xxxv.ii ANGLO-GERMAN SOCIETY 217 



He also made the following suggestion to 

 Lord Lansdowne : 



6 St. James's Square, S.W., 

 9th December 1905. 



My dear Lansdowne — You will no doubt have 

 seen that Prince Biilow has followed up his friendly 

 telegram to me, by some unfortunate remarks, attribut- 

 ing to England " a profound dislike " to Germany. 



It seems very important if possible to remove this 

 misapprehension. Do you think His Majesty, who 

 has done so much for the peace of Europe, could see 

 his way to send a telegram either to our Committee, 

 or to the Prince, expressing his sympathy with our 

 movement, or his conviction that our countrymen 

 generally are animated by no such feelings towards 

 Germany ? 



Of course this is unusual, and may be impossible, 

 but the circumstances are unusual. 



If it is impossible, or if you think it unadvisable, 

 please excuse my having troubled you. 



If something of the kind could be done it would be 

 a charming termination (for the moment), of your 

 tenure of the Foreign Office — a termination which I 

 need not say that I greatly regret. — Believe me, yours 

 very sincerely, Avebury. 



The King, however, was very ill at the time, 

 and for that, among other reasons, Lord Lans- 

 downe could not see his way to commend the 

 suggestion to His Majesty. 



Prince Biilow himself, however, replied to 

 Lord Avebury in a straightforward and candid 

 way, which went far to remove the ill impression 

 caused by the unfortunate words of his speech. 



Der Reichskanzler. 



Berlin, 13th December 1005. 



Dear Lord Avebury — I duly received your kind 

 letter and I gladly avail myself of this opportunity to 

 thank your Lordship on my own account for having 

 promoted by your Caxton Hall meeting the cause of 

 good relations between England and Germany. The 



