Cary T. Grayson Diary

Cary T. Grayson Diary

Grayson, Cary T. (Cary Travers), 1878-1938

WWP17191

1919 June 9

Cary T. Grayson Papers, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library, Staunton, Virginia

English

The President arose at his usual hour, and after breakfast worked for a short time in his study on a number of matters dealing with home affairs. He then went for a brief walk prior to the meeting of the Big Four. The Big Four session was enlivened by the receipt of an appeal from the Czecho-Slovak government for assistance in dealing with what was termed a new Hungary offensive against them. Bela Kahn, the leader of the Hungarian “Reds”, has refused to abide by the territorial limitations which have been imposed upon him as a result of the conferences of the Council of Foreign Premiers. His troops are attacking the Czecho-Slovaks. It was decided by the Council of Four to send a peremptory demand to Bela Kahn insisting that he immediately desist his aggressive tactics and agree to accept the mandate of the Peace Conference.

The President had lunch at his usual time with Mrs. Wilson, and afterwards went for a motor ride before resuming the afternoon conference. At the afternoon conference the German treaty was again taken up, and the President took sharp objection to the dilatory tactics which were put into force. He especially objected to the attitude of Lloyd George, which has been responsible for a good deal of the delay. The President very flatly told his colleagues that in his opinion the Council of Four was wasting as much time in considering the necessary amendments to the German treaty as they originally had in preparing the treaty.

The President went for a ride before dinner, returning to dine quietly with Mrs. Wilson and Miss Benham.

I had dinner tonight with Mr. Lloyd George at his Paris residence. Other guests included Mr. Bonar Law, Chancellor of the British Exchequer, General Sir Henry Wilson, Chief of Staff of the British Army; Sir Maurice Hankey, and Lady Hankey; Mr. Philip Kerr, Lloyd George’s secretary; Miss Stephenson, and Lloyd George’s daughter Megan, who is about fifteen years of age. Immediately upon my arrival Lloyd George took me through the house and showed me the paintings. As we sat down at the table, he said:

“This is a pleasure I have been looking forward to for a long time--to have you with me at dinner. I have had my friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Sir Henry Wilson, the directing spirit of the English Army, come into meet you.”

The British Premier inquired what part of Virginia I came from, but before I could reply he said:

-“Now, just a minute. I would guess that you come from the mountains.”

I replied: “Yes, I come from the shades of the Blue Ridge”.

He said: “Is that a pretty country?”

I answered: “The Blue Ridge Mountains and the blue skies and the blue grass is God’s own country.”

He said: “Do you know that is just the way I feel about my Welsh homeland.”

He continued: “Is your home near where Stonewall Jackson fought?” Then he talked at great length about Stonewall Jackson. “I think he is one of the greatest Generals who ever lived” he said. “I put him in the class with Hannibal, Caesar and Napoleon. I have read about him a great deal, while a man named Henderson wrote the best account of him that I have ever seen. Henderson also was about to write an account of the life of Robert E. Lee when he died. It was a great pity, because Lee was a great man. Why is it that the South seems to have had all the brilliant generals on its side. Never was a more magnificent or pluckier fight put up in the world’s history than those Southerners did. I have a great admiration for that great cavalryman of your country -Jeb Stuart. The Southerners fought against great odds, and it was because of their fighting blood that they outfought the Northerners. Those Scotch-Irish Presbyterians of the valley of Virginia were great fighters.”

The Premier then spoke of what a wonderful man Abraham Lincoln was. He wanted to know what the feeling in Virginia today was for Abraham Lincoln I told him thant, whenever a speech was made in which the name of Lincoln was mentioned, it would bring forth applause. He exclaimed:

“Isn’t that great!”

He wanted to know, since I was raised in the mountains, how it came that I had had a liking for the sea. I said: “Opposites often attract.” He wanted to know how old I was when I went into the Navy. I then gave him my experience the first time I had ever seen a battleship.

