So far as The Daily Telegraph interview is concerned, the secret
history of the incident has never been fully divulged. One may say,
however, without fear of contradiction that the importance of the
matter was unduly magnified, by those, both at home and abroad, who
had something to gain by exaggeration. It is admitted on all sides by
those best informed that at any rate the Emperor was neither
responsible for the publication, a point to be kept in mind, nor for
the choice of expressions used in the interview.

The letter to Lord Tweedmouth was a friendly communication dealing
with the conditions of the British and German fleets in the past and
present, and without a word in it that might not have been published
in The Times. It was quite innocent of the sinister significance
placed upon it by those who had not seen it; and the British Ministry
declined to publish it for entirely different reasons, reasons in no
way connected with the German Emperor.

As we read The Daily Telegraph interview to-day, it is a plain
document. Every word of it is true. The moment one looks at it from
the point of view, that the Emperor of Germany is sincerely desirous
of an amiable understanding with England, and that he is, for the
peace and quiet of the world, working toward that end, there is no
adverse criticism to be passed upon it. The English are thoroughly and
completely mistaken about the attitude of the German Emperor toward
them. He is far and away the best and most powerful friend they have
in Europe, and I, for one, would be willing to forgive him were he
irritated at their misunderstanding of him. Personally, I have not the
shadow of a doubt that had France or Russia treated the German Emperor
with the cool distrust shown him by the British, the German army and
fleet would have moved ere this.

To those who know the Britisher he is forgiven for those luxuries of
insular stupidity which punctuate his history. I know what a fine
fellow he is, and I pass them by. Mr. Churchill speaks of the German
fleet as a "luxury"; but this is only one of those cold-storage
impromptus that a reputation for cleverness must keep on hand, and
when Lord Haldane in a clumsy attempt to praise the German Emperor
speaks of him as "half English" I laugh, as one laughs at the story of
fat Gibbon kneeling to propose to a lady and requiring a servant to
get him on his legs again. British courting often needs a lackey to
keep it on its legs.

Could