America, by placing herself in direct communication with the
Peking Government on the subject of a possible peace, had given a
direct hint that she was solicitous of China's future and
determined to help her as far as possible. All this was in strict
accordance with the traditional policy of the United States in
China, a policy which although too idealistic to have had much
practical value--being too little supported by battleships and
bayonets to be respected--has nevertheless for sixty years
tempered the wind to the shorn lamb. The ground had consequently
been well prepared for the remarkable denouement which came on the
9th February, 1917, and which surprised all the world.
On the fourth of that month the United States formally
communicated with China on the subject of the threatened German
submarine war against neutral shipping and invited her to
associate herself with America in breaking-off diplomatic
relations with Germany. China had meanwhile received a telegraphic
communication from the Chinese Minister in Berlin transmitting a
Note from the German Government making known the measures
endangering all merchant vessels navigating the prescribed zones.
The effect of these two communications on the mind of the Chinese
Government was at first admittedly stunning and very varied
expressions of opinion were heard in Peking. For the first time in
the history of the country the government had been invited to take
a step which meant the inauguration of a definite Foreign policy
from which there could be no retreat.
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