Upon my entrance into the Medical Corps of the Untied States Navy I received orders to join the U.S.S. MARYLAND at Greenport, on Long Island, or at whatever port she might be. I immediately proceeded to Greenport, which place I reached at about six o’clock in the afternoon. I at once inquired for the Battleship MARYLAND. No one had ever heard of her, but I was told that she might be somewhere up the way twenty or twenty-five miles from Greenport, Thereupon I made every effort to hire a sailing boat, but the best that could be done for me was to secure a boat at a cost of $25 for the trip. My financial condition would not permit of this, so I declined the offer. I proceeded to a small hotel, secured accommodations for the night, and next morning at sun up I walked around the town, after which I went to a livery stable and engaged a horse and buggy. My driver - a colored boy- was from Pwhatan County, Virginia. He was as black as midnight. The two of us stared out on a search for the MARYLAND. We drove all Sunday, and in the afternoon - Orient Point, Gardner’s Bay, I sighted a ship with four smoke-stacks, I took it for granted that this was my ship. I got in communication with the light-house keeper and made a bargain with him to pull me over in a row-boat to the MARYLAND for a dollar. I took the Powhatan negro with me. I did not want to take any chances with him on shore with the horse and buggy in case this was the wrong ship. So we hitched the horse to a tree, and stared out for the MARYLAND. When I climbed aboard her I was in civilian clothes, carrying my sword in my hand. My negro attendant climbed behind me with the suit-case, which contained my uniform frock coat. I was told to wear this coat when I reported for duty. I was promptly ushered by a marine into the quarters of the Captain-R. R. Ingersoll. He was seated at his desk writing. When I was announced to him, he looked around, without saying “good afternoon”, and bellowed out at me: “Why have you not reported here before this?” He was a big man and his voice was sharp and harsh, so that it affected my knees, causing them to tremble. I answered: “My orders did not demand it.” He replied, in a very harsh tone: “I know better. You should have joined this ship in Newport News.” I insisted that my orders did not demand it, and I suggested that he might wish to examine them. However, he did not seem to care to look at my orders. He said: “How did you find the ship any way?” I replied “With a horse and buggy.” That remark angered him and he said: “Look here, young man, I don’t want any fresh talk from you. This ship is anchored nearly four miles from the beach, and it is ridiculous for you to talk about locating it with a horse and buggy.” I said: “If you come to the port and look out, I will show you the horse and buggy tied to a tree. Furthermore, I will introduce you to my driver, who can vouch for this fact.” He was seated nearby, and when I offered to introduce him, he had every appearance of being afraid of assassination. After a cruise of over two years, the Captain and I parted in Shanghai. On leaving him he said to me: “When I become an Admiral and go on a cruise, I would like to ask you to go with me as my doctor.” During this period of two years, we had become good friends, and I replied: Tthat I appreciated his kind remarks, but I wanted to call his attention to one fact, and that was whether he could draw a mental picture of the temper of our meeting in Garrdner’s Bay and compare it with our separation in Shanghai, China.

Lloyd George laughed heartily at this.

He then discussed President Wilson and said: “I want to say to you that in all my dealings with men I never have found -- in fact, there can be no one anywhere in the world -- who is fairer and squarer to all parties than President Wilson. He is a man of tremendous ability and judgment and poise, a real statesman and one who seems to care nothing for politics. I have pointed out to him in considering several questions, how he could help himself politically through certain moves. He declared that they did not interest him at all. He is never swayed into taking a stand on some question that would benefit him politically. He is not like Gladstone. Gladstone was a statesman but also a politician. Wilson is a stateman and never a politician.”

A letter from Orlando was handed to Lloyd George at the table. He read it and said that there could be no settlement on the Adriatic question. Turning to me he remarked: “Don’t you want to communicate that to President Wilson.”

“I told him : “No; there is nothing to do about it tonight. I will give it to him the first thing in the morning.” Lloyd George then raised his finger declaring to the others at the table: -

“Ah, there is the doctor; he doesn’t want to interrupt his charge’s sleep with bad news. I think you are right. I agree with you.”

“He then added: “This decision, or lack of decision, on the part of the Italians is very serious, very serious indeed. I think your friend Colonel House, made a serious mistake by offering too much of a compromise through Mr. Gordon Miller. His action gave the Italians the idea that we were wobbling and not firm in our stand; it gave them encouragement to resist, and made them ‘cocky’. Now I think it means that we will have to proceed withoutthem, and we should use every effort to have an early peace with Germany. Italy is out of it from now on. However as long as America, England and France stand together, we can keep the world from going to pieces.”

He wanted to know how many Irishmen we had in America. I told him I thought about twelve millions. He then discussed the Irish people at considerable length insisting that it was impossible to do business with them. He was wondering he said, whether it would not be wise for England simply to sever all connection with them; to let them run themselves and a government of their own and to pay their own takes. Sir Henry Wilson and Mr. Bonar Law agreed with him it probably would be a good thing. Mr. Bonar Law said:

“I believe in a few years they would be on their knees begging for financial assistance.”

Mr. Lloyd George then said:

“Frankly, I do not know what to do with them. If you ask them to appoint a committee of five to discuss a matter, they fight over who will be named. They cannot agree among themselves even as to the personnel of a committee. President Wilson has been eminently fair every time any Irish question was mentioned to him.”

The President has studiously refrained at all times from taking any action that would seem to embarrass Lloyd George in connection with this Irish situation. The other day when he learned that the Senate probably would adopt a resolution asking that a hearing be granted the Irish-Americans, the President during a lull in the procedure, while Clemenceau and Orlando were debating certain things, said to them: “There is a matter I wish to discuss with the British Premier, and if you gentlemen will excuse us, we will go into the other room.” The President then took Lloyd George into an adjoining room and told him of the circumstances, and asked him whether it would embarrass him if the matter were to be brought up before the Big Four. Lloyd George told the President that he himself could not consent to hear the Irish in any way because were he to do so a Parliamentary cricsis would be precipitated in England and it would be very likely that the government would be overthrown. The President told him that he appreciated his position in the matter very much, and that in any action he would take, he would be careful not to embarrass the Premier.

