Germany And England Classic Reprint PDF Download

Excerpt from How England Looks to Germany Netherlands until in the eighteenth century the French, once the dreaded enemies of England, had become her allies on sufferance and had drifted into a state of impotent inactivity. With the Netherlands eliminated, England and France remained the sea powers of the world. Frederick the Great wittily spoke of a British man-ofwar with a Dutch sloop in tow as representing the sea power of his time. England Grasps the Trident. Ever since those days Great Britain has maintained a firm hold upon Neptunes trident, which is the scepter of world-domain. She (England) wants to close free Amphitrite skingdom As one might close his own home-gate. Thus Schiller, with his keen insight, characterized the ultimate cause of all world wars in his age as well as our own. The English wars of that time were directed against France as the most dangerous rival for the dominion of the seas and of the world. If one may speak of hereditary enmity in the changing course of European politics, such an enmity grew up in the 200 years feud between France and England. Arthur Girault, professor of history at the University of Poitiers and member of the Colonial International Institute, in his work on Principles of Colonization( Principes de Colonisation, Paris, 1904) deals with the period of French history from 1688 to 1815. During that interval not less than seven fierce and long wars were fought between France and England. All those wars, says Girault, were trade wars for England, the purpose of which was to destroy the naval and colonial power of France. English activity brought about all the alliances which were then concluded against us in Europe. And while our troops were fighting on the continent, she destroyed our navy and seized our colonies. Englands Conquest of France, the Then Ruling Power In the beginning of her struggle with England, France was superior to her rival in population and revenue. In colonial enterprises, too, she led. She had isolated the British settlements on the east coast of North America from the hinterland. Canada, the Mississippi Valley, Louisiana and the prosperous West Indies marked the uninterrupted continuity of Greater France in America. In India, too, France had taken the initiative before England. Dupleix discovered the secret of conquering India by means of Indian soldiers, Indian taxpayers and a handful of European military leaders. The English simply carried out the idea of Dupleix; a fact which Seeley in his Expansion of England expressly acknowledges. Even during the American war of independence the brilliant Suffren ruled the Indian ocean for France that sea which since that time has been looked upon as the exclusive property of England until the cruise of the Emden in our own day. This triumph she achieved by concentrating all her strength upon her navy and by inducing other nations to fight out her wars on land. At one time she played off the French against the Dutch, then the Germans against the French, and to-day the French against the Germans. It was a favorite saying of William Pitts that the English conquest of America was accomplished by the attacks of Frederick the Great upon France. During the fury of the French revolution what remained of the French navy was systematically and wantonly annihilated by the destruction of all naval traditions. Carnot made use of the revolutionary enthusiasm and the sovereign power of the state to reconstruct the army. But it is not easy to improvise a new navy, although the flags of the French revolutionary armies bore the proud inscription: Freedom of the Seas! Equal Rights to All Nations!( Liberte des mers! Egalite des droits de toutes les nations!) Napoleon Bursts on the Scene. While France was in that position, a genius of matchless glory arose on her political sky. Napoleon was the last outburst of Latin greatness. His policy, at the first glance, appears fanciful and fragmentary. But there is a unity underlying it w...