ملف ١٩٠٤/٢٧٦٤ الجزء ٣ "سكة حديد بغداد: مفاوضات عامة ١٩١٠-١٩١٢." [و‎‎١‎٦‎٣] (٥٤٤/٣٣٦)

CONFIDENTIAL.
29 DEG 1910
Sir G. Buchanan to Sir Edward Grey,—(Received December 15, 9‘15 p.m.)
(No. 335. Secret.) . _ St. Petersburg]!, December 15, 1910, 8'24 p.m.
I WAS to-day received in audience by the Emperor with the usual ceremony, and
delivered to His Imperial Majesty my letter of credence as well as the personal"letter
with which the King had charged me.
On my repeating what I had said to the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs of
the value attached by the King and His Majesty’s Government to the maintenance of
the most intimate understanding with Russia, the Emperor said that he desired this
with all his heart, and that he would always be ready to help us in any way in his
power.
The understanding had already borne excellent fruit, and he thought it most
important that Great Britain and Russia, as two great Asiatic Powers, should follow
the same broad lines of policy in their respective possessions, which might in no
distant future be menaced by dangers of a pan-Islamic movement.
Speaking of the Potsdam visit, His Imperial Majesty said that after his long stay
in Germany he could not do otherwise than visit the Emperor, but that he had been
surprised and pleased at the warmth of his reception and at the assurances which he
had received of the German Government’s desire to maintain the friendliest relations
with Russia. This His Majesty regarded as a very satisfactory result of his visit.
I replied that a relaxation of the tension which had at one time existed between
Germany and Russia would be equally welcome to His Majesty’s Government, as it
would certainly make for peace if both England and Russia could live on friendly
terms with Germany. They would not, however, as His Majesty was aware, conclude
any arrangements with that Empire without first consulting him. They equally
trusted that the Imperial Government would not commit themselves to any eno-ao- e -
ment with Germany which would preclude them from co-operating with and
supporting us in the future, more especially as regards the Bagdad Railway. The
Emperor replied that he would certainly never do so, and that he would conclude
no agreement with Germany respecting that railway without first submitting it to
us and enquiring our views. As the Emperor made no allusion to the draft agree
ment communicated by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, I did not venture to refer
to it,^but His Majesty’s assurances went considerably farther than those given me by
his Excellency, vRo said that as the notes of article 1 had been sent to Berlin he
could not now r alter it.
Refeiiing to what the German Chancellor had told the Russian Minister for
Foreign Affairs respecting Germany’s policy in the Near East, the Emperor spoke very
bitterly of Baron von Aehrenthal, in whom, he said, he could not place the slightest
confidence. &