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Brothers Across the Ocean
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Brothers Across the Ocean
British Foreign Policy and the Origins of the Anglo-
American ‘Special Relationship’ 1900-1905
I A
ESTYN DAMS
Tauris Academic Studies
LONDON • NEW YORK
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Published in 2005 by Tauris Academic Studies, an imprint of I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd
6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU
175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010
www.ibtauris.com
In the United States of America and in Canada distributed by St Martin’s Press,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010
Copyright © Iestyn Adams, 2005
The right of Iestyn Adams to be identified as the author of this work has been
asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988.
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book or any part
thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
The Library of International Relations 24
ISBN: 1 85043 708 4
EAN: 978 1 85043 708 6
A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
A full CIP record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
Library of Congress catalog card: available
Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall
Camera-ready copy edited and supplied by the author
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Contents
Acknowledgements 7
Introduction 9
Canal Rights and Debt Collection in Latin America
No Apology, No Explanation 21
Prestige Diplomacy and the Isthmian Canal, 1900-1901
That Disreputable Little Republic 37
Great Britain and Venezuela, 1901-December 1902
Difficult Money Matters 50
The Diplomacy of the Venezuela Blockade, 1902-1903
A Marvellously Elastic Doctrine 63
The Search for Anglo-AmericanConcord in Latin America, 1903-1904
America and Canada
Responsibility, Strategy & Paranoia 79
Imperial Considerations in Canada, 1895-1905
Last of the Great Disputes 93
The Alaska Boundary, 1901-February 1903
Alaskan Settlement 107
The ‘Special Relationship’ in Crisis, February-October 1903
Alaskan Epilogue 123
Imperial Relations and Pelagic Sealing, 1903-1905
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The Limits of Rapprochement
A Very Ugly Little Row 133
Reciprocity and Fisheries in Newfoundland, 1901-1905
Satisfying the Demands of Justice 151
The Hawaiian Claims Dispute, 1895-1905
Side by Side on the World Stage
Diplomatic Duel 165
The China Issue, 1901-February 1904
This Wretched War 187
Diplomacy, Self-Interest and the Russo-Japanese War, 1904-April 1905
Hats Off to Roosevelt 205
The ‘Special Relationship’ as Peacemaker, April-September 1905
Conclusion 223
Notes & References 230
Bibliography 267
Index 277
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Acknowledgements
During the researching and writing of this volume, I have incurred a number of
debts, which it is my pleasure to acknowledge. First and lasting thanks must go to
Dr Keith Wilson at the University of Leeds, whose encyclopedic knowledge, keen
interest and constant enthusiasm did far more than help me to avoid a number of
pitfalls, clarify my thought processes and highlight archival sources that I might
otherwise have missed. It was he who first suggested tackling Lansdowne – and I’m
very grateful he did.
I am deeply indebted to Robert Smith, curator of the Lansdowne Papers at the
British Library, for guiding me through a fascinating assortment of his letters,
memos and private journals. Extracts from this previously little used collection run
throughout the book, forming its valuable, and very personal backbone. Thanks
also to Andrew Cothliff for providing the final graphic design and being generous
with his time and talent.
My final words of thanks must go to all those who helped to sustain me through-
out the writing of this book. I am deeply indebted to Gill and John Adams, for
enduring encouragement and support, and to Groucho, Chico, Harpo and Zeppo
Marx for confirming that, no matter what happens, there’s always a funny side,
even if it sometimes takes time to find.
My wife, Colette, has been my constant companion and fondest critic. For patiently
reading every word and staying the course without complaint, she deserves front-
rank recognition for sacrifices above and beyond ... I hope she knows how grateful
I am.
