WILLIAM I. R.,
Admiral of the Fleet.
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Attacks Kaiser's Veracity.
The Morning Post, commenting on the letter of the Kaiser, says:
It is not usual for an Emperor to address a Minister of a foreign
country with reference to the affairs of his department. It is a
fact that it is not done. Lord Tweedmouth said the letter was a
private letter. The German Chancellor, Prince von Bülow, said the
letter partook of both a private and a political character. The
fact remains that it involved an extraordinary breach of etiquette.
There is no reflection cast upon the late Lord Tweedmouth. No one
can help receiving a letter from an Emperor if that monarch
condescends to dispatch it. Few persons, perhaps, could help being
influenced, albeit unconsciously influenced, by the perusal of such
an epistle.
Perhaps the German Emperor reflected upon that psychological
contingency; for to what conclusion is the whole tenor of the
letter directed? That the German Navy existed solely for purposes
of defense in case of aggression and for the protection of German
commerce, and that it was no part of German policy, and never had
been, to menace the sea power of Britain.
Now turn to the notorious preamble of the German navy law of 1900,
which in his letter the Emperor cites as a guarantee of good faith.
It is there stated that the German Navy must be made so powerful
that it would be dangerous for any nation, even the strongest
maritime nation, to attack it.
If that is not a challenge, what is? Had it not been in terms a
challenge the preamble would surely have run that it was not the
intention to make the German Navy so strong that the strongest
naval power could not attack it without danger to that power.
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