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CHAPTER NINTEEN 

Of Theodore Roosevelt And his Time Volume 2

ROOSEVELT AND ROYALTIES—CONCLUDED: 

some letters which passed between the President and the Kaiser in the spring of 1908 are interesting as revealing their views in regard to the world voyage of the American navy and the integrity of China:
(Original sent in the President's handwriting)
April 4, 1908. My dear Emperor William:
In the first place I wish to assure your Majesty how deeply, as President of the American people, I feel and appreciate the admirable work you have done in promoting friendship between Germany and the United States. I know well how the natural prejudices of an old, conservative nation would tend to make it indifferent to the friendship of a nation of the New World; would tend to make it think that Europe was the world. I attribute the constantly growing feeling of good-will between the two nations more to your own influence than to anything else. Your Majesty's Ambassador to the United States has been peculiarly fortunate in the impression that he has had upon our people; and I very deeply appreciate the evident personal courtesy to me, and the thoughtfulness shown by you in appointing him.
Let me again express to Your Majesty my appreciation of your constant friendliness toward the United States. It has been a very real pleasure to me to be able so often to cooperate with you and to second your efforts. This reminds me to say that the Chinese Minister, although he has been here for some little time, has made no motion nor given any hint in reference to action upon the territorial integrity of, or the open door in, China.
I trust you have noticed that the American battleship fleet has completed its tour of South America on schedule time, and is now having its target practice off the Mexican coast. After visiting San Francisco and Puget Sound, it will start on its return voyage via Australia, Japan, China, the Philippines, and the Suez Canal. When it leaves the Orient it will have to hurry home without stopping. I saw the ships leave Hampton Roads, and if possible I shall go thither again to see them rise over the world's sea rim as they steam homewards into harbor after their long voyage.
Their target practice has been excellent. With high regards, believe me,
Very faithfully your friend,
theodore roosevelt. His Imperial Majesty William II,
Emperor of Germany, Berlin.
(In the Kaiser's own hand)
achilleion, corfu,
1/5, 1908. My dear President Roosevelt:
Your kind letter of April 5th reached me a few days ago and has given me real pleasure and satisfaction. You are quite right in thinking that it has been my constant wish to promote and foster the friendship between the United States and Germany. I have done it because I consider it to be in the interest of the two great nations that have so much in common, and I sincerely hope that the good will between our two countries will continue in its constant development.
I thank you most heartily for the very effective work you have done in this direction.
   That the way in which my Ambassador has fulfilled my instructions has met with your full approval gives me lively satisfaction. I trust that his health will permit him to continue in his endeavors to further enjoy your confidence as well as that of the American people. . . .
The punctual arrival of the U. S. Fleet in Magdalen Bay must be a matter of great satisfaction to you and the country. Admiral Evans has again proved his fine qualities as seaman and leader, and the officers and crews, not forgetting the engine room staff, have shown themselves well trained and up to the work. May I offer my sincerest congratulations on such a fine performance.
I see by your letter that the new Chinese Minister in Washington has not taken any steps yet referring to a "declaration of policy," in the question of Chinese integrity and the open door. I have just heard from my minister in China, that the Vice-President of the Wai-wu-pu, Liong-tun-yen, will be sent in about 2 months time to the U. S. and to Germany in order to lay proposals before our governments. I sincerely hope and trust that we shall be able to come to an agreement about such a "statement of policy," which will assure the maintenance of integrity of China and the open door to the trade of all nations.
With the sincerest wishes for the further success of the United States, and for the welfare of your family, believe me, my dear President,
Ever your sincere friend,
william, I. R.
(Original sent in the President's handwriting)
May 14, 1908. My dear Emperor William:
Since writing you I have received, through Sternburg, your very courteous letter, and the handsome volume on Wartburg; I thank you for it. When Sternburg presents this I hope he will have the chance to tell you in full how things stand here.I am particularly pleased at your appreciation of our fleet; but I wish I could get legislation that would give us in the higher grades officers as young as yours!
With great regard Faithfully yours,
theodoee roosevelt.

 To His Imperial Majesty William II,
Emperor of Germany.
