Your TR Source
Legal and historic information on international arbitration treaties, particularly efforts to secure a treaty between the United States and Great Britain.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-04-05
Theodore Roosevelt writes his sister Anna Roosevelt Cowles about England disgracing herself and the probable choice of John Hay for Ambassador to England over Chauncey Depew. Roosevelt’s work as Police Commissioner is becoming intolerably difficult due to colleagues Frederick Dent Grant and Andrew D. Parker. He is ready to be done with the job.
1897-02-28
Whitelaw Reid writes to President Roosevelt to discuss Roosevelt’s correspondence with the Japanese, Russian, and British governments during the peace negotiations. Reid commends Roosevelt and asks permission to share the correspondence with Lord Lansdowne and King Edward.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-09-18
Whitelaw Reid writes to President Roosevelt to discuss the British and Foreign Bible Society’s Centenary Thanksgiving meeting and requests Roosevelt send him a brief message to be read at the meeting. The society is also seeking a letter from Kaiser Wilhelm II. They believe that if Roosevelt sends a statement and they read the two together, it will reveal the unifying nature of the Bible for “Teutonic peoples.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-09-18
President Roosevelt writes to Joseph Bucklin Bishop to say he stands behind the appointment of Whitelaw Reid as Ambassador to the United Kingdom. He also says Bishop was correct about Seth Low and the appointment for Postmaster.
1904-11-23
An article outlines the proceedings of the thanksgiving meeting of the British and Foreign Bible Society, celebrating the society’s centenary and the completion of a special fund in honor of the occasion. A portion recounting the speech by American Ambassador Whitelaw Reid which emphasized the close bond between Great Britain and the United States, and reading of a letter from President Roosevelt is highlighted.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-11-08
Theodore Roosevelt writes to his son Kermit about his hunting trip north of Quebec, Canada, where he killed a caribou and two moose. He also details Archie’s disappointing hunting trip to Banff, Alberta, Canada. Roosevelt criticizes President Wilson and his foreign policy toward Germany and Mexico and discusses the war in Europe. He also mentions that Ted is doing good business work, and Ted feels that Kermit has a real future with the bank.
1915-10-01
Article discusses British Parliamentary candidates, and President Roosevelt’s sympathy with the Labor Party in Great Britain.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-12-30
James Bryce discusses the growth of navies and their growing importance in Europe.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-09-12
Press reports indicate that President Roosevelt has been given authority to cede all of Japan’s demands on Russia.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-08-28
Theodore Roosevelt asks Robert John Wynne to arrange a luncheon with Redmond and O’Connor and dismisses those in Britain who would object to his meeting with the Irish Members. He has been open about his support of the British Empire and will meet with whomever he chooses. Roosevelt also mentions that he has received support from American Catholics regarding an issue with the Vatican.
1910-04-11
Theodore Roosevelt declines to join a proposed organization, since he is spending all his time promoting an undivided American nationalism. He agrees with the aim of the organization, that Britain and the United States should have very close ties and be sworn allies. He admires the British Navy and hopes that the United States will build one comparable, although not surpassing it. The envelope is addressed to Mrs. Douglas Robinson.
1918-12-05
Assistant Secretary of State Forster sends William Loeb information from Ambassador Eddy which states that Russia has released the Malacca, a British steamship. Eddy notes that since this was the main point of the issue, “the tension will be relaxed,” most likely referring to tension between England and Russia from Russia seizing British merchant shipping.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-07-22
John Bull crouches as a bulldog labeled “England” on a narrow bridge spanning a river. He has a large bone labeled “Free Trade” in his mouth and is looking over the side. In his reflection in the water, the bone is labeled “Protection.”
Cartoonist Pughe, in this cover cartoon, encapsulates the issues surrounding the Free Trade debate in Great Britain. The country was considering a radical adjustment to its policy of international trade, the resolution of which would have great consequences for the United States and the rest of the world. As far as spheres of influence and commerce, “the sun never set” on the Empire when trade was concerned.
The British Lion, the Russian Bear, a cat labeled Austria, and three dogs labeled “France, Italy, [and] Germany” gather around a table for Thanksgiving dinner. The British Lion is holding a large knife labeled “Dismemberment of Turkey,” but the platter is empty. Looking in from the left is a turkey wearing a fez labeled “Turkey.” Caption: Turkey — Ha! Ha! How disappointed they look! Now I have lots to be thankful for.
In cartoonist Pughe’s drawing the only thing that the symbol of Turkey, the turkey in the doorway, can really be happy about is the frustration on the faces of those neighboring powers who were prepared to gobble it up. The once-mighty Ottoman Empire, reduced to the country of Turkey but slowly chipped away, province by province, people by people, tribe by tribe, for more than a century.
