protests against unlawful submarine attacks or against anything else.
The inactivity of our Government, or its delay, which they assume is the
same as inactivity, is attributed to domestic politics or to the lack of
national, consciousness or unity.

"No explanation has appeared in the British press of our Government's
inactivity or of any regret or promise of reparation by Germany for the
sinking of the _Lusitania_, the _Falaba_, the _Gulflight_, the
_Nebraskan_, the _Arabic_, or the _Hesperian_, nor any explanation of a
week's silence about the Dumba letter; and the conclusion is drawn that,
in the absence of action by us, all these acts have been practically
condoned.

"I venture to suggest that such explanations be made public as will
remove, if possible, the practically unanimous conclusion here that our
Government will permit these and similar future acts to be explained
away. I am surprised almost every hour by some new evidence of the loss
of respect for our Government, which, since the sinking of the _Arabic_,
has become so great as to warrant calling it a complete revulsion of
English feeling toward the United States. There is no general wish for
us to enter the war, but there is genuine sorrow that we are thought to
submit to any indignity, especially after having taken a firm stand. I
conceive I should be lacking in duty if I did not report this rapid and
unfortunate change in public feeling, which seems likely to become
permanent unless facts are quickly made public which may change it."

* * * * *

There are many expressions of such feelings in Page's letters of this
time. They brought only the most perfunctory acknowledgment from the
White House. On January 3, 1916, Page sent the President a mass of
clippings from the British press, all criticizing the Wilson
Administration in unrestrained terms. In his comment on these, he writes
the President:

"Public opinion, both official and unofficial, is expressed by these
newspaper comments, with far greater restraint than it is expressed in
private conversation. Ridicule of the Administration runs through the
programmes of the theatres; it inspires hundreds of cartoons; it is a
staple of conversation at private dinners and in the clubs. The most
serious class of Englishmen, including the best friends of the United
States, feel that the Administration's reliance on notes has reduced our
Government to a third-or fourth-rate powe