Colonel Roosevelt - Edmund Morris [367]
38 “All I would do” TR, Letters, 7.405. See King Henry IV, Part I, act 3, scene 1.
39 The most distinguished of them [Begbie], Mirrors of Downing Street, 61–69; Kenneth Young, Arthur J. Balfour: The Happy Life of the Politician, Prime Minister, Statesman, and Philosopher, 1848–1930 (London, 1962).
40 “predestined to succumb” Dugdale, German Diplomatic Documents, 2.54. In a letter written shortly before Balfour’s speech, Cecil Spring Rice cited Denmark, Holland, Belgium, and Italy as being especially nervous, along with Austria. “These small states … are useful indicators, like the birds which stir and fuss when the tiger is on the move.” Gwynn, Cecil Spring Rice, 2.145.
41 Was the Tory Shortly before leaving Germany, TR had told the German Chancellor that “The mood of the British was such that an unforeseen event might lead to war. He criticized very sharply in this connection Mr. Balfour’s famous election speech.” Bethmann-Hollweg memo, 14 May 1910, quoted in Dugdale, German Diplomatic Documents, 3.413.
42 “So it is” TR, Letters, 6.962–63.
43 “It would be a fitting” Young, Balfour, 283.
44 For some reason Although the Balfour memorandum was marked “Not sent to Roosevelt,” Young surmises that the proposal itself did reach TR. There is, however, no copy in TRP, and no sign of a reply from TR in either TRP or AJB. The copy seen by Young is cited only as being in a set of “Royal papers,” which supports the supposition that it was intended for Edward VII’s eyes. Its wording and topical references further suggest that it was prepared later in 1909 than Young assumes—possibly even in early 1910. Balfour may have intended discussing his plan orally with TR, when they met at Chequers. Unfortunately neither man, nor Arthur Lee (who was responsible for sending Balfour’s book to TR in 1908), left a record of what they actually did discuss that weekend.
45 Arthur Lee was delighted Lee, A Good Innings, 1.422; Gwynn, Cecil Spring Rice, 2.115; TR, Letters, 6.1241, 7.403. The ambassador’s other nightmares included Slavs advancing west and Huns advancing north. See Burton, “Theodore Roosevelt and His English Correspondents.”
46 “I never heard a man” J. S. Sandars to “E,” 29 May 1910 (AJB).
47 felt it his duty TR, Letters, 7.402–3.
48 He said he had just All quotations from TR’s Guildhall speech are taken from TR, African and European Addresses, 157ff. Extra details, including audience reaction, are from Manchester Guardian, 1 June 1910.
49 “This will cause” Lee, A Good Innings, 1.425. At one point in TR’s address, Balfour emitted “an audible ‘Haw haw!’ ”—presumably his Etonian way of enunciating “Hear, hear!” Otherwise, he and Grey presented stiff faces during the speech—Grey so much so that an American reporter was convinced that he disapproved. The foreign minister, however, later wrote: “I listened to it with a glow of satisfaction.” The New York Times, 1, 4 June 1910; Grey, Twenty-five Years, 2.91.
50 “I just love that man” Lee, A Good Innings, 1.425. See also Whitelaw Reid to Philander Knox, 31 May 1910 (WR): “Arthur Balfour and Lord Cromer made no secret of their delight.… Edward Grey was equally pleased (although under more necessity to conceal it).” TR was even franker to a group of Irish nationalist M.P.s, who met with him the following day and were disappointed to hear that he by no means favored Home Rule. “I think they were too lenient with you,” he genially informed Arthur Alfred Lynch, who had deserted the British army in South Africa but been forgiven by the British government. “If I had been in their place I would certainly have had you hanged.” Lee, A Good Innings, 1.426.
51 “Well, the attitude” TR to ABR, 3 June 1910 (ABRP).
52 Liberal newspapers The New York Times, 1, 3, 4 June 1910; Manchester Guardian, 1 June 1910. See also Literary Digest, 11 June 1910.
53 Conservative reactions TR,