on of
the Declaration when parliaments and governments could discuss it at
leisure and who hoped to jam it through under the pressure of war and
thus get his prize court international.' I made no answer for several
reasons, one of which is, I do not know whose programme it was. All that
I know is that I have here, on my desk at my house, a locked dispatch
book half full of telegrams and letters insisting on it, which I do not
wish (now at least) to put in the Embassy files, and the sight of which
brings the shuddering memory of the worst nightmare I have ever
suffered.

"Now we can go on, without being a party to any general programme, but
in an independent position vigorously stand up for every right and
privilege under law and usage and treaties; and we have here a
government that we can deal with frankly and not (I hope) in a mood to
suspect us of wishing to put it at a disadvantage for the sake of a
general code or doctrine. A land and naval and air and submarine battle
(the greatest battle in the history of the belligerent race of man)
within 75 miles of the coast of England, which hasn't been invaded since
1066 and is now in its greatest danger since that time; and this is no
time I fear, to force a great body of doctrine on Great Britain. God
knows I'm afraid some American boat will run on a mine somewhere in the
Channel or the North Sea. There's war there as there is on land in
Germany. Nobody tries to get goods through on land on the continent, and
they make no complaints that commerce is stopped. Everybody tries to ply
the Channel and the North Sea as usual, both of which have German and
English mines and torpedo craft and submarines almost as thick as
batteries along the hostile camps on land. The British Government (which
now issues marine insurance) will not insure a British boat to carry
food to Holland en route to the starving Belgians; and I hear that no
government and no insurance company will write insurance for anything
going across the North Sea. I wonder if the extent and ferocity and
danger of this war are fully realized in the United States?

"There is no chance yet effectively to talk of peace[99]. The British
believe that their civilization and their Empire are in grave danger.
They are drilling an army of a million men here for next spring; more
and more troops come from all the Colonies, where additional enlistments
are going on. They feel that to stop before a decisive result is reached
wou