South America and the War

ents of public thought, which the Germans have attempted to divert to diplomatic or bellicose ends. Since these influences da

n on the whole so amicably settled, and that those which are still pending do not appear to be menacing or dangerous. Owing to the paucity of population on the ill-defined and remote interior frontiers, many of these questions did not become urgent until the latter part of the nineteenth century, when the increasing seriousness of political interests, the steadying influences of material growth, and the pressure of outside opinion favoured peaceful settlement, usually by means of ar

e concerning the early course of settlement. This example is of further interest as illustrating the German method of seizing opportunities. For, today, German propaganda seeks to revive the bitterness of this episode, and cultivates the favour of Venezuela by holding out the prospect of the enlargement and enrichment of that republic through the absorption of British Guiana and Northern Brazil; just as the neighbouring Republic of Colombia is assured that German vic

which geographically belonged rather to the Portuguese or Brazilian system, historically to the Spanish or Argentine system. During the eighteenth century Spaniards and Portuguese had disputed its dominion in a series of rival settlements, of wars and treaties, which finally left Spain in possession. The struggle for emancipation reopened the question. For three years (1825-28) Argentina and Brazil fought for po

he two southern provinces of Peru. The ultimate possession of these two provinces is still under discussion. Meantime, they remain in

ng state against state, and by fomenting or reviving latent ambitions of hegemony or aggrandisement. Those who favour Germany are to win great territorial rewards, at the expense of their misguided neighbours, upon

cess which since the beginning of the nineteenth century has radically altered the map of the Caribbean lands and has shifted the whole weight of political influence in that region. The chief effort of Germa

nt power on the Mexican Gulf by the acquisition of Louisiana and Florida, and in 1826 she exercised the privileges of that position by prohibiting Mexican and Colombian designs for the emancipation of Cuba. In 1845 Texa

the desired kind from Colombia, supported the province of Panamá in her secession from Colombia, and speedily obtained from the newly formed republic a perpetual lease of the canal zone, together with a practical protectorate over the Republic of Panam

United States, while Cuba became a republic under the tutelage of that Power. Five years later the United States, in order to save the Dominican Republic from European pressure, undertook the administration of the revenues of that state. In 19

es in a dominant position. Her relations with the more distant southern countries, not touching the Mediter

ng the obligation, usual in such cases, of imposing a "Pax Americana." As in similar instances elsewhere, this Pax Americana has not quite clearly marked its geographical limit, nor is it guided by any theoretical consistency, but rather by the merits of the case and the test of immediate expediency in each instance. Thus, w

can commerce, and in recent years more than half the trade

ecause it is accepted by the Allies, while it is

d to do so by the terms of the credit granted to them by German banks or Hamburg export firms for starting their business. Young men came out from Germany-serious, plodding youths, working for small pay, taking few pleasures and immersed in business. German retail houses, either newly established or formed by the insinuation of Germans into native families or native firms, worked in close contact with the importing houses. The shipping companies worked with these latter and with the Hamburg firms. The chief German achievement in this region was the control of the coffee industry, which was acquired by the usual German combination of admirable industry, patience and intelligence with unscrupulous greed and cunning. Germans advanced money to the grateful owners of coffee

land-grabbing in Guatemala which more than anything determined that republic to declare war, in order to escape from this ignominious economic dependence, this foreign control of a national industry. For it would be difficult to define a clear casus be

tly preached by Germany throughout Central America; yet, a month later, Nicaragua also declared war, proclaim

menacing insult to that Republic. Then, the same Germans intrigued to overthrow Tinoco on account of a Government proposal to tax coffee stored f

ope. Every one of them is a serious reverse in the economic war which Germany is waging, and e

ification and thwarted, for the time, the plans of the United States. During the present war, the purchase was completed, Germany being impotent. Again, Germany, having acquired a strong position in Haiti, designed that the Haitian Republic should become a Teutonised base of activity, repud

ostentatious cordiality towards Potsdam and sometimes an almost petulant impatience towards the Allies. The German is the favoured one among foreigners in the republic. Supported by the German Legation, the German banks, and the countenance of the Mexican authorities, Germans are strengthening their economic hold, particularly through the acquisition of oil and mining properties. This advance has its political side: for hopes seem to be entertained that a militant power, inspired by Germany, may p

e Washington authorities shows that the German Minister at Buenos Aires succeeded in inducing the Argentine Government to approach Chile and Bolivia with a view to a combination against the United States-a scheme which, if carried through, might have produced a split in the political system of the South Am

to number 400,000-inhabited German towns, with German schools, newspapers and churches, where even proclamations of the Brazilian Government were published in German. Although not a product of the modern German Empire, this Deutschtum im Ausland has been studiously cultivated by that empire through every possible agency, and especially by imperial grants to German schools, whose pupils were taught that they were Germans owing a prior allegiance to Germany. Some hope was entertained of carving a Teutonic state out of Brazil, perhaps to form nominally, at all events for a time, an independent republic. The disturbances in the south which followed the establishment of the Brazilian Republic appeared to favour this c

ar fleet still kept the sea, the manifold activities of Germany included some notion of obtaining a permanent footing in the Pacific. These German-speaking settlements have been carefully cultivated, by the same methods as those used in Brazil, to become a Germanising force in Chile and a

republics. The German efforts to give a Teutonic tinge to the present Spanish movement of national revival look also towards Latin America, in the hope that friendship with Spain may

. But it is sufficiently strong and general to be remotely compared to the sentiment which a Greek ?ποικ?α usually entertained towards the mother-city. French thought permeates the work of Latin-American historians and political writers. French example and theory mould the form and the action of governments. Paris is felt to be the capital and the centre of inspiration for Latin civilisation. The debt of