‘I now see from whom the letter came. He is a friend of mine. I have had a good deal to do with him lately, also after the outbreak of war. Curiously, although knowing me to be an Englishman, he has never in the slightest manner expressed himself in a like sense to me. He has evidently written to you in a great state of excitement. Nevertheless I cannot understand his doing so nor his harbouring the thoughts expressed in his letter. He is a clever and clear-headed man and much respected. His conduct in the labour question is looked upon as exemplary. He has proceeded by quiet well-considered but energetic measures to get his working staff entirely free from labour and social-democratic influences. His workmen are all content with their conditions, and his works therefore free from labour troubles when these break out in other works. I am told that all works at ---- have profited by his wise measures. I therefore can all the less understand his writing you such an incredible letter. How can men of his position be so blinded to the true facts? ‘The reply you sent[2] me sets this forth very clearly. I entirely concur in the contents and the opinions expressed in the same.’ Letter No. 2. A letter written on August 29, 1914, to Mr. A. B. of London by a German business friend, and sent by Mr. A. B., in September 1914, to Sir John Wolfe Barry for his perusal: ‘The poisonous seed sown by your good King Edward VII. has sprung up. It is a well-known fact that the great aim of his life, to which he devoted all his energy, was to unite the whole world in one bond against Germany, to annihilate that hated nation. ‘His disciple Minister Grey has seized the opportunity of tightening the noose with which Germany is to be strangled. For ten years English diplomacy has worked for that end, to close up the ring round us. Now the die is irrevocably cast and Destiny goes its way. No one can say positively what the outcome will be, but one thing I do believe, and sixty-seven million Germans believe it with me, and that is that we shall be victorious.