New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-11-10
Where the British Go Wrong.

uniform mlSapprehenSlon' "hi'H' - -
sisted in. may lead 70 grave consequences
and at best will utterly prevent the British
from understanding this country's temper
OF opinion. This error is revealed IN the
familiar assertion that since Great Britain
is fighting the battle for civilization, when
is our battle. too. the United States IS un-
fair and unreasonable in hamperng brit-
ish effort by insisting on technical legal
rights.
Now. the question as 70 whether The de-
feat Of Germany is or is not concern OF
the United States is fairly debatable. Inc
Tribune has at all times frankly expressed
It's own belief that the German idea Is
fatal 70 American civilization and Amer
lean ideals. 1t believes German defeat
necessary if American democracy is 10
live and perform its service. But this IS
an individual view, and it is not the view
Of a majority Of Americans nor Of the
American government
Therefore if the British persist III the
notion that they are entitled TO special con-
sideration they will end in disaster. be-
cause there is not the smallest ground for
expecting such consideration from tins
country as whole or from the present
Administration. which is in this respect
fairly representative.
What British craftsmanship must face
Is the fact. not the theory, of American
sentiment. Again. il is of small present
Importance that the British believe that
Americans ought to give their sympathy
and lessen British difficulties by liberal
INTERPRETATION Of international law. Per
haps they are right. perhaps they are
wrong, but the truth is that they cannot
expect such things from American Sentl-
ment or government in the existing sItua-
ton. They will deceive themselves. and
their friends in America will deceive them,
if such a view is permitted TO 20 unchal-
,enged.
Take parallel case Early in the Civil
War the Trent affair aroused American
sentiment to fever heat We were at war
We were fighting for our national eXls-
tence We in the North believed we were
lighting for liberty and civilization. When
we took Mason and Slidell off British
shin we acted illegally. but all over the
North we hoped Great Britain would suffer
the technical wrong patiently.
But Great Britain did nothing Of the
sort She insisted upon her rights. She
pressed the technical point. We were not
in a position to fight, and we yielded. But
in Boston all the leading merchants took
solemn oath never to buy British goods,
wear British clothes or eat British food.
The indignation in the North was extreme.
The resentment endured for long time
Yet in the calmer years that followed
Americans perceived that they had been
unreasonable They recognized that their
passion was incident TO the state of mind
created by war. They realized that they
had been in a condition Of nerves and
that the British were not to be censured
for insisting on rights that were incontest-
able. however awkward and ungenerous
the insistence.
What the British must understand now,
IL they are TO grasp American opinion at
all. is that they are in state of nerves,
that they are asking us TO surrender rights,
as we asked them to surrender rights half
century ago. Quite as many British ciu-
zens sympathized with the North as there
are Americans who heartily sympathlze
with England now. But such sympathy
is not transatabe into permission 70 de-
stroy rights or suspend laws.
There is not the smallest profit for the
British in arguing this thing. They will
not make more friends they may lose
some. Concei1 ably they may feel IT neces-
sary TO continue 10 invade our rights.
Even the remote possibility of an embargo
may seem less costly than the immediate
profit Of their blockade. This is for them
TO decide. But TO reckon on American
complaisance is 10 make profound blum
der which will lead TO others.
Let us be perfectly frank in the matter
The vast majority of Americans have no
appreciation of the meaning of the present
conflict IN human history. To them il is
another war. and all wars are reprchensi-
y BILE and all nations engaged in them crimi-
mai. We have been permeated with the
pacifst fapdoodle, just as France was
twenty years ago. and il has stuck with us.
Again. beyond the Alleghanies the war
is far less important than on the Atlantic
seaboard. II commands less attention,
gets less prominence in the newspapers
and occupies less commanding position
in the Intellectual life Of the community.
Let the British recall their own state of
almost universal ignorance and bewlder-
ment when their own nation was going TO
war, and they will perhaps grasp in some
reasure the feeling of Americans in the
Middle States. live thousand
conflict