Say this in unofficial terms to Mr.Lloyd George, but impress upon him its very great significance.

If the British Government should act successfully on this matter, our American citizens of Irish descent and to a great extent the German sympathizers who have made common cause with the Irish, would join hands in the great common cause." _To the President_ London, May 4, 1917.
DEAR MR.

PRESIDENT: ...

It is a remarkable commentary on the insularity of the British and on our studied isolation that till Mr.Balfour went over not a member of this Government had ever met a member of our Administration! Quite half our misunderstandings were due to this.
If I had the making of the laws of the two governments, I'd have a statutory requirement that at least one visit a year by high official persons should be made either way.

We should never have had a blacklist, etc., if that had been done.