Second: The commercial controversies between the two countries centered chiefly in their contrasting interpretations of the "most-favored-nation" principle as expressed in the Prussian Treaty of 1828. The United States correctly maintained that the treaty stipulated clearly for a basis of reciprocity, and the American Government acted uniformly upon this principle throughout the negotiations. Germany, ignoring the equivalence clause of the treaty, incorrectly claimed unconditional “most-favored-nation' treatment and did not itself throughout this period act uniformly upon that principle. The German Government, however, ultimately adopted the interpretation of the United States. Third: The policies of the two countries toward the natives of the lands of their commercial enterprise were in contrast. This was shown in the several distant spheres in which the German and American commercial interests came in contact with each other, particularly in Samoa, in China, and in Venezuela. The German Government asserted German interests in these spheres, with some deference to the policy of other great powers, but with little or no concern for the rights or independence of the natives or of the politically weak governments rightfully sovereign there. The United States, on the other hand, whether working for the independence of the Samoans, for the integrity of China or for the prevention of forcible measures against Venezuela, threw its influence constantly in defense of native peoples, their rights to self-government and to undisputed possession of their territory. Material for this thesis has been found in the libraries of the University of Pennsylvania, in the Public Library of New York City and in the Library of Congress in Washington. I am indebted to Mr. Paulsitz, of the manuscript division of the New York Library, and to the staff of the manuscript division of the Library of Congress for their interest and assistance in my work. I am especially indebted to Miss Helen S. Crowne, Miss Anna W. Hill, Miss Nellie C. Smith and others of the library staff of the University of Pennsylvania for their generous help throughout my three years' work at the University. I wish, finally, to express to Miss Julia Russell my grateful appreciation of her cordial and efficient coöperation as my secretary. ABBREVIATIONS A. & P. F. R. V. R. R. Gbl. M. Accounts and Papers (British State Papers). Foreign Relations of the United States (U. S. diplomatic Malloy's "Treaties, Conventions, etc." Sen. Ex. Doc. House Executive Documents. Senate Miscellaneous Documents. House Miscellaneous Documents. House Reports. Robert Louis Stevenson: "A footnote to history," etc. For description of the above works and other sources used see Bibliography. FORTY YEARS OF GERMAN-AMERICAN CHAPTER I RELATIONS BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND THE newly created German Empire received a cordial welcome from the United States. Many factors combined to create in the American Republic a feeling of warm sympathy for the German people who had just fought a successful war against a monarch unpopular in the United States, and who were now uniting, like those states, into a federal union. This sympathy had a natural basis in the large and steadily increasing population of German extraction in the United States,' and in the personal ̧ } and political intercourse between the two countries which this engendered. There was also present the reminiscence of the recent American Civil War, during which Prussia, the leading state in the new German nation, had been one of the few friends of the Union cause in Europe, whereas the most hostile of European powers during the American crisis was in 1870 the foe of Germany. Such forces, making for friendly relationship, were increased in their effect by the pronounced sympathies of the American minister to Germany for the country of his residence and his earnest personal desire to see cultivated a close friendship between the new empire and the United States. The American friendliness for Germany was brought out during the Franco-Prussian war. In spite of the careful neutral stand taken by the government, there was, at the beginning of the conflict at least, much unconcealed satisfaction over the successes of the German armies. Mr. Davis, Assistant Secretary 1 Congressional Globe, 1870–71, Part 2, p. 956, 41st Congress, 3d Session. Senator Sumner reported Bismarck as declaring that— "Germany had in the United States her second largest state after Prussia." VIMU of State records in his Journal2 an incident of a meeting of the Cabinet during the early days of the war: "While we were talking," he writes, "news was brought in from the Associated Press that Weissenbruch had been captured by the Prussians after a bloody fight. The defeat of the French did not seem to make anyone less cheerful." During the same Cabinet meeting President Grant conversed with the Assistant Secretary on the relations of the United States to the belligerents. He instructed Mr. Davis to inform Mr. Berthemy, the French Minister, when the opportunity offered, "That it was the intention of the United States Government to preserve a strict neutrality in the war, but that he must not be surprised if a strong feeling manifested itself among the people in favor of the Prussians; that the people had good memories, and they remembered that while the Germans sympathized with the Union and took its bonds freely during the war the French people had manifested no sympathy for the Union but had negotiated a loan for the Rebels, and the French Government had sent an expedition into Mexico which had been construed by the people as an act hostile to this country." That the President's predictions were verified was attested by Mr. John M. Read, an American consular official in Paris, who wrote that there was a very strong prejudice in that country against Americans on account of the sympathy shown by the people of the United States for Germany. The French Minister, M. Berthemy, analyzed1 2 J. C. B. Davis, Journal, 1870-71 (August 5, 1870). 3 J. C. B. Davis Mss. JOHN MEREDITH READ TO DAVIS: 37 AVENUE AUSTIN, Paris, August 16, 1870. Since the war was declared I have been charged with the consular affairs of the North German Confederation throughout France and as the representative in this particular of the "Prussians" I am not looked upon with favor by the masses of the French. There is a very strong prejudice against all Americans on account of the sympathy shown by the people of the United States for Germany, and when one adds to this the offense of representing in any respect the "Prussians" it does not add to one's safety." 4 J. C. B. Davis, Journal, September 6, 1870. Also Congressional Globe, 42d Congress, 2d Session, Part 2, 1871-72, p. 1069. |