breach with Germany on account of the torpedoing of her ships and
loss of her citizens' lives, she was the greatest material sufferer
from German submarine aggression; if Latin America in general
maintained at that date, and still in some sections maintains,
diplomatic relations with the Central Powers, it is largely because
they have endured no specific injury at German hands. Few Latin
American States possess a merchant marine traversing the sea danger
zones. But the entry of the United States was regarded with warm
approval; her cause was acknowledged to be just and the Latin
American press reflects nothing but admiration for her step. The
Republics of Cuba, Panama, Guatemala, Honduras, and in an informal
manner, Costa Rica, as well as the more or less American-controlled
Nicaragua, Haiti and Santo Domingo, quickly aligned themselves
with the United States, with whose fortunes their own are closely
connected.
Brazil, revoking her decree of neutrality in June, 1917, was perhaps
influenced to some degree by the action of the United States, but
she had her own specific reason in the sinking of three of her merchant
vessels by German submarines; Brazil possesses an enterprising and
good mercantile marine, has been carrying coffee and frozen meat
to Europe during the war and her ships have thus been constantly
exposed to risk. The sinking of her vessels raised a storm of anger,
the popular voice warmly supporting the acts of the government.
Nor is the alignment of Brazil a mere declaration; she has taken
over the forty-six German and Austrian ships lying in her ports,
and much of this tonnage, totaling 300,000 tons, is already in
service after three years' idleness, two of the vessels having been
handed over to the use of the Allies. Brazil is also taking over
the patrol of a big strip of the south-western Atlantic with fifteen
units of her excellent navy.
Bolivia was another South American country which quickly followed
the United States in breaking relations with Germany, and this was
done not because Bolivia had suffered at the hands of the Teutonic
powers but because she "wishes to show her sympathy with the United
States and felt it the duty of every democracy to ally itself with
the cause of justice." With no coast and therefore no mercantile
marine, Bolivia is however greatly interested in the shipments of
rubber and minerals which she sends abroad and some of which have
been sent to the bottom of the sea by torpedoes; her sympathies
with the Entente Allies are undoubted.
On October 6 relations with Germany were broken by Peru, the
determining factor being the torpedoing of the Peruvian vessel
"Lorton;" on October 7 the National Assembly of Uruguay voted for
a break with Germany, thus completing the attitude which she had
frankly declared many months previously, when she protested against
Germany's methods in submarine warfare. Paraguay, although still
formally neutral, has expressed her sympathy with the United States.
Before I pass to a few quotations from Latin American sources on
the subject of their spirit, it is well to look across the seas
to the Mother Countries, whose sentiments and actions have more
effect upon Latin America than is always remembered. There is, for
instance, no doubt that the entry of Portugal into the war on the
side of her ancient ally, England, profoundly affected the Brazilian
mind; the friendship between England and Portugal dates from 1147,
and an unbroken political treaty has lasted since 1386--the longest
in history;
[An English poet wrote in the Fourteenth Century:
"Portingallers with us have troth in hand
Whose marchindise cometh much into England.
They are our friends with their commodities
And we English passen into their countries."]
Brazil as the child of Portugal inherited the English good feeling,
her independence from the Mother Country was effected without any
prolonged bitterness, and with the actual assistance of England.
When, then, Brazil saw the people sprung from the cradle of her
race fighting side by side with the ancient friend of both she was
deeply stirred. Portuguese merchants prosper in large numbers in
Brazil, Portuguese news daily fills space in the Brazilian newspapers;
the cry of that great Portuguese, Theophilo Braga, found echoes in
many a gallant Brazilian heart:
"And with what arms shall Portugal engage,
So little as she is, in such great feats?
They call on her to play a leading part
Who know that in the Lusitanian heart
Love beats!"
In a corresponding degree there seems to be little doubt that the
neutral attitude which Spain has maintained is partly responsible
for the neutrality of several South American countries; they do not
forget the bloody years of struggle before they attained independence
from Spain, but they are wise enough to differentiate between the
policy of Ferdinand VII and the heart of Spain. Dr. Belisario
Porras, the ex-President of Panama, and a distinguished scholar
and writer said in May, 1917:
"For us of Central and South America, Iberianism is a matter
of sentiment, affection and veneration, not a matter of politics.
