President Wilson's address. I can't express adequately all that
I feel. Great gratitude and great hope are in my heart. I hope now
that some great and abiding good to the world will yet be wrought
out of all this welter of evil. Recent events in Russia, too,
stimulate this hope: they are a good in themselves, but not the
power for good in this war that a great and firmly established free
country like the United States can be. The President's address and
the way it has been followed up in your country is a splendid
instance of great action finely inspired. I glow with admiration.

Yours sincerely,

GREY OF FALLODON

One Englishman who was especially touched by the action of the United
States was His Majesty the King. Few men had watched the course of
America during the war with more intelligent interest than the head of
the British royal house. Page had had many interviews with King George
at Buckingham Palace and at Windsor, and his notes contain many
appreciative remarks on the King's high character and conscientious
devotion to his duties. That Page in general did not believe in kings
and emperors as institutions his letters reveal; yet even so profound a
Republican as he recognized sterling character, whether in a crowned
head or in a humble citizen, and he had seen enough of King George to
respect him. Moreover, the peculiar limitations of the British monarchy
certainly gave it an unusual position and even saved it from much of the
criticism that was fairly lavished upon such nations as Germany and
Austria. Page especially admired King George's frankness in recognizing
these limitations and his readiness to accommodate himself to the
British Constitution. On most occasions, when these two men met, their
intercourse was certainly friendly or at least not formidable. After all
formalities had been exchanged, the King would frequently draw the
Ambassador aside; the two would retire to the smoking room, and there,
over their cigars, discuss a variety of matters--submarines,
international politics, the Irish question and the like. His Majesty was
not averse even to bringing up the advantages of the democratic and the
monarchical system. The King and Ambassador would chat, as Page himself
would say, like "two human beings"; King George is an emphatic and
vivacious talker, fond of emphasizing his remarks by pounding the table;
he has the liveliest sense of humour, and enj