r
Kent--these British are hell-bent on starving the Germans out, and
neutrals have mighty few rights till that job's done.

The worst of it is that the job won't be done for a very long time.
I've been making a sort of systematic round of the Cabinet to see
what these fellows think about things in general at this stage of
the game. Bonar Law (the Colonies) tells me that the news from the
Balkans is worse than the public or the newspapers know, and that
still worse news will come. Germany will have it all her own way in
that quarter.

"And take Egypt and the canal?"

"I didn't say _that_," he replied. But he showed that he fears even
that.

[Illustration: Herbert C. Hoover, in 1914]

[Illustration: A facsimile page from the Ambassador's letter of
November 24. 1916, resigning his Ambassadorship]

I could go on with a dozen of 'em; but I sat down to write you a
Christmas letter, and nothing else. The best news I have for you is
not news at all, but I conceive it to be one of the best hopes of
the future. In spite of Irishmen past, present, and to come; in
spite of Germans, whose fuss will soon be over; in spite of
lawyers, who (if left alone) would bankrupt empires as their
clients and think they'd won a victory; I'm going to leave things
here in a year and a half so that, if wise men wish to lay a plan
for keeping the peace of the world, all they need to do will be to
say first to Uncle Sam: "This fellow or that must understand that
he can't break loose like a wild beast." If Uncle Sam agrees (and
has a real navy himself), he'll wink at John Bull, and John will
follow after. You see our blackleg tail-twisters have the whole
thing backward. They say we truckle to the British. My plan is to
lead the British--not for us to go to them but to have them come to
us. We have three white men to every two white men in their whole
Empire; and, when peace comes, we'll be fairly started on the road
to become as rich as the war will leave them. There are four clubs
in London which have no other purpose than this; and the best
review[24] in the world exists chiefly for this purpose. All we
need to do is to be courteous (we can do what we like if we do it
courteously). Our manners, our politicians, and our newspapers are
all that keep the Engli