THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE VOLUME II

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.

THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF WALTER H. PAGE VOLUME II