Replacing 638687 Ciddl COPYRIGHT, 1927, BY THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY Second Printing PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA St FOREWORD ITH the Spanish War of 1898 the world awoke to a new consciousness of America's rôle in international affairs. Thereafter overseas expansion, the construction of the Panama Canal, participation in the European congresses at Algeciras and The Hague, the vast increase of commerce and its attendant navy, all pointed to the United States as a new and determining factor in world politics. Then came the World War. The sincere but futile efforts to maintain America's traditional policy of neutrality completed the demonstration that America no more than other nations can live unto herself alone. Her decisive action in 1917 and 1918, as well as the havoc wrought by her indecisive action in subsequent years, has convinced thoughtful Americans that foreign affairs and the fateful decisions to which they lead are the most vital considerations of the citizen. If his local, state, or even national domestic politics go askew, he is inconvenienced. His prosperity and comfort are endangered. But on his and his fellow citizens' decisions in world politics, his life and his honor are alike at stake, together with the ultimate existence of his country. Thus America in her pride as not improbably the most powerful nation in the world is confronted once more with the identical problem on the wise solution of which a century and a quarter ago in the time of her weakness depended her salvation from a hostile world. The thread of American foreign relations is, indeed, a relatively simple one. The first generation under the Republic was concerned mainly with establishing its integrity and certainty. The second generation and its successor until the Civil War was occupied with territorial expansion on the American continent and the diplomatic problems attendant thereon. Expansion once achieved with the Mexican cession and the Oregon settlement, foreign problems be This came secondary to domestic. The determination of government and institutions in the area subject to Congress made slavery the burning issue and Civil War its outcome. in its turn created grave foreign complications, which threatened not only the Monroe Doctrine, the culmination and monument of the age of self-determination, but jeopardized the very existence of the Republic. The statesmanship of Adams and Seward recorded the high-water mark of midNineteenth Century diplomacy. With reconstruction domestic issues became once more paramount. The abandonment of Mexico by Napoleon III and the settlement at Geneva of the Alabama claim against Great Britain were in a sense but the "liquidation" of the Civil War. The growth of "big business" now marked the chief development of the country, with only occasional emphasis, as in the Venezuela message of President Cleveland, on the importance of foreign problems and relations. The last phase of American foreign policy, which may be described as the beyond-the-seas phase, was initiated by the war with Spain and culminated in the World War. Until some more final decision is reached with relation to our position toward European debtors and the reconstruction of Europe, foreign relations will continue to present to the American citizen the most important and far-reaching decisions which he can be called upon to make. Foreign relations, then, constitute the highest challenge to the intelligence and good sense of the voter. The European autocrat of other days, called by heredity to the administration of affairs of state, made foreign affairs his first study, his abiding concern. His own greatness and the prosperity and existence of his country depended more upon a wise foreign policy than upon any other factor. The free citizen who has succeeded the autocrat in a world of which America is as much a part as Europe will prove false to his heritage if he displays an interest one whit less intelligent and continuous than that of his predecessor. If a responsibility so overwhelming rests upon the citizen, certainly the responsibility of one who addresses to him a text on the foreign relations of the American people is such |