Full of the happy remembrance of the army manoeuvres at Rome, I raise my glass and drink to the health of your Majesty and of her Majesty, the Queen; to the health of your brave troops as well as to the unchanging friendship with the house of Savoy, whose motto, "_Sempre avanti, Savoja_," has led to the unification of the kingdom of Italy. Long live his Majesty, King Humbert! THE ENGLISH FLEET AND THE GERMAN ARMY SANDOWN BAY, AUGUST 5, 1889 On this date the Emperor was created admiral of the English fleet by Queen Victoria. On the same day he was present at a regatta on Sandown Bay, where he replied as follows to a toast offered by the Prince of Wales: I prize most highly the honor which has been shown me by the Queen in appointing me admiral of the English fleet. I sincerely rejoice to have seen the manoeuvres of the fleet, which I consider the finest in the world. Germany possesses an army which answers to her needs, and if the British nation possesses a fleet sufficient for the needs of England, this in itself will be considered by Europe in general as a weighty factor in the maintenance of peace. THE ENGLISH ARMY ALDERSHOT, AUGUST 7, 1889 On his mother's side, who was a princess royal of England, the Emperor was a grandson of Queen Victoria, to whom he paid frequent visits and whom he held in high regard. William II began his reign with cordial feelings toward his island neighbors. If the friendship between the two nations was never particularly close, the estrangement of modern times may be said to have begun in colonial and commercial rivalries in the last decades of the nineteenth century and to have been sharpened by events in China and especially by the Boer War. The situation became more acute after the Morocco incident, in 1904-5, and when on that occasion England sided with France she was by a large portion of the German people definitely aligned with their enemies. The present toast, which was reported in this form in the _Kreuzzeitung_ of August 9, 1889, was received with no protest or denial. The Emperor had been present at the manoeuvres of 29,000 English troops at Aldershot, under General Sir Evelyn Wood. The toast was offered in the camp tent of the Duke of Cambridge, in response to one by that officer. It gives me particular satisfaction to have appointed the Duke of Cambridge, the commander-in-chief of the English army, as a member of the 28th Regiment, since this same regiment had as chief at one time our comrade at Waterloo, the Duke of Wellington. The friendship with the English, which had been sealed in blood, my honored grandfather maintained to the end of his life. The British army fills me with the greatest admiration. If ever the possibility of counting upon volunteers is doubted, I shall be in a position to give testimony to their capacity.