to undermine Anglo-American good will. On a more fitting occasion I
may reveal some. At the moment it does not seem right to increase the
prevailing bitterness, but I may say that many social intrigues have
come to my own notice and have left me wondering at Teuton pertinacity,
at the persistence with which large and small matters alike are
pursued, and at the curious psychological failing that nearly always
loses count of the human element. Theoretically, logically perhaps, the
German advances should have been entirely successful. Unhappily for
the Kaiser's ambitions, it was always fairly obvious that behind every
courtesy, however extravagant, behind every diplomatic action, however
grave or trivial, there lay an Anglophobe bias. It was not perhaps
always conscious to its originators; the state of mind towards Great
Britain in Germany is largely inherited, and I sometimes think it is
well-nigh sub-conscious. Indeed, I would venture the proposition that
it is more obvious to an American than it is to the German possessors
of it. The United States is of course the world's melting pot; happily
for us, and I think for the world at large, the Anglo-Saxon element
is dominant. In such an environment Anglophobia cannot thrive, and
I think the Kaiser's representatives have mistaken the actualities
of the situation. Anglo-American squabbles are the little family
quarrels with which we are all familiar; if one were to come from the
outside and seek to take part in them, he would soon learn that such
an intrusion was unwarranted and unwelcome. Instead of extending the
area of the original quarrel it would reduce it to vanishing point.
In Anglo-American relations the Kaiser must remain an "outsider,"
accepted while he behaves himself, but known all the time for the
representative of a proud, powerful nation that is avid of world power
and will shrink from no effort to obtain it, a nation that, if it is
to be judged by its rulers, holds that the result justifies the cause,
and that kindness, deceit, generosity, cajolery, persuasion, threats,
candour, and deceit are all weapons that find a proper place in the
armoury of a subtle diplomacy and may be called upon in turn. There
is a world in which this standard of things passes current, the world
of the company promoter, the international financier, the Jesuit who
holds that the end justifies if it cannot sanctify. On the other hand,
all these mental processes are abhorrent to the Anglo-Saxon. He is
by nature plain and blunt, subtleties are foreign to him. It is his
ambition to play the game, and he requires the game to be clean that
it may be worth the playing. He likes to place his cards on the table,
you will not find them in his sleeve or his boot. We know that the
sowing of mistrust between the United States and Great Britain has
been one of the chief pre-occupations of German diplomacy, we know too
that it has failed as signally as the early and vital attacks upon
the Liége forts failed. To accomplish its destiny the Anglo-Saxon race
must stand together. We need not interfere in each other's quarrels,
we need not model our lives to a pattern that is not sanctified by use
and custom, but we will not allow any other nation to come between us
and our friendship, or to interfere with that slow, sure growth of
understanding and good feeling that may bring to generations unborn the
blessing of universal good-fellowship and peace.
In all human probability the Teuton has postponed his own day for
generations. The triumphs of more than forty years of peaceful
progress have been bartered and have been used as gambling counters,
and I believe that a double menace is now in slow course of removal,
first from this little island whose sons and great grandsons in their
millions are looking, anxious to see how we acquit ourselves, and from
those South American Republics that purpose by grace of Providence
to work out their own salvation without either the help or the
permission of the Kaiser and his legions. When we have succeeded in
our present struggle--I do not admit the possibility of a doubt about
the issue--the way will be open for the triumphs of peace and for the
passing of armaments and tyrannies. Surely in these great changes so
long looked for, so eagerly anticipated on both sides of the Atlantic,
the whole voice of the United Anglo-Saxon Race will speak in unison. I
believe we shall play no small part in the re-shaping and rebuilding
of a shattered and exhausted world, and that the genuine friendliness
of our relations will make the task as pleasant as it is responsible.
Side by side we have sought peace and ensued it, the overwhelming
tragedy may have shown that "man is one and the Fates are three," but
it will not alter our national and racial belief that we must develop
the tranquillity of the world, that we must develop the arts of peace
and arm for defence rather than defiance. Through the gloom and murk
of the present hour I find myself looking with assured confidence to
the world's future, and whatever the Vision I see the whole Anglo-Saxon
race massing irresistible forces for the service of the world.