I have searched Roosevelt's papers in vain for an answer from the Kaiser to the following letter from the President urging him to favor a treaty of arbitration between the United States and Germany. If one was sent it has been mislaid:
(Original in the President's handwriting)
May 6, 1908. My dear Emperor William:
I have asked your Majesty's Ambassador to present this to you personally. I hope you can see your way clear to have your Government enter into a treaty of arbitration with the United States. In the form in which the treaty now is I freely admit that it is not as effective as I could wish. Nevertheless good will result from the expression of good-will implied in the treaty; and it would have a certain binding effect upon the Senate, making it morally obligatory to accept any reasonable agreement which might subsequently be made. Moreover it would confer a real benefit in the event of any sudden flurry both by providing the executives of the two countries with an excellent reason for demanding cool consideration of any question by their respective peoples, and also by enabling them to make a strong appeal under the sanction of a solemn treaty to both the peoples and their legislatures to accept an honorable arbitration. It seems to me that these advantages are in themselves not to be overlooked; and furthermore the effect of such a treaty between Germany and the United States will be to furnish another evidence of the friend ship between the two countries, while not to have the treaty, when such treaties have already been made with France, England, Japan, Italy, Spain, and various other powers, would I think invite comment. Merely to exchange notes of good will between the Governments would be no adequate substitute. On the contrary, it would invite attention to the fact that there is no treaty with Germany, whereas there are treaties with the various Powers above named; and indeed might be construed by our people as meaning that Germany did not believe any treaty should be made with us in view of our form of government.
"With great regard and earnest good wishes for your continued success in your great career, believe me,
Sincerely yours,
theodoee Roosevelt. His Imperial Majesty William II,
Emperor of Germany.
The last letter from the Kaiser which appears in the correspondence is the following, which, unlike all the others, is not in the Kaiser's hand but in that of a secretary:
My dear President:
This letter will be delivered into your hands by Count Bernstorff, whom I have chosen after mature deliberation as successor to poor Baron Speck v. Sternburg, whose premature death I still lament as a severe loss to our two countries. He was not only a true and good German patriot, but a sincere and staunch friend of the United States. I know that you lost in him a personal and loyal friend and admirer.
I trust that my new ambassador will gain your entire confidence and that of Mr. William Taft, who has just been elected to be your successor at the White House. I have watched the electoral struggle in the United States with keen interest, and I wish to tell you quite confidentially that I am most satisfied with the outcome. Your advocating of Mr. Taft's candidacy would have been enough proof for me that he is the fittest man for the post, but I know besides what a splendid man he is and what an able public official he has shown himself in all the positions he has held during these last years in the Philippines, in Washington and in Cuba. I am sure that the United States will continue under his lead in the ways of progress and they will enter into a new era of prosperity, which has only lately been interrupted by one of these periods of depression which occur in all countries and at all times. I further sincerely hope that the good relations between our two countries, which have made so much progress during your presidency, will not only continue, but still extend to the best of the two peoples.
I have heard from Consul General Biinz, who is going now as minister to Mexico, that you will, after your expedition to Africa, come over to England and lecture at Oxford University. I should be very much pleased if we could meet somewhere and get personally acquainted.
Your desire to shoot in German East Africa has been made known to me and I assure you that every possible facility will be given to you during your stay on German territory, where you will find some of the best shooting grounds for big game.
With sincere wishes for the further welfare of your country and your own, I am, my dear President, your sincere friend and admirer,
william, I. R. Donaueschingen,
November 12th, 1908.
The President of the United States of America.
To this the President replied:
(Original in President's handwriting)
the white house, washington,
January 2, 1909. My dear Emperor William:
    Only a couple of days after I had written you, you Ambassador arrived and presented me both your letter and the book. I thank you heartily for both. Indeed, I find the accounts of the feats of the German '' Rough Riders''— as you so kindly call them—in southeast Africa most fascinating reading. What an extraordinary campaign it was, and how difficult for men in highly civilized countries to realize what grim work is needed in order to advance the outposts of civilization in the world's dark places!
All that your Majesty says about poor Speck is simply warranted by the facts. He was not only a devoted German, but he had an intense feeling of devotion to you personally, a feeling shared to the full by the poor Baroness whom his death has left so lonely. He was also sincerely attached to America, and he played no small part in promoting the good will between the two countries; which good will, however, is due primarily to your Majesty's own actions during the past six years.
I was much pleased with your new Ambassador. He is evidently an able man.
