BRITAIN AND GERMANY

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 11 March 1908, Page 19

BRITAIN AND GERMANY

THE KAISER'S LETTER. A PURELY PERSONAL DOCUMENT. LONDON, March 6. The Times states that the Kaiser has iviitten to Lord Tweedmouth relative to ! the British and German naval policy, and that a reply has been despatched. "If the ! report is affirmed," says The Times, " the- ! Kaiser's letter amounts to an attempt to influence in German interests the Minister responsible for the Naval Estimates." j The Times urges that the letter be made ' public, and insists that if the complimentary title of admiral in the British navy can be held to warrant a foreign potentate interfering in our domestic affiirs by secret appeals to the head of the department on which .the national safety depends it becomes urgently necessary to abolish dynastic compliments." The Times asserts that if King Edward similarly communicated with the head of the German Naval and Military Department there would be a universal cry of . anger from one end of Germany to the other, and the world would hold Germany within her rights. If the Kaiser had anything to cay to Britain tending to a fair understanding about armaments he could use the legular official channels for communicating with the British Government, and no private relations with members of tho Government can excuse a departure from the regular methods and r scours© to private influences, to which some men are amenable when the influences come from an exalted quarter. Lord Tweedmouth authorises the statement that tlie Kaiser's letter was purely personal, and did not contain any refer- j enee»to the British Naval Estimates. For : the further information of Parliament Lord Tweedmouth added that the letter was not addressed to him in his capacity of First Lord of the Admiralty. Lord Tweedmouth's secretary, when interviewed, said that the letter did not contain any reference to the British Naval Estimates in the way suggested. He declined to say whether it referred to German naval policy. Ma roh 7. Replying to questions in the House of Commons, Mr Asquith stated that on February 28 Lord Tweedmouth received from the Kaiser a purely private and personal letter which had been conceived in an entirely friendly spirit. The answer to that letter was equally private and informal. Neither one letter nor the other was known or communicated to the Cabinet. Mr Asquith said he might add, in view of some suggestions that were being made, that before the Kaiser's letter was received by Lord Tweedmouth the Cabinet had come to a final decision regarding the Naval Estimates for the year. The statement was received with choers, March 8. The Observer (Unionist) says that the Kaiser's letter asks, Who is Lord EsherV and makes an inimitable play upon his office as deputy-governor of Windsor Castle, and suggests that h© had better leave ships alone and stick to drain-pipes. BERLIN, March 7. The Foreign Office at Berlin has authorised Re uter's correspondent to make the following official statement: — "It is untrue that the Kaiser attempted to interfere with the British naval plans. His letter merely corrected certain erroneous views which were prevalent in England regarding the German fleet. The Emperor is no tyro in naval matters, and this step he had a perfect right to take as a naval expert, and as such he was recognised in England. Just as the Emperor would reject any foreign attempt to decide the proportions of G-crmany's fleet, he would repudiate any idea of interfering with the affairs of the British Navy." The Kaiser's letter caused a painful impression in Germany, an uncomfortable feeling in Vienna, and lively comments In France and America. The Kaiser, in the course of conversation, frequently resented the comments of the British newspapers in singling out the German navy and not the American or French navies.