Let us now, endeavouring to bear in our minds the whole situation we
have been analysing, consider a little more particularly the various
episodes and crises of international policy from the year 1890 onwards.
I take that date, the date of Bismarck's resignation, for the reason
already given (p. 42). It was not until then that it would have
occurred to any competent observer to accuse Germany of an aggressive
policy calculated to disturb the peace of Europe. A closer
rapprochement with England was, indeed, the first idea of the
Kaiser when he took over the reins of power in 1888. And during the ten
years that followed British sympathies were actually drawn towards
Germany and alienated from France.[1] It is well known that Mr.
Chamberlain favoured an alliance with Germany,[2] and that when the
Anglo-Japanese treaty was being negotiated the inclusion of Germany was
seriously considered by Lord Lansdowne. The telegram of the Kaiser to
Kruger in 1895 no doubt left an unpleasant impression in England, and
German feeling, of course, at the time of the Boer War, ran strongly
against England, but so did feeling in France and America, and, indeed,
throughout the civilized world. It was certainly the determination of
Germany to build a great navy that led to the tension between her and
England, and finally to the formation of the Triple Entente, as a
counterpoise to the Triple Alliance. It is 1900, not 1888, still less
1870, that marks the period at which German policy began to be a
disturbing element in Europe. During the years that followed, the
principal storm-centres in international policy were the Far and Near
East, the Balkans, and Morocco. Events in the Far East, important
though they were, need not detain us here, for their contribution to
the present war was remote and indirect, except so far as concerns the
participation of Japan. Of the situation in the other areas, the
tension and its causes and effects, we must try to form some clear
general idea. This can be done even in the absence of that detailed
information of what was going on behind the scenes for which a
historian will have to wait.
[Footnote 1: The columns of The Times for 1899 are full of
attacks upon France. Once more we may cite from the dispatch of the
Comte de Lalaing, Belgian Minister in London, dated May 24, 1907,
commenting on current or recalling earlier events: “A certain section
of the Press, known here under the name of the Yellow Press, is in
great part responsible for the hostility that exists between the two
nations (England and Germany). What, in fact, can one expect from a
journalist like Mr. Harmsworth, now Lord Northcliffe, proprietor of the
Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Daily Graphic, Daily
Express, Evening News, and Weekly Dispatch, who in an
interview given to the Matin says, 'Yes, we detest the Germans
cordially. They make themselves odious to all Europe. I will never
allow the least thing to be printed in my journal which might wound
France, but I would not let anything be printed which might be
agreeable to Germany.' Yet, in 1899, this same man was attacking the
French with the same violence, wanted to boycott the Paris Exhibition,
and wrote: 'The French have succeeded in persuading John Bull that they
are his deadly enemies. England long hesitated between France and
Germany, but she has always respected the German character, while she
has come to despise France. A cordial understanding cannot exist
between England and her nearest neighbour. We have had enough of
France, who has neither courage nor political sense.'“ Lalaing does not
give his references, and I cannot therefore verify his quotations. But
they hardly require it. The volte-face of The Times
sufficiently well known. And only too well known is the way in which
the British nation allows its sentiments for other nations to be
dictated to it by a handful of cantankerous journalists.]
[Footnote 2: “I may point out to you that, at bottom, the character,
the main character, of the Teuton race differs very slightly indeed
from the character of the Anglo-Saxon (cheers), and the same
sentiments which bring us into a close sympathy with the United States
of America may be invoked to bring us into closer sympathy with the
Empire of Germany.” He goes on to advocate “a new Triple Alliance
between the Teutonic race and the two great branches of the Anglo-Saxon
race” (see The Times, December 1, 1899). This was at the
beginning of the Boer war. Two years later, in October, 1901, Mr.
Chamberlain was attacking Germany at Edinburgh. This date is clearly
about the turning-point in British sentiment and policy towards
Germany.]