" but rather of "the world for Europeans,"
gathered force to meet any attempt at American expansion.

Even before war had broken out between Spain and the United States, this
sentiment had sufficiently crystallized to result in a not quite usual
diplomatic action. On April 6, 1898, the representatives of Great
Britain, Germany, France, Austro-Hungary, Russia, and Italy, presented a
note to the Government of the United States making "a pressing appeal
to the feelings of humanity and moderation of the President and of the
American people in their differences with Spain. They earnestly hope
that further negotiations will lead to an agreement which, while
securing the maintenance of peace, will afford all necessary guarantees
for the reestablishment of order in Cuba."

Of all the European powers none was more interested than Germany in the
situation in the Western Hemisphere. There seems to be no doubt that the
Kaiser made the remark to an Englishman with reference to the Spanish
American War: "If I had had a larger fleet I would have taken Uncle Sam
by the scruff of his neck." Though the reason for Germany's attitude
has never been proven by documents, circumstantial evidence points
convincingly to the explanation. The quest for a colonial empire, upon
which Bismarck had embarked rather reluctantly and late, had been taken
up with feverish zeal by William II, his successor in the direction of
German policy. Not content with the commercial conquests which German
trade was making in all countries of the earth, the Kaiser wanted a
place in the sun exclusively his own. The world seemed, however, as
firmly closed to the late-comer in search of colonies as it was open to
him as the bearer of cheap and useful goods. Such remnants of territory
as lay on the counter he quickly seized, but they hardly made an empire.

It is not, therefore, a daring conjecture that the Kaiser was
as carefully watching the decrepit empire of Spain as he was the
traditional sick man of Europe, the empire of Turkey. In 1898
revolutions were sapping both the extremities of the Spanish dominions.
The Kaiser, while he doubtless realized that Cuba would not fall to
him, in all probability expected that he would be able to get the
Philippines. Certain it is that at the close of the Spanish American War
he bought all the remaining Spanish possessions in the Pacific. If such
had been his expectations with regard to the Philippines, the news of
Dewey's victor