"Our big coal contract with the Russian Government has, in the meantime, been considerably added to. The execution of the contract, however, is causing me a great deal of anxiety, as the English press, notably _The Times_, is only too glad to make use of this circumstance as a pretext for rousing suspicions as to Germany's neutrality. As our government is not taking up a very firm attitude, the effect of these articles, of course, is highly disagreeable. On Friday, September 23rd, I had an opportