight of this thing is so
prodigious that it is changing all men who have to do with
it. Men and women (who do not wear mourning) men-
tion the death of their sons in a way that a stranger might
mistake for indifference. And it has a curious effect on
marriages. Apparently every young fellow who gets a
week's leave from the trenches comes home and marries
and, of course, goes straight back especially the young
142 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
officers. You see weddings all day as you pass the favour-
ite churches; and already the land is full of young widows.
To Edwin A. Alderman 1
Embassy of the U. S. A., London,
June 22, 1916.
MY DEAR ED ALDERMAN:
I shall not forget how good you were to take time to
write me a word about the meeting of the Board' the
Board: there's no other one in that class at Hampton, 2
and I did most heartily appreciate the knowledge that you
all remembered me. Alas! it's a long, long time ago when
we all met so long ago that to me it seems a part of a
former incarnation. These three years especially these
/ two years of the war have changed my whole outlook on
7 life and foreshortened all that came before. I know I
shall never link back to many things (and alas! too, to
many people) that once seemed important and surely
were interesting. Life in these trenches (five warring or
quarrelling governments mining and sapping under me
and shooting over me) two years of universal ambassa-
dorship in this hell are enough enough I say, even for
a man who doesn't run away from responsibilities or
weary of toil. And God knows how it has changed me
and is changing me: I sometimes wonder, as a merely in-
tellectual and quite impersonal curiosity.
Strangely enough I keep pretty well very well, in fact.
Perhaps I've learned how to live more wisely than I knew
in the old days; perhaps again, I owe it to my old grand-
father who lived (and enjoyed) ninety-four years. I
President of the University of Virginia.
2 Hampton Institute, at Hampton, Va.
A PERPLEXED AMBASSADOR 143
have walked ten miles to-day and I sit down as the clock
strikes eleven (p. M.) to write this letter.
You will recall more clearly than I certain horrible,
catastrophic, universal-ruin passages in Revelation-
monsters swallowing the universe, blood and fire and clouds
and an eternal crash, rolling ruin enveloping all things-
well, all that's come. There are, perhaps, ten million men
dead of this war and, perhaps, one hundred million per-
sons to whom death would be a blessing. Add to these as
many millions more whose views of life are so distorted that
blank idiocy would be a better mental outlook, and you'll
get a hint (and only a hint) of what the continent has
already become a bankrupt slaughter-house inhabited
by unmated women. We have talked of "problems" in
our day. We never had a problem; for the worst task we
ever saw was a mere blithe pastime compared with what
these women and the few men that will remain here must
face. The hills about Verdun are not blown to pieces
worse than the whole social structure and intellectual and
spiritual life of Europe. I wonder that anybody is sane.
Now we have swung into a period and a state of mind
wherein all this seems normal. A lady said to me at a
dinner party (think of a dinner party at all!), "Oh, how
I shall miss the war when it ends! Life without it will
surely be dull and tame. What can we talk about?
Will the old subjects ever interest us again?" I said,
"Let's you and me try and see." So we talked about
books not war books old country houses that we both
knew, gardens and gold and what not; and in fifteen
minutes we swung back to the war before we were aware.
I get out of it, as the days rush by, certain fundamental
convictions, which seem to me not only true true beyond
any possible cavil truer than any other political things
are true and far more important than any other con-
144 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
temporary facts whatsoever in any branch of endeavour,
but better worth while than anything else that men now
living may try to further:
/ 1. The cure for democracy is more democracy. The
*" danger to the world lies in autocrats and autocracies and
privileged classes ; and these things have everywhere been
dangerous and always will be. There's no security in
any part of the world where people cannot think of a
government without a king, and there never will be. You
cannot conceive of a democracy that will unprovoked set
out on a career of conquest. If all our religious mis-
sionary zeal and cash could be turned into convincing
Europe of this simple and obvious fact, the longest step
would be taken for human advancement that has been
taken since 1776. If Carnegie, or, after he is gone, his
Peace People could see this, his Trust might possibly do
some good.
2. As the world stands, the United States and Great
J Britain must work together and stand together to keep
the predatory nations in order. A League to Enforce
Peace and the President's idea of disentangling alliances
.are all in the right direction, but vague and general and
^cumbersome, a sort of bastard children of Neutrality.
The thing, the only thing is a perfect understanding be-
tween the English-speaking peoples. That's necessary,
and that's all that's necessary. We must boldly take the
lead in that. I frankly tell my friends here that the
English have got to throw away their damned arrogance
and their insularity and that we Americans have got to
throw away our provincial ignorance ("What is abroad
to us?"), hang our Irish agitators and shoot our hyphen-
ates and bring up our children with reverence for English
history and in the awe of English literature. This is the
only job now in the world worth the whole zeal and
A PERPLEXED AMBASSADOR 145
energy of all first-class, thoroughbred English-speaking
men. We must lead. We are natural leaders. The
English must be driven to lead. Item: We must get
their lads into our universities, ours into theirs. They
don't know how to do it, except the little driblet of
Rhodes men. Think this out, remembering what fools
we've been about exchange professors with Germany!
How much good could Fons Smith 1 do in a thousand
years, on such an errand as he went on to Berlin? And
the English don't know how to do it. They are childish
(in some things) beyond belief. An Oxford or Cambridge
man never thinks of going back to his university except
about twice a lifetime when his college formally asks him
to come and dine. Then he dines as docilely as a scared
Freshman. I am a D. C. L. of Oxford. I know a lot of
their faculty. They are hospitality itself. But I've
never yet found out one important fact about the univer-
sity. They never tell me. I've been down at Cam-
bridge time and again and stayed with the Master of one
of the colleges. I can no more get at what they do and
how they do it than I could get at the real meaning of a
service in a Buddhist Temple. I have spent a good deal
of time with Lord Rayleigh, who is the Chancellor of
Cambridge University. He never goes there. If he were
to enter the town, all the men in the university would
have to stop their work, get on their parade-day gowns,
line-up by precedent and rank and go to meet him and go
through days of ceremony and incantations. I think the
old man has been there once in five years. Now this
medievalism must go or be modified. You fellers who
have universities must work a real alliance a big job
here. But to go on.
1 C. Alphonso Smith, Professor of English, U. S. Naval Academy; Roosevelt
Professor at Berlin, 1910-11.
146 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
The best informed English opinion is ripe for a com-
plete working understanding with us. We've got to
work up our end get rid of our ignorance of foreign
affairs, our shirt-sleeve, complaining kind of diplomacy,
our sport of twisting the lion's tail and such things and
fall to and bring the English out. It's the one race in
this world that's got the guts.
Hear this in confirmation: I suppose 1,000 English
women have been to see me as a last hope to ask me to
have inquiries made in Germany about their "missing"
sons or husbands, generally sons. They are of every
class and rank and kind, from marchioness to scrub-
woman. Every one tells her story with the same dignity
of grief, the same marvellous self-restraint, the same
courtesy and deference and sorrowful pride. Not one
has whimpered but one. And it turned out that she was
a Belgian. It's the breed. Spartan mothers were theat-
rical and pinchbeck compared to these women.
I know a lady of title, very well to do, who for a year
got up at 5 :30 and drove herself in her own automobile
from her home in London to Woolwich where she worked
all day long in a shell factory as a volunteer and got home
at 8 o'clock at night. At the end of a year they wanted
her to work in a London place where they keep the records
of the Woolwich work. "Think of it," said she, as she
shook her enormous diamond ear-rings as I sat next to
her at dinner one Sunday night not long ago, "think of
it what an easy time I now have. I don't have to
start till half-past seven and I get home at half-past
six!"
I could fill forty pages with stories like these. This
very Sunday I went to see a bedridden old lady who
sent me word that she had something to tell me. Here
it was: An English flying man's machine got out of order
A PERPLEXED AMBASSADOR 147
and he had to descend in German territory. The Ger-
mans captured him and his machine. They ordered him
to take two of their flying men in his machine to show
them a particular place in the English lines. He de-
clined. "Very well, we'll shoot you, then." At last he
consented. The three started. The Englishman quietly
strapped himself in. There were no straps for the two
Germans. The Englishman looped-the-loop. The Ger-
mans fell out. The Englishman flew back home. "My
son has been to see me from France. He told me that.
He knows the man" thus said the old lady and thanked
me for coming to hear it! She didn't know that the
story has been printed.
But the real question is, "How are you?" Do you
keep strong? Able, without weariness, to keep up your
good work? I heartily hope so, old man. Take good
care of yourself very.
My love to Mrs. Alderman. Please don't quote me
yet. I have to be very silent publicly about everything.
After March 4th, I shall again be free.
Yours always faithfully,
W. H. P.
CHAPTER XIX
WASHINGTON IN THE SUMMER OF 1916
IN JULY Page received a cablegram summoning him to
Washington. This message did not explain why his
presence was desired, nor on this point was Page ever
definitely enlightened, though there were more or less
vague statements that a "change of atmosphere" might
better enable the Ambassador to understand the problems
which were then engrossing the State Department.
The President had now only a single aim in view. From
the date of the so-called Sussex "pledge," May 4, 1916,
until the resumption of submarine warfare on February 1,
1917, Mr. Wilson devoted all his energies to bringing the
warring powers together and establishing peace. More
than one motive was inspiring the President in this de-
termination. That this policy accorded with his own
idealistic tendencies is true, and that he aspired to a
position in history as the great " peace maker " is probably
the fact, but he had also more immediate and practical
purposes in mind. Above all, Mr. Wilson was bent on
keeping the United States out of the war; he knew that
there was only one certain way of preserving peace in
this country, and that was by bringing the war itself to
an end. "An early peace is all that can prevent the Ger-
mans from driving us at last into the war," Page wrote
at about this -time; and this single sentence gives the key
to the President's activities for the succeeding nine
months. The negotiations over the Sussex had taught
148
WASHINGTON IN THE SUMMER OF 1916 149
Mr. Wilson this truth. He understood that the pledge
which the German Government had made was only a
conditional one; that the submarine campaign had been
suspended only for the purpose of giving the United
States a breathing spell during which it could persuade
Great Britain and France to make peace.
"I repeat my proposal," Bernstorff cabled his govern-
ment on April 26, 1 "to suspend the submarine war at
least for the period of negotiations. This would remove
all danger of a breach [with the United States] and also
enable Wilson to continue his labours in his great plan of
bringing about a peace based upon the freedom of the
seas i. e., that for the future trade shall be free from all
interference in time of war. According to the assurances
which Wilson, through House, has given me, he would in
that case take in hand measures directly against England.
He is, however, of the opinion that it would be easier to
bring about peace than to cause England to abandon the
blockade. This last could only be brought about by
war and it is well known that the means of war are lack-
ing here. A prohibition of exports as a weapon against
the blockade is not possible as the prevailing prosperity
would suffer by it.
"The inquiries made by House have led Wilson to be-
lieve that our enemies would not be unwilling to consider
peace. In view of the present condition of affairs, I
repeat that there is only one possible course, namely,
that Your Excellency [Von Jagow] empower me to declare
that we will enter into negotiations with the United
States touching the conduct of the submarine war while
the negotiations are proceeding. This would give us
the advantage that the submarine war, being over Mr.
l This is quoted from a hitherto unpublished despatch of BernstorfFs to Berlin
which is found among Page's papers.
150 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
Wilson's head, like the sword of Damocles, would compel
him at once to take in hand the task of mediation."
This dispatch seems sufficiently to explain all the
happenings of the summer and winter of 1916-1917. It
was sent to Berlin on April 26th; the German Government
gave the Sussex * ' pledge " on May 4th, eight days afterward.
In this reply Germany declared that she would now ex-
pect Mr. Wilson to bring pressure upon Great Britain
to secure a mitigation or suspension of the British block-
ade, and to this Mr. Wilson promptly and energetically
replied that he regarded the German promise as an un-
conditional one and that the Government of the United
States "cannot for a moment entertain, much less dis-
cuss, a suggestion that respect by German naval author-
ities for the rights of citizens of the United States upon
the high seas should in any way or in the slightest degree
be made contingent upon the conduct of any other gov-
ernment affecting the rights of neutrals and non-combat-
ants. Responsibility in such matters is single not joint;
absolute not relative."
This reply gave satisfaction to both the United States
and the countries of the Allies, and Page himself regarded
it as a master stroke. "The more I think of it," he wrote
on May 17th, "the better the strategy of the President
appears, in his latest (and last) note to Germany. They
laid a trap for him and he caught them in their own trap.
The Germans had tried to 'put it up' to the President to
commit the first unfriendly act. He now 'puts it up' to
them. And this is at last bound to end the controversy
if they sink another ship unlawfully. The French see
this clearly and so do the best English, and it has pro-
duced a most favourable impression. The future? The
German angling for peace will prove futile. They'll have
another fit of fury. Whether they will again become
WASHINGTON IN THE SUMMER OF 1916 151
reckless or commit 'mistakes' with their submarines will
depend partly on their fury, partly on their fear to make
a breach with the United States, but mainly on the state
of their submarine fleet. How many have the English
caught and destroyed? That's the main question, after
all. The English view may not be fair to them. But
nobody here believes that they will long abstain from the
luxury of crime."
It is thus apparent that when the Germans practically
demanded, as a price of their abstention from indis-
criminate submarine warfare, that Mr. Wilson should
move against Great Britain in the matter of the blockade,
they realized the futility of any such step, and that what
they really expected to obtain was the presidential
mediation for peace. President Wilson at once began to
move in this direction. On May 27th, three weeks after
the Sussex "pledge," he made an address in Washington
before the League to Enforce Peace, which was intended to
lay the basis for his approaching negotiations. It was in
this speech that he made the statement that the United
States was "not concerned with the causes and the ob-
jects" of the war. "The obscure fountains from which
its stupendous flood has burst forth we are not interested
to search for or to explain." This was another of those
unfortunate sentences which made the President such an
unsympathetic figure in the estimation of the Allies and
seemed to indicate to them that he had no appreciation
of the nature of the struggle. Though this attitude of
non-partisanship, of equal balance between the accusa-
tions of the Allies and Germany, was intended to make
the President acceptable as a mediator, the practical re-
sult was exactly the reverse, for Allied statesmen turned
from Wilson as soon as those sentences appeared in print.
The fact that this same oration specified the "freedom of
152 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
the seas" as one of the foundation rocks of the proposed
new settlement only accentuated this unfavourable at-
titude.
This then was clearly the "atmosphere" which pre-
vailed in Washington at the time that Page was sum-
moned home. But Page's letters of this period indicate
how little sympathy he entertained for such negotiations.
"It is quite apparent," he had recently written to Colonel
House, "that nobody in Washington understands the
war. Come over and find out." Extracts from a letter
which he wrote to his brother, Mr. Henry A. Page, of
Aberdeen, North Carolina, are especially interesting when
placed side by side with the President's statements of
this particular time. These passages show that a two
years' close observation of the Prussians in action had not
changed Page's opinion of their motives or of their
methods; in 1916, as in 1914, Page could see in this
struggle nothing but a colossal buccaneering expedition
on the part of Germany. "As I look at it," he wrote,
"our dilly-dallying is likely to get us into war. The
Germans want somebody to rob to pay their great
military bills. They've robbed Belgium and are still
robbing it of every penny they can lay their hands
on. They robbed Poland and Serbia two very poor
countries which didn't have much. They set out to
rob France and have so far been stopped from getting
to Paris. If they got to Paris there wouldn't be
thirty cents' worth of movable property there in a week,
and they'd levy fines of millions of francs a day. Their
military scheme and teaching and open purpose is to make
somebody pay for their vast military outlay of the last
forty years. They must do that or go bankrupt. Now it
looks as if they would go bankrupt. But in a little while
they may be able to bombard New York and demand
WASHINGTON IN THE SUMMER OF 1916 153
billions of dollars to refrain from destroying the city.
That's the richest place left to spoil.
"Now they say that quite openly and quite frankly.
Now if we keep 'neutral' to a highwayman what do we
get for our pains? That's the mistake we are making.
If we had sent Bernstorff home the day after the Lusitania
was sunk and recalled Gerard and begun to train an army
we'd have had no more trouble with them. But since
they have found out that they can keep us discussing
things forever and a day, they will keep us discussing
things till they are ready. We are very simple; and we'll
get shot for it yet. . . .
"The prestige and fear of the United States has gone
down, down, down disappeared ; and we are regarded as
'discussers,' incapable of action, scared to death of war.
That's all the invitation that robbers, whose chief busi-
ness is war, want all the invitation they need. These
devils are out for robbery and you don't seem to believe
it in the United States: that's the queer thing. This
neutrality business makes us an easy mark. As soon as
they took a town in Belgium, they asked for all the money
in the town, all the food, all the movable property; and
they've levied a tax every month since on every town and
made the town government borrow the money to pay it.
If a child in a town makes a disrespectful remark, they fine
the town an extra $1,000. They haven't got enough so
far to keep them going flush; and they won't unless they
get Paris which they can't do now. If they got London,
they'd be rich; they wouldn't leave a shilling and they'd
make all the rich English get all the money they own
abroad. This is the reason that Frenchmen and English-
men prefer to be killed by the 100,000. In the country
over which their army has passed a crow would die of
starvation and no human being has ten cents of real
154 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
money. The Belgian Commission is spending more than
100 million dollars a year to keep the Belgians alive only
because they are robbed every day. They have a rich
country and could support themselves but for these rob-
bers. That's the meaning of the whole thing. And yet
we treat them as if they were honourable people. It's
only a question of time and of power when they will attack
us, or the Canal, or South America. Everybody on this
side the world knows that. And they are 'yielding' to
keep us out of this war so that England will not
help us when they (the Germans) get ready to attack
America.
"There is the strangest infatuation in the United States
with Peace the strangest illusion about our safety with-
out preparation."
Several letters to Colonel House show the state of the
British mind on the subject of the President's peace pro-
posals:
To Edward M. House
Royal Bath and East Cliff Hotel,
Bournemouth,
23 May, 1916.
DEAR HOUSE:
The motor trip that the Houses, the Wallaces, and the
Pages took about a year ago was the last trip (three days)
that I had had out of London; and I'd got pretty tired.
The China case having been settled (and settled as we
wanted it), I thought it a good time to try to get away
for a week. So here Mrs. Page and I are very much to
my benefit. I've spent a beautiful week out of doors, on
this seashore; and I have only about ten per cent, of the
fatal diseases that I had a week ago. That is to say, I'm
as sound as a dollar and feel like a fighting cock.
WASHINGTON IN THE SUMMER OF 1916 155
Sir Edward was fine about the China 1 case. He never
disputed the principle of the inviolability of American
ships on the high seas ; but the Admiralty maintained that
some of these men are officers in the German Army and
are now receiving officers' pay. I think that that is prob-
ably true. Nevertheless, the Admiralty had bungled the
case badly and Sir Edward simply rode over them. They
have a fine quarrel among themselves and we got all we
wanted and asked for.
Of course, I can't make out the Germans but I am afraid
some huge deviltry is yet coming. When the English
say that the Germans must give up their militarism, I
doubt if the Germans yet know what they mean. They
talk about conquered territory Belgium, Poland, and the
rest. It hasn't entered their heads that they've got to
give up their armies and their military system.. When
this does got into their heads, if it ever do, I think they
may so swell with rage at this " insult" that they may
break loose in one last desperate effort, ignoring the United
States, defying the universe, running amuck. Of course it
would be foolhardy to predict this, but the fear of it keeps
coming into my mind. The fear is the more persistent
because, if the worst comes to them, the military caste and
perhaps the dynasty itself will prefer to die in one last ter-
rific onslaught rather than to make a peace on terms which
will require the practical extinction of their supreme power.
This, I conceive, is the really great danger that yet awaits
the world if the Allies hold together till defeat and
famine drive the Germans to the utmost desperation.
In the meantime, the Allies still holding together as
China case was a kind of Trent case reversed. In 1861 the American
ship San Jacinto stopped the British vessel Trent and took off Mason and Slidell,
Confederate commissioners to Great Britain. Similarly a British ship, in 1916,
stopped an American ship, the China, and removed several German subjects.
As the British quickly saw the analogy, and made suitable amends, the old excite-
ment over the Trent was not duplicated in the recent war.
156 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
they are, there's no peace yet in the British and French
minds. They're after the militarism of Prussia not
territory or other gains; and they seem likely to get it,
as much by the blockade as by victories on land. Do
you remember how in the Franco-Prussian War, Bismarck
refused to deal with the French Emperor? He demanded
that representatives of the French people should deal with
him. He got what he asked for and that was the last of
the French Emperor. Neither the French nor the Eng-
lish have forgotten that. You will recall that the Ger-
mans starved Paris into submission. Neither the French
nor the English have forgotten that. These two leaves out
of the Germans' own book of forty-five years ago these
two and no more may be forced on the Germans them-
selves. They are both quite legitimate, too. You can
read a recollection of both these events between the lines
of the interviews that Sir Edward and Mr. Balfour recently
gave to American newspapers.
There is nothing but admiration here for the strategy
of the President's last note to Germany. That was the
cleverest play made by anybody since the war began
clever beyond praise. Now he's " got 'em." But nobody
here doubts that they will say, sooner or later, that the
United States, not having forced the breaking of the
British blockade, has not kept its bargain that's what
they'll say and it is in order again to run amuck. This
is what the English think provided the Germans have
enough submarines left to keep up real damage. By that
time, too, it will be clear to the Germans that the Presi-
dent can't bring peace so long as only one side wishes peace.
The Germans seem to have counted much on the Irish
uprising, which came to pass at all only because of the
customary English stupid bungling ; and the net result has
been only to put the mass of the Irish on their mettle to
WASHINGTON IN THE SUMMER OF 1916 157
show that they are not Sinn Feiners. The final upshot
will be to strengthen the British Army. God surely is
good to this bungling British Government. Wind and
wave and the will of High Heaven seem to work for them.
I begin to understand their stupidity and their arrogance.
If your enemies are such fools in psychological tactics and
Heaven is with you, why take the trouble to be alert?
And why be modest? Whatever the reason, these Eng-
lish are now more cocky and confident than they've been
before since the war began. They are beginning to see
results. The only question seems to be to hold the Allies
together, and they seem to be doing that. In fact, the
battle of Verdun has cemented them. They now have
visible proof that the German Army is on the wane. And
they have trustworthy evidence that the blockade is tell-
ing severely on the Germans. Nobody, I think, expects
to thrash 'em to a frazzle ; but the almost universal opin-
ion here is that the hold of militarism will be shaken loose.
And the German High Canal Navy what's to become
of that? Von Tirpitz is down and out, but there are
thousands of Germans, I hear, who complain of their
naval inactivity. But God only knows the future
I don't. I think that I do well if I keep track of the
present. . . .
My kindest regards to Mrs. House,
Yours very heartily,
W. H. P.
To Edward M. House
London, 25 May, 1916.
DEAR HOUSE:
No utterance by anybody has so stirred the people of
this kingdom for many months as Sir Edward Grey's
impromptu speech last night in the House of Commons
158 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
about Peace, when he called the German Chancellor a
first-class liar. I sent you to-day a clipping from one of
the morning papers. Every paper I pick up compli-
ments Sir Edward. Everyone says, "We must fight
to a finish." The more sensational press intimates that
any Englishman who uses the word "peace" ought
to be shot. You have never seen such a rally as that
which has taken place in response to Sir Edward's cry.
In the first place, as you know, he is the most gentle of all
the Cabinet, the last man to get on a "war-rampage," the
least belligerent and rambunctious of the whole lot. When
he felt moved to say that there can be no peace till the
German military despotism is broken, everybody from
one end of the Kingdom to the other seems to have thrown
up his hat and applauded. Except the half-dozen peace-
cranks in the House (Bryan sort of men) you can't find
a man, woman, child, or dog that isn't fired with the de-
termination to see the war through. The continued talk
about peace which is reported directly and indirectly from
Germany coming from Switzerland, from Rome, from
Washington has made the English and the French very
angry: no, "angry" isn't quite the right word. It has
made them very determined. They feel insulted by the
impudence of the Germans, who, since they know they
are bound to lose, seem to be turning heaven and
earth to induce neutrals to take their view of peace.
People are asking here, "If they are victorious, why
doesn't their fleet come out of the canal and take the seas,
and again open their commerce? Why do they whimper
about the blockade when they will not even risk a warship
to break it?" You'll recall how the talk here used to be
that the English wouldn't wake up. You wouldn't know
'em now. Your bulldog has got his grip and even thun-
der doesn't disturb him.
WASHINGTON IN THE SUMMER OF 1916 159
Incidentally, all the old criticism of Sir Edward Grey
seems to have been forgotten. You hear nothing
but praise of him now. I am told that he spoke
his impromptu speech last night with great fire and
at once left the House. His speech has caused a greater
stir than the Irish rebellion, showing that every English-
man feels that Sir Edward said precisely what every man
feels.
The Germans have apparently overdone and over-
worked their premature peace efforts and have made
things worse for them. They've overplayed their
hand.
In fact, I see no end of the war. The Allies are
not going to quit prematurely. They won't even dis-
cuss the subject yet with one another, and the Germans,
by their peace-talk of the sort that they inspire, simply
postpone the day when the Allies will take the subject
up.
All the while, too, the Allies work closer and closer
together. They'll soon be doing even their diplomatic
work with neutrals, as a unit England and France as one
nation, and (on great subjects) Russia and Italy also
with them.
