http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php?title=XX_%22PEACE_WITHOUT_VICTORY%22&feed=atom&action=historyXX "PEACE WITHOUT VICTORY" - Revision history2013-05-22T12:37:17ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.17.2http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php?title=XX_%22PEACE_WITHOUT_VICTORY%22&diff=6372&oldid=prevHirgen at 00:55, 19 January 20092009-01-19T00:55:49Z<p></p>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>German Government &quot;would be forced to regain the freedom</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>German Government &quot;would be forced to regain the freedom</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>of action which it has reserved to itself in the note of May 4th</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>of action which it has reserved to itself in the note of May 4th</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>last.&quot;<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">(</del><<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">A NAME=</del>"<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">n162</del>"<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">></A><A HREF="Pagenotes</del>.<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">htm#162">162</del></<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">A</del>><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">)</del></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>last.&quot;<<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">ref></ins>"<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">My Three Years in America,</ins>" <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">by Count Bernstorff, p. 294</ins>.</<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">ref</ins>></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>It is unlikely that the annals of diplomacy contain many documents</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>It is unlikely that the annals of diplomacy contain many documents</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>so cool and insolent as this one. It was a notification from the</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>so cool and insolent as this one. It was a notification from the</div></td></tr>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>civilization will perish and it will be necessary to build it</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>civilization will perish and it will be necessary to build it</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>up slowly again---if indeed it will ever appear again. If the</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>up slowly again---if indeed it will ever appear again. If the</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>United States will help the Allies, civilization will triumph.&quot;<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">(</del><<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">A</del></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>United States will help the Allies, civilization will triumph.&quot;<<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">ref</ins>><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">This narrative is based upon memoranda made by Page</ins>.</<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">ref</ins>></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">NAME="n163"</del>><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"></A><A HREF="Pagenotes</del>.<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">htm#163">163</del></<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">A</del>><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">)</del></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div> </div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><br><br>As to the proposal that the British terms should be conveyed</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><br><br>As to the proposal that the British terms should be conveyed</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>confidentially to Mr. Wilson, Lord Robert said that that would</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>confidentially to Mr. Wilson, Lord Robert said that that would</div></td></tr>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><BLOCKQUOTE></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><BLOCKQUOTE></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   <br><br>The President's address to the Senate, which was received</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   <br><br>The President's address to the Senate, which was received</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   to-day (January 16th),<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">(</del><<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">A NAME="n164"</del>><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"></A><A HREF="Pagenotes</del>.<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">htm#164">164</del></<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">A</del>><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">)</del></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   to-day (January 16th),<<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">ref</ins>><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">It was delivered and published on January 22nd</ins>.</<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">ref</ins>>shows that he thinks he can play peace-maker. He does not at</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">  </del>shows that he thinks he can play peace-maker. He does not at</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   all understand, (or, if he do, so much the worse for him) that</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   all understand, (or, if he do, so much the worse for him) that</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   the Entente Powers, especially Great Britain and France, cannot</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   the Entente Powers, especially Great Britain and France, cannot</div></td></tr>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><hr></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><hr></div></td></tr>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">reference</del>/></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">references</ins>/></div></td></tr>
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</table>Hirgenhttp://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php?title=XX_%22PEACE_WITHOUT_VICTORY%22&diff=6371&oldid=prevHirgen at 00:40, 19 January 20092009-01-19T00:40:54Z<p></p>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><br><br>.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><br><br>.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><BLOCKQUOTE></del></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div> </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">  </del><<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">P ALIGN=</del>CENTER><I><FONT SIZE="+1">To the President</FONT></I></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><CENTER><I><FONT SIZE="+1">To the President</FONT></I<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">></center</ins>></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">  </del><br><br>London, November 24, 1916.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><BLOCKQUOTE></ins><br><br>London, November 24, 1916.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   <br><br>DEAR MR. PRESIDENT:</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   <br><br>DEAR MR. PRESIDENT:</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   <br><br>We have all known for many years that the rich and populous</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   <br><br>We have all known for many years that the rich and populous</div></td></tr>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   It has taken such a profound hold on me that I shall, in whatever</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   It has taken such a profound hold on me that I shall, in whatever</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   way I can, work for its complete realization as long as I can</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   way I can, work for its complete realization as long as I can</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   work for anything.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   work for anything.<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline"></BLOCKQUOTE></ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">  </del><BLOCKQUOTE></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div> </div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><BLOCKQUOTE></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>     <br><br>I am, Mr. President, most faithfully and gratefully yours,</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>     <br><br>I am, Mr. President, most faithfully and gratefully yours,</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>     <br><br>WALTER H. PAGE.</BLOCKQUOTE></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>     <br><br>WALTER H. PAGE.</BLOCKQUOTE></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></BLOCKQUOTE></del></div></td><td colspan="2"> </td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><br><br>.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><br><br>.</div></td></tr>
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<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 260:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><br><br>.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><br><br>.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><BLOCKQUOTE></del></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div> </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">  </del><<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">P ALIGN=</del>CENTER><I><FONT SIZE="+1">To Edward M. House</FONT></I></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><CENTER><I><FONT SIZE="+1">To Edward M. House</FONT></I<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">></center</ins>></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">  </del><br><br>London, June 29, 1917.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><BLOCKQUOTE></ins><br><br>London, June 29, 1917.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   <br><br>MY DEAR HOUSE:</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   <br><br>MY DEAR HOUSE:</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   <br><br>I never put any particular value on my own prophecies nor</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   <br><br>I never put any particular value on my own prophecies nor</div></td></tr>
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<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 398:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><br><br>.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><br><br>.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><BLOCKQUOTE></del></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div> </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">  </del><<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">P ALIGN=</del>CENTER><I><FONT SIZE="+1">Lord R. Cecil to Sir C. Spring</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><CENTER><I><FONT SIZE="+1">Lord R. Cecil to Sir C. Spring Rice</FONT></I<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">></center</ins>></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">  </del>Rice</FONT></I></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><BLOCKQUOTE></ins><br><br>Foreign Office,<BR></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">  </del><br><br>Foreign Office,<BR></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   December 18, 1916,</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   December 18, 1916,</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   <br><br>SIR:</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   <br><br>SIR:</div></td></tr>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   was not the cause of such representations being made.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   was not the cause of such representations being made.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   <br><br>I replied that I could of course say nothing to him on such</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   <br><br>I replied that I could of course say nothing to him on such</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   an important matter without consulting my colleagues.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   an important matter without consulting my colleagues.<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline"></BLOCKQUOTE></ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   <BLOCKQUOTE></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>    </div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><BLOCKQUOTE></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>     <br><br>I am, etc.,</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>     <br><br>I am, etc.,</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>     <br><br>ROBERT CECIL.</BLOCKQUOTE></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>     <br><br>ROBERT CECIL.</BLOCKQUOTE></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">  </del><br><br>.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><br><br>.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">  </del><<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">P ALIGN=</del>CENTER><I><FONT SIZE="+1">Lord R. Cecil to Sir C. Spring</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div> </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">  </del>Rice</FONT></I></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><CENTER><I><FONT SIZE="+1">Lord R. Cecil to Sir C. Spring Rice</FONT></I<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">></center</ins>></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">  </del><br><br>Foreign Office,<BR></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline"><BLOCKQUOTE></ins><br><br>Foreign Office,<BR></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   19 December, 1916.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   19 December, 1916.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   <br><br>SIR:</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   <br><br>SIR:</div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 468:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 468:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   and to us.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   and to us.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   <br><br>As he was leaving he suggested that the German note might</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   <br><br>As he was leaving he suggested that the German note might</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   be published in our press.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   be published in our press.<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline"></BLOCKQUOTE></ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   <BLOCKQUOTE></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>    </div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><BLOCKQUOTE></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>     <br><br>I am, etc.,</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>     <br><br>I am, etc.,</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>     <br><br>ROBERT CECIL.</BLOCKQUOTE></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>     <br><br>ROBERT CECIL.</BLOCKQUOTE></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline"></BLOCKQUOTE></del></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div> </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><br><br>.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><br><br>.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 820:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 821:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   more uncomfortable than ever. &quot;Peace without victory&quot;</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   more uncomfortable than ever. &quot;Peace without victory&quot;</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   brought us to the very depths of European disfavour.</BLOCKQUOTE></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   brought us to the very depths of European disfavour.</BLOCKQUOTE></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><ins style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"><hr></ins></div></td></tr>
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<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><ins style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"><reference/></ins></div></td></tr>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><hr></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><hr></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><p align="right"></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><p align="right"></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>[[Main Page | WWI Document Archive]] > [[Diaries, Memorials, Personal Reminiscences]] > [[The_Life_and_Letters_of_Walter_H._Page|Walter H. Page]] > '''Chapter XX'''</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>[[Main Page | WWI Document Archive]] > [[Diaries, Memorials, Personal Reminiscences]] > [[The_Life_and_Letters_of_Walter_H._Page|Walter H. Page]] > '''Chapter XX'''</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div></p<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">><hr</del>></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div></p></div></td></tr>
</table>Hirgenhttp://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php?title=XX_%22PEACE_WITHOUT_VICTORY%22&diff=6295&oldid=prevRdh7 at 18:39, 17 January 20092009-01-17T18:39:08Z<p></p>
