Chapter XIX. How the World Received the News

NATIONS PROSTRATE WITH GRIEF—MESSAGES FROM KINGS AND CARDINALS—DISASTER STIRS WORLD TO NECESSITY OF STRICTER REGULATIONS

YOUNG and old, rich and poor were prostrated by the news of the disaster. Even Wall Street was neglected. Nor was the grief confined to America. European nations felt the horror of the calamity and sent expressions of sympathy. President Taft made public cablegrams received from the King and Queen of England, and the King of Belgium, conveying their sympathy to the American people in the sorrows which have followed the Titanic disaster. The President’s responses to both messages were also made public.

The following was the cablegram from King George, dated at Sandringham:

"The Queen and I are anxious to assure you and the American nation of the great sorrow which we experienced at the terrible loss of life that has occurred among the American citizens, as well as among my own subjects, by the foundering of the Titanic. Our two countries are so intimately allied by ties of friendship and brotherhood that any misfortunes which affect the one must necessarily affect the other, and on the present terrible occasion they are both equally sufferers.
"GEORGE R. AND I."

President Taft’s reply was as follows:

"In the presence of the appalling disaster to the Titanic the people of the two countries are brought into community of grief through their common bereavement. The American people share in the sorrow of their kinsmen beyond the sea. On behalf of my countrymen I thank you for your sympathetic message.
"WILLIAM H. TAFT."

The message from King Albert of Belgium was as follows:

"I beg Your Excellency to accept my deepest condolences on the occasion of the frightful catastrophe to the Titanic, which has caused such mourning in the American nation."

The President’s acknowledgment follows:

"I deeply appreciate your sympathy with my fellow-countrymen who have been stricken with affliction through the disaster to the Titanic."