Note 995 — Chapter XVI

The Russian delegate, Count Cassini, declared that in forty years he had never received such positive instructions (Tardieu, p. 88; Witte, Memoirs, p. 298; Spring Rice to Grey, Jan. 2, 1906, B.D., III, 204, No. 223). Rouvier repeated the refusal of that loan just before the conference (Witte, pp. 295 ff., 429 f.; Nicholas II to William II, Jan. 21, 1906, G.P., XXI, 125 f., and note). Concerning that loan Sir Edward Grey wrote to Bertie, Jan. 15, 1906, as follows: “. . . . Russia has demanded a loan on improper terms as the price of her support [at the conference]” (B.D., III, 178, No. 216).