esitated. In his relations with his Embassy and
with the British world he maintained this non-critical attitude; but in
his letters to President Wilson and Colonel House, he was describing the
situation, and expressing his convictions, with the utmost freedom and
frankness. In both these attitudes Page was consistent and absolutely
loyal. It was his duty to carry out the Wilson instructions and he had
too high a conception of the Ambassadorial office to show to the world
any unfavourable opinions he may have held about his country's course.
His duty to his post made it just as imperative that he set forth to the
President the facts exactly as they were. And this the Ambassador now
proceeded to do. For the mere ornamental dignities of an Ambassadorship
Page cared nothing; he was wasting his health in his duties and
exhausting his private resources; much as he loved the English and
congenial as were his surroundings, the fear of being recalled for
"disloyalty" or insubordination never influenced him. The letters which
he now wrote to Colonel House and to President Wilson himself are
probably without parallel in the diplomatic annals of this or of any
other country. In them he told the President precisely what Englishmen
thought of him and of the extent to which the United States was
suffering in European estimation from the Wilson policy. His boldness
sometimes astounded his associates. One day a friend and adviser of
President Wilson's came into the Ambassador's office just as Page had
finished one of his communications to Washington.

"Read that!" the Ambassador said, handing over the manuscript to his
visitor.

As the caller read, his countenance displayed the progressive stages of
his amazement. When he had finished, his hands dropped helplessly upon
his knees.

"Is that the way you write to the President?" he gasped.

"Of course," Page replied, quietly. "Why not? Why shouldn't I tell him
the truth? That is what I am here for."

"There is no other person in the world who dare talk to him like that!"
was the reply.

This is unquestionably the fact. That President Wilson did not like
people about him whose views were opposed to his own is now no secret,
and during the period when his policy was one of the great issues of the
world there was probably no one except Page who intruded upon his
solitude with ideas that so abruptly disagreed with the opinions of the
White House. The letters which Page wrote Colonel Hou