I've talked lately not only with Sir Edward but with
nearly half the other members of the Cabinet, and they
are all keyed up to the same tune. The press of both
parties, too, are (for once) wholly agreed: Liberal and
Conservative papers alike hold the same war-creed.
Sincerely yours,
WALTER H. PAGE.
Before leaving for Washington Page discussed the
situation personally with Sir Edward Grey and Lord
Bryce. He has left memoranda of both interviews.
160 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
Notes of a Private and Informal Conversation with
Sir Edward Grey, at his residence, on July 27, 1916, when
I called to say good-bye before sailing on leave to the United
States
. . . Sir Edward Grey went on to say quite
frankly that two thoughts expressed in a speech by the
President some months ago had had a very serious influ-
ence on British opinion. One thought was that the causes
or objects of the war were of no concern to him, and the
other was his (at least implied) endorsement of "the free-
dom of the seas," which the President did not define.
Concerning the first thought, he understood of course
that a neutral President could not say that he favoured
one side or the other : everybody understood that and no-
body expected him to take sides. But when the Presi-
dent said that the objects of the war did not concern him,
that was taken by British public opinion as meaning a
condemnation of the British cause, and it produced deep
feeling.
Concerning the "freedom of the seas," he believed that
the first use of the phrase was made by Colonel House
(on his return from one of his visits to Berlin), 1 but the
public now regarded it as a German invention and it
meant to the British mind a policy which would render
British supremacy at sea of little value in time of war; and
public opinion resented this. He knew perfectly well that
at a convenient time new rules must be made govern-
ing the conduct of war at sea and on the land, too. But
the German idea of "the freedom of the seas " ("freedom "
was needed on land also) is repulsive to the British
mind.
He mentioned these things because they had produced
^ee Chapter XIII, page 434.
WASHINGTON IN THE SUMMER OF 1916 161
in many minds an unwillingness, he feared, to use the good
offices of the President whenever any mediatorial service
might be done by a neutral. The tendency of these
remarks was certainly in that direction. Yet Sir Ed-
ward carefully abstained from expressing such an unwill-
ingness on his own part, and the inference from his tone
and manner, as well as from his habitual attitude, is that
he feels no unwillingness to use the President's good office,
if occasion should arise.
I asked what he meant by "mediatorial" the Presi-
dent's offering his services or good offices on his own
initiative? He said No, not that. But the Germans
might express to the President their willingness or even
their definite wish to have an armistice, on certain terms,
to discuss conditions of peace coupled with an intimation
that he might sound the Allies. He did not expect the
President to act on his own initiative, but at the request or
at least at the suggestion of the German Government, he
might conceivably sound the Allies especially, he added,
" since I am informed that the notion is wide-spread in
America that the war will end inconclusively as a draw."
He smiled and remarked, as an aside, that he didn't think
that this notion was held by any considerable group of
people in any other country, certainly not in Great
Britain.
In further talk on this subject he said that none of the
Allies could mention peace or discuss peace till France
should express such a wish; for it is the very vitals of
France that have received and are receiving the shock
of such an assault as was never before launched against
any nation. Unless France was ready to quit, none of
France's Allies could mention peace, and France showed
no mood to quit. Least of all could the English make or
receive any such suggestion at least till her new great army
162 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
had done its best; for until lately the severest fighting had
not been done by the British, whose army had practically
been held in reserve. There had for a long time been a
perfect understanding between Joffre and Haig that the
English would wait to begin their offensive till the moment
arrived when it best suited the French.
The impression that I got from this part of the conver-
sation was that Sir Edward hoped that I might convey to
the President (as, of course, he could not) Sir Edward's
idea of the effect of these parts of the President's speech on
feeling in England toward him. Nowhere in the conver-
sation did he make any request of me. Any one, over-
hearing it, might have supposed it to be a conversation
between two men, with no object beyond expressing their
views. But, of course, he hoped and meant that I should,
in my own way, make known to the President what he
said. He did not say that the President's good offices,
when the time should come, would be unwelcome to him
or to his government; and he meant, I am sure, to convey
only the fear that by these assertions the President had
planted an objection to his good offices in a large section
of British opinion.
Among the conditions of peace that Sir Edward himself
personally would like to see imposed (he had not yet
discussed the subject with any of his colleagues in the
Government) was this: that the German Government
should agree to submit to an impartial (neutral) com-
mission or court the question, Who began the war and
who is responsible for it? The German Chancellor and
other high German officials have put it about and continue
to put it about that England is responsible, and doubtless
the German people at least believe it. All the govern-
ments concerned must (this is his idea) submit to the
tribunal all its documents and other evidence bearing on
WASHINGTON IN THE SUMMER OF 1916 163
the subject; and of course the finding of the tribunal must
be published.
Then he talked a good deal about the idea that lies be-
hind the League for Enforcing Peace in a sympathetic
mood. He went on to point out how such a league
with force behind it would at any one of three stages
have prevented this war (1) When England proposed
a conference to France, Germany, Italy, and Russia, all
agreed to it but Germany. Germany alone prevented
a discussion. If the League to Enforce Peace had in-
cluded England, France, Italy, and Russia there would
have been no war; for Germany would have seen at once
that they would all be against her. (2) Later, when the
Czar sent the Kaiser a personal telegram proposing to
submit their differences to some tribunal, a League to
Enforce Peace would have prevented war. And (3) when
the question of the invasion of Belgium came up, every
signatory to the treaty guaranteeing Belgium's integrity
gave assurance of keeping the treaty but Germany,
and Germany gave an evasive answer. A league would
again have prevented a war or put all the military force
of all its members against Germany.
Throughout the conversation, which lasted about an
hour, Sir Edward said more than once, as he has often said
to me, that he hoped we should be able to keep the friction
between our governments at the minimum. He would
regard it as the greatest calamity if the ill-feeling that
various events have stirred up in sections of public opinion
on each side should increase or should become permanent.
His constant wish and effort were to lessen and if possible
to remove all misunderstandings.
Lord Bryce was one of the Englishmen with whom Page
was especially inclined to discuss pending problems.
164 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
Notes on a conversation with Lord Bryce,
July 31, 1916
Lord Bryce spoke of the President's declaration that we
were not concerned with the causes or objects of the war
and he said that that remark had caused much talk all,
as he thought, on a misunderstanding of Mr. Wilson's
meaning. "He meant, I take it, only that he did not
propose at that time to discuss the causes or the objects of
the war; and it is a pity that his sentence was capable of
being interpreted to mean something else; and the sen-
tence was published and discussed here apart from its
context a most unfair proceeding. I can imagine that
the President and his friends may be much annoyed by
this improper interpretation."
I remarked that the body of the speech in which this
remark occurred might have been written in Downing
Street, so friendly was it to the Allies.
"Quite, quite," said he.
This was at dinner, Lady Bryce and Mrs. Page and he
and I only being present.
When he and I went into the library he talked more
than an hour.
"And what about this blacklist?" he asked. I told
him. He had been in France for a week and did not know
just what had been done. He said that that seemed to
him a mistake. "The Government doesn't know Amer-
ica neither does the British public. Neither does the
American Government (no American government) know
the British. Hence your government writes too many
notes all governments are likely to write too many notes.
Everybody gets tired of seeing them and they lose their
effect."
He mentioned the blockade and said that it had be-
WASHINGTON IN THE SUMMER OF 1916 165
come quite effective wonderfully effective, in fact; and he
implied that he did not see why we now failed to recog-
nize it. Our refusal to recognize it had caused and
doubtless is now causing such ill-feeling as exists in Eng-
land.
Then he talked long about peace and how it would prob-
ably be arranged. He judged, from letters that he re-
ceives from the United States as well as from Americans
who come over here, that there was an expectation in
America that the President would be called in at the peace
settlement and that some persons even expected him to
offer mediation. He did not see how that could be. He
knew no precedent for such a proceeding. The President
might, of course, on the definite request of either side,
make a definite inquiry of the other side ; but such a course
would be, in effect, merely the transmission of an inquiry.
But after peace was made and the time came to set
up a League for Enforcing Peace, or some such machin-
ery, of course the United States would be and would have
to be a party to that if it were to succeed. He reminded
me that a little group of men here, of whom he was one,
early in the war sketched substantially the same plan
that the American League to Enforce Peace has worked
out. It had not seemed advisable to have any general
public discussion of it in England till the war should end:
nobody had time now to give to it.
As he knew no precedent for belligerents to call in a
third party when they met to end a war, so he knew no
precedent for any outside government to protest against
the invasion of a country by a Power that had signed
a treaty to guarantee the integrity of the invaded coun-
try no precedent, that is to say, for the United States to
protest against the invasion of Belgium. "That prece-
dent," I said, "was found in Hysteria."
166 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
Lord Bryce, who had just returned from a visit to the
British headquarters in France, hardly dared hope for the
end of the war till next year; and the intervening time
between now and the end would be a time, he feared, of
renewed atrocities and increasing hatred. He cited the
killing of Captain Fryatt of the Brussels and the forcible
deportation of young women from Lille and other towns
in the provinces of France occupied by the Germans.
The most definite idea that he had touching American-
British relations was the fear that the anti-British feeling
in the United States would become stronger and would
outlast the war. "It is organized," he said. "The dis-
affected Germans and the disaffected Irish are interested
in keeping it up." He asked what effect I thought the
Presidential campaign would have on this feeling. He
seemed to have a fear that somehow the campaign would
give an occasion for stirring it up even more.
"Good-bye. Give my regards to all my American
friends; and I'm proud to say there are a good many of
them."
One episode that was greatly stirring both Great Brit-
ain and the United States at this time was the trial of Sir
Roger Casement, the Irish leader who had left Wilhelms-
haven for Ireland in a German submarine and who had
been captured at Tralee in the act of landing arms and
munitions for an Irish insurrection. Casement's subse-
quent trial and conviction on a charge of high treason had
inspired a movement in his favour from Irish-Americans,
the final outcome of which was that the Senate, in early
August, passed a resolution asking the British Govern-
ment for clemency and stipulating that this resolution
should be presented to the Foreign Office. Page was
then on the ocean bound for the United States and
WASHINGTON IN THE SUMMER OF 1916 167
the delicate task of presenting this document to Sir
Edward Grey fell upon Mr. Laughlin, who was now
Charge d'affaires. Mr. Laughlin is a diplomat of great
experience, but this responsibility at first seemed to be
something of a poser even for him. He had received ex-
plicit instructions from Washington to present this resolu-
tion, and the one thing above all which a diplomatic officer
must do is to carry out the orders of his government, but
Mr. Laughlin well knew that, should he present this paper
in the usual manner, the Foreign Secretary might decline
to receive it; he might regard it as an interference with
matters that exclusively concerned the sovereign state.
Mr. Laughlin, however, has a technique all his own, and,
in accordance with this, he asked for an interview with Sir
Edward Grey to discuss a matter of routine business.
However, the Charge d'affaires carried the Casement
resolution tucked away in an inside pocket when he made
his call.
Like Mr. Page, Mr. Laughlin was on the friendliest terms
with Sir Edward Grey, and, after the particular piece of
business had been transacted, the two men, as usual, fell
into casual conversation. Casement then loomed large
in the daily press, and the activities of the American Senate
had likewise caused some commotion in London. In
round-about fashion Mr. Laughlin was able to lead Sir
Edward to make some reference to the Casement case.
"I see the Senate has passed a resolution asking clem-
ency," said the Foreign Secretary exactly the remark
which the American wished to elicit.
"Yes," was the reply. "By the way, I happen to have
a copy of the resolution with me. May I give it to you? "
"Yes, I should like to have it."
The Foreign Secretary read it over with deliberation.
"This is a very interesting document," he said, when he
168 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
had finished. "Would you have any objection if I
showed it to the Prime Minister?"
Of course that was precisely what Mr. Laughlin did wish,
and he replied that this was the desire of his government.
The purpose of his visit had been accomplished, and he
was able to cable Washington that its instructions had
been carried out and that the Casement resolution had
been presented to the British Government. Simultane-
ously with his communication, however, he reported also
that the execution of Roger Casement had taken place.
In fact, it was being carried out at the time of the interview.
This incident lends point to Page's memorandum of the
last interview which he had before leaving England.
August 1st. I lunched with Mr. Asquith. One does
not usually bring away much from his conversations, and
he did not say much to-day worth recording. But he
showed a very eager interest in the Presidential campaign,
and he confessed that he felt some anxiety about the anti-
British feeling in the United States. This led him to tell
me that he could not in good conscience interfere with
Casement's execution, in spite of the shoals of telegrams
that he was receiving from the United States. This man,
said he, visited Irish prisoners in German camps and tried
to seduce them to take up arms against Great Britain
their own country. When they refused, the Germans
removed them to the worst places in their Empire and, as a
result, some of them died. Then Casement came to Ireland
in a German man-of-war (a submarine) accompanied by
a ship loaded with guns. "In all good conscience to my
country and to my responsibilities I cannot interfere." He
hoped that thoughtful opinion in the United States would
see this whole matter in a fair and just way.
I asked him about anti- American feeling in Great Brit-
WASHINGTON IN THE SUMMER OF 1916 169
ain. He said: "Do not let that unduly disturb you. At
bottom we understand you. At bottom the two people
surely understand one another and have unbreakable
bonds of sympathy. No serious breach is conceivable."
He went on quite earnestly: "Mr. Page, after any policy
or plan is thought out on its merits my next thought al-
ways is how it may affect our relations with the United
States. That is always a fundamental consideration."
I ventured to say that if he would keep our relations
smooth on the surface, I'd guarantee their stability at the
bottom. It's the surface that rolls high at times, and the
danger is there. Keep the surface smooth and the bottom
will take care of itself.
Then he asked about Mexico, as he usually has when
I have talked with him. I gave him as good a report as I
could, reminding him of the great change in the attitude of
all Latin- America caused by the President's patient policy
with Mexico. When he said, "Mexico is a bad problem,"
I couldn't resist the impulse to reply: "When Mexico
troubles you, think of Ireland. As there are persons in
England who concern themselves with Mexico, so there
are persons in the United States who concern themselves
about Ireland. Ireland and Mexico have each given
trouble for two centuries. Yet these people talk about
them as if they could remove all trouble in a month."
"Quite true," he said, and smiled himself into silence.
Then he talked about more or less frivolous subjects; and,
as always, he asked about Mr. Bryan and Mr. Roosevelt,
"alike now, I suppose, in their present obscure plight."
I told him I was going from his house to the House of
Lords to see Sir Edward Grey metamorphosed into Vis-
count Grey of Fallodon.
' The very stupidest of the many stupid ceremonies that
we have," said he very truly.
170 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
He spoke of my "onerous duties" and so on and so on
tut, tut! talk that gets nowhere. But he did say, quite
sincerely, I think, that my frankness called forth frankness
and avoided misunderstanding; for he has said that to
other people about me.
Such is the Prime Minister of Great Britain in this
supreme crisis in English history, a remarkable man, of an
abnormally quick mind, pretty nearly a great man, but
now a spent force, at once nimble and weary. History
may call him Great. If it do, he will owe this judgment
to the war, with the conduct of which his name will be
forever associated.
ii
Mr. and Mrs. Page's homecoming was a tragedy. They
sailed from Liverpool on August 3rd, and reached New
York on the evening of August llth. But sad news
awaited them upon the dock. About two months previ-
ously their youngest son, Frank, had been married to
Miss Katherine Sefton, of Auburn, N. Y., and the young
couple had settled down in Garden City, Long Island.
That was the summer when the epidemic of infantile
paralysis swept over the larger part of the United States.
The young bride was stricken; the case was unusually
rapid and unusually severe; at the moment of the Pages'
arrival, they were informed that there was practically no
hope; and Mrs. Frank Page died at two o'clock on the
afternoon of the following day. The Pages had always
been a particularly united and happy family ; this was the
first time that they had suffered from any domestic sorrow
of this kind, and the Ambassador was so affected that it
was with difficulty that he could summon himself for the
task that lay ahead.
In a few days, r however, he left for Washington. He has
WASHINGTON IN THE SUMMER OF 1916 171
himself described his experience at the Capital in words
that must inevitably take their place in history. To ap-
preciate properly the picture which Page gives, it must be
remembered that the city and the officialdom which he
portrays are the same city and the same men who six
months afterward declared war on Germany. When
Page reached Washington, the Presidential campaign was
in full swing, with Mr. Wilson as the Democratic candidate
and Mr. Charles E. Hughes as the Republican. But
another crisis was absorbing the nation's attention: the
railway unions, comprising practically all the 2,000,000
railway employees in the United States, were threatening
to strike ostensibly for an eight-hour day, in reality
for higher wages.
Mr. Pages memorandum of his visit to Washington
in August, 1916
The President was very courteous to me, in his way.
He invited me to luncheon the day after I arrived. Pres-
ent: the President, Mrs. Wilson, Miss Bones, Tom Boll-
ing, his brother-in-law, and I. The conversation was
general and in the main jocular. Not a word about
England, not a word about a foreign policy or foreign
relations.
He explained that the threatened railway strike en-
gaged his whole mind. I asked to have a talk with him
when his mind should be free. Would I not go off and
rest and come back? I preferred to do my minor errands
with the Department, but I should hold myself at his
convenience and at his command.
Two weeks passed. Another invitation to lunch.
Sharp, the Ambassador to France, had arrived. He, too,
was invited. Present: the President, Mrs. Wilson, Mrs.
172 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
Wallace, the Misses Smith of New Orleans, Miss Bones,
Sharp, and I. Not one word about foreign affairs.
After luncheon, the whole party drove to the Capitol,
where the President addressed Congress on the strike,
proposing legislation to prevent it and to forestall similar
strikes. It is a simple ceremony and somewhat impres-
sive. The Senators occupy the front seats in the House,
the Speaker presides and the President of the Senate sits
on his right. An escorting committee is sent out to
bring the President in. He walks to the clerk's or reader's
desk below the presiding officer's, turns and shakes hands
with them both and then proceeds to read his speech, very
clearly and audibly. Some passages were applauded.
When he had done, he again shook hands with the presid-
ing officers and went out, preceded and followed by the
White House escort. I sat in the Presidential (or diplomat-
ic?) gallery with the White House party, higgledy-piggledy.
The speech ended, the President drove to the White
House with his escort in his car. The crowds in the cor-
ridors and about the doors waited and crowded to see Mrs.
Wilson, quite respectful but without order or discipline.
We had to push our way through them. Now and then a
policeman at a distance would yell loudly, "Make way
there!"
When we reached the White House, I asked the door-
man if the President had arrived.
"Yes."
" Does he expect me to go in and say good-bye? "
"No."
Thus he had no idea of talking with me now, if ever.
Not at lunch nor after did he suggest a conversation about
American-British affairs or say anything about my seeing
him again.
This threatened strike does hold his whole mind
WASHINGTON IN THE SUMMER OF 1916 173
bothers him greatly. It seems doubtful if he can avert a
general strike. The Republicans are trying "to put him in
a political hole," and they say he, too, is playing politics.
Whoever be to blame for it, it is true that politics is in the
game. Nobody seems to foresee who will make capital
out of it. Surely I can't.
There's no social sense at the White House. The
President has at his table family connections only and
they say few or no distinguished men and women are in-
vited, except the regular notables at the set dinners the
diplomatic, the judiciary, and the like. His table is his
private family affair nothing more. It is very hard to
understand why so intellectual a man doesn't have notable
men about him. It's the college professor's village habit,
I dare say. But it's a great misfortune. This is one way
in which Mr. Wilson shuts out the world and lives too
much alone, feeding only on knowledge and subjects that
he has already acquired and not getting new views or fresh
suggestions from men and women.
He sees almost nobody except members of Congress for
whom he sends for special conferences, and he usually sees
these in his office. The railroad presidents and men he
met in formal conference no social touch.
A member of his Cabinet told me that Mr. Wilson had
shown confidence in him, given him a wide range of ac-
tion in his own Department and that he relies on his judg-
ment. This Cabinet member of course attends the
routine state dinners and receptions, as a matter of re-
quired duty. But as for any social recognition of his
existence he had never received a hint or nod. Nor
does any member of the Cabinet (except, no doubt, Mr.
McAdoo, his son-in-law). There is no social sense nor
reason in this. In fact, it works to a very decided disad-
vantage to the President and to the Nation.
174 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
By the way, that a notable man in our educational
life could form such a habit does not speak well for our
educational life.
What an unspeakably lamentable loss of opportunity!
This is the more remarkable and lamentable because the
President is a charming personality, an uncommonly
good talker, a man who could easily make personal friends
of all the world. He does his own thinking, untouched
by other men's ideas. He receives nothing from the out-
side. His domestic life is spent with his own, nobody
else, except House occasionally. His contact with his
own Cabinet is a business man's contact with his business
associates and kind at his office.
He declined to see Cameron Forbes 1 on his return from
the Philippines.
The sadness of this mistake!
Another result is the President doesn't hear the
frank truth about the men about him. He gives nobody
a chance to tell him. Hence he has several heavy en-
cumbrances in his official family.
The influence of this lone-hand way of playing the game
extends very far. The members of the Cabinet do not
seem to have the habit of frankness with one another.
Each lives and works in a water-tight compartment. I
sat at luncheon (at a hotel) with Lansing, Secretary of
State; Lane, Secretary of the Interior; Gregory, Attorney-
General; Baker, Secretary of War; Daniels, Secretary of
the Navy; and Sharp, Ambassador to France; and all the
talk was jocular or semi-jocular, and personal mere
cheap chaff. Not a question was asked either of the Am-
bassador to France or of the Ambassador to Great Brit-
ain about the war or about our foreign relations. The
J Mr. Forbes had been Governor-General of the Philippines from 1909 to 1913.
His work had been extraordinarily successful.
WASHINGTON IN THE SUMMER OF 1916 175
war wasn't mentioned. Sharp and I might have come
from Bungtown and Jonesville and not from France and
England. We were not encouraged to talk the local
personal joke held the time and conversation. This as-
tounding fact must be the result of this lone-hand, water-
tight compartment method and of the neutrality sup-
pression of men. The Vice-President confessed to his
neighbour at a Gridiron dinner that he had read none of
the White Papers, or Orange Papers, etc., of the belligerent
governments confessed this with pride lest he should
form an opinion and cease to be neutral! Miss X, a
member of the President's household, said to Mrs. Y, the
day we lunched there, that she had made a remark pri-
vately to Sharp showing her admiration of the French.
"Was that a violation of neutrality?" she asked in all
seriousness.
I can see it in no other way but this : the President sup-
pressed free thought and free speech when he insisted upon
personal neutrality. He held back the deliberate and
spontaneous thought and speech of the people except the
pro-Germans, who saw their chance and improved it!
The mass of the American people found themselves for-
bidden to think or talk, and this forbidding had a sufficient
effect to make them take refuge in indifference. It's the
President's job. He's our leader. He'll attend to this
matter. We must not embarrass him. On this easy
cushion of non-responsibility the great masses fell back
at their intellectual and moral ease softened, isolated,
lulled.
That wasn't leadership in a democracy. Right here is
the President's vast failure. From it there is now no es-
cape unless the Germans commit more submarine crimes.
They have kept the United States for their own exploiting
after the war. They have thus had a real triumph of us.
176 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
I have talked in Washington with few men who showed
any clear conception of the difference between the Ger-
mans and the British. To the minds of these people and
high Government officials, German and English are alike
foreign nations who are now foolishly engaged in war.
Two of the men who look upon the thing differently are
Houston 1 and Logan Waller Page. 2 In fact, there is no
realization of the war in Washington. Secretary Houston
has a proper perspective of the situation. He would have
done precisely what I recommended paved the way for
claims and let the English take their course. "Inter-
national law" is no strict code and it's all shot to pieces
anyhow.
The Secretary [of State] betrayed not the slightest cu-
riosity about our relations with Great Britain. I saw
him several times (1) in his office; (2) at his house;
(3) at the French Ambassador's; (4) at Wallace's; (5) at
his office; (6) at Crozier's 3 this during my first stay in
Washington. The only remark he made was that I'd find
a different atmosphere in Washington from the atmosphere
in London. Truly. All the rest of his talk was about
"cases." Would I see Senator Owen? Would I see Con-
gressman Sherley? Would I take up this "case" and
that? His mind ran on "cases."
Well, at Y's, when I was almost in despair, I rammed
down him a sort of general statement of the situation as
I saw it; at least, I made a start. But soon he stopped
me and ran off at a tangent on some historical statement I
had made, showing that his mind was not at all on the real
subject, the large subject. When I returned to Washing-
ton, and he had read my interviews with Grey, Asquith,
Secretary of Agriculture.
2 In charge of government road building, a distant relative of the Ambassador.
"*Major General William Crozier, U. S. A., Chief of Ordnance.
WASHINGTON IN THE SUMMER OF 1916 177
and Bryce, 1 and my own statement, he still said noth-
ing, but he ceased to talk of "cases." At my final in-
terview he said that he had had difficulty in preventing
Congress from making the retaliatory resolution manda-
tory. He had tried to keep it back till the very end of
the session, etc.
This does not quite correspond with what the President
told me that the State Department asked for this re-
taliatory resolution.
I made specific suggestions in my statement to the
President and to Lansing. They have (yet) said nothing
about them. I fancy they will not. I have found no-
where any policy only "cases."
