September 5, 1918 
LAND 6? WATER 
The American Spirit : By Arthur Pollen 
THE worst of conventional politeness is that the 
words and phrases that express praise, con- 
gratulation, and regret, seem woefully hackneyed 
and inadequate when our sentiments are pro- 
foundly stirred and we would wish to express 
them with force and sincerity. Here, for example, we are 
somewhat stunned by hearing that Mr. Page is going. We 
are floored to sav how great his loss to us really is. In a sense, 
no doubt his work is so well done that another can take the 
place in which he has worn himself out in the service, not of 
his own country onlv, but of us all. He has been rightly 
called a "Great Ambassador." Yet no man, I am sure, ever 
came to this countrv with less expectation that his mission 
would make him famous. Mr. Page had remarkable gifts 
for a task none too easy in normal times — clear insight into 
complex problems, a well-balanced judgment, made keen by 
a wide business experience, an imperturbable urbanity, 
a command of vigorous and often beautiful and eloquent 
language. But these gifts had not made him one of the 
very conspicuous public men of America, nor would they 
have taken him to the highest place here had he not — in a 
strange and unexpected crisis' — been seized from the first by 
a true and sympathetic vision of the Allies' aim, an unwavering 
confidence in the great mission of his nation and, above all, 
a most courageous patience. Not in all the world was there 
a happier man nor one more greatly rewarded than he when, 
eighteen months ago, America went to war. Like the great 
majority of his countrymen, his posture as a neutral was 
his only insincerity. More than any Minister from America, 
he has been the Ambassador of the people, from the people, 
to the people. The United States Government has no means 
(jf rewarding its greatest servants. It gives neither pensions 
nor honours. But we know here, and. I think his country- 
men as well, that in the last four years the world has had few 
better or more useful citizens. Mr. Page has seen the begin- 
nings of the American victory in Europe, and the end of a 
quarrel that for a century and a half has kept the great 
twin families of the British race apart. Both are to a great 
extent his work. He is, at least, assured of the gratitude of 
those who know the value of these things. Mr. Page has 
tritimphed by sheer sincerity, deep faith, simple directness of 
method. He has made himself as great a European as he 
is a great American, and we can all be at one with the poet, 
" Our pictured story boasts no noblet Page." 
Perhaps the best comment on the Ambassador's work is 
the attitude of his countrymen towards the war. Readers 
of this journal will remember that, from the day when the 
Lusitania was sunk until Mr. Wilson made his last effort to 
bring the belligerents to the discussion of peace, it has never 
here been doubted, first, that the Americans woxild come 
into the war, and, next, that, once in, it would be impossible 
to get them out again until the Allied victory was complete. 
During the last few days we have had many and striking 
confirmations that the second of these forecasts was as 
accurate as the first. Mr. Gompers — a very welcome guest — 
speaks with no uncertainty as to the attitude of American 
labour. Senator Lewis, a very influential democrat — a visitor 
no less welcome — hesitates in this respect just as little as 
Mr. Gompers, or, indeed, Mr. Wilson himself. Cabot 
Lodge, the- veteran leader of the Republican Senators, has 
"set out terms of settlement that are quite uncompromising. 
From all over America there come reports that the leaders 
are, after all, only expressing the sentiments of the people. 
As for the spirit of the American Army and the American 
Fleet — the deeds of the fighting men speak more eloquently 
than any words. 
There are two observations which these new revelations 
of the American spirit make apposite. First, they should 
be of exceptional value in awakening Europe to the realities 
of the position. Next, that this chorus of encouragement 
coincides with so startling a change in the fortunes of 
war, should give new faith to the doubting and new courage 
to those who never lost their faith. 
