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| | <P ALIGN=CENTER><HR>. | | <P ALIGN=CENTER><HR>. |
| − |
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| − | <P ALIGN=CENTER><FONT SIZE="+2"></FONT><A NAME="app"></A><FONT
| |
| − | SIZE="+2">APPENDIX</FONT>
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| − |
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| − | <P ALIGN=CENTER><FONT SIZE="+2">SCRAPS FROM UNFINISHED DIARIES</FONT>
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| − |
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| − | <br><br>PAGE was not methodical in keeping diaries. His documents,
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| − | however, reveal that he took many praiseworthy resolutions in
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| − | this direction. They include a large number of bulky books, each
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| − | labelled "Diary" and inscribed with the year whose events
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| − | were to be recorded. The outlook is a promising one; but when
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| − | the books are opened they reveal only fragmentary good intentions.
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| − | Entries are kept up for a few days, and then the work comes to
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| − | an end. These volumes contain many scraps of interesting writing,
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| − | however, which are worth preserving; some of them are herewith
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| − | presented in haphazard fashion, with no attempt at order in subject
| |
| − | matter.
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| − |
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| − | <P ALIGN=CENTER><FONT SIZE="+1">1913</FONT>
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| − |
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| − | <P ALIGN=CENTER><FONT SIZE="+1">PETHERICK</FONT>
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| − |
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| − | <br><br>PETHERICK may he be immortal; for he is a man who has made
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| − | of a humble task a high calling; and without knowing it he has
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| − | caused a man of a high calling to degrade it to a mean level.
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| − | Now Petherick is a humble Englishman, whose father many years
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| − | ago enjoyed the distinction of carrying the mail pouch to and
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| − | from the post office for the American Embassy in London. As father,
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| − | so son. Petherick succeeded Petherick. In this remote period (<I>the
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| − | </I>Petherick must now be 60) Governments had "despatch agents,"
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| − | men who distributed mail and whatnot, sent it on from capital
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| − | to capital---were a sort of general "forwarding" factotums.
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| − | The office is really out of date now. Telegraph companies, express
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| − | companies, railway companies, the excellent mail service and the
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| − | like out-despatch any conceivable agent---except Petherick. Petherick
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| − | has qualities that defy change, such as an unfailing courtesy,
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| − | a genuine joy in serving his fellows, the very genius of helpfulness.
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| − | Well, since a governmental office once established acquires qualities
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| − | of perpetuity, three United States despatch agents have survived
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| − | the development of modern communication, one in London, one in
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| − | New York, and the third (I think) in San Francisco. At any rate,
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| − | the London agent remains.
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| − |
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| − | <br><br>Now in the beginning the London despatch agent was a mail messenger
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| − | (as I understand) for the Embassy. He still takes the pouch to
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| − | the post office, and brings it back. In ordinary times, that's
| |
| − | all he does for the Embassy, for which his salary of about * *
| |
| − | * is paid by the State Department---too high a salary for the
| |
| − | labour done, but none too high for the trustworthy qualities required.
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| − | If this had been all that Petherick did, he would probably have
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| − | long ago gone to the scrap heap. It is one mark of a man of genius
| |
| − | that he always makes his job. So Petherick. The American Navy
| |
| − | came into being and parts of it come to this side of the world.
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| − | Naval officers need help when they come ashore. Petherick was
| |
| − | always on hand with despatches and mail for them, and Petherick
| |
| − | was a handy man. Did the Captain want a cab? Petherick had one
| |
| − | waiting. Did the Captain want rooms? Such-and-such a hotel was
| |
| − | the proper one for him, Rooms were engaged. Did the Captain's
| |
| − | wife need a maid? Petherick had thought of that, too. Then a Secretary
| |
| − | from some continentaI legation wished to know a good London tailor.