I proposed to Baker and Daniels that they send a Gen-
eral and an Admiral as attaches to London. They both
agreed. Daniels later told me that Baker mentioned it
to the President and he "stepped on the suggestion with
both feet." I did not bring it up. In the Franco-
Prussian War of 1870, both General McClellan (or Sheri-
dan? 2 ) and General Forsythe were sent to the German
Army. Our military ideas have shrunk since then!
I find at this date (a month before the Presidential
election), the greatest tangle and uncertainty of political
opinion that I have ever observed in our country. The
President, in spite of his unparalleled leadership and
authority in domestic policy, is by no means certain of
election. He has the open hostility of the Germans all
very well, if he had got the fruits of a real hostility to
them; but they have, in many ways, directed his foreign
policy. He has lost the silent confidence of many men
upon whose conscience this great question weighs heavily.
If he be defeated he will owe his defeat to the loss of con-
gee Chapter XIX, pages 160-164.
2 It was General Sheridan.
178 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
fidence in his leadership on this great subject. His
opponent has put forth no clear-cut opinion. He plays a
silent game on the German "issue." Yet he will com-
mand the support of many patriotic men merely as a lack
of confidence in the President.
Nor do I see any end of the results of this fundamental
error. In the economic and political readjustment of the
world we shall be "out of the game," in any event un-
less we are yet forced into the war by Hughes's election
or by the renewal of the indiscriminate use of submarines
by the Germans.
There is a great lesson in this lamentable failure of the
President really to lead the Nation. The United States
stands for democracy and free opinion as it stands for
nothing else and as no other nation stands for it. Now
when democracy and free opinion are at stake as they have
not before been, we take a "neutral" stand we throw
away our very birthright. We may talk of "humanity"
all we like: we have missed the largest chance that ever
came to help the large cause that brought us into being as
a Nation. . . .
And the people, sitting on the comfortable seats of
neutrality upon which the President has pushed them
back, are grateful for Peace, not having taken the trou-
ble to think out what Peace has cost us and cost the world
except so many as have felt the uncomfortable stirrings
of the national conscience.
There is not a man in our State Department or in our
Government who has ever met any prominent statesmen
in any European Government except the third Assistant
Secretary of State, who has no authority in forming policies ;
there is not a man who knows the atmosphere of Europe.
Yet when I proposed that one of the under Secretaries
should go to England on a visit of a few weeks for obser-
WASHINGTON IN THE SUMMER OF 1916 179
vation, the objection arose that such a visit would not be
"neutral."
in
The extraordinary feature of this experience was that
Page had been officially summoned home, presumably to
discuss the European situation, and that neither the Presi-
dent nor the State Department apparently had the slight-
est interest in his visit.
"The President," Page wrote to Mr. Laughlin, " domi-
nates the whole show in a most extraordinary way. The
men about him (and he sees them only on 'business ') are
very nearly all very, very small fry, or worse the nar-
rowest twopenny lot I've ever come across. He has
no real companions. Nobody talks to him freely and
frankly. I've never known quite such a condition in
American life." Perhaps the President had no desire to
discuss inconvenient matters with his Ambassador to Great
Britain, but Page was certainly determined to have an
interview with the President. "I'm not going back to
London," he wrote Mr. Laughlin, "till the President has
said something to me or at least till I have said something
to him. I am now going down to Garden City and New
York till the President send for me; or, if he do not send
for me, I'm going to his house and sit on his front steps till
he come out!" Page had brought from England one of
the medals which the Germans had struck in honour of the
Lusitania sinking, and one reason why he particularly
wished to see the President alone was to show him this
memento.
Another reason was that in early September Page had re-
ceived important news from London concerning the move
which Germany was making for peace and the attitude
of Great Britain in this matter. The several plans which
180 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
Germany had had under consideration had now taken the
form of a definite determination to ask for an armistice
before winter set in. A letter from Mr. Laughlin, Charge
d'affaires in Page's absence, tells the story.
From Irwin Laughlin
Embassy of the United States of America.
London, August 30, 1916.
DEAR MR. PAGE:
For some little time past I have heard persistent ru-
mours, which indeed are more than rumours, since they
have come from important sources, of an approaching
movement by Germany toward an early armistice. They
have been so circumstantial and so closely connected in
prospect with the President, that I have examined them
with particular attention and I shall try to give you the
results, and my conclusions, with the recommendation
that you take the matter up directly with the President
and the Secretary of State. I have been a little at a loss
to decide how to communicate what I have learned to the
Government in Washington, for the present conditions
make it impossible to set down what I want to say in an
official despatch, but the fortunate accident of your being
in the United States gives me the safe opportunity I want,
and so I send my information to you, and by the pouch,
as time is of less importance than secrecy.
There seems to be no doubt that Germany is casting
about for an opportunity to effect an armistice, if possible
before the winter closes in. She hopes it may result in
peace a peace more or less favourable to her, of course-
but even if such a result should fail of accomplishment she
would have gained a breathing space; have secured an op-
portunity to improve her strategic position in a military
sense, perhaps by shortening her line in Flanders; have
WASHINGTON IN THE SUMMER OF 1916 181
stiffened the resistance of her people; and probably have
influenced a certain body of neutral opinion not only in
her favour but against her antagonists.
I shall not try to mention the various sources from
which the threads that compose this fabric have been
drawn, but I finally fastened on X of the Admiralty as a
man with whom I could talk profitably and confidentially,
and he told me positively that his information showed
that Germany was looking in the direction I have indi-
cated, and that she would soon approach the President on
the subject even if she had not already taken the first
steps toward preparing her advance to him.
I asked X if he thought it well for me to broach the
subject to Lord Grey and he suggested that I first consult
Y, which I did. The latter seemed very wary at the out-
set, but he warmed up at last and in the course of the con-
versation told me he had reliable information that when
Bethmann-Hollweg went to Munich just before the be-
ginning of the allied offensive in the west in June he told
the King of Bavaria that he was confident the Allies would
be obliged to begin overtures for peace next October; add-
ing that if they didn't Germany would have to do so.
The King, it appears, asked him how Germany could
approach the Allies if it proved to be advisable and he re-
plied: "Through our good friend Wilson."
I asked Y if the King of Spain's good offices would not
be enlisted jointly with those of the President in attempt-
ing to arrange an armistice, but he thought not, and said
that the King of Spain was very well aware that the Allies
would not consider anything short of definite peace pro-
posals from Germany and that His Majesty knew the
moment for them had not arrived. I then finally asked
him point blank if he thought the Germans would ap-
proach the President for an armistice, and, if so, when.
182 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
He said he was inclined to think they might do so perhaps
about October. On my asking him if he was disposed to
let me communicate his opinion privately to the Govern-
ment in Washington he replied after some hesitation that
he had no objection, but he quickly added that I must
make it clear at the same time that the British Govern-
ment would not listen to any such proposals.
These conversations took place during the course of
last week, and on Sunday the 27th I invited the Span-
ish Ambassador to luncheon at Tangley when I was able
to get him to confirm what Y had said of his Sovereign's
attitude and opinions.
I may mention for what it is worth that on Hoover's
last trip to Germany he was told by Bullock, of the Phila-
delphia Ledger, that Zimmermann of the Berlin Foreign
Office had told him that the Germans had intended in
June to take steps for an armistice which were prevented
by the preparations for the allied offensive in the west.
Y was very emphatic in what he said of the attitude of
his government and the British people toward continuing
the war to an absolutely conclusive end, and I was much
impressed. He said among other things that the execu-
tion of Captain Fryatt had had a markedly perceptible
effect in hardening British public opinion-against Germany
and fixing the determination to fight to a relentless finish.
This corresponds exactly with my own observations.
I leave this letter entirely in your hands. You will
know what use to make of it. It is meant as an official
communication in everything but the usual form from
which I have departed for reasons I need not explain
further.
I look forward eagerly to your return,
Very sincerely yours,
IRWIN LAUGHLIN.
WASHINGTON IN THE SUMMER OF 1916 183
Page waited five weeks before he succeeded in obtaining
his interview with Mr. Wilson.
To the President
The New Willard, Washington, D. C.
Thursday, September 21, 1916.
DEAR MR. PRESIDENT:
While I am waiting for a convenient time to come
when you will see me for a conference and report, I send
you notes on conversations with Lord Grey and Lord
Bryce. 1 They are, in effect, though of course not in form,
messages to you.
The situation between our government and Great
Britain seems to me most alarming; and (let me add)
easily removable, if I can get the ear of anybody in author-
ity. But I find here only an atmosphere of suspicion-
unwarranted by facts and easily dissipated by straight and
simple friendly methods. I am sure of this.
I have, besides, a most important and confidential
message for you from the British Government which
they prefer should be orally delivered.
And I have written out a statement of my own study of
the situation and of certain proposals which, I think, if
they commend themselves to you, will go far to remove
this dangerous tension. I hope to go over them with you
at your convenience.
Yours faithfully,
WALTER H. PAGE.
The situation was alarming for more reasons than the
determination of Germany to force the peace issue. The
State Department was especially irritated at this time
Chapter XIX, pages 160 and 164.
184 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
over the blockade. Among the "trade advisers" there
was a conviction, which all Page's explanations had not
destroyed, that Great Britain was using the blockade as
a means of destroying American commerce and securing
America's customers for herself. Great Britain's regu-
lations on the blacklist and " bunker coal" had intensified
this feeling. In both these latter questions Page regarded
the British actions as tactless and unjust ; he had had many
sharp discussions at the Foreign Office concerning them,
but had not made much headway in his efforts to obtain
their abandonment. The purpose of the "blacklist"
was to strike at neutral firms with German affiliations
which were trading with Germany. The Trading with the
Enemy Act provided that such firms could not trade with
Great Britain; that British vessels must refuse to accept
their cargoes, and that any neutral ship which accepted
such cargoes would be denied bunker coal at British ports.
Under this law the Ministry of Blockade issued a "black-
list" of more than 1,000 proscribed exporting houses in
the United States. So great was the indignation against
this boycott in the United States that Congress, in early
September, had passed a retaliatory act; this gave the
President the authority at any time to place an embargo
upon the exports to the United States of countries which
discriminated against American firms and also to deny
clearance to ships which refused to accept American car-
goes. The two countries indeed seemed to be hastening
toward a crisis.
Page's urgent letter to Mr. Wilson brought a telegram
from Mr. Tumulty inviting the Ambassador to spend the
next evening and night with the President at Shadow
Lawn, the seaside house on the New Jersey coast in which
Mr. Wilson was spending the summer. Mr. Wilson re-
ceived his old friend with great courtesy and listened
WASHINGTON IN THE SUMMER OF 1916 185
quietly and with apparent interest to all that he had to say.
The written statement to which Page refers in his letter
told the story of Anglo-American relations from the time
of the Panama tolls repeal up to the time of Page's visit
to Shadow Lawn. Quotations have already been made
from it in preceding chapters, and the ideas which it
contains have abundantly appeared in letters already
printed. The document was an eloquent plea for Ameri-
can cooperation with the Allies for the dismissal of
Bernstorff, for the adoption of a manly attitude toward
Germany, and for the vindication of a high type of Ameri-
canism.
Page showed the President the Lusitania medal, but
that did not especially impress him. "The Presi-
dent said to me," wrote Page in reference to this visit,
"that when the war began he and all the men he met
were in hearty sympathy with the Allies; but that now
the sentiment toward England had greatly changed.
He saw no one who was not vexed and irritated by the
arbitrary English course. That is, I fear, true that
he sees no one but has a complaint. So does the Secre-
tary of State, and the Trade Bureau and all the rest
in Washington. But in Boston, in New York, and in
the South and in Auburn, N. Y., I saw no one whose
sympathy with the Allies had undergone any funda-
mental change. I saw men who felt vexed at such an
act as the blacklist, but that was merely vexation, not
a fundamental change of feeling. Of course, there
came to see me men who had 'cases.' Now these are
the only kind of men, I fear, whom the Government at
Washington sees these and the members of Congress
whom the Germans have scared or have 'put up' to
scare the Government who are 'twisting the lion's tail,'
in a word."
186 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
"The President said," wrote Page immediately after
coming from Shadow Lawn, ' 'Tell those gentlemen for
me ' and then followed a homily to the effect that a dam-
age done to any American citizen is a damage to him, etc.
He described the war as a result of many causes, some
of long origin. He spoke of England's having the earth
and of Germany wanting it. Of course, he said, the
German system is directly opposed to everything Ameri-
can. But I do not gather that he thought that this
carried any very great moral reprehensibility.
"He said that he wouldn't do anything with the re-
taliatory act till after election lest it might seem that
he was playing politics. But he hinted that if there were
continued provocation afterward (in case he were elected)
he would. He added that one of the worst provocations
was the long English delay in answering our Notes.
Was this delay due to fear or shame? He evidently
felt that such a delay showed contempt. He spoke of
the Bryan treaty. 1 But on no question had the British
'locked horns' with us on no question had they come
to a clear issue so that the matter might be referred to
the Commission."
Page delivered his oral message about the German
determination to obtain an armistice. This was to the
effect that Great Britain would not grant it. Page inti-
mated that Britain would be offended if the President
proposed it.
"If an armistice, no," answered Mr. Wilson. "That's
a military matter and is none of my business. But if
they propose an armistice looking toward peace yes,
I shall be glad."
J The treaty between the United States and Great Britain, adopted through the
urgency of Mr. Bryan, providing for the arbitration of disputes between the two
countries.
WASHINGTON IN THE SUMMER OF 1916 187
The experience was an exceedingly trying one for both ,
men. The discussion showed how far apart were the /
President and his Ambassador on practically every issue
connected with the crisis. Naturally the President's
reference to the causes of the war that there were many
causes, some of them of long origin, and that Great
Britain's domination of the "earth" was one of them
conflicted with the judgment of a man who attributed
the origin of the struggle to German aggression. The
President's statement that American sympathy for
the Allies had now changed to irritation, and the tolerant
attitude toward Germany which Mr. Wilson displayed,
affected Page with the profoundest discouragement.
The President's intimation that he would advance Ger-
many's request for an armistice, if it looked toward
peace this in reply to Page's message that Great Britain
would not receive such a proposal in a kindly spirit-
seemed to lay the basis of further misunderstandings.
The experience was a disheartening one for Page. Many
people whom the Ambassador met in the course of this
visit still retain memories of his fervour in what had now
become with him a sacred cause. With many friends and
officials he discussed the European situation almost like a
man inspired. The present writer recalls two long conver-
sations with Page at this time : the recollection of his bril-
liant verbal portraiture, his description of the determina-
tion of Englishmen, his admiration for the heroic sacrifice
of Englishwomen remain as about the most vivid memor-
ies of a life-time. And now the Ambassador had brought /
this same eloquence to the President's ear at Shadow ^
Lawn. It was in this interview that Page had hoped to
show Mr. Wilson the real merits of the situation, and per-
suade him to adopt the course to which the national honour
and safety pointed; he talked long and eloquently, paint-
188 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
ing the whole European tragedy with that intensity and
readiness of utterance and that moral conviction which
had so moved all others with whom he had come into con-
tact during this memorable visit to the United States ; but
Mr. Wilson was utterly cold, utterly unresponsive, inter-
ested only in ending the war. The talk lasted for a whole
morning ; its nature may be assumed from the many letters
already printed ; but Page's voice, when it attempted to fire
the conscience of the President, proved as ineffective as
his pen. However, there was nothing rasping nor conten-
tious about the interview. The two men discussed every-
thing with the utmost calmness and without the slight-
est indications of ill-nature. Both men had in mind
their long association, both inevitably recalled the hopes
with which they had begun their official relationship
three years before, at that time neither having the
faintest intimation of the tremendous problems that were
to draw them asunder. Mr. Wilson at this interview
did not impress his Ambassador as a perverse character,
but as an extremely pathetic one. Page came away
with no vexation or anger, but with a real feeling for a
much suffering and a much perplexed statesman. The
fact that the President's life was so solitary, and that
he seemed to be so completely out of touch with men and
with the living thoughts of the world, appealed strongly
to Page's sympathies. "I think he is the loneliest man
I have ever known," Page remarked to his son Frank
after coming away from this visit.
Page felt this at the time, for, as he rose to say good-bye
to the President, he put his hand upon his shoulder.
At this Mr. Wilson's eyes filled with tears and he gave
Page an affectionate good-bye. The two men never met
again.
CHAPTER XX
"PEACE WITHOUT VICTORY"
OF ONE thing I am sure," Page wrote to his wife
from Washington, while waiting to see President
Wilson. " We wish to come home March 4th at midnight
and to go about our proper business. There's nothing
here that I would for the world be mixed up with. As
soon as I can escape with dignity I shall make my bow and
exit. . . . But I am not unhappy or hopeless for the
long run. They'll find out the truth some day, paying, I
fear, a heavy penalty for delay. But the visit here has con-
firmed me in our previous conclusions that if we can carry
the load until March 4th, midnight, we shall be grateful
that we have pulled through."
Soon after President Wilson's reelection, therefore,
Page sent his resignation to Washington. The above
quotation shows that he intended this to be more than a
4 'courtesy resignation," a term traditionally applied to the
kind of leave-takings which Ambassadors usually send
on the formation of a new administration, or at the be-
ginning of a new Presidential term, for the purpose of giv-
ing the President the opportunity of reorganizing his offi-
cial family. Page believed that his work in London had
been finished, that he had done everything in his power
to make Mr. Wilson see the situation in its true light and
that he had not succeeded. He therefore wished to give
up his post and come home. This explains the fact that
his resignation did not consist of the half dozen perfunc-
tory lines which most diplomatic officers find sufficient on
189
190 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
such an occasion, but took the form of a review of the
reasons why the United States should align itself on the
side of the Allies.
To the President
London, November 24, 1916.
DEAR MR. PRESIDENT:
We have all known for many years that the rich and
populous and organized states in which the big cities are
do not constitute the political United States. But, I
confess, I hardly expected so soon to see this fact pro-
claimed at the ballot-box. To me that's the surprise of
the election. And your popular majority as well as your
clear majority in the Electoral College is a great personal
triumph for you. And you have remade the ancient and
demoralized Democratic party. Four years ago it con-
sisted of a protest and of the wreck wrought by Mr.
Bryan's long captaincy. This rebirth, with a popular
majority, is an historical achievement of your own.
You have relaid the foundation and reset the pillars of
a party that may enjoy a long supremacy for domestic
reasons. Now, if you will permit me to say so, from my
somewhat distant view (four years make a long period of
absence) the big party task is to build up a clearer and
more positive foreign policy. We are in the world and
we've got to choose what active part we shall play in it I
fear rather quickly. I have the conviction, as you know,
that this whole round globe now hangs as a ripe apple for
our plucking, if we use the right ladder while the chance
lasts. I do not mean that we want or could get the apple
for ourselves, but that we can see to it that it is put to
proper uses. What we have to do, in my judgment, is to
go back to our political fathers for our clue. If my long-
time memory be good, they were sure that their establish-
PEACE WITHOUT VICTORY 191
ment of a great free Republic would soon be imitated by
European peoples that democracies would take the place
of autocracies in all so-called civilized countries; for that
was the form that the fight took in their day against
organized Privilege. But for one reason or another in
our life-time partly because we chose so completely to iso-
late ourselves the democratic idea took root in Europe
with disappointing slowness. It is, for instance, now
perhaps for the first time, in a thoroughgoing way, within
sight in this Kingdom. The dream of the American
Fathers, therefore, is not yet come true. They fought
against organized Privilege exerted from over the sea. In
principle it is the same fight that we have made, in our
domestic field, during recent decades. Now the same
fight has come on a far larger scale than men ever dreamed
of before.
It isn't, therefore, for merely doctrinal reasons that we
are concerned for the spread of democracy nor merely
because a democracy is the only scheme of organization yet
wrought out that keeps the door of opportunity open and
invites all men to their fullest development. But we are
interested in it because under no other system can the
world be made an even reasonably safe place to live in.
For only autocracies wage aggressive wars. Aggressive
autocracies, especially military autocracies, must be
softened down by peace (and they have never been so
softened) or destroyed by war. The All-Highest doctrine
of Germany to-day is the same as the Taxation-without-
Representation of George III only more virulent,
stronger, and farther-reaching. Only by its end can the
German people recover and build up their character and
take the permanent place in the world that they thus
changed will be entitled to. They will either reduce
Europe to the vassalage of a military autocracy, which
192 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
may then overrun the whole world or drench it in blood,
or they must through stages of Liberalism work their way
toward some approach to a democracy; and there is no
doubt which event is impending. The Liberal idea will
win this struggle, and Europe will be out of danger of
a general assault on free institutions till some other autoc-
racy which has a military caste try the same Napoleonic
game. The defeat of Germany, therefore, will make for the
spread of the doctrine of our Fathers and our doctrine yet.
An interesting book might be made of concrete evi-
dences of the natural antipathy that the present German
autocracy has for successful democracy and hence for us.
A new instance has just come to me. My son, Arthur,
who succeeded to most of my activities at home, has been
over here for a month and he has just come from a visit to
France. In Paris he had a long conversation with Del-
casse, who told him that the Kaiser himself once made a
proposal to him to join in producing "the complete isola-
tion " of the United States. What the Kaiser meant was
that if the great Powers of Europe would hold off, he
would put the Monroe Doctrine to the test and smash it.
The great tide of the world will, by reason of the war,
now flow toward democracy at present, alas! a tide of
blood. For a century democracies and Liberal govern-
ments have kept themselves too much isolated, trusting
prematurely and too simply to international law and
treaties and Hague conventions. These things have
never been respected, except as springes to. catch wood-
cock, where the Divine Right held sway. The outgrow-
ing or the overthrow of the Divine Right is a condition
precedent to the effectiveness of international law and
treaties.
It has seemed to me, looking at the subject only with
reference to our country's duty and safety, that somehow
"PEACE WITHOUT VICTORY" 193
and at some early time our championship of democracy
must lead us to redeclare our faith and to show that we
believe in our historic creed. Then we may escape falling
away from the Liberal forces of the Old World and escape
the suspicion of indifference to the great scheme of gov-
ernment which was set up by our fathers' giving their
blood for it. I see no other way for us to take the best
and biggest opportunity that has ever come to prove true
to our faith as well as to secure our own safety and the
safety of the world. Only some sort of active and open /
identification with the Allies can put us in effective protest
against the assassins of the Armenians and the assassins
of Belgium, Poland, and Serbia, and in a friendly attitude
to the German people themselves, as distinguished from
their military rulers. This is the attitude surely that our
fathers would have wished us to take and would have
expected us to take and that our children will be proud
of us for taking; for it is our proper historic attitude,
whether looked at frc <n'the past or looked back at from the
future. There can be no historic approval of neutrality
for years, while the world is bleeding to death.
The complete severance of relations, diplomatic at first
and later possibly economic as well, with the Turks and
the Germans, would probably not cost us a man in battle
nor any considerable treasure; for the moral effect of with-
drawing even our formal approval of their conduct at
least our passive acquiescence would be that the Ger-
mans would see that practically all the Liberal world
stands against their system, and the war would end be-
fore we should need to or could put an army in the field.
The Liberal Germans are themselves beginning to see
that it is not they, but the German system, that is the
object of attack because it is the dangerous thing in the
world. Maximilian Harden presents this view in his
194 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
Berlin paper. He says in effect that Germany must get
rid of its predatory feudalism. That was all that was
the matter with George III.
Among the practical results of such action by us would,
I believe, be the following:
1. The early ending of the war and the saving of, per-
haps, millions of lives and of incalculable treasure ;
2. The establishment in Germany of some form of
more liberal government;
. 3. A league to enforce peace, ready-made, under our
guidance i.e., the Allies and ourselves;
4. The sympathetic cooperation and the moral force of
every Allied Government in dealing with Mexico:
5 . The acceptance and even documentary approval
of every Allied Government of the Monroe Doctrine;
6. The warding off and no doubt the final prevention
of danger from Japan, and, most of all, the impressive
and memorable spectacle of our Great Democracy thus
putting an end to this colossal crime, merely from the
impulse and necessity to keep our own ideals and to lead
the world right on. We should do for Europe on a large
scale essentially what we did for Cuba on a small scale and
thereby usher in a new era in human history.
I write thus freely, Mr. President, because at no time
can I write in any other way and because I am sure that all
these things can quickly be brought to pass under your
strong leadership. The United States would stand, as
no other nation has ever stood in the world predominant
and unselfish on the highest ideals ever reached in
human government. It is a vision as splendid as the
Holy Grael. Nor have I a shadow of doubt of the eager
and faithful following of our people, who would thereby
reestablish once for all our weakened nationality. We
are made of the stuff that our Fathers were made of.
"PEACE WITHOUT VICTORY" 195
And I write this now for the additional reason that I
am within sight of the early end o f my service here. When
you called me I answered, not only because you did me
great honour and laid a definite patriotic duty on me, but
because also of my personal loyalty to you and my pride
in helping forward the great principles in which we both
believe. But I understood then (and I am sure the sub-
ject lay in your mind in the same way) that my service
would be for four years at the most. I made all my ar-
rangements, professional and domestic, on this supposi-
tion. I shall, therefore, be ready to lay down my work
here on March 4th or as soon thereafter as meets your
pleasure.
r I am more than proud of the confidence that you have
shown in me. To it I am indebted for the opportunity
I have had to give such public service to my country as
I could, as well as for the most profitable experience of
my life. A proper and sympathetic understanding be-
tween the two English-speaking worlds seems to me the
most important duty of far-seeing men in either country.
