I alluded just now
to the fact that German intrigue was working in Bogota, and
influenced the Colombian blackmailers in refusing to sign the Hay
Herran Canal Treaty with the United States, and peered about in
the hope of snapping up the Canal rights for Germany.
Outwardly, during the first decade of the twentieth century, the
Kaiser seemed to be most active in interfering in European
politics, including those of Morocco, in which the French were
entangled. In 1904 the war between Russia and Japan broke out.
Roosevelt remained strictly neutral towards both belligerents,
making it evident, however, that either or both of them could
count on his friendly offices if they sought mediation. At the
beginning of the war, it was generally assumed that the German
Kaiser shed no tears over the Russian reverses, for the weaker
Russia became, the less Germany needed to fear her as a neighbor.
At length, however, when it looked as if the Japanese might
actually shatter the Russian Empire, Germany and the other
European Powers seemed to have had a common feeling that a
decided victory by an Asiatic nation like Japan would certainly
require a readjustment of world politics, and might not only put
in jeopardy European interests and control in Asia, but also
raise up against Europe what the Kaiser had already advertised as
the Yellow Peril.
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