Spain is our Mother Country, whence we came, where the names we
bear are also borne, where the memories and ashes of our ancestors
are guarded, of whose deeds we are proud, whose tongue we speak,
whose religion we share, whose heroic character and customs we
admire.... Spain is our pole star, the star to which we raise our
eyes when we are despairing and when we face a sacrifice for God,
for a woman, a child, or our country."
Spain has had, of course, up to the present, no direct national
injury to resent; she has on the other hand several reasons for
remaining politically neutral and can at present do so with honor;
although she is weak and poor, still exhausted by the long conflicts
of her past, without resources, without any notable strength in army
or navy, she is serving as an indispensable channel of communication.
She, as well as many South American countries, can best aid the
world by concentrating upon production; in addition to this, she
is, in company with Holland, rendering excellent service in feeding
unhappy Belgium, replacing American workers.
Spain is not intellectually neutral or unmindful of the effect of
her attitude upon Latin America, and this is shown by the number of
newspapers on the Allies' side, as "La Epoca" and "La Correspondencia
de España." An immediate response was given to the pro-Ally
utterances of the Conde de Romanones, who said on April 17:
"Spain is the depository of the spiritual patrimony of a great
race. She has historical aspirations to preside over the moral
confederation of all the nations of our blood, and this hope will
be definitely destroyed if, at a moment so decisive for the future
as this, Spain and her children are shown to be spiritually divorced."
If Spain fails in leadership the love of Latin America for France
will be the more emphasized, is the conclusion one draws from the
speeches and writings of Ibero-America. The degree to which South
America feels herself involved in the fate of France is displayed
in such dicta as this of Victor Viana, a Brazilian writer:
"In the great Latin family, France is the educator, the leader,
the example, the pride. Thus Brazil, in common with all Latin
countries, seeing in France the reservoir of mental energy, constantly
renewed by her splendid intellectuals, has as much interest in the
victory of French arms as France herself. The overthrow of France
would have produced a generation of unbelievers and skeptics,
and we, in another clime and a new country, should not have been
able to escape this influence, because we share all the movements
of French thought. The reaction of French energy which created
the present generation spread throughout Brazil new sentiments of
patriotism.... The entire world, except naturally the combatants
on the other side, recognize the justice of the cause of France, which
is the cause of all the other Allies, of Belgium which sacrificed
herself, of England which pledges her all to save the right, of
the United States, of the entire Americas."
While I have been writing these notes the political situation of
Argentina in regard to the war has suddenly crystallized; extending
over several months there has been a series of submarine attacks
upon vessels of Argentina, indignant protests in each case being
met by apologies and promises of indemnity on the part of Germany.
There has been much irritation in spite of these promises, cumulative
irritation, which however might have remained submerged had it not
been for the revelations of the acts of Count Luxburg, which have
made the expression "spurlos versekt" a byword. This exhibition
of callous plotting against Argentine lives immediately resulted
in the handing of passports to the German Ambassador to Argentina,
and during the third week in September both houses of Congress voted
by large majorities for a severance of relations with Germany. That
this step was not, at the moment, consummated, was due to President
Irigoyen's wish to accept the satisfaction offered by Germany; but
the sentiments of Argentina as a whole have been fully demonstrated.
Their action plainly showed the temper of the Argentine people,
who have certainly never been unsympathetic to the Entente Allies'
cause although they have shown some restiveness under rather
tactless attempts on the part of a section of the United States
press to tutor them into line. The best thought of Argentina has all
along been with the Allies and this is exemplified by an article,
"Neutrality Impossible," widely published and applauded in June
of this year by the brilliant Argentine writer and poet Leopoldo
Lugones:
"Inevitably War knocks at our door. We are compelled to make a
decision. Either we must respect the integrity of our past in the
name of the American solidarity which is the law of life and honor
for all the nations of the continent, revealing at the same time
intelligence with regard to our own future, or we must submit
ourselves, grossly cowardly, to the terrorism of despots."
