The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page, Volume II by Burton Jesse Hendrick
page 38 of 510 (07%)
page 38 of 510 (07%)
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about a change in German policy! The only change is that the number
of submarines available becomes smaller and smaller, and that they wish to use Uncle Sam's broad, fat back to crawl down on when they have failed. Consequently, they are laughing at Uncle Sam here--it comes near to being ridicule, in fact, for seeming to jump at Bernstorff's unfrank assurances. And, as I have telegraphed the President, English opinion is--well, it is very nearly disrespectful. Men say here (I mean our old friends) that with no disavowal of the _Lusitania_, the _Falaba_, the _Gulflight_, or the _Arabic_ or of the _Hesperian_, the Germans are "stuffing" Uncle Sam, that Uncle Sam is in the clutches of the peace-at-any-price public opinion, that the United States will suffer any insult and do nothing. I hardly pick up a paper that does not have a sarcastic paragraph or cartoon. We are on the brink of convincing the English that we'll not act, whatever the provocation. By the English, I do not mean the lighter, transitory public opinion, but I mean the thoughtful men who do not wish us or expect us to fire a gun. They say that the American democracy, since Cleveland's day, has become a mere agglomeration of different races, without national unity, national aims, and without courage or moral qualities. And (I deeply regret to say) the President is losing here the high esteem he won by his Panama tolls repeal. They ask, why on earth did he raise the issue if under repeated provocation he is unable to recall Gerard or to send Bernstorff home? The _Hesperian_ follows the _Arabic_; other "liners" will follow the _Hesperian_, if the Germans have submarines. And, when Sackville-West[6] was promptly sent home for answering a private citizen's inquiry about the two political parties, Dumba is (yet awhile) retained in spite of a far graver |
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