A very interesting ceremony took place on Monday evening, when
the German Burgomasters who are paying a visit to England were entertained to dinner by the British Committee for the Study of Foreign Municipal Institutions. Mr. Haldane, who proposed in German the health of the Kaiser, gave an admirable sketch of Germany's development under her thinkers and her men of action when she "reorganised herself upon an intellectual basis." Industrial rivalry need not make bad blood between us, for "the more trade and commerce flourished between nations the better it was for them and for the world at large." Sir John Gorst proposed the health of the guests, and pointed to the successful settlement of the religious education question in Germany as an example of what scientific administration could do. "One would have to scratch very deep before one came to any real stratum of enmity between the German and the English people." The replies of the German visitors showed the real friendliness which exists between the two peoples, a friendliness which we have every desire to see encouraged. We have often opposed the German Government, but we have the highest repect for the great German people, and only wish that their voice was more freely heard in their own affairs.
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