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<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><ins style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"><p align="right"></ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><ins style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">[[Main Page | WWI Document Archive]] > [[Diaries, Memorials, Personal Reminiscences]] > [[The_Life_and_Letters_of_Walter_H._Page|Walter H. Page]] > '''Chapter XX'''</ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><ins style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></p><hr></ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><ins style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><ins style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><center>[[Image: Walter_H._Page_Signature.gif]]</center> <br><br></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><center>[[Image: Walter_H._Page_Signature.gif]]</center> <br><br></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"></td></tr>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   more uncomfortable than ever. &quot;Peace without victory&quot;</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   more uncomfortable than ever. &quot;Peace without victory&quot;</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   brought us to the very depths of European disfavour.</BLOCKQUOTE></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   brought us to the very depths of European disfavour.</BLOCKQUOTE></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><ins style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><hr></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><hr></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><ins style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"><p align="right"></ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><ins style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">[[Main Page | WWI Document Archive]] > [[Diaries, Memorials, Personal Reminiscences]] > [[The_Life_and_Letters_of_Walter_H._Page|Walter H. Page]] > '''Chapter XX'''</ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><ins style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></p><hr></ins></div></td></tr>
</table>Rdh7http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php?title=XX_%22PEACE_WITHOUT_VICTORY%22&diff=6176&oldid=prevHirgen at 09:31, 5 January 20092009-01-05T09:31:40Z<p></p>
<table style="background-color: white; color:black;">
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<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 1:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">P ALIGN=CENTER</del>><<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">FONT SIZE="+2"</del>><<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">IMG SRC="images/sig.gif" WIDTH="288"</del></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">center</ins>><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[[Image: Walter_H._Page_Signature.gif]]</ins><<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">/center</ins>> <<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">br</ins>><<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">br</ins>></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">HEIGHT="126" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" </del>><<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">/FONT</del>></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><CENTER><FONT SIZE="+2" FACE="Times">CHAPTER XX</FONT></center><br><br></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><CENTER><FONT SIZE="+2" FACE="Times">CHAPTER XX</FONT></center><br><br></div></td></tr>
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<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 815:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   more uncomfortable than ever. &quot;Peace without victory&quot;</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   more uncomfortable than ever. &quot;Peace without victory&quot;</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   brought us to the very depths of European disfavour.</BLOCKQUOTE></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   brought us to the very depths of European disfavour.</BLOCKQUOTE></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><ins style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><ins style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"><hr></ins></div></td></tr>
</table>Hirgenhttp://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php?title=XX_%22PEACE_WITHOUT_VICTORY%22&diff=6175&oldid=prevHirgen at 09:29, 5 January 20092009-01-05T09:29:05Z<p></p>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>HEIGHT="126" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ></FONT></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>HEIGHT="126" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ></FONT></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">P ALIGN=</del>CENTER><FONT SIZE="+2" FACE="Times">CHAPTER XX</FONT></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><CENTER><FONT SIZE="+2" FACE="Times">CHAPTER XX</FONT<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">></center><br><br</ins>></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">P ALIGN=</del>CENTER><FONT SIZE="+2">&quot;PEACE WITHOUT VICTORY &quot;</FONT></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="background: #cfc; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><CENTER><FONT SIZE="+2">&quot;PEACE WITHOUT VICTORY &quot;</FONT<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">></center</ins>></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><br><br>OF ONE thing I am sure,&quot; Page wrote to his wife from Washington,</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><br><br>OF ONE thing I am sure,&quot; Page wrote to his wife from Washington,</div></td></tr>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   more uncomfortable than ever. &quot;Peace without victory&quot;</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   more uncomfortable than ever. &quot;Peace without victory&quot;</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   brought us to the very depths of European disfavour.</BLOCKQUOTE></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background: #eee; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div>   brought us to the very depths of European disfavour.</BLOCKQUOTE></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></del></div></td><td colspan="2"> </td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"><br><br>.</del></div></td><td colspan="2"> </td></tr>
</table>Hirgenhttp://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php?title=XX_%22PEACE_WITHOUT_VICTORY%22&diff=6174&oldid=prevHirgen at 05:29, 5 January 20092009-01-05T05:29:36Z<p></p>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">//Block Right Clicking - by Blackbox Hosting</del></div></td><td colspan="2"> </td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">//Credit must stay intact for use</del></div></td><td colspan="2"> </td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></del></div></td><td colspan="2"> </td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">var isNS = (navigator.appName == "Netscape") ? 1 : 0;</del></div></td><td colspan="2"> </td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">var EnableRightClick = 0;</del></div></td><td colspan="2"> </td></tr>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="background: #ffa; color:black; font-size: smaller;"><div><del style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">  <TITLE>Burton J. Hendrick. The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page. 1922. Chapters 20-21.</TITLE></del></div></td><td colspan="2"> </td></tr>
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</table>Hirgenhttp://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php?title=XX_%22PEACE_WITHOUT_VICTORY%22&diff=6164&oldid=prevHirgen at 11:46, 4 January 20092009-01-04T11:46:30Z<p></p>
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<TITLE>Burton J. Hendrick. The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page. 1922. Chapters 20-21.</TITLE><br />
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HEIGHT="126" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ></FONT><br />
<br />
<P ALIGN=CENTER><FONT SIZE="+2" FACE="Times">CHAPTER XX</FONT><br />
<br />
<P ALIGN=CENTER><FONT SIZE="+2">&quot;PEACE WITHOUT VICTORY &quot;</FONT><br />
<br />
<br><br>OF ONE thing I am sure,&quot; Page wrote to his wife from Washington,<br />
while waiting to see President Wilson. &quot;We wish to come home<br />
March 4th at midnight and to go about our proper business. There's<br />
nothing here that I would for the world be mixed up with. As soon<br />
as I can escape with dignity I shall make my bow and exit. . .<br />
. But I am not unhappy or hopeless for the long run. They'll find<br />
out the truth some day, paying, I fear, a heavy penalty for delay.<br />
But the visit here has confirmed me in our previous conclusions---that<br />
if we can carry the load until March 4th, midnight, we shall be<br />
grateful that we have pulled through.&quot;<br />
<br />
<br><br>Soon after President Wilson's reelection, therefore, Page sent<br />
his resignation to Washington. The above quotation shows that<br />
he intended this to be more than a &quot;courtesy resignation,&quot;<br />
a term traditionally applied to the kind of leave-takings which<br />
Ambassadors usually send on the formation of a new administration,<br />
or at the beginning of a new Presidential term, for the purpose<br />
of giving the President the opportunity of reorganizing his official<br />
family. Page believed that his work in London had been finished,<br />
that he had done everything in his power to make Mr. Wilson see<br />
the situation in its true light and that he had not succeeded.<br />
He therefore wished to give up his post and come home. This explains<br />
the fact that his resignation did not consist of the half dozen<br />
perfunctory fines which most diplomatic officers find sufficient<br />
on such an occasion, but took the form of a review of the reasons<br />
why the United States should align itself on the side of the Allies.<br />
<br />
<br><br>.<br />
<br />
<BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<P ALIGN=CENTER><I><FONT SIZE="+1">To the President</FONT></I><br />
<br><br>London, November 24, 1916.<br />
<br><br>DEAR MR. PRESIDENT:<br />
<br><br>We have all known for many years that the rich and populous<br />
and organized states in which the big cities are do not constitute<br />
the political United States. But, I confess, I hardly expected<br />
so soon to see this fact proclaimed at the ballot-box. To me<br />
that's the surprise of the election. And your popular majority<br />
as well as your clear majority in the Electoral College is a<br />
great personal triumph for you. And you have remade the ancient<br />
and demoralized Democratic party. Four years ago it consisted<br />
of a protest and of the wreck wrought by Mr. Bryan's long captaincy.<br />
This rebirth, with a popular majority, is an historical achievement---of<br />
your own.<br />
<br><br>You have relaid the foundation and reset the pillars of a<br />
party that may enjoy a long supremacy for domestic reasons. Now,<br />
if you will permit me to say so, from my somewhat distant view<br />
(four years make a long period of absence) the big party task<br />
is to build up a clearer and more positive foreign policy. We<br />
are in the world and we've got to choose what active part we<br />
shall play in it---I fear rather quickly, I have the conviction,<br />
as you know, that this whole round globe now hangs as a ripe<br />
apple for our plucking, if we use the right ladder while the<br />
chance lasts. I do not mean that we want or could get the apple<br />
for ourselves, but that we can see to it that it is put to proper<br />
uses. What we have to do, in my judgment, is to go back to our<br />
political fathers for our clue. If my longtime memory be good,<br />
they were sure that their establishment of a great free Republic<br />
would soon be imitated by European peoples---that democracies<br />
would take the place of autocracies in all so-called civilized<br />
countries; for that was the form that the fight took in their<br />
day against organized Privilege. But for one reason or another---in<br />
our life-time partly because we chose so completely to isolate<br />
ourselves---the democratic idea took root in Europe with disappointing<br />
slowness. It is, for instance, now perhaps for the first time,<br />
in a thorough-going way, within sight in this Kingdom. The dream<br />
of the American Fathers, therefore, is not yet come true. They<br />
fought against organized Privilege exerted from over the sea.<br />
In principle it is the same fight that we have made, in our domestic<br />
field, during recent decades. Now the same fight has come on<br />
a far larger scale than men ever dreamed of before.<br />
<br><br>It isn't, therefore, for merely doctrinal reasons that we<br />
are concerned for the spread of democracy nor merely because<br />
a democracy is the only scheme of organization yet wrought out<br />
that keeps the door of opportunity open and invites all men to<br />
their fullest development. But we are interested in it because<br />
under no other system can the world be made an even reasonably<br />
safe place to live in. For only autocracies wage aggressive wars.<br />
Aggressive autocracies, especially military autocracies, must<br />
be softened down by peace (and they have never been so softened)<br />
or destroyed by war. The All-Highest doctrine of Germany to-day<br />
is the same as the Taxation-without-Representation of George<br />
III---only more virulent, stronger, and farther-reaching. Only<br />
by its end can the German people recover and build up their character<br />
and take the permanent place in the world that they---thus changed---will<br />
be entitled to. They will either reduce Europe to the vassalage<br />
of a military autocracy, which may then overrun the whole world<br />
or drench it in blood, or they must through stages of Liberalism<br />
work their way toward some approach to a democracy; and there<br />
is no doubt which event is impending. The Liberal idea will win<br />
this struggle, and Europe will be out of danger of a general<br />
assault on free institutions till some other autocracy which<br />
has a military caste try the same Napoleonic game. The defeat<br />
of Germany, therefore, will make for the spread of the doctrine<br />
of our Fathers and our doctrine yet.<br />
<br><br>An interesting book might be made of concrete evidences of<br />
the natural antipathy that the present German autocracy has for<br />
successful democracy and hence for us. A new instance has just<br />
come to me. My son, Arthur, who succeeded to most of my activities<br />
at home, has been over here for a month and he has just come<br />
from a visit to France. In Paris he had a long conversation with<br />
Delcass&eacute;, who told him that the Kaiser himself once made<br />
a proposal to him to join in producing &quot;the complete isolation&quot;<br />
of the United States. What the Kaiser meant was that if the great<br />
Powers of Europe would hold off, he would put the Monroe Doctrine<br />
to the test and smash it.<br />
<br><br>The great tide of the world will, by reason of the war, now<br />
flow toward democracy---at present, alas! a tide of blood. For<br />
a century democracies and Liberal governments have kept themselves<br />
too much isolated, trusting prematurely and too simply to international<br />
law and treaties and Hague conventions. These things have never<br />
been respected, except as springes to catch woodcock, where the<br />
Divine Right held sway. The outgrowing or the overthrow of the<br />
Divine Right is a condition precedent to the effectiveness of<br />
international law and treaties.<br />
<br><br>It has seemed to me, looking at the subject only with reference<br />
to our country's duty and safety, that somehow and at some early<br />
time our championship of democracy must lead us to redeclare<br />
our faith and to show that we believe in our historic creed.<br />
Then we may escape falling away from the Liberal forces of the<br />
Old World and escape the suspicion of indifference to the great<br />
scheme of government which was set up by our fathers' giving<br />
their blood for it. I see no other way for us to take the best<br />
and biggest opportunity that has ever come to prove true to our<br />
faith as well as to secure our own safety and the safety of the<br />
world. Only some sort of active and open identification with<br />
the Allies can put us in effective protest against the assassins<br />
of the Armenians and the assassins of Belgium, Poland, and Serbia,<br />
and in a friendly attitude to the German people themselves, as<br />
distinguished from their military rulers. This is the attitude<br />
surely that our fathers would have wished us to take---and would<br />
have expected us to take---and that our children will be proud<br />
of us for taking; for it is our proper historic attitude, whether<br />
looked at from the past or looked back at from the future. There<br />
can be no historic approval of neutrality for years, while the<br />
world is bleeding to death.<br />
<br><br>The complete severance of relations, diplomatic at first and<br />
later possibly economic as well, with the Turks and the Germans,<br />
would probably not cost us a man in battle nor any considerable<br />
treasure; for the moral effect of withdrawing even our formal<br />
approval of their conduct---at least our passive acquiescence---would<br />
be---that the Germans would see that practically all the Liberal<br />
world stands against their system, and the war would end before<br />
we should need to or could put an army in the field. The Liberal<br />
Germans are themselves beginning to see that it is not they,<br />
