The intimate papers of Colonel House arranged as a narrative by Charles Seymour.

BRITISH DELIBERATION

277

quarrel must begin with a German attack upon France,
prefaced by the cynical and brutal onslaught upon Belgium.
Great Britain, committed to the defence of Belgium by legal,
and to that of France by moral, engagements, impelled by
her own national interest, could not stand aside. It was the
general war.
House reached Boston and went up to the North Shore
while the issue of the crisis was yet undetermined. He still
hoped that the assurances he had sent William II of British
good feeling might strengthen the Kaiser's peaceful inclination, and that England and Germany might work together
for a pacific solution, as they had in 1913. If only the British
had been less deliberate in their consideration of House's
proposals, an understanding might have been reached before
the murder of the Archduke.
Colonel House to the President
PRIDE'S CROSSING, MASSACHUSETTS
July 31, 1914
DEAR GOVERNOR:
When I was in Germany, it seemed clear to me that the
situation, as far as a continuation of peace was concerned,
was in a very precarious condition; and you will recall my
first letter to you telling of the high tension that Germany
and southern Europe were under.
I tried to convey this feeling to Sir Edward Grey and other
members of the British Government. They seemed astonished at my pessimistic view and thought that conditions
were better than they had been for a long time. While I
shook their confidence, at the same time I did not do it
sufficiently to make them feel that quick action was necessary; consequently they let matters drag until after the
Kaiser had gone into Norwegian waters for his vacation,
before giving me any definite word to send to him.
It was my purpose to go back to Germany and see the