CUBA
The United States broke relations with Germany on April 6. On
April 7 Dr. José Manuel Cortina, speaking before the Cuban House
of Representatives, when the decree of war against Germany was
passed, said:
"We have resolved to give our unanimous and definite consent to
the proposition submitted to the House to declare a state of war
between the Republic of Cuba and the German Empire, and to join,
in this great conflagration of the world, our efforts to those of
the United States of North America. We fight in this conflict,
which will decide the trend of all morality and civilization in
the universe, united tot he great republic which in a day not long
distant drew her sword and fired her guns over Cuban fields and
seas in battle for our liberty and sovereignty. We go to fight as
brothers beside that great people who have been ever the friends
and protectors of Cuba, who aided us during the darkest days of
our tragic history, in moments when opposed by enormous strength,
we had nearly disappeared from the face of the earth, when we had
no other refuge, no other loyal and magnanimous friend than the
great North American people."
HAITI
Speech of the President of Haiti, M. Philippe Sudre Dartiguenave,
on May 12, previous to Haiti's breach with Germany:
"What cause could be more holy than that defended at this moment,
with unanimous and admirable enthusiasm by the people of the
United States, by Cuba, by a great deal of Latin America, in moral
cooperation with the Entente Powers! At Savannah, we fought with
the soldiers of Washington for the independence of the country of
Franklin, of Lincoln, of John Brown.... At the cry of distress
of Bolivar, did we not throw ourselves into the South America's
struggle for independence? The task before us in this supreme moment
is worthy, glorious, because it is that of international justice,
the liberty of nations, of civilization, of all Humanity."
CENTRAL AMERICA
As we have seen above, four of the Central American Republics have
aligned themselves with the United States since her entry into
the war, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras breaking off diplomatic
relations with Germany very shortly after the definite action of
the United States was known, the statement of Don Joaquin Mendez
representing the prevalent feeling: "The rupture has aligned Guatemala
'ipso facto' with those who are the defenders of the modern ideas
of democracy and freedom." Small in size and limited in resources,
it is not likely that any active part will be taken by Central
America in the war; she is removed from the most dangerous zones
and will not suffer, it is to be hoped, more than the inevitable
and temporary economic embarrassments due to dislocation of the
world's industrial systems. But her spirit is reflected in such
announcements as this notice from the front page of a little daily
paper published in S. Pedro Sula, Honduras:
"This periodical is Latin and as such professes its sympathy in
favor of the Allied nations now struggling so nobly in defense of
Liberty with, as their aim, the establishment of a lasting peace
which will render impossible the future development of schemes of
conquest."
The position of Costa Rica, informally aligned with the Allies and
the United States, is peculiar in that she cannot formalize her
position until her new government has received the recognition of
these countries. Don Ricardo Fernandez Guardia, the foremost writer
of Costa Rica, says that, "The fact that we have offered the use of
our ports, since April 9, 1917, to the navy of the United States,
undoubtedly constitutes a breach of neutrality, and in consequence
Costa Rica considers herself as enlisted in the ranks of the Allies
'de facto.' There is an overwhelming sentiment of sympathy with
the Allies both on the part of the government and the great majority
of the people of Costa Rica."
Panama, immediately following the news of the United States' breach
with Germany, declared herself "ready to do all within her power
to protect the Panama Canal"; Uruguay, although making no breach of
relations with the Central Powers, supported United States action
and denounced submarine warfare as carried on by Germany; Paraguay,
too, expressed her sympathy with the United States which she said
"was forced to enter the war to establish the rights of neutrals."
