The Dominion. FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 1920. ANGLO-AMERICAN RELATIONS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 178, 23 April 1920, Page 6

The Dominion. FRIDAY, APRIL 23, 1920. ANGLO-AMERICAN RELATIONS

The most ardent advocates of Anglo-American _ friendship are bound to recognise that of late the two nations have, if anything, been drifting apart. In most parts of the British Empire disgust at tho fashion in which the Peace Treaty has been made • a plaything of American party politics has distinctly cooled the cordial regard for the United States and its people awakened in the final phase of the war. The attitude of the American people towards their British cousins is less easily defined,. but recent events have served to emphasise th" fact that so far_ as some scctionn' are concerned this attitude is dishostile. Tho picketing of the British Embassy in Washington as a protest against the policy of the British Government in Ireland is a conspicuous case ,in point Standing alone, the incident would have- been trivial, but it was in fact an item in the sustained campaign in which the Irish-American faction is endeavouring to arouse feelings of antagonism to Great Britain. The attempt is being pursued not only in political by-ways, but on the floor of the Senate, and tho circumstances more than Warrant the dignified protest entered by Sir Auckland Geddes. Clearly as he perceives and has expressed the desirability of building up An-glo-American friendship, the British Ambassador felt it necessary nday or two ago to make a public statement in which he laid pointed emphasis on the fact that the issues raised in Ireland are domestic and are not open to outside interforonce. No _ doubt a vast majority of the American people already take or would accept this view, but it remains incontestable that there arc some rather serious obstacles to the close and friendly undorstanding between the British Empire and America which the ablest and most enlightened men of both nations are keenly desirous of promoting. Tho prospects of surmounting those obstacles are interestingly discussed by Mr. A. G. Gardiner, who returned to England not long ago from a tour of observation in tho United States. Taking a somewhat one-sided view of the question, Mr. Gardiner affirms that it rests with tlio British people to win, or loso American friendship. He seems disinclined to admit, in this case at least, that it takes two to make a friendship as it takes two to make a quarrel. Yet by his own showing the trend of sentiment and opinion in the United States is governed very largely by circumstances and conditions which the British peopln in the nature of things cannot influence, much less control. The op-J sential point he makes is that tho United States is "a great foreign country," vaster, more populous, rind richer than England, with an independent • life, a civilisation widely different, a "confusion of races and tongues welded into a rough .whole." While, in his opin-

ion, the main current of educated opinion in America is profoundly pro-English, ho declares that the popular mind has yet to be won. There are, he points out,_ "both fiprce antipathies and cold indifferences as well as strong affections for this country (England) in America." Dwelling as he docs with pleasure on the survival of a genuinely , English atmosphere and a tendorness of affection for England in some elements of American lifo, Mr. Gardiner is concerned to have it understood that "the popular conception ... of America as a sort of member of our family who has broken away from us is a fatal misunderstanding of the fact." Whether or not this misunderstanding is prevalent in British countries, it seems abundantly _ clear that tho sound understanding between tho two nations which is so much to be desired must be promoted if at all by mutual effort and a mutual acceptance of common international ideals and of the obligations they entail. Mr. Gardiner is inclined to.lay upon his own country chief responsibility for success or failure in .promoting an Anglo-American understanding, In justice he ought to recognise that the greatest. obstacle to the free development of this friendship is the failure of the United States thus far to adopt and maintain a worthy international outlook. So long as America inclines to a policy ef selfish isolation it is idle to talk of building up a great union of the Englishspeaking races, capable of leading the world in progress and pledged to uphold international justice. Mr. Gardiner is of 'opinion that, the most formidable obstacle to Anglo-American friendship is the Irish question, and he points out in this connection that Irish peoplo constitute not less than n, tenth of tho population of the United States and exert an influence upon its politics greater than their numbers would suggest. Tho warm welcome lately givon in Amorica to an Ulster deputation makes it fairly clear, however, that not all of the Irish people who have crossed the Atlantic are hostile to Great Britain. Id any caso it is manifest that whiln disoreet advances by our own nation are in every way advisable, the development hy tho American people of such an outlook as will onable them to play_a worthy part in international affairs is at once a vital condition of the establishment of a close and friendly understanding between the English-speaking races and in the most definite sense their own problem.