Joseph Chamberlain holds a pair of shears labeled “Protection” and is about to trim the mane labeled “Free Trade” of the British Lion.
The subtext of this cartoon is the policy altercations occurring within the British government of the day. Joseph Chamberlain was one of the most consequential British politicians who never became Prime Minister. His peregrinations from party to party — Liberal, Unionist, Conservative — effectively realigned Westminster twice. He played an important role in advancing the Boer War, and he upset Britain’s long-standing policy (once considered sacrosanct) of free trade with the world.
Cipriano Castro, President of Venezuela, hides behind a large rock, hoping that the large claw-type animal trap labeled “Monroe Doctrine” he set will prove effective in preventing the British Lion, a cat labeled “Italy” with the face of Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy, and a boar labeled “Germany” with the face of William II, Emperor of Germany, from coming ashore to demand payment of international debts.
The immediate context of this cartoon is the blockade of Venezuelan ports announced by the principal creditor nations England, Germany, and Italy. President Cipriano Castro arrogantly ignored debts owed by the Caracas government and Venezuelan banks and companies; in February 1902 those powers declared a blockade as a first step to extract debt payments. An international arbitration court at the Hague was suggested by President Roosevelt as a venue to find a solution, but it decreed that as principal creditors, those three powers had a preferential claim. However other nations, including the United States, were also owed money. As the cartoon shows, the European states might have hesitated because of the Monroe Doctrine, but Roosevelt made that a moot point one year after this cartoon by establishing the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine: that in instances like this, the United States would act both as protector against foreign presence in the Western Hemisphere, and a manager to mediate, collect debts, etc., in disputes.
Rudyard Kipling sits up in his bed, pulling the covers up for protection. On the nightstand is an ink pot labeled “Hatred.” He is having a nightmare of the “Anglo-German Alliance” which shows Edward VII, King of Great Britain, and William II, Emperor of Germany, embracing.
The nightmare of Rudyard Kipling, the prototypical proponent and poet of British colonialism, was his perennial fear of an alliance between England and Germany. In era of alliances and treaties around the world — often shifting, often broken — and despite the fact that Edward VII and Wilhelm II were first cousins, no such friendly alliance was effected.
At the procession for the coronation of Edward VII, King of Great Britain, many of those participating in the pageantry are wearing medieval costume. Caption: Barnum was not the only man who knew that the public likes to be humbugged.
Due to exigencies of publishing deadlines, this cartoon depicts an event that did not take place, at least at its scheduled time. Ehrhart’s critique of the excessive pomp that was planned for the Coronation of England’s King Edward VII was a valid observation, and part of one of Great Britain’s strangest ceremonies. The former Prince of Wales was 59 years old and his mother Queen Victoria had been on throne for a seemingly interminable 64 years. The prince was, famously, overweight and a playboy. The Queen’s Golden and Diamond jubilees had been rather lackluster, so ostentatious celebrations were anticipated, with royalty from around the world, potentates from England’s far-flung empire, performers of all sorts, just as cartoonist Ehrhart anticipated. However, two days prior to the coronation, the future Edward VII took ill and needed abdominal surgery; the coronation was postponed. Commoners and a staff of thousands were given sweets and thanks in consolation. When the coronation did occur in August, it was in many respects a comedy of errors: a crotchety Archbishop of Canterbury who died four months later, crowns falling from royal heads, botched protocol, and stage-whispers among the royal family.
Rudyard Kipling holds a pen labeled “Criticism” which he is using as a prod to get the British Lion moving in a particular direction. Caption: The British Lion [“]I didn’t mind the others, Rudyard; but I never thought you’d be prodding me!”
Rudyard Kipling likely was the prototypical British colonial advocate in literature and in public affairs of his day. His feelings were heavily tempered by realism and a recognition that England was overreaching on the world stage, and in good part by faulty administration and training of its military. Toward the end of the Boer War his statements and short stories addressed the weak premises and performances of South African policies. In 1902, three short stories in particular gave voice to his revisionist thinking: “The Captive,” “The Islanders,” and “The Comprehension of Private Copper.” Kipling’s legacy in history does not always reflect his maturing attitudes. It is interesting to note that his friend Theodore Roosevelt, after emerging from the African jungles and a safari of almost a year, delivered his first major speech of several in Africa and Europe, on precisely these points: it was somewhat startling at the time. In Cairo, he lectured British colonial personnel about what he saw as flawed administration; he said, in effect, that England should administer its colonies well, including more to the benefit of the occupied lands, or withdraw.