Mr. Tower to Mr. Hay.
Berlin, July 2, 1903.
Sir: I have the honor to report to you that the American squadron under command of Rear-Admiral C. S. Cotton, and consisting of the battle ship Kearsarge, Captain Hemphill; the cruisers San Francisco, Captain Walker; Chicago, Captain Cornwell; and Machias, Captain McCrea, arrived at Kiel on the afternoon of Tuesday, the 23d of June. I left Berlin on the same day and went to Kiel, in order to be present there as representative of the United States Government in Germany during the visit of the American ships.
The squadron was received with every mark of distinction on the part of the naval authorities and German ships of war at Kiel, while especial courtesy was shown to Admiral Cotton and his officers during their visit there by the German Emperor and Prince Henry of Prussia.
The Emperor arrived in Kiel on the evening of Wednesday, the 24th of June, aboard his yacht the Hohenzollern, having sent word by telegraph beforehand that he should be glad to receive Admiral Cotton and the captains of the American ships on board the Hohenzollern as soon as she came to anchor in the harbor of Kiel. Accordingly, the admiral and the captains boarded the Hohenzollern and were received in audience by the Emperor, who expressed his happiness at seeing them and bade them welcome to Germany.
Upon the following morning the Emperor went aboard the Kearsarge, where he remained for about an hour and-a-half. He had invited me, in the meantime, to come and see him aboard the Hohenzollern, where I was awaiting him upon his return from his visit to the Kearsarge. He expressed the greatest pleasure at having seen the ship itself, and especially at the manner in which it was equipped and generally kept in order. In speaking of Captain Hemphill, he said to me: “That is a captain who understands his business. I asked him many questions which he answered immediately, himself, without being obliged to refer to anybody for information. That is a fine ship and a good captain.”
On Wednesday, the 24th of June, Prince and Princess Henry of Prussia invited the admiral and the four captains to luncheon at the castle in Kiel, at which I was also present, accompanied by Capt. Templin [Page 449] M. Potts, the United States naval attaché at this embassy; and on the evening of Thursday, the 25th of June, the admiral, with his officers, was invited by the Emperor to dine on board the Hohenzollern, at which dinner I was also present, accompanied by Mr. H. Percival Dodge, first secretary; Capt. Templin M. Potts, naval attaché; Mr. R. S. Reynolds Hitt, second secretary; and Mr. Charles Richardson, third secretary of this-embassy. Prince and Princess Henry of Prussia gave also a garden party at the castle in Kiel in honor of the American officers on Friday afternoon, the 26th of June, which was attended by the Emperor and Empress and some six or eight hundred people, among them the Chancellor of the Empire and all the high officials, civil, military, and naval, who were at that time in Kiel.
On Friday evening, the 26th of June, I gave a dinner at the Yacht Club, in Kiel, in honor of Admiral Cotton and his officers, at which the Emperor and Prince Henry were present, as also the Chancellor of the Empire, Count von Bülow; the grand marshal of the court, Count von Eulenburg; Vice-Admiral von Tirpitz, imperial secretary of the navy; Admiral Koester, Vice-Admiral von Senden Bibran, Vice-Admiral von Arnim, Vice-Admiral Buchsel, chief of the naval general staff. There were altogether seventy-two people at table. In the course of the dinner I made an address to the Emperor as follows:
It is with very great pleasure that I have been permitted to present to Your Majesty Admiral Cotton and the officers of the United States Navy who accompany him upon this visit to Kiel. They have come here with their ships of war upon a mission of peace, bringing with them cordial sentiments of friendship from America to Germany.
I am convinced that Your Majesty and Your Majesty’s people entertain the same sentiments in return toward the president and the people of the United States of America. Your Majesty’s interest in us has proven this upon many memorable occasions, especially, however, upon that of the visit of His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Prussia, who was received throughout the country with demonstrations of hearty and sincere welcome, and who, when he embarked to return across the Atlantic Ocean, left behind him the universal wish that he would come to us and visit us again.
Your Majesty has also given proof of these sentiments in the present of the magnificent casts which Your Majesty has recently sent to Harvard University. These works form so rare a collection of the best examples of sculpture and architecture in Germany that they will establish an art museum by themselves and will afford a splendid opportunity for study to the youth of America, who will henceforth remember Your Majesty as a great public benefactor.
Mutual understanding between nations, as between individuals, is best attained by personal intercourse which leads to better acquaintance; and it is the happy outcome of an occasion like this that friends strengthen the bond of friendship, which, in the case of two great powers like Germany and the United States, is a benefit to the whole civilized world. The efforts of Germany and the United States are constantly tending toward the same purposes in the development of civilization, the extension of commerce, and the peace of the world. The closer our personal acquaintance becomes, the more we are sure to discover how near our paths lie to each other, how readily we may follow them together, and how much we have each to gain by the maintenance of harmony in the future, as in the present and the past. America wishes this, sir, with all sincerity.
There are hundreds of thousands of people of German birth and German extraction living in the United States who look back from their new home with feelings of tender affection toward the Fatherland. They are among the best of our citizens. They bring with them to us the habits of thrift and industry and the high ideals of domestic life which they have inherited from their ancestors, and which have contributed so much to make America what it is. These people will rejoice, as all Americans rejoice, at the incidents that are taking place at Kiel, and we all are happy at the assurances which we derive from Your Majesty’s presence here to-night.
Speaking for the nation, I have the honor to convey to Your Majesty the cordial greetings and hearty good wishes of the President and the people of the United States of America.
I then proposed the health of the Emperor and the Empress, the Crown Prince, and the other members of the Emperor’s family, to which the Emperor replied:
In responding to your excellency’s warm and sympathetic toast, I offer a cordial welcome to the American squadron, Admiral Cotton, and his officers, in the name of the German people. We look upon them as the bearers of friendly sentiments of the citizens of the United States, to which, I can assure your excellency, the whole of Germany heartily responds. I am happy that my hopes for a better mutual understanding between our two countries, through the personal intercourse which my brother, Prince Henry, was able to hold with your excellency’s countrymen, have been fully realized and have strengthened the bonds of friendship between Germany and America. That my gift of the casts of medieval German architecture has been received in so gracious a manner by the Harvard University gives me the greatest satisfaction. I hope that the samples relating to our old history will induce many of the young students to come over to Germany to study the originals and the people who live around them. My sincerest wish is that our two peoples may become yet closer acquainted. No serious citizen in America or Germany, I trust, believes that the harmony and continuance of our mutual interest could be disturbed by permanent factors in our relationship. We are knit too closely together in our material interests. Rivalries of trade and commerce will always exist, but the power which draws us together is too strong to allow the development of any antagonism. It is my firmest conviction that the fact of so many hundreds of thousands of Germans living and thriving in the United States, with their hearts still warm with their love of their old Fatherland, will render the task more easy for smoothing the path of undisturbed and progressive relations which are of vital importance to our countries. It is now my duty to beg your excellency to thank His Excellency the President ot the United States for the joyous occasion for which we are indebted to his kindness. We all over here admire his firmness of character, his iron will, his devotion to his country, and his indomitable energy, and we readily grasp the hand proffered to us across the sea in cordial friendship, feeling at the same time that blood is thicker than water.
Gentlemen, I propose the toast of His Excellency the President of the United States. God bless him and the United States.
On Saturday, the 27th of June, Admiral Cotton gave a luncheon on board the flagship Kearsarge, which was attended by the Emperor and Prince Henry. There were also present the Chancellor of the Empire, Count Eulenburg, Vice-Admiral von Tirpitz, and all the other German admirals then at Kiel, as well as other high officers of the German service and the captains of the American squadron. I was also present at table, accompanied by Captain Potts, Mr. Hitt, and Mr. Richardson. At the close of the luncheon the Emperor arose and, thanking Admiral Cotton for the reception which had been accorded to him on board the Kearsarge, presented to the captain and officers of the Kearsarge a fine piece of silver in the form of a large bowl with a cover and handles, which he asked them to accept as a souvenir of their visit to Kiel.
On Tuesday afternoon, the 30th of June, the American squadron left Kiel. Before leaving, Admiral Cotton wrote me the following letter:
Kiel, June 29, 1903.
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that, in accordance with the order of the honorable Secretary of the Navy, the United States European Squadron, under my command, will sail from this port to-morrow afternoon at 6 o’clock.
May I ask that you will take such steps as may be necessary to convey the information to His Majesty the Emperor, and to express to him for myself and the captains and officers under my command our sincere and cordial thanks for, and our deep appreciation of, the boundless courtesy and cordial and charming hospitality extended to us by His Majesty, by his Royal and Imperial Highness, Admiral Prince Henry of Prussia, and by all the other admirals, captains, and officers of his splendid fleet present in this harbor, and also by those officers who are on duty on shore.
[Page 451]We depart with profound regret, and shall ever bear in memory the delightful week passed by the United States squadron in the harbor of Kiel, as the guests of His Majesty the Emperor.
I have, etc.,
C. S. Cotton.
I have communicated this message from Admiral Cotton to the Imperial minister for foreign affairs with the request that it may be presented to the Emperor.
I am happy to report to you that the whole of the visit of this squadron was eminently successful in every respect. I believe that it has drawn the two nations together in a way which will do lasting good, and I am convinced that it will have the happiest results in the intercourse between Germany and the United States.
I have, etc.,