"A PLACE IN THE SUN."
[To Tits EDITOR Or THE " SPROTATOR."1
Sin,—Germany has long clamoured for "a place in the sun." As a " place " which occupies this position Brazil saute aux yeux. Not only is it in the sun during the whole of the year, but it has also other advantages which add to its availability. Its area is larger than the area of the United States, and larger, I think, even than that of Canada, if Newfoundland, Labrador, and the Hudson's Bay territory are included. Its population is relatively quite small; it has vast rivers, forests, and other natural resources, and its present inhabitants have been extremely hospitable in their reception of German immigrants. Whether or not Brazil clamours for German rule as much as Germany clamours for Brazil need not be considered in this connexion, although one can readily imagine that, if such a clamour even existed, it has not been increased by the knowledge of German rule in Belgium.
But the "Monroe Doctrine" bars the way. It may be assumed that the popularity of this doctrine has been increased (not lessened) among Americans since they have come to know something of German methods, and I imagine that its adherents in Canada have become very numerous. Possibly if a present-day Canning were in the Foreign Office (unhampered by the anxieties of war) and another Monroe were in the Presidential chair, we might hear of efforts for the formulation of another Monroe doctrine, aimed not at the "Holy Alliance" but at Germany, and in terms more definite and more comprehensive than its predecessor. Let us "wait and see" what happens when peace is proclaimed.
Perhaps some of the Spectator's numerous American readers have not yet realized what would happen if Germany, victorious in the war, should dictate the terms of peace in London. It would require (would it not?) the transfer to Germany of the British Fleet in part payment of its prescribed indemnity. (Bismarck is said to have remarked that in a future war with France he would settle the fate of the French Fleet in Paris.) And what would become of the Panama Canal and of the Monroe Doctrine if sea-power over the whole world wore in German hands P At present the British Fleet in the North Sea guards the "freedom of the seas "; the German Fleet is its prisoner there, and incidentally the Panama Canal and the Monroe Doctrine are immune from the German menace. Is America prepared to take the trident into her bands if it should pass from Britain's P Does she realize that the Kaiser has publicly proclaimed his determination to take that trident
into Germany's "fist" P—I am, Sir, &c., S. R. H.
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