Page:Paul Samuel Reinsch - Secret Diplomacy, How Far Can It Be Eliminated? - 1922.djvu/89



mutual aid to each other, can induce France to exercise pressure upon England to remain tran- quil and in peace, for fear of placing France in a dangerous situation. Should France know that a German-Russian agreement is simply in prep- aration and not yet signed, she would immediately inform England. England and Japan would then forthwith attack Germany. ' ' Therefore, William concluded that if the Czar should persist in re- fusing to sign the treaty without the previous consent of France, it would be better not to at- tempt making an agreement at all. He stated that he had spoken only to Prince Buelow about it, and that as undoubtedly the Czar had spoken only to Count Lamsdorff, the foreign minister, it would be easy to keep it an absolute secret. He then congratulated the Czar on having concluded a secret agreement of neutrality with Austria. As a matter of fact, Count Lamsdorff had not been informed by the Czar of the Emperor's pro- posal.

In the summer of 1905, Emperor William re- turned to the charge, taking advantage of the dis- couragement of the Czar due to many external and internal troubles resulting from the Japanese war. He visited the Czar at the Island Bjorkoe in July, and used every resource of his