| |
| − | He sought Petherick. An American Ambassador from the continent
| |
| − | came to London. London yielded Petherick for his guidance and
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| − | his wants. Petherick became omnipresent, universally useful---an
| |
| − | American institution in fact. A naval officer who had been in
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| − | Asiatic waters was steaming westward to the Mediterranean. His
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| − | wife and three babies came to London, where she was to meet her
| |
| − | husband, who was to spend several weeks here. A telegram to Petherick:
| |
| − | they needed to do nothing else. When the lady arrived a furnished
| |
| − | flat, a maid and a nurse and a cook and toys awaited her. When
| |
| − | her husband arrived, a pair of boots awaited him from the same
| |
| − | last that his last pair had been made on, in London, five years
| |
| − | before. At some thoughtful moment $1,000 was added to Petherick's
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| − | salary by the Navy Department; and a few years ago a handsome
| |
| − | present was made to Petherick by the United States Naval Officers
| |
| − | all over the world.
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| − |
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| − | <br><br>But Petherick, with all his virtues, is merely an Englishman,
| |
| − | and it is not usual for an Englishman to hold a $3,000 office
| |
| − | under appointment from the United States Government. The office
| |
| − | of despatch agent, therefore, has been nominally held by an American
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| − | citizen in London. This American citizen for a good many years
| |
| − | has been Mr. Crane, a barrister, who simply turns over the salary
| |
| − | to Petherick; and all the world, except the Secretary of State,
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| − | knows that Petherick is Petherick and there is none other but
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| − | him.
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| − |
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| − | <br><br>Now comes the story: Mr. Bryan, looking around the world for
| |
| − | offices for his henchmen, finds that one Crane has been despatch
| |
| − | agent in London for many years, and he writes me a personal and
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| − | confidential letter, asking if this be not a good office for some
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| − | Democrat!
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| − |
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| − | <br><br>I tell the story to the Naval Attaché! He becomes riotous.
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| − | He'll have to employ half a dozen clerks to do for the Navy ill
| |
| − | what Petherick does well with ease, if he's removed. Life would
| |
| − | not be worth living anyhow. I uncover Petherick to the Secretary
| |
| − | and show him in his glory. It must be said to the Secretary's
| |
| − | credit that he has said nothing more about it. Petherick, let
| |
| − | us hope, will live forever. The Secretary's petty-spoils mind
| |
| − | now works on grand plans for Peace, holy Peace, having unsuccessfully
| |
| − | attacked poor Petherick. And Petherick knows nothing about it
| |
| − | and never dreams of an enemy in all the world, and in all naval
| |
| − | and diplomatic life he has only fast friends. If Mr. Bryan had
| |
| − | removed him, he might have made a temporary friend of one Democrat
| |
| − | from Oklahoma, and lasting enemies of all that Democrat's rivals
| |
| − | and of the whole naval and diplomatic service.
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| − |
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| − | <br><br>.
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| − |
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| − | <br><br><I><FONT SIZE="+1">November, 1914.</FONT></I>
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| − |
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| − | <br><br>We have to get away from it---or try to---a minute at a time;
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| − | and the comic gods sometimes help us. Squier(<A NAME="n192"></A><A
| |
| − | HREF="Pagenotes.htm#192">192</A>) has a junior officer here to
| |
| − | hold his desk down when he's gone. He's a West Point Lieutenant
| |
| − | with a German name. His study is ordnance. A new kind of bomb
| |
| − | gives him the same sort of joy that a new species would have given
| |
| − | Darwin. He was over in France---where the armies had passed to
| |
| − | and from Paris---and one day he found an unexploded German bomb
| |
| − | of a new sort. The thing weighed half a ton or thereabouts, and
| |
| − | it was loaded. Somehow he got it to London---I never did hear
| |
| − | how. He wrapped it in blankets and put it under his bed. He went
| |
| − | out of town to study some other infernal contraption and the police
| |
| − | found this thing under his bed. The War Office took it and began
| |
| − | to look for him---to shoot him, the bomb-harbouring German! They
| |
| − | soon discovered, of course, that he was one of our men and an
| |
| − | officer in the United States Army. Then I heard of it for the
| |
| − | first time. Here came a profuse letter of apology from the Government;
| |
| − | they had not known the owner was one of my attachés. Pardon,
| |
| − | pardon---a thousand apologies. But while this letter was being
| |
| − | delivered to me one of the under-secretaries of the Government
| |
| − | was asking one of our secretaries, "In Heaven's name, what's
| |
| − | the Ambassador going to do about it? We have no right to molest
| |
| − | the property of one of your attachés, but this man's room
| |
| − | is less than 100 yards from Westminster Abbey: it might blow up
| |
| − | half of London. We can't give the thing back to him!" They
| |
| − | had taken it to the Duck Pond, wherever that is. About that time
| |
| − | the Lieutenant came back. His pet bomb gone---what was I going
| |
| − | to do about it?
