Note 158 — Chapter IV

Richthofen to Radolin, Oct. 23, 1902, ibid., 799 f., No. 5885. These accusations were unfair. In the previous June in a dispatch to Metternich, ambassador at London, two instances had been mentioned in which the French government had tried to secure the co-operation of Germany. The editors of G.P. admit that one of these proposals was definite; and in August, 1901, Holstein of the German foreign office had written that the French government was “not in itself irreconcilable.” That admission speaks volumes. Moreover, the German reply admitted that the French Ambassador had usually taken the initiative in these attempts at co-operation. See Richthofen to Metternich, June 30, 1902, ibid., 795 f., No. 5881; Holstein to Bülow, Aug. 8, 1901, ibid., XVII, 341, No. 5184.