ot.

It was explained to me by the members of the British delegation who
called on me, that the reason for this deception was that although
when Lloyd George got back to London he intended to make a statement
very favorable to peace with Russia, he found that Lord Northcliffe,
acting through Mr. Wickham Steed, the editor of The Times, and Mr.
Winston Churchill, British secretary for war, had rigged the
conservative majority of the House of Commons against him, and that
they were ready to slay him then and there if he attempted to speak
what was his own opinion at the moment on Russian policies.

MR. BULLITT RESIGNS

Senator KNOX. Mr. Bullitt, you resigned your relations with the State
Department and the public service, did you not?

Mr. BULLITT. I did, sir.

Senator KNOX. When?

Mr. BULLITT. I resigned on May 17.

Senator KNOX. For what reason?

Mr. BULLITT. Well, I can explain that perhaps more briefly than in any
other way by reading my letter of resignation to the President, which
is brief.

Senator KNOX. Very well, we would like to hear it.

The CHAIRMAN. Before that letter is read, you did not see the
President and had no knowledge of his attitude in regard to your
report?

Mr. BULLITT. None whatever, except as it was reported to me by Col.
House. Col. House, as I said before, reported to me that he thought in
the first place that the President favored the peace proposal; in the
second place, that the President could not turn his mind to it,
because he was too occupied with Germany, and finally--well, really, I
have no idea what was in the President's mind.

Senator KNOX. There never was another effort to secure an audience
with the President for you after those first two that you say Col.
House made?

Mr. BULLITT. No; not at all. Meetings with the President were always
arranged through Col. House.

In my letter of resignation to the President, which was dated May 17,
1919, I said:

MAY 17, 1919.

MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: I have submitted to-day to the
Secretary of State my resignation as an assistant in the
Department of State, attache to the American commission to
negotiate peace. I was one of the millions who trusted
confidently and implicitly in your leadership and believed
that you would take nothing less than "a permanent peace"
based upon "unselfish and unbiased justice." But our
Government has consented now to deliver the suffering