“You are wrong,” replied the Englishman, who saw that the only thing to do on an occasion of this kind was to refuse to take the Secretary seriously.  “Lord Cowdray hasn’t money enough.  Through a long experience with corruption the Cabinet has grown so greedy that Cowdray hasn’t the money necessary to reach their price.”

“Ah,” said Mr. Bryan, triumphantly, accepting Sir William’s bantering answer as made in all seriousness.  “Then you admit the charge.”

From this he proceeded to denounce Great Britain in still more unmeasured terms.  The British, he declared, had only one interest in Mexico, and that was oil.  The Foreign Office had simply handed its Mexican policy over to the “oil barons” for predatory purposes.

“That’s just what the Standard Oil people told me in New York,” the British diplomat replied.  “Mr. Secretary, you are talking just like a Standard Oil man.  The ideas that you hold are the ones which the Standard Oil is disseminating.  You are pursuing the policy which they have decided on.  Without knowing it you are promoting the interest of Standard Oil.”

Sir William saw that it was useless to discuss Mexico with Mr. Bryan—­that the Secretary was not a thinker but an emotionalist.  However, despite their differences, the two men liked each other and had a good time.  As Sir William was leaving, he bowed deferentially to the Secretary of State and said: 

“You have stripped me naked, Mr. Secretary, but I am unashamed.”

With President Wilson, however, the Englishman had a more satisfactory experience.  He was delighted by the President’s courtesy, charm, intelligence, and conversational powers.  The impression which Sir William obtained of the American President on this occasion remained with him for several years and was itself an important element in British-American relations after the outbreak of the World War.  And the visit was a profitable one for Mr. Wilson, since he obtained a clear understanding of the British policy toward Mexico.  Sir William succeeded in persuading the President that the so-called oil interests were not dictating the policy of Sir Edward Grey.  That British oil men were active in Mexico was apparent; but they were not using a statesman of so high a character as Sir Edward Grey for their purposes and would not be able to do so.  The British Government entertained no ambitions in Mexico that meant unfriendliness to the United States.  In no way was the policy of Great Britain hostile to our own.  In fact, the British recognized the predominant character of the American interest in Mexico and were willing to accept any policy in which Washington would take the lead.  All it asked was that British property and British lives be protected; once these were safeguarded Great Britain was ready to stand aside and let the United States deal with Mexico in its own way.

The one disappointment of this visit was that Sir William Tyrrell was unable to obtain from President Wilson any satisfactory statement of his Mexican policy.