It is essential in the realm of foreign affairs that we never allow our personal feelings or animosities to dictate the foreign policy of a nation. As such, I am disturbed to detect an undercurrent of Anglophobia in our current conversations on European tensions. We are told that there exists no difference between the Great Britain of 1775 and the Great Britain of 1909. Yet the former was an oppressive monarchy that ignored its own public opinion to wage a bloody war of conquest to retain the lost colonies; the latter is a democratic nation, with near-universal suffrage and popular representation, which has granted autonomy to its greatest colonies without a shot being fired in their defence. It is only because we were an English colony - invested with the English ideals of liberty, personal freedom and parliamentary representation - that these United States were able to develop into a prosperous democratic republic. Compare the fate of the Spanish colonies, which have devolved into despotates and are presently consumed by civil war.
Leaving aside sentiment, there is the matter of integrity. The British Empire has long been a friend and ally of these United States. Did not British warships join us in lifting the blockade of the Panama Canal? Did not the British adhere, albeit reluctantly, to our demands for autonomy in Canada and Australia? Through the mechanism of the Commonwealth, we have made demands of Great Britain that any other nation would declare intolerable, yet she has acquiesced peaceably and without the necessity of force. The British have served American interests, not vice-versa. To propose to invade the British Empire in its hour of existential crisis, after she has loyally served American interests for decades and has fully complied with all our demands of the Commonwealth, would be to sanction the greatest act of treachery and perfidy since that of Benedict Arnold.
It is said that we should become party to the Triple Alliance because we are most capable of doing damage against the British Empire. Yet it naturally follows from this preposition that the British Empire is the most capable of doing damage against us. If the Triple Alliance should declare war upon these United States, what need we fear? Europe is a thousand miles away, separated by the oceanic gulfs of the Atlantic and the Pacific, patrolled and encircled by the United States Navy. Even should the Triple Alliance prevail, what indemnity could they enforce upon us? They have no significant naval assets with which to threaten us. In Europe, they are a force to be feared; in North America, they are isolated and ineffectual.
Conversely, should we enter into a state of war with the Liberal Entente, the British Empire stands in an excellent position to undermine the United States. The British naval bases in Bermuda and Barbados are knives pressed against the underbelly of North America. Though smaller than our own, the Royal Navy is still the second-largest maritime force in existence and more than capable of causing chaos for shipping and trade. Canada will remain loyal to the Empire, and so a war against Great Britain will entail either an invasion of American territory or a bloody border war with the north. In short, whereas the hostility of the Triple Alliance would cost the United States nothing but lost trade, an Anglo-American conflict would produce the first direct invasion of American territory since the War of 1812. That is not a price I am willing to pay, not least for the sake of the Triple Alliance. Against the Alliance, we face only a war in Europe; against the Entente, we would should have to fight a war of existence.
There may soon come a time when events force our hand, and the United States must act. Until such a time, I am a firm believer in benevolent neutrality. We should uphold the Commonwealth, enabling the British to concentrate their resources in Europe without having to worry about their flank. We should not chain ourselves to the Triple Alliance, who will embroil us in a war of conquest that will gain them possession of Europe and incur nothing for the United States except death, destruction and mayhem. The United States of America shall not become a slave of German foreign policy. This is not a war of America's making, nor does it serve American interests. We should stand aloof from the anarchy, not embroil ourselves in it for the sake of another nation's aggressive expansionism.
- Marinus van Mayer
Leaving aside sentiment, there is the matter of integrity. The British Empire has long been a friend and ally of these United States. Did not British warships join us in lifting the blockade of the Panama Canal? Did not the British adhere, albeit reluctantly, to our demands for autonomy in Canada and Australia? Through the mechanism of the Commonwealth, we have made demands of Great Britain that any other nation would declare intolerable, yet she has acquiesced peaceably and without the necessity of force. The British have served American interests, not vice-versa. To propose to invade the British Empire in its hour of existential crisis, after she has loyally served American interests for decades and has fully complied with all our demands of the Commonwealth, would be to sanction the greatest act of treachery and perfidy since that of Benedict Arnold.
It is said that we should become party to the Triple Alliance because we are most capable of doing damage against the British Empire. Yet it naturally follows from this preposition that the British Empire is the most capable of doing damage against us. If the Triple Alliance should declare war upon these United States, what need we fear? Europe is a thousand miles away, separated by the oceanic gulfs of the Atlantic and the Pacific, patrolled and encircled by the United States Navy. Even should the Triple Alliance prevail, what indemnity could they enforce upon us? They have no significant naval assets with which to threaten us. In Europe, they are a force to be feared; in North America, they are isolated and ineffectual.
Conversely, should we enter into a state of war with the Liberal Entente, the British Empire stands in an excellent position to undermine the United States. The British naval bases in Bermuda and Barbados are knives pressed against the underbelly of North America. Though smaller than our own, the Royal Navy is still the second-largest maritime force in existence and more than capable of causing chaos for shipping and trade. Canada will remain loyal to the Empire, and so a war against Great Britain will entail either an invasion of American territory or a bloody border war with the north. In short, whereas the hostility of the Triple Alliance would cost the United States nothing but lost trade, an Anglo-American conflict would produce the first direct invasion of American territory since the War of 1812. That is not a price I am willing to pay, not least for the sake of the Triple Alliance. Against the Alliance, we face only a war in Europe; against the Entente, we would should have to fight a war of existence.
There may soon come a time when events force our hand, and the United States must act. Until such a time, I am a firm believer in benevolent neutrality. We should uphold the Commonwealth, enabling the British to concentrate their resources in Europe without having to worry about their flank. We should not chain ourselves to the Triple Alliance, who will embroil us in a war of conquest that will gain them possession of Europe and incur nothing for the United States except death, destruction and mayhem. The United States of America shall not become a slave of German foreign policy. This is not a war of America's making, nor does it serve American interests. We should stand aloof from the anarchy, not embroil ourselves in it for the sake of another nation's aggressive expansionism.
- Marinus van Mayer