The Daily News. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17. BRITAIN AND AMERICA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 317, 17 February 1910, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17. BRITAIN AND AMERICA.

Lord Charles Beresi'ord recently made a speech in America in which he declared in substance, that in the next great sea fight the Stars and Stripes and the Union Jack would fly side by side; but Mr. A. Maurice Lowe, a very shrewd student of American affairs, writes an article in the current number of the National Review to say that such speeches are unwise from the diplomatic point of view, and postpone, rather than accelerate, that federation of the two great branches of the Anglo-Saxon race on which hang the best hopes of the world. If it were determined to test American public sentiment there is perhaps no man better fitted for that purpose than Lord Charles Beresford. Personally popular, and with a host of friends on this sl3e, he is liked for what he has done and for what he is. His profession is' in his favor. The navy, whether American or that of any other Power, "appeals to American imagination. Nor do Americans forget that Lord Charles has proved his courage, that he can fight as well as talk, that whether in command of a fleet or replying to a toast he will do or say something worth while. In a word, he is a good sailor as well as a good fellow, ana* Americans like him. Yet his speech at the luncheon given him by the Pilgrims of the United States, in which he suggested an Anglo-American alliance, has been received by the press with disapproval. " Let England fight her own battle's,''but don't let her expect us to help," sums up the attitude of the American press. "We have our own destinies to carve out and cannot oe •bothered with entanglements'. Britain is big enough to take care of herself, if she does not lose her courage in contemplating the dangers that now engage her attention. of things in the Far East alone is a sufficient argument against any such arrangement as Lord Charles proposes. 'The five great nations,' of which' Britain's Empire fe composed, must guard that Empire's safety." Like Gaul, Americans may be divided into three parts. There are Americans who have a sincere liking for England and everything English, and who are proud of the common descent, the common tongue, and the common institutions, but who are .none the less Americans. There are Americans who have inherited a deep-seated prejudice against England, and who find a justification for their prejudice in the events 'of a hundred' years ago. Some of these men are descended from or" are' affiliated "with" races' 'that have been the' traditional enemy" of England. Finally, tliere .are, Americans, who, have no strong feeling one way or the- otlier, to whom 'England means little if anything ' 'mbre' than does Germany or France, to whom an Englishman \P a " foreigner?' "almost as much as a German or a'-Frenchman,- who knows nothing of any country ' except their own, and fares' less'.' 'The twH last elements would,, of course, oppose any alliance with England—unless it was clearly for the interest- of: their own country* and then, of 'course, they would gladly welcome 'it—tlie other' niight "sanction it, but reluctantly/ In other words, if''a pact is entered into between England and the United' States' it will not be because' England desires it, but because America asks it'.