At the same time with the Ambassador there arrived the invitation from the University of Berlin, and I at once consulted the Ambassador about it. I shall accept with the utmost pleasure, partly because I shall be glad to speak before the university, and still more, I must frankly add, because it gives me a legitimate excuse for seeing you. If my plans are carried out as I hope, I shall be a year in Africa, and this will bring me to Berlin about the 1st of May, 1910, if this is a convenient date for you. My trip to Africa will be taken partly as a big game hunter, but primarily as a naturalist. If I am sufficiently lucky I shall get over the border of British East Africa into German East Africa, and hunt along it toward the Victoria Nyanza. I wish that my time would allow my visiting the districts in Africa where European settlement is thriving, but I am afraid if I tried that it would mean that I would have to abandon the object of the expedition.
What a dreadful catastrophe the Sicilian earthquake has been! I am doing whatever I can to help, but of course at such a distance there is really very little that I can do. I have cabled the Italian Government asking if any good purpose can be achieved by at once sending any or all of the American battleships now in Suez to the stricken region.
By the way, I am sure you would be delighted if you could see the accounts that have come from our battle fleet, which is now returning from its trip around the world. In gunnery and in battle tactics no less than in the ordinary voyage maneuvers, there has been a steady gain; and the fleet is far more efficient, collectively and individually, now than when it left these waters over a year ago.
The Chinese envoy here is completely upset by the very unexpected news of what has just happened in China, and I think intends immediately to return. The Chinese are so helpless to carry out any fixed policy, whether home or foreign, that it is difficult to have any but the most cautious dealings with them.
"With assurances of my hearty esteem and admiration, and of the eager pleasure with which I look forward to seeing you in person a year from this spring, believe me, Very faithfully yours,
theodore Roosevelt. To His Imperial Majesty William II,
Emperor of Germany.
The only personal correspondence that passed between the Czar of Russia and the President took place during the Portsmouth Peace Conference, as follows:
(Original in the Czar's handwriting)
peterhof, July 18, 1905. Dear Mr. Roosevelt:
I take the opportunity of Mr. Witte's departure for Washington to express to you my feelings of sincere friendship. Thanks to your initiative the Russian and Japanese delegates are going to meet in your country to discuss the possible terms of peace between both belligerents.
I have instructed Mr. Witte, Secretary of State, and my ambassador in the United States, Baron Rosen—how far Russia's concessions can go towards meeting Japan's propositions.
I need not tell you that I have full confidence that you will do all that lies in your power to bring the peace negotiations to a satisfactory conclusion.
Believe me
yours truly
nicolas.
(Original in the President's handwriting)
September 6, 1905. To
His Majesty
The Emperor of Russia: My dear Emperor Nicolas:
Your very courteous letter was handed me by M. Witte. I need hardly say how delighted I am at the peace that has been made. I have given M. Witte, to present to you, copies of the letters I had sent the Japanese Government at the same time that I was cabling you.
I have an abiding faith in the future of the mighty Slav empire which you rule; and I most earnestly wish all good fortune both for you personally and for your people. With high regard, believe,
Very faithfully yours,
theodoee  roosevelt.
Roosevelt's correspondence with the Emperor of Japan began at the close of the Portsmouth Peace Conference in 1905, when the President wrote in his own hand a long letter to the Mikado expressing his "sense of the magnanimity, and above all, of the cool-headed, far-sighted wisdom" he had shown in making the peace treaty. This letter was given in full in the account of the Peace Conference published  in  Scribner's  Magazine  in   September,   1919.    The Mikado's reply was as follows:
(Translation) Mr. President:
I received some time ago your kind letter dated September 6th last, which you delivered to Baron Komura on the eve of his departure from your country. The warmest and sincerest sympathy which you expressed in that letter regarding the conclusion of peace touched me deeply. I feel extremely gratified to find that you have fully appreciated the course of action which I have taken with the view to promoting the cause of humanity and civilization as well as the true interests of Japan.
From the moment when you suggested to Japan and Russia to open negotiations for peace until the time when the Plenipotentiaries of the two Powers concluded their labors in your country, you have constantly exercised your noble efforts for the cause of peace and have greatly contributed to the speedy termination of the painful war. The two belligerents and the world at large owe deep and lasting gratitude to you.
In again tendering to you my heartfelt thanks I wish happiness of yourself and prosperity of your country.
With profound respect,
Believe me, Yours always sincerely,
(Signed)    mUtsuhito. Tokio, November 11, 1905.
At the same time the President sent a present to the Mikado, which is described in the following correspondence:
(Original in the President's handwriting)
September 6, 1905. Your Majesty:
   Through Baron Kaneko I venture to send you the skin of a large bear which I shot; I beg you to accept it as a trifling token of the regard I have for you and for the great and wonderful people over which you rule.
