CHAPTER II

THE INTERNATIONAL WEB

Nations pursue much the same policy as individuals when they have an object in view. A man who wishes to promote a business enterprise usually begins negotiations by inviting the person he desires. to interest to luncheon or dinner. At the beginning there is little in his friendly approach to indicate the importance of the end he has in view. In somewhat the same spirit the potentates of Europe exchanged a series of friendly visits in the year 1903. On the face of these international courtesies no motive was discernible beyond the endeavor to promote friendship and good-will, yet the spokesmen for different nations persisted in reading into them ulterior designs of momentous political importance. For example, early in the year when the German Emperor sent the Crown Prince to be the guest of the Czar at St. Petersburg certain German papers went so far as to speak of a rapprochement the result of which would shortly appear, and the leading semi-official organ made it an occasion for stating that " Germany contemplates the leading rôle which Russia. plays in the near East with confidence and approval."

King Edward's Tour

King Edward's European tour was marked throughout by tact and good fellowship. He paid the most gracious compliments without compromise, and by his resourcefulness and amiability won favor for himself and for England. On the last day of March he sailed. from Portsmouth in his royal yacht the Victoria and Albert. Halting first at Lisbon, he was entertained by King Carlos with pageants by day and fêtes by night. While in Portugal King Edward renewed the Anglo-Portuguese alliance dating back to the reign of Edward III, thereby removing all recent causes of friction between the two countries. The Portuguese were satisfied that England did not menace.

them, and they had learned to believe that England and England alone protected them against the encroachments of certain other covetous Powers. Portuguese and British interests in South Africa were recognized as being virtually identical, and the bickerings of 1889 to 1892 were forgotten. The warmth of the royal reception at Lisbon gave great annoyance to Germany, since her South African interests were in no wise furthered by Portugal's fixed friendship for England. Germany made overtures toward entering into closer relations with Spain, and with this object in view the Emperor's brother, Prince Henry, paid a visit to Madrid in May, and at the same time the German naval division fraternized with the Spanish naval officers at Vigo.

II

Considerable search was made for the motives behind the visits of King Edward and Emperor William to Rome. The former left the Quirinal but three days before the latter entered. King Edward's reception was marked by the splendor of the entertainments prepared by King Victor Emmanuel, and by popular demonstrations of Italy's gratitude for the constancy of British friendship. On April 29 the King made a call of ceremony upon Pope Leo XIII., an act of courtesy gratifying to the venerable pontiff and highly acceptable to English and Irish Catholics. The program of the Italian Government's reception to Emperor William was identical in almost every particular with that prepared for King Edward, though a certain coldness was noted in public acclamations. On May 3 the Kaiser visited the Pope, introducing the Crown Prince and Prince Eitel, who had accompanied him. It caused unfavorable comment that he went to the Vatican before going to the Quirinal, and that on the former occasion he surrounded himself with military pomp. The Triple Alliance had apparently lost ground in the people's minds, if not in diplomatic circles. Italy had evidently persuaded herself that the commercial arrangements regulating trade between herself and Germany and Austria were no longer to her interest, and it occasioned no great surprise when on May 7. shortly after the departure of William II, the Government denounced the commercial treaties depending upon the alliance.

III

King Edward was received in Paris with an enthusiasm which seemed to say that the French people had obeyed Punch's injunction to

INTERNATIONAL AMENITIES

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forget Fashoda and the shock of Waterloo." It was the first time that an English sovereign had visited a French ruler since Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort were received by the Third Napoleon after the Crimean war. At a state dinner at the Elysee, the King's health was proposed by President Loubet, and in reply King Edward drank to the rapprochement of the two peoples. Opportunities were provided for interviews with President Loubet, M. Delcassé, and other official and unofficial leaders in French politics. Two months later the President of the French Republic returned King Edward's visit, and during the three days' celebration in his honor elicited from all classes of English society hearty assurance of good-will towards the French nation. The President was accompanied by his Minister for Foreign Affairs, M. Delcassé, who paved the way for the negotiation of an arbitration treaty between France and England. The King's most ardent wish, expressed in a telegram to M. Loubet, that "the rapprochement of our two countries should be lasting," gave rise to a feeling in both countries that the animosity of ancient standing was well nigh effaced. The political effect of the reconciliation impaired somewhat the dual alliance with Russia, took France out of a maze of diplomatic intrigue in the Far East, and went far toward establishing a community of interests between the naval Powers of Western Europe.

Jealousy of Rival Powers

Japan showed no little concern in the arrangement of international friendships affecting the status of Japan's alliance with England. But the more temperate and broad-minded views evinced little alarm over England's overtures to the ally of Japan's enemy. Germany continued to resent every new rapprochement. When Emperor William and King Edward had completed their respective journeys, the German press gave vent to ill feeling. It claimed that King Edward only went to Rome so that the effect of the Emperor's presence might be lessened, and that instead of returning the visit made King Edward by the Kaiser at the time of his uncle's serious illness, the latter merely went to Portugal, Italy, and France, intentionally leaving out Berlin. An official utterance published by the German papers claimed that the Emperor and the Government were grievously wounded by Eng