ion to the tolerable satisfaction of both
contestants.

It is not too much to say that King Edward, in so far as he was able,
did his best to bring about another outcome, and in England this was
generally recognized. "There must be a definitive stopping of the
King's interference in foreign politics," declared Mr. Sidebotham,
M.P., in the Reform Club at Manchester during this crisis. His words
were loudly approved by his hearers, but his voice, as well as the
voice of other men in favor of establishing good relations with
Germany, was drowned without effect under the influence of the panic
which from the end of the year 1908 until well on into the Summer of
1909 kept all England in a state of excitement. Watchwords denoting
the necessity of taking immediate action against the German fleet, as
they were published in The Standard, The Morning Post, and in the
great monthly periodicals, The Nineteenth Century, the Fortnightly
Review, and The National Review, were echoed in the negotiations of
Parliament, and they dominated the Maritime Law Conference held in
London. The naval manoeuvres of July, 1909, brought together all three
English fleets, and the plan was conceived of summoning the fleets of
the larger colonies. A meeting of newspaper publishers, called in
London, was designed to carry on propaganda for these ideas, and the
Imperial Defense Conference, also held in London, proposed that
England should be supported by its large colonies, though, to be sure,
with certain reservations. In order to weaken the impression which
Russia's recognition of the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina had
created, the Czar visited the English fleet at Spithead, and for the
same reason, probably, the Russian Army manoeuvres in the Fall were
considered a rehearsal of the measures that would be adopted to check
the advance of an enemy toward St. Petersburg. Finally, on Oct. 23,
agreements were made in Racconigi between Iswolski, who was
accompanying the Czar on a new trip abroad, and Tittoni, which
agreements were to make it possible for Russia, as a Russian newspaper
put it, "to liberate itself from the necessity of friendly relations
with Germany."

During this excitement in the political atmosphere the Imperial
Chancellor, von Bethmann-Hollweg, endeavored to bring about a turn for
the better by effecting an understanding with England, in whose
attitude he correctly recognized the real cause of the political
insecurity. At this poi