It has taken such a profound hold on me that I shall, in
whatever way I can, work for its complete realization as
long as I can work for anything.
I am, Mr. President, most faithfully and gratefully
yours,
WALTER H. PAGE.
This letter was written at a time when President Wilson
was exerting his best energies to bring about peace. The
Presidential campaign had caused him to postpone these
efforts, for he believed that neither Germany nor Great
Britain could take seriously the activities of a President
whose own political position was insecure. At the time
Page's letter was received, the President was thinking only
196 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
of a peace based upon a stalemate ; it was then his appar-
ent conviction that both sides to the struggle were about
equally in the wrong and that a decisive victory of either
would not be a good thing for the world. Yet it is in-
teresting to compare this letter with the famous speech
which the President made six months afterward when
he asked Congress to declare the existence of a state of
war with Germany. Practically all the important reasons
J which Mr. Wilson then advanced for this declaration are
found in Page's letter of the preceding November. That
autocracies are a constant menace to world peace, that
the United States owes it to its democratic tradition to
take up arms against the enemy of free government, that
in doing this, it was not making war upon the German
people, but upon its imperialistic masters these were the
arguments which Page laid before the President in his let-
ter of resignation, and these were the leading ideas in Mr.
Wilson's address of April 2nd. There are even sentences
in Page's communication which seem to foreshadow Mr.
Wilson's assertion that "The world must be made safe
for democracy." It is impossible to read this letter and
not conclude that Page's correspondence, irritating in its
J later phases as it may have been, did not strongly influence
Mr. Wilson in his thinking.
On one point, indeed, Colonel House afterward called
the Ambassador to account. When America was pre-
paring to raise armies by the millions and to spend its
treasure by the billions, he reminded Page of his statement
that the severance of diplomatic relations "would prob-
ably not cost us a man in battle nor any considerable
treasure." Page's statement in this November letter
merely reiterated a conviction which for more than a year
he had been forcing upon the President and Colonel
House that the dismissal of Bernstorff would not neces-
PEACE WITHOUT VICTORY 197
sarily imply war with Germany, but that it would in itself
be enough to bring the war to an end. On this point Page
never changed his mind, as is evident from the letter which
he wrote to Colonel House when this matter was called to
his attention:
To Edward M. House
London, June 29, 1917.
MY DEAR HOUSE:
I never put any particular value on my own prophecies
nor on anybody else's. I have therefore no pride as a
prophet. Yet I do think that I hit it off accurately a
year or a year and a half ago when I said that we could
then have ended the war without any appreciable cost.
And these are my reasons :
If we had then come in and absolutely prevented sup-
plies from reaching Germany, as we are now about to do,
the war would then have been much sooner ended than it
can now be ended:
(1) Our supplies enabled her to go on.
(2) She got time in this way to build her great sub-
marine fleet. She went at it the day she promised the
President to reform.
(3) She got time and strength to overrun Rumania
whence she got food and oil; and continues to get it.
(4) During this time Russia fell down as a military
force and gave her more time, more armies for France
and more supplies. Russian guns have been sold to the
Germans.
If a year and a half ago we had starved her out, it
would have been over before any of these things hap-
pened. This delay is what will cost us billions and
billions and men and men.
And it cost us one thing more. During the neutrality
198 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
period we were as eager to get goods to the little neutral
states which were in large measure undoubtedly bound to
Germany as we are now eager to keep them out. Grey,
who was and is our best friend, and who was unwilling
to quarrel with us more than he was obliged to, was thrown
out of office and his career ended because the blockade,
owing to his consideration for us, was not tight enough.
Our delay caused his fall.
But most of all, it gave the Germans time (and to some
extent material) to build their present fleet of submarines.
They were at work on them all the while and according to
the best opinion here they continue to build them faster
than the British destroy them; and the submarines are
destroying more merchant ships than all the shipbuild-
ing docks of all the world are now turning out. This is
the most serious aspect of the war by far the most
serious. I am trying to get our Government to send
over hundreds of improvised destroyers armed tugs,
yachts, etc., etc. Admiral Sims and the British Admiralty
have fears that unless such help come the full fruits of the
war may never be gathered by the Allies that some sort
of a compromise peace may have to be made.
It is, therefore, true that the year and a half we waited
after the Lusitania will prove to be the most costly year
and a half in our history; and for once at least my old
prophecy was quite a good guess. But that water has
flowed over the dam and it is worth mentioning now only
because you challenged me. . . .
That part of Page's letter which refers to his retirement
had a curious history. It was practically a resigna-
tion and therefore called for an immediate reply, but Mr.
Wilson did not even acknowledge its receipt. For two
months the Ambassador was left in the dark as to the atti'
"PEACE WITHOUT VICTORY" 199
tude of Washington. Finally, in the latter part of Janu-
ary, 1917, Page wrote urgently to Mr. Lansing, asking
him to bring the matter to the President's attention. On
February 5, 1917, Mr. Lansing's reply was received.
"The President," he said, "under extreme pressure of the
present situation, has been unable to consider your com-
munication in regard to your resignation. He desires me
to inform you that he hopes that, at the present time, you
will not press to be relieved from service ; that he realizes
that he is asking you to make a personal sacrifice, but he
believes that you will appreciate the importance, in the
crisis which has developed, that no change should be made.
I hardly need to add my personal hope that you will put
aside any thought of resigning your post for the present."
At this time, of course, any idea of retiring was out of
the question. The President had dismissed Bernstorff
and there was every likelihood that the country would
soon be at war. Page would have regarded his retire-
ment at this crisis as little less than the desertion of his
post. Moreover, since Mr. Wilson had adopted the policy
which the Ambassador had been urging for nearly two
years, and had sent Bernstorff home, any logical excuse
that may have existed for his resignation existed no longer.
Mr. Wilson had now adopted a course which Page could
enthusiastically support.
"I am happy to serve here at any sacrifice " such was
his reply to Mr. Lansing "until after the end of the war,
and I am making my arrangements to stay for this
period."
The months that intervened between the Presidential
election and the declaration of war were especially difficult
for the American Embassy in London. Page had in-
formed the President, in the course of his interview of
September 22nd, how unfavourably Great Britain re-
200 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
garded his efforts in the direction of peace; he had in
fact delivered a message from the Foreign Office that
any Presidential attempt to "mediate" would be rejected
by the Allies. Yet his earnest representation on this
point had produced no effect upon Mr. Wilson. The
pressure which Germany was bringing to bear upon Wash-
ington was apparently irresistible. Count Bernstorff's
memoirs, with their accompanying documents, have re-
vealed the intensity of the German efforts during this
period; the most startling fact revealed by the German
Ambassador is that the Kaiser, on October 9th, notified
the President, almost in so many words, that, unless he
promptly moved in the direction of peace, the German
Government "would be forced to regain the freedom of
action which it has reserved to itself in the note of May
4th last." 1 It is unlikely that the annals of diplomacy
contain many documents so cool and insolent as this one.
It was a notification from the Kaiser to the President that
the so-called "Sussex pledge" was not regarded as an
unconditional one by the Imperial Government; that it
was given merely to furnish Mr. Wilson an opportunity to
bring the war to an end ; and that unless the Presidential
attempt to accomplish this were successful, there would be
a resumption of the indiscriminate submarine campaign.
The curious developments of the next two months are
now a familiar story. Possibly because the British Govern-
ment had notified him, through Page, that his proffer of
mediation would be unacceptable, Mr. Wilson moved
cautiously and slowly, and Germany became impatient.
The successful campaign against Rumania, resulting in the
capture of Bucharest on December 6th, and the new vista
which it opened to Germany of large food supplies,
strengthened the Teutonic purpose. Perhaps Germany,
^'My Three Years in America," by Count Berastorff, p. 294.
"PEACE WITHOUT VICTORY'* 201
with her characteristic lack of finesse, imagined that her
own open efforts would lend emphasis to Mr. Wilson's
pacific exertions. At any rate, on December 12th, just as
Mr. Wilson was preparing to launch his own campaign for
mediation, Germany herself approached her enemies with a
proposal for a peace conference. A few days afterward
Page, as the representative of Germany, called at the For-
eign Office to deliver the large white envelope which con-
tained the Kaiser's " peace proposal." In delivering this to
Lord Robert Cecil, who was acting as Foreign Secretary
in the temporary absence of Mr. Balfour, Page emphasized
the fact that the American Government entirely disasso-
ciated itself from its contents and that he was acting
merely in his capacity of "German Ambassador." Two
communications from Lord Robert to Sir Cecil Spring
Rice, British Ambassador at Washington, tell the story
and also reveal that it was almost impossible for Page,
even when engaged in an official proceeding, to conceal
his contempt for the whole enterprise:
Lord R. Cecil to Sir C. Spring Rice
Foreign Office,
December 18, 1916,
SIR:
The American Ambassador came to see me this morning
and presented to me the German note containing what is
called in it the "offer of peace." He explained that he
did so on instructions of his Government as representing
the German Government, and not in any way as repre-
senting their own opinions. , He also explained that the
note must be regarded as coming from the four Central
Powers, and as being addressed to all the Entente Powers
who were represented by the United States.
He then read to me a telegram from his Government,
202 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
but declined to leave me a copy of it. The first part of
the telegram explained that the Government of the United
States would deeply appreciate a confidential intimation
of the response to be made to the German note and that
they would themselves have certain representations to
make to the Entente Powers, to which they urgently
begged the closest consideration. The telegram went on
to explain that the Government of the United States had
had it in mind for some time past to make such represen-
tations on behalf of neutral nations and humanity, and
that it must not be thought that they were prompted by
the Governments of the Central Powers. They wished
us to understand that the note of the Central Powers
created a good opportunity for making the American
representations, but was not the cause of such represen-
tations being made.
I replied that I could of course say nothing to him on
such an important matter without consulting my col-
leagues.
I am, etc.,
ROBERT CECIL.
Lord R. Cecil to Sir C. Spring Rice
Foreign Office,
19 December, 1916.
SIR:
The American Ambassador came to see me this after-
noon.
I asked him whether he could tell me why his govern-
ment were anxious to have confidential information as to
the nature of our response to the German peace note.
He replied that he did not know, but he imagined it
was to enable them to frame the representations of which
he had spoken to me.
PEACE WITHOUT VICTORY 203
I then told him that we had asked the French to draft
a reply, and that it would then be considered by the Allies,
and in all probability an identic note would be presented
in answer to the German note. I thought it probable that
we should express our view that it was impossible to deal
with the German offer, since it contained no specific pro-
posals.
He said that he quite understood this, and that we
should in fact reply that it was an offer "to buy a pig in a
poke" which we were not prepared to accept. He added
that he thought his Government would fully anticipate a
reply in this sense, and he himself obviously approved it.
Then, speaking quite seriously, he said that he had
heard people in London treating the German offer with
derision, but that no doubt the belligerent governments
would treat it seriously.
I said that it was certainly a serious thing, and no doubt
would be treated seriously.
I asked him if he knew what would be contained in the
proposed representations from his government.
He said that he did not; but as he understood that they
were to be made to all the belligerents, he did not think
that they could be much more than a pious aspiration for
peace; since that was the only thing that was equally
applicable to the Germans and to us.
As he was leaving he suggested that the German note
might be published in our press.
I am, etc.,
ROBERT CECIL.
This so-called German " peace proposal" began with
the statement that the war "had been forced" upon Ger-
many, contained the usual reference to the military might
of the Central Powers, and declared that the Fatherland
204 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
was fighting for "the honour and liberty of national
evolution." It is therefore not surprising that Lord
Robert received it somewhat sardonically, especially as the
communication contained no specific proposals, but
merely a vague suggestion of "negotiations." But an-
other spectacular performance now drove the German
manoeuvre out of everybody's mind. That President
Wilson resented this German interference with his own
plans is well known; he did not drop them, however, but
on December 18th, he sent his long-contemplated peace
communication to all the warring Powers. His appeal
took the form of asking that they state the objects for
which they were fighting, the Presidential belief evidently
being that, if they did this, a common meeting ground
might possibly be found. The suggestion that the Allied
war aims were not public property, despite the fact
that British statesmen had been broadly proclaiming
them for three years, caused a momentary irritation
in England, but this was not a serious matter, especially
as the British Cabinet quickly saw that this request
gave them a position of advantage over Germany,
which had always refused to make public the terms on
which it would end the war. The main substance in this
Presidential approach, therefore, would have produced
no ill-feeling; as usual, it was a few parenthetical phrases
phrases which were not essential to the main argument
which set the allied countries seething with indignation.
The President, this section of his note ran, "takes the
liberty of calling attention to the fact that the objects
which the statesmen of the belligerents on both sides have
in mind in this war, are virtually the same, as stated in
general terms to their own people and to the world. Each
side desires to make the rights and privileges of weak
peoples and small states as secure against aggr^sion and
" PEACE WITHOUT VICTORY'* 205
denial in the future as the rights and privileges of the
great and powerful states now at war." This idea was
elaborated in several sentences of a similar strain, the
general purport of the whole passage being that there was
little to choose between the combatants, inasmuch as both
were apparently fighting for about the same things. Mr.
Wilson's purpose in this paragraph is not obscure; he was
making his long expected appearance as a mediator, and
he evidently believed that it was essential to this role that
he should not seem to be prejudiced in favour of either
side, but should hold the balance impartially between
them.
It is true that a minute reading indicates that Mr.
Wilson was merely quoting, or attempting to paraphrase,
the statements of the leaders of both sides, but there is such
a thing as quoting with approval, and no explanation
could convince the British public that the ruler of the
greatest neutral nation had not declared that the Allies
and the Central Powers stood morally upon the same level.
The popular indignation which this caused in Great
Britain was so intense that it alarmed the British authori-
ties. The publication of this note in the British press was
withheld for several hours, in order to give the Govern-
ment an opportunity to control the expression of editorial
opinion; otherwise it was feared that this would be so un-
restrained in its bitterness that relations with the United
States might be imperilled. The messages which the Lon-
don correspondents were permitted to send to the United
States were carefully censored for the same reason. The
dispatch sent by the Associated Press was the product of
a long struggle between the Foreign Office and its London
correspondent. The representatives spent half an hour
considering whether the American correspondents could
cable their country that the note had been received in
206 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
England with "surprise and irritation." After much
discussion it was decided that "irritation" could not be
used, and the message of the Associated Press, after under-
going this careful editing by the Foreign Office, was a
weak and ridiculous description of the high state of ex-
citement which prevailed in Great Britain. The fact that
the British Foreign Office should have given all this trou-
ble over the expressions sent to American newspapers and
should even have spent half an hour debating whether a
particular word should be used, almost pathetically illus-
trates the great care taken by the British Government not
to influence American opinion against the Allies.
The Government took the same precautions with its
own press in England. When the note was finally
released the Foreign Office explicitly directed the Lon-
don newspapers to comment with the utmost caution
and in no case to question the President's sincerity.
Most of them acquiesced in these instructions by main-
taining silence. There was only one London newspaper,
the Westminster Gazette, which made even a faint-hearted
attempt to explain away the President's statement.
From the first day of the war the British people had
declared that President Wilson did not understand the
issues at stake; and they now declared that this note
confirmed their worst forebodings. The comments of
the man-in-the-street were unprintable, but more serious
than these was the impression which Mr. Wilson's du-
bious remarks made upon those Englishmen who had
always been especially friendly to the United States and
who had even defended the President in previous crises.
Lord Bryce, who had accepted philosophically the Presi-
dential statement that the United States was not "con-
cerned with the causes" of the war, could not regard
so indulgently this latest judgment of Great Britain
"PEACE WITHOUT VICTORY 207
and Germany. "Bryce came to see me in a state of
great depression," wrote Page. "He has sent Mr. Wilson
a personal letter on this matter." Northcliffe com-
manded his newspapers, the Times and the Daily Mail,
to discuss the note in a judicial spirit, but he himself
told Mr. Page that "everybody is as angry as hell."
When someone attempted to discuss the Wilson note
with Mr. Asquith, he brushed the subject away with a
despairing gesture. "Don't talk to me about it," he
said. "It is most disheartening." But the one man in
England who was perhaps the most affected was King
George. A man who had attended luncheon at Buck-
ingham Palace on December 21st gave Page a descrip-
tion of the royal distress. The King, expressing his
surprise and dismay that Mr. Wilson should think that
Englishmen were fighting for the same things in this war
as the Germans, broke down.
The world only now understands the dreadful prospect
which was opening before Europe at the moment when
this Presidential note added a new cause for general
despondency. Rumania had collapsed, the first inkling
of the Russian revolution had been obtained, the
British well knew that the submarine warfare was to
be resumed* and British finances were also in a
desperate plight. More and more it was becoming
evident to the British statesmen that they needed the
intervention of the United States. This is the reason
why they could not destroy the chances of American
help by taking official offense even at what Page, in a /
communication to the Secretary of State, did not hesitate
to call President Wilson's "insulting words"; and hence
their determination to silence the press and to give no
outward expression of what they felt. Page's interview
with Lord Robert Cecil on December 26th, while the
208 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
Presidential communication was lying on his desk, dis-
closes the real emotions of Englishmen. Apparently
Page's frank cables concerning the reception of this para-
graph had caused a certain interest in the State Depart-
ment ; at least the Ambassador was instructed to call at the
Foreign Office and explain that the interpretation which
had been commonly put upon the President's words was
not the one which he had intended. At the same time
Page was instructed to request the British Foreign Office,
in case its reply were " favourable," not to publish it,
but to communicate it secretly to the American Govern-
ment. The purpose of this request is a little obscure;
possibly it was the President's plan to use such a favour-
able reply to force Germany likewise to display an ac-
quiescent mood. The object of Page's call was to present
this disclaimer.
Lord Robert Cecil, the son of the late Lord Salisbury,
that same Lord Salisbury whose combats with Secre-
tary Elaine and Secretary Olney form piquant chapters
in British-American history is one of the most able
and respected of British statesmen. In his earlier
life Lord Salisbury had been somewhat overbearing
in his attitude toward the United States; in his later
years, however, perhaps owing to the influence of his
nephew, Mr. Balfour, his manner had changed. In his
attitude toward the United States Lord Robert Cecil
reflected only the later phases of his father's career.
To this country and to its peaceful ideals he had always
been extremely sympathetic, and to Page especially he
had never manifested anything but cordiality. Yet it
was evident, as Page came into his office this morning,
that to Lord Robert, as to every member of the Govern-
ment, the President's note, with its equivocal phrases,
had been a terrible shock. His manner was extremely
*' PEACE WITHOUT VICTORY" 209
courteous, as always, but he made no attempt to conceal
his feelings. Ordinarily Lord Robert did not wear his
emotions on the surface; but he took occasion on this
visit to tell Page how greatly the President's communi-
cation had grieved him.
"The President," he said, "has seemed to pass judg-
ment on the allied cause by putting it on the same level
as the German. I am deeply hurt."
Page conveyed Mr. Lansing's message that no such
inference was justified. But this was not reassuring.
"Moreover," Lord Robert added, "there is one sen-
tence in the note that in which the President says that
the position of neutrals is becoming intolerable that
seems almost a veiled threat."
Page hastened to assure Lord Robert that no threat
was intended.
Lord Robert's manner became increasingly serious.
"There is nothing that the American Government or
any other human power can do," he remarked slowly and
solemnly, "which will bring this war to a close before the
Allies have spent their utmost force to secure a victory.
A failure to secure such a victory will leave the world at
the mercy of the most arrogant and the bloodiest tyranny
that has ever been organized. It is far better to die in
an effort to defeat that tyranny than to perish under its
success."
On any occasion Lord Robert is an impressive or at
least a striking and unusual figure; he is tall, lank, and
ungainly, almost Lincolnesque in the carelessness of his
apparel and the exceeding awkwardness of his postures and
manners. His angular features, sharp nose, pale face, and
dark hair suggest the strain of ascetism, almost of fanat-
icism, which runs in the present generation of his family.
And the deep sincerity and power of his words on this
210 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
occasion made an impression which Page never forgot;
they transformed the British statesman into an eloquent,
almost an heroic figure. If we are to understand the full
tragedy of this moment we must remember that, incredible
as it now seems, there was a fear in British officialdom
that the United States might not only not pursue a course
favourable to the Allies, but that it might even throw its
support to Germany. The fear, of course, was baseless;
any suggestion of such a policy in the United States would
have destroyed any official who had brought it forward;
but Lord Robert knew and Page knew that there were
insidious influences at work at that time, both in the
United States and in Great Britain, which looked in this
direction. A group of Americans, whom Page used to re-
fer to as "peace spies," were associated with English
pacifists, for the purpose of bringing about peace on al-
most any terms. These "peace spies" had worked out a
programme all their own. The purpose was to compel
Great Britain to accept the German terms for ending the
war. Unless she did accept them, then it was intended
that the American Government should place an embargo
on the shipment of foodstuffs and munitions to the Allies.
There is little question that the United States, by taking
such action, could have ended the war almost instan-
taneously. Should the food of her people and the great
quantities of munitions which were coming from this
country be suddenly cut off, there is little likelihood that
Great Britain could have long survived. The possibility
that an embargo might shut out these supplies had hung
over the heads of British statesmen ever since the war be-
gan; they knew that the possession of this mighty power
made the United States the potential dictator of events;
and the fear that it might be used had never ceased to
influence their thoughts or their actions. Even while this
"PEACE WITHOUT VICTORY" 211
interview was taking place, certain anti-British forces in
the United States, such as Senator Hoke Smith of Georgia,
were urging action of this kind.
"I have always been almost a Pacifist," Lord Robert
continued. "No man has ever hated war worse than I.
No man has ever had a more earnest faith that war can
be abolished. But European civilization has been mur-
derously assaulted and there is nothing now to do but to
defeat this desperate enemy or to perish in the effort. I
had hoped that the United States understood what is at
stake."
Lord Robert went on:
"I will go so far as to say that if the United States will
come into the war it will decide which will win, freedom or
organized tyranny. If the United States shall help the
Germans, civilization will perish and it will be necessary
to build it up slowly again if indeed it will ever appear
again. If the United States will help the Allies, civiliza-
tion will triumph." 1
As to the proposal that the British terms should be
conveyed confidentially to Mr. Wilson, Lord Robert said
that that would be a difficult thing to do. The President's
note had been published, and it therefore seemed neces-
sary that the reply should also be given to the press. This
was the procedure that was ultimately adopted.
Startling as was the sensation caused by the President's
December note, it was mild compared with that which was
now to come. Page naturally sent prompt reports of all
these conversations to the President and likewise kept
him completely informed as to the state of public feeling, ,
but his best exertions apparently did not immediately
affect the Wilson policy. The overwhelming fact is that
narrative is based upon memoranda made by Page.
212 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
the President's mind was fixed on a determination to com-
pel the warring powers to make peace and in this way to
keep the United States out of the conflict. Even the dis-
turbance caused by his note of December 18th did not
make him pause in this peace campaign. To that note
the British sent a manly and definite reply, drafted by
Mr. Balfour, giving in detail precisely the terms upon
which the Allies would compose their differences with the
Central Powers. The Germans sent a reply consisting of
ten or a dozen lines, which did not give their terms, but
merely asked again for a conference. Events were now
moving with the utmost rapidity. On January 9th, a
council of German military chieftains was held at Pless;
in this it was decided to resume unrestricted submarine
warfare. On January 16th the Zimmermann-Mexico tele-
gram was intercepted; this informed Bernstorff, among
other things, that this decision had been made. On
January 16th, at nine o'clock in the morning, the
American Embassy in London began receiving a long
cipher despatch from Washington. The preamble an-
nounced that the despatch contained a copy of an address
which the President proposed to deliver before the Senate
"in a few days." Page was directed to have copies of
the address " secretly prepared" and to hand them to the
British Foreign Office and to newspapers of the type of the
Nation, the Daily News, and the Manchester Guardian-
all three newspapers well known for their Pacifist tenden-
cies. As the speech approached its end, this sentence ap-
peared: "It must be a peace without victory." The
words greatly puzzled the secretary in charge, for they
seemed almost meaningless. Suspecting that an error
had been made in transmission, the secretary directed the
code room to cable Washington for a verification of the
cipher groups. Very soon the answer was received; there
"PEACE WITHOUT VICTORY" 213
had been no mistake ; the Presidential words were precisely
those which had been first received: "Peace without vic-
tory." The slips were then taken to Page, who read the
document, especially these fateful syllables, with a con-
sternation which he made no effort to conceal. He im-
mediately wrote a cable to President Wilson, telling him of /
the deplorable effect this sentence would produce and im-
ploring him to cut it out of his speech with what success
the world now knows.
An astonishing feature of this episode is that Page had
recently explained to the Foreign Office, in obedience to
instructions from Washington, that Mr. Wilson's Decem-
ber note should not be interpreted as placing the Allies and
the Central Powers on the same moral level. Now Mr.
Wilson, in this " peace without victory" phrase, had re-
peated practically the same idea in another form. On
the day the speech was received at the Embassy, about a
week before it was delivered in the Senate, Page made
the following memorandum:
The President's address to the Senate, which was re-
ceived to-day (January 16th), 1 shows that he thinks he
can play peace-maker. He does not at all understand,
(or, if he do, so much the worse for him) that the Entente
Powers, especially Great Britain and France, cannot make
4 * peace without victory." If they do, they will become
vassals of Germany. In a word, the President does not
know the Germans ; and he is, unconsciously, under their
influence in his thought. His speech plays into their
hands.
