29 AUGUST 1925, Page 12

GERMANY AND ARGENTINA

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I agree with Mr. St. Loe Strachey that the inhabitants of the Argentine have " never been jealous of our settlers or of British enterprise," but I flatly contradict his statement that they were not afraid of " British influences." If Mr. Strachey will cast his mind back thirty-five years when this country presented to Germany the " Sentinel of Jingoism " in the North Sea, he might remember that Queen Victoria's son-in-law, the late Duke of Argyll, was openly advising Germany to establish herself in the Southern Continent.

Writing on " Possibilities " in the Deutsche Revue, Lord Lorne, as he then was, openly advocated German colonial expansion. " There is," he said, " a beautiful country with a beautiful capital, a splendid harbour, a good soil. in which everything is excellent except the Government. This country —which only requires a European protectorate to bring into it the long desired order and to make it an Eldorado, is Argentina. Here German rule established in the form of a Protectorate or in any other form, would be welcome because it would be capable of helping the country out of its distress."

The " Little Englanders " of thirty-five years ago were farseeing men. A small handful in the Commons had pro- tested against the cession of Heligoland, and I bad the pleasure of being thrown out of an Isle of Wight Primrose League meeting for making a slight interruption about the North Sea rubble heap. Time, however, proved that the " Little Englanders"' haggling was correct, and that W. T. Stead's vigorous protest against the suggestion of German expansion in Argentina as " a scandalous proposal " and that " before a German flag is hoisted at Buenos Ayres, both England and the United States would have to be heard," was not too