TENSION RELAXING

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1576, 21 October 1912, Page 7

TENSION RELAXING

ANGLO-GERMAN RELATIONS

NEW AMBASSADOR HOPES FOR AMITY. . EXPLANATION OF A SPEECH. By Telegraph—Preea Aesoclation-Oonyrlent (Roc. October 20, 5.5 p.m.) Berlin, October 19. Prince Lechnowsky, the now Herman Ambassador to England, has stated in an interview lliafc he believes tha.t tho AngloGerman tension is slackening, nnd that there is a possibility of an a>greement on all questions. The declaration of the Imperial Chancellor, Dr. von Bethmaun-Hollweg, that Britain must prove her friendship in deeds, not words, implying that she must abstain from unfriendly ways, such as she pursued in connection with Morocco, arose through Mr. Lloyd-George's speech at the Mansion Housb in July of Inst year rendering Dr. von Bethmann-Holl-weg's position extremely difficult and necessitating a reply. ONE VIEW OF THE ESTRANGEMENT. THE COMMERCIAL RIVALRY. "The first root of anti-Germanism in this country," writes Baron de Forest in the London "Nation," "was the Protectionist antipathy to the growth of German trade, founded on tho fallacy that tho well-being of one trading nation was the damnation of another. "The first German Navy Law was passed in the year 1900. But it was not due," he says, "to a spontaneous, reasonless determination on the part of the German Government to become i first-class naval Power. It sprang from causes clearly traceable' during the preceding ■ decade. At the beginning of that decade the rapid development of German industry and comnjorce began to be noticed abroad, and especially in England. 'Throughout the 'nineties its expansion was watched with increasing jealousy by English merchants and manufacturers, who saw their supremacy threatened by German enterprise.' ' Intercourse between tho two pountries grew swiftly; German goods were sold on the English market in increasing quantities, to the advantage of the English consumor, but to the tempois ary disadvantage of certain English produceris. . '

"Propiptly an anti-German agitation arose; the interests adversely affected by tho keener competition began to clamour for protection and assistance. The growth of German trade, tha increase in German prosperity, it was argued were injurious to England j we should be 'ruined by the influx of such quantities of goods ''made in Germany"; while almost as 'dangerous' as German imports at home, were German competition and Gorman commercial expansion in Oriental ami tropical' countries. "If the expansion of German trade was ruinous to the British nation, then a British Government was bound to use every means in its power to check and hinder that expansion. Two weapons were ready to hand—fiscal policy and foreign policy. The first, the naked weapon of Protection, they feared for some years to touch; the second came more easily to hand. Opposition to Germany gradually became the dominant purpose of our diplomacy; all other objects were overshadowed by this new rivalry. "The growth of these sentiments could not fail to alarm tho German Government and the German people. It was small wonder that the position nppcared to them perilous, and that they took steps to guard against the threatened danger. ~ . "The passing- of the Navy Law in 1900 waa followed by a hardening of the situation. The auti-German trend of our foreign policy found full expression in the conclusion of the understanding with Prance and Bussia. The Triple Entente came into being to confront and counterbalance the Triple Alliance. And simultaneously, Mr. Chamberlain, seeking for a new and popular policy, caught eagerly at the anti-German prejudice, and embarked upon hi 3 Tariff Eeform propaganda. National antipathies were ■ inflamed and aggravated in order that they might be exploited in the interests of a party. And German belief in the hostility of Great Britain was confirmed and deepened. , "\ diplomacy which can produce suoh results as that, a diplomacy of which the net achievement is to have estranged more widely than ever two nations bound to each other' by every bond of mutual interest, stands condemned, concludes Baron de Porest.