but the German system, that is the object of attack because it<br />
is <I>the </I>dangerous thing in the world. Maximilian Harden<br />
presents this view, in his Berlin paper. He says in effect that<br />
Germany must get rid of its predatory feudalism. That was all<br />
that was the matter with George III.<br />
<br><br>Among the practical results of such action by us would, I<br />
believe, be the following:<br />
<br><br>1. The early ending of the war and the saying of, perhaps,<br />
millions of lives and of incalculable treasure;<br />
<br><br>2. The establishment in Germany of some form of more liberal<br />
government;<br />
<br><br>3. A league to enforce peace, ready-made, under our guidance---i.e.,<br />
the Allies and ourselves;<br />
<br><br>4. The sympathetic cooperation and the moral force of every<br />
Allied Government in dealing with Mexico:<br />
<br><br>5. The acceptance---and even documentary approval of every<br />
Allied Government of the Monroe Doctrine;<br />
<br><br>6. The warding off and no doubt the final prevention of danger<br />
from Japan, and, most of all, the impressive and memorable spectacle<br />
of our Great Democracy thus putting an end to this colossal crime,<br />
merely from the impulse and necessity to keep our own ideals<br />
and to lead the world right on. We should do for Europe on a<br />
large scale essentially what we did for Cuba on a small scale<br />
and thereby usher in a new era in human history.<br />
<br><br>I write thus freely, Mr. President, because at no time can<br />
I write in any other way and because I am sure that all these<br />
things can quickly be brought to pass under your strong leadership.<br />
The United States would stand, as no other nation has ever stood<br />
in the world-predominant and unselfish---on the highest ideals<br />
ever reached in human government. It is a vision as splendid<br />
as the Holy Grael. Nor have I a shadow of doubt of the eager<br />
and faithful following of our people, who would thereby reestablish<br />
once for all our weakened nationality. We are made of the stuff<br />
that our Fathers were made of.<br />
<br><br>And I write this now for the additional reason that I am within<br />
sight of the early end of my service here. When you called me<br />
I answered, not only because you did me great honour and laid<br />
a definite patriotic duty on me, but because also of my personal<br />
loyalty to you and my pride in helping forward the great principles<br />
in which we both believe. But I understood then (and I am sure<br />
the subject lay in your mind in the same way) that my service<br />
would be for four years at the most. I made all my arrangements,<br />
professional and domestic, on this supposition. I shall, therefore,<br />
be ready to lay down my work here on March 4th or as soon thereafter<br />
as meets your pleasure.<br />
<br><br>I am more than proud of the confidence that you have shown<br />
in me. To it I am indebted for the opportunity I have had to<br />
give such public service to my country as I could, as well as<br />
for the most profitable experience of my life. A proper and sympathetic<br />
understanding between the two English-speaking worlds seems to<br />
me the most important duty of far-seeing men in either country.<br />
It has taken such a profound hold on me that I shall, in whatever<br />
way I can, work for its complete realization as long as I can<br />
work for anything.<br />
<BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br><br>I am, Mr. President, most faithfully and gratefully yours,<br />
<br><br>WALTER H. PAGE.</BLOCKQUOTE><br />
</BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br />
<br><br>.<br />
<br />
<br><br>This letter was written at a time when President Wilson was<br />
exerting his best energies to bring about peace. The Presidential<br />
campaign had caused him to postpone these efforts, for he believed<br />
that neither Germany nor Great Britain could take seriously the<br />
activities of a President whose own political position was insecure.<br />
At the time Page's letter was received, the President was thinking<br />
only of a peace based upon a stalemate; it was then his apparent<br />
conviction that both sides to the struggle were about equally<br />
in the wrong and that a decisive victory of either would not be<br />
a good thing for the world. Yet it is interesting to compare this<br />
letter with the famous speech which the President made six months<br />
afterward when he asked Congress to declare the existence of a<br />
state of war with Germany. Practically all the important reasons<br />
which Mr. Wilson then advanced for this declaration are found<br />
in Page's letter of the preceding November. That autocracies are<br />
a constant menace to world peace, that the United States owes<br />
it to its democratic tradition to take up arms against the enemy<br />
of free government, that in doing this, it was not making war<br />
upon the German people, but upon its imperialistic masters---these<br />
were the arguments which Page laid before the President in his<br />
letter of resignation, and these were the leading ideas in Mr.<br />
Wilson's address of April 2nd. There are even sentences in Page's<br />
communication which seem to foreshadow Mr. Wilson's assertion<br />
that &quot;The world must be made safe for democracy.&quot; It<br />
is impossible to read this letter and not conclude that Page's<br />
correspondence, irritating in its later phases as it may have<br />
been, did not strongly influence Mr. Wilson in his thinking.<br />
<br />
<br><br>On one point, indeed, Colonel House afterward called the Ambassador<br />
to account. When America was preparing to raise armies by the<br />
millions and to spend its treasure by the billions, he reminded<br />
Page of his statement that the severance of diplomatic relations<br />
&quot;would probably not cost us a man in battle nor any considerable<br />
treasure.&quot; Page's statement in this November letter merely<br />
reiterated a conviction which for more than a year he had been<br />
forcing upon the President and Colonel House---that the dismissal<br />
of Bernstorff would not necessarily imply war with Germany, but<br />
that it would in itself be enough to bring the war to an end.<br />
On this point Page never changed his mind, as is evident from<br />
the letter which he wrote to Colonel House when this matter was<br />
called to his attention:<br />
<br />
<br><br>.<br />
<br />
<BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<P ALIGN=CENTER><I><FONT SIZE="+1">To Edward M. House</FONT></I><br />
<br><br>London, June 29, 1917.<br />
<br><br>MY DEAR HOUSE:<br />
<br><br>I never put any particular value on my own prophecies nor<br />
on anybody else's. I have therefore no pride as a prophet. Yet<br />
I do think that I hit it off accurately a year or a year and<br />
a half ago when I said that we could then have ended the war<br />
without any appreciable cost. And these are my reasons:<br />
<br><br>If we had then come in and absolutely prevented supplies from<br />
reaching Germany, as we are now about to do, the war would then<br />
have been much sooner ended than it can now be ended:<br />
<br><br>(1) Our supplies enabled her to go on.<br />
<br><br>(2) She got time in this way to build her great submarine<br />
fleet. She went at it the day she promised the President to reform.<br />
<br><br>(3) She got time and strength to overrun Rumania whence she<br />
got food and oil; and continues to get it.<br />
<br><br>(4) During this time Russia fell down as a military force<br />
and gave her more time, more armies for France and more supplies.<br />
Russian guns have been sold to the Germans.<br />
<br><br>If a year and a half ago we had starved her out, it would<br />
have been over before any of these things happened. This delay<br />
is what will cost us billions and billions and men and men.<br />
<br><br>And it cost us one thing more. During the neutrality period<br />
we were as eager to get goods to the little neutral states which<br />
were in large measure undoubtedly bound to Germany as we are<br />
now eager to keep them out. Grey, who was and is our best friend,<br />
and who was unwilling to quarrel with us more than he was obliged<br />
to, was thrown out of office and his career ended because the<br />
blockade, owing to his consideration for us, was not tight enough.<br />
Our delay caused his fall.<br />
<br><br>But most of all, it gave the Germans time (and to some extent<br />
material) to build their present fleet of submarines. They were<br />
at work on them all the while and according to the best opinion<br />
here they continue to build them faster than the British destroy<br />
them; and the submarines are destroying more merchant ships than<br />
all the shipbuilding docks of all the world are now turning out.<br />
This is the most serious aspect of the war---by far the most<br />
serious. I am trying to get our Government to send over hundreds<br />
of improvised destroyers---armed tugs, yachts, etc., etc. Admiral<br />
Sims and the British Admiralty have fears that unless such help<br />
come the full fruits of the war may never be gathered by the<br />
Allies---that some sort of a compromise peace may have to be<br />
made.<br />
<br><br>It is, therefore, true that the year and a half we waited<br />
after the <I>Lusitania </I>will prove to be the most costly year<br />
and a half in our history; and for once at least my old prophecy<br />
was quite a good guess. But that water has flowed over the dam<br />
and it is worth mentioning now only because you challenged me.<br />
. . .</BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br />
<br><br>.<br />
<br />
<br><br>That part of Page's letter which refers to his retirement had<br />
a curious history. It was practically a resignation and therefore<br />
called for an immediate reply, but Mr. Wilson did not even acknowledge<br />
its receipt. For two months the Ambassador was left in the dark<br />
as to the attitude of Washington. Finally, in the latter part<br />
of January, 1917, Page wrote urgently to Mr. Lansing, asking him<br />
to bring the matter to the President's attention. On February<br />
5, 1917, Mr. Lansing's reply was received. &quot;The President,&quot;<br />
he said, &quot;under extreme pressure of the present situation,<br />
has been unable to consider your communication in regard to your<br />
resignation. He desires me to inform you that he hopes that, at<br />
the present time, you will not press to be relieved from service;<br />
that he realizes that he is asking you to make a personal sacrifice,<br />
but he believes that you will appreciate the importance, in the<br />
crisis which has developed, that no change should be made. I hardly<br />
need to add my personal hope that you will put aside any thought<br />
of resigning your post for the present.&quot;<br />
<br />
<br><br>At this time, of course, any idea of retiring was out of the<br />
question. The President had dismissed Bernstorff and there was<br />
every likelihood that the country would soon be at war. Page would<br />
have regarded his retirement at this crisis as little less than<br />
the desertion of his post. Moreover, since Mr. Wilson had adopted<br />
the policy which the Ambassador had been urging for nearly two<br />
years, and had sent Bernstorff home, any logical excuse that may<br />
have existed for his resignation existed no longer. Mr. Wilson<br />
had now adopted a course which Page could enthusiastically support.<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;I am happy to serve here at any sacrifice&quot;---such<br />
was his reply to Mr. Lansing---&quot;until after the end of the<br />
war, and I am making my arrangements to stay for this period.&quot;<br />
<br />
<br><br>The months that intervened between the Presidential election<br />
and the declaration of war were especially difficult for the American<br />
Embassy in London. Page had informed the President, in the course<br />
of his interview of September 22nd, how unfavourably Great Britain<br />
regarded his efforts in the direction of peace; he had in fact<br />
delivered a message from the Foreign Office that any Presidential<br />
attempt to &quot;mediate&quot; would be rejected by the Allies.<br />
Yet his earnest representation on this point had produced no effect<br />
upon Mr. Wilson. The pressure which Germany was bringing to bear<br />
upon Washington was apparently irresistible. Count Bernstorff's<br />
memoirs, with their accompanying documents, have revealed the<br />
intensity of the German efforts during this period; the most startling<br />
fact revealed by the German Ambassador is that the Kaiser, on<br />
October 9th, notified the President, almost in so many words,<br />
that, unless he promptly moved in the direction of peace, the<br />
German Government &quot;would be forced to regain the freedom<br />
of action which it has reserved to itself in the note of May 4th<br />
last.&quot;(<A NAME="n162"></A><A HREF="Pagenotes.htm#162">162</A>)<br />
It is unlikely that the annals of diplomacy contain many documents<br />
so cool and insolent as this one. It was a notification from the<br />
Kaiser to the President that the so-called &quot;Sussex pledge&quot;<br />
was not regarded as an unconditional one by the Imperial Government;<br />
that it was given merely to furnish Mr. Wilson an opportunity<br />
to bring the war to an end; and that unless the Presidential attempt<br />
to accomplish this were successful, there would be a resumption<br />
of the indiscriminate submarine campaign. The curious developments<br />
of the next two months are now a familiar story. Possibly because<br />
the British Government had notified him, through Page, that his<br />
proffer of mediation would be unacceptable, Mr. Wilson moved cautiously<br />
and slowly, and Germany became impatient. The successful campaign<br />
against Rumania, resulting in the capture of Bucharest on December<br />
6th, and the new vista which it opened to Germany of large food<br />
supplies, strengthened the Teutonic purpose. Perhaps Germany,<br />
with her characteristic lack of finesse, imagined that her own<br />
open efforts would lend emphasis to Mr. Wilson's pacific exertions.<br />
At any rate, on December 12th, just as Mr. Wilson was preparing<br />
to launch his own campaign for mediation, Germany herself approached<br />
her enemies with a proposal for a peace conference. A few days<br />
afterward Page, as the representative of Germany, called at the<br />
Foreign Office to deliver the large white envelope which contained<br />
the Kaiser's &quot;peace proposal.&quot; In delivering this to<br />
Lord Robert Cecil, who was acting as Foreign Secretary in the<br />
temporary absence of Mr. Balfour, Page emphasized the fact that<br />
the American Government entirely disassociated itself from its<br />
contents and that he was acting merely in his capacity of &quot;German<br />
Ambassador.&quot; Two communications from Lord Robert to Sir Cecil<br />
Spring Rice, British Ambassador at Washington, tell the story<br />
and also reveal that it was almost impossible for Page, even when<br />
engaged in an official proceeding, to conceal his contempt for<br />
the whole enterprise:<br />
<br />
<br><br>.<br />
<br />
<BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<P ALIGN=CENTER><I><FONT SIZE="+1">Lord R. Cecil to Sir C. Spring<br />
Rice</FONT></I><br />
<br><br>Foreign Office,<BR><br />
December 18, 1916,<br />
<br><br>SIR:<br />
<br><br>The American Ambassador came to see me this morning and presented<br />
to me the German note containing what is called in it the &quot;offer<br />
of peace.&quot; He explained that he did so on instructions of<br />
his Government as representing the German Government, and not<br />
in any way as representing their own opinions. He also explained<br />
that the note must be regarded as coming from the four Central<br />
Powers, and as being addressed to all the Entente Powers who<br />
were represented by the United States.<br />
<br><br>He then read to me a telegram from his Government, but declined<br />
to leave me a copy of it. The first part of the telegram explained<br />
that the Government of the United States would deeply appreciate<br />
a confidential intimation of the response to be made to the German<br />
note and that they would themselves have certain representations<br />
to make to the Entente Powers, to which they urgently begged<br />
the closest consideration. The telegram went on to explain that<br />
the Government of the United States had had it in mind for some<br />
time past to make such representations on behalf of neutral nations<br />
and humanity, and that it must not be thought that they were<br />
prompted by the Governments of the Central Powers. They wished<br />
us to understand that the note of the Central Powers created<br />
a good opportunity for making the American representations, but<br />
was not the cause of such representations being made.<br />
<br><br>I replied that I could of course say nothing to him on such<br />
an important matter without consulting my colleagues.<br />
<BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br><br>I am, etc.,<br />
<br><br>ROBERT CECIL.</BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br><br>.<br />
<P ALIGN=CENTER><I><FONT SIZE="+1">Lord R. Cecil to Sir C. Spring<br />
Rice</FONT></I><br />
<br><br>Foreign Office,<BR><br />
19 December, 1916.<br />
<br><br>SIR:<br />
<br><br>The American Ambassador came to see me this afternoon.<br />
<br><br>I asked him whether he could tell me why his government were<br />
anxious to have confidential information as to the nature of<br />
our response to the German peace note.<br />
<br><br>He replied that he did not know, but he imagined it was to<br />
enable them to frame the representations of which he had spoken<br />
to me.<br />
<br><br>I then told him that we had asked the French to draft a reply,<br />
and that it would then be considered by the Allies, and in all<br />
probability an identic note would be presented in answer to the<br />
