from the President which, of course, he will not want to give, but just what he will feel obliged to give is another story.  I anticipated this when he resigned.  I knew it was merely a matter of time when he would take this step.

He may find encouragement in Germany, for he is in high favour now in that quarter.  It is his purpose to oppose the President upon the matter of “preparedness,” and, from what we can learn, it will not be long before there will be open antagonism between the Administration and himself.

It might be a good thing to encourage his going to Europe.  He would probably come back a sadder and wiser man.  I take it that no one in authority in England would discuss the matter seriously with him, and, in France, I do not believe he could even get a hearing.

     Please let me have your impressions upon this subject.

     I wish I could be near you to-day for there are so many things I
     could tell that I cannot write.

     Your friend,
     E.M.  House.

     To Edward M. House

     American Embassy, London [Undated].

     DEAR HOUSE: 

Never mind about Bryan.  Send him over here if you wish to get rid of him.  He’ll cut no more figure than a tar-baby at a Negro camp-meeting.  If he had come while he was Secretary, I should have jumped off London Bridge and the country would have had one ambassador less.  But I shall enjoy him now.  You see some peace crank from the United States comes along every week—­some crank or some gang of cranks.  There’ve been two this week.  Ever since the Daughters of the Dove of Peace met at The Hague, the game has become popular in America; and I haven’t yet heard that a single one has been shot—­so far.  I think that some of them are likely soon to be hanged, however, because there are signs that they may come also from Germany.  The same crowd that supplies money to buy labour-leaders and the press and to blow up factories in the United States keeps a good supply of peace-liars on tap.  It’ll be fun to watch Bryan perform and never suspect that anybody is lying to him or laughing at him; and he’ll go home convinced that he’s done the job and he’ll let loose doves all over the land till they are as thick as English sparrows.  Not even the President could teach him anything permanently.  He can do no harm on this side the world.  It’s only your side that’s in any possible danger; and, if I read the signs right, there’s a diminishing danger there.

No, there’s never yet come a moment when there was the slightest chance of peace.  Did the Emperor not say last year that peace would come in October, and again this year in October?  Since he said it, how can it come?

The ambitions and the actions of men, my friend, are determined by their antecedents, their surroundings, and their opportunities—­the