blackest crime in history, for it would mean the collapse of that British-American cooeperation, and the destruction of those British-American ideals and institutions which are the greatest facts in the modern world.  This conviction was the basis of Sir Edward’s policy from the day that Great Britain declared war.  Whatever enemies he might make in England, the Foreign Secretary was determined to shape his course so that the support of the United States would be assured to his country.  A single illustration shows the skill and wisdom with which he pursued this great purpose.

Perhaps nothing in the early days of the war enraged the British military chiefs more than the fact that cotton was permitted to go from the United States to Germany.  That Germany was using this cotton in the manufacture of torpedoes to sink British ships and of projectiles to kill British soldiers in trenches was well known; nor did many people deny that Great Britain had the right to put cotton on the contraband list.  Yet Grey, in the pursuit of his larger end, refused to take this step.  He knew that the prosperity of the Southern States depended exclusively upon the cotton crop.  He also knew that the South had raised the 1914 crop with no knowledge that a war was impending and that to deny the Southern planters their usual access to the German markets would all but ruin them.  He believed that such a ruling would immediately alienate the sympathy of a large section of the United States and make our Southern Senators and Congressmen enemies of Great Britain.  Sir Edward was also completely informed of the extent to which the German-Americans and the Irish-Americans were active and he was familiar with the aims of American pacifists.  He believed that declaring cotton contraband at this time would bring together in Congress the Southern Senators and Congressmen, the representatives of the Irish and the German causes and the pacifists, and that this combination would exercise an influence that would be disastrous to Great Britain.  Two dangers constantly haunted Sir Edward’s mind at this time.  One was that the enemies of Great Britain would assemble enough votes in Congress to place an embargo upon the shipment of munitions from this country.  Such an embargo might well be fatal to Great Britain, for at this time she was importing munitions, especially shells, in enormous quantities from the United States.  The other was that such pressure might force the Government to convoy American cargoes with American warships.  Great Britain then could stop the cargoes only by attacking our cruisers, and to attack a cruiser is an act of war.  Had Congress taken either one of these steps the Allies would have lost the war in the spring of 1915.  At a cabinet meeting held to consider this question, Sir Edward Grey set forth this view and strongly advised that cotton should not be made contraband at that time[91].  The Cabinet supported him and events justified the decision.  Afterward, in Washington, several of the most influential Senators informed Sir Edward that this action had averted a great crisis.