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>The fellow actually wanted to bring it to his Office in the
| |
| − | Embassy!
| |
| − |
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| − | <br><br>"Look here, Lieutenant, besides the possibility of blowing
| |
| − | up this building and killing every mother's son of us, consider
| |
| − | the scandal of the American Embassy in London blown up by a German
| |
| − | bomb. That would go down in the school histories of the United
| |
| − | States. Don't you see?" No, he didn't see instantly---he
| |
| − | does so love a bomb! 1 had to threaten to disown him and let him
| |
| − | be shot before he was content to go and tell them to unload it---he
| |
| − | would have it, unloaded, if not loaded.
| |
| − |
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| − | <br><br>Well, I had to write half a dozen letters before the thing
| |
| − | was done for. He thinks me a chicken-livered old coward and I
| |
| − | know much more about him than I knew before; and we are at peace.
| |
| − | The newspapers never got the story, but his friends about town
| |
| − | still laugh at him for trying first to blow up Westminister Abbey
| |
| − | and then his own Ambassador. He was at my house at dinner the
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| − | other night and one of the ladies asked him: "Lieutenant,
| |
| − | have you any darling little pet lyddite cartridges in your pocket?"
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| − | Think of a young fellow who just loves bombs! Has loaded bombs
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| − | for pets! How I misspent my youth!
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| − |
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| − | <br><br>.
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| − |
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| − | <br><br><I><FONT SIZE="+1">February, 1915.</FONT></I>
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| − |
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| − | <br><br>This is among the day's stories: The British took a ship that
| |
| − | had a cargo of 100,000 busts of Von Hindenburg---filled with copper.
| |
| − |
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| − | <br><br>Another: When Frederick Watts was painting Lord Minto he found
| |
| − | it hard to make the portrait please him. When he was told that
| |
| − | Lord Minto liked it and, Lady Minto didn't and that So-and-So
| |
| − | praised it, he exclaimed: "I don't care a d---n what anyone
| |
| − | thinks about it---except a fellow named Sargent."
| |
| − |
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| − | <br><br>And the King said (about the wedding[<A NAME="n193"></A><A
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| − | HREF="Pagenotes.htm#193">193</A>]): "I have the regulation
| |
| − | of the dress to be worn at all functions in the Chapel Royal.
| |
| − | I, therefore, declare that the American Ambassador may have any
| |
| − | dress worn that he pleases!"
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| − |
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| − | <br><br>E. M. House went to Paris this morning, having no peace message
| |
| − | from this Kingdom whatever. This kind of talk here now was spoken
| |
| − | of by the Prime Minister the other day "as the twittering
| |
| − | of a sparrow in a tumult that shakes the world."
| |
| − |
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| − | <br><br>Lady P. remarked to me to-day, as many persons do, that I am
| |
| − | very fortunate to be Ambassador here at this particular time.
| |
| − | Perhaps; but it isn't easy to point out precisely wherein the
| |
| − | good fortune consists. This much is certain: it is surely a hazardous
| |
| − | occupation now. Henry James remarked, too, that nobody could afford
| |
| − | to miss the experience of being here---nobody who could be here.
