New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-04-28

this country they dare not move
You are therefore free to work out your
destiny.
From the English point of view believe
that if YOU become a colonizing nation you
will have increased sympathy with US You
will better understand our work and diff
culties. and you will be drawn inscnsibly
into closer alliances by community of in
terests and Of sentiment
So may it be! Yours very truly,
(Siqncd) J. CHAMBERLAIN.
To arprcciate the full significance Of Mr..
Chamberlain's letter and put it in its proper
historical setting We should recall to mind
that the battle Of Manila Bay was fought by
Admiral Dewey on May ]. 1t was generally
known soon after the outbreak Of the war
that the sentiment Of the German people and
government was hostile to the United States.
No overt act, however, by the government was
committed until, during the subsequent block
ade of Manila by our feet, Dewey met with
all sorts Of unfriendly and offensive interior
cnces by the German vicc-admiral Won Die
drichs. in command Of the German feet. In con-
sequence, as we now know, we came to the
very brink of war. At that time affairs went
so far that Dewey as reported to Mr.. John
Barrett by one Of the officers of the Olympia,
who heard the conversation of the angry in
terview, July 16, with Won Diedrichs's repre-
sentative Flag Lieutenant Won Hintzer), said:
"If the German Government has decided
TO make war on the United States, or has
any intention Of making war, and has so
informed your admiral, it is his duty to let
me know. But whether he intends to fight
or not, am ready"
An extraordinarily powerful German fleet,
sent by the orders of the Kaiser" as stated
by Won Diedrichs, to Manila, transgressed in
ternational custom in being stronger than
the American fleet But the German navy
was too weak at that time to take "Uncle
SAM by the scruT of the neck" as the Kaiser
said he would have liked to have done. And
Won Diedrichs's feet would have had to fight
the combined American and British fleets at
Manila; for it is well known that Captain
Chichester, commanding the English ships at
Manila, was prepared to fight alongside Of
the United States against the German feet
If Dewey was attacked This was generally
understood and frequently stated at the time.
But still earlier, in May, the hostility of Ger
many was so much in the air that it was
publicly recognized and gave rise to the
verses" which we're the occasion Of Mr.
Chsmberlan's letter. But do not think any
one, unless it was a secret of the Washing
ton Administration, appreciated at the time
that Continental coalition against the
United States, instigatcd by Germany, was
actually threatened This is now. Of course.
well known historical fact All overtures
were rebufed by England, and the colder
monarchies" dared not move for fear Of the
British heet-whch still protects us. Mr..
Chamberlain, being in the Cabinet, had off
cisl knowledge of the intended coalition"
against the United States. l have other
evidence claiming to give the statement Of
another Cabinet officer. This corroborates
the Chamberlain letter on this point.
/ I give here so much of it as is pertinent,
the remainder being on outside or purely
personal matters. So much by the way Of
explanation,
Let me add that fundamentally the rea-
son why Germany cannot understand Amer
leans is because "our root ideas" are not
the same, because we do not approach
every question from the same standpoint"
because we are unlike in all essentials and
{ only agree in minor characteristics This
/ is the antithesis Of what Mr.. Chamberlain
points out is true Of Engishmen and Amer
leans. And so Germany was prepared to
defy US in 1898 and defes us to-day.
MORTON PRINCE.
Boston, Massachusetts,, April 26. 1917.