Chapter II

THE KEEPER OF THE SEAS


As long ago as 1870 an Irishman pointed out that if the English press
did not abandon the campaign of prejudiced suspicion it was even then
conducting against Germany, the time for an understanding between
Great Britain and the German people would be gone for ever.

It was Charles Lever who delivered this shrewd appreciation of the
onlooker.

Writing from Trieste on August 29th, 1870, to John Blackwood, he
stated:

"Be assured the _Standard_ is making a great blunder by its
anti-Germanism and English opinion has _just now_ a value in Germany
which if the nation be once disgusted with us will be gone for ever."

Lever preserved enough of the Irishman through all his official
connection to see the two sides of a question and appreciate the point
of view of the other man.

What Lever pointed out during the early stages of the Franco-German
war has come to pass. The _Standard_ of forty years ago is the British