AMERICA AND PRINCE HENRY OF PRUSSIA.
ITO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—Royal personages are such infrequent visitors in our democratic land that it is not unnatural that the approaching visit of Prince Henry of Prussia should occasion a certain amount of more or less pleasurable excitement among us. The fact that Prince Henry is a self-invited guest will not in any way detract from the cordiality of his welcome. Some very pleasant speeches, inspired perhaps to some extent by a postprandial atmosphere of general good nature, will be made on both sides. It is safe to predict that the ability and tact which Prince Henry has displayed on so many occasions will not be found wanting, and that the visit will prove a source of pleasure both to the guest and to the hosts. But Englishmen who read the cabled accounts of after-dinner speeches should not be misled by their friendly tone. So far as accurate knowledge of the real sentiments felt by the Germans for the United States, Americans are living in no fool's paradise. It is a fact, regrettable no doubt, but the existence of which is indisputable, that by the Army, the Navy, the bureaucrats, the officials, and lankerthum. generally, in short, by the governing classes, America is held in greater detestation than is any other country, not even except- ing England. We have no right to complain of this attitude on the part of the men in whose hands the government of the German Empire mainly rests. As he stalks along with his stiff military gait and with an air of contemptuous toleration for the mere civilian, the Prussian martinet is an impressive figure, and the German people, wisely or unwisely, have committed their fate into his hands. But he holds no place in our body politic. The ideas which he represents will never be permitted to gain footing amung us in spite of our large German population. The Germans have recognised this fact, though with reluctance ; but they have by no means abandoned the idea that the weak Republics of the South American Continent may yet afford them the long-desired opportunity of inserting the entering wedge of Germanism into the Western Hemisphere. This hope is vain unless Germany is prepared to light for her ambitions. Sharply divided as they may be on other matters, when the maintenance of the Monroe doctrine is in question the American people are a unit. They may welcome Royal Admirals with bountiful hospitality, but they know that it is the "sea-mannerless" von Diedrichs, and not the well-bred Prince with his pleasant generalities and courtly platitudes, who is the incarnation of German feeling. It is mortifying to have "backed the wrong horse," and the eagerness with which Continental Chancelleries have hastened to deny the accuracy of Lord Cranborne's description of England's attitude during the period immediately preceding the Spanish-American War affords amusement to Americans, but carries no conviction. That war showed the American people who their true friends were. The voice which speaks their true feelings is not to be found in those extracts from the editorial pages of " yellow " journals cabled over to England as "news," or in the intemperate resolutions of Pro-Boer meetings attended mainly by " Americans " whose citizenship was born in naturalisation bureaus ; it is all but inarticulate, but it may be heard by him who chooses to listen, and it speaks in no uncertain tone. No formal alliance binds the two great Anglo-Saxon countries, but if Great Britain's existence were ever seriously imperilled by a combination of the Continental Powers, the feeling of the plain people would express itself, not in words, but in action of that concrete, forcible nature in which the American, with all his faults, has never been found wanting.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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