German note. I thought it probable that we should express our<br />
view that it was impossible to deal with the German offer, since<br />
it contained no specific proposals.<br />
<br><br>He said that he quite understood this, and that we should<br />
in fact reply that it was an offer &quot;to buy a pig in a poke&quot;<br />
which we were not prepared to accept. He added that he thought<br />
his Government would fully anticipate a reply in this sense,<br />
and he himself obviously approved it.<br />
<br><br>Then, speaking quite seriously, he said that he had heard<br />
people in London treating the German offer with derision, but<br />
that no doubt the belligerent governments would treat it seriously.<br />
<br><br>I said that it was certainly a serious thing, and no doubt<br />
would be treated seriously.<br />
<br><br>I asked him if he knew what would be contained in the proposed<br />
representations from his government.<br />
<br><br>He said that he did not; but as he understood that they were<br />
to be made to all the belligerents, he did not think that they<br />
could be much more than a pious aspiration for peace; since that<br />
was the only thing that was equally applicable to the Germans<br />
and to us.<br />
<br><br>As he was leaving he suggested that the German note might<br />
be published in our press.<br />
<BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br><br>I am, etc.,<br />
<br><br>ROBERT CECIL.</BLOCKQUOTE><br />
</BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br />
<br><br>.<br />
<br />
<br><br>This so-called German &quot;peace proposal&quot; began with<br />
the statement that the war &quot;had been forced &quot; upon Germany,<br />
contained the usual reference to the military might of the Central<br />
Powers, and declared that the Fatherland was fighting for &quot;the<br />
honour and liberty of national evolution.&quot; It is therefore<br />
not surprising that Lord Robert received it somewhat sardonically,<br />
especially as the communication contained no specific proposals,<br />
but merely a vague suggestion of &quot;negotiations.&quot; But<br />
another spectacular performance now drove the German manoeuvre<br />
out of everybody's mind. That President Wilson resented this German<br />
interference with his own plans is well known; he did not drop<br />
them, however, but on December 18th, he sent his long-contemplated<br />
peace communication to all the warring Powers. His appeal took<br />
the form of asking that they state the objects for which they<br />
were fighting, the Presidential belief evidently being that, if<br />
they did this, a common meeting ground might possibly be found.<br />
The suggestion that the Allied war aims were not public property,<br />
despite the fact that British statesmen had been broadly proclaiming<br />
them for three years, caused a momentary irritation in England,<br />
but this was not a serious matter, especially as the British Cabinet<br />
quickly saw that this request gave them a position of advantage<br />
over Germany, which had always refused to make public the terms<br />
on which it would end the war. The main substance in this Presidential<br />
approach, therefore, would have produced no ill-feeling; as usual,<br />
it was a few parenthetical phrases---phrases which were not essential<br />
to the main argument---which set the allied countries seething<br />
with indignation. The President, this section of his note ran,<br />
&quot;takes the liberty of calling attention to the fact that<br />
the objects which the statesmen of the belligerents on both sides<br />
have in mind in this war, are virtually the same, as stated in<br />
general terms to their own people and to the world. Each side<br />
desires to make the rights and privileges of weak peoples and<br />
small states as secure against aggression and denial in the future<br />
as the rights and privileges of the great and powerful states<br />
now at war.&quot; This idea was elaborated in several sentences<br />
of a similar strain, the general purport of the whole passage<br />
being that there was little to choose between the combatants,<br />
inasmuch as both were apparently fighting for about the same things.<br />
Mr. Wilson's purpose in this paragraph is not obscure; he was<br />
making his long expected appearance as a mediator, and he evidently<br />
believed that it was essential to this r&ocirc;le that he should<br />
not seem to be prejudiced in favour of either side, but should<br />
hold the balance impartially between them.<br />
<br />
<br><br>It is true that a minute reading indicates that Mr. Wilson<br />
was merely quoting, or attempting to paraphrase, the statements<br />
of the leaders of both sides, but there is such a thing as quoting<br />
with approval, and no explanation could convince the British public<br />
that the ruler of the greatest neutral nation had not declared<br />
that the Allies and the Central Powers stood morally upon the<br />
same level. The popular indignation which this caused in Great<br />
Britain was so intense that it alarmed the British authorities.<br />
The publication of this note in the British press was withheld<br />
for several hours, in order to give the Government an opportunity<br />
to control the expression of editorial opinion; otherwise it was<br />
feared that this would be so unrestrained in its bitterness that<br />
relations with the United States might be imperilled. The messages<br />
which the London correspondents were permitted to send to the<br />
United States were carefully censored for the same reason. The<br />
dispatch sent by the Associated Press was the product of a long<br />
struggle between the Foreign Office and its London correspondent.<br />
The representatives spent half an hour considering whether the<br />
American correspondents could cable their country that the note<br />
had been received in England with &quot;surprise and irritation.&quot;<br />
After much discussion it was decided that &quot;irritation&quot;<br />
could not be used, and the message of the Associated Press, after<br />
undergoing this careful editing by the Foreign Office, was a weak<br />
and ridiculous description of the high state of excitement which<br />
prevailed in Great Britain. The fact that the British Foreign<br />
Office should have given all this trouble over the expressions<br />
sent to American newspapers and should even have spent half an<br />
hour debating whether a particular word should be used, almost<br />
pathetically illustrates the great care taken by the British Government<br />
not to influence American opinion against the Allies.<br />
<br />
<br><br>The Government took the same precautions with its own press<br />
in England. When the note was finally released the Foreign Office<br />
explicitly directed the London newspapers to comment with the<br />
utmost caution and in no case to question the President's sincerity.<br />
Most of them acquiesced in these instructions by maintaining silence.<br />
There was only one London newspaper, the <I>Westminster Gazelle,<br />
</I>which made even a faint-hearted attempt to explain away the<br />
President's statement. From the first day of the war the British<br />
people had declared that President Wilson did not understand the<br />
issues at stake; and they now declared that this note confirmed<br />
their worst forebodings. The comments of the man-in-the-street<br />
were unprintable, but more serious than these was the impression<br />
which Mr. Wilson's dubious remarks made upon those Englishmen<br />
who had always been especially friendly to the United States and<br />
who had even defended the President in previous crises. Lord Bryce,<br />
who had accepted philosophically the Presidential statement that<br />
the United States was not &quot;concerned with the causes&quot;<br />
of the war, could not regard so indulgently this latest judgment.<br />
of Great Britain and Germany. &quot;Bryce came to see me in a<br />
state of great depression,&quot; wrote Page. &quot;He has sent<br />
Mr. Wilson a personal letter on this matter.&quot; Northcliffe<br />
commanded his newspapers, the <I>Times </I>and the <I>Daily Mail,<br />
</I>to discuss the note in a judicial spirit, but he himself told<br />
Mr. Page that &quot;everybody is as angry as hell.&quot; When<br />
someone attempted to discuss the Wilson note with Mr. Asquith,<br />
he brushed the subject away with a despairing gesture. &quot;Don't<br />
talk to me about it,&quot; he said. &quot;It is most disheartening.&quot;<br />
But the one man in England who was perhaps the most affected was<br />
King George. A man who had attended luncheon at Buckingham Palace<br />
on December 21st gave Page a description of the royal distress.<br />
The King, expressing his surprise and dismay that Mr. Wilson should<br />
think that Englishmen were fighting for the same things in this<br />
war as the Germans, broke down.<br />
<br />
<br><br>The world only now understands the dreadful prospect which<br />
was opening before Europe at the moment when this Presidential<br />
note added a new cause for general despondency. Rumania had collapsed,<br />
the first inkling of the Russian revolution had been obtained,<br />
the British well knew that the submarine warfare was to be resumed,<br />
and British finances were also in a desperate plight. More and<br />
more it was becoming evident to the British statesmen that they<br />
needed the intervention of the United States. This is the reason<br />
why they could not destroy the chances of American help by taking<br />
official offense even at what Page, in a communication to the<br />
Secretary of State, did not hesitate to call President Wilson's<br />
&quot;insulting words&quot;; and hence their determination to<br />
silence the press and to give no outward expression of what they<br />
felt. Page's interview with Lord Robert Cecil on December 26th,<br />
while the Presidential communication was lying on his desk, discloses<br />
the real emotions of Englishmen. Apparently Page's frank cables<br />
concerning the reception of this paragraph had caused a certain<br />
interest in the State Department; at least the Ambassador was<br />
instructed to call at the Foreign Office and explain that the<br />
interpretation which had been commonly put upon the President's<br />
words was not the one which he had intended. At the same time<br />
Page was instructed to request the British Foreign Office, in<br />
case its reply were &quot;favourable,&quot; not to publish it,<br />
but to communicate it secretly to the American Government. The<br />
purpose of this request is a little obscure; possibly it was the<br />
President's plan to use such a favourable reply to force Germany<br />
likewise to display an acquiescent mood. The object of Page's<br />
call was to present this disclaimer.<br />
<br />
<br><br>Lord Robert Cecil, the son of the late Lord Salisbury, ---that<br />
same Lord Salisbury whose combats with Secretary Blaine and Secretary<br />
Olney form piquant chapters in British-American history---is one<br />
of the most able and respected of British statesmen. In his earlier<br />
life Lord Salisbury had been somewhat overbearing in his attitude<br />
toward the United States; in his later years, however, perhaps<br />
owing to the influence of his nephew, Mr. Balfour, his manner<br />
had changed. In his attitude toward the United States Lord Robert<br />
Cecil reflected only the later phases of his father's career.<br />
To this country and to its peaceful ideals he had always been<br />
extremely sympathetic, and to Page especially he had never manifested<br />
anything but cordiality. Yet it was evident, as Page came into<br />
his office this morning, that to Lord Robert, as to every member<br />
of the Government, the President's note, with its equivocal phrases,<br />
had been a terrible shock. His manner was extremely courteous,<br />
as always, but he made no attempt to conceal his feelings. Ordinarily<br />
Lord Robert did not wear his emotions on the surface; but he took<br />
occasion on this visit to tell Page how greatly the President's<br />
communication had grieved him.<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;The President,&quot; he said, &quot;has seemed to pass<br />
judgment on. the allied cause by putting it on the same level<br />
as the German. I am deeply hurt.&quot;<br />
<br />
<br><br>Page conveyed Mr. Lansing's message that no such inference<br />
was justified. But this was not reassuring.<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;Moreover,&quot; Lord Robert added, &quot;there is one<br />
sentence in the note---that in which the President says that the<br />
position of neutrals is becoming intolerable---that seems almost<br />
a veiled threat.&quot;<br />
<br />
<br><br>Page hastened to assure Lord Robert that no threat was intended.<br />
<br />
<br><br>Lord Robert's manner became increasingly serious.<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;There is nothing that the American Government or any<br />
other human power can do,&quot; he remarked slowly and solemnly,<br />
which will bring this war to a close before the Allies have spent<br />
their utmost force to secure a victory. A failure to secure such<br />
a victory will leave the world at the mercy of the most arrogant<br />
and the bloodiest tyranny that has ever been organized. It is<br />
far better to die in an effort to defeat that tyranny than to<br />
perish under its success.&quot;<br />
<br />
<br><br>On any occasion Lord Robert is an impressive or at least a<br />
striking and unusual figure; he is tall, lank, and ungainly, almost<br />
Lincolnesque in the carelessness of his apparel and the exceeding<br />
awkwardness of his postures and manners. His angular features,<br />
sharp nose, pale face, and dark hair suggest the strain of ascetism,<br />
almost of fanaticism, which runs in the present generation of<br />
his family. And the deep sincerity and power of his words on this<br />
occasion made an impression which Page never forgot; they transformed<br />
the British statesman into an eloquent, almost an heroic figure.<br />
If we are to understand the full tragedy of this moment we must<br />
remember that, incredible as it now seems, there was a fear in<br />
British officialdom that the United States might not only not<br />
pursue a course favourable to the Allies, but that it might even<br />
throw its support to Germany. The fear, of course, was baseless;<br />
any suggestion of such a policy in the United States would have<br />
destroyed any official who had brought it forward; but Lord Robert<br />
knew and Page knew that there were insidious influences at work<br />
at that time, both in the United States and in Great Britain,<br />
which looked in this direction. A group of Americans, whom Page<br />
used to refer to as &quot;peace spies,&quot; were associated with<br />
English pacifists, for the purpose of bringing about peace on<br />
almost any terms. These &quot;peace spies&quot; had worked out<br />
a programme all their own. The purpose was to compel Great Britain<br />
to accept the German terms for ending the war. Unless she did<br />
accept them, then it was intended that the American Government<br />
should place an embargo on the shipment of foodstuffs and munitions<br />
to the Allies. There is little question that the United States,<br />
by taking such action, could have ended the war almost instantaneously.<br />
Should the food of her people and the great quantities of munitions<br />
which were coming from this country be suddenly cut off, there<br />
is little likelihood that Great Britain could have long survived.<br />
The possibility that an embargo might shut out these supplies<br />
had hung over the heads of British statesmen ever since the war<br />
began; they knew that the possession of this mighty power made<br />
the United States the potential dictator of events; and the fear<br />
that it might be used had never ceased to influence their thoughts<br />
or their actions. Even while this interview was taking place,<br />
certain anti-British forces in the United States, such as Senator<br />
Hoke Smith of Georgia, were urging action of this kind.<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;I have always been almost a Pacifist,&quot; Lord Robert<br />
continued. &quot;No man has ever hated war worse than I. No man<br />
has ever had a more earnest faith that war can be abolished. But<br />
European civilization has been murderously assaulted and there<br />
is nothing now to do but to defeat this desperate enemy or to<br />
perish in the effort. I had hoped that the United States understood<br />
what is at stake.&quot;<br />
<br />
<br><br>Lord Robert went on:<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot; I will go so far as to say that if the United States<br />
will come into the war it will decide which will win, freedom<br />
or organized tyranny. If the United States shall help the Germans,<br />
civilization will perish and it will be necessary to build it<br />
up slowly again---if indeed it will ever appear again. If the<br />
United States will help the Allies, civilization will triumph.&quot;(<A<br />
NAME="n163"></A><A HREF="Pagenotes.htm#163">163</A>)<br />
<br />
<br><br>As to the proposal that the British terms should be conveyed<br />
confidentially to Mr. Wilson, Lord Robert said that that would<br />
be a difficult thing to do. The President's note had been published,<br />
and it therefore seemed necessary that the reply should also be<br />
given to the press. This was the procedure that was ultimately<br />
adopted.<br />
<br />
<br><br>Startling as was the sensation caused by the President's December<br />
note, it was mild compared with that which was now to come. Page<br />
naturally sent prompt reports of all these conversations to the<br />
President and likewise kept him completely informed as to the<br />
state of public feeling, but his best exertions apparently did<br />
not immediately affect the Wilson policy. The overwhelming fact<br />
is that the President's mind was fixed on a determination to compel<br />
