"A GERMAN'S APPEAL TO THE ENGLISH." [To THE EDITOR OF
THE " SPECTATOR."] Sra,—Many of your readers will have read with deep satis- faction your remarks in the Spectator of October 3rd on Pro- fessor Mommsen's appeal to Englishmen. Indeed, many of us are ready to go further than you, and to refuse the proferred olive-branch, in the reality of which we have good reason to disbelieve. Even if Professor Mommsen is sincere in his desire for a reconciliation, do not let it be supposed that in this respect he represents' epresents more than a fraction of his countrymen. The hatred of England is deep-seated in the German people, and nothing but motives of policy can induce them to conceal it. But grant his sincerity, grant the. tardy repentance of the Germans, grant the sincerity of their wish to co-operate with England,—are we going to forget P While the present generation survives is an alliance to be possible with a nation which, from the highest to the lowest, circulated and believed the foulest slanders against our Army? Few things have contributed more to the discredit of Mr. Balfour's Government in the minds of thoughtful Unionists than his miser- ible subservience (no matter from what motives it sprang) to German policy. But even supposing we could forgive and forget, there' are other reasons why we should hold aloof, and stand by our natural allies. In the course of the next ten or twenty years there are two events which are nearly certain to happen.
On the death of the present Emperor of Austria the German provinces of Austria will unite with the German kingdom. That will add three hundred and fifty thousand admirable soldiers to the German Army, and the German preponder- ance on the Continent will be increased to that amount. Secondly, there is little doubt that a naval war between Germany and America is only a matter of time. The designs of Germany on South America have long been patent to American statesmen, and Americans of all shades of politics are united in a deep-seated hatred of Germany, and in a resolve to keep her out of South America at all costs. There was a time when the impolitic improvidence of Mr. Balfour made Americans fear that they would have us to deal with as well as Germany ; but the real feeling of the country has been expressed in a manner which it is impossible to mis- understand, and that fear has passed away. But let us see to it that it has passed for ever. Americans are our kinsfolk. Wonderfully unlike us as they are in many respects, they nevertheless speak the same language, enjoy the same tradi- tions, and have adopted in some degree the same political institutions. More than this, they are our natural heirs in the progress of civilisation. They inherit our pluck, our tenacity and our sense of morality, our national conscience. It is to America that in the future distressed nationalities will look for sympathy and aid, and there is already in America a large body of serious men who are determined that America shall be in a position to render that aid, to take its place among the great militant peoples. Here, then, is our natural ally. United with America we can laugh at Continental jealousy, and we can control and check the colonising ambi- tion of Germany. It would suit German policy very well to detach from one another the two great Anglo-Saxon peoples. Attempts to that end have already been made. Distinguished persons have wooed now America, now England. Lies have been circulated to sow dissensions between us. England allowed herself to be persuaded to join in collecting German debts in Venezuela, and misunderstandings would certainly have followed if it had not been made immediately clear that the Government was in this respect unsupported by the country. And now Professor Mommsen, England's most inveterate and insulting enemy, is good enough to hold out an olive-branch! It is to be hoped that no dynastic considera- tions will be allowed to operate in favour of a policy which is opposed to the instincts and wishes and true interests of England. It is in fear of this that many of us desire to see the removal of the present Government, which has shown itself singularly blind to the real drift of what is going on about them, singularly forgetful of England's dignity and
blind to her real interests.—I am, Sir, &c., H. F. F.
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