New York, 5th February, 1915.
"Many thanks for the copies of your Shanghai correspondence which I found so interesting that I hand- ed them to a friend of mine, an American citizen, a gentleman who has travelled in many countries and who speaks German and French almost as fluently as English and for this reason is rather cosmopolitan, the same as myself. I believe his opinion to be unbiassed, and for this reason it may interest you to hear what he has to say.
After having discussed the subject of the corres- pondence, I told him that you were a gentleman possessed of high ideals who had always taken a keen interest in history and politics.
And I also mentioned that your views were: "that since about 300 years British policy has always been unselfish, and that the British wars were always fought with immense sacrifices on the part of England for the welfare and happiness of smaller nations, and that also this war is being fought by England for the benefit of countries like Servia, in spite of the crime committed at Serajewo, and of
poor Belgium, and that England is trying with the help of Russia, which you were looking upon as rather a democratic country in spite of many opinions to the contrary, and of France to make all Europe, including misguided Germany, Austria and Turkey, free and happy. If England during her many wars succeeded in amassing great wealth and increasing her posses- sions to an enormous extent, this must be looked upon as the just reward of her ideal and noble aims and that England had really given proof to the world of the truth of the old proverb "Honesty finds its reward,” the same as we merchants believe that honesty will make us wealthy after hard, long and diligent work." Having listened patiently to my speech, my friend smiled and replied as follows:
8
570
"I doubt not that Mr. Sanders must be a great idealist, but do you really believe that these are his honest views and is he a level-headed man?" I gave him my assurance that, in spite of your ideal turn of mind, you were quite level-headed and that your honesty was above suspicion.
"Well," my friend said, "I am afraid Mr. Sanders will look upon me as rather an evil-minded person if I tell him how widely my political views differ from his. I believe that no sane person can entertain his views which I consider as nonsense, pure and simple. Never did England have any high and noble aims, but British Statesmen always succeeded in sowing discord among the Continental nations, and their principle in- variably was to fight against the strongest Continental Power, with the help of one or two of the other ones, and particularly against the nation which they had cause to regard as a serious competitor for the trade of the world, especially when that nation was in possession of or building a strong fleet.
You say, Mr. Sanders studied history; well, did he not read about England's wars with Portugal, Spain, Holland and France? And were these wars brought about for any other purpose than to damage or destroy the fleets of these countries, obtain some of their colonies and most of their trade? Now it is Germany's turn, against which the present war has been prepared for many years; only a baby or a lunatic would believe in England's fighting for Servia or for Belgian neutrality.
Politics are never dictated by laws of morality and equity, but, believe me, there has never been a country in the world, the politics of which have been so entirely dominated by hypocrisy, treachery, perfidy and infamy as England.
So much for Mr. Sanders' ideals.
England is afraid of the German competition for the trade of the world and that is the cause of the war. Let them tell the silly people in England that they are
9
:
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.