The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page, Volume II

The Life and Letters of Walter H.
Page,
by Burton J. Hendrick

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Page,
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Title: The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page, Volume II
Author: Burton J. Hendrick
Release Date: November 6, 2005 [EBook #17018]
Language: English
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[Illustration: Sir Edward Grey (now Viscount Grey of Fallodon),
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 1905-1916]

THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE
BY
BURTON J. HENDRICK
VOLUME II
GARDEN CITY NEW YORK DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
1924

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES AT THE COUNTRY LIFE
PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N.Y.

CONTENTS
VOLUME II
CHAPTER PAGE
XIV. THE "LUSITANIA" AND AFTER 1 XV. THE AMBASSADOR
AND THE LAWYERS 53 XVI. DARK DAYS FOR THE ALLIES 81
XVII. CHRISTMAS IN ENGLAND, 1915 103 XVIII. A
PERPLEXED AMBASSADOR 128 XIX. WASHINGTON IN THE
SUMMER OF 1916 148 XX. "PEACE WITHOUT VICTORY" 189
XXI. THE UNITED STATES AT WAR 215 XXII. THE BALFOUR
MISSION TO THE UNITED STATES 248 XXIII. PAGE--THE MAN
295 XXIV. A RESPITE AT ST. IVES 321 XXV. GETTING THE
AMERICAN TROOPS TO FRANCE 349 XXVI. LAST DAYS IN
ENGLAND 374 XXVII. THE END 404 APPENDIX 407 INDEX 425

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Sir Edward Grey Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
Col. Edward M. House. From a painting by P.A. Laszlo 88
The Rt. Hon. Herbert Henry Asquith, Prime Minister of Great Britain,
1908-1916 89
Herbert C. Hoover, in 1914 104
A facsimile page from the Ambassador's letter of November 24, 1916,
resigning his Ambassadorship 105
Walter H. Page, at the time of America's entry into the war, April, 1917
216
Resolution passed by the two Houses of Parliament, April 18, 1917, on
America's entry into the war 217
The Rt. Hon. David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of Great Britain,
1916-- 232
The Rt. Hon. Arthur James Balfour (now the Earl of Balfour),
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 1916-1919 233
Lord Robert Cecil, Minister of Blockade, 1916-1918, Assistant
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 1918 344
General John J. Pershing, Commander-in-Chief of the American
Expeditionary Force in the Great War 345
Admiral William Sowden Sims, Commander of American Naval
Forces operating in European waters during the Great War 360
A silver model of the Mayflower, the farewell gift of the Plymouth

Council to Mr. Page 361

THE
LIFE AND LETTERS
OF
WALTER H. PAGE

THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF
WALTER H. PAGE
CHAPTER XIV
THE "LUSITANIA"--AND AFTER
I
The news of the Lusitania was received at the American Embassy at
four o'clock on the afternoon of May 7, 1915. At that time preparations
were under way for a dinner in honour of Colonel and Mrs. House; the
first Lusitania announcement declared that only the ship itself had been
destroyed and that all the passengers and members of the crew had
been saved; there was, therefore, no good reason for abandoning this
dinner.
At about seven o'clock, the Ambassador came home; his manner
showed that something extraordinary had taken place; there were no
outward signs of emotion, but he was very serious. The first news, he
now informed Mrs. Page, had been a mistake; more than one thousand
men, women, and children had lost their lives, and more than one
hundred of these were American citizens. It was too late to postpone
the dinner but that affair was one of the most tragic in the social history

of London. The Ambassador was constantly receiving bulletins from
his Chancery, and these, as quickly as they were received, he read to
his guests. His voice was quiet and subdued; there were no indications
of excitement in his manner or in that of his friends, and hardly of
suppressed emotion. The atmosphere was rather that of dumb
stupefaction. The news seemed to have dulled everyone's capacity for
thought and even for feeling. If any one spoke, it was in whispers.
Afterward, in the drawing room, this same mental state was the
prevailing one; there was little denunciation of Germany and practically
no discussion as to the consequences of the crime; everyone's thought
was engrossed by the harrowing and unbelievable facts which the
Ambassador was reading from the little yellow slips that were
periodically brought in. An irresistible fascination evidently kept
everybody in the room; the guests stayed late, eager for every new item.