THE UNITED STATES AND GREAT BRITAIN.
[To TRY EDITOR OF TER " SPECTATOR:]
Sin,—I notice in your interesting article on the Powers and Greece, in the Spectator of March 6th, the following paragraph : —"They [the British nation] might abstain from action rather than face the risk of such a combination [of all the European Powers against them], but before they would be driven by such a threat into supporting Turkey, they would appeal to America for an aid which under such circumstances would not be refused?'
Theoretically, the American nation is in sympathy with the attempts of all countries to revolt against oppression and to institute a freer and more liberal form of government than that to which they may be subjected at the moment. But in practice the United States will be governed by what appears• to them to conduce to their own interests. To any one who has been in touch with American sentiment during the past six weeks it has been evident that American sympathies have been strongly with the Cretans. This sympathy has been based purely upon the theory referred to above,—i.e., the theory that all nations struggling against despotism are entitled to American sympathy if not aid. At the same time any reader of American newspapers would have observed that the New York Sun (certainly the ablest daily paper in this country, and taking it all round, probably the most representative of American sentiments) has held fast to its great and dominant principle,—namely, hatred of England. It is difficult to explain to the English why there should be this intense feeling of hostility towards them on the part of a nation to which, as a rule, they entertain only the kindliest feelings. They have to some extent been soothed by the utterances of Mr.. Bayard. Mr. Bayard is probably an excellent exponent of the sentiments of what may be called the better classes of Americans. (Be it remembered that the true American does not admit of the existence of classes in this democratic country.) But to imagine that the feelings of the people of this country at large are in any way friendly to England is to- commit a grave mistake, and one into which the ordinary Englishman is very prone to fall. The American people do• not like the English as a nation for many reasons. There is throughout this great country a large and very powerful body of Irish who are, by tradition, hostile to everything British. This body, owing to the peculiarities of the Irish people, has been eminently powerful in American politics, and constitutes a perpetually hostile influence in Federal legislation. Further, it must be remembered that not only is England the only European Power with which this country has ever been at war (the War of Independence and the War of 1812), but that also Great Britain showed its sympathy with the South in the Civil War in a more pronounced manner than any other European nation, and that the disasters which were inflicted upon the American marine by the ' Alabama,' although more than compensated for by the Geneva award, have never been forgiven by the North. As to the South, it is another example of the old proverb, " Lend your money and lose your friend." From no part of the Union were resolutions of endorsement of President Cleveland's famous Venezuelan Message more numerous than from the South ; from no part of the country were more numerous offers received to raise men and furnish arms in case of a war between the two countries resulting from that Message. And there is yet another reason why, in the event of a European war conse- quent upon the support of the Cretans by England, the United States should not act in concert with Great Britain- It is this. The United States aims at being the great com- mercial Power of the world, and hopes that New York will become the financial centre of the world. They recognise that of all their rivals Great Britain is pre-eminent. They find that all great financial transactions are conducted through London ; that the price of their grain and the price of their cotton are regulated by the Liverpool markets ; and
that even to some extent the success of the floating of their Government loans depends upon the financial magnates in London. They naturally think : 'If we can destroy this great commercial and financial Power ; if we can ruin this nation, the capital of which is at present the clearing-house of the world ; with our immense resources, with the untiring activity and ingenuity of our people, why should we not take its place P' Even if the overthrow of British financial and commercial supremacy should result in the aggrandisement of either Russia or France, the American still remembers that it was France that made the success of their Revolution a possibility, and that it was Russia who of all European Powers stood by them in the supreme crisis of the War of 1861-65. Finally, sight should not be lost of the fact that to many Americans the possession of Canada, of Bermuda, and of the various West Indian Islands by Great Britain is a continual source of annoyance. The so-called Jingo feeling is growing in this country, as was clearly evidenced by the hearty endorsement of the Cleveland Venezuelan Message by the country at large. America for Americans, with no inter- ference by European Powers, is the popular cry. For these and many minor reasons, reference to which would result in too great an encroachment upon your valuable space, I do not hesitate to express the opinion that an appeal for aid to America by Great Britain in the event of the latter Power being forced to face in the interest of the Cretans a United Europe, would meet with a decided refusal—I am, Sir, &c.,
New York, March 23rd. RALPH M. STUART-WORTLEY.
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