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Great Britain. Page had left a mass of memoranda which the President read
aloud. I also gave him my last letters from Sir Edward Grey, Lord Bryce,
Noel Buxton and others. It was my opinion that the real difference with
Great Britain now was that the United States had undertaken to build a great
navy; that our commerce was expanding beyond all belief, and we were rapidly
taking the position Germany occupied before the war. No one in England would
probably admit that the things I mentioned were causing the growing irritation
against us, but it was a fact nevertheless. The President replied: "Let us
build a navy bigger than her's and do what we please". I reminded him that
Germany had undertaken to do that and Great Britain had checked her before she
could accomplish her purpose. and in the Spring of 1914 I had predicted that
she would. I thought it unlikely the British would be willing to permit us
to build a navy equal to theirs if they could prevent it. I thought their
alliance with France, Russia, Italy and Japan made them a formidable antago-
nist, provided the Allies won. We came to no conclusion for lunch was
served and the conversation was discontinued.
There was no one for lunch other than myself and after lunch we
motored for something like sixty miles. There was no conversation of note
during the ride.
There were no guests for dinner, and after we had finished the President
read Matthew Arnold's "The Future". He also read Browning's poem about the
Arab physician who visited Palestine during the time of Christ. I do not re-
call the title of it. I asked if he thought Christ's teachings had made
much progress in the nearly two thousand years since his death. He said it
was not that it had made much progress, but rather that it had acted as a
moral balance to us. He thought we knew what was wrong even though we did
wrong, and our conscience held us in check. I thought that unselfishness
| Title | ms_0466_s2_v4_234 |
| Transcript | Great Britain. Page had left a mass of memoranda which the President read aloud. I also gave him my last letters from Sir Edward Grey, Lord Bryce, Noel Buxton and others. It was my opinion that the real difference with Great Britain now was that the United States had undertaken to build a great navy; that our commerce was expanding beyond all belief, and we were rapidly taking the position Germany occupied before the war. No one in England would probably admit that the things I mentioned were causing the growing irritation against us, but it was a fact nevertheless. The President replied: "Let us build a navy bigger than her's and do what we please". I reminded him that Germany had undertaken to do that and Great Britain had checked her before she could accomplish her purpose. and in the Spring of 1914 I had predicted that she would. I thought it unlikely the British would be willing to permit us to build a navy equal to theirs if they could prevent it. I thought their alliance with France, Russia, Italy and Japan made them a formidable antago- nist, provided the Allies won. We came to no conclusion for lunch was served and the conversation was discontinued. There was no one for lunch other than myself and after lunch we motored for something like sixty miles. There was no conversation of note during the ride. There were no guests for dinner, and after we had finished the President read Matthew Arnold's "The Future". He also read Browning's poem about the Arab physician who visited Palestine during the time of Christ. I do not re- call the title of it. I asked if he thought Christ's teachings had made much progress in the nearly two thousand years since his death. He said it was not that it had made much progress, but rather that it had acted as a moral balance to us. He thought we knew what was wrong even though we did wrong, and our conscience held us in check. I thought that unselfishness |
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