Note 592 — Chapter XI

The foregoing is the official version of the speeches published in the German press (see Allgemeine Zeitung [Munich], April 4, 1905). There were various versions of the speeches since the Emperor spoke extemporaneously. Schoen on March 31 sent to the foreign office a report of William II’s assertions as follows: When Count de Chérisey attempted to greet the Emperor in the name of Delcassé in such a way as to imply a French predominance in Morocco, William II replied sharply that his visit “signified that Germany demanded free trade there and full equality with other nations.” When the Count admitted this, the Emperor remarked that “he would treat directly with the Sultan as a peer, as a free ruler of an independent land, that he would know how to assert his just claims and expected that these also be respected by France.” Those words crushed the Count. To the Sultan’s representative the Emperor spoke as follows: “He regarded the Sultan as the ruler of a free and independent Empire, subject to no foreign suzerainty. He expected for German trade and commerce the same advantages as for all other commercial nations. He would always negotiate with the Sultan directly. Reforms which the Sultan planned to introduce ought always to be executed within the limits of the customs and views of his people and without violation of the precepts of the Koran, in honest administration and strengthening of peace and order that would make the best impression outside. European customs and usages would not be taken over without further consideration. Let the Sultan therein listen carefully to the counsel of the great ones of his land” (Schoen to F. O., March 31, 1905, G.P., XX, 286 f., No. 6589. It was also stated in the press, although not in the official version of the speeches, that the Emperor replied to the greetings from the German colony at Tangier that that colony “could rely on the support of the German Government to prevent any obstacle in that free country [Morocco] from hindering the success of its efforts in favor of the national commerce” (Quoted in Quest. dipl. et col., XIX, 504). Schoen made no mention of this assertion. Cf. Schoen, pp. 20 f.; Mévil, pp. 210 ff.; B.D., III, 62 f., Nos. 71 f.; 64, No. 74; Prince Louis of Battenberg’s report of a conversation with the Emperor, April 1, 1905, Newton, Lord Lansdowne, pp. 333 f.