| |
| − | Perhaps true, again; but I confess to enough shock and horror
| |
| − | to keep me from being so very sure of that. Yet no other phenomenon
| |
| − | is more noticeable than the wish of every sort of an American
| |
| − | to be here. I sometimes wonder whether the really well-balanced
| |
| − | American does. Most of them are of the overwrought and excitable
| |
| − | kinds.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>A conservative lady, quite conscientious, was taken down to
| |
| − | dinner by Winston Churchill. Said she, to be quite frank and fair:
| |
| − | "Mr. Churchill, I must tell you that I don't like your politics.
| |
| − | Yet we must get on together. You may say, if you like, that this
| |
| − | is merely a matter of personal taste with me, as I might not like
| |
| − | your---well, your moustache." "I see no reason, Madam,
| |
| − | why you should come in contact with either."
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>My talk with Bonar Law: He was disposed to believe that if
| |
| − | England had declared at once that she would go to war with Germany
| |
| − | if France was attacked, there would have been no war. Well, would
| |
| − | English opinion, before Belgium was attacked, have supported a
| |
| − | government which made such a declaration?
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>Mr. Bonar Law thinks that President Wilson ought to have protested
| |
| − | about Belgium.
| |
| − |
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| − | <br><br>He didn't agree with me that much good human material goes
| |
| − | to waste in this Kingdom for lack of opportunity. (That's the
| |
| − | Conservative in him.)
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>.
| |
| − |
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| − | <br><br><I><FONT SIZE="+1">Friday, April 30, 1915.</FONT></I>
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| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>Sir Edward Grey came to tea to talk with Mr. House and me---little
| |
| − | talk of the main subject (peace), which is not yet ripe by a great
| |
| − | deal. Sir Edward said the Germans had poisoned wells in South
| |
| − | Africa. They have lately used deadly gases in France. The key
| |
| − | to their mind says Sir Edward, is this---they attribute to other
| |
| − | folk what they are thinking of doing themselves.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>While Sir Edward was here John Sargent came in and brought
| |
| − | Katharine the charcoal portrait of her that he had made---his
| |
| − | present to her for her and Chud to give to W. A. W. P.(<A NAME="n194"></A><A
| |
| − | HREF="Pagenotes.htm#194">194</A>) and me. A very graceful and
| |
| − | beautiful thing for him to do.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br><I><FONT SIZE="+1">April 30, 1915.</FONT></I>
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| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>Concerning Peace: The German civil authorities want peace and
| |
| − | so does one faction of the military party. But how can they save
| |
| − | their face? They have made their people believe that they are
| |
| − | at once the persecuted and the victorious. If they stop, how can
| |
| − | they explain their stopping? The people might rend them. The ingenious
| |
| − | loophole discovered by House is mere moonshine, viz., the freedom
| |
| − | of the seas in war. That is a one-sided proposition unless they
| |
| − | couple with it the freedom of the land in war also, which is nonsense.
| |
| − | Nothing can be done, then, until some unfavourable military event
| |
| − | brings a new mind to the Germans. Peace talk, therefore, is yet
| |
| − | mere moonshine. House has been to Berlin, from London, thence
| |
| − | to Paris, then back to London again---from Nowhere (as far as
| |
| − | peace is concerned) to Nowhere again.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br><I><FONT SIZE="+1">May 3, 1915.</FONT></I>
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>Why doesn't the President make himself more accessible? Dismiss
| |
| − | X and get a bigger man? Take his cabinet members really into his
| |
| − | confidence? Everybody who comes here makes these complaints of
| |
| − | him!
