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

304 INTIMATE PAPERS OF COLONEL HOUSE

peace-loving man and desired to do everything in his power
to prevent it, but popular feeling made it impossible.
'The President said: "Madison and I are the only two
Princeton men that have become President. The circumstances of the War of 1812 and now run parallel. I sincerely
hope they will not go further."
'I told the British Ambassador about this conversation.
He was greatly impressed, and said that in his cablegram to
Sir Edward Grey he would call attention not only to the
passage in the President's book, but to his comment to me
upon it.'
In view of the strong sympathy for the Entente cause in
the United States, the danger of an actual break was remote.
Both Wilson and Grey were convinced that the future welfare of the world depended upon Anglo-American friendship, and each was anxious to yield as much to the other
as might be necessary to assure it. But unless care were
taken, a point might be reached beyond which neither could
yield.
Ambassador Page in London had fortunately won the
respect and affection of the British, and negotiations were
always facilitated by the cordiality of the relations he maintained with the Foreign Office. On the other hand, he
suffered from the defects of his virtues, placing such value
upon Anglo-American friendship that he was not inclined to
present American protests with the emphasis desired at
Washington. Both Wilson and the State Department were
convinced that the avoidance of future trouble could best be
secured by letting the British understand clearly at the very
beginning that we regarded British Admiralty policy as
infringing our neutral rights and material interests.
Mr. Page looked at the problem in a different light. He
was willing to make allowance for the British restrictions on
trade, and he evidently felt that in comparison with the