This address will give great offense in England, since it
puts each side in the war on the same moral level.
I immediately saw the grave danger to our relations with
l lt was Delivered and published on January 22nd,
214 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
Great Britain by the Peace-without- Victory plan; and I
telegraphed the President, venturing to advise him to omit
that phrase with no result.
Afterward Page added this to the above:
Compare this Senate speech with his speech in April
calling for war: Just when and how did the President
come to see the true nature of the German? What made
him change from Peace-Maker to War-Maker? The
Zimmermann telegram, or the February U-boat renewal
of warfare? Had he been so credulous as to believe the
German promise? This promise had been continuously
and repeatedly broken.
Or was it the pressure of public opinion, the growing
impatience of the people that pushed him in?
This distressing peace-move utterly out of touch with
the facts of the origin of the war or of its conduct or of the
mood and necessities of Great Britain a remote, aca-
demic deliverance, while Great Britain and France were
fighting for their very lives made a profoundly dejected
feeling; and it made my place and work more uncomfort-
able than ever. "Peace without victory" brought us to
the very depths of European disfavour.
CHAPTER XXI
THE UNITED STATES AT WAR
THE United States broke off diplomatic relations with
Germany on February 3, 1917. The occasion was
a memorable one in the American Embassy in London,
not unrelieved with a touch of the ridiculous. All day
long a nervous and rather weary company had waited in
the Ambassador's room for the decisive word from Wash-
ington. Mr. and Mrs. Page, Mr. and Mrs. Laughlin, Mr.
Shoecraft, the Ambassador's secretary, sat there hour after
hour, hardly speaking to one another in their tense excite-
ment, waiting for the news that would inform them that
Bernstorff's course had been run and that their country
had taken its decision on the side of the Allies. Finally,
at nine o'clock in the evening, the front door bell rang.
Mr. Shoecraft excitedly left the room; half way down-
stairs he met Admiral William Reginald Hall, the head
of the British Naval Intelligence, who was hurrying up to
the Ambassador. Admiral Hall, as he spied Mr. Shoe-
craft, stopped abruptly and uttered just two words:
"Thank God!"
He then went into the Ambassador's room and read a
secret code message which he had just received from Cap-
tain Gaunt, the British naval attache at Washington.
It was as follows:
"Bernstorff has just been given his passports. I shall
probably get drunk to-night!"
215
216 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
It was in this way that Page first learned that the long
tension had passed.
Page well understood that the dismissal of Bernstorff
at that time meant war with the Central Empires. Had
this dismissal taken place in 1915, after the sinking of the
Lusitania, or in 1916, after the sinking of the Sussex, Page
believed that a simple break in relations would in itself
have brought the war to an early end. But by February,
1917, things had gone too far. For Germany had now
decided to stake everything upon the chance of winning a
quick victory with the submarine. Our policy had per-
suaded the Kaiser's advisers that America would not
intervene; and the likelihood of rapidly starving Great
Britain was so great indeed the Germans had reduced the
situation to a mathematical calculation of success that
an American declaration of war seemed to Berlin to be a
matter of no particular importance. The American Am-
bassador in London regarded Bernstorff 's dismissal much
more seriously. It justified the interpretations of events
which he had been sending to Mr. Wilson, Colonel House,
and others for nearly three years. If Page had been in-
clined to take satisfaction in the fulfilment of his own pro-
phecies, Germany's disregard of her promises and the
American declaration of war would have seemed an ample
justification of his course as ambassador.
But Page had little time for such vain communings.
"All that water," as he now wrote, "has flowed over the
dam." Occasionally his mind would revert to the dread-
ful period of "neutrality," but in the main his activities,
mental and physical, were devoted to the future. A
letter addressed to his son Arthur shows how quickly and
how sympathetically he was adjusting himself to the
new prospect. His mind was now occupied with ships,
food, armies, warfare on submarines, and the approaching
Walter H. Page, at the time of America's entry into the war,
April, 1917
PRESENTED TO THE AMERICAN AMBASSADOR IN LONDON
HE 0? WALTER HIMES PAGE.
BY THE BRITISH PEACE-CENTENARY COMMITTEE
Resolution passed by the two Houses of Parliament, April 18, 1917,
on America's entry into the war
THE UNITED STATES AT WAR 217
resettlement of the world. How completely he foresaw
the part that the United States must play in the actual
waging of hostilities, and to what an extent he himself was
responsible for the policies that ultimately prevailed, ap-
pears in this letter:
To Arthur W. Page
25 March, 1917, London.
DEAR ARTHUR:
It's very hard, not to say impossible, to write in these
swiftly moving days. Anything written to-day is out of
date to-morrow even if it be not wrong to start with.
The impression becomes stronger here every day that we
shall go into the war "with both feet" that the people
have pushed the President over in spite of his vision of the
Great Peacemaker, and that, being pushed over, his idea
now will be to show how he led them into a glorious war
in defense of democracy. That's my reading of the situ-
ation, and I hope I am not wrong. At any rate, ever since
the call of Congress for April 2nd, I have been telegraph-
ing tons of information and plans that can be of use only
if we go to war. Habitually they never acknowledge tht
receipt of anything at Washington. I don't know, there-
fore, whether they like these pieces of information or not.
I have my staff of twenty-five good men getting all sorts
of warlike information; and I have just organized twenty-
five or thirty more the best business Americans in
London who are also at work. I am trying to get the
Government at Washington to send over a committee of
conference a General, an Admiral, a Reserve Board mail,
etc., etc. If they do hah the things that I recommend
we'll be in at the final lickin' big, and will save our souls
yet.
There's lots of human nature in this world. A note is
218 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
now sometimes heard here in undertone (Northcliffe strikes
it) that they don't want the Americans in the war.
This means that if we come in just as the Allies finish the
job we'll get credit, in part, for the victory, which we did
little to win! But that's a minor note. The great mass
of people do want us in, quick, hard, and strong our
money and our guns and our ships.
A gift of a billion dollars 1 to France will fix Franco-
American history all right for several centuries. Push it
through. Such a gift could come to this Kingdom also
but for the British stupidity about the Irish for three
hundred years. A big loan to Great Britain at a low
rate of interest will do the work here.
My mind keeps constantly on the effect of the war and
especially of our action on our own country. Of course
that is the most important end of the thing for us. I hope
that
1. It will break up and tear away our isolation;
2. It will unhorse our cranks and soft-brains.
3. It will make us less promiscuously hospitable to
every kind of immigrant;
4. It will reestablish in our minds and conscience and
policy our true historic genesis, background, kindred, and
destiny i. e., kill the Irish and the German influence.
5. It will revive our real manhood put the molly-
coddles in disgrace, as idiots and dandies are;
6. It will make our politics frank and manly by re-
storing our true nationality;
7. It will make us again a great sea-faring people. It
is this that has given Great Britain its long lead in the
world ;
8. Break up our feminized education make a boy a
*At this time the proposal of such a gift found much popular favour. How-
ever, the plan was not carried through.
THE UNITED STATES AT WAR 219
vigorous animal and make our education rest on a whole-
some physical basis;
9. Bring men of a higher type into our political life.
We need waking up and shaking up and invigorating as
much as the Germans need taking down.
There is no danger of "militarism" in any harmful sense
among any English race or in any democracy.
By George! all these things open an interesting outlook
and series of tasks don't they?
My staff and I are asking everybody what the Ameri-
cans can best do to help the cause along. The views are
not startling, but they are interesting.
Jellicoe: More ships, merchant ships, any kind of
ships, and take over the patrol of the American side of the
Atlantic and release the British cruisers there.
Balfour: American credits in the United States big
enough to keep up the rate of exchange.
Bonar Law: Same thing.
The military men: An expeditionary force, no matter
how small, for the effect of the American Flag in Europe.
If one regiment marched through London and Paris and
took the Flag to the front, that would be worth the win-
ning of a battle.
Think of the vast increase of territory and power Great
Britain will have her colonies drawn closer than ever, the
German colonies, or most of them, taken over by her, Bag-
dad hers what a way Germany chose to lessen the Brit-
ish Empire! And these gains of territory will be made,
as most of her gains have been, not by any prearranged, set
plan, but as by-products of action for some other purpose.
The only people who have made a deliberate plan to con-
quer the earth now living are the Germans. And from
first to last the additions to the British Empire have been
made because she has been a first-class maritime power.
220 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
And that's the way she has made her trade and her money,
too.
On top of this the President speculates about the danger
of the white man losing his supremacy because a few mil-
lion men get killed! The truth is every country that is
playing a big part in the war was overpopulated. There
will be a considerable productive loss because the killed
men were, as a rule, the best men; but the white man's
control of the world hasn't depended on any few million
of males. This speculation is far up in the clouds. If
Russia and Germany really be liberated from social and
political and industrial autocracy, this liberation will
bring into play far more power than all the men killed in
the war could have had under the pre-war regime. I ob-
serve this with every year of my observation there's no
substitute for common-sense.
The big results of the war will, after all, be the freedom
J and the stimulation of men in these weary Old- World
lands in Russia, Germany itself, and in England. In five
or ten years (or sooner, alas !) the dead will be forgotten.
If you wish to make a picture of the world as it will be
when the war ends, you must conjure up such scenes as
these human bones along the Russian highways where
the great retreat took place and all that such a sight de-
notes; Poland literally starved ; Serbia, blasted and burned
and starved; Armenia butchered; the horrible tragedy of
Gallipoli, where the best soldiers in the world were sacrificed
to politicians' policies; Austria and Germany starved and
whipped but liberalized perhaps no king in either coun-
try; Belgium belgiumized; northern France the same
and worse; more productive Frenchmen killed in propor-
tion to the population perhaps than any other country
will have lost; Great Britain most of her best men gone
or maimed ; colossal debts ; several Teutonic countries bank-
THE UNITED STATES AT WAR 221
rupt; every atrocity conceivable committed somewhere
a hell-swept great continent having endured more suffer-
ing in three years than in the preceding three hundred.
Then, ten years later, most of this suffering a mere mem-
ory; governments reorganized and liberalized; men made
more efficient by this strenuous three years' work; the
fields got back their bloom, and life going on much as it
did before with this chief difference some kings have
gone and many privileges have been abolished. The
lessons are two (1) that no government can successfully
set out and conquer the world ; and (2) that the hold that
privilege holders acquire costs more to dislodge than any
one could ever have guessed. That's the sum of it. Kings
and privilege mongers, of course, have held the parts of
the world separate from one another. They fatten on
provincialism, which is mistaken for patriotism. As
they lose their grip, human sympathy has its natural play
between nations, and civilization has a chance. With any
Emperor of Germany left the war will have been half in
vain.
If we (the U. S. A.) cultivate the manly qualities and
throw off our cranks and read our own history and be true
to our traditions and blood and get some political vigour;
then if we emancipate ourselves from the isolation theory
and from the landlubber theory get into the world and
build ships, ships, ships, ships, and run them to the ends of
the seas, we can dominate the world in trade and in politi-
cal thought.
You know I have moments when- it occurs to me that
perhaps I'd better give whatever working years I may
have to telling this story the story of the larger meaning of
the war. There's no bigger theme never was one so big.
Affectionately,
W. H. P.
222 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
On April 1st, the day before President Wilson made his
great address before Congress requesting that body to de-
clare the existence of a state of war with Germany,, Page
committed to paper a few paragraphs which summed up
his final judgment of President Wilson's foreign policy for
the preceding two and a half years.
Embassy of the United States of America,
April 1, 1917.
In these last days, before the United States is forced
into war by the people's insistence the preceding course
of events becomes even clearer than it was before ; and it
has been as clear all the time as the nose on a man's face.
The President began by refusing to understand the
meaning of the war. To him it seemed a quarrel to settle
economic rivalries between Germany and England. He
said to me last September 1 that there were many causes
why Germany went to war. He showed a great degree
of toleration for Germany; and he was, during the whole
morning that I talked with him, complaining of England.
The controversies we had with England were, of course,
mere by-products of the conflict. But to him they
seemed as important as the controversy we had with Ger-
many. In the beginning he had made as far as it was
possible neutrality a positive quality of mind. He would
not move from that position.
That was his first error of judgment. And by insisting
on this he soothed the people sat them down in com-
fortable chairs and said, "Now stay there." He really
suppressed speech and thought,
.j The second error he made was in thinking that he could
*At the meeting of Page and the President at Shadow Lawn, September 22,
1916. See Chapter XIX.
THE UNITED STATES AT WAR 223
play a great part as peacemaker come and give a blessing
to these erring children. This was strong in his hopes and
ambitions. There was a condescension in this attitude
that was offensive.
He shut himself up with these two ideas and engaged
in what he called "thought." The air currents of the
world never ventilated his mind.
This inactive position he has kept as long as public senti-
ment permitted. He seems no longer to regard himself
nor to speak as a leader only as the mouthpiece of public
opinion after opinion has run over him.
He has not breathed a spirit into the people: he has
encouraged them to supineness. He is not a leader, but
rather a stubborn phrasemaker.
And now events and the aroused people seem to have
brought the President to the necessary point of action;
and even now he may act timidly.
"One thing pleases me," Page wrote to his son Arthur,
"I never lost faith in the American people. It is now
clear that I was right in feeling that they would have
gladly come in any time after the Lusitania crime, Middle
West in the front, and that the German hasn't made any
real impression on the American nation. He was made
a bug-a-boo and worked for all he was worth by Bern-
storff; and that's the whole story. We are as Anglo-
Saxon as we ever were. If Hughes had had sense and
courage enough to say: 'I'm for war, war to save our
honour and to save democracy,' he would now be President.
If Wilson had said that, Hughes would have carried no
important states in the Union. The suppressed people
would have risen to either of them. That's God's truth as
I believe it. The real United States is made up of you
224 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
and Frank and the Page boys at Aberdeen and of the
10,000,000 other young fellows who are ready to do the
job and who instinctively see the whole truth of the situa-
tion. But of course what the people would not have done
under certain conditions that water also has flowed over
the dam; and I mention it only because I have resolutely
kept my faith in the people and there has been nothing in
recent events that has shaken it."
Two letters which Page wrote on this same April 1st
are interesting in that they outline almost completely the
war policy that was finally carried out:
To Frank N. Doubleday
Embassy of the United States of America,
April 1, 1917.
DEAR EFFENDI:
Here's the programme:
(1) Our navy in immediate action in whatever way a
conference with the British shows we can best help.
(2) A small expeditionary force to France immedi-
ately as large as we can quickly make ready, if only
10,000 men as proof that we are ready to do some fight-
ing.
(3) A large expeditionary force as soon as the men can
be organized and equipped. They can be trained into an
effective army in France in about one fourth of the time
that they could be trained anywhere else.
(4) A large loan to the Allies at a low rate of interest.
(5) Ships, ships, ships troop ships, food ships, muni-
tion ships, auxiliary ships to the navy, wooden ships, steel
ships, little ships, big ships, ships, ships, ships without
number or end.
(6) A clear-cut expression of the moral issue involved
THE UNITED STATES AT WAR 225
in the war. Every social and political ideal that we
stand for is at stake. If we value democracy in the
world, this is the chance to further it or to bring it into
utter disrepute. After Russia must come Germany and
Austria; and then the King-business will pretty nearly be
put out of commission.
(7) We must go to war in dead earnest. We must
sign the Allies' agreement not to make a separate peace,
and we must stay in to the end. Then the end will be
very greatly hastened.
It's been four years ago to-day since I was first asked to
come here. God knows I've done my poor best to save
our country and to help. It'll be four years in the middle
of May since I sailed. I shall still do my best. I'll not be
able to start back by May 15th, but I have a feeling, if
we do our whole duty in the United States, that the end
may not be very many months off. And how long off it
may be may depend to a considerable degree on our ac-
tion.
We are faring very well on army rations. None of us
will live to see another time when so many big things are
at stake nor another time when our country can play so
large or important a part in saving the world. Hold up
your end. I'm doing my best here.
I think of you engaged in the peaceful work of instruct-
ing the people, and I think of the garden and crocuses and
the smell of early spring in the air and the earth and
push on; I'll be with you before we grow much older or
get much grayer; and a great and prosperous and peaceful
time will lie before us. Pity me and hold up your end for
real American participation. Get together? Yes; but
the way to get together is to get in!
Affectionately,
w. a P.
226 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
To David F. Houston 1
Embassy of the United States of America,
April 1, 1917.
DEAR HOUSTON:
The Administration can save itself from becoming a
black blot on American history only by vigorous action
acts such as these:
Putting our navy to work vigorous work wherever
and however is wisest. I have received the Government's
promise to send an Admiral here at once for a conference.
We must work out with the British Navy a programme
whereby we can best help; and we must carry it without
hesitancy or delay.
Sending over an expeditionary military force immedi-
ately a small one, but as large as we can, as an earnest
of a larger one to come. This immediate small one will
have a good moral effect; and we need all the moral rein-
statement that we can get in the estimation of the world ;
J our moral stock is lower than, I fear, any of you at home
can possibly realize. As for a larger expeditionary force
later even that ought to be sent quite early. It can and
must spend some time in training in France, whatever its
training beforehand may have been. All the military men
agree that soldiers in France back of the line can be trained
in at least half the time that they can be trained
anywhere else. The officers at once take their turn in the
trenches, and the progress that they and their men make in
close proximity to the fighting is one of the remarkable dis-
coveries of the war. The British Army was so trained
and all the colonial forces. Two or three or four hundred
thousand Americans could be sent over as soon almost as
they are organized and equipped provided transports
Secretary of Agriculture in President Wilson's Cabinet.
THE UNITED STATES AT WAR 227
and a continuous supply of food and munition ships can
be got. They can be trained into fighting men into an
effective army in about one third of the time that would
be required at home.
I suppose, of course, we shall make at once a large
loan to the Allies at a low rate of interest. That is most
important, but that alone will not save us. We must also
fight.
All the ships we can get build, requisition, or confiscate
are needed immediately
Navy, army, money, ships these are the first things,
but by no means all. We must make some expression of
a conviction that there is a moral question of right and /'
wrong involved in this war a question of humanity, a
question of democracy. So far we have (officially) spoken
only of the wrongs done to our ships and citizens. Deep
wrongs have been done to all our moral ideas, to our
ideals. We have sunk very low in European opinion be-
cause we do not seem to know even yet that a German
victory would be less desirable than (say) a Zulu victory
of the world.
We must go in with the Allies, not begin a mere single
fight against submarines. We must sign the pact of
London not make a separate peace.
We mustn't longer spin dreams about peace, nor
leagues to enforce peace, nor the Freedom of the Seas. Y
These things are mere intellectual diversions of minds
out of contact with realities. Every political and social
ideal we have is at stake. If we make them secure, we'll
save Europe from destruction and save ourselves, too.
I pray for vigour and decision and clear-cut resolute ac-
tion.
(1) The Navy full strength, no "grapejuice" action.
(2) An immediate expeditionary force.
228 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
(3) A larger expeditionary force very soon.
(4) A large loan at a low interest.
(5) Ships, ships, ships.
(6) A clear-cut expression of the moral issue. Thus
(and only thus) can we swing into a new era, with a world
born again.
Yours in strictest confidence,
W. H. P.
A memorandum, written on April 3rd, the day after
President Wilson advised Congress to declare a state of
war with Germany:
The Day
When I went to see Mr. Balfour to-day he shook my
hand warmly and said: "It's a great day for the world."
And so has everybody said, in one way or another, that I
have met to-day.
The President's speech did not appear hi the morning
papers only a very brief summary in one or two of them ;
but the meaning of it was clear. The fact that the House
of Representatives organized itself in one day and that
the President addressed Congress on the evening of that
day told the story. The noon papers had the President's
speech hi full; and everybody applauds.
My "Cabinet" meeting this morning was unusually
interesting; and the whole group has never before been
so delighted. I spoke of the suggestive, constructive
work we have already done in making reports on various
war preparations and activities of this kingdom. "Now
we have greater need than ever, every man to do con-
structive work to think of plans to serve. We are in
THE UNITED STATES AT WAR 229
this excellent strategical position in the capital of the
greatest belligerent a position which I thank my stars,
the President, and all the powers that be for giving us.
We can each strive to justify our existence. "
Few visitors called; but enthusiastic letters have begun
to come in.
Nearly the whole afternoon was spent with Mr. Balfour
and Lord Robert Cecil. Mr. Balfour had a long list of
subjects. Could we help in (1) (2) (3) ? Every once
ha a while he stopped his enumeration of subjects long
enough to tell me how the action of the United States had
moved him.
To Lord Robert I said: "I pray you, give the Black
List a decent burial: It's dead now, but through no act of
yours. It insulted every American because you did not
see that it was insulting: that's the discouraging fact to
me." He thanked me earnestly. He'll think about that.
ii
These jottings give only a faint impression of the
change which the American action wrought in Page. The
strain which he had undergone for twenty-nine months
had been intense; it had had the most unfortunate effect
upon his health; and the sudden lifting might have pro-
duced that reaction for the worse which is not unusual
after critical experiences of this kind. But the gratifica-
tion which Page felt in the fact that the American spiritj
had justified his confidence gave him almost a certain
exuberance of contentment. Londoners who saw him at
that time describe him as acting like a man from whose
shoulders a tremendous weight had suddenly been re-
moved. For more than two years Page had been com-
pelled, officially at least, to assume a "neutrality" with
230 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
which he had never had the slightest sympathy, but the
necessity for this mask now no longer existed. A well-
known Englishman happened to meet Page leaving his
house in Grosvenor Square the day after the Declaration
of War. He stopped and shook the Ambassador's hand.
"Thank God," the Englishman said, "that there is one
hypocrite less in London to-day."
"What do you mean?" asked Page.
"I mean you. Pretending all this time that you were
neutral! That isn't necessary any longer."
" You are right!" the Ambassador answered as he
walked on with a laugh and a wave of the hand.
A few days after the Washington Declaration, the Ameri-
can Luncheon Club held a feast in honour of the event.
This organization had a membership of representative
American business men in London, but its behaviour during
the war had not been based upon Mr. Wilson's idea of
neutrality. Indeed its tables had so constantly rung with
denunciations of the Lusitania notes that all members
of the American Embassy, from Page down, had found
it necessary to refrain from attending its proceedings.
When Page arose to address his compatriots on this occa-
sion, therefore, he began with the significant words, "I am
glad to be back with you again" and the mingled laughter
and cheers with which this remark was received indicated
that his hearers had caught the point.
The change took place not only in Page, but in London
and the whole of Great Britain. An England that had been
saying harsh things of the United States for nearly two
years now suddenly changed its attitude. Both houses
of Parliament held commemorative sessions in honour
of America's participation; in the Commons Mr. Lloyd
George, Mr. Asquith, and other leaders welcomed their
new allies, and in the Upper Chamber Lord Curzon, Lord
THE UNITED STATES AT WAR 231
Bryce, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and others similarly
voiced their admiration. The Stars and Stripes almost
instantaneously broke out on private dwellings, shops,
hotels, and theatres; street hucksters did a thriving busi-
ness selling rosettes of the American colours, which even
the most stodgy Englishmen did not disdain to wear in
their buttonholes; wherever there was a band or an or-
chestra, the Star Spangled Banner acquired a sudden
popularity; and the day even came when the American
and the British flags flew side by side over the Houses of
Parliament the first occasion in history that any other
than the British standard had received this honour. The
editorial outgivings of the British press on America's en-
trance form a literature all their own. The theatres and
the music haUs, which had found in "notes" and "nootral-
ity " an endless theme of entertainment for their patrons,
now sounded Americanism as their most popular refrain.
Churches and cathedrals gave special services in honour
of American intervention, and the King and the President
began to figure side by the side in the prayer book. The
estimation in which President Wilson was held changed
overnight. All the phrases that had so grieved English-
men were instantaneously forgotten. The President's
address before Congress was praised as one of the most
eloquent and statesmanlike utterances in history. Special
editions of this heartening document had a rapid sale; it
was read in school houses, churches, and at public gather-
ings, and it became a most influential force in uplifting the
hopes of the Allies and inspiring them to renewed activi-
ties. Americans everywhere, in the streets, at dinner
tables, and in general social intercourse, could feel the new
atmosphere of respect and admiration which had suddenly
become their country's portion. The first American
troops that passed through London a company of en-
232 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGB
gineers, an especially fine body of men aroused a popu-
lar enthusiasm which was almost unprecedented in a
capital not celebrated for its emotional displays. Page
himself records one particularly touching indication of the
feeling for Americans which was now universal. "The
increasing number of Americans who come through Eng-
land," he wrote, "most of them on their way to France,
but some of them also to serve in England, give much
pleasure to the British public nurses, doctors, railway
engineers, sawmill units, etc. The sight of every Ameri-
can uniform pleases London. The other morning a group
of American nurses gathered with the usual crowd in front
of Buckingham Palace while the Guards band played in-
side the gates. Man after man as they passed them and
saw their uniforms lifted their hats."
The Ambassador's mail likewise underwent a complete
transformation. His correspondence of the preceding
two years, enormous in its extent, had contained much
that would have disturbed a man who could easily get
excited over trifles, but this aspect of his work never
caused Page the slightest unhappiness. Almost every
crank in England who disliked the American policy had
seemed to feel it his duty to express his opinions to the
American Ambassador. These letters, at times sorrow-
ful, at others abusive, even occasionally threatening, vary-
ing in their style from cultivated English to the grossest
illiteracy, now written in red ink to emphasize their bitter-
ness, now printed in large block letters to preserve their
anonymity, aroused in Page only a temporary amusement.