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FORCOLETTEANDMYNEWSON, CAI
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Introduction
T
he opening five years of the twentieth century, when Lord Lansdowne
presided at the Foreign Office, was a critical period in the reconsideration
and adjustment of British foreign relations. After the enthusiastic imperi-
alism that marked the previous century, a growing anxiety began to prevail that
Britain’s resources were over-stretched and, more significantly, that her sprawling
Empire could no longer adequately be protected. The recognition that British
global hegemony was under increasing attack had been a gradual process. By
1894, however, the major European Powers, eager for imperial adventure and
busy with naval expansion, had formed into two opposing blocks while Britain
remained perilously isolated.1 Traditionally evading entangling alliances, the
abortive attempts of the late 1890s to join the Triple Alliance (primarily advocated
by Joseph Chamberlain at the Colonial Office) represented one aspect of a new
policy of accommodation, a policy that gained added impetus once Lansdowne
was appointed Foreign Secretary on November 12 1900. Under Lansdowne, for-
eign affairs would primarily be governed by a rueful acknowledgement of Britain’s
relative decline (particularly the vulnerability of her scattered and ever-expanding
Empire during a period of exceptional turbulence) and the consequent need for
international allies.2
Lansdowne’s arrival at the Foreign Office coincided with a particularly anx-
ious period in British external relations. In South Africa, a difficult, bitter and
internationally unpopular war against the Boers still raged, while, in China, British
interests came under increasing threat in the wake of the Boxer uprising. By 1905,
however, much had changed. Britain had concluded two important international
agreements – with Japan in 1902 and France two years later – which served to
lessen the immediate danger. At the same time, the Foreign Office made strenuous
attempts to remove long-standing causes of friction with otherwise friendly
Powers, most significantly the United States.
For the first time, the attempt to effect a closer understanding between the
two ‘Anglo-Saxon’ races was regarded in high Government circles as a serious policy
objective. The Americans, suddenly emerging from the Spanish-American war of
1898 as a major world Power, might be induced to become Britain’s unofficial
global partner, thereby safeguarding British interests in the Western Hemisphere
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10 BROTHERSACROSSTHEOCEAN
whilst ensuring freedom of commerce in the East. More than any other nation,
then, the United States was becoming seen as Britain’s natural, and potentially
most rewarding future ally.
This book will reconsider the motives and attitudes with which Lansdowne,
the Foreign Office and the last pre-war Unionist Government approached Anglo-
American diplomacy. Not only is the majority of previous research now well over
thirty years old, but Lansdowne’s influence on the Anglo-American rapprochement
has hitherto excited insufficient interest.3
Considering the key role played by the Foreign Secretary in the formulation
of foreign policy, it is a little surprising that no historian has systematically exam-
ined Lansdowne’s approach to American affairs. He was, after all, a pivotal figure
during an extremely important period of Anglo-American relations, a man who
fully understood the requirements of the age and, most significantly, exerted a
strong voice in the final determination of Britain’s external relations. Naturally,
diplomacy is never solely the business of the Foreign Office (Lansdowne was
always ready to consider outside views) and, for this reason, an attempt has been
made to incorporate the influence of two Prime Ministers (Lord Salisbury and
Arthur Balfour), the Colonial Office, Admiralty and Committee of Imperial
Defence. A close analysis of the way Lansdowne and his colleagues managed
American diplomacy, it is hoped, will provide an alternative account of the ‘special
relationship’ during a critical period of transition.
Until the very last years of the nineteenth century, Anglo-American relations
were marred by mutual antipathy, suspicion and distrust. While the two nations
fought only once during the century, in 1812, diplomatic atmospheric conditions
tended invariably to be rather bitter, cold and frosty. As the American people swept
across the North American continent – slowly but inexorably consolidating their
future as the greatest of all the world Powers – Great Britain remained the one
great and tangible enemy. Not only was Britain in possession of a dominant navy,
vastly outnumbering all her competitors in size, technology and strength, but her
extensive Western Hemispheric possessions provided a perfect platform from
which an attack on the United States might easily be launched.
A series of angry incidents perpetuated the uneasy relationship. After the bit-
ter Oregon boundary dispute of the 1840s, Britain betrayed a partisan sympathy
for the South during the American Civil War, culminating in the construction of
three Confederate cruisers in British ports.4 During the 1880s, Canadian-
American hostility rose sharply and placed Anglo-American relations under an
almost constant strain. A series of acrimonious fisheries and sealing disputes raged
throughout the decade, emphasising a growing rivalry between the two great
North American Powers and leaving Britain in a rather delicate position. In early
1886, Senator William B. Allison told Sir Lionel Sackville-West, Britain’s Minister
in Washington, that,
‘if the Commercial relations with Canada were placed upon the footing
of the inter-state commerce of the Union great benefit would accrue
Description:The "Special Relationship" has long been a leading feature of the international relations between the US and Britain, and never more discussed and questioned than now, following the Iraq war. But Brothers Across the Ocean is a unique examination into the relationship's early history, when Britain's
