ld against our Emperor and against the German policy. No
means seemed too infamous if it served this purpose. Over a private
letter which Emperor William had sent to Admiral Lord Tweedmouth for
the purpose of checking false rumors that were maliciously being
spread abroad regarding our naval policy, The Times made a terrible
fuss in order to disseminate the notion that Emperor William was
interfering with the internal policy of Great Britain with a view to
injuring English military power. The excitement of public opinion in
England was then utilized by the press for the purpose of creating a
sentiment in favor of a concentration of the British fleet in the
North Sea. That, however, was certainly done at the instigation of the
Government, which was fond of attributing resolutions it had already
adopted to the pressure of public opinion throughout the country. The
naval manoeuvres which in July, 1908, were carried out in the North
Sea, close to our coastline, were participated in by a combination of
the canal fleet and the so-called home fleet, and they bore a very
provocative and demonstrative character. At this time, moreover,
appeared that widely read book by Percival A. Hislam, entitled "The
Admiralty of the Atlantic," the expositions of which culminated in the
statement that a war between England and Germany was unavoidable, and
that the sooner it broke out the shorter it would be and the less
money and blood it would cost. All this, however, is rendered easily
intelligible by the fact that the Balkan crisis, in consequence of the
annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, had at that time assumed a very
dangerous aspect, and was threatening to bring on a war between
Austria and Russia and perhaps a world war, wherein England expected
to gain its own particular ends. It was therefore a severe
disappointment to English statesmen that Nicholas II., despite the
vociferous protests of the Serbs, and despite the decidedly warlike
attitude of the Russian people on March 25, 1909, recognized the
annexation. The disappointment was all the more severe for the reason
that shortly before that time, despite the still menacing conflict
over Casablanca, the Morocco difficulties between Germany and France
were also settled. On Feb. 9, 1909, the day on which King Edward made
his first visit in Berlin, a German-French agreement regarding Morocco
was signed, and in the latter part of May the Casablanca conflict was
also adjusted by arbitrat