But the letters that began to pour in upon him after our
Declaration, many of them from the highest placed men
and women in the Kingdom, brought out more vividly
than anything else the changed position of his country.
Sonnets and verses rained upon the Embassy, most of
The Rt. Hon. David Lloyd George, Chancellor of the
Exchequer, 1908-1915, Minister of Munitions, 1915-1916,
Prime Minister of Great Britain since 1916.
The Rt. Hon. Arthur James Balfour (now the Earl of Balfour)
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 1916-1919
THE UNITED STATES AT WAR 233
them pretty bad as poetry, but all of them commend-
able for their admiring and friendly spirit. Of all these
letters those that came from the steadfast friends of Amer-
ica perhaps gave Page the greatest satisfaction. "You
will have been pleased at the universal tribute paid to the
spirit as well as to the lofty and impressive terms of the
President's speech," wrote Lord Bryce. "Nothing finer
in our time, few things so fine." But probably the letter
which gave Page the greatest pleasure was that which
came from the statesman whose courtesy and broad out-
look had eased the Ambassador's task in the old neutrality
days. In 1916, Sir Edward Grey now become Viscount
Grey of Fallodon had resigned office, forced out, Page
says in one of his letters, mainly because he had refused to
push the blockade to a point where it might produce a
break with the United States. He had spent the larger
part of the time since that event at his country place in
Northumberland, along the streams and the forests which
had always given him his greatest pleasure, attempting to
recover something of the health that he had lost in the ten
years which he had spent as head of the British Foreign
Office and bearing with characteristic cheerfulness and
fortitude the tragedy of a gradually failing eyesight.
The American Declaration of War now came to Lord Grey
as the complete justification of his policy. The main-
spring of that policy, as already explained, had been a
determination to keep the friendship of the United States,
and so shape events that the support of this country
would ultimately be cast on the side of the Allies. And
now the great occasion for which he had prepared had
come, and in Grey's mind this signified more than a help
to England in soldiers and ships; it meant bringing to- r
gether the two branches of a common race for the promo-
tion of common ideals.
234 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
From Viscount Grey of Fallodon
Rosehall Post Office,
Sutherland,
April 8, 1917.
DEAR MR. PAGE:
This is a line that needs no answer to express my con-
gratulations on President Wilson's address. I can't ex-
press adequately all that I feel. Great gratitude and
great hope are in my heart. I hope now that some
great and abiding good to the world will yet be wrought
out of all this welter of evil. Recent events in Russia, too,
stimulate this hope: they are a good in themselves, but not
the power for good in this war that a great and firmly
established free country like the United States can be.
The President's address and the way it has been followed
up in your country is a splendid instance of great action
finely inspired. I glow with admiration.
Yours sincerely,
GREY OF FALLODON
One Englishman who was especially touched by the
action of the United States was His Majesty the King.
Few men had watched the course of America during the
war with more intelligent interest than the head of the
British royal house. Page had had many interviews with
King George at Buckingham Palace and at Windsor, and
his notes contain many appreciative remarks on the Bang's
high character and conscientious devotion to his duties.
That Page in general did not believe in kings and emper-
ors as institutions his letters reveal; yet even so profound
a Republican as he recognized sterling character, whether
in a crowned head or in a humble citizen, and he had seen
enough of King George to respect him. Moreover,
THE UNITED STATES AT WAR 235
the peculiar limitations of the British monarchy cer-
tainly gave it an unusual position and even saved it
from much of the criticism that was fairly lavished upon
such nations as Germany and Austria. Page especially
admired King George's frankness in recognizing these
limitations and his readiness to accommodate himself
to the British Constitution. On most occasions, when
these two men met, their intercourse was certainly friendly
or at least not formidable. After all formalities had been
exchanged, the King would frequently draw the Ambassa-
dor aside ; the two would retire to the smoking room, and
there, over their cigars, discuss a variety of matters sub-
marines, international politics, the Irish question and the
like. His Majesty was not averse even to bringing up
the advantages of the democratic and the monarchical
system. The King and Ambassador would chat, as Page
himself would say, like "two human beings"; King
George is an emphatic and vivacious talker, fond of em-
phasizing his remarks by pounding the table; he has the
liveliest sense of humour, and enjoys nothing quite so
much as a good story. Page found that, on the subject
of the Germans, the King entertained especially robust
views. "They are my kinsmen," he would say, "but I
am ashamed of them."
Probably most Englishmen, in the early days of the war,
preferred that the United States should not engage in
hostilities; even after the Lusitania, the majority in all
likelihood held this view. There are indications, how-
ever, that King George favoured American participation.
A few days after the Lusitania sinking, Page had an au-
dience for the purpose of presenting a medal sent by cer-
tain societies in New Orleans. Neither man was thinking
much about medals that morning. The thoughts upper-
most in their minds, as in the minds of most Americans and
236 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
Englishmen, were the Lusitania and the action that the
United States was likely to take concerning it. After the
formalities of presentation, the King asked Page to sit
down and talked with him for more than half an hour.
"He said that Germany was evidently trying to force the
United States into the war ; that he had no doubt we would
soon be in it and that, for his part, he would welcome us
heartily. The King also said he had reliable information
from Germany, that the Emperor had wished to return
a conciliatory answer to our Lusitania note, but that
Admiral von Tirpitz had prevented it, even going so far
as to 'threaten' the Kaiser. It appears that the Admiral
insisted that the submarine was the only weapon the
Germans could use with effect against England and that
they could not afford to give it up. He was violent and
the Kaiser finally yielded." 1
The statement from the King at that crisis, that he
would "heartily welcome the United States into the war,"
was interpreted by the Ambassador as amounting practi-
cally to an invitation and certainly as expressing a wish
that such an intervention should take place.
That the American participation would rejoice King
George could therefore be taken for granted. Soon after
this event, the Ambassador and Mrs. Page were invited to
spend the night at Windsor.
"I arrived during the middle of the afternoon," writes
Page, " and he sent for me to talk with him in his office.
" 'I've a good story on you,' said he. 'You Americans
have a queer use of the word "some," to express mere big-
ness or emphasis. We are taking that use of the word
from you over here. Well, an American and an English-
man were riding in the same railway compartment. The
l The quotation is from a memorandum of the conversation made by one of the
secretaries of the American Embassy,
THE UNITED STATES AT WAR 237
American read his paper diligently all the details of a big
battle. When he got done, he put the paper down and said :
"Some fight!" "And some don't!" said the Englishman/
"And the King roared. 'A good one on you!'
"The trouble with that joke, sir,' I ventured to reply,
'is that it's out of date.'
"He was in a very gay mood, surely because of our
entry into the war. After the dinner there were no
guests except Mrs. Page and me, the members of his house-
hold, of course, being present he became even familiar
in the smoking room. He talked about himself and his
position as king. 'Knowing the difficulties of a limited
monarch, I thank heaven I am spared being an absolute
one.'
"He went on to enumerate the large number of things
he was obliged to do, for example, to sign the death war-
rant of every condemned man and the little real power
that he had not at all in a tone of complaint, but as a
merely impersonal explanation.
"Just how much power perhaps 'influence' is a better
word the King has, depends on his personality. The
influence of the throne and of him on the throne, being a
wholly thoughtful, industrious, and conscientious man
is very great greatest of all in keeping the vested inter-
ests of the aristocratic social structure secure.
" Earlier than this visit to Windsor he sent for me to go
to Buckingham Palace very soon after we declared war.
He went over the whole course of events and asked me
many questions. After I had risen and said 'good-bye'
and was about to bow myself out the door, he ran toward
me and waving his hand cried out, 'Ah Ah! we knew
where you stood ah 1 the time.'
"When General Pershing came along on his way to
France, the King summoned us to luncheon. The
238 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
luncheon was eaten (here, as everywhere, strict war ra-
tions are observed) to a flow of general talk, with the
Queen, Princess Mary, and one of the young Princes.
When they had gone from the luncheon room, the King,
General Pershing, and I stood smoking by the window; and
the King at once launched into talk about guns, rifles,
ammunition, and the American place in the battle line.
Would our place be with the British or with the French or
between the two?
"General Pershing made a diplomatic reply. So far as
he knew the President hadn't yet made a final decision,
but there was a feeling that, since we were helping the
British at sea, perhaps we ought to help the French on
land.
"Then the King expressed the earnest hope that our
guns and ammunition would match either the British or
the French. Else if we happened to run out of ammuni-
tion we could not borrow from anybody. He thought it
most unfortunate that the British and French guns and
rifles were of different calibres."
To Arthur W. Page
Brighton, England,
April 28, 1917.
DEAR ARTHUR:
. . . Well, the British have given us a very good
welcome into the war. They are not very skillful at such
a task: they do not know how to say "Welcome" very
vociferously. But they have said it to the very best of
their ability. My speeches (which I send you, with
some comment) were very well received indeed. Simple
and obvious as they were, they meant a good deal of work.
I cannot conceal nor can I express my gratification that
J we are in the war. I shall always wonder but never find
THE UNITED STATES AT WAR 239
out what influence I had in driving the President over.
All I know is that my letters and telegrams for nearly
two years especially for the last twelve months have
put before him every reason that anybody has expressed
why we should come in in season and out of season.
And there is no new reason only more reason of the same
old sort why we should have come in now than there was
why we should have come in a year ago. I suspect that the
pressure of the press and of public opinion really became
too strong for him. And, of course, the Peace-Dream
blew up was torpedoed, mined, shot, captured, and
killed. I trust, too, much enlightenment will be furnished
by the two Commissions now in Washington. 1 Yet it's
comical to think of the attitude of the poor old Depart-
ment last September and its attitude now. But thank
God for it! Every day now brings a confession of the
blank idiocy of its former course and its long argument!
Never mind that, so long as we are now right.
I have such a sense of relief that I almost feel that my
job is now done. Yet, I dare say, my most important
work is still to come.
The more I try to reach some sort of rational judgment
about the war, the more I find myself at sea. It does look
as if the very crisis is near. And there can be no doubt
now not even, I hope, in the United States about the
necessity of a clear and decisive victory, nor about
punishment. All the devastation of Northern France,
which outbarbarizes barbarism, all the ships sunk, in-
cluding hospital ships, must be paid for ; that's all. There'll
be famine in Europe whenever it end. Not only must
these destructions be paid for, but the Hohenzollerns and
all they stand for must go. Trust your Frenchman for
that, if nobody else!
British and French Commissions, headed by Mr. Balfour and M. Viviani.
240 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
If Europe had the food wasted in the United States,
it would make the difference between sustenance and
famine. By the way, the submarine has made every
nation a danger zone except those few that have self-
feeding continents, such as ours. It can bring famine
to any other kind of a country.
You are now out in the country again good. Give
Mollie my love and help her with the garden. I envy
you the fresh green things to eat. Little Mollie, kiss
her for granddaddy. The Ambassador, I suppose, waxes
even sturdier, and I'm glad to hear that A. W. P., Jr., is
picking up. Get him fed right at all costs. If Frank
stays at home and Ralph and his family come up, you'll
all have a fine summer. We've the very first hint of sum-
mer we've had, and it's cheerful to see the sky and to feel
the sunshine.
Affectionately,
W. H. P.
To Frank N. Doubleday
American Embassy,
London, May 3, 1917.
DEAR EFFENDI:
I aim this at you. It may hit a German submarine.
But we've got to take our chances in these days of risk.
Your letter from the tropics a letter from you from any
place is as scarce as peace ! gave me a pleasant thrill and
reminder of a previous state of existence, a long way back
in the past. I wonder if, on your side the ocean you are
living at the rate of a century a year, as we are here?
Here in bountiful England we are living on rations. I
spent a night with the King a fortnight ago, and he gave
us only so much bread, one egg apiece, and lemonade.
We are to begin bread tickets next week. All this is per-
THE UNITED STATES AT WAR 241
fectly healthful and wholesome and as much as I ever eat.
But the hard part of it is that it's necessary. We haven't
more than six weeks' food supply and the submarines
sunk eighty-eight ships 237,000 tons last week. These
English do not publish these harrowing facts, and nobody
knows them but a few official people. And they are de-
stroying the submarines at a most beggarly slow rate.
They work far out at sea 100 to 200 miles and it's as
hard to find them as it would be to find whales. The sim-
ple truth is we are in a dangerous plight. If they could
stop this submarine warfare, the war would pretty quickly
be won, for the Germans are in a far worse plight for food
and materials and they are getting much the worst of it
on land. The war would be won this summer or autumn
if the submarine could be put out of business. If it isn't,
the Germans may use this success to keep their spirits up
and go on till next year.
We (the United States) have about 40 destroyers. We
are sending over 6! I'm doing my best to persuade the
Government at Washington to send every one we have.
But, since the British conceal the facts from their own
press and the people and from all the world, the full pres-
sure of the situation is hard to exert on Washington. Our
Admiral (Sims) and I are trying our best, and we are
spending enough on cables to build a destroyer. All this,
you must, of course, regard as a dark secret; but it's a
devilish black secret.
I don't mean that there's any danger of losing the war.
Even if the British armies have to have their food cut
down and people here go hungry, they'll win; but the
winning may be a long time off. Nothing but their con-
tinued success can keep the Germans going. Their peo-
ple are war-weary and hungry. Austria is knocked out
and is starving. Turkey is done up but can go on living
242 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
on nothing, but not fighting much more. When peace
comes, there'll be a general famine, on the continent at
least, and no ships to haul food. This side of the world
will have to start life all over again with insufficient
men to carry things on and innumerable maimed men
who'll have (more or less) to be cared for. The horror of
the whole thing nobody realizes. We've all got used to
it here ; and nobody clearly remembers just what the world
was like in peace times ; those times were so far away. All
this I write not to fill you with horrors but to prove that
I speak the literal truth when I say that it seems a hundred
years since I had before heard from you.
Just how all this affects a man, no man can accurately
tell. Of how much use I'll be when I can get home, I
don't know. Sometimes I think that I shall be of vastly
greater use than ever. Plans and publishing ambitions
pop up in my mind at times which look good and promis-
ing. I see books and series of books. I see most useful
magazine stuff. Then, before I can think anything out
to a clear plan or conclusion, the ever-increasing official
duties and responsibilities here knock everything else out
of my head, perhaps for a whole month. It's a literal
fact that many a month I do not have an hour to do with
as I please nor to think about what I please, from the time
I wake up till I go to bed. In spite of twenty-four secre-
taries (the best fellows that ever were and the best staff
that my Embassy ever had in the world) more and more
work comes to me. I thank Heaven we no longer have
the interests of Germany, Austria, and Turkey to look
after; but with our coming into the war, work in general
has increased enormously. I have to spend very much
more time with the different departments of the British
Government on war plans and such like things. They
have welcomed us in very handsomely; and one form of
THE UNITED STATES AT WAR 243
their welcome is consulting with me about navy plans,
war plans, loans of billions, ships, censorship, secret ser-
vice everything you ever heard of. At first it seemed a
little comical for the admirals and generals and the Gover-
nor of the Bank of England to come and ask for advice.
But when I gave it and it worked out well, I went on
and, after all, the thing's easier than it looks. With a
little practice you can give these fellows several points in
the game and play a pretty good hand. They don't know
half as much as you might suppose they'd know. All
these years of lecturing the State Department and the
President got my hand in! The whole game is far easier
than any small business. You always play with blue
chips better than you play with white ones.
This country and these people are not the country and
the people they were three years ago. They are very
different. They are much more democratic, far less
cocksure, far less haughty, far humbler. The man at the
head of the army rose from the ranks. The Prime Minis-
ter is a poor Welsh schoolteacher's son, without early
education. The man who controls all British shipping
began life as a shipping "dark," at ten shillings a week.
Yet the Lords and Ladies, too, have shown that they were
made of the real stuff. This experience is making England
over again. There never was a more interesting thing to
watch and to be part of.
There are about twenty American organizations here-
big, little, rag-tag, and bobtail. When we declared war,
every one of 'em proceeded to prepare for some sort of
celebration. There would have been an epidemic of
Fourth-of-July oratory all over the town before we'd
done anything Americans spouting over the edges and
killing Kruger with their mouths. I got representatives
of 'em all together and proposed that we hold our tongues
244 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
till we'd won the war then we can take London. And
to give one occasion when we might all assemble and dedi-
cate ourselves to this present grim business, I arranged for
an American Dedicatory Service at St. Paul's Cathedral.
The royal family came, the Government came, the Allied
diplomats came, my Lords and Ladies came, one hundred
wounded American (Canadian) soldiers came the pick
of the Kingdom; my Navy and Army staff went in full
uniform, the Stars and Stripes hung before the altar, a
double brass band played the Star Spangled Banner and
the Battle Hymn of the Republic, and an American bishop
(Brent) preached a red-hot American sermon, the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury delivered the benediction; and (for
the first time in English history) a foreign flag (the Stars
and Stripes) flew over the Houses of Parliament. It was
the biggest occasion, so they say, that St. Paul's ever had.
And there's been no spilling of American oratory since!
If you had published a shilling edition of the words and
music of the Star Spangled Banner and the Battle Hymn
you could have sent a cargo of 'em here and sold them.
There isn't paper enough in this Kingdom to get out an
edition here.
Give my love to all the Doubledays and to all the fellows
in the shop, and (I wonder if you will) try your hand at
another letter. You write very legibly these days!
Sincerely yours,
WALTER H. PAGE.
" Curiously enough," Page wrote about this time, "these
most exciting days of the war are among the most barren
of exciting topics for private correspondence. The 'at-
mosphere' here is unchanging to us and the British are
turning their best side to us continuously. They are
increasingly appreciative, and they see more and more
THE UNITED STATES AT WAR 245
clearly that our coming into the war is all that saved them
from a virtual defeat I mean the public sees this more
and more clearly, for, of course, the Government has
known it from the beginning. I even find a sort of mor-
bid fear lest they do not sufficiently show their apprecia-
tion. The Archbishop last night asked me in an appre-
hensive tone whether the American Government and
public felt that the British did not sufficiently show their
gratitude. I told him that we did not come into the war
to win compliments but to whip the enemy, and that we
wanted all the help the British can give: that's the main
thing; and that thereafter of course we liked appreciation,
but that expressions of appreciation had not been lacking.
Mr. Balfour and Sir Edward Carson also spoke to me
yesterday much in the same tone as the Archbishop of
Canterbury.
"Try to think out any line of action that one will, or
any future sequence or events or any plan touching the
war, one runs into the question whether the British are
doing the best that could be done or are merely plugging
away. They are, as a people, slow and unimaginative,
given to over-much self-criticism; but they eternally hold
on to a task or to a policy. Yet the question forever
arises whether they show imagination, to say nothing of
genius, and whether the waste of a slow, plodding policy
is the necessary price of victory.
"Of course such a question is easy to ask and it is easy
to give dogmatic answers. But it isn't easy to give an
answer based on facts. Our General Lassiter, 1 for in-
stance a man of sound judgment has in general been
less hopeful of the military situation in France than most
of the British officers. But he is just now returned from
the front, much cheered and encouraged. 'Lassiter,' I
1 American military attache in London.
246 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
asked, 'have the British in France or has any man among
them what we call genius, or even wide vision; or are they
merely plodding along at a mechanical task?' His
answer was, 'We don't see genius till it has done its job.
It is a mechanical task yes, that's the nature of the strug-
gle and they surely do it with intelligence and spirit.
There is waste. There is waste in all wars. But I come
back much more encouraged.'
"The same sort of questions and answers are asked and
given continuously about naval action. Every discussion
of the possibility of attacking the German naval bases
ends without a plan. So also with preventing the sub-
marines from coming out. These subjects have been
continuously under discussion by a long series of men who
have studied them; and the total effect so far has been to
leave them among the impossible tasks. So far as I can
ascertain all naval men among the Allies agree that these
things can't be done.
"Here again Is this a merely routine professional
opinion a merely traditional opinion or is it a lack of
imagination? The question will not down. Yet it is
impossible to get facts to combat it. What are the limits
of the practicable?
"Mr. Balfour told me yesterday his personal conviction
about the German colonies, which, he said, he had
not discussed with his associates in the Cabinet. His
firm opinion is that they ought not to be returned to the
Germans, first for the sake of humanity. The na-
tives the Africans especially have been so barba-
rously treated and so immorally that it would be inhuman
to permit the Germans to rule and degrade them further.
But Heaven forbid that we should still further enlarge the
British Empire. As a practical matter I do not care to do
that. Besides, we should incur the criticism of fighting
THE UNITED STATES AT WAR 247
in order to get more territory, and that was not and is not
our aim. If the United States will help us, my wish is
that these German Colonies that we have taken, especially
in Africa, should be "internationalized." There are
great difficulties in such a plan, but they are not insuper-
able if the great Powers of the Allies will agree upon it.'
And much more to the same effect. The parts of Asiatic
Turkey that the British have taken, he thought, might be
treated in the same way."
CHAPTER XXII
THE BALFOUR MISSION TO THE
UNITED STATES
PAGE now took up a subject which had been near his
heart for a long time. He believed that one of the
- most serious causes of Anglo-American misunderstanding
was the fact that the leading statesmen of the two coun-
tries had never had any personal contact with one another.
At one time, as this correspondence shows, the Ambassa-
dor had even hoped that President Wilson himself might
cross the ocean and make the British people an official
visit. The proposal, however, was made before the
European war broke out, the occasion which Page had
in mind being the dedication of Sulgrave Manor, the old
English home of the Washington family, as a perpetual
memorial to the racial bonds and common ideals uniting
the two countries. The President found it impossible
to act upon this suggestion and the outbreak of war made
the likelihood of such a visit still more remote. Page had
made one unsuccessful attempt to bring the American
State Department and the British Foreign Office into
personal contact. At the moment when American irri-
tation had been most keen over the blockade and the
blacklist, Page had persuaded the Foreign Office to invite
to England Mr. Frank L. Polk, at that time Counsellor of
the Department; the Ambassador believed that a few
conversations between such an intelligent gentleman
as Mr. Polk and the British statesmen would smooth
248
THE BALFOUR MISSION TO THE UNITED STATES 249
out all the points which were then making things so
difficult. Unfortunately the pressure of work at Wash-
ington prevented Mr. Polk from accepting Sir Edward
Grey's invitation.
But now a greater necessity for close personal association
had arisen. The United States had entered the war, and
this declaration had practically made this country an ally
of Great Britain and France. The British Government
wished to send a distinguished commission to the United
States, for two reasons: first, to show its appreciation of
the stand which America had taken, and second, to dis-
cuss plans for cooperation in the common task. Great
Britain frankly admitted that it had made many mistakes
in the preceding three years mistakes naval, military,
political, and economic; it would welcome an opportunity
to display these errors to Washington, which might natu-
rally hope to profit from them. As soon as his country was
in the war, Page took up this suggestion with the Foreign
Office. There was of course one man who was preemi-
nently fitted, by experience, position, and personal quali-
ties, to head such a commission; on this point there was
no discussion. Mr. Balfour was now in his seventieth
year; his activities in British politics dated back to the
times of Disraeli ; his position in Great Britain had become
as near that of an "elder statesman" as is tolerable under
the Anglo-Saxon system. By this time Page had estab-
lished the friendliest possible relations with this distin-
guished man. Mr. Balfour had become Foreign Secretary
in December, 1916, in succession to Lord Grey. Greatly
as Page regretted the resignation of Grey, he was much
gratified that Mr. Balfour had been selected to succeed
him. Mr. Balfour's record for twenty-five years had been
one of consistent friendliness toward the United States.
When President Cleveland's Venezuelan message, in 1896,
250 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
had precipitated a crisis in the relations of the two coun-
tries, it was Mr. Balfour's influence which was especially
potent in causing Great Britain to modify its attitude and
to accept the American demand for arbitration. That
action not only amicably settled the Venezuelan question;
it marked the beginning of a better feeling between the
English-speaking countries and laid the basis for that
policy of benevolent neutrality which Great Britain had
maintained toward the United States in the Spanish War.
The excellent spirit which Mr. Balfour had shown at this
crisis he had manifested on many occasions since. In the
criticisms of the United States during the Lusitania trou-
bles Mr. Balfour had never taken part. The era of
"neutrality" had not ruffled the confidence which he had
always felt in the United States. During all this time the
most conspicuous dinner tables of London had rung with
criticisms of American policy ; the fact was well known, how-
ever, that Mr. Balfour had never sympathized with these
reproaches; even when he was not in office, no unfriendly
word concerning the United States had ever escaped his
lips. His feeling toward this country was well shown in
a letter which he wrote Page, in reply to one congratulat-
ing him on his seventieth birthday. "I have now lived
a long life," said Mr. Balfour, "and most of my energies
have been expended in political work, but if I have been
fortunate enough to contribute, even in the smallest de-
gree, to drawing closer the bonds that unite our two coun-
tries, I shall have done something compared with which
all else that I may have attempted counts in my eyes as
nothing."
Page's letters and notes contain many references to Mr.
Balfour's kindly spirit. On the day following the dis-
missal of Bernstorff the American Ambassador lunched
with the Foreign Secretary at No. 4 Carlton Gardens.
