ish garrison were withdrawn, and all the
fortifications dismantled. Gibraltar will cease to exist as a fortress,
and will be restored to Spain on definite conditions. However, as it is
not the intention of the allies completely to destroy English influence
in the Levant, Malta will continue to form part of the British Empire.
Thus England retains in the Mediterranean the most important point
d'appui for her fleet."

"It will not be easy to get the English Government to accept
these conditions. But you have not yet spoken of the demands of
Germany--Antwerp does not touch England's interests directly."

"The policy of the German Government will culminate in ensuring settled
commercial and political relations with England and her colonies and
the rounding off of our own colonial possessions. We therefore demand
Walfish Bay for German South-West Africa, the only good harbour, which,
at the present time, being English, is closed to our young South African
Colony. Besides this, we must insist upon the East African districts,
which we gave up in exchange for Heligoland, being restored to us. This
serious mistake in German policy must be rectified; for the abandonment
of the Protectorate of Zanzibar to England was a blow, which not only
paralysed the zeal of our best colonial friends, but also depreciated
the value of our East African Colonies."

"If I understand you correctly, Your Excellency, your policy is directed
towards setting Germany's colonial efforts on a firmer basis."

"I certainly regard this as one of the most important demands of our
time. We must recover what the policy of the last centuries has lost
by neglect. At the same time that Your Royal Highness's great ancestor
waged war for seven years for a mere strip of land--for tiny Silesia,
the far-seeing policy of England succeeded, at a smaller sacrifice, in
getting possession of enormous tracts of territory far larger in their
whole extent than the entire continent of Europe."

"But for centuries England has been a naval power, and obliged to direct
her efforts to the acquisition of colonies over sea."

"And what was there to prevent Prussia, centuries ago, from becoming a
naval power that should command respect? It was our misfortune that the
mighty ideas and far-seeing plans of the great Elector were frustrated
by the inadequate means at his disposal. Had his successors continued
what he had begun, Great Britain's power would never have been able
to rea