222 LIFE OF SIR JOHN LUBBOCK ch. 



A rather incautious expression used at this 

 time by Mr. Bonar Law drew from Lord Avebury 

 the following : 



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

 llih December 1905. 



Dear Mr. Bonar Law — As Chairman of the Anglo- 

 German Friendship Committee I have been requested 

 to write to the papers in correction of the extraordinary 

 statement attributed to you that our productions are 

 excluded from Germany. 



I have been careful not to assume that you said so, 

 as I suppose there must be some mistake in the report. 

 — I am, yours truly, Avebury. 



Mr. Bonar Law replied : 



KiNTiLLO, Helensburgh, N.B., 

 I2th December 1905. 



Dear Lord Avebury — In reply to your note of the 

 11th, it is hardly necessary to say that I never stated 

 that " our productions are excluded from Germany " ; 

 but I have pointed out in the past, and shall no doubt 

 frequently point out in the future, that our manufactures 

 are largely excluded from the German market. That 

 is a statement, however, which would not, I presume, 

 be questioned by any one who has studied the course 

 of trade between Germany and this country during the 

 past 25 years, and who is aware that the average rate 

 of duty in Germany upon our manufactured goods is 

 somewhere about 25 per cent. 



I may add that I have no sympathy with any feeling 

 of hostility towards Germany, and have never said 

 anything to encourage such a feeling. I fully realise 

 that the Germans have imposed these duties because 

 it pays them to do so, and I am doing what little I can 

 to induce our countrymen to act in the same spirit and 

 adopt also the fiscal system which will pay us best. — 

 Yours truly, A. Bonar Law. 



Lord Avebury's final letter in this short 

 correspondence touches a vital source of the 

 " dislike " to Germany attributed to Great 

 Britain in his reference to the support needed 

 by Prince Biilow for his Navy Bill. 



