The President seriously forebore, but the desire to mediate was constantly in his mind for the next few months, and he now interested himself in laying the foundations of future action.

Page was instructed to ask for an audience with King George and to present the following document: _From the President of the United States to His Majesty the King_ SIR: As official head of one of the Powers signatory to the Hague Convention, I feel it to be my privilege and my duty under Article 3 of that Convention to say to your Majesty, in a spirit of most earnest friendship, that I should welcome an opportunity to act in the interest of European peace either now or at any time that might be thought more suitable as an occasion, to serve your Majesty and all concerned in a way that would afford me lasting cause for gratitude and happiness.
WOODROW WILSON.
This, of course, was not mediation, but a mere expression of the President's willingness to mediate at any time that such a tender from him, in the opinion of the warring Powers, would serve the cause of peace.

Identically the same message was sent to the American Ambassadors at the capitals of all the belligerent Powers for presentation to the heads of state.

Page's letter of August 9th, printed above, refers to the earnestness and cordiality with which King George received him and to the freedom with which His Majesty discussed the situation.
In this exciting week Page was thrown into intimate contact with the two most pathetic figures in the diplomatic circle of London--the Austrian and the German Ambassadors.

To both of these men the war was more than a great personal sorrow: it was a tragedy.