Thinks Little of Blood Ties.
Out of this explanation came the following statement, made by the second
Philadelphian: "I am as desirous as you are for such an understanding. I
desire it so greatly that I venture to offer you a warning on the
subject. It would be a mistake on your part, I am convinced, to advocate
any such friendship, any such understanding, any such alliance, if you
prefer that word, on the score of blood ties or a common speech. Believe
me, the American, to speak generally, thinks very little of such
matters. When America was far more English in its population than it is
now scarcely any country was more unpopular with us than your country.
"I can remember when hatred for England was a kind of gospel with
Americans. The Irish fanned that hatred. Your country had behaved badly
toward us, war had left its scar on our memories, we rejoiced that we
had thrown off a yoke which we felt to be definitely tyrannous. What,
then, has produced the change in America--America, whose population is
now made up from nearly all the nations of the earth? Have your people
thought why we are on their side in this present war? Have they asked
themselves that question? If so, and they have answered it with such a
phrase as 'blood is thicker than water,' I can assure you they give not
only a false answer but an answer which betrays amazing ignorance, if
you will forgive the word, of this country's population.
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