the warring powers to make peace and in this way to keep the United<br />
States out of the conflict. Even the disturbance caused by his<br />
note of December 18th did not make him pause in this peace campaign.<br />
To that note the British sent a manly and definite reply, drafted<br />
by Mr. Balfour, giving in detail precisely the terms upon which<br />
the Allies would compose their differences with the Central Powers.<br />
The Germans sent a reply consisting of ten or a dozen lines, which<br />
did not give their terms, but merely asked again for a conference.<br />
Events were now moving with the utmost rapidity. On January 9th,<br />
a council of German military chieftains was held at Pless; in<br />
this it was decided to resume unrestricted submarine warfare.<br />
On January 16th the Zimmermann-Mexico telegram was intercepted;<br />
this informed Bernstorff, among other things, that this decision<br />
had been made. On January 16th, at nine o'clock in the morning,<br />
the American Embassy in London began receiving a long cipher despatch<br />
from Washington. The preamble announced that the despatch contained<br />
a copy of an address which the President proposed to deliver before<br />
the Senate &quot;in a few days.&quot; Page was directed to have<br />
copies of the address &quot;secretly prepared&quot; and to hand<br />
them to the British Foreign Office and to newspapers of the type<br />
of the <I>Nation, </I>the <I>Daily News, </I>and the <I>Manchester<br />
Guardian---</I>all three newspapers well known for their Pacifist<br />
tendencies. As the speech approached its end, this sentence appeared:<br />
&quot;It must be a peace without victory.&quot; The words greatly<br />
puzzled the secretary in charge, for they seemed almost meaningless.<br />
Suspecting that an error had been made in transmission, the secretary<br />
directed the code room to cable Washington for a verification<br />
of the cipher groups. Very soon the answer was received; there<br />
had been no mistake; the Presidential words were precisely those<br />
which had been first received: &quot;Peace without victory.&quot;<br />
The slips were then taken to Page, who read the document, especially<br />
these fateful syllables, with a consternation which he made no<br />
effort to conceal. He immediately wrote a cable to President Wilson,<br />
telling him of the deplorable effect this sentence would produce<br />
and imploring him to cut it out of his speech---with what success<br />
the world now knows.<br />
<br />
<br><br>An astonishing feature of this episode is that Page had recently<br />
explained to the Foreign Office, in obedience to instructions<br />
from Washington, that Mr. Wilson's December note should not be<br />
interpreted as placing the Allies and the Central Powers on the<br />
same moral level. Now Mr. Wilson, in this &quot;peace without<br />
victory&quot; phrase, had repeated practically the same idea in<br />
another form. On the day the speech was received at the Embassy,<br />
about a week before it was delivered in the Senate, Page made<br />
the following memorandum:<br />
<br />
<br><br>.<br />
<br />
<BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br><br>The President's address to the Senate, which was received<br />
to-day (January 16th),(<A NAME="n164"></A><A HREF="Pagenotes.htm#164">164</A>)<br />
shows that he thinks he can play peace-maker. He does not at<br />
all understand, (or, if he do, so much the worse for him) that<br />
the Entente Powers, especially Great Britain and France, cannot<br />
make &quot;peace without victory.&quot; If they do, they will<br />
become vassals of Germany. In a word, the President does not<br />
know the Germans; and he is, unconsciously, under their influence<br />
in his thought. His speech plays into their hands.<br />
<br><br>This address will give great offense in England, since it<br />
puts each side in the war on the same moral level.<br />
<br><br>I immediately saw the grave danger to our relations with Great<br />
Britain by the Peace-without-Victory plan; and I telegraphed<br />
the President, venturing to advise him to omit that phrase---with<br />
no result.</BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br />
<br><br>.<br />
<br />
<br><br>Afterward Page added this to the above:<br />
<br />
<br><br>.<br />
<br />
<BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br><br>Compare this Senate speech with his speech in April calling<br />
for war: Just when and how did the President come to see the<br />
true nature of the German? What made him change from Peace-Maker<br />
to War-Maker? The Zimmermann telegram, or the February U-boat<br />
renewal of warfare? Had he been so credulous as to believe the<br />
German promise? This promise had been continuously and repeatedly<br />
broken.<br />
<br><br>Or was it the pressure of public opinion, the growing impatience<br />
of the people that pushed him in?<br />
<br><br>This distressing peace-move---utterly out of touch with the<br />
facts of the origin of the war or of its conduct or of the mood<br />
and necessities of Great Britain---a remote, academic deliverance,<br />
while Great Britain and France were fighting for their very lives-made<br />
a profoundly dejected feeling; and it made my place and work<br />
more uncomfortable than ever. &quot;Peace without victory&quot;<br />
brought us to the very depths of European disfavour.</BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br />
<br><br>.<br />
<br />
<P ALIGN=CENTER><A NAME="ch21"></A><FONT SIZE="+2">CHAPTER XXI</FONT><br />
<br />
<P ALIGN=CENTER><FONT SIZE="+2">THE UNITED STATES AT WAR</FONT><br />
<br />
<P ALIGN=CENTER><FONT SIZE="+2">I</FONT><br />
<br />
<br><br>THE United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany<br />
on February 3, 1917. The occasion was a memorable one in the American<br />
Embassy in London, not unrelieved by a touch of the ridiculous.<br />
All day long a nervous and rather weary company had waited in<br />
the Ambassador's room for the decisive word from Washington. Mr.<br />
and Mrs. Page, Mr. and Mrs. Laughlin, Mr. Shoecraft, the Ambassador's<br />
secretary, sat there hour after hour, hardly speaking to one another<br />
in their tense excitement, waiting for the news that would inform<br />
them that Bernstorff's course had been run and that their country<br />
had taken its decision on the side of the Allies. Finally, at<br />
nine o'clock in the evening, the front door bell rang. Mr. Shoecraft<br />
excitedly left the room; half way downstairs he met Admiral William<br />
Reginald Hall, the head of the British Naval Intelligence, who<br />
was hurrying up to the Ambassador. Admiral Hall, as he spied Mr.<br />
Shoecraft, stopped abruptly and uttered just two words:<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;Thank God!&quot;<br />
<br />
<br><br>He then went into the Ambassador's room and read a secret code<br />
message which he had just received from Captain Gaunt, the British<br />
naval attach&eacute; at Washington. It was as follows:<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;Bernstorff has just been given his passports. I shall<br />
probably get drunk to-night!&quot;<br />
<br />
<br><br>It was in this way that Page first learned that the long tension<br />
had passed.<br />
<br />
<br><br>Page well understood that the dismissal of Bernstorff at that<br />
time meant war with the Central Empires. Had this dismissal taken<br />
place in 1915, after the sinking of the <I>Lusitania, </I>or in<br />
1916, after the sinking of the Sussex, Page believed that a simple<br />
break in relations would in itself have brought the war to an<br />
early end. But by February, 1917, things had gone too far. For<br />
Germany had now decided to stake everything upon the chance of<br />
winning a quick victory with the submarine. Our policy had persuaded<br />
the Kaiser's advisers that America would not intervene; and the<br />
likelihood of rapidly starving Great Britain was so great---indeed<br />
the Germans had reduced the situation to a mathematical calculation<br />
of success---that an American declaration of war seemed to Berlin<br />
to be a matter of no particular importance. The American Ambassador<br />
in London regarded Bernstorff's dismissal much more seriously.<br />
It justified the interpretations of events which he had been sending<br />
to Mr. Wilson, Colonel House, and others for nearly three years.<br />
If Page had been inclined to take satisfaction in the fulfilment<br />
of his own prophecies, Germany's disregard of her promises and<br />
the American declaration of war would have seemed an ample justification<br />
of his course as ambassador.<br />
<br />
<br><br><CENTER><TABLE BORDER="0" CELLSPACING="1" CELLPADDING="5"<br />
WIDTH="301"><br />
<TR><br />
<TD WIDTH="31%" VALIGN="TOP"><br />
<P ALIGN=CENTER><IMG SRC="thumbnails/Page19tn.jpg" WIDTH="96"<br />
HEIGHT="144" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ></TD> <br />
<TD WIDTH="69%" VALIGN="TOP"><br />
<P ALIGN=CENTER><IMG SRC="thumbnails/Page20tn.jpg" WIDTH="112"<br />
HEIGHT="144" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ></TD> <br />
</TR><br />
<TR><br />
<TD WIDTH="31%" VALIGN="TOP"><br />
<P ALIGN=CENTER><B><FONT COLOR="#0000ff" SIZE="+1" FACE="Times">Fig.<br />
19.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#0000ff" SIZE="+1" FACE="Times"> Walter<br />
H. Page, at the time of America's entry into the war, April,<br />
1917</FONT></TD> <br />
<TD WIDTH="69%" VALIGN="TOP"><br />
<P ALIGN=CENTER><B><FONT COLOR="#0000ff" SIZE="+1" FACE="Times">Fig.<br />
20.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#0000ff" SIZE="+1" FACE="Times"> Resolution<br />
passed by the two Houses of Parliament, April 18, 1917, on America's<br />
entry into the war</FONT></TD> <br />
</TR><br />
</TABLE></CENTER><br />
<br />
<br><br><FONT FACE="Times">But Page had little time for such vain communings.<br />
&quot;All that water,&quot; as he now wrote, &quot;has flowed<br />
over the dam.&quot; Occasionally his mind would revert to the<br />
dreadful period of &quot;neutrality,&quot; but in the main his<br />
activities, mental and physical, were devoted to the future. A<br />
letter addressed to his son Arthur shows how quickly and how sympathetically<br />
he was adjusting himself to the new prospect. His mind was now<br />
occupied with ships, food, armies, warfare on submarines, and<br />
the approaching resettlement of the world. How completely he foresaw<br />
the part that the United States must play in the actual waging<br />
of hostilities, and to what an extent he himself was responsible<br />
for the policies that ultimately prevailed, appears in this letter:</FONT><br />
<br />
<br><br>.<br />
<br />
<BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<P ALIGN=CENTER><I><FONT SIZE="+1">To Arthur W. Page</FONT></I><br />
<br><br>25 March, 1917, London.<br />
<br><br>DEAR ARTHUR:<br />
<br><br>It's very hard, not to say impossible, to write in these swiftly<br />
moving days. Anything written to-day is out of date to-morrow---even<br />
if it be not wrong to start with. The impression becomes stronger<br />
here every day that we shall go into the war &quot;with both<br />
feet&quot;---that the people have pushed the President over in<br />
spite of his vision of the Great Peacemaker, and that, being<br />
pushed over, his idea now will be to show how he led them into<br />
a glorious war in defense of democracy. That's my reading of<br />
the situation, and I hope I am not wrong. At any rate, ever since<br />
the call of Congress for April 2nd, I have been telegraphing<br />
tons of information and plans that can be of use only if we go<br />
to war. Habitually they never acknowledge the receipt of anything<br />
at Washington. I don't know, therefore, whether they like these<br />
pieces of information or not. I have my staff of twenty-five<br />
good men getting all sorts of warlike information; and I have<br />
just organized twenty-five or thirty more---the best business<br />
Americans in London---who are also at work. I am trying to get<br />
the Government at Washington to send over a committee of conference---a<br />
General, an Admiral, a Reserve Board man, etc., etc. If they<br />
do half the things that I recommend we'll be in at the final<br />
lickin' big, and will save our souls yet.<br />
<br><br>There's lots of human nature in this world. A note is now<br />
sometimes heard here in undertone (Northcliffe strikes it)---that<br />
they don't want the Americans in the war. This means that if<br />
we come in just as the Allies finish the job we'll get credit,<br />
in part, for the victory, which we did little to win! But that's<br />
a minor note. The great mass of people do want us in, quick,<br />
hard, and strong---our money and our guns and our ships.<br />
<br><br>A gift of a billion dollars(<A NAME="n165"></A><A HREF="Pagenotes.htm#165">165</A>)<br />
to France will fix Franco-American history all right for several<br />
centuries. Push it through. Such a gift could come to this Kingdom<br />
also but for the British stupidity about the Irish for three<br />
hundred years. A big loan to Great Britain at a low rate of interest<br />
will do the work here.<br />
<br><br>My mind keeps constantly on the effect of the war and especially<br />
of our action on our own country. Of course that is the most<br />
important end of the thing for us. I hope that<br />
<br><br>1. It will break up and tear away our isolation;<br />
<br><br>2. It will unhorse our cranks and soft-brains.<br />
<br><br>3. It will make us less promiscuously hospitable to every<br />
kind of immigrant;<br />
<br><br>4. It will reestablish in our minds and conscience and policy<br />
our true historic genesis, background, kindred, and destiny---i.<br />
e., kill the Irish and the German influence.<br />
<br><br>5. It will revive our real manhood---put the mollycoddles<br />
in disgrace, as idiots and dandies are;<br />
<br><br>6. It will make our politics frank and manly by restoring<br />
our true nationality;<br />
<br><br>7. It will make us again a great sea-faring people. It is<br />
this that has given Great Britain its long lead in the world;<br />
<br><br>8. Break up our feminized education---make a boy a vigorous<br />
animal and make our education rest on a wholesome physical basis;<br />
<br><br>9. Bring men of a higher type into our political life.<br />
<br><br>We need waking up and shaking up and invigorating as much<br />
as the Germans need taking down.<br />
<br><br>There is no danger of &quot;militarism&quot; in any harmful<br />
sense among any English race or in any democracy.<br />
<br><br>By George! all these things open an interesting outlook and<br />
series of tasks---don't they?<br />
<br><br>My staff and I are asking everybody what the Americans can<br />
best do to help the cause along. The views are not startling,<br />
but they are interesting.<br />
<br><br><I>Jellicoe: </I>More ships, merchant ships, any kind of ships,<br />
and take over the patrol of the American side of the Atlantic<br />
and release the British cruisers there.<br />
<br><br><I>Balfour: </I>American credits in the United States, big<br />
enough to keep up the rate of exchange.<br />
<br><br><I>Bonar Law: </I>Same thing.<br />
<br><br><I>The military men: </I>An expeditionary force, no matter<br />
how small, for the effect of the American Flag in Europe., If<br />
one regiment marched through London and Paris and took the Flag<br />
to the front, that would be worth the winning of a battle.<br />
<br><br>Think of the vast increase of territory and power Great Britain<br />
will have---her colonies drawn closer than ever, the German colonies,<br />
or most of them, taken over by her, Bagdad hers---what a way<br />
Germany chose to lessen the British Empire! And these gains of<br />
territory will be made, as most of her gains have been, not by<br />
any prearranged, set plan, but as by-products of action for some<br />
other purpose. The only people who have made a deliberate plan<br />
to conquer the earth---now living---are the Germans. And from<br />
first to last the additions to the British Empire have been made<br />
because she has been a first-class maritime power.<br />
<br><br>And that's the way she has made her trade and her money, too.<br />
<br><br>On top of this the President speculates about the danger of<br />
the white man losing his supremacy because a few million men<br />
get killed! The truth is every country that is playing a big<br />
part in the war was overpopulated. There will be a considerable<br />
productive loss because the killed men were, as a rule, the best<br />
men; but the white man's control of the world hasn't depended<br />
on any few million of males. This speculation is far up in the<br />
clouds. If Russia and Germany really be liberated from social<br />
and political and industrial autocracy, this liberation will<br />
bring into play far more power than all the men killed in the<br />
war could have had under the pre-war r&eacute;gime. I observe<br />
this with every year of my observation---there's no substitute<br />
for common-sense.<br />
<br><br>The big results of the war will, after all, be the freedom<br />
and the stimulation of men in these weary Old-World lands---in<br />
Russia, Germany itself, and in England. In five or ten years<br />
(or sooner, alas!) the dead will be forgotten.<br />
<br><br>If you wish to make a picture of the world as it will be when<br />
the war ends, you must conjure up such scenes as these---human<br />
bones along the Russian highways where the great retreat took<br />
place and all that such a sight denotes; Poland literally starved;<br />
Serbia, blasted and burned and starved; Armenia butchered; the<br />
horrible tragedy of Gallipoli, where the best soldiers in the<br />
world were sacrificed to politicians' policies; Austria and Germany<br />
starved and whipped but liberalized---perhaps no king in either<br />
country; Belgium---belgiumized; northern France the same and<br />
worse; more productive Frenchmen killed in proportion to the<br />
population perhaps than any other country will have lost; Great<br />
