This little book contains the substance, revised and adapted forpublication, of lectures given in the Lent Term, 1918, at King'sCollege, London, under the Tooke Trust for providing lectures oneconomic subjects. The course of lectures was in the first instance anendeavour to perform a war-service by drawing attention to the activityof the Germans in Latin America, and particularly to the ingenuity andtenacity of their efforts to hold their economic ground during the war,with a view to extending it after the conclusion of peace. A secondobject was to examine more generally the bearings of the war on thosecountries, and the influence of the present crisis on their developmentand status in the world.
These two topics, though closely connected, are distinct. The first hasan immediate and present importance, the second has a wider historicsignificance. The logical connexion between them may not seem obvious.Yet the first enquiry, concerning German war-efforts in Latin America,naturally and inevitably led to the second, concerning the larger issuesinvolved. The former topic is treated in Chapters I, II and III, thelatter in Chapters IV, V and VI. The term "South America" is used in thetitle of this book as a matter of customary convenience; but it is notmeant to exclude the Antillean Republics or the Latin-American Statesstretching to the North-west of the Isthmus of Panamá.
Clearly, an essay of this kind, if it was to be of any use, had to beproduced quickly. It was impossible to wait in hopes of achieving somekind of completeness. The immediate and urgent importance of the subjecthas been signally emphasised by the despatch of a special BritishDiplomatic Mission to the Latin-American Republics, and by the King'smessage addressed to British subjects in Latin America, in order toinculcate the spirit of collective effort.
In the course of this essay frequent mention is made of the struggle foremancipation, of the part which Englishmen took in that struggle and ofthe great services rendered to the cause of independence by the actionof British statesmen, notably Canning. In a book which aims mainly at areview of present conditions, it is impossible to enlarge upon thesetopics, since their adequate treatment would involve some considerationof political action on the European Continent and in the United States.But since this passage of past history bears closely on the presenttopic, it may be here mentioned that a brief account of these matters isgiven in the Cambridge Modern History, vol. X, chap. IX.
The subject of German "peaceful penetration," which is incidentallyillustrated but not expounded in these chapters, may be studied in M.Hauser's book entitled (in its English version) Germany's Economic Gripupon the World; also in The Bloodless War, translated from theItalian of Signor Ezio Gray. The character of that penetration, with itsadmirable as well as its odious features, is briefly and clearly setforth in a recent Report (Cd 9059) presented to the Board of Trade onenemy interests in British trade.
I desire to express my indebtedness to Le Brésil, a