On Monday the Tsar left Cherbourg and was met in
mid- channel by three British cruisers, which escorted the' Sta,ndart ' into the Solent. The Victoria and Albert,' with King Edward and the Tsar on board, then passed through the lines of the Home and Atlantic Fleets. Both the Royal yachts after- wards steamed to Cowes. At the dinner on board the Victoria and Albert' in the evening the King's speech was admirable in form and feeling. In the course of it the King said :—" I am glad, Sire, that you should have had an oppor- tunity of seeing perhaps the most powerful and largest Fleet that has' ever assembled, but I trust that your Majesty will never look upon these ships as symbols of war, but, on the contrary, as a protection to our coasts and commerce, and, above all, for upholding the interests of peace. I had an opportunity this year of receiving some representatives of the Duma, and I need hardly say what a pleasure it gave to me and the Queen to see them. I trust their stay here was an agreeable one. They had every opportunity of seeing many people and institutions of the country, and I hope that what they saw will increase the good feeling existing between the two countries." The reference to the Duma was particularly opportune and tactful. One cannot doubt that the Duma is appreciably aided by such a manifestation of British sym- pathy in the Tsar's presence. Yet this is the kind of aid which the Labour Party and some of the more ill-balanced Radicals wpuld make it quite impossible for us to render.
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