Resolute from the First 
But let us not forget that, while these new proofs of the 
American spirit come to us at the same hour as the tale of 
our new successes in the field, this spirit is not the off- 
spring of these successes. I was in America a year ago, 
and was constantly struck by the fact thai, apart from a 
narrow group of somewhat over-precious thinkers, all America 
was unanimous that victory must be attained, whatever 
the sacrifke and whatever the difficulties. To my mind 
there was throughout tlie summer of 1917 but one cause of 
uncertainty. I'ntil the submarine menace was broken the 
American Army could not take the field. By the fourth 
week of September it seemed clear that this menace had 
been broken : and in an article to the New York Tribune, 
a-fter alluding to the immense value of the convoy principle 
in making this change, I went on to say that now, for the 
first time, there was a reasonable hope that Allied shipping 
would prove equal to bringing over the Allied army, and 
hence that military victory was assured. In other words, 
that we had reached the turning point of the war. 
This turning point had Come just when the Germans were 
despairing of victory. The Reichstag was passing its no 
annexation resolutions ; all the world was wondering whether 
anvthing would follow from the Vatican's suggestion for 
negotiation. The war news at the moment was good, 
but the peace news was better. Their message was identical, 
and while one did not mean that victory was near, nor did 
the other mean that peace might come soon. For peace 
could take but one form — surrender. Either the surrender 
of the German Army in the field or the surrender to humanity 
of the German people. A correspondent retorted that my 
alternative was preposterous. It might be possible to beat 
Germany, but peace surely — and a sufficient peace — could be 
got at a far less cost than this. My reply, written in 
October, 1917, reflected the sentiment of those I was 
with. 
" When Mr. Asquith said that Great Britain's sword hadnot 
been lightly drawn, nor would it be sheathed again till the 
military power of Prussia was broken, he said almost the 
first and certainly the last words that need be said about the 
ending of the war. The horror of a felonious outrage was 
fresh in all our consciences when these words were spoken. 
Prussia had struck because she believed she had the power 
to strike successfully. She had adopted the creed of force 
because she supposed that overwhelming force was hers. 
Might was right, because she possessed the might. 
"The Prussian failure can be turned to defeat now that 
America can take the field. ^ If the German people do not 
anticipate this, and voluntarily offer restitution and I'eparation, 
it means that the German people share the Prussian heresy, 
or are unable to combat it. If, after the war, the world is 
once more to become a community of nations, it cannot 
allow within that community a nation with beliefs like this. 
Germany, then, must be expelled from civilisation, just as 
assassins and cheats are expelled from society, or the German 
people must be cured. There is only one cure for the belief 
in force. The cure is a dose of the medicine they have 
brewed for us. 
" Their military defeat must be followed by unconditional 
surrender. That is by disarmament. If our judgment of 
the Germans, while stern and just, is yet impartial, we shall 
help them to regain their self-respect, and so make them good 
neighbours, "by forcing them, so far as material contributions 
can effect it, to undo the 'cruel wrongs they have committed. 
They cannot give us back the dead. They cannot replace 
priceless treasures of art and learning they have destroyed. 
But they can pension the wounded, compensate the bereft, 
rebuild, and restore. They are a hard-working and thrifty 
people, and could, 1 imagine, when saved the expense of an 
army, navy, and Imperial family, contribute four or five 
hundred million pounds sterling a year to effect these objects. 
And whether they are to pay for 50 years or for 100, 
depends upon how soon they see that pay ultimately they 
must. 
"These ideas seem fantastic to many now, because they 
simply do not believe that victory is possible. But those who 
are confident of victory need only to remember that con- 
querors do not negotiate and confer. They impose their will, 
and if at the end our will remains, as it was in the beginning, 
to break the military power of Prussia, there is but one way 
of doing it. The stages in the process are victory — disarma- 
ment — and then the long and painful process of restitution. 
"The crimes of Germany are the outcome of 50 years of 
materialist thinking, of military success, of absolutist tyranny. 
The occupation of a disarmed Germany by the Allied armies 
for a much shorter period than this would cure the people 
of that country of their mental and spiritual illusions. We 
can cure their minds. It is for themselves to change their' 
hearts." 
Arthur Pollen. 
