File No. 763.72119/970
The Ambassador in Great Britain ( Page) to the Secretary of State
[Received 7.57 p.m.]
7846. The daily press of the Kingdom, except a few papers like the London Daily News which is almost Socialist and the Manchester Guardian, deprecates and severely criticises Lord Lansdowne’s letter about peace.2 Public opinion in Government circles is surprised and shocked. Pacifists and semipacifists and a war-weary minority approve it but I think this minority is very small.
The hope and expectation of victory is, so far as I can judge, as strong as at any time since the war began, because our coming in is regarded as more than an offset to Russia’s failure and Italy’s misfortune.
[Page 328]What seems to me to be the best British opinion is that the Lansdowne letter will turn to be a passing sensation here though it is feared that it may have a considerable effect in buoying up war spirit in Germany and in weakening the Allies’ cause in neutral countries.
Lord Lansdowne’s old friends and associates say that his feeble health and the deep depression caused by loss his son who was killed in action have led him into an ill-considered utterance. His opponents say it is a display of characteristic weakness.
- Published in the London Daily Telegraph, Nov. 29.↩