RELATIONS BETWEEN UNITED STATES AND GERMANY. 537 



the word. It is worthy of note that one of the hist great political 

 acts of P>ederick was the conclusion of a commercial and friendly 

 treaty with the North American Union. Althouoh that treaty was 

 not renewed at the expiration of the term for which it was fixed, 

 this was merely because the commerce between Prussia and the Union 

 was so slight that there were no strong inducements for renewal. 

 Besides, matters in France absorbed all attention. Although Kapp 

 says, with somewhat harsh judgment, that statesmen like George 

 Washington and Hertzberg had exaggerated and confused ideas as 

 to the significance of this treaty, I will not hesitate to quote a few 

 words from letters written by Washington to Kochambeau and to 

 Lafayette: " Some of the late treaties," says the man who was soon 

 to be the first President of the North American Union, " and par- 

 ticularly that between the King of Prussia and the United States, 

 seem to promise a new era in negotiation and to promise the happy 

 consequences I have just now been mentioning. It is the most liberal 

 treaty which has ever been entered into between independent powers. 

 It is perfectly original in many of its articles, and should its prin- 

 ciples be considered hereafter as the basis of connection between na- 

 tions, it Avill operate more fully to produce a general pacification 

 than any measure hitherto attempted amongst mankind." " What 

 Washingion here says is really contained in the articles of the 

 treaty, and since these two great contemporaries — King Frederick and 

 the first ruler of the Union — cooperated in this manner for a work of 

 peace which they conceived as such, this treaty has actually since 

 that time served as a pattern in all essential respects in our relations 

 with America and will still continue to do so. 



But how greatly have these relations developed in the last one hun- 

 dred and tAventy years! It is true that at an early period German 

 immigrants were already an important constituent of the population 

 of the United States. I recall the settlement of Germantown, in 

 Pennsylvania, in 1683, to-day a suburb of Philadelphia, from Avhence 

 the first protest against slavery was issued. But how greatly has the 

 influx of Germans increased ! Right in the center of America, upon 

 the blessed agricultural fields of Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, 

 and Minnesota, around the head waters of the Mississippi, the Ger- 

 mans have settled, and there most faithfully shown their national 

 peculiarities. Even to-day they constitute, next to the people of the 

 United Kingdom, the strongest stream of immigration. And, if I 

 may speak my thought openly, I Avill say that it is most desirable for 

 the United States that this should continue. Those who first took 

 possession of the land and have since cultivated it belonged to the 

 Germanic race. The population derived from the Romance and Sla- 



1 Sparks. .T : The Writings of George Washington, Vol. IX, pp. 182, 194. 

 SM lf)OC> '^S 



