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136 24 English Leaders and English Ideas— I Visit South Wales. JUNE 16 I lunched today at White’s—one of the oldest clubs in London—with my friend Buckler to meet A. F. Whyte, M.P., editor of The New Europe, a weekly journal devoted to the discussion of European politics and especially the aspirations of the subject races of Austria and the Balkans. Mr. Whyte is quite a typical Englishman, serious and modest, and belonging to a group of men widely and vitally interested in world affairs—of a sort we have not yet developed in America since we are still an essentially isolated people. He is a Liberal in politics and one of a very small group in the House of Commons who stand quite solidly and frankly on President Wilson’s platform. We agreed that the most necessary thing at present was a definite commitment on the part of the Allies upon a program, which would include a League of Nations. If we should enter a peace conference now, the Allies would immediately split apart while Germany would continue to have a clear and unified purpose. If once the British government stood forth strongly upon a new idealistic basis, it would come near to uniting the liberal world; there is, indeed, evident just recently , a real awakening of interest in the discussion of the League of Nations. H. G. Wells’s book In the Fourth Year has had extraordinary reviews— extraordinary in length and extraordinary in the support his ideas have had, especially, of course, in the Liberal and Labour papers. While it is criticized in such Conservative papers as The Sunday Times, still, it is discussed. And now, Viscount Grey has just come out with a pamphlet, The League of Nations, in which he takes his stand strongly with President Wilson. I know that he has done this only after consulting with many of his friends and supporters so that the publication represents the considered movement of quite a group of English Leaders and English Ideas | 137 leading Liberals. Needless to say, Viscount Grey’s pamphlet will carry great weight, for he is becoming more and more to be looked upon as one of the most trusted leaders in England. E. T. Raymond says in an article in last week’s Everyman: “He stands for English justice, English moderation, English avoidance of extremes. The world knows exactly what he means when he speaks of a League of Nations—that he is neither chasing a sentimental will-o’-the-wisp or fashioning an instrument of permanent oppression for the defeated. . . .” I dropped in this afternoon for a call on Colonel Buchan, who was, as before , most cordial. He agreed with me that one of the most necessary things was to get a better interchange of liberal opinion between England and America . We talked chiefly of Lord Milner and I found that Buchan had been his private secretary in India and had the highest admiration for him. Said he had played a far greater part in the conduct of the war than most people realized, that he had been the chief instrument in bringing about unified military command in the person of General Foch. A strong administrator, an enthusiastic imperialist, Milner disliked politicians and he has never been popular with the British. He hated politicians and could not make a good speech for he had no patience with the platitudes that constitute the larger part of political oratory. The aspersions as to his German origin were ridiculous; his paternal grandmother was German (?) [sic] and he had been born in Germany, where his father was then a professor, but there was no more vital and thoroughgoing Englishman than he. He had been, as Alfred Milner, one of the most brilliant of Oxford students; though he had written nothing himself but the book on Egypt—“a classic”—he had inspired a whole group of young men, the Round Table group, with an unselfish interest in public affairs. He was the most unselfish and devoted of men with no idea but to serve the Empire and bring about a better world commonwealth. This is the view of a warm friend and supporter, though there can be no doubt that the respect for Milner as an administrator has been much increased of late. Colonel Buchan invited me to dinner to meet Lord Milner. I shall look forward to it with great pleasure. I dined with...

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