Thus the only Latin American nations which have rigidly preserved
a neutral attitude are Mexico, whose own internal problems form an
entirely sufficient reason; Ecuador, Venezuala and Colombia. They
are still political neutrals, but no one who knows the Latin soul
can doubt that there is in each of these lands a strong feeling
of admiration for the vindication of Latin elasticity which France
and Italy and Portugal have show, and for the dogged might of England
whose naval skill has prevented the strangulation of the commerce
of the world; in this matter all these lands are interested, since
all are raw-material producers shipping their products abroad. This
sentiment was concisely expressed by Ruy Barbosa, the Brazilian
orator, when on August 5 the "Liga pelos Alliados" held a meeting
of "homage to England" on the third anniversary of her entry into
the war, and he declared it "an honor and pleasure to salute the
great English nation to whom we owe in this war the liberty of the
seas and the annihilation of German methods upon the ocean, without
which European resistance to the German attack and the preservation
of the independence of the American continent would be impossible."
Nothing would, I think, be more improper than that any nation
should be urged to enter the war against her own feelings; but for
those who have taken or may yet take that step there is one very
high consideration which cannot be forgotten--the effect upon the
national spirit of To-morrow of a gallant and decisive attitude
Today. Who has more finely expressed this sense of the formation
of the heritage of ideas than the modern Portuguese poet Quental?
Even as the winds the pinewood cones down cast
Upon the ground and scatter by their blowing
And one by one, down to the very last,
The seeds along the mountain ridge are sowing.
Even so, by winds of time, ideas are strewn
Little by little, though none see them fly--
And thus in all the fields of life are sown
The vast plantations of posterity.
["Odes Modernas, by Anthero de Quental, translated by George Young.]
[signed] Lilian E. Elliott.
October 20, 1917.
Drill
Williams College, April, 1917
One! two, three, four!
One! two, three, four!
One, two!...
It is hard to keep in time
Marching through
The rutted slime
With no drum to play for you.
One! two, three, four!
And the shuffle of five hundred feet
Till the marching line is neat.
Then the wet New England valley
With the purple hills around
Takes us gently, musically,
With a kindly heart and willing,
Thrilling, filling with the sound
Of our drilling.
Battle fields are far away.
All the world about me seems
The fulfillment of my dreams.
God, how good it is to be
Young and glad to-day!
One! two, three, four!
One, two, three!...
Now, as never before,
From the vastness of the sky,
Falls on me the sense of war.
Now, as never before,
Comes the feeling that to die
Is no duty vain and sore.
Something calls and speaks to me:
Cloud and hill and stream and tree;
Something calls and speaks to me,
From the earth, familiarly.
I will rise and I will go,
As the rivers flow to sea,
As the sap mounts up the tree
That the flowers may blow--
God, my God,
All my soul is out of me!
God, my God,
Your world is much too beautiful! I feel
My senses melt and reel,
And my heart aches as if a sudden steel
Had pierced me through and through.
I cannot bear
This vigorous sweetness in your air;
The sunlight smites me heavy blow on blow,
My soul is black and blue
And blind and dizzy. God, my mortal eyes
Cannot resist the onslaught of your skies!
I am no wind, I cannot rise and go
Tearing in madness to the woods and sea;
I am no tree,
I cannot push the earth and lift and grow;
I am no rock
To stand unmovable against this shock.
Behold me now, a too desirous thing,
Passionate lover of your ardent Spring,
Held in her arms too fast, too fiercely pressed
Against her thundering breast
That leaps and crushes me!
One! two, three, four!
One! two, three, four!
One, two, three!...
So it shall be
In Flanders or in France. After a long
Winter of heavy burdens and loud war,
I will forget, as I do now, all things
Except the perfect beauty of the earth.
Strangely familiar, I will hear a song,
As I do now, above the battle roar,
That will set free my pent imaginings
And quiet all surprise.
My body will seem lighter than the air,
Easier to sway than a green stalk of corn;
Heaven shall bend above me in its mirth
With flutter of blue wings;
And singing, singing, as to-day it sings,
The earth will call to me, will call and rise
And take me to its bosom there to bear
My mortal-feeble being to new birth
Upon a world, this world, like me reborn,
Where I shall be
Alive again and young again and glad and free.
One! two, three, four!
One! two, three, four!
One, two, three!...
All the world about me seems
The fulfillment of my dreams.
[signed] Salomon De La Selva.
