These papers also include the letter from the Emperor William to Bismarck, dated 10/9/79, which accompanied the foregoing report: “Herewith I send you the conclusion of the notes of my conversation with the Emperor Alexander. My letter from Berlin, which crossed your memorandum No. 1, showed you that your views, which you now repeat with more detail in No. 2, are in contradiction--first in principle, and then that an answer could not be given until I had spoken with the Emperor Alexander. Your premises in the memoranda could be transformed into truth for me only after I had spoken to the Emperor, and--as I wrote you through Minister von Bülow--after light had been thrown upon the correspondence. Up to that time I regarded your memoranda _comme non avenus_. For me my notes have brought this light. The Emperor regrets having written the letter, as it has given rise to misunderstandings; as the words ‘ce qui doit avoir des suites fâcheuses et dangereuses’ should absolutely not be regarded as threatening a rupture, but only as directing my attention to the fact that if some restraint were not placed upon the press, ill feeling might arise between our two countries, which neither of us desired, and therefore that measures should be taken accordingly. That being as true as anything in this world can be, I could only express my complete approval, all the more so as the Russian Government had already taken such steps, and I had ordered similar measures prior to my departure. As you will see from the notes, I corrected the view taken by the Emperor Alexander of the votes given by my Commissioners in the East, and he fully understood this, although he stated that he had already received news of the unfavourable consequences of these votes, which was quite new to me, but which explained the Emperor’s dissatisfaction on that score. You will also read how I defended you against the passage in the Emperor’s letter. He fully agreed that our policy during the war in the East was of the greatest benefit to Russia, which involves the highest recognition for yourself. I could assure him that _till now_ you had maintained your old sentiments towards Russia, as was sufficiently proved in 1877 and 1878. On this occasion the Emperor expressed his conviction that peace could only be preserved for Europe by our holding together _à trois_, as we had done since the meeting in Berlin in 1872. Having hitherto held the same conviction myself, I could only agree with him. As the three persons, Adlerberg, Giers, and Milutin, spoke in exactly the same sense, the light which I looked for at this meeting at Alexandrowo respecting the sentiments of the Emperor and those persons who stand highest in his confidence has been forthcoming _so far as I am concerned_. None of them has the slightest wish to wage war upon us. The great additions to the Russian army which were raised as a reserve during the Turkish war, are retained as a permanent increase