_Sire_,--The gracious letter with which your Holiness has honored me,
and the high decoration accompanying it, gave me great pleasure, and I
beg your Holiness to deign to receive the expression of my profound
gratitude. Any mark of approbation connected with a work of peace in
which it has been given me to co-operate is the more precious to me
because of the high satisfaction it causes His Majesty, my august
master. Your Holiness says in your letter that nothing is more in
harmony with the spirit and nature of the Roman Pontificate than the
practice of works of peace.
That is the very thought by which I was guided in begging your Holiness
to accept the noble employment of arbiter in the difference pending
between Germany and Spain, and in proposing to the Spanish Government to
abide by your Holiness's decision. The consideration of the fact that
the two nations do not stand in the same position towards the Church
which venerates in your Holiness her supreme chief never weakened my
firm confidence in the elevation of your Holiness's views, which assured
me of the most perfect impartiality of your verdict. The nature of
Germany's relations with Spain is such that the peace which reigns
between these two countries is not menaced by any permanent divergence
of interests, by rancours arising from the past, or by rivalry inherent
in their geographic situation. Their habitually good relations could
only be troubled by fortuitous causes or misunderstandings.
There is therefore every reason to hope that your Holiness's pacific
action will have lasting effects, and first among these I count the
grateful recollection the two parties will retain of their august
mediator.
For my own part I shall gladly avail myself of every occasion which the
fulfilment of my duties towards my master and my country may furnish me
to testify to your Holiness my lively gratitude and my very humble
devotion.