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>We dined to-night at Vs. Professor M. was there, etc. He says
| |
| − | we've got to have polygamy in Europe after the war to keep the
| |
| − | race up.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br><I><FONT SIZE="+1">Friday, May 21, 1915.</FONT></I>
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>Last night the Italian Parliament voted to give the Government
| |
| − | war-powers; and this means immediate war on the side of the Allies.
| |
| − | There are now eight nation fighting against Germany, Austria,
| |
| − | and Turkey; viz., Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Japan,
| |
| − | Belgium, Serbia, Montenegro. And it looks much as if the United
| |
| − | States will be forced in by Germany.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>The British Government is wrestling with a very grave internal
| |
| − | disruption---to make a Coalition Government. The only portfolios
| |
| − | that seem absolutely secure are the Prime Minister's and the Foreign
| |
| − | Secretary's (Sir Edward Grey's)---for which latter, many thanks.
| |
| − | The two-fold trouble is---(1) a difference between Churchill (First
| |
| − | Lord of the Admiralty) and Lord Fisher---about the Dardanelles
| |
| − | campaign and (I dare say) other things, and (2) Lord Kitchener's
| |
| − | failure to secure ammunition---"to organize the industries
| |
| − | of the Kingdom." Some even declare K. of K. (they now say
| |
| − | Kitchener of Kaos) is a general colossal failure. But the prevailing
| |
| − | opinion is that his raising of the new army has been good work
| |
| − | but that he has failed with the task of procuring munitions. As
| |
| − | for Churchill, he's too restless and erratic and dictatorial and
| |
| − | fussy and he runs about too much. I talked with him at dinner
| |
| − | last night at his mother's. He slips far down in his chair and
| |
| − | swears and be-dams and by-Gods his assertions. But his energy
| |
| − | does interest one. An impromptu meeting in the Stock Exchange
| |
| − | to-day voted confidence in K. of K. and burned up a copy of the
| |
| − | <I>Daily Mail, </I>which this morning had a severe editorial about
| |
| − | him.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>Washington, having sent a severe note to Germany, is now upbraided
| |
| − | for not sending another to England, to match and pair it. That's
| |
| − | largely German influence, but also the Chicago packers and the
| |
| − | cotton men. These latter have easy grievances, like the Irish.
| |
| − | The delays of the British Government are exasperating, but they
| |
| − | are really not so bad now I as they have been. Still, the President
| |
| − | can be influenced by the criticism that he must hit one side every
| |
| − | time he hits the other, else he's not neutral! I am working by
| |
| − | every device to help the situation and to prevent another note.
| |
| − | I proposed to-day to Sir Edward Grey that his Government make
| |
| − | an immediate advance payment on the cotton that it proposes to
| |
| − | buy.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>Unless Joffre be a man of genius---of which there are some
| |
| − | indications---and unless French also possibly have some claim
| |
| − | to this distinction and <I>perhaps </I>the Grand Duke Nikolas,
| |
| − | there doesn't yet seem to be a great man brought forth by the
| |
| − | war. In civil life, Sir Edward Grey comes to a high measure. As
| |
| − | we yet see it from this English corner of the world, no other
| |
| − | statesman now ranks with him.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br><I><FONT SIZE="+1">March 20, 1916.</FONT></I>
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>I am sure I have the best secret service that could be got
| |
| − | by any neutral. I am often amazed at its efficiency. It is good
| |
| − | because it is not a secret---certainly not a spy service at all.
| |
| − | It is all above-board and it is all done by men of high honour
| |
| − | and good character---I mean the Embassy staff. Counting the attachés
| |
| − | there are about twenty good men, every one of whom moves in a
| |
| − | somewhat different circle from any other one. Every one cultivates
| |
| − | his group of English folk, in and out of official life, and his
| |
| − | group in the diplomatic corps. There isn't a week but every man
| |
| − | of them sees his particular sources of information---at their
| |
| − | offices, at the Embassy, at luncheon, at dinner, at the clubs---everywhere.
