Colonel House to Woodrow Wilson

Hapgood sends a letter in which Josiah Wedgewood of London says:"I was glad to get the lives of Lincoln and Washington. Between ourselves I think Wilson is as much the greater man than Lincoln as Lincoln was to Washington. You do turn out some wonderful specimens of the race."You will remember Wedgewood as the man who outlined his idea of a peace settlement and which rather appealed to you at the time.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sir William Wiseman has reached London. He crossed on the St Louis and they were shelled by a submarine for an hour on Sunday. I asked him to urge his government to send the latest inside facts concerning the submarine situation, and I also asked him to let us know about the Irish settlement.

He says that "the War Cabinet have prepared a full memorandum upon the submarine situation and will cable it to Northcliffe for your information. The memorandum states that the situation is serious, but offers suggestion for fusion measures which may solve the problem."He has seen Plunkett, who is Chairman of the Irish Convention, and Plunkett tells him that he feels "a solution must be reached at almost any cost. He is interested to know that you are following developments with interest and sympathy. Sir Horace has promised to keep Wiseman confidentially posted.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I have a letter from Richard Washburn Child from TokyoJuly 13th in which he says:"Japan is at the parting of the ways. She must follow the spirit of our civilization or that of Germany. A sympathetic, but firm and frank attitude now will help her solve her perplexities in the right way. I fear this, though, as well as the stern realities about China are being missed by our representatives in the Far East."Child will be back about the middle of August.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Captain Gherardi of our Navy, formerly Naval Attache at Berlin, and the most capable man we had abroad during the war, writes that, in his opinion, "The war off the enemy coast (since it is impracticable to get to the coast line) is the war which will stop the submarine, and the appliances to be used are the net, the mine, the destroyer, the trawler and, when the enemy comes out, the big ships. The British should be forced to work too big plans. I have considerable faith in some of our people who are over there if they will not let themselves be dazzled by the past reputation of the British Navy. The British are great sailors, but for planning ahead, they have as yet to make a passable reputation."Magnolia, Mass.August 4, 1917.