THE KAISER INTERVIEW

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14381, 26 November 1908, Page 7

THE KAISER INTERVIEW

FRIENDSHIP FOR ENGLAND. HIS PATIENCE TAXED. Press Association—By Telegraph— Copyright. PERTH,' November 25. The mail brings the tost of the Kaiser interview which the Londpn Daily graph published on October 28. In the course of conversation the Kaiser said: "You English are mad—as mad as March hares. What has come over you that you are so completely given over to suspicions that are quite unworthy of a, great nation? WJiat more can I do than I have done? I declared with all the emphasis at my command in my speech at the Guildhall whenin England'last year that my heart is set upon peace, and that it is one of my dearest wishes to live on. the beet of terms with England. Have I ever been false to my word? Falsehood and prevarication axe alien to my nature. My actions ought to speak for themselves. But you listen not to them, but to those who misinterpret and distort my actions.- That is a, personal insult, which I feel. and , resent. To be for .ever misjudged—to have my .repeated offers of friendship weighed and scrutinised with jealous, mistrustful eyes—taxes my patience severely. I have said time after time that I am the friend of England. Yet your press, or at least ,i. considerable section of your papers, bids the people of England refuse my. protfered hand, and insinuate that the other one holds a dagger. How'can I convince a nation against its will? I repeat that I am the friend of England, but you make things difficult for me. My task is not the easiest, as the prevailing sentiment among large sections of the middle' and lower classes of my own people is not friendly towards England. I ,am therefore in a,minority in my own land, so to speak; but it is a minority of the best elements, just as it is in England with respect to Germany."