Note 702 — Chapter XII

Durand to Lansdowne, April 26, 1905, ibid., 67 f., No. 82; Lansdowne to Durand, April 27, 1905, ibid., 68, No. 83. Durand did not follow that line exactly. He left the impression with Roosevelt that the Anglo-German opposition was bitter, but that nevertheless Great Britain did not want Roosevelt interfering—thus letting the latter think that Great Britain was more bellicose than she was (see above). One reason for the British government’s slowness about helping Roosevelt mediate between Russia and Japan was, no doubt, that it wished to exclude all opportunity for the President to mediate between Great Britain and Germany. On April 26 Spring Rice asked Roosevelt not to support the idea of a conference (Gwynn, I, 469).