| |
| − | We all take every possible occasion to serve our friends and they
| |
| − | serve us. The result is, I verily believe, that we hear more than
| |
| − | any other group in London. These young fellows are all keen as
| |
| − | razors. They know when to be silent, too; and they are trusted
| |
| − | as they deserve to be. Of course I see them, singly or in pairs,
| |
| − | every day in the regular conduct of the work of the Embassy; and
| |
| − | once a week we all meet together and go over everything that properly
| |
| − | comes before so large a "cabinet" meeting. Thus some
| |
| − | of us are on confidential terms with somebody in every department
| |
| − | of the Government, with somebody in every other Embassy and Legation,
| |
| − | with all the newspapers and correspondents---even with the censors.
| |
| − | And the wives of those that are married are abler than their husbands.
| |
| − | They are most attractive young women---welcome everywhere---and
| |
| − | indefatigable. Mrs. Page has them spend one afternoon a week with
| |
| − | her, rolling bandages; and that regular meeting always yields
| |
| − | something else. They come to my house Thursday afternoons, too,
| |
| − | when people always drop in to tea---visitors from other countries,
| |
| − | resident Americans, English---everybody---sometimes one hundred.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>Nobody in this company is a "Spy "---God forbid!I
| |
| − | I know no more honourable or attractive group of ladies and gentlemen.
| |
| − | Yet can conceive of no organization of spies who could find out
| |
| − | as many things. And the loyalty of them all! Somebody now and
| |
| − | then prefaces a revelation with the declaration, "This is
| |
| − | in strict confidence---absolutely nobody is to hear it."
| |
| − | The answer is--- "Yes, only, you know, I have no secrets
| |
| − | from the Ambassador: no member of his staff can ever have."----Of
| |
| − | course, we get some fun along with our tragedies. If I can find
| |
| − | time, for instance, I am going to write out for House's amusement
| |
| − | a verbatim report of every conversation that he held in London.
| |
| − | It has all come to me---from what he said to the King down; and
| |
| − | it all tallies with what House himself told me. He went over it
| |
| − | all himself to me the other day at luncheon.---I not only believe---I
| |
| − | am sure---that in this way I do get a correct judgment of public
| |
| − | feeling and public opinion, from Cabinet Ministers to stock-brokers.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br><I><FONT SIZE="+1">December 11, 1916.</FONT></I>
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>The new Government is quite as friendly to us in its intentions
| |
| − | as the old, and much more energetic. The old Government was a
| |
| − | spent force. Mr. Balfour is an agreeable man to deal with, with
| |
| − | a will to keep our sympathy, unless the dire need of ships forces
| |
| − | him to unpleasantness. The Prime Minister is---American in his
| |
| − | ways. Lord Robert has the old Cecil in him, and he's going to
| |
| − | maintain the blockade at any cost that he can justify to himself
| |
| − | and to public opinion, and the public opinion is with him, They
| |
| − | are all eager to have American approval---much more eager, I think,
| |
| − | than a large section of public opinion, which has almost ceased
| |
| − | to care what Americans think or do. The more we talk about peace,
| |
| − | the more they think about war. There is no vindictiveness in the
| |
| − | English. They do not care to do hurt to the German people: they
| |
| − | regard them as misguided and misled. But no power on earth can
| |
| − | stop the British till the German military caste is broken---that
| |
| − | leadership which attacked Belgium and France and would destroy
| |
| − | England. Balfour, Lloyd George, the people, the army and the navy
| |
| − | are at one in this matter, every labouring man, everybody, except
| |
| − | a little handful of Quakers and professors and Noel Buxton. I
| |
| − | think I know and see all the peace men. They feel that they can
| |
| − | talk to me with safety. They send me their pamphlets and documents.