THE BALFOUR MISSION TO THE UNITED STATES 251
"Mr. Balfour," Page reported to Washington, "gave
expression to the hearty admiration which he entertained
for the President's handling of a difficult task. He said
that never for a moment had he doubted the President's
wisdom in the course he was pursuing. He had the pro-
foundest admiration for the manner in which he had
promptly broken with Germany after receiving Germany's
latest note. Nor had he ever entertained the slightest
question of the American people's ready loyalty to their
Government or to their high ideals. One of his intellec-
tual pleasures, he added, had long been contemplation of
the United States as it is and, even more, as its influence in
the world will broaden. 'The world,' said Mr. Balfour,
' will more and more turn on the Great Republic as on a
A ' "
pivot.
Occasionally Mr. Balfour's discussion of the United
States would take a more pensive turn. A memorandum
which Page wrote a few weeks after the above touches
another point:
March 27, 1917.
I had a most interesting conversation with Mr.
Balfour this afternoon. "It's sad to me," said he, "that
we are so unpopular, so much more unpopular than the
French, in your country. Why is it? The old school
books?"
I doubted the school-book influence.
"Certainly their influence is not the main cause. It is
the organized Irish. Then it's the effect of the very fact
that the Irish question is not settled. You've had that
problem at your very door for 300 years. What's the
matter that you don't solve it?"
l 'Yes, yes," he saw it. But the plaintive tone of
such a man asking such a question was significant and
interesting and sad.
252 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
Then I told him the curious fact that a British Govern-
ment made up of twenty individuals, every one of whom
is most friendly to the United States, will, when they
act together as a Government, do the most offensive
things. I mentioned the blacklist; I mentioned certain
complaints that I then held in my hand of Americans
here who are told by the British Government that they
must turn over to the British Government's agent in New
York their American securities which they hold in Amer-
ica!
There's a sort of imperious, arrogant, Tory action that
comes natural to the English Government, even when not
natural to the individual Englishman.
On April 5th, the day before the United States formally
declared war, Page notified Washington that the British
Government wished Mr. Balfour to go to the United
States as the head of a Commission to confer with our
Government. "Mr. Balfour is chosen for this mission,"
Page reported, "not only because he is Secretary of State
for Foreign Affairs, but because he is personally the most
distinguished member of the Government. ' ' Page tells the
story in more detail in a letter to Mr. Polk, at that time
Counsellor of the State Department.
To Frank L. Polk
London, May 3, 1917.
DEAR MR. POLK:
. . . Mr. Balfour accurately represents British
character, British opinion, and the British attitude. No-
body who knows him and knows British character and the
British attitude ever doubted that. I know his whole
tribe, his home-life, his family connections, his friends; and,
of course, since he became Foreign Secretary, I've come
THE BALFOUR MISSION TO THE UNITED STATES 253
to know him intimately. When the question first came
up here of his going, of course I welcomed it enthusiasti-
cally. About that time during a two-hour conversation
he asked me why the British were so unpopular in the
United States. Among other reasons I told him that our
official people on both sides steadfastly refused to visit
one another and to become acquainted. Neither he nor
Lord Grey, nor Mr. Asquith, nor Mr. Lloyd George, had
ever been to the United States, nor any other im-
portant British statesman in recent times, and not a single
member of the Administration was personally known to a
single member of the British Government. "I'll go,"
said he, " if you are perfectly sure my going will be agree-
able to the President." He himself recalled the fact,
during one of our several conversations just before he left,
that you had not come when he and Lord Grey had invited
you. If you had come, by the way, this era of a better
understanding would have begun then, and half our old
troubles would then have been removed. Keeping away
from one another is the best of all methods of keeping all
old misunderstandings alive and of making new ones.
I have no doubt that Mr. Balfour's visit will cause visits
of many first-class British statesmen during the war or
soon afterward. That's all we need to bring about a per-
fect understanding.
You may remember how I tried to get an official report
about the behaviour of the Benham, 1 and how, in the ab-
sence of that, Lord Beresford made a disagreeable speech
about our Navy in the House of Lords, and how, when
a The reference is to the attack made in October, 1916, by the German Submarine
17-53, off Nan tucket on several British ships. An erroneous newspaper account
said that the Benham, an American destroyer, had moved in a way that facilitated
the operations of the German submarine. This caused great bitterness in Eng-
land, until Page showed the Admiralty a report from the Navy Department prov-
ing that the story was false.
254 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
months later you sent me Roosevelt's 1 letter, Lord Beres-
ford expressed regret to me and said that he would explain
in another speech. I hadn't seen the old fellow for a long
time till a fortnight ago. He greeted me cheerily, and I
said, "I don't think I ought to shake hands with you till
you retract what you said about our navy." He insisted
on my dining with him. He invited Admiral Sims also,
and those two sailors had a jolly evening of it. Sims' s
coming has straightened out all that naval misunder-
standing and more. He is of immense help to them and
to us. But I'm going to make old Beresford's h'fe a bur-
den till he gets up in the Lords and takes that speech back
publicly. He's really all right; but it's just as well to
keep the records right. The proceedings of the House of
Lords are handsomely bound and go into every gentle-
man's library. I have seen two centuries of them in
many a house.
\ We can now begin a distinctly New Era in the world's
j history and in its management if we rise to the occasion:
'there's not a shadow of doubt about that. And the
United States can play a part bigger than we have yet
dreamed of if we prove big enough to lead the British and
the French instead of listening to Irish and Germans.
Neither England nor France is a democracy far from it.
We can make them both democracies and develop their
whole people instead of about 10 per cent, of their
people. We have simply to conduct our affairs by a large
national policy and not by the complaints of our really
non- American people. See how a declaration of war has
cleared the atmosphere 1
We're happy yet, on rations. There are no potatoes.
We have meatless days. Good wheat meantime is sunk
1 This, of course, is Franklin D. Roosevelt, Assistant Secretary of the Navy in
1917.
THE BALFOUR MISSION TO THE UNITED STATES 255
every day. The submarine must be knocked out. Else
the earth will be ruled by the German bayonet and natural
living will be verboten. We'll all have to goose-step as the
Crown Prince orders or be shot. I see they now propose
that the United States shall pay the big war indemnity
in raw materials to the value of hundreds of billions of
dollars! Not just yet, I guess!
As we get reports of what you are doing, it's most cheer-
ful. I assure you, God has yet made nothing or nobody </
equal to the American people; and I don't think He ever
will or can.
Sincerely yours,
WALTER H. PAGE.
One of the curious developments of this Balfour Mission
was a request from President Wilson that Great Britain
should take some decisive step for the permanent settle-^
ment of the Irish question. "The President," this mes-
sage ran, "wishes that, when you next meet the Prime
Minister, you would explain to him that only one circum-
stance now appears to stand in the way of perfect
cooperation with Great Britain. All Americans who
are not immediately connected with Germany by blood
ties find their one difficulty in the failure of Great Britain
so far to establish a satisfactory form of self-government in
Ireland. In the recent debates in Congress on the War
Resolution, this sentiment was especially manifest. It
came out in the speeches of those enemies of the Declara-
tion who were not Irish themselves nor representatives of
sections in which Irish voters possessed great influence
notably members from the Southern States.
" If the American people were once convinced that there
was a likelihood that the Irish question would soon be
settled, great enthusiasm and satisfaction would result
256 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
and it would also strengthen the cooperation which we are
now about to organize between the United States and
Great Britain. Say this in unofficial terms to Mr. Lloyd
George, but impress upon him its very great significance.
If the British Government should act successfully on this
matter, our American citizens of Irish descent and to a
great extent the German sympathizers who have made
common cause with the Irish, would join hands in the
great common cause."
To the President
London, May 4, 1917.
DEAR MR. PRESIDENT:
. . . It is a remarkable commentary on the insular-
ity of the British and on our studied isolation that till Mr.
Balfour went over not a member of this Government had
ever met a member of our Administration! Quite half
our misunderstandings were due to this. If I had the
making of the laws of the two governments, I'd have a
statutory requirement that at least one visit a year by
high official persons should be made either way. We
should never have had a blacklist, etc., if that had been
done. When I tried the quite humble task of getting
Polk to come and the excuse was made that he couldn't
be spared from his desk Mr. President, I fear we haven't
half enough responsible official persons in our Govern-
ment. I should say that no man even of Folk's rank
ought to have a desk: just as well give him a mill-stone.
Even I try not to have a desk: else I'd never get anything
of importance done; for I find that talks and conferences
in my office and in the government offices and wherever
else I can find out things take all my waking hours. The
Foreign Office here has about five high position men to
every one in the State Department. God sparing me,
THE BALFOUR MISSION TO THE UNITED STATES 257
I'm going one of these days to prepare a paper for our
Foreign Affairs Committee on the Waste of Having
too Few High Grade Men in the Department of State;
a Plea for Five Assistant Secretaries for Every One Now
Existing and for Provision for International Visits by
Them.
Here's an ancient and mouldy precedent that needs
shattering for the coming of our country into its proper
station and influence in the world.
I am sure that Mr. Balfour's visit has turned out as well
as I hoped, and my hopes were high. He is one of the
most interesting men that I've ever had the honour /
to know intimately he and Lord Grey. Mr. Balfour
is a Tory, of course; and in general I don't like Tories,
yet liberal he surely is a sort of high-toned Scotch demo-
crat. I have studied him with increasing charm and
interest. Not infrequently when I am in his office just
before luncheon he says, "Come, walk over and we'll
have lunch with the family." He's a bachelor. One
sister lives with him. Another (Lady Rayleigh, the
wife of the great chemist and Chancellor of Cambridge
University) frequently visits him. Either of those
ladies could rule this Empire. Then there are nieces and
cousins always about people of rare cultivation, every
one of 'em. One of those girls confirmed the story that
"Uncle Arthur" one day concluded that the niblick was
something more than a humble necessity of a bad golfer
that it had positive virtues of its own and had suffered
centuries of neglect. He, therefore, proceeded to play
with the niblick only, till he proved his case and showed
that it is a club entitled to the highest respect.
A fierce old Liberal fighter in Parliamentary warfare,
who entered politics about the time Mr. Balfour did,
told me this story the other day. "I've watched Balfour
258 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
for about forty years as a cat watches a rat. I hate his
party. I hated him till I learned better, for I hated that
whole Salisbury crowd. They wanted to Cecil every-
thing. But I'll tell you, Sir, apropos of his visit to your
country, that in all those years he has never spoken of the
United States except with high respect and often with deep
affection. I should have caught him, if he had.'*
I went with him to a college in London one afternoon
where he delivered a lecture on Dryden, to prove that
poetry can carry a certain cargo of argument but that
argument can't raise the smallest flight of poetry. Dry
as it sounds, it was as good a literary performance as I
recall I ever heard.
At his "family" luncheon, I've found Lord Milner or
Lord Lansdowne, or some literary man who had come in
to find out from Lady Rayleigh how to conduct the
Empire or to write a great book; and the modest old
chemical Lord sits silent most of the time and now and
then breaks loose to confound them all with a pat joke.
This is a vigorous family, these Balfours. There's one
of them (a cousin of some sort, I think, of the Foreign
Secretary) who is a Lord of much of Scotland, about as
tall as Ben Nevis is high a giant of a man. One of his
sons was killed early in the war and one was missing
whether dead or not he did not know. Mrs. Page ex-
pressed her hope one day to the old man that he had had
news from his missing son. "No, no," said he simply,
"and me lady is awearying."
We've been lucky, Mr. President, in these days of
immortal horrors and of difficulties between two govern-
ments that did not know one another uncommonly lucky,
in the large chances that politics gives for grave errors,
to have had two such men in the Foreign Office here as
Lord Grey and Mr. Balfour. There are men who were
THE BALFOUR MISSION TO THE UNITED STATES 259
mentioned for this post that would have driven us mad
or to war with them. I'm afraid I've almost outgrown
my living hero worship. There isn't worshipful material
enough lying around in the world to keep a vigorous rev-
erence in practice. But these two gentlemen by birth
and culture have at least sometimes seemed of heroic size
to me. It has meant much to know them well. I shall
always be grateful to them, for in their quiet, forceful
way they helped me much to establish right relations
with these people which, pray God, I hope to retain
through whatever new trials we may yet encounter. For
it will fall to us yet to loose and to free the British, and a
Briton set free is an American. That's all you can do for
a man or for a nation of men.
These Foreign Secretaries are not only men of much
greater cultivation than their Prime Ministers but of
greater moral force. But I've come to like Lloyd George
very much. He'd never deliver a lecture on Dryden, and
he doesn't even play a good game of golf; but he has what
both Lord Grey and Mr. Balfour lack a touch of genius
whatever that is not the kind that takes infinite pains,
but the kind that acts as an electric light flashed in the
dark. He said to me the other day that experts have
nearly been the death of him. "The Government has
experts, experts, experts, everywhere. In any depart-
ment where things are not going well, I have found boards
and committees and boards of experts. But in one de-
partment at least I've found a substitute for them. I let
twenty experts go and I put in one Man, and things
began to move at once. Do you know any real Men?
When you hear of any, won't you let me know? "
A little while ago he dined with me, and, after dinner, I
took him to a corner of the drawing room and delivered
your message to him about Ireland. " God knows, I'm try-
260 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
ing," he replied. " Tell the President that. And tell him
to talk to Balfour." Presently he broke out "Madmen,
madmen I never saw any such task," and he pointed
across the room to Sir Edward Carson, his First Lord of
the Admiralty " Madmen." " But the President's right.
We've got to settle it and we've got to settle it now." Car-
son and Jellicoe came across the room and sat down with
us. "I've been telling the Ambassador, Carson, that
we've got to settle the Irish question now in spite of
you."
"I'll tell you something else weVe got to settle now,"
said Carson. " Else it'll settle us. That's the submarines.
The press and public are working up a calculated and
concerted attack on Jellicoe and me, and, if they get us,
they'll get you. It's an attack on the Government made
on the Admiralty. Prime Minister," said this Ulster
pirate whose civil war didn't come off only because the
big war was begun "Prime Minister, it may be a fierce
attack. Get ready for it." Well, it has been developing
ever since. But I can't for the life of me guess at the
possible results of an English Parliamentary attack on a
government. It's like a baseball man watching a game
of cricket. He can't see when the player is out or why, or
what caused it. Of course, the submarine may torpedo
Lloyd George and his Government. It looks very like
it may overturn the Admiralty, as Gallipoli did. If this
public finds out the whole truth, it will demand some-
body's head. But I'm only a baseball man; cricket is
beyond me.
But Lloyd George will outlive the war as an active force,
whatever happen to him in the meantime. He's too heav-
ily charged with electricity to stop activity. The war
has ended a good many careers that seemed to have long
promise. It is ending more every day. But there is
THE BALFOUR MISSION TO THE UNITED STATES 261
only one Lloyd George, and, whatever else he lack, he
doesn't lack life.
I heard all the speeches in both Houses on the resolution
of appreciation of our coming into the war Bonar Law's,
Asquith's (one of the best), Dillon's, a Labour man's,
and, in the Lords, Curzon's, Crewe's, the Archbishop's
(who delivered in the course of his remarks a benediction
on me) and Bryce's (almost the best of all). It wasn't
"oratory," but it was well said and well meant. They
know how badly they need help and they do mean to be as
good to us as their benignant insularity will permit. They
are changing. I can't describe the great difference that
the war has made in them. They'll almost become docile
in a little more time.
And we came in in the nick of time for them in very
truth. If we hadn't, their exchange would have gone
down soon and they know it. I shall never forget the
afternoon I spent with Mr. Balfour and Mr. Bonar Law
on that subject. They saw blue ruin without our finan-
cial help. And now, if we can save them from sub-
marines, those that know will know how vital our help was.
Again, the submarine is the great and grave and perhaps
the only danger now. If that can be scotched, I believe
the whole Teutonic military structure would soon tum-
ble. If not, the Germans may go on as long as they can
feed their army, allowing their people to starve.
Of course, you know, we're on rations now yet we
suffer no inconvenience on that score. But these queer
people (they are the most amusing and confusing and con-
tradictory of all God's creatures, these English, whose
possibilities are infinite and whose actualities, in many
ways, are pitiful) these queer people are fiercely pur-
suing food-economy by discussing in the newspapers
whether a hen consumes more food than she produces, and
262 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
whether what dogs eat contains enough human food to
justify the shooting of every one in the Kingdom. That's
the way we are coming down to humble fare. But noth-
ing can quite starve a people who all live near the sea
which yields fish enough near shore to feed them waste-
fully.
All along this South shore, where I am to-day, 1 1 see the
Stars and Stripes; and everywhere there is a demand for
the words and music of the Battle Hymn of the Republic
and the Star Spangled Banner.
This our-new-Ally business is bringing me a lot of
amusing troubles. Theatres offer me boxes, universities
offer me degrees, hospitals solicit visits from me, clubs
offer me dinners I'll have to get a new private secretary
or two well-trained to say "No" politely, else I shall not
have my work done. But all that will presently wear
away as everything wears away (quickly, too) in the grim
face of this bloody monster of war which is consuming
men as a prairie fire consumes blades of grass. There's
a family that lives around the corner from this hotel.
One son is in the trenches, another is in a madhouse from
shell-shock, a third coming home wounded the other day
was barely rescued when a torpedo sunk a hospital ship
and may lose his reason. I suppose I saw one hundred
men this afternoon on a single mile of beach who had lost
both legs. Through the wall from my house in London
is a hospital. A young Texan has been there, whose
legs are gone at the thighs and one arm at the elbow.
God pity us for not having organized the world better
than this! We'll do it, yet, Mr. President you'll do it;
and thank God for you. If we do not organize Europe
x This letter is dated London and was probably begun there. It is evident, how-
ever, that the latter part was written at Brighton, where the Ambassador was
taking a brief holiday.
THE BALFOUR MISSION TO THE UNITED STATES 263
and make another such catastrophe impossible, life will
not be worth being born into except to the few whose
days happen to fall between recurring devastations of the
world.
Yours sincerely,
WALTER H. PAGE.
"I hope that the English people," Colonel House wrote
to Page about this time, "realize how successful Mr.
Balfour's visit to America really was. There is no man
they could have sent who could have done it better. He
and the President got along marvellously well. The
three of us dined and spent the evening together and it
was delightful to see how sympathetic their minds were."
A letter from Mr. Polk also discloses the impression
which Mr. Balfour made upon Washington:
From Frank L. Polk
Washington, May 25, 1917.
MY DEAR MR. PAGE:
I just want to get off a line to catch the pouch.
You probably know what a wonderful success the Brit-
ish Mission has been, but I do not think you can realize
what a deep impression they have made on all of us. Mr.
Balfour really won the affection of us all, and I do not
know when I was more sorry to have a man leave than I
was to have him go last night. He expressed himself
as having been very much impressed with his reception
and the way he was treated. He was most fair in all dis-
cussions, and I think has a better understanding of our
point of view. I had the good fortune of being present
at the financial and the diplomatic conferences, and I
think we all felt that we were dealing with a sympathetic
friend.
264 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
He and the President got on tremendously. The best
evidence of that was the fact that the President went
up to Congress and sat in the gallery while Mr. Balfour
addressed the House. This is without precedent.
The difficult problem of course was the blacklist and
bunkering agreement, but I think we are by that. The
important thing now is for the British to make all the con-
cessions possible in connection with the release of goods
in Rotterdam and the release of goods in Prize Court,
though the cases have not been begun. Of course I
mean cases of merely suspicion rather than where there is
evidence of wrongdoing.
The sending of the destroyers and troops abroad is going
to do a great deal toward impressing our people with the
fact that we really are in the war. I do not think it is
thoroughly borne home on the majority yet what a serious
road we have chosen.
With warm regards,
Yours faithfully,
FRANK L. POLK.
Mr. Folk's reference to the blacklist recalls an episode
which in itself illustrates the changed character of the rela-
tions that had now been established between the American
and the British governments. Mr. Balfour discussed
shipping problems for the most part with Mr. Polk, under
whose jurisdiction these matters fell. As one of these
conferences was approaching its end Mr. Balfour slightly
coughed, uttered an "er, " and gave other indications that
he was about to touch upon a ticklish question.
"Before I go," he said, "there er is one subject I
would er like to say something about."
Mr. Polk at once grasped what was coming.
"I know what you have in mind," said Mr. Polk in his
THE BALFOUR MISSION TO THE UNITED STATES 265
characteristically quick way. "You want us to apply your
blacklist to neutrals."
In other words, the British hoped that the United States,
now that it was in the war, would adopt against South
America and other offenders those same discriminations
which this country had so fiercely objected to, when it was
itself a neutral.
The British statesman gave Mr. Polk one of his most
winning smiles and nodded.
"Mr. Balfour," said Mr. Polk, "it took Great Britain
three years to reach a point where it was prepared to vio-
late all the laws of blockade. You will find that it will
take us only two months to become as great criminals as
you are!"
Mr. Balfour is usually not explosive in his manifesta-
tions of mirth, but his laughter, in reply to this statement,
was almost uproarious. And the State Department was
as good as its word. It immediately forgot all the elab-
orate "notes" and "protests" which it had been address-
ing to Great Britain. It became more inexorable than
Great Britain had ever been in keeping foodstuffs out of
neutral countries that were contiguous to Germany. Up
to the time the United States entered the war, Germany,
in spite of the watchful British fleet, had been obtaining
large supplies from the United States through Holland,
Denmark, and the Scandinavian peninsula. But the
United States now immediately closed these leaks. In the
main this country adopted a policy of "rationing"; that
is, it would furnish the little nations adjoining Germany
precisely the amount of food which they needed for their
own consumption. This policy was one of the chief in-
fluences in undermining the German people and forcing
their surrender. The American Government extended
likewise the blacklist to South America and other coun-
266 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
tries, and, in doing so, it bettered the instruction of Great
Britain herself.
Though the whole story of the blockade thus seems fin-
ally to have ended in a joke, the whole proceeding has its
serious side. The United States had been posing for three
years as the champion of neutral rights; the point of view
of Washington had been that there was a great principle
at stake. If such a principle were involved, it was cer-
tainly present in just the same degree after the United
States became belligerent as in the days when we were
neutrals. The lofty ideals by which the Administration
had professed to be guided should have still controlled its
actions; the mere fact that we, as a belligerent, could ob-
tain certain advantages would hardly have justified a
great and high-minded nation in abandoning its principles.
Yet abandon them we did from the day that we declared
war. We became just as remorseless in disregarding the
rights of small states as Great Britain according to our
numerous blockade notes had been. Possibly, there-
fore, Mr. Balfour's mirth was not merely sympathetic or
i humorous; it perhaps echoed his discovery that our posi-
tion for three years had really been nothing but a sham;
that the State Department had been forcing points in
which it did not really believe, or in which it did not be-
lieve when American interests were involved. At any rate,
this ending of our long argument with Great Britain was
a splendid justification for Page; his contention had al-
ways been that the preservation of civilization was more
important than the technicalities of the international
lawyers. And now the Wilson Administration, by throw-
ing into the waste basket all the finespun theories with
which it had been embarrassing the Allied cause since
August 4, 1914, accepted and accepted joyously his
point of view.
THE BALFOUR MISSION TO THE UNITED STATES 267
II
One of the first things which Mr. Balfour did, on his
arrival in Washington, was personally to explain to
President Wilson about the so-called "secret treaties."
The "secret treaty" that especially preyed upon Mr.
Wilson's mind, and which led to a famous episode at the
Versailles Conference, was that which had been made with
Italy in 1915, as consideration for Italy's participation in
the war. Mr. Balfour, in telling the President of these
territorial arrangements with Italy, naturally did not
criticise his ally, but it was evident that he regarded the
matter as something about which the United States should
be informed.
'This is the sort of thing you have to do when you are
engaged in a war," he explained, and then he gave Mr.
Wilson the details.
Probably the most important information which Mr.
Balfour and the French and Italian Commissions brought
to Washington was the desperate situation of the Allied
cause. On that point not one of the visiting statesmen
or military and naval advisers made the slightest attempt
at concealment. Mr. Balfour emphasized the seriousness
of the crisis in one of his earliest talks with Mr. McAdoo,
Secretary of the Treasury. The British statesman was
especially interested in the financial situation and he there-
fore took up this matter at an early date with the Treas-
ury Department.
"Mr. Balfour," said Mr. McAdoo, "before we make any
plans of financial assistance it is absolutely necessary that
we know precisely where we stand. The all-important
thing is the question as to how long the war is likely to
last. If it is only to last a few months, it is evident that
we need to make very different arrangements than if it is
268 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
to last several years. Just what must we make provision
for? Let us assume that the United States goes in with
all its men and resources that we dedicate all our money,
our manufacturing plants, our army, our navy, everything
we have got, to bringing the war to an end. How long
will it take?"
Mr. Balfour replied that it would be necessary to con-
sult his naval and military advisers before he answered
that question. He said that he would return in a day or
two and make an explicit statement. He did so and his
answer was this: Under these circumstances that the
United States should make war to the full limit of its
power, in men and resources the war could not be ended
until the summer or the autumn of 1919. Mr. McAdoo
put the same question in the same form to the French
and Italian Missions and obtained precisely the same
answer.
