Mr. White to Mr. Hay.
Berlin, March 5, 1902.
Sir: I have the honor to report that on Monday the 3d instant, several important statements were made by the chancellor, Count Bülow, in the Reichstag, in connection with the second reading of the appropriation bills for the China expedition and for the foreign office. Count Bülow spoke twice during the session.
The first speech related entirely to China and the recent Anglo-Japanese convention. To this convention, Count Bülow said, no exception could be taken by Germany, as it did not in any way interfere with the Anglo-German agreement of October 16, 1900, with regard to the Yangtze Valley, or with the declarations exchanged by the several powers with regard to the “open door.” He stated positively that Germany did not cooperate in the negotiation of this convention, and had not been officially communicated with in regard to it until after it had been signed. The chancellor then went on to refer to certain reports (sent from Pekin by the correspondent of the London Times), to the effect that Germany was endeavoring to obtain certain exclusive rights in Shantung. These reports he characterized as a “canard” whose neck could not be wrung quickly enough. He said that in Shantung Germany demands the open door; that is, “the same liberty of economic activity to which we do not object in the case of other nations in Shantung and all other parts of China.” With reference to the withdrawal of German troops he said that these troops would not be left in China any longer than was considered politically necessary, and that negotiations were now going on between the powers on this subject. He again referred to the fact that of the interested powers Germany had no point d’appui near China, while England, Japan, Russia, and France were more favorably situated [Page 426] and were, in case of trouble in the future, in a position to put troops into China in a much shorter time than would be necessary to bring them from Germany. With regard to the Shanghai garrison, he stated that at the time the garrison was established “England had declared herself in accord,” and that the garrison was there to act with the other foreign garrisons in maintaining peace and order and protecting German interests.
Count Bülow’s second speech referred generally to Germany’s foreign relations and began with a reference to the visit of Prince Henry of Prussia to the United States, which, he said, had been undertaken without any definite political object, but with a view to maintaining the traditional good relations between “Prussia-Germany and America which have existed since the days of the great Frederick and the great Washington.” He stated that “both nations have every reason to mutually respect each other,” and that, even in the most distant future, he saw no point where German and American political interests crossed. Count Bülow again referred to the fact that he had made a similar statement about three years ago.
He also referred to the Boer war, called attention to the fact that no other power had made any protest with regard to the war itself or to the methods of warfare employed, and said that there was no reason for Germany to assume a leading rôle in the matter or to take action the natural sequence of which would be the resort to coercive measures.
I am, etc.,