Ambassador Reid writes to Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt a “letter of indiscretions” about English society life and the state of affairs in Europe. First, he reflects upon the precarious and sad position of the German Emperor William II, who keeps making blunders and “plunging from one extravagance to another” in hopes of making people forget about his last mistake by making new ones. Reid fears that some mistakes, like his asking France to apologize for a matter when he had already agreed to arbitration, could lead to war in Europe. Reid also updates Roosevelt about Walter Spencer Morgan Burns’s drinking problem, and the controversy surrounding the separation of the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, Charles Richard John Spencer-Churchill and Consuelo Vanderbilt Spencer-Churchill. King Edward VII has banned the Marlboroughs from Court until they live together again, but the Duchess is refusing to reconcile. Mrs. Reid’s private secretary, Helen Rogers, is recovering from surgery to remove her appendix. Reid has discussed having an American or Anglo-American Exhibition in a year or two, at the White City in Chicago. Mrs. Reid will be sailing in December to visit her father, but Reid cannot go because the State Department issued a circular instructing all Ambassadors to remain at their posts and not take further leaves of absence.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1908-11-12