Page's papers show that Mr. Balfour, in the early stages
of American participation, regarded the financial situa-
tion as the thing which chiefly threatened the success of
the Allied cause. So much greater emphasis has been
laid upon the submarine warfare that this may at first
seem rather a misreading of Great Britain's peril. Yet
the fact is that the high rate of exchange and the dep-
redatory U-boat represented almost identically the same
danger. The prospect that so darkened the horizon in
the spring of 1917 was the possible isolation of Great
Britain. England's weakness, as always, consisted in the
fact that she was an island, that she could not feed herself
with her own resources and that she had only about six
weeks' supply of food ahead of her at any one time. If
Germany could cut the lines of communication and so
prevent essential supplies from reaching British ports,
the population of Great Britain could be starved into
THE BALFOUR MISSION TO THE UNITED STATES 269
surrender in a very brief time, France would be over-
whelmed, and the triumph of the Prussian cause would
be complete. That the success of the German submarine
campaign would accomplish this result was a fact that the
popular mind readily grasped. What it did not so clearly
see, however, was that the financial collapse of Great
Britain would cut these lines of communication quite as
effectually as the submarine itself. The British were
practically dependent for their existence upon the food
brought from the United States, just as the Allied armies
were largely dependent upon the steel which came from
the great industrial plants of this country. If Great
Britain could not find the money with which to purchase
these supplies, it is quite apparent that they could not be
shipped. The collapse of British credit therefore would
have produced the isolation of the British Isles and led to
a British surrender, just as effectively as would the success
of the German submarine campaign.
As soon as Bernstorff was sent home, therefore, and the
participation of this country in the war became extremely
probable, Mr. Balfour took up the financial question with
Page.
To the President
March 5, 1917.
The inquiries which I have made here about financial
conditions disclose an international situation which is
most alarming to the financial and industrial outlook of
the United States. England has not only to pay her own
war bills, but is obliged to finance her Allies as well. Up
to the present time she has done these tasks out of her
own capital. But she cannot continue her present exten-
sive purchases in the United States without shipping gold
as payment for them, and there are two reasons why she
270 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
cannot make large shipments of gold. In the first place,
both England and France must keep the larger part of the
gold they have to maintain issues of their paper at par;
and, in the second place, the German U-boat has made the
shipping of gold a dangerous procedure even if they had
it to ship. There is therefore a pressing danger that the
Franco-American and Anglo-American exchange will be
greatly disturbed; the inevitable consequence will be that
orders by all the Allied Governments will be reduced to
the lowest possible amount and that trans- Atlantic trade
will practically come to an end.f) The result of such a
stoppage will be a panic in tne United States. The
world will therefore be divided into two hemispheres,
one of them, our own, will have the gold and the commodi-
ties: the other, Great Britain and Europe, will need these
commodities, but it will have no money with which to
pay for them. Moreover, it will have practically no com-
modities of its own to exchange for them. The financial
and commercial result will be almost as bad for the United
States as for Europe. We shall soon reach this condition
unless we take quick action to prevent it. Great Britain
and France must have a credit in the United States which
will be large enough to prevent the collapse of world trade
and the whole financial structure of Europe.
If the United States declare war against Germany, the
greatest help we could give Great Britain and its Allies
would be such a credit. If we should adopt this policy,
an excellent plan would be for our Government to make a
large investment in a Franco-British loan. Another plan
would be to guarantee such a loan. A great advantage
would be that all the money would be kept in the .United
States. We could keep on with our trade and increase it,
till the war ends, and after the war Europe would pur-
chase food and an enormous supply of materials with
THE BALFOUR MISSION TO THE UNITED STATES 271
which to reequip her peace industries. We should thus
reap the profit of an uninterrupted and perhaps an en-
larging trade over a number of years and we should hold
their securities in payment.
On the other hand, if we keep nearly all the gold and
Europe cannot pay for reestablishing its economic life,
there may be a world-wide panic for an indefinite period.
Of course we cannot extend such a credit unless we go
to war with Germany. But is there no way in which our
Government might immediately and indirectly help the
establishment in the United States of a large Franco-
British credit without violating armed neutrality? I do
not know enough about our own reserve bank law to form
an opinion. But these banks would avert such a danger
if they were able to establish such a credit. Danger for
us is more real and imminent, I think, than the public on
either side the Atlantic understands. If it be not averted
before its manifestations become apparent, it will then be
late to save the day.
he pressure of this approaching crisis, I am certain,
las gone beyond the ability of the Morgan financial agency
or the British and French governments. The financial
necessities of the Allies are too great and urgent for any
private agency to handle, for every such agency has to
ncounter business rivalries and sectional antagonisms.
It is not improbable that the only way of maintaining
our present preeminent trade position and averting a
panic is by declaring war on Germany. The submarine
las added the last item to the danger of a financial world
\[ crash.y There is now an uncertainty about our being
drawn into the war j no more considerable credits can be
privately placed in the United States. In the meantime
a collapse may come.
PAGE.
272 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
Urgent as this message was, it really understated the
desperate condition of British and Allied finances. That
the warring powers were extremely pressed for money
has long been known; but Page's papers reveal for the first
time the fact that they were facing the prospect of bank-
ruptcy itself. "The whole Allied combination on this^
side the ocean are very much nearer the end of their )
financial resources," he wrote in July, "than anybody has)
guessed or imagined. We only can save them. . . .'
The submarines are steadily winning the war. Pershing I
and his army have bucked up the French for the moment. \
But for his coming there was more or less danger of a
revolution in Paris and of serious defection in the army.
Everybody here fears that the French will fail before
another winter of the trenches. Yet the Germans must
be still worse off."
The matter that was chiefly pressing at the time of the
Balfour visit was the fact that the British balances in the
New York banks were in a serious condition. It should
always be remembered, however, that Great Britain was
financing not only herself, but her Allies, and that the
difficult condition in which she now found herself was
caused by the not too considerate demands of the nations
with which she was allied in the war. Thus by April 6,
1917, Great Britain had overdrawn her account with J. P.
Morgan to the extent of $400,000,000 and had no cash
available with which to meet this overdraft. This obli-
gation had been incurred in the purchase of supplies, both
for Great Britain and the allied governments; and se-
curities, largely British owned stocks and bonds, had been
deposited to protect the bankers. The money was now
coming due; if the obligations were not met, the credit of
Great Britain in this country would reach the vanishing
point. Though at first there was a slight misunder-
THE BALFOUR MISSION TO THE UNITED STATES 273
standing about this matter, the American Government
finally paid this over-draft out of the proceeds of the first
Liberty Loan. This act saved the credit of the allied
countries; it was, of course, only the beginning of the
financial support that America brought to the allied cause ;
the advances that were afterward furnished from the
American Treasury made possible the purchases of food
and supplies in enormous quantities. The first danger
that threatened, the isolation and starvation of Great
Britain, was therefore overcome. It was the joint prod- J
uct of Page's work in London and that of the Balfour
Commission in the United States.
in
Until these financial arrangements had been made
there was no certainty that the supplies which were
so essential to victory would ever leave the United States;
this obstruction at the source had now been removed.
But the greater difficulty still remained. The German
submarines were lying off the waters south and west of
Ireland ready to sink the supply ships as soon as they en-
tered the prohibited zone. Mr. Balfour and his associates
were working also on this problem in Washington; and,
at the same time, Page and Admiral Sims and the British
Admiralty were bending all their energies in London to
obtain immediate cooperation.
A remark which Mr. Balfour afterward made to Admiral
Sims shows the frightful nature of the problem which was
confronting Great Britain at that time.
''That was a terrible week we spent at sea in that
voyage to the United States," Mr. Balfour said. " We knew
that the German submarine campaign was succeeding.
Their submarines were destroying our shipping and we
274 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
had no means of preventing it. I could not help thinking
that we were facing the defeat of Great Britain."
Page's papers show that as early as February 25th he
understood in a general way the disheartening propor-
tions of the German success. " It is a momentous crisis,"
he wrote at that time. "The submarines are destroying
shipping at an appalling rate." Yet it was not until
Admiral Sims arrived in London, on April 9th, that the
Ambassador learned all the details. In sending the Ad-
miral to England the Navy Department had acted on an
earnest recommendation from Page. The fact that the
American Navy was inadequately represented in the
British capital had long been a matter of embarrassment
to him. The ability and personal qualifications of our
attaches had been unquestioned; but none of them during
the war had been men of high rank, and this in itself
proved to be a constant impediment to their success.
While America was represented by Commanders, Japan,
Italy, and France had all sent Admirals to London.
Page's repeated requests for an American Admiral had so
far met with no response, but the probability that this
country would become involved in the war now gave new
point to his representations. In the latter part of March,
Page renewed his request in still more urgent form, and
this time the President and the Navy Department re-
sponded favourably. The result was that, on April 9th,
three days after the American declaration of war, Ad-
miral Sims and his flag-lieutenant, Commander Babcock,
presented themselves at the American Embassy. There
was little in the appearance of these men to suggest a vio-
lent naval demonstration against Germany. Both wore
civilian dress, their instructions having commanded them
not to bring uniforms; both were travelling under assumed
names, and both had no more definite orders than to in-
THE BALFOUR MISSION TO THE UNITED STATES 275
vestigate the naval situation and cable the results to
Washington. In spite of these attempts at secrecy, the
British had learned that Admiral Sims was on the way;
they rejoiced not only in this fact, but in the fact that
Sims had been chosen, for there was no American naval
officer whose professional reputation stood so high in the
British Navy or who was so personally acceptable to
British officialdom and the British public. The Admiralty
therefore met Admiral Sims at Liverpool, brought him
to London in a special train, and, a few hours after his
arrival, gave him the innermost secrets on the submarine
situation secrets which were so dangerous that not all the
members of the British Cabinet had been let into them.
Page welcomed Admiral Sims with a cordiality which
that experienced sea veteran still gratefully remembers.
He at once turned over to him two rooms in the Embassy.
"You can have everything we've got," the Ambassador
said. "If necessary to give you room, we'll turn the whole
Embassy force out into the street." The two men had
not previously met, but in an instant they became close
friends. A common sympathy and a common enthusiasm
were greatly needed at that crisis. As soon as Admiral
Sims had finished his interview with Admiral Jellicoe, he
immediately sought out the Ambassador and laid all the
facts before him. Germany was winning the war. Great
Britain had only six weeks' food supply on hand, and the
submarines were sinking the ships at a rate which, unless
the depredations should be checked, meant an early and
unconditional surrender of the British Empire. Only the
help of the United States could prevent this calamity.
Page, of course, was aghast: the facts and figures Ad-
miral Sims gave him disclosed a situation which was even
more desperate than he had imagined. He advised the
Admiral to cable the whole story immediately to Wash-
276 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
ington. Admiral Sims at first had some difficulty in ob-
taining the Admiralty's consent to doing this, and the
reason was the one with which Page had long been familiar
the fear, altogether too justified, that the news would
"leak" out of Washington. Of course there was no sus-
picion in British naval circles of the good faith of the
Washington officials, but important facts had been sent
so many times under the seal of the strictest secrecy and
had then found their way into the newspapers that there
was a deep distrust of American discretion. Certainly
no greater damage could have been done the allied cause
at that time than to have the Germans learn how success-
fully their submarine campaign was progressing. The
question was referred to the Imperial War Council and
its consent obtained. The report, however, was sent to
the Navy Department in the British naval code, and de-
coded in the British Embassy in Washington.
Admiral Sims's message gave all the facts about the
submarine situation, and concluded with the recommen-
dation that the United States should assemble all floating
craft that could be used in the anti-submarine warfare,
destroyers, tugs, yachts, light cruisers, and similar vessels,
and send them immediately to Queenstown, where they
would do valuable service in convoying merchant vessels
and destroying the U-boats. At that time the American
Navy had between fifty and sixty destroyers that were
patrolling the American coast; these could have been des-
patched, almost immediately, to the scene of operations;
but, in response to this request, the Department sent six
to Queentown.
The next few months were very unhappy ones for
Admiral Sims. He was the representative in London of
one of the world's greatest naval powers, participating in
the greatest war that had ever enlisted its energies, yet his
THE BALFOUR MISSION TO THE UNITED STATES 277
constant appeals for warships elicited the most inade-
quate response, his well-reasoned recommendations for
meeting the crisis were frequently unanswered and at other
times were met with counter-proposals so childish that
they seemed almost to have originated in the brains of
newspaper amateurs, and his urgent pictures of a civiliza-
tion rapidly going to wreck were apparently looked upon
with suspicion as the utterances of a man who had been
completely led astray by British guile. To give a fair
idea of Washington's neglect during this period it is only
necessary to point out that, for four months, Admiral
Sims occupied the two rooms in the Embassy directly
above Page's, with Commander Babcock as his only aid.
Sims's repeated requests to Secretary Daniels for an
additional staff went unheeded. Had it not been for the
Admiral's constant daily association with Page and the
comfort and encouragement which the Ambassador gave
him, this experience would have been almost unbearable.
In the latter part of April, the Admiral's appeals to Wash-
ington having apparently fallen on deaf ears, he asked
Page to second his efforts. The Admiral and Commander
Babcock wrote another message, and drove in a motor
car to Brighton, where Page was taking a little rest. The
Admiral did not know just how strong a statement the
Ambassador would care to sponsor, and so he did not make
this representation as emphatic as the judgment of both
men would have preferred.
The Admiral handed Page the paper, saying that he
had prepared it with the hope that the Ambassador would
sign it and send it directly to President Wilson.
"It is quite apparent," Admiral Sims said, "that the
Department doesn't believe what I have been saying.
Or they don't believe what the British are saying. They
think that England is exaggerating the peril for reasons
278 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
of its own. They think I am hopelessly pro-British and
that I am being used. But if you'll take it up directly
with the President, then they may be convinced."
Page put on his spectacles, took the paper, and read it
through. Then, looking over the rim of his glasses in his
characteristic way, he leaned toward Admiral Sims and
said:
"Admiral, it isn't half strong enough! I think I can
write a better despatch than that, myself! At least let
me try."
He immediately took a pen and paper and in a few
minutes he had written his own version which he gave
the Admiral to read. The latter was delighted with it
and in a brief time it was on its way to Washington.
From: Ambassador Page.
To: Secretary of State.
Sent: 27 April, 1917.
Very confidential for Secretary and President
There is reason for the greatest alarm about the issue
of the war caused by the increasing success of the German
submarines. I have it from official sources that during
the week ending 22nd April, 88 ships of 237,000 tons, allied
and neutral, were lost. The number of vessels unsuccess-
fully attacked indicated a great increase in the number
of submarines in action.
This means practically a million tons lost every month
till the shorter days of autumn come. By that time the
sea will be about clear of shipping. Most of the ships are
sunk to the westward and southward of Ireland. The
British have in that area every available anti-submarine
craft, but their force is so insufficient that they hardly
discourage the submarines.
THE BALFOUR MISSION TO THE UNITED STATES 279
The British transport of troops and supplies is already
strained to the utmost, and the maintenance of the armies
in the field is threatened. There is food enough here to
last the civil population only not more than six weeks or
two months.
Whatever help the United States may render at any
time in the future, or in any theatre of the war, our help
is now more seriously needed in this submarine area for
the sake of all the Allies than it can ever be needed again,
or anywhere else.
After talking over this critical situation with the Prime
Minister and other members of the Government, I can-
not refrain from most strongly recommending the immedi-
ate sending over of every destroyer and all other craft that
can be of anti-submarine use. This seems to me the
sharpest crisis of the war, and the most dangerous situa-
tion for the Allies that has arisen or could arise.
If enough submarines can be destroyed in the next two
or three months, the war will be won, and if we can con-
tribute effective help immediately, it will be won directly
by our aid. I cannot exaggerate the pressing and increas-
ing danger of this situation. Thirty or more destroyers
and other similar craft sent by us immediately would very
likely be decisive.
There is no time to be lost.
(Signed) PAGE.
This cablegram had a certain effect. The reply came j
from Washington that "eventually" thirty-six destroyers
would be sent.
Page's letters of this period are full of the same sub-
ject.
280 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
To the President
London, May 4, 1917.
DEAR MR. PRESIDENT:
The submarines have become a very grave danger!)
The loss of British and allied tonnage increases with the
longer and brighter days as I telegraphed you, 237,000]
tons last week; and the worst of it is, the British are not
destroying them. The Admiralty publishes a weekly re-
port which, though true, is not the whole truth. It is
known in official circles here that the Germans are turning
out at least two a week some say three; and the British
are not destroying them as fast as new ones are turned
out. If merely the present situation continue, the war
will pretty soon become a contest of endurance under
hunger, with an increasing proportion of starvation. Ger-
many is yet much the worse off, but it will be easily
possible for Great Britain to suffer to the danger point
next winter or earlier unless some decided change be
wrought in this situation.
The greatest help, I hope, can come from us our de-
stroyers and similar armed craft provided we can send
enough of them quickly. The area to be watched is so
big that many submarine hunters are needed. Early in
the war the submarines worked near shore. There are very
many more of them now and their range is one hundred
miles, or even two hundred, at sea.
The public is becoming very restive with its half-
information, and it is more and more loudly demanding
all the facts. There are already angry threats to change
the personnel of the Admiralty ; there is even talk of turn-
ing out the Government. "We must have results, we
must have results." I hear confidentially that Jellicoe
has threatened to resign unless the Salonica expedition is
THE BALFOUR MISSION TO THE UNITED STATES 281
brought back: to feed and equip that force requires too
many ships.
And there are other troubles impending. Norway has
lost so many of her ships that she dare not send what are
left to sea. Unarmed they'll all perish. If she arm them,
Germany will declare war against her. There is a plan
on foot for the British to charter these Norwegian ships
and to arm them, taking the risk of German war against
Norway. If war come (as it is expected) England must
then defend Norway the best she can. And then England
may ask for our big ships to help in these waters. All this
is yet in the future, but possibly not far in the future.
For the present the only anti-submarine help is the help
we may be able to give to patrol the wide area off Ireland.
If we had one hundred destroyers to send, the job there
could, I am told, be quickly done. A third of that num-
ber will help mightily. At the present rate of destruction
more than four million tons will be sunk before the summer
is gone.
Such is this dire submarine danger. The English
thought that they controlled the sea; the Germans, that
they were invincible on land. Each side is losing where
it thought itself strongest.
Admiral Sims is of the greatest help imaginable. Of
course, I gave him an office in one of our Embassy build-
ings, and the Admiralty has given him an office also with
them. He spends much of his time there, and they have
opened all doors and all desks and drawers to him. He
strikes me (and the English so regard him) as a man of
admirable judgment unexcitable and indefatigable. I
hope we'll soon send a general over, to whom the War
Department will act similarly. Hoover, too, must have a
good man here as, I dare say, he has already made known.
These will cover the Navy, the Army, Food, and Shipping.
282 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
Perhaps a Censor and an Intelligence (Secret Service)
group ought to come. I mean these for permanent at
least indefinite service. Exchange visits by a Con-
gressional Committee (such as the French and British
make) and by high official persons such as members of
your Cabinet (such also as the French and British make)
you will have got ideas about these from Mr. Balfour.
W. H. P.
In the latter part of June Admiral Sims went to Queens-
town. Admiral Bayly, who directed the operation of the
anti-submarine forces there, had gone away for a brief
rest, and Admiral Sims had taken over the command of
both the British and American forces at that point. This
experience gave Admiral Sims a first-hand picture of a
really deplorable situation. The crisis was so desperate
that he made another appeal to Page.
From Admiral William S. Sims
Admiralty House, Queenstown,
June 25, 1917.
MY DEAR MR. PAGE:
I enclose herewith a letter on the submarine situation. 1
I think I have made it plain therein that the Allies are
losing the war; that it will be already lost when the loss
of shipping reaches the point where fully adequate sup-
plies cannot be maintained on the various battle fronts.
I cannot understand why our Government should hesi-
tate to send the necessary anti-submarine craft to this side.
There are at least seventeen more destroyers employed
on our Atlantic coast, where there is no war, not to mention
numerous other very useful anti-submarine craft, includ-
ing sea-going tugs, etc.
was a long document describing conditions in great detail.
THE BALFOUR MISSION TO THE UNITED STATES 283
Can you not do something to bring our Government to
an understanding of how very serious the situation is?
Would it not be well to send another telegram to Mr.
Lansing and the President, and also send them the en-
closed correspondence?
I am sending this by mail because I may be somewhat
delayed in returning to London.
Very sincerely yours,
WM. S. SIMS.
Page immediately acted on this suggestion.
Most confidential for the Secretary of State and
President only
Sims sends me by special messenger from Queenstown
the most alarming reports of the submarine situation
which are confirmed by the Admiralty here. He says that
the war will be won or lost in this submarine zone within
a few months. Time is of the essence of the problem, and
anti-submarine craft which cannot be assembled in the
submarine zone almost immediately may come too late.
There is, therefore, a possibility that this war may become
a war between Germany and the United States alone.
Help is far more urgently and quickly needed in this sub-
marine zone than anywhere else in the whole war area.
PAGE.
The United States had now been in the war for three
months and only twenty-eight of the sixty destroyers which
were available had been sent into the field. Yet this
latest message of Page produced no effect, and, when
Admiral Sims returned from Queenstown, the two men,
almost in despair, consulted as to the step which they
should take next. What was the matter? Was it that
284 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
Washington did not care to get into the naval war with its
full strength, or was it that it simply refused to believe
the representations of its Admiral and its Ambassador?
Admiral Sims and Page went over the whole situation
and came to the conclusion that Washington regarded
them both as so pro-British that their reports were subject
to suspicion. Just as Page had found that the State
Department, and its "trade advisers," had believed that
the British were using the blockade as a means of de-
stroying American trade for the benefit of Britain, so now
he believed that Mr. Daniels and Admiral Benson, the
Chief of Naval Operations, evidently thought that Great
Britain was attempting to lure American warships into
European waters, to undergo the risk of protecting British
commerce, while British warships were kept safely in
harbour. Page suggested that there was now only one
thing left to do, and that was to request the British
Government itself to make a statement to President
Wilson that would substantiate his own messages.
"Whatever else they think of the British in Washing-
ton," he said, "they know one thing and that is that a
British statesman like Mr. Balfour will not lie."
Mr. Balfour by this time had returned from America.
The fact that he had established these splendid personal
relations with Mr. Wilson, and that he had impressed the
American public so deeply with his sincerity and fine
purpose, made him especially valuable for this particular
appeal. Page and Admiral Sims therefore went to the
Foreign Office and laid all the facts before him. Their
own statements, Page informed the Foreign Secretary,
were evidently regarded as hysterical and biased by
an unreasoning friendliness to Great Britain. If Mr.
Balfour would say the same things over his own signature,
then they would not be disbelieved.
THE BALFOUR MISSION TO THE UNITED STATES 285
Mr. Balfour gladly consented. He called in Admired
Jellicoe and asked him to draft a despatch, so that all the
technical facts would be completely accurate. He also
consulted with Sir Edward Carson, the First Lord of the
Admiralty. Then Mr. Balfour put the document in its
final shape and signed it. It was as follows:
Mr. Balfour to the President
June 30, 1917.
The forces at present at the disposal of the British Ad-
miralty are not adequate to protect shipping from subma-
rine attack in the danger zone round the British Islands.
Consequently shipping is being sunk at a greater rate than
it can be replaced by new tonnage of British origin.
The time will come when, if the present rate of loss
continues, the available shipping, apart from American
contribution, will be insufficient to bring to this country
sufficient foodstuffs and other essentials, including oil fuel.
The situation in regard to our Allies, France, and Italy, is
much the same.
Consequently, it is absolutely necessary to add to our
forces as a first step, pending the adoption or completion
of measures which will, it is hoped, eventually lead to the
destruction of enemy submarines at a rate sufficient to
ensure safety of our sea communications.
The United States is the only allied country in a posi-
tion to help. The pressing need is for armed small craft
of every kind available in the area where commerce con-
centrates near the British and French coasts. Destroy-
ers, submarines, gunboats, yachts, trawlers, and tugs
would all give invaluable help, and if sent in sufficient
numbers would undoubtedly save a situation which is
manifestly critical. But they are required now and in
as great numbers as possible. There is no time for delay.
286 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
The present method of submarine attack is almost en-
tirely by torpedo with the submarine submerged. The
gun defense of merchant ships keeps the submarine below
the surface but does no more; offensively against a sub-
merged submarine it is useless, and the large majority of
the ships torpedoed never see the attacking submarine
until the torpedo has hit the ship. 1
The present remedy is, therefore, to prevent the sub-
marine from using its periscope for fear of attack by bomb
or ram from small craft, and this method of defense for the
shipping and offense against the submarine requires small
craft in very large numbers.
The introduction of the convoy system, provided there
are sufficient destroyers to form an adequate screen to the
convoy, will, it is hoped, minimize losses when it is work-
ing, and the provision of new offensive measures is pro-
gressing; but for the next few months there is only one
safeguard, viz., the immediate addition to patrols of
every small vessel that can possibly be sent to European
waters.
Page, moreover, kept up his own appeal:
To the President
July 5th.
Strictly confidential to the President and the Secretary
The British Cabinet is engaging in a threatening contro-
versy about the attitude which they should take toward
the submarine peril. There is a faction in the Admiralty
which possesses the indisputable facts and which takes
1 The Navy Department had taken the position that arming merchantmen was
the best protection against the submarine. This statement was intended to re-
fute this belief.
THE BALFOUR MISSION TO THE UNITED STATES 287
a very disheartening view of the situation. This group
insists that the Cabinet should make a confession at least
to us of the full extent of the danger and that it should
give more information to the public. The public does
not feel great alarm simply because it has been kept in
too great ignorance. But the political faction is so far the
stronger. It attempts to minimize the facts, and, prob-
ably for political reasons, it refuses to give these discourag-
ing facts wide publicity. The politicians urge that it is nec-
essary to conceal the fu 