| |
| − | I think that all of them have now become warlike but three, and
| |
| − | one of them is a woman. If you meet a woman you know on the street
| |
| − | and express a sympathy on the loss of her second son, she will
| |
| − | say to you, "Yes, he died in defence of his country. My third
| |
| − | son will go next week. They all die to save us." Doubtless
| |
| − | she sheds tears in private. But her eyes are dry in public. She
| |
| − | has discarded her luxuries to put money in the war loan. Say "Peace"
| |
| − | to her? She would insult you.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br><I><FONT SIZE="+1">May 10, 1917.</FONT></I>
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>We dined at Lambeth Palace. There was Lord Morley, whom I had
| |
| − | not seen since his long illness---much reduced in flesh, and quite
| |
| − | feeble and old-looking. But his mind and speech were most alert.
| |
| − | He spoke of Cobden favouring the Confederate States because the
| |
| − | constitution of the Confederacy provided for free trade. But one
| |
| − | day Bright informed Cobden that he was making the mistake of his
| |
| − | life. Thereafter Cobden came over to the Union side. This, Morley
| |
| − | heard direct from Bright.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>The Archbishop spoke in high praise of Charnwood's Lincoln---was
| |
| − | surprised at its excellence, etc.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>Geoffrey Robinson(<A NAME="n195"></A><A HREF="Pagenotes.htm#195">195</A>)
| |
| − | asked who wrote the <I>Quarterly </I>articles in favour of the
| |
| − | Confederacy all through the war ---was it Lord Salisbury? Nobody
| |
| − | knew.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>The widow of the former Archbishop Benson was there ---the
| |
| − | mother of all the Bensons, Hugh, A. C., etc., etc.---a remarkable
| |
| − | old lady, who talked much in admiration of Balfour.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>The Bishop of----Winchester(?)---was curious to know whether
| |
| − | the people in the United States really understood the Irish question---the
| |
| − | two-nation, two-religion aspect of the case. I had to say no!
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>There is an orphan asylum founded by some preceding Archbishop,
| |
| − | by the sea. The danger of bombardment raised the question of safety.
| |
| − | The Archbishop ordered all the children (40) to be sent to Lambeth
| |
| − | Palace. We dined in a small dining room: "The children, "
| |
| − | Mrs. Davidson explained, "have the big dining room."
| |
| − | Each child has a lady as patroness or protector who "adopts"
| |
| − | her, i.e., sees that she is looked after, etc. Some of the ladies
| |
| − | who now do this were themselves orphans!
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>At prayers as usual at 10 o'clock in the chapel where prayers
| |
| − | have been held every night---for how many centuries?
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>At lunch to-day at Mr. Asquith's---Lord Lansdowne there; took
| |
| − | much interest in the Knapp farm work while I briefly explained.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>Lord Morley said to Mrs. Page he had become almost a Tolstoyan---Human
| |
| − | progress hasn't done much for mankind's happiness, etc. Look at
| |
| − | the war---by a "progressive" nation. Now the mistake
| |
| − | here is born of a class society, a society that rests on privilege.
| |
| − | "Progress, " <I>has </I>done everything (1) in liberating
| |
| − | men's minds and spirits in the United States. This is the real
| |
| − | gain; (2) in arraying all the world <I>against </I>Germany.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br><I><FONT SIZE="+1">Tuesday, January 22, 1918.</FONT></I>
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>Some days bring a bunch of interesting things or men. Then
| |
| − | there sometimes come relatively dull days---not often, however.
| |
| − | To-day came:
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>General Tasker H. Bliss, Chief-of-Staff, now 64---the wisest
| |
| − | (so I judge) of our military men, a rather wonderful old chap.
| |
| − | He's on his way to Paris as a member of the Supreme War Council
| |
| − | at Versailles. The big question he has struck is: Shall American
| |
| − | troops be put into the British and French lines, in small groups,
| |
| − | to fill up the gaps in those armies? The British have persuaded
| |
| − | him that it is a military necessity. If it were less than a necessity,
| |
| − | it would, of course, be wrong---i.e., it would cut across our
| |
| − | national pride, force our men under another flag, etc. It is not
| |
| − | proposed to deprive Pershing of his command nor even of his army.
