Sir Ernest Cassel replied:
“I also feel that the meeting of their Majesties must produce a great deal of good, and, as I now hear, it will after all be possible to arrange for this meeting to take place on the outward journey of the King. I am still as convinced as ever that our side is animated by the same friendly sentiments as yours.”
The meeting between the Kaiser and King Edward which was suggested in these letters actually took place on August 11th at Friedrichshof Castle, when the King was on his way to Ischl, and it was accorded a friendly reception in the German Press. It was followed up by an exchange of equally friendly manifestations on the part of the peoples of both countries. Mr. Lloyd George, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, went to Germany in August, 1908, to study the German system of workmen’s insurance against disability and old age, and British workmen came to visit German trade unions, and to gather information about German industrial conditions. Official Britain also pronounced herself in favour of an understanding between the two countries which Mr. Lloyd George described as the only means of relieving the European tension, and Mr. Churchill professed similar sentiments.
Shortly afterwards, however, at the end of October, an event took place which severely compromised the Kaiser’s policy, viz. the incident of the Daily Telegraph interview. In this the Kaiser, amongst other matters, bitterly complained that his friendship for England received such scant acknowledgment. As a proof of the friendly sentiments by which his actions were guided he stated that he, during the Boer war, had refused the humiliating suggestion put forward by France and Russia that the three Powers conjointly should compel Britain to put a stop to the war; that he had communicated this refusal to King Edward, and that he previously had presented Queen Victoria with a plan of campaign mapped out by himself, to which the one actually pursued by Britain bore a striking resemblance. With regard to Germany’s naval programme, he emphasized that his country needed a big fleet in order to command attention when the question of the future of the Pacific was discussed. Finally, with regard to Anglo-German relations, the Kaiser said that the middle and lower classes in Germany did not entertain very friendly feelings towards England.
The effect which this interview produced all over Germany was one of profound consternation. Its publication led to the well-known discussions in the Reichstag in November, 1908, during which the Kaiser, to the great dismay of the nation, was staying at Donaueschingen with Prince Fürstenberg, where he was hunting. In England, and abroad generally, people regarded this interview as proving a great want of consistency in the conduct of Germany’s foreign policy, and this impression was by no means changed when it became known that its publication was only due to an unfortunate oversight. The Kaiser had sent the account of it, as he was bound to do by the Constitution, to Prince Bülow, who was then staying at Norderney. Bülow, however, did not read it himself, but passed it on to the Berlin Foreign Office to be examined. There, indeed, an examination took place, but only with a view to finding out whether it contained any errors of fact, and when this was proved not to be the case, it was marked to that effect, passed the various ministries without any further examination, and was published. This unfortunate chain of accidents did not, however, alter the fact that the Kaiser ought to have been aware of the great political importance of his utterances. It has always been a chief fault of his to speak out too impulsively when it would have been politically more expedient to be less communicative. Nor can the entourage of the sovereign be excused for not drawing his and the Chancellor’s attention to the great political significance of his utterances. The Chancellor himself and the Foreign Office, profiting from their previous experiences with the Kaiser and his appearances in public, ought to have used a great deal more circumspection, and it would have been well if the permanent officials in the Foreign Office had shown rather more political insight.
The endeavours of the official circles to remove the tension existing between the two countries were not affected by the incident. On February 9th, 1909, King Edward and his Queen paid their visit to Berlin, thus bringing about the event which Ballin in his letter of July 13th, 1908, had described as so very desirable. To appreciate the importance of this strictly official visit, we must bear in mind the fact that it did not take place until the ninth year of the reign of King Edward. This long postponement was no doubt due to a large extent to the estrangement between uncle and nephew, and this, in its turn, had its origin in the natural dislike which the Kaiser felt for his uncle’s mode of conducting his private life while still Prince of Wales. It would have been preferable, however, to relegate such personal likes and dislikes to the background where politics or business were concerned. British official comments emphatically underlined the significance of the visit, and the German Press followed suit, although voices were not wanting to warn against any over-estimation of such acts of courtesy. The reply given in the Reichstag by Herr v. Schön, the Foreign Secretary, to a question as to whether any suggestions had been put forward by Great Britain with respect to a reduction of naval armaments was very cool in its tone. His statement amounted to this: that no formal proposal for an understanding which might have served as a basis for negotiations had been received, probably for the reason that it was not customary among friendly Powers to put forward any proposals of which it was doubtful to say whether they would be entertained.
In spite of this cold douche and in spite of other obstacles, the promoters of an understanding, Ballin and Sir Ernest Cassel, did not cease their efforts in that direction. In July, 1909, Ballin paid a second visit to Sir Ernest, during which the political discussions were continued. On these latter he reported to the Kaiser as follows:
“My friend to whom I had intimated in a private letter written about a week earlier that it was my intention to visit him—at the same time hinting that, for my personal information, I should like very much to take up the threads of the conversation we had had a twelvemonth ago on the subject of the question of the navy—had evidently used the interval to supply himself at the proper quarters with authoritative information about this matter. During the whole of our long talk he spoke with extraordinary assurance, and every word seemed to be thought out beforehand.
“At the commencement of our conversation I said to my friend that in view of the great excitement which reigned in England on account of the German naval armaments, and which was assuming a decidedly anti-German character, he would quite understand that I should desire to take up once more the interesting discussions which we had had on the same subject a year ago. I pointed out that this excitement—spread as it was by an unscrupulous press and fostered by foolish politicians—was apt to produce results altogether different from those which the Government might perhaps consider it desirable to bring about within the scope of its programme. I emphasized the fact that, of course, I was merely speaking as a private citizen, reading with interest the English papers and the letters of his English friends, so that all my knowledge of the subject was derived from private sources.
“A year ago, I said, my friend, in the clear and concise manner that distinguished him, had explained to me the need for an understanding between Germany and Britain governing the future development of their naval forces, at the same time requesting me to exert myself in that sense. This suggestion of his had not been made in vain. The fact that I had been successful in establishing complete concord amongst Germans, British, French, Italians, Austrians, and a whole series of small nations on questions affecting their highly important shipping interests, and in replacing an unbridled and economically disastrous competition by friendly agreements to the benefit of each partner, was bound to make me sympathize with any measures that it was possible to take in order to bring about a similar result between the Governments if only they were met in the right spirit. I, therefore, had made up my mind to submit such a plan to our Government, but before doing so, it would be necessary for me to know whether Britain still adhered to the principles which my friend had enunciated to me at our previous meeting.