The Channel Fleet started for its cruise in the Baltic
on Tuesday, and anchored off Ymuiden on Wednesday morning, the usual ceremonious interchange of visits between the British and Dutch Admirals taking place during the day. On Thursday Queen Wilhelmina entertained Admiral Wilson and the officers of the British Fleet at Het Loo. The Channel Fleet is due at Esbjerg on the 20th, and will thence proceed to the German and Swedish ports in the Baltic, visiting Copenhagen on its return route in the second week of September, when Queen Alexandra will probably be staying in the Danish capital. As the announcement of the Baltic cruise gave rise to a number of sensational rumours as to the intentions of Germany, it is satisfactory to note that the attitude of the German Government is not only "correct," but cordial. An official communigug in the North German Gazette states that "owing to the almost general wish among the German public to view this interesting spectacle," the Minister of Public Works has decided to run special excur- sion trains at reduced fares. This announcement may be taken as a set-off to the disquieting construction placed by correspondents on the fact that no meeting has been arranged between the Kaiser and King Edward. Rumour is always busy, and generally misleading, when the movements of
Royalties are concerned. The motive of King Edward's visit to Marienbad is not political, and neither Marienbad nor Ischl—where he met the Emperor Francis Joseph—is in Germany, and therefore a visit to or from the Kaiser was not de rigueur.
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