| |
| − | The plan is to bring over troops that would not otherwise now
| |
| − | come and to lend these to the British and French armies, and to
| |
| − | let Pershing go on with his army as if this hadn't been done.
| |
| − | Bliss is inclined to grant this request on condition the British
| |
| − | bring these men over, equip and feed them, etc. He came in to
| |
| − | ask me to send a telegram for him to-morrow to the President,
| |
| − | making this recommendation. But on reflection he decided to wait
| |
| − | till he had seen and heard the French also, who desire the same
| |
| − | thing as the British.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>General Bliss is staying with Major Warburton; and Warburton
| |
| − | gave me some interesting glimpses of him. A telegram came for
| |
| − | the General. Warburton thought that he was out of the house and
| |
| − | he decided to take it himself to the General's room. He opened
| |
| − | the door. There sat the General by the fire talking to himself,
| |
| − | wrapped in thought. Warburton walked to the middle of the room.
| |
| − | The old man didn't see him. He decided not to disturb him, for
| |
| − | he was rehearsing what he proposed to say to the Secretary of
| |
| − | State for War or to the Prime Minister---getting his ears as well
| |
| − | as his mind used to it. Warburton put the telegram on the table
| |
| − | near the General, went out, and wasn't discovered.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>Several nights, he sat by the fire with Warburton and began
| |
| − | to talk, again rehearsing to himself some important conclusions
| |
| − | that he had reached. Every once in a while he'd look up at Warburton
| |
| − | and say: "Now, what do you think of that?"
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>That's an amazing good way to get your thought clear and your
| |
| − | plans well laid out. I've done it myself.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>I went home and Kipling and Carrie(<A NAME="n196"></A><A HREF="Pagenotes.htm#196">196</A>)
| |
| − | were at lunch with us. Kipling said: "I'll tell you, your
| |
| − | coming into the war made a new earth for me." He is on a
| |
| − | committee to see that British graves are properly marked and he
| |
| − | talked much about it. I could not help thinking that in the back
| |
| − | of his mind there was all the time thought of his own dead boy,
| |
| − | John.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>Then in the afternoon Major Drain brought the copy of a contract
| |
| − | between the United States Government and the British to build
| |
| − | together 1500 tanks ($7,500,000). We took it to the Foreign Office
| |
| − | and Mr. Balfour and I signed it. Drain thinks that the tanks are
| |
| − | capable of much development and he wishes our army after the war
| |
| − | to keep on studying and experimenting with and improving such
| |
| − | machines of destruction. Nobody knows what may come of it.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>Then I dined at W. W. Astor's (Jr.) There were Balfour, Lord
| |
| − | Salisbury, General and Lady Robertson, Mrs. Lyttleton and Philip
| |
| − | Kerr.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>During the afternoon Captain Amundsen, Arctic explorer came
| |
| − | in, on his way from Norway to France as the guest of our Government,
| |
| − | whereafter he will go to the United States and talk to Scandinavian
| |
| − | people there.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>That's a pretty good kind of a full day.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>.
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br><I><FONT SIZE="+1">April, 19, 1918.</FONT></I>
| |
| − |
| |
| − | <br><br>Bell,(<A NAME="n197"></A><A HREF="Pagenotes.htm#197">197</A>)
| |
| − | and Mrs. Bell during the air raid took their little girl (Evangeline,
| |
| − | aged three) to the cellar. They told her they went to the cellar
| |
| − | to hear the big fire crackers. After a bomb fell that shook all
| |
| − | Chelsea, Evangeline clapped her hands in glee. "Oh, mummy,
| |
| − | what a <I>big</I> fire cracker!"
| |
| − |
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| − | <P ALIGN=CENTER><HR>
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| − |
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| − | ALIGN="MIDDLE" BORDER="0" ><A HREF="PageTC.htm#TC">Table
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| − | of Contents</A></FONT>
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| − | </BLOCKQUOTE>
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