Let me take this opportunity to thank you for the distinguished courtesy you have  shown to  Secretary Taft and to my daughter.   Let me also say how much I have enjoyed reading the translation of the poems written by Tour Majesty, by Her Majesty the Empress, and by the other members of the Royal Family. I have also written you by Baron Koilura. With profound respect, believe me,
Always sincerely yours,
theodore  roosevelt. To
His Majesty,
The Emperor of Japan.
(Translation) Mr. President:
Your letter and the skin of a large bear shot by yourself which you delivered to Baron Kaneko at the time of his departure from your country, have reached me soon after his return here.
I am very happy to be the recipient of such a rare present, which, I can assure you, will ever be cherished by me as the trophy of a friend commanding my entire admiration.
It afforded me great pleasure to receive your daughter and your Secretary of War Mr. Taft on the occasion of their visit to this country. The only regret is that their short stay did not permit me to give them more cordial reception. With profound respect,
Believe me,
Yours very sincerely,
(Signed)    mtjtsuhito. Tokio, November 11, 1905.
Early in 1906 the northeastern portion of Japan was visited with a terrible famine, which threatened the death by starvation of many thousands of persons. When it was at its height President Roosevelt, on February 13, 1906, issued an "appeal to the American people to help from their abundance their suffering fellow men of the great and friendly nation of Japan." Thousands of dollars were contributed through the Red Cross and other agencies by which needed relief was afforded. In recognition of the, service rendered, the Mikado wrote to the President in July, 1906:
(Translation)
Great and Good Friend:
When I learned that you had, in great sympathy and good will, invited the American public to come to the aid and succor of the famine stricken people of my northeastern Provinces, I hastened to express to you, through my Representative at Washington, my deep sense of gratitude.
The very generous and substantial contributions subscribed and collected by different American individuals and organizations and especially by the American National Red Cross and the Christian Herald, were duly received by the local authorities concerned through the kindness of the State Department and were, with great care, distributed among the distressed in such a manner as to faithfully carry out the noble intentions of those who so liberally responded to your appeal. I need hardly assure you that by this means the most serious effects of the calamity were greatly mitigated.
Now that the immediate danger has been removed, I wish to assure you that I have been very deeply touched and gratified by the high example of international good will and friendship displayed by the people of the United States and that the memory of it will always be warmly cherished by me.
I remain, Mr. President, with the best wishes for your continued well-being.
Your sincere Friend
(Signed)    mutsuhito. Imperial Palace, Tokio,
the fourth day of the seventh month of the thirty-ninth year of Meiji.
(July 4, 1906) The President of the United States of America.
All of the Mikado's letters to the President were written in Japanese characters on very fine rice-paper, and in each was enclosed an English translation in script of copperplate perfection.
With Admiral Togo, Commander-in-Chief of the victorious Japanese navy, the President had the following interesting correspondence:
(Original in the President's hand)
December 18, 1905. My dear Admiral Togo:
I greatly appreciate the gift of that revolver which you sent me through Minister Griscom. He tells me that you are to come to the United States some time next year. I earnestly hope that this is so. I look forward to seeing you and entertaining you at the White House. May I ask that you will do me the honor of accepting my photograph, which I enclose? With great regard,
Sincerely yours,
theodore Roosevelt. Admiral H. Togo,
Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet, Tokio, Japan.
naval general staff office, tokio,
January 29, 1906. My dear Mr. President:
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your kind note together with your photograph enclosed therein. I highly appreciate your gift and shall ever value it as a token of friendship of the President of the Great Republic. As to my visit to your country, I fear I can as yet say nothing for definite, although I am very anxious to have an opportunity in the near future of paying my respects to you at the White House.
I shall esteem it a great honor if you will kindly accept my photograph, which I enclose herewith. With the highest esteem and admiration, I am yours respectfully,
admiral hEihachiRo togo. 

His Excellency,
President Roosevelt.