Britain---most of her best men gone or maimed; colossal debts;<br />
several Teutonic countries bankrupt; every atrocity conceivable<br />
committed somewhere---a hell-swept great continent having endured<br />
more suffering in three years than in the preceding three hundred.<br />
Then, ten years later, most of this suffering a mere memory;<br />
governments reorganized and liberalized; men made more efficient<br />
by this strenuous three years' work; the fields got back their<br />
bloom, and life going on much as it did before---with this chief<br />
difference---some kings have gone and many privileges have been<br />
abolished. The lessons are two---(1) that no government can successfully<br />
set out and conquer the world; and (2) that the hold that privilege<br />
holders acquire costs more to dislodge than any one could ever<br />
have guessed. That's the sum of it. Kings and privilege mongers,<br />
of course, have held the parts of the world separate from one<br />
another. They fatten on provincialism, which is mistaken for<br />
patriotism.. As they lose their grip, human sympathy has its<br />
natural play between nations, and civilization has a chance.<br />
With any Emperor of Germany left the war will have been half<br />
in vain.<br />
<br><br>If we (the U. S. A.) cultivate the manly qualities and throw<br />
off our cranks and read our own history and be true to our traditions<br />
and blood and get some political vigour; then if we emancipate<br />
ourselves from the isolation theory and from the landlubber theory---get<br />
into the world and build ships, ships, ships, ships, and run<br />
them to the ends of the seas, we can dominate the world in trade<br />
and in political thought.<br />
<br><br>You know I have moments when it occurs to me that perhaps<br />
I'd better give whatever working years I may have to telling<br />
this story---the story of the larger meaning of the war. There's<br />
no bigger theme---never was one so big.<br />
<BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br><br>Affectionately,<br />
<br><br>W. H. P.</BLOCKQUOTE><br />
</BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br />
<br><br>.<br />
<br />
<br><br>On April 1st, the day before President Wilson made his great<br />
address before Congress requesting that body to declare the existence<br />
of a state of war with Germany, Page committed to paper a few<br />
paragraphs which summed up his final judgment of President Wilson's<br />
foreign policy for the preceding two and a half years.<br />
<br />
<br><br>.<br />
<br />
<BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br><br>Embassy of the United States of America, <BR><br />
April 1, 1917.<br />
<br><br>In these last days, before the United States is forced into<br />
war---by the people's insistence---the preceding course of events<br />
becomes even clearer than it was before; and it has been as clear<br />
all the time as the nose on a man's face.<br />
<br><br>The President began by refusing to understand the meaning<br />
of the war. To him it seemed a quarrel to settle economic rivalries<br />
between Germany and England. He said to me last September(<A<br />
NAME="n166"></A><A HREF="Pagenotes.htm#166">166</A>) that there<br />
were many causes why Germany went to war. He showed a great degree<br />
of toleration for Germany; and he was, during the whole morning<br />
that I talked with him, complaining of England. The controversies<br />
we had with England were, of course, mere by-products of the<br />
conflict. But to him they seemed as important as the controversy<br />
we had with Germany. In the beginning he had made---as far as<br />
it was possible---neutrality a positive quality of mind. He would<br />
not move from that position.<br />
<br><br>That was his first error of judgment. And by insisting on<br />
this he soothed the people---sat them down in comfortable chairs<br />
and said, &quot;Now stay there.&quot; He really suppressed speech<br />
and thought.<br />
<br><br>The second error he made was in thinking that he could play<br />
a great part as peacemaker---come and give a blessing to these<br />
erring children. This was strong in his hopes and ambitions.<br />
There was a condescension in this attitude that was offensive.<br />
<br><br>He shut himself up with these two ideas and engaged in what<br />
he called &quot;thought.&quot; The air currents of the world<br />
never ventilated his mind.<br />
<br><br>This inactive position he has kept as long as public sentiment<br />
permitted. He seems no longer to regard himself nor to speak<br />
as a leader---only as the mouthpiece of public opinion after<br />
opinion has run over him.<br />
<br><br>He has not breathed a spirit into the people: he has encouraged<br />
them to supineness. He is <I>not </I>a leader, but rather a stubborn<br />
phrasemaker.<br />
<br><br>And now events and the aroused people seem to have brought<br />
the President to the necessary point of action; and even now<br />
he may act timidly.</BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br />
<br><br>.<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;One thing pleases me,&quot; Page wrote to his son Arthur,<br />
I never lost faith in the American people. It is now clear that<br />
I was right in feeling that they would have gladly come in any<br />
time after the <I>Lusitania </I>crime, Middle West in the front,<br />
and that the German hasn't made any real impression on the American<br />
nation. He was made a bug-a-boo and worked for all he was worth<br />
by Bernstorff; and that's the whole story. We are as Anglo-Saxon<br />
as we ever were. If Hughes had had sense and courage enough to<br />
say: 'I'm for war, war to save our honour and to save democracy,'<br />
he would now be President. If Wilson had said that, Hughes would<br />
have carried no important states in the Union. The suppressed<br />
people would have risen to either of them. That's God's truth<br />
as I believe it. The real United States is made up of you and<br />
Frank and the Page boys at Aberdeen and of the 10,000,000 other<br />
young fellows who are ready to do the job and who instinctively<br />
see the whole truth of the situation. But of course what the people<br />
would not have done under certain conditions---that water also<br />
has flowed over the dam; and I mention it only because I have<br />
resolutely kept my faith in the people and there has been nothing<br />
in recent events that has shaken it.&quot;<br />
<br />
<br><br>Two letters which Page wrote on this same April 1st are interesting<br />
in that they outline almost completely the war policy that was<br />
finally carried out:<br />
<br />
<br><br>.<br />
<br />
<BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<P ALIGN=CENTER><I><FONT SIZE="+1">To Frank N. Doubleday</FONT></I><br />
<br><br>Embassy of the United States of America, <BR><br />
April 1, 1917.<br />
<br><br>DEAR EFFENDI:<br />
<br><br>Here's the programme:<br />
<br><br>(1) Our navy in immediate action in whatever way a conference<br />
with the British shows we can best help.<br />
<br><br>(2) A small expeditionary force to France immediately---as<br />
large as we can quickly make ready, if only 10,000 men---as proof<br />
that we are ready to do some fighting.<br />
<br><br>(3) A large expeditionary force as soon as the men can be<br />
organized and equipped. They can be trained into an effective<br />
army in France in about one fourth of the time that they could<br />
be trained anywhere else.<br />
<br><br>(4) A large loan to the Allies at a low rate of interest.<br />
<br><br>(5) Ships, ships, ships---troop ships, food ships, munition<br />
ships, auxiliary ships to the navy, wooden ships, steel ships,<br />
little ships, big ships, ships, ships, ships without number or<br />
end.<br />
<br><br>(6) A clear-cut expression of the moral issue involved in<br />
the war. Every social and political ideal that we stand for is<br />
at stake. If we value democracy in the world, this is the chance<br />
to further it or---to bring it into utter disrepute. After Russia<br />
must come Germany and Austria; and then the King-business will<br />
pretty nearly be put out of commission.<br />
<br><br>(7) We must go to war in dead earnest. We must sign the Allies'<br />
agreement not to make a separate peace, and we must stay in to<br />
the end. Then the end will be very greatly hastened.<br />
<br><br>It's been four years ago to-day since I was first asked to<br />
come here. God knows I've done my poor best to save our country<br />
and to help. It'll be four years in the middle of May since I<br />
sailed. I shall still do my best. I'll not be able to start back<br />
by May 15th, but I have a feeling, if we do our whole duty in<br />
the United States, that the end may not be very many months off.<br />
And how long off it may be may depend to a considerable degree<br />
on our action.<br />
<br><br>We are faring very well on army rations. None of us will live<br />
to see another time when so many big things are at stake nor<br />
another time when our country can play so large or important<br />
a part in saying the world. Hold up your end. I'm doing my best<br />
here.<br />
<br><br>I think of you engaged in the peaceful work of instructing<br />
the people, and I think of the garden and crocuses and the smell<br />
of early spring in the air and the earth and push on; I'll be<br />
with you before we grow much older or get much grayer; and a<br />
great and prosperous and peaceful time will lie before us. Pity<br />
me and hold up your end for real American participation. Get<br />
together? Yes; but the way to get together is to get in!<br />
<BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br><br>Affectionately,<br />
<br><br>W. H. P.</BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br><br>.<br />
<P ALIGN=CENTER><I><FONT SIZE="+1">To David F. Houston</FONT></I>(<A<br />
NAME="n167"></A><A HREF="Pagenotes.htm#167">167</A>)<br />
<br><br>Embassy of the United States of America, <BR><br />
April 1, 1917.<br />
<br><br>DEAR HOUSTON:<br />
<br><br>The Administration can save itself from becoming a black blot<br />
on American history only by vigorous action---acts such as these:<br />
<br><br>Putting our navy to work---vigorous work---wherever and however<br />
is wisest. I have received the Government's promise to send an<br />
Admiral here at once for a conference. We must work out with<br />
the British Navy a programme whereby we can best help; and we<br />
must carry it without hesitancy or delay.<br />
<br><br>Sending over an expeditionary military force immediately---a<br />
small one, but as large as we can, as an earnest of a larger<br />
one to come. This immediate small one will have a good moral<br />
effect; and we need all the moral reinstatement that we can get<br />
in the estimation of the world; our moral stock is lower than,<br />
I fear, any of you at home can possibly realize. As for a larger<br />
expeditionary force later---even that ought to be sent quite<br />
early. It can and must spend some time in training in France,<br />
whatever its training beforehand may have been. All the military<br />
men agree that soldiers in France back of the line can be trained<br />
in at least half the time that they can be trained anywhere else.<br />
The officers at once take their turn in the trenches, and the<br />
progress that they and their men make in close proximity to the<br />
fighting is one of the remarkable discoveries of the war. The<br />
British Army was so trained and all the colonial forces. Two<br />
or three or four hundred thousand Americans could be sent over<br />
as soon almost as they are organized and equipped---provided<br />
transports and a continuous supply of food and munition ships<br />
can be got. They can be trained into fighting men---into an effective<br />
army---in about one third of the time that would be required<br />
at home.<br />
<br><br>I suppose, of course, we shall make at once a large loan to<br />
the Allies at a low rate of interest. That is most important,<br />
but that alone will not save us. We must also <I>fight.</I><br />
<br><br>All the ships we can get---build, requisition, or confiscate---are<br />
needed immediately<br />
<br><br>Navy, army, money, ships---these are the first things, but<br />
by no means all. We must make some expression of a conviction<br />
that there is a moral question of right and wrong involved in<br />
this war---a question of humanity, a question of democracy. So<br />
far we have (officially) spoken only of the wrongs done to our<br />
ships and citizens. Deep wrongs have been done to all our moral<br />
ideas, to our ideals. We have sunk very low in European opinion<br />
because we do not seem to know even yet that a German victory<br />
would be less desirable than (say) a Zulu victory of the world.<br />
<br><br>We must go in with the Allies, not begin a mere single fight<br />
against submarines. We must sign the pact of London---not make<br />
a separate peace.<br />
<br><br>We mustn't longer spin dreams about peace, nor leagues to<br />
enforce peace, nor the Freedom of the Seas. These things are<br />
mere intellectual diversions of minds out of contact with realities.<br />
Every political and social ideal we have is at stake. If we make<br />
them secure, we'll save Europe from destruction and save ourselves,<br />
too.<br />
<br><br>I pray for vigour and decision and clear-cut resolute action.<br />
<br><br>(1) The Navy-full strength, no &quot;grapejuice&quot; action.<br />
<br><br>(2) An immediate expeditionary force.<br />
<br><br>(3) A larger expeditionary force very soon.<br />
<br><br>(4) A large loan at a low interest.<br />
<br><br>(5) Ships, ships, ships.<br />
<br><br>(6) A clear-cut expression of the moral issue. Thus (and only<br />
thus) can we swing into a new era, with a world born again.<br />
<BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br><br>Yours in strictest confidence,<br />
<br><br>W. H. P.</BLOCKQUOTE><br />
</BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br />
<br><br>.<br />
<br />
<br><br>A memorandum, written on April 3rd, the day after President<br />
Wilson advised Congress to declare a state of war with Germany:<br />
<br />
<br><br>.<br />
<br />
<BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<P ALIGN=CENTER><I><FONT SIZE="+1">The Day</FONT></I><br />
<br><br>When I went to see Mr. Balfour to-day he shook my hand warmly<br />
and said: &quot;It's a great day for the world.&quot; And so<br />
has everybody said, in one way or another, that I have met to-day.<br />
<br><br>The President's speech did not appear in the morning papers---only<br />
a very brief summary in one or two of them; but the meaning of<br />
it was clear. The fact that the House of Representatives organized<br />
itself in one day and that the President addressed Congress on<br />
the evening of that day told the story. The noon papers had the<br />
President's speech in full; and everybody applauds.<br />
<br><br>My &quot;Cabinet&quot; meeting this morning was unusually<br />
interesting; and the whole group has never before been so delighted.<br />
I spoke of the suggestive, constructive work we have already<br />
done in making reports on various war preparations and activities<br />
of this kingdom. &quot;Now we have greater need than ever, every<br />
man to do constructive work---to think of plans to serve. We<br />
are in this excellent strategical position in the capital of<br />
the greatest belligerent---a position which I thank my stars,<br />
the President, and all the powers that be for giving us. We can<br />
each strive to justify our existence.&quot;<br />
<br><br>Few visitors called; but enthusiastic letters have begun to<br />
come in.<br />
<br><br>Nearly the whole afternoon was spent with Mr. Balfour and<br />
Lord Robert Cecil. Mr. Balfour had a long list of subjects. Could<br />
we help in (1)---(2)---(3)?--- Every once m a while he stopped<br />
his enumeration of subjects long enough to tell me how the action<br />
of the United States had moved him.<br />
<br><br>To Lord Robert I said: &quot;I pray you, give the Black List<br />
a decent burial: It's dead now, but through no act of yours.<br />
It insulted every American because you did not see that it was<br />
insulting: that's the discouraging fact to me.&quot; He thanked<br />
me earnestly. He'll think about that.</BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br />
<br><br>.<br />
<br />
<P ALIGN=CENTER><FONT SIZE="+2">II</FONT><br />
<br />
<br><br>These jottings give only a faint impression of the change which<br />
the American action wrought in Page. The strain which he had undergone<br />
for twenty-nine months had been intense; it had had the most unfortunate<br />
effect upon his health; and the sudden lifting might have produced<br />
that reaction for the worse which is not unusual after critical<br />
experiences of this kind. But the gratification which Page felt<br />
in the fact that the American spirit had justified his confidence<br />
gave him almost a certain exuberance of contentment. Londoners<br />
who saw him at that time describe him as acting like a man from<br />
whose shoulders a tremendous weight had suddenly been removed.<br />
For more than two years Page had been compelled, officially at<br />
least, to assume a &quot;neutrality&quot; with which he had never<br />
had the slightest sympathy, but the necessity for this mask now<br />
no longer existed. A well-known Englishman happened to meet Page<br />
leaving his house in Grosvenor Square the day after the Declaration<br />
of War. He stopped and shook the Ambassador's hand.<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;Thank God,&quot; the Englishman said, &quot;that there<br />
is one hypocrite less in London to-day.&quot;<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;What do you mean?&quot; asked Page.<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;I mean you. Pretending all this time that you were neutral!<br />
That isn't necessary any longer.&quot;<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;You are right!&quot; the Ambassador answered as he walked<br />