Lloyd George asked Sir Henry Wilson who he thought would go down into history as the biggest General during this war. General Wilson answered: “General Foch.” Lloyd George said: “I am surprised to hear you say that.” General Wilson replied: “Well; who would you name? ” Lloyd George said: “ Joffre is the most popular; and -- I hate to say it -- but I believe that history will rank Hindenberg and Ludendorff pretty high. When Hindenberg smashed the Russian front he accomplished a big job.”

General Wilson said: “Well, I have seen Foch stand up and advocate a policy, with every one else opposed to him, and when the problem developed it turned out that Foch was right.” Lloyd George said: “Don’t you think it was a popular thing at the time Foch entered the war to take the opposite side from the majority?” Sir Henry Wilson replied: “Yes, but it turned out that Foch was right, and the mere fact that he was right shows that he is great.”

Lloyd George asked : - “Would you rank him with Hannibal, Caesar and Napoleon?”

Sir Henry replied: “No, not quite.”

“Would you put him in a class with Wellington?”

Sir Henry, after reflecting for a good while, said: “I think he is greater than Wellington.”

Lloyd George said: “I was at a public meeting the other night and Foch entered after every one had assembled and had been seated.. He was not greeted with any applause. He came in as an ordinary citizen and there was no enthusiasm whatever. I am told that at similar meetings when Joffre comes in they make considerable noise over him.” No one present at the dinner tried to explain this. As a matter of fact Joffre is the idol of the French people while Foch is considered by them as “very cold”.

Lloyd George said that the Italians and the Austrians did not know what it was to fight in this war. The really did not realize from a fighting standpoint what the war meant. He said: “When you recall what the French and the English and the Americans lost, the Italians have no idea what the fighting meant compared to that experienced by these three nations.”

I asked him what about the Italian Navy. He smiled and said: “They made a great record by staying in port; they never lost a ship and brag about it.” He added: “I am afraid the serious part is that, since they did not participate in the fight like England and France and America, they are now more inclined to plunge into war.”

Addressing himself to me, he said: “I have Cicero’s letters, and I think that you would like them. I would advise that you get them and read them. They are so natural and give you such vivid impressions of things that were happening in his time.

Upon leaving the table we went to the sitting room. He said to me: - “I understand you like music, so I have asked Miss Stephenson to come in and play on the piano for you. I think you would like to hear Sewanee River. I think the Southern songs are the sweetest in the world and love them best of all music. I suppose it would be appropriate in your case if she would play -- “Carry me back to Ole Virginny.” I said: “The absorbing question isn my mind to-day is - when I am going to back to Ole Virginny?” He replied: “I like you and do not want to part company with you, but believe the time will be here very soon. We must get this peace settled quickly. And I think we will.”

He continued: “I would like to visit Virginia some day. It is a part of the world that appeals to me very much.” I told him that we would give him a hearty welcome and would make him feel at home. He said: “Well, I may call on you later. You had better not be too free with your promises of your welcome, because I may accept. He asked Miss Stephenson to play-- “Missouri Waltz”-- which he said he thought was a very beautiful piece of music. He declared “I think you should have chosen ‘Dixie’ for your National Air.” He asked Miss Stephenson to play the Marseilles and the Russian National Air. He said: “Isn’t that solemn and doesn’t it stir you to the depths and inspire you?” Then he had her play some Welsh music. He said: “Oh, I am passionately fond of music; I love it; it is a great hobby with me. I do not think there are two men in England who love music more than Balfour and myself.”

Before leaving he called me to the side and said:

“I want to tell the morning that we should take precautions to have trains in readiness in case the German delegates do not sign in order that they may get back safely to Berlin; and also to have a train to bring all the English and American Officers out fo Berlin -- the two trains to meet, say at Coblenz. While I do not anticipate any mob violence, it would be very embarrassing if our officers or your officers in Berlin were taken prisoners.”

I asked: “Do you think the Germans will not sign?”

He said: “No, I think that they will sign.”

Mr. Lloyd George continued: “Mr. Clemenceau told me (Lloyd George) that he had almost positive proof that the Italians were dickering with the Germans, through Versailles to Berlin. If we can prove this it will put the Italians in a very difficult situation.”

Mr. Bonar Law agreed that no further negotiations were possible with the Italians. He thought their refusal to accept the latest proposals ended the controversy. He said: “I think President Wilson has gone as far as his conscience would allow in the matter.”Mr. Bonar Law and I walked out together, and just as he bade me good-night, he said: “As long as America, England and France stand together - which they must - they can steady the rest of the world.”

Diary