The plan was to make it more than the mere observance of a hundred years of peaceful intercourse; it was the intention to use the occasion to emphasize the fundamental identity of American and British ideals and to lay the foundation of a permanent understanding and friendship.

The erection of a monument to Abraham Lincoln at Westminster--a plan that has since been realized--was one detail of this programme.

Another was the restoration of Sulgrave Manor, the English country seat of the Washingtons, and its preservation as a place where the peoples of both countries could share their common traditions.

Page now dared to hope that President Wilson might associate himself with this great purpose to the extent of coming to England and accepting this gift in the name of the American nation.

Such a Presidential visit, he believed, would exercise a mighty influence in forestalling a threatening European war.