on with a laugh and a wave of the hand.<br />
<br />
<br><br>A few days after the Washington Declaration, the American Luncheon<br />
Club held a feast in honour of the event. This organization had<br />
a membership of representative American business men in London,<br />
but its behaviour during the war had not been based upon Mr. Wilson's<br />
idea of neutrality. Indeed its tables had so constantly rung with<br />
denunciations of the <I>Lusitania </I>notes that all members of<br />
the American Embassy, from Page down, had found it necessary to<br />
refrain from attending its proceedings. When Page arose to address<br />
his compatriots on this occasion, therefore, he began with the<br />
significant words, &quot;I am glad to be back with you<I> again,&quot;<br />
</I>and the mingled laughter and cheers with which this remark<br />
was received indicated that his hearers had caught the point.<br />
<br />
<br><br>The change took place not only in Page, but in London and the<br />
whole of Great Britain. An England that had been saying harsh<br />
things of the United States for nearly two years now suddenly<br />
changed its attitude. Both houses of Parliament held commemorative<br />
sessions in honour of America's participation; in the Commons<br />
Mr. Lloyd George, Mr. Asquith, and other leaders welcomed their<br />
new allies, and in the Upper Chamber Lord Curzon, Lord Bryce,<br />
the Archbishop of Canterbury, and others similarly voiced their<br />
admiration. The Stars and Stripes almost instantaneously broke<br />
out on private dwellings, shops, hotels, and theatres; street<br />
hucksters did a thriving business selling rosettes of the American<br />
colours, which even the most stodgy Englishmen did not disdain<br />
to wear in their buttonholes; wherever there was a band or an<br />
orchestra, the Star Spangled Banner acquired a sudden popularity;<br />
and the day even came when the American and the British flags<br />
flew side by side over the Houses of Parliament---the first occasion<br />
in history that any other than the British standard had received<br />
this honour. The editorial outgivings of the British press on<br />
America's entrance form a literature all their own. The theatres<br />
and the music halls, which had found in &quot;notes&quot; and<br />
&quot;nootrality&quot; an endless theme of entertainment for their<br />
patrons, now sounded Americanism as their most popular refrain.<br />
Churches and cathedrals gave special services in honour of American<br />
intervention, and the King and the President began to figure side<br />
by the side in the prayer book. The estimation in which President<br />
Wilson was held changed overnight. All the phrases that had so<br />
grieved Englishmen were instantaneously forgotten. The President's<br />
address before Congress was praised as one of the most eloquent<br />
and statesmanlike utterances in history. Special editions of this<br />
heartening document had a rapid sale; it was read in school houses,<br />
churches, and at public gatherings, and it became a most influential<br />
force in uplifting the hopes of the Allies and inspiring them<br />
to renewed activities. Americans everywhere, in the streets, at<br />
dinner tables, and in general social intercourse, could feel the<br />
new atmosphere of respect and admiration which had suddenly become<br />
their country's portion. The first American troops that passed<br />
through London---a company of engineers, an especially fine body<br />
of men---aroused a popular enthusiasm which was almost unprecedented<br />
in a capital not celebrated for its emotional displays. Page himself<br />
records one particularly touching indication of the feeling for<br />
Americans which was now universal. &quot;The increasing number<br />
of Americans who come through England,&quot; he wrote, &quot;most<br />
of them on their way to France, but some of them also to serve<br />
in England, give much pleasure to the British public---nurses,<br />
doctors, railway engineers, sawmill units, etc. The sight of every<br />
American uniform pleases London. The other morning a group of<br />
American nurses gathered with the usual crowd in front of Buckingham<br />
Palace while the Guards band played inside the gates. Man after<br />
man as they passed them and saw their uniforms lifted their hats.&quot;<br />
<br />
<br><br><CENTER><TABLE BORDER="0" CELLSPACING="1" CELLPADDING="5"<br />
WIDTH="370"><br />
<TR><br />
<TD WIDTH="47%" VALIGN="TOP"><br />
<P ALIGN=CENTER><IMG SRC="thumbnails/Page21tn.jpg" WIDTH="116"<br />
HEIGHT="144" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ></TD> <br />
<TD WIDTH="53%" VALIGN="TOP"><br />
<P ALIGN=CENTER><IMG SRC="thumbnails/Page22tn.jpg" WIDTH="108"<br />
HEIGHT="144" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" ></TD> <br />
</TR><br />
<TR><br />
<TD WIDTH="47%" VALIGN="TOP"><br />
<P ALIGN=CENTER><B><FONT COLOR="#0000ff" SIZE="+1" FACE="Times">Fig.<br />
21.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#0000ff" SIZE="+1" FACE="Times"> The<br />
Rt. Hon. David Lloyd George. Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1908<br />
1915, Minister of Munitions, 1915-1916, Prime Minister of Great<br />
Britain since 1916.</FONT></TD> <br />
<TD WIDTH="53%" VALIGN="TOP"><br />
<P ALIGN=CENTER><B><FONT COLOR="#0000ff" SIZE="+1" FACE="Times">Fig.<br />
22.</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#0000ff" SIZE="+1" FACE="Times"> The<br />
Rt. Hon. Arthur James Balfour (now the Earl of Balfour) Secretary<br />
of State for Foreign Affairs, 1916-1919</FONT></TD> <br />
</TR><br />
</TABLE></CENTER><br />
<br />
<br><br><FONT FACE="Times">The Ambassador's mail likewise underwent<br />
a complete transformation. His correspondence of the preceding<br />
two years, enormous in its extent, had contained much that would<br />
have disturbed a man who could easily get excited over trifles,<br />
but this aspect of his work never caused Page the slightest unhappiness.<br />
Almost every crank in England who disliked the American policy<br />
had seemed to feel it his duty to express his opinions to the<br />
American Ambassador. These letters, at times sorrowful, at others<br />
abusive, even occasionally threatening, varying in their style<br />
from cultivated English to the grossest illiteracy, now written<br />
in red ink to emphasize their bitterness, now printed in large<br />
block letters to preserve their anonymity, aroused in Page only<br />
a temporary amusement. But the letters that began to pour in upon<br />
him after our Declaration, many of them from the highest placed<br />
men and women in the Kingdom, brought out more vividly than anything<br />
else the changed position of his country. Sonnets and verses rained<br />
upon the Embassy, most of them pretty bad as poetry, but all of<br />
them commendable for their admiring and friendly spirit. Of all<br />
these letters those that came from the steadfast friends of America<br />
perhaps gave Page the greatest satisfaction. &quot;You will have<br />
been pleased at the universal tribute paid to the spirit as well<br />
as to the lofty and impressive terms of the President's speech,&quot;<br />
wrote Lord Bryce. &quot;Nothing finer in our time, few things<br />
so fine.&quot; But probably the letter which gave Page the greatest<br />
pleasure was that which came from the statesman whose courtesy<br />
and broad outlook had eased the Ambassador's task in the old neutrality<br />
days. In 1916, Sir Edward Grey-now become Viscount Grey of Fallodon---had<br />
resigned office, forced out, Page says in one of his letters,<br />
mainly because he had refused to push the blockade to a point<br />
where it might produce a break with the United States. He had<br />
spent the larger part of the time since that event at his country<br />
place in Northumberland, along the streams and the forests which<br />
had always given him his greatest pleasure, attempting to recover<br />
something of the health that he had lost in the ten years which<br />
he had spent as head of the British Foreign Office and bearing<br />
with characteristic cheerfulness and fortitude the tragedy of<br />
a gradually failing eyesight. The American Declaration of War<br />
now came to Lord Grey as the complete justification of his policy.<br />
The mainspring of that policy, as already explained, had been<br />
a determination to keep the friendship of the United States, and<br />
so shape events that the support of this country would ultimately<br />
be cast on the side of the Allies. And now the great occasion<br />
for which he had prepared had come, and in Grey's mind this signified<br />
more than a help to England in soldiers and ships; it meant bringing<br />
together the two branches of a common race for the promotion of<br />
common ideals.</FONT><br />
<br />
<br><br>.<br />
<br />
<BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<P ALIGN=CENTER><I><FONT SIZE="+1">From Viscount Grey of Fallodon</FONT></I><br />
<br><br>Rosehall Post Office,<BR><br />
Sutherland,<BR><br />
April 8, 1917.<br />
<br><br>DEAR MR. PAGE:<br />
<br><br>This is a line that needs no answer to express my congratulations<br />
on President Wilson's address. I can't express adequately all<br />
that I feel. Great gratitude and great hope are in my heart.<br />
I hope now that some great and abiding good to the world will<br />
yet be wrought out of all this welter of evil. Recent events<br />
in Russia, too, stimulate this hope: they are a good in themselves,<br />
but not the power for good in this war that a great and firmly<br />
established free country like the United States can be. The President's<br />
address and the way it has been followed up in your country is<br />
a splendid instance of great action finely inspired. I glow with<br />
admiration.<br />
<BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br><br>Yours sincerely,<br />
<br><br>GREY OF FALLODON</BLOCKQUOTE><br />
</BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br />
<br><br>.<br />
<br />
<br><br>One Englishman who was especially touched by the action of<br />
the United States was His Majesty the King. Few men had watched<br />
the course of America during the war with more intelligent interest<br />
than the head of the British royal house. Page had had many interviews<br />
with King George at Buckingham Palace and at Windsor, and his<br />
notes contain many appreciative remarks on the King's high character<br />
and conscientious devotion to his duties. That Page in general<br />
did not believe in kings and emperors as institutions his letters<br />
reveal; yet even so profound a Republican as he recognized sterling<br />
character, whether in a crowned head or in a humble citizen, and<br />
he had seen enough of King George to respect him.. Moreover, the<br />
peculiar limitations of the British monarchy certainly gave it<br />
an unusual position and even saved it from much of the criticism<br />
that was fairly lavished upon such nations as Germany and Austria.<br />
Page especially admired King George's frankness in recognizing<br />
these limitations and his readiness to accommodate himself to<br />
the British Constitution. On most occasions, when these two men<br />
met, their intercourse was certainly friendly or at least not<br />
formidable. After all formalities had been exchanged, the King<br />
would frequently draw the Ambassador aside; the two would retire<br />
to the smoking room, and there, over their cigars, discuss a variety<br />
of matters---submarines, international politics, the Irish question<br />
and the like. His Majesty was not averse even to bringing up the<br />
advantages of the democratic and the monarchical system. The King<br />
and Ambassador would chat, as Page himself would say, like &quot;two<br />
human beings&quot;; King George is an emphatic and vivacious talker,<br />
fond of emphasizing his remarks by pounding the table; he has<br />
the liveliest sense of humour, and enjoys nothing quite so much<br />
as a good story. Page found that, on the subject of the Germans,<br />
the King entertained especially robust views. &quot;They are my<br />
kinsmen,&quot; he would say, &quot;but I am ashamed of them.&quot;<br />
<br />
<br><br>Probably most Englishmen, in the early days of the war, preferred<br />
that the United States should not engage in hostilities; even<br />
after the <I>Lusitania, </I>the majority in all likelihood held<br />
this view. There are indications, however, that King George favoured<br />
American participation. A few days after the <I>Lusitania </I>sinking,<br />
Page had an audience for the purpose of presenting a medal sent<br />
by certain societies in New Orleans. Neither man was thinking<br />
much about medals that morning. The thoughts uppermost in their<br />
minds, as in the minds of most Americans and Englishmen, were<br />
the <I>Lusitania </I>and the action that the United States was<br />
likely to take concerning it. After the formalities of presentation,<br />
the King asked Page to sit down and talked with him for more than<br />
half an hour. &quot;He said that Germany was evidently trying<br />
to force the United States into the war; that he had no doubt<br />
we would soon be in it and that, for his part, he would welcome<br />
us heartily. The King also said he had reliable information from<br />
Germany, that the Emperor had wished to return a conciliatory<br />
answer to our <I>Lusitania </I>note, but that Admiral von Tirpitz<br />
had prevented it, even going so far as to 'threaten' the Kaiser.<br />
It appears that the Admiral insisted that the submarine was the<br />
only weapon the Germans could use with effect against England<br />
and that they could not afford to give it up. He was violent and<br />
the Kaiser finally yielded.&quot;(<A NAME="n168"></A><A HREF="Pagenotes.htm#168">168</A>)<br />
<br />
<br><br>The statement from the King at that crisis, that he would &quot;heartily<br />
welcome the United States into the war,&quot; was interpreted<br />
by the Ambassador as amounting practically to an invitation---and<br />
certainly as expressing a wish that such an intervention should<br />
take place.<br />
<br />
<br><br>That the American participation would rejoice King George could<br />
therefore be taken for granted. Soon after this event, the Ambassador<br />
and Mrs. Page were invited to spend the night at Windsor.<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;I arrived during the middle of the afternoon,&quot; writes<br />
Page, &quot;and he sent for me to talk with him in his office.<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;'I've a good story on you,' said he. 'You Americans have<br />
a queer use of the word &quot;some,&quot; to express mere bigness<br />
or emphasis. We are taking that use of the word from you over<br />
here. Well, an American and an Englishman were riding in the same<br />
railway compartment. The American read his paper diligently---all<br />
the details of a big battle. When he got done, he put the paper<br />
down and said:<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;'Some fight!' 'And some don't!' said the Englishman.<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;And the King roared. 'A good one on you!'<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;'The trouble with that joke, sir,' I ventured to reply,<br />
'is that it's out of date.'<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;He was in a very gay mood, surely because of our entry<br />
into the war. After the dinner---there were no guests except Mrs.<br />
Page and me, the members of his household, of course, being present---he<br />
became even familiar in the smoking room. He talked about himself<br />
and his position as king. 'Knowing the difficulties of a limited<br />
monarch, I thank heaven I am spared being an absolute one.'<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;He went on to enumerate the large number of things he<br />
was obliged to do, for example, to sign the death warrant of every<br />
condemned man---and the little real power that he had---not at<br />
all in a tone of complaint, but as a merely impersonal explanation.<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;Just how much power---perhaps 'influence' is a better,<br />
word---the King has, depends on his personality. The influence<br />
of the throne---and of him on the throne, being a wholly thoughtful,<br />
industrious, and conscientious man---is very great---greatest<br />
of all in keeping the vested interests of the aristocratic social<br />
structure secure.<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;Earlier than this visit to Windsor he sent for me to<br />
go to Buckingham Palace very soon after we declared war. He went<br />
over the whole course of events---and asked me many questions.<br />
After I had risen and said 'good-bye' and was about to bow myself<br />
out the door, he ran toward me and waving his hand cried out,<br />
'Ah!---Ah!---we knew where you stood all the time.'<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;When General Pershing came along on his way to France,<br />
the King summoned us to luncheon. The luncheon was eaten (here,<br />
as everywhere, strict war rations are observed) to a flow of general<br />
talk, with the Queen, Princess Mary, and one of the young Princes.<br />
When they had gone from the luncheon room, the King, General Pershing,<br />
and I stood smoking by the window; and the King at once launched<br />
into talk about guns, rifles, ammunition, and the American place<br />
in the battle line. Would our place be with the British or with<br />
the French or between the two?<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;General Pershing made a diplomatic reply. So far as he<br />
knew the President hadn't yet made a final decision, but there<br />
was a feeling that, since we were helping the British at sea,<br />
perhaps we ought to help the French on land.<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;Then the King expressed the earnest hope that our guns<br />
and ammunition would match either the British or the French. Else<br />
