The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-04-26
GREAT BRITAIN AND THE UNITED
STATES.

England, or rather Great Britain, is
something handicapped by old treat
les. as is the case with all European
to undertake to speculate as to the par
ticular action Of continental powers in
this or that event without you have
made a special, extended study Of the
situation. European politics are very
complicated, a perfect network Of
intricacies and i~nterlacings of pledges,
declarations and treaties. Great Brit
ain is sometimes restrained in a par
ticular purpose of preference by some
treaty she entered into an hundred
years ago. Ne man can write or talk
intelligently Of European affairs, the
plans Of governments, ETC.. unless
he has been a patient student through
the years of European diplomacy. his
tory. etc.
1t is very gratifying none the less to
see that the greatest modern people
the real successors to the Roman in
conquests and civilizing and making
great other peoples-the British-are
so friendly in these parlous times to
the young Giant Republic on this side
of the Atlantic Ocean. 1t has been a
source of encouragement, of comfort,
of profound satisfaction, to feel that
Great Britain is at this hour the open,
avOwed friend of the United States.
This, too, when only only some two
years ago Cleveland was about to bring
Our country into conflict with Great
Britain about a South American coun-
try lying 1000 miles away. 1t was a
thoroughly Quixotic affair, we'll loaded
with dynamite. 1t is a very hazardous
and unwise thing for this republic to
set itself up as a national Paul Pry
and a Spanish Don Quixote combined,
going out with lance in hand to deliver
battle-against all comers, and to be a
81 oppressed and afflicted and over
run with misdeeds and sorrows and
evils.
The genuine, unsought, outspoken
friendship of Great Britain-really
Greater Britain-now with her vast
POooSoo4oAAot ~ oAu nAAS
doms, at a time like this is not to be
overlooked or easily forgotten. 1t
should be our pleasure as it is unques-
tionably our duty, to recognize fully
and reciprocate generously this mani
festation of sympathy and goodwill
from the home countryside ountry of
so many millions of Americans-and
not to be careful "to look the gift
horse in the mouth" or to sc much as
suspect any selfish or Interior motive.
whether that of blood, or of CONNER
cial considerations, or what not, the
fact of generous approval and open
faced favor remains and should be
met in an ap~preciative spirit. Refer
ring to those motives that move ma
tions-whether selfish, political or COM
mercial-The Philadelphia Record ger
namely says:
Both of these influences doubtless
have their weight. The trade between
this country and Great Britain is so
vast that it necessarily gives color to
the policy of both countries. The grow
ing isolation of Great Britain in Eu-
rope naturally induces her to seek to
redress the balance of power by closer
relations with the United States. But
back of and beyond considerations of
threatened trade or empire are the
stronger ties of common language,
laws and literature. Blood tells; and
blood speaks. The declaration of a
staid English newspaper that when the
day shall come that America will be