of Englishmen, his admiration for the heroic sacrifice of Englishwomen, remain as about the most vivid memories of a life-time.  And now the Ambassador had brought this same eloquence to the President’s ear at Shadow Lawn.  It was in this interview that Page had hoped to show Mr. Wilson the real merits of the situation, and persuade him to adopt the course to which the national honour and safety pointed; he talked long and eloquently, painting the whole European tragedy with that intensity and readiness of utterance and that moral conviction which had so moved all others with whom he had come into contact during this memorable visit to the United States; but Mr. Wilson was utterly cold, utterly unresponsive, interested only in ending the war.  The talk lasted for a whole morning; its nature may be assumed from the many letters already printed; but Page’s voice, when it attempted to fire the conscience of the President, proved as ineffective as his pen.  However, there was nothing rasping or contentious about the interview.  The two men discussed everything with the utmost calmness and without the slightest indications of ill-nature.  Both men had in mind their long association, both inevitably recalled the hopes with which they had begun their official relationship three years before, at that time neither having the faintest intimation of the tremendous problems that were to draw them asunder.  Mr. Wilson at this meeting did not impress his Ambassador as a perverse character, but as an extremely pathetic one.  Page came away with no vexation or anger, but with a real feeling for a much suffering and a much perplexed statesman.  The fact that the President’s life was so solitary, and that he seemed to be so completely out of touch with men and with the living thoughts of the world, appealed strongly to Page’s sympathies.  “I think he is the loneliest man I have ever known,” Page remarked to his son Frank after coming away from this visit.

Page felt this at the time, for, as he rose to say good-bye to the President, he put his hand upon his shoulder.  At this Mr. Wilson’s eyes filled with tears and he gave Page an affectionate good-bye.  The two men never met again.

FOOTNOTES: 

[Footnote 38:  This is quoted from a hitherto unpublished despatch of Bernstorff’s to Berlin which is found among Page’s papers.]

[Footnote 39:  The China case was a kind of Trent case reversed.  In 1861 the American ship San Jacinto stopped the British vessel Trent and took off Mason and Slidell, Confederate commissioners to Great Britain.  Similarly a British ship, in 1916, stopped an American ship, the China, and removed several German subjects.  As the British quickly saw the analogy, and made suitable amends, the old excitement over the Trent was not duplicated in the recent war.]

[Footnote 40:  See Chapter XIII, page 434.]