if we happened to run out of ammunition we could not borrow from<br />
anybody. He thought it most unfortunate that the British and French<br />
guns and rifles were of different calibres.&quot;<br />
<br />
<br><br>.<br />
<br />
<BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<P ALIGN=CENTER><I><FONT SIZE="+1">To Arthur W. Page</FONT></I><br />
<br><br>Brighton, England,<BR><br />
April 28, 1917.<br />
<br><br>DEAR ARTHUR:<br />
<br><br>. . . Well, the British have given us a very good welcome<br />
into the war. They are not very skillful at such a task: they<br />
do not know how to say &quot;Welcome&quot; very vociferously.<br />
But they have said it to the very best of their ability. My speeches<br />
(which I send you, with some comment) were very well received<br />
indeed. Simple and obvious as they were, they meant a good deal<br />
of work.<br />
<br><br>I cannot conceal nor can I express my gratification that we<br />
are in the war. I shall always wonder but never find out what<br />
influence I had in driving the President over. All I know is<br />
that my letters and telegrams for nearly two years---especially<br />
for the last twelve months---have put before him every reason<br />
that anybody has expressed why we should come in---in season<br />
and out of season. And there is no new reason---only more reason<br />
of the same old sort---why we should have come in now than there<br />
was why we should have come in a year ago. I suspect that the<br />
pressure of the press and of public opinion really became too<br />
strong for him. And, of course, the Peace-Dream blew up---was<br />
torpedoed, mined, shot, captured, and killed. I trust, too, much<br />
enlightenment will be furnished by the two Commissions now in<br />
Washington.(<A NAME="n169"></A><A HREF="Pagenotes.htm#169">169</A>)<br />
Yet it's comical to think of the attitude of the poor old Department<br />
last September and its attitude now. But thank God for it! Every<br />
day now brings a confession of the blank idiocy of its former<br />
course and its long argument! Never mind that, so long as we<br />
are now right.<br />
<br><br>I have such a sense of relief that I almost feel that my job<br />
is now done. Yet, I dare say, my most important work is still<br />
to come.<br />
<br><br>The more I try to reach some sort of rational judgment about<br />
the war, the more I find myself at sea. It does look as if the<br />
very crisis is near. And there can be no doubt now---not even,<br />
I hope, in the United States---about the necessity of a clear<br />
and decisive victory, nor about punishment. All the devastation<br />
of Northern France, which outbarbarizes barbarism, all the ships<br />
sunk, including hospital ships, must be paid for; that's all.<br />
There'll be famine in Europe whenever it end. Not only must these<br />
destructions be paid for, but the Hohenzollerns and all they<br />
stand for must go. Trust your Frenchman for that, if nobody else!<br />
<br><br>If Europe had the food wasted in the United States, it would<br />
make the difference between sustenance and famine. By the way,<br />
the submarine has made every nation a danger zone except those<br />
few that have self-feeding continents, such as ours. It can bring<br />
famine to any other kind of a country.<br />
<br><br>You are now out in the country again---good. Give Mollie my<br />
love and help her with the garden. I envy you the fresh green<br />
things to eat. Little Mollie, kiss her for granddaddy. The Ambassador,<br />
I suppose, waxes even sturdier, and I'm glad to hear that A.<br />
W. P., Jr., is picking up. Get him fed right at all costs. If<br />
Frank stays at home and Ralph and his family come up, you'll<br />
all have a fine summer. We've the very first hint of summer we've<br />
had, and it's cheerful to see the sky and to feel the sunshine.<br />
<BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br><br>Affectionately,<br />
<br><br>W. H. P.</BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br><br>.<br />
<P ALIGN=CENTER><I><FONT SIZE="+1">To Frank N. Doubleday</FONT></I><br />
<br><br>American Embassy,<BR><br />
London, May 3, 1917.<br />
<br><br>DEAR EFFENDI:<br />
<br><br>I aim this at you. It may hit a German submarine. But we've<br />
got to take our chances in these days of risk. Your letter from<br />
the tropics---a letter from you from any place is as scarce as<br />
peace !---gave me a pleasant thrill and reminder of a previous<br />
state of existence, a long way back in the past. I wonder if,<br />
on your side the ocean you are living at the rate of a century<br />
a year, as we are here? Here in bountiful England we are living<br />
on rations. I spent a night with the King a fortnight ago, and<br />
he gave us only so much bread, one egg apiece, and---lemonade.<br />
We are to begin bread tickets next week. All this is perfectly<br />
healthful and wholesome and as much as I ever eat. But the hard<br />
part of it is that it's necessary. We haven't more than six weeks'<br />
food supply and the submarines sunk eighty-eight ships---237,000<br />
tons-last week. These English do not publish these harrowing<br />
facts, and nobody knows them but a few official people. And they<br />
are destroying the submarines at a most beggarly slow rate. They<br />
work far out at sea---100 to 200 miles---and it's as hard to<br />
find them as it would be to find whales. The simple truth is<br />
we are in a dangerous plight. If they could stop this submarine<br />
warfare, the war would pretty quickly be won, for the Germans<br />
are in a far worse plight for food and materials and they are<br />
getting much the worst of it on land. The war would be won this<br />
summer or autumn if the submarine could be put out of business.<br />
If it isn't, the Germans may use this success to keep their spirits<br />
up and go on till next year.<br />
<br><br>We (the United States) have about 40 destroyers. We are sending<br />
over 6! I'm doing my best to persuade the Government at Washington<br />
to send every one we have. But, since the British conceal the<br />
facts from their own press and the people and from all the world,<br />
the full pressure of the situation is hard to exert on Washington.<br />
Our Admiral (Sims) and I are trying our best, and we are spending<br />
enough on cables to build a destroyer. All this, you must, of<br />
course, regard as a dark secret; but it's a devilish black secret.<br />
<br><br>I don't mean that there's any danger of losing the war. Even<br />
if the British armies have to have their food cut down and people<br />
here go hungry, they'll win; but the winning may be a long time<br />
off. Nothing but their continued success can keep the Germans<br />
going. Their people are war-weary and hungry. Austria is knocked<br />
out and is starving. Turkey is done up but can go on living on<br />
nothing, but not fighting much more. When peace comes, there'll<br />
be a general famine, on the continent at least, and no ships<br />
to haul food. This side of the world will have to start life<br />
all over again---with insufficient men to carry things on and<br />
innumerable maimed men who'll have (more or less) to be cared<br />
for. The horror of the whole thing nobody realizes. We've all<br />
got used to it here; and nobody clearly remembers just what the<br />
world was like in peace times; those times were so far away.<br />
All this I write not to fill you with horrors but to prove that<br />
I speak the literal truth when I say that it seems a hundred<br />
years since I had before heard from you.<br />
<br><br>Just how all this affects a man, no man can accurately tell.<br />
Of how much use I'll be when I can get home, I don't know. Sometimes<br />
I think that I shall be of vastly greater use than ever. Plans<br />
and publishing ambitions pop up in my mind at times which look<br />
good and promising. I see books and series of books. I see most<br />
useful magazine stuff. Then, before I can think anything out<br />
to a clear plan or conclusion, the ever-increasing official duties<br />
and responsibilities here knock everything else out of my head,<br />
perhaps for a whole month. It's a literal fact that many a month<br />
I do not have an hour to do with as I please nor to think about<br />
what I please, from the time I wake up till I go to bed. In spite<br />
of twenty-four secretaries (the best fellows that ever were and<br />
the best staff that my Embassy ever had in the world) more and<br />
more work comes to me. I thank Heaven we no longer have the interests<br />
of Germany, Austria, and Turkey to look after; but with our coming<br />
into the war, work in general has increased enormously. I have<br />
to spend very much more time with the different departments of<br />
the British Government on war plans and such like things. They<br />
have welcomed us in very handsomely; and one form of their welcome<br />
is consulting with me about---navy plans, war plans, loans of<br />
billions, ships, censorship, secret service---everything you<br />
ever heard of. At first it seemed a little comical for the admirals<br />
and generals and the Governor of the Bank of England to come<br />
and ask for advice. But when I gave it and it worked out well,<br />
I went on and, after all, the thing's easier than it looks. With<br />
a little practice you can give these fellows several points in<br />
the game and play a pretty good hand. They don't know half as<br />
much as you might suppose they'd know. All these years of lecturing<br />
the State Department and the President got my hand in! The whole<br />
game is far easier than any small business. You always play with<br />
blue chips better than you play with white ones.<br />
<br><br>This country and these people are not the country and the<br />
people they were three years ago. They are very different. They<br />
are much more democratic, far less cocksure, far less haughty,<br />
far humbler. The man at the head of the army rose from the ranks.<br />
The Prime Minister is a poor Welsh schoolteacher's son, without<br />
early education. The man who controls all British shipping began<br />
life as a shipping &quot;clark,&quot; at ten shillings a week.<br />
Yet the Lords and Ladies, too, have shown that they were made<br />
of the real stuff. This experience is making England over again.<br />
There never was a more interesting thing to watch and to be part<br />
of.<br />
<br><br>There are about twenty American organizations here---big,<br />
little, rag-tag, and bobtail. When we declared war, every one<br />
of 'em proceeded to prepare for some sort of celebration. There<br />
would have been an epidemic of Fourth-of-July oratory all over<br />
the town-before we'd done anything---Americans spouting over<br />
the edges and killing Kruger with their mouths. I got representatives<br />
of 'em all together and proposed that we hold our tongues till<br />
we'd won the war---then we can take London. And to give one occasion<br />
when we might all assemble and dedicate ourselves to this present<br />
grim business, I arranged for an American Dedicatory Service<br />
at St. Paul's Cathedral. The royal family came, the Government<br />
came, the Allied diplomats came, my Lords and Ladies came, one<br />
hundred wounded American (Canadian) soldiers came---the pick<br />
of the Kingdom; my Navy and Army staff went in full uniform,<br />
the Stars and Stripes hung before the altar, a double brass band<br />
played the Star Spangled Banner and the Battle Hymn of the Republic,<br />
and an American bishop (Brent) preached a red-hot American sermon,<br />
the Archbishop of Canterbury delivered the benediction; and (for<br />
the first time in English history) a foreign flag (the Stars<br />
and Stripes) flew over the Houses of Parliament. It was the biggest<br />
occasion, so they say, that St. Paul's ever had. And there's<br />
been no spilling of American oratory since! If you had published<br />
a shilling edition of the words and music of the Star Spangled<br />
Banner and the Battle Hymn you could have sent a cargo of 'em<br />
here and sold them. There isn't paper enough in this Kingdom<br />
to get out an edition here.<br />
<br><br>Give my love to all the Doubledays and to all the fellows<br />
in the shop, and (I wonder if you will) try your hand at another<br />
letter. You write very legibly these days!<br />
<BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br><br>Sincerely yours,<br />
<br><br>WALTER H. PAGE.</BLOCKQUOTE><br />
</BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br />
<br><br>.<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;Curiously enough,&quot; Page wrote about this time, &quot;these<br />
most exciting days of the war are among the most barren of exciting<br />
topics for private correspondence. The 'atmosphere' here is unchanging---to<br />
us---and the British are turning their best side to us continuously.<br />
They are increasingly appreciative, and they see more and more<br />
clearly that our coming into the war is all that saved them from<br />
a virtual defeat---I mean the public sees this more and more clearly,<br />
for, of course, the Government has known it from the beginning.<br />
I even find a sort of morbid fear lest they do not sufficiently<br />
show their appreciation. The Archbishop last night asked me in<br />
an apprehensive tone whether the American Government and public<br />
felt that the British did not sufficiently show their gratitude.<br />
I told him that we did not come into the war to win compliments<br />
but to whip the enemy, and that we wanted all the help the British<br />
can give: that's the main thing; and that thereafter of course<br />
we liked appreciation, but that expressions of appreciation had<br />
not been lacking. Mr. Balfour and Sir Edward Carson also spoke<br />
to me yesterday much in the same tone as the Archbishop of Canterbury.<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;Try to think out any line of action that one will, or<br />
any future sequence or events or any plan touching the war, one<br />
runs into the question whether the British are doing the best<br />
that could be done or are merely plugging away. They are, as a<br />
people, slow and unimaginative, given to over-much self-criticism;<br />
but they eternally hold on to a task or to a policy. Yet the question<br />
forever arises whether they show imagination, to say nothing of<br />
genius, and whether the waste of a slow, plodding policy is the<br />
necessary price of victory.<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;Of course such a question is easy to ask and it is easy<br />
to give dogmatic answers. But it isn't easy to give an answer<br />
based on facts. Our General Lassiter,(<A NAME="n170"></A><A HREF="Pagenotes.htm#170">170</A>)<br />
for instance---a man of sound judgment---has in general been less<br />
hopeful of the military situation in France than most of the British<br />
officers. But he is just now returned from the front, much cheered<br />
and encouraged. 'Lassiter,' I asked, 'have the British in France<br />
or has any man among them what we call genius, or even wide vision;<br />
or are they merely plodding along at a mechanical task?' His answer<br />
was, 'We don't see genius till it has done its job. It is a mechanical<br />
task---yes, that's the nature of the struggle---and they surely<br />
do it with intelligence and spirit. There is waste. There is waste<br />
in all wars. But I come back much more encouraged.'<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;The same sort of questions and answers are asked and<br />
given continuously about naval action. Every discussion of the<br />
possibility of attacking the German naval bases ends without a<br />
plan. So also with preventing the submarines from coming out.<br />
These subjects have been continuously under discussion by a long<br />
series of men who have studied them; and the total effect so far<br />
has been to leave them among the impossible tasks. So far as I<br />
can ascertain all naval men among the Allies agree that these<br />
things can't be done.<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;Here again---Is this a merely routine professional opinion---a<br />
merely traditional opinion---or is it a lack of imagination? The<br />
question will not down. Yet it is impossible to get facts to combat<br />
it. What are the limits of the practicable?<br />
<br />
<br><br>&quot;Mr. Balfour told me yesterday his personal conviction<br />
about the German colonies, which, he said, he had not discussed<br />
with his associates in the Cabinet. His firm opinion is that they<br />
ought not to be returned to the Germans, first for the sake of<br />
humanity. 'The natives---the Africans especially---have been so<br />
barbarously treated and so immorally that it would be inhuman<br />
to permit the Germans to rule and degrade them further. But Heaven<br />
forbid that we should still further enlarge the British Empire.<br />
As a practical matter I do not care to do that. Besides, we should<br />
incur the criticism of fighting in order to get more territory,<br />
and that was not and is not our aim. If the United States will<br />
help us, my wish is that these German Colonies that we have taken,<br />
especially in Africa, should be &quot;internationalized.&quot;<br />
There are great difficulties in such a plan, but they are not<br />
insuperable if the great Powers of the Allies will agree upon<br />
it.' And much more to the same effect. The parts of Asiatic Turkey<br />
that the British have taken, he thought, might be treated in the<br />
same way.&quot;<br />
<br />
<P ALIGN=CENTER><HR><br />
<br />
<BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br><br><FONT SIZE="+1"><IMG SRC="thumbnails/2b.gif" WIDTH="25" HEIGHT="24"<br />
ALIGN="MIDDLE" BORDER="0" ><A HREF="Page14.htm">Chapter<br />
Twenty-Two</A></FONT><br />
<br><br><FONT SIZE="+1"><IMG SRC="thumbnails/2b.gif" WIDTH="25" HEIGHT="24"<br />
ALIGN="MIDDLE" BORDER="0" ><A HREF="PageTC.htm#TC">Table<br />
of Contents</A></FONT><br />
</BLOCKQUOTE><br />
<br />
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