"
The German Foreign Office officially announced that "in his letter the
Emperor merely corrected certain erroneous views prevalent in England
regarding the development of the German fleet."
Readers are now in a position to judge for themselves the accuracy of
these statements. It should be remembered that the reduced navy
estimates of 1908-9 were followed by national alarm and the publication
of Admiral Lord Charles Beresford's shipbuilding programme and large
increase in estimates of the following year. Here is the letter:
The Kaiser's Letter.
Berlin, 14th-2, 1908.
My Dear Lord Tweedmouth--May I intrude on your precious time and
ask for a few moments' attention to these lines I venture to submit
to you? I see by the daily papers and reviews that a battle royal
is being fought about the needs of the navy. I therefore venture to
furnish you with some information anent the German naval programme,
which it seems is being quoted by all parties to further their ends
by trying to frighten peaceable British taxpayers with it as a
bogy.
During my last pleasant visit to your hospitable shores I tried to
make your authorities understand what the drift of German naval
policy is, but I am afraid that my explanations have been either
misunderstood or not believed, because I see "German danger" and
"German challenge to British naval supremacy" constantly quoted in
different articles.
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