e seriously considered.

"If it holds out one chance in a hundred of lessening the length of the
war, we should entertain it," said Ambassador Jusserand.

"I certainly hope that you will entertain it cordially," said Mr.
Straus.

"Not cordially--that is a little too strong."

"Well, sympathetically?"

"Yes, sympathetically," said M. Jusserand, with a smile.

These facts were at once cabled to Page, who took the matter up with Sir
Edward Grey. A despatch from the latter to the British Ambassador in
Washington gives a splendid summary of the British attitude on such
approaches at this time.

_Sir Edward Grey to Sir Cecil Spring Rice_
Foreign Office,
September 9, 1914.

SIR:

The American Ambassador showed me to-day a communication that he
had from Mr. Bryan. It was to the effect that Mr. Straus and Mr.
Speyer had been talking with the German Ambassador, who had said
that, though he was without instructions, he thought that Germany
might be disposed to end the war by mediation. This had been
repeated to Mr. Bryan, who had spoken to the German Ambassador, and
had heard the same from him. Mr. Bryan had taken the matter up, and
was asking direct whether the German Emperor would accept mediation
if the other parties who were at war would do the same.

The American Ambassador said to me that this information gave him a
little concern. He feared that, coming after the declaration that
we had signed last week with France and Russia about carrying on
the war in common[100], the peace parties in the United States
might be given the impression that Germany was in favour of peace,
and that the responsibility for continuing the war was on others.

I said that the agreement that we had made with France and Russia
was an obvious one; when three countries were at war on the same
side, one of them could not honourably make special terms for
itself and leave the others in the lurch. As to mediation, I was
favourable to it in principle, but the real question was: On what
terms could the war be ended? If the United States could devise
anything that would bring this war to an end and prevent another
such war being forced on Europe I should welcome the proposal.

The Ambassador said that before the war began I had made
suggestions for avoiding it, and that these suggestions had been