John Paul Jones Quotes
The only satisfaction I have is that in spite of the diplomats, I have used my position here to strain the relations between Holland and England to a point past mending. Nothing now keeps Holland neutral except the ship owners who are doing almost the entire commerce of Europe at enormous rates…. But the Dutch people are for us and the war.
The Dutch Diplomats did not want to take sides or offend the English during the American Revolution. But the people, had little use for the English whose support they blamed for the past autocracy of William of Orange.
John Paul Jones, 1747-1792, Naval Commander, Letter from Holland to Dr. Bancroft, 1779
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The “proofs” were diplomatic assurances—treaties—that England would guarantee the territorial integrity of Belgium. The British made strong diplomatic efforts to persuade Germany not to occupy Belgium. The German’s none the less send armies in under the excuse that if they did not, the French would occupy the country and have a strategic advantage over them. Diplomacy could do no more good. England had to send troops or renege on its obligations. So England was in WWI.
Because the early nation's government was still in a state of becoming, foreign powers were hesitant to do business and conclude treaties with the newly-formed United States of America:
The basic treaty sold some of Ethiopia’s colonial territory (Eritrea and Tigray) to Italy in exchange for arms. Italy had tried to conquer the area but lost 500 men in the Battle of Dogali. However, after this peace treaty, Italy maintained that Article 17 of the treaty gave them the right to declare Ethiopia an Italian Protectorate which they did. However, there were two different versions of the treaty that the Italians had drawn up—one in Italian, the other in Aramaic. Britain, Belgium and Germany supported Italy; France, Turkey and Russia supported Ethiopia. Menelik then, to make matters clear, repudiated the treaty in 1893. Italy send an invasion force that was soundly thrashed by the Ethiopians setting the stage for the Italian attack on Ethiopia in World War II years later. Parties to International treaties thereafter have paid close attention to the different language versions.
3rd Viscount Palmerston
She was explaining the general American’s hostility toward diplomacy.
The Spanish had been beaten and bloodied by England, but no one else until Napoleon would come along later. So it was easy for Spain to bully and dominate the non-English countries.
Charles Wilkes, a Union Navy Captain enforcing the naval blockade of the South, intercepted a British mail ship in the Caribbean and discovered two Confederate diplomats on board. He took them into custody to the cheers of Congress. England, however, was outraged that passengers—diplomats—on one of their ships was seized after boarding. This was technically an act of war. Abraham Lincoln, to the distress of many in Congress ordered the Confederate diplomats released explaining with this quotation.
Germany had demanded that Belgium allow German troops to cross Belgium to the French frontier. However, King Albert was concerned that this would be a de facto German occupation of Belgium and asked for help. The British tried diplomacy but things were out of anyone’s control and the First World War ensued.
The Dutch Monarch William V, Prince of Orange, was in a very precarious position and might be deposed. Officially Harris and the British were supporting him and Harris was giving him money to firm up his regime, but their great fear was that the French would support and control the Patriot Revolutionary movement, then quite active or even intervene militarily to aid the Patriots.
England in this quotation claims the right to interfere in the internal affairs of another nation if there is mismanagement or crises AND her national interests are affected.
Dreadnoughts were huge battleships. Britain had the dominant navy of the world and controlled the seas. A European war would be a land war where a navy would be of little use. Hence, Britain would not want to get involved in such a war where she could not use her greatest military strength. He was wrong about this and so much else. Britain entered WWI when Germany invaded Belgium fulfilling her treaty obligations. The Germans intelligence operators and analysts were well aware of the treaty obligations, but had little understanding of English culture and tradition. The German aggression against a small power like Belgium was morally offensive to many in Great Britain, and Britain had a tradition of fighting for moral principles. The Germans would never militarily disadvantage themselves for the sake of a treaty obligation to a small nation, and they did not believe that the British would be so different and fulfill their treaty obligations even though their strongest military asset—their navy would not be very helpful.
document he wrote. He and Benjamin Franklin were sent to France to try and raise support for the revolution in troops, war material, or loans. Franklin was much more popular in France and Adams included Holland where he tried to show the Dutch how similar the histories and traditions of the two countries were. He succeeded in obtaining loans that were needed badly.
At the time, the key British Ambassadors were diplomats and espionage agents at the same time. The Dutch Monarch William V, Prince of Orange, was in a very precarious position and might be deposed. Officially Harris and the British were supporting him and Harris was giving him money to firm up his regime, but their great fear was that the French would support and control the Patriot Revolutionary movement, then quite active. So, secretly, Harris was providing money to the patriots through a few leaders, to have a strong and influential relationship with the Republic if William were deposed. At the same time he was officially supporting William. The British wanted William to maintain his rule and were helping him to do so, but if he couldn’t, they wanted to keep the French out. It was this double dealing that prompted this quotation when Harris was asking the Prime Minister for more secret money for his covert operations.
John Paul Jones was the United States' first well-known naval commander in the American Revolutionary War. He made many friends among U.S political elites (including John Hancock and Benjamin Franklin), as well as enemies (who accused him of piracy), and his actions in British waters during the Revolution earned him an international reputation which persists to this day. As such, he is sometimes referred to as the "Father of the American Navy" (a sobriquet he shares with John Barry and John Adams).
