The news in July 1915 that Henry James was contemplating becoming a British citizen was greeted by the New York Times with irritation that the writer should wish to make such a change and with certainty that he would decide, finally, to remain an American. Prior to any official announcement, the paper published an editorial under the title ‘Are We To Lose Henry James?’ There it lamented that although during the author's long exile in Europe ‘he has become thoroughly Anglicized in his tastes and his point of view’, it was nonetheless incredible that James should wish to perform such a public casting-off of what could now, after all, only be ‘the empty symbol of allegiance’. Conceding to a degree the viability of James's dissatisfaction with his native land (America's lack of commitment in the First World War – she would not participate until April 1917), the Times suggested that he nevertheless ought to feel proud of the relief work being undertaken by other (significantly) ‘real’ Americans. It concluded by predicting, more in hope than expectation, that the pull of the novelist's New World roots would ultimately prove more powerful than any lengthy process of Europeanisation: ‘he is, after all, of such American stock as few have cared to disown. We fancy the memories of his New England ancestry and its precious traditions will keep him with us, after all.’