King Edward reached Kiel on the 25th inst., and was
received with all possible cordiality and state. The German Emperor was evidently proud of his new Fleet, and must, one would think, have been slightly disappointed when the King struck the grand Naval Review out of the programme submitted for his sanction. At the State banquet on the 'Hohenzollern' the Emperor addressed his guest as "your Royal and Imperial Majesty," a formula not used in Great Britain, and spoke of his "great Empire, which by virtue of the sea encircles the world." His Majesty, said the Kaiser, "has been greeted by the thunder of the guns of the German Fleet," which, though 41 the youngest in point of creation among the Navies of the World, is an expression of the renewal in strength of the sea-power of the German Empire as reconstructed by the great Emperor William I." Designed for the protection of the commerce of the Empire and its territory, the Navy, like the German Army, helps to promote the preservation of that peace which the German Empire has kept for over thirty years. Your Majesty, the Emperor continued, is devoted to the preservation of peace, and "I also have devoted all my powers to the achievement of this object." The King, speaking in German, began his reply by acknowledging his splendid reception, and then spoke of his long-continued interest in yachting, and his desire to knit, if possible, even more closely those intimate family relations which have so long united the houses. "May our two flags float beside one another to the most distant times for the maintenance of the peace and well-being not only of our countries but of all other nations." The Continent, which perhaps expected something more sensational, warmly applauds the tact and correctness of the speech.
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