In the war Page, unlike Wilson at first, saw above all an at tempt of Germany to grasp the hegemony of Europe and to substitute the Prussian conception of autocracy for the democratic ideal which he regarded as the true path of human progress. It was mainly this difference that caused the historic divergence between Page and Wilson. To the outside world Page maintained an attitude of strict neutrality ; in his private communications to the President, however, he made no secret of his complete sym pathy with the cause of the Allies and his general disagreement with the policy of the Administration. When the "Lusitania" was sunk, Page in his letters and cablegrams to Wilson strongly ad vocated an American declaration of war against Germany. He insisted then, as he did afterwards, that American intervention at that time would have brought the war to an early end with an Allied triumph. Page's great moment came on April 2, 1917, when President Wilson asked Congress to declare the existence of a state of war with Germany, and used arguments that Page had been forcing on his attention for two and a half years.
Page had never been in robust health ; and the anxieties and labours of a terrible period gradually exhausted him. He had
meditated resignation many times, and consented to remain only at the earnest request of President Wilson. In Aug. 1918, how ever, he became so ill that the President acquiesced in his retire ment. In early October he sailed on the "Olympic" and reached New York so weak that it was necessary to carry him from the ship. His one wish was to return to "the sand hills" of his early home in North Carolina. There he died on Dec. 21, 1918.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.—The chief authority on Page's career is B. J. Hendrick, The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page (2 vol., 1922 ; 3rd vol., 1925). The intimate papers of Colonel House (2 vol., 1926) and The Training of an American: The Earlier Life and Letters of Walter H. Page, 1855-1913 (1928) ; Viscount Grey, of Fallodon, Twenty-Five Years (2 VOL, 1925) are also valuable. The Rebuilding of Old Commonwealths (1902) gives in eloquent language Page's aspirations for the revitalization of the southern states. A Publisher's Confession (1905) gives his creed for his trade. In 1909 Page also published under the name of "Nicholas Worth" The Southerner, a semi-auto biographical novel interpreting his ideas on the South. Page's literary fame will rest on his letters. (B. J. H.)