The People's Struggle
"Let no free country be alien to the freedom of another country."
"Portugal is going solemnly to affirm on the field of battle her
adhesion to this precept, though uttered by German lips. In defense
of it, Portuguese will fight side by side with Englishmen, as they
fought with them at Aljubarrota, side by side with Frenchmen, who
fought with them at Montes Claros. Were it necessary to appeal
to a motive less disinterested than the noble ideal proclaimed by
Schiller, we have this: the payment of an ancient debt to which
our honor binds us. Let us go forward to defend territories of
those who defended ours, let us maintain the independence of nations
who contributed to the salvation of our own independence.
"But the objective is a higher one, I repeat. This has been made
quite clear within the last few months, through the revolution in
Russia, the participation of the United States, and the solidarity,
more or less effective, of all the democracies. It is the people's
struggle for right, for liberty, for civilization against the dark
forces of despotism and barbarism. Portugal would betray her historic
mission were she now to fold her arms, the arms which discovered
worlds. When the earth was given to man, it was not that it should
be peopled by slaves. The sails of Portuguese ships surrounded
the globe like a diadem of stars, not as a collar of darkness to
strangle it."
Henrique Lopes De Mendonca
of the Academy of Science of Lisbon, speaking at Lisbon in May,
1917.
Translation by L. E. Elliott.
Portugal
Lisbon, 18th August, 1917
I have received your letter of August 2nd, in which you ask me, as
representing Portugal, to send a message to the American people to
be printed in the book "Defenders of Democracy," and state that a
distinguished Portuguese official has been good enough to mention
my name to you as that of "an authoritative writer on Portuguese
affairs."
I am sensible of the honor done me, but not being a citizen of
Portugal, I dare not presume to speak for that country.
A foreigner however, with friends in both the camps in which
Portuguese society is divided, may perhaps be able to state some
facts unknown to the American public and of interest at the present
time.
And first let me remark that the entry of America into the war,
which is a pledge of victory for the Allies, has been a surprise
and a relief to the Portuguese, who are by nature pessimists. We
Anglo-Saxons are considered to be mainly guided in our conduct by
material considerations--did not Napoleon call the English "a nation
of shopkeepers"?--and the saying "Time is money" is frequently
quoted against us; hence hardly any Portuguese imagined that America
would abandon the neutrality which seemed commercially profitable,
and even after the decision had been taken, few though that the United
States were capable of raising a large army and of transporting it
overseas.
Now that America and Portugal are fighting side by side, in a
common cause, it is well that they should understand one another.
For all their differences of race, religion and language, their
ideas are similar. The Portuguese being kindly, easy-going folk,
hate militarism and the reign of brute force which is identified
with German "Kultur." As they prize their independence and know
their weakness, both inclination and necessity lead them to the
side of the powers who may be supposed to favor the continuance
of their separate existence and the retention by them of their
colonies; as they have a keen sense of justice, and respect their
engagements, they feel and have shown their sympathy with violated
and outraged Belgium and with the other victims of German aggression.
Why then, it may be asked, did they not support whole-heartedly
the Government of the Republic when it determined to take part in
the war? The answer is simple.
They felt that their first duty was to protect their colonies,
threatened by the enemy, and that in a war where the combatants
are counted by millions, the small contingent that Portugal could
furnish would be of little weight on the battlefields of Europe.
Unless treaty obligations and considerations of honor forced them
to be belligerents, they considered that as Portugal was poor and
had relatively to population almost the heaviest public debt of
any European Country, they ought to remain neutral--that this view
was mistaken is daily becoming clearer to them, thanks in part
to the propaganda of the Catholic paper "Ordem" and the official
Monarchist journal "Diario Nacional," which have insisted as
strongly as the Republican press on the necessity of Portuguese
participation in the war, in accord with her ancient traditions. He
who risks nothing, gains nothing. By her present heavy sacrifices
for a great ideal, Portugal wins a fresh title to universal
consideration, and by helping to vanquish Germany she defends her
oversea patrimony, which the Germans proposed to annex.