A letter of unusual interest came to President Roosevelt in 1905 from Queen Elizabeth (Carmen Sylva) of Rumania. In that year the United States sent J. W. Riddle as its first Minister to Rumania, and the President gave him a personal letter to hand to the Queen, in which he spoke of her literary works and of the pleasure he had experienced in reading certain of them. In reply the Queen wrote the following letter on a typewriter:
SlNAIA,
October 12, 1905. Sir:
I thank you with all my heart for the kind letter you sent me through your most amiable messenger! We are so glad to have an American representative to ourselves at last, and I am sure you will never regret it, as there are so many increasing interests that could not be thoroughly understood by some one who did not know our country at all. I felt a great deal of compunction in venturing to recommend to your notice the once great tragedian Gertrud Giers. I know how very annoying it is to have stage poor artists thrust upon one. But I could not refuse, as she always was a protegee of my mother and a most honest woman whose struggle for life was so much harder on account of her being so honest. I hope she hasn't bored you too much! You know the world and its wonderful snobbishness, only when the Great of the earth seem to pay attention the poor things can rise into notice, else they are left utterly in the cold!
That the Bard of the Dimbovitza gives you such real pleasure is to me a very great satisfaction. You must like the chain of pearls and the murderer and the bereaved husband and the woman after miscarriage. All those things are powerful! To me the book seemed a literary event and I felt very proud that such a light should shine from my poor little unnoticed country! We are always wondering where the origins of these songs may be, they must come from the far east, as there is not a word in them that seems to allude to Christianity. They are simply grand and natural and true, as only Shakespeare has ever been.
I am told you read German and so I venture to send you a true story I have put into somewhat poetic prose and also a tiny volume of poems I wrote in English, and in which you may like my joyful address to old age! It is true that I don't feel any older than at twenty-five and therefore I am no real judge, but I see that my feelings are about what you say and you may like them, even if my English verse should not be quite perfect!
"We have had a hard fight for existence all these last years and are not beyond much care still. It was nearly famine, only we didn 't allow it to grow into that, by making unheard of sacrifices to keep our peasants alive! This year is far from good again, but we hope to get on without buying in other countries the Indian corn that wasn 't nearly as good as ours! Your Minister will tell you all about our dire struggle and the unheard of difficulties we had to contend with! though thank God he hasn't seen the worst! Many have been the sleepless nights! I worked night and day to bring our silk industry on the market, as I saw that when everything failed the mulberry tree gave us enough leaves to keep our silk-worms alive! I do so hope we shall be able to do a great deal in that line!
Another burning interest to me is the question of the blind, as the terrible Egyptian disease has made ravages here. It seems there are about fifteen thousand blind people here, mostly strong young men having been soldiers, and a blind typesetter has found a new machine for printing for the blind and my valet de chambre, a very clever man who has been working for the blind for seven years, has taken up the blind man's idea and worked it out through long and patient months! The first machine was ready to start, when a jealous workman destroyed it in order to prevent his patron from earning money. In a few days it will be ready again. We have the patent for five countries, also America, and the inventors don't want to earn a penny, but wish to found what I call my blind city with the result of this machine. A blind man will henceforth be able to print five thousand pages a day. It will be a new life for the blind in the whole world! I have orders from everywhere already and I have also begun my blind city with two or three married people, an engineer and a monk and a sculptor and so on. I begin with fathers first, and let the children follow. A school would be utterly useless, it must come out of the city, but it would cost far too much to begin with it. I want to build something on a socialistic basis. If it interests you at all I shall send our plan of organization. I hope it may answer. I am afraid I am asking too much of your patience already and am beginning to make mistakes, as I always do when I begin to get the least bit tired. The typewriter is an enormous help to overworked hands, but the noise is still much too fatiguing to the brain. If I write more than three or four hours at a time I make mistakes in every word at last. And I can't dictate.
Once more kind thanks for your most amiable letter!
elizabeth.
Roosevelt, soon after the German invasion of Belgium, wrote to King Albert, enclosing his first public utterances on the subject and expressing his admiration for Belgium's heroic conduct and his deep sympathy with its sufferings. In reply, King Albert wrote:
(Original in French}
Dear Mr. Roosevelt:
I am very glad to receive your letter. It is very good of you to give me this cordial assurance of your friendly sentiments. What you have written in support of our just cause is an honor to us; my Government as well as myself, values it highly. My country is profoundly grateful to the United States for comprehending that Belgium, in defending her soil, has sacrificed all to duty; she knows that she can count upon the sympathy of the great American nation, which, always reverencing liberty and law, will never admit that treaties, contracted in good faith, can be violently torn up.
I thank you, the eminent statesman who knows well the sentiments of honor of his fellow citizens, for sending assurances of their sympathy.
I wish to say to you, my dear Mr. Roosevelt, that I remember always with pleasure your visit to Brussels and I beg you to believe me
Very affectionately yours,
albert. Furnes, 17th December, 1914.