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

292 INTIMATE PAPERS OF COLONEL HOUSE

been frequently put forward. It rests upon supposition or
prejudice, and not upon evidence. So much is plain from
House's account of his visit to the President's summer home
at Cornish at the end of August, 1914.. 'August 30, 1914: I was glad to find the President situated
so delightfully [recorded the Colonel]. The house reminds
one of an English place. The view is superb, and the arrangement and furnishings are comfortable and artistic. The
President showed me my room himself. It was the one Mrs.
Wilson used to occupy and was next to his, with a common
bathroom between. We are in one wing of the house and
quite to ourselves. A small stairway leads down to his study,
and it was there that we sat and discussed matters until after
one o'clock when lunch was announced.
'I told of my experiences in Europe and gave him more of
the details of my mission. He was interested in the personalities of the people who are the Governments' heads, and later
said my knowledge of these men and of the situation in
Europe would be of great value to him.
'The President spoke with deep feeling of the war. He
said it made him heartsick to think of how near we had come
to averting this great disaster, and he thought if it had been
delayed a little longer, it could never have happened, because
the nations would have gotten together in the way I had
outlined.
'I told in detail of my suggestion to Sir Edward Grey and
other members of the Cabinet, that the surest guaranty of
peace was for the principals to get together frequently and
discuss matters with frankness and freedom, as Great
Britain and the United States were doing. He agreed that
this was the most effective method and he again expressed
deep regret that the war had come too soon to permit the
inauguration of such procedure. He wondered whether
things might have been different if I had gone sooner. I