Page:Diplomacy and the War (Andrassy 1921).djvu/97

 Bannerman, cried out in these bitter words: "We have lost our blood, our treasure, our might and our prestige and the source of our strength has become dried up; we have forfeited the sympathy, the recognition and the esteem of the world."

In France public opinion reached white heat against England on account of Fashoda and in consequence of the pro-Boer sympathies which were prevalent in Paris. The hatred of England was so strong as to put the hatred of Germany into the background. Although this hatred was not so deep, it was all the more poignant. The French Parliament took the part of the Boers, and the French press cast aspersions even upon the old Queen Victoria.

England's old rival, Russia, began to get a footing in China, Tibet and Persia. She entered into competition with England everywhere, so much so that India was in danger. Petrograd wished to intervene on behalf of the Boers, and brought about a convention in Berlin and Paris for the purpose.

The tendency in America was to justify the Boers and to condemn England.

The position of England was just as difficult as Germany's position was advantageous. Every path was open to Germany in all directions. She was on excellent terms with Russia, because that country needed Germany's sympathy on account of her Asiatic expansion. France was never more nearly in sympathy with Germany than in 1899, after the Dreyfus case, while the army was disorganized and social peace was