Note 951 — Chapter XV

See Hardinge to Lansdowne, Oct. 14, 1905, ibid., 211 f., No. 198, Lansdowne’s minute; ibid., pp. 521 f.; report from London, Oct. 30, 1905, Zur europ. Politik, II, No. 22; report from St. Petersburg, Nov. 8, 1905, ibid., No. 23; Metternich to Bülow, Oct. 22, 1905, G.P., XIX, 663 ff., No. 6360; Metternich to F. O., Nov. 15, 1905, ibid., XXV, No. 8501; Richthofen to Bülow, Oct. 24, 1905, ibid., XIX, 665, No. 6361; Schoen to Bülow, Jan. 28, 1906, ibid., XXV, 5 f., No. 8502; Miquel to Bülow, Oct. 24, 1905, ibid., XIX, 666 ff., No. 6362; Nicholas II to William II, Nov. 23, 1905, ibid., 523, No. 6254. On Oct. 21, 1905, King Edward instructed Hardinge to express to the Czar “my earnest desire that the best and most durable relations should be established between the two countries, and that all important points should be discussed in the most amicable spirit and arranged as soon as possible” (Edward VII to Hardinge, quoted in Lee, II, 310). On Oct. 12 Lord Sydenham received a letter from Balfour stating that “the time is propitious for an understanding with Russia.” Lord Sydenham, a member of the Defence Committee, wrote a draft of an agreement with Russia and sent it to the Premier, Oct. 20. On Nov. 1 he discussed Persian railways with Balfour and Sir Charles Hardinge, and, after Balfour had left, he (Sydenham) and Hardinge talked over the draft agreement. Hardinge believed that the Russians would accept it (Colonel Lord Sydenham, My Working Life [London, 1927], p. 182).