CHAPTER XXIX

MR. THEODORE ROOSEVELT *

I

AS POLICEMAN AND AS GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK STATE

LONG before Mr. Roosevelt became famous I

knew him; and during the height of his fame; and now that it seems, for the moment, a little obscured I think I may set down a few impressions. We were told here that, since the unhappy results of his attempt in the autumn of 1910 to resume control of the Republican Party, he had been laid gently on the shelf, and that the American people were willing he should rest for a time from his arduous labours in their behalf. But the English who have seen something of Mr. Roosevelt seem to doubt whether he will ever be content with a shelf as an arena for his quenchless energies, or ever consider himself in need of a rest. Said Carlyle of Bismarck, in 1866, after he had brought Austria to her knees:

"He is the only man who has been appointed by God Almighty his Vicegerent here on this earth, and knows that he has been appointed."

I am very far from meaning to suggest that any parallel can be drawn between the creator of the German Empire and Mr. Roosevelt. It is however possible that the ex-President, while he was President or even before and since, conceived that his mission,

*The first four of these Roosevelt papers were written in August, 1911; the last two in November and later.

or commission, was apostolic. Even in England he thought it his duty to preach the gospel to the heathen. He would not have been rude enough, to describe his admiring hosts as heathen, and he did not. But it was felt that, to Mr. Roosevelt's mind, the heathen were, and always are, those who did not agree with him, or did not act as he would have them. But I must leave England till its turn comes.

My experiences of Mr. Roosevelt relate largely to his official life; necessarily, since till he ceased to be President he had been almost continuously in public life for near thirty years. But they will be personal reminiscences and impressions; not historical. As I was abroad during his legislative and Civil Service career, I begin with 1895-7: the years during which he was President of the New York City Police Board. He said to me one evening:

"Come to the Police Head-quarters to-morrow morning at eleven. We are going to hold one of our weekly courts, and you might like to see how the police Commissioners administer justice on their own men."

It was interesting enough; perhaps chiefly interesting to a lawyer from the disregard of legal methods and of the ordinary rules of evidence. Mr. Roosevelt had his own rules for getting at the truth, but the truth and only the truth was what he wanted to get at; and perhaps generally did. His intuitions were almost feminine; his fairness was conspicuous; and mercy went with justice; a much-needed handmaid. When we left the court-room for luncheon, on foot and at race-track speed, I asked Mr. Roosevelt whether he found police work interesting.

"Interesting? I've never had such fun in my life.” "Fun." That struck a keynote. Much later, and in very grave circumstances, Mr. Roosevelt

showed himself capable of taking humorous views of affairs, and of extracting fun from them. Whether his fellow Commissioners got as much fun as he did out of it may be doubtful. He treated them with civility, with consideration, but the opinion he respected was his own.

New York had experience of this respect for his own opinion in very serious matters; some of them serious enough to interest Europe, and to fill much space in The Times. In the midst of one such crisis I went to Oyster Bay for the week-end. Sagamore Hill was not then so large a house as it is now, nor had Oyster Bay become a world-famous name. One important English journal believed it to be in Florida. The charm of it, apart from pleasant scenery, was its simplicity; an American, or what Jefferson would have called Republican, simplicity. Mrs. Roosevelt ruled over it with a gentleness, a composure, which more or less disguised the firmness beneath. I heard it said long afterward that hers was the influence which weighed most with her husband; at critical moments and in the ordinary course of life. I can well believe it. Later, and in far other circumstances, the atmosphere of Oyster Bay was to be breathed in the White House.

I should say, though probably I ought not, that throughout his public life and in all his intercourse with all sorts and conditions of men, it was Mr. Roosevelt's aim to convince them that his and their views of social life were on a level. The fact remained that he was born and bred what is called a gentleman. I do not mean to suggest that he sought to disguise it. What he sought, or what he suggested, consciously or unconsciously, was the essential oneness of all honest and honourable men, to whatever station in life they

had been called. Neither riches nor social rank counted. What counted was the manliness of the man. Given that, he could accept-I had almost written tolerate-much. At Oyster Bay he had something to accept. For one reason or another uncongenial personalities were to be met there, and therefore it was that I then had the chance of observing the large Democracy in his character and nature. He cared little or nothing for mere observances from those who were in a different class. But let a man in his own class forget himself and he was quickly reminded of his lapse. Not long after he had been chosen Governor such a man, a friend, hailed him in a New York club: "How are you, Teddy!" There came a look into Mr. Roosevelt's eyes which induced his friend to add: "I beg your pardon; I mean Governor." Whereas from the multitude he seemed to regard "Teddy Teddy" as a term of affection, or perhaps of respect.

At Oyster Bay he came into the room where I was looking over a completed cable dispatch to The Times. It related to a subject we had been discussing, and I saw what I thought an inquiring look in his eyes, and answered, Yes, it does." As the look of inquiry persisted, I said:

"It's rather against rules but there's really no reason why you shouldn't read it if you care to.' And he did; handing it back with the remark: "But your point of view is very American."

Why else do you suppose The Times chose an American as its American representative? It's the American point of view they want. No other could be of so much use to them."

Which I thought obvious, but it seemed slightly to surprise Mr. Roosevelt at that time.

His belief in himself and in his own opinion was presently to become so familiar to the American people that it is needless to dwell on it. But his friends first knew how complete it was when he threw up his Assistant Secretaryship of the Navy to enlist his regiment of Rough Riders and take them to Cuba for what we called the Spanish War. All his friends advised him against it and told him he was sacrificing his future; the prophetic vision not being theirs. He answered:

"If I believed it would end my career I should none the less go. I have urged on this war. If I should stay in Washington while it is fought I should be disgraced; I should be ridiculous."

And thus it was that he came to be the historian of those military excursions in Cuba, and to give Mr. Dooley the opportunity of writing his masterpiece on Teddy Alone in Cuba; with a lunch at the White House as his reward. For "Teddy's " temper was proof against the Irishman's "fun."

However, in those days the American people took serious views of the Spanish War and have had occasion to take serious views since; and of Mr. Roosevelt as Governor of New York and President; a child of the War. Some time after he had been installed as Governor I spent two or three days with him at Albany in that "Executive Mansion " which the State provides as a residence for its Chief Magistrate. Mrs. Roosevelt was away and my hostess was a young lady whose name has since floated round the world; then a girl of fifteen, with a brilliant manner and a friendly conception of her duty to her father's guests which captivated them all. Even in her early girlhood Miss Alice Roosevelt was very competent, thoughtful, picturesque, with an inexhaustible stock of pleasant