The report that Lord George Hamilton had withdrawn from German
manufacturers of engines their right of competition for Indian contracts on account of German Anglophobia is, for reasons stated elsewhere, of course untrue, but it appears to be true that the commercial classes of G-ermarry have become alarmed lest the English traders should boycott their goods. The commercial papers are deprecating insult to a great customer, and at a banquet given to Count Wolff-Metternich, the new Ambassador to , London, Hamburg and the other Hanseatic towns expressed their desire for friendly relations with this country. His Excellency, in a rather cold reply, agreed with them, it being " our interest that in the future, as in the past, we should behave towards that ancient represen. tative of civilisation, that nation of Germanic origin over the water, with the respect which, to say nothing else, is demanded by the rules of international courtesy." That is not cordial, but it is to be remembered that the German Emperor is much afraid of being accused of undue liking for Great Britain. He is not suspected of that here, but in Germany it is assumed that men always like their mothera' kin.
