“But, you will say, what of the German navy?  Surely that is a menace to England!  Against whom but England are my squadrons being prepared?  If England is not in the minds of those Germans who are bent on creating a powerful fleet, why is Germany asked to consent to such new and heavy burdens of taxation?  My answer is clear.  Germany is a young and growing Empire.  She has a world-wide commerce, which is rapidly expanding, and to which the legitimate ambition of patriotic Germans refuses to assign any bounds.  Germany must have a powerful fleet to protect that commerce, and her manifold interests in even the most distant seas.  She expects those interests to go on growing, and she must be able to champion them manfully in any quarter of the globe.  Germany looks ahead.  Her horizons stretch far away.  She must be prepared for any eventualities in the Far East.  Who can foresee what may take place in the Pacific in the days to come—­days not so distant as some believe, but days, at any rate, for which all European Powers with Far Eastern interests ought steadily to prepare?  Look at the accomplished rise of Japan; think of the possible national awakening of China; and then judge of the vast problems of the Pacific.  Only those Powers which have great navies will be listened to with respect when the future of the Pacific comes to be solved; and if for that reason only Germany must have a powerful fleet.  It may even be that England herself will be glad that Germany has a fleet when they speak together on the same side in the great debates of the future.”

Such was the purport of the Emperor’s conversation.  He spoke with all that earnestness which marks his manner when speaking on deeply pondered subjects.  I would ask my fellow-countrymen who value the cause of peace to weigh what I have written, and to revise, if necessary, their estimate of the Kaiser and his friendship for England by his Majesty’s own words.  If they had enjoyed the privilege, which was mine, of hearing them spoken, they would doubt no longer either his Majesty’s firm desire to live on the best of terms with England or his growing impatience at the persistent mistrust with which his offer of friendship is too often received.

There are more indiscretions than one in the interview, but the most important and most dangerous was the Emperor’s statement that at the time of the Boer War the Governments of France and Russia invited the German Government to join with them “not only to save the Boer Republics, but also to humiliate England to the dust.”  Such a revelation coming from the Emperor ought, one would suppose, to have caused serious trouble between Great Britain and her Entente friends.  That it did not is at once testimony to the cynicism of Governments and the reality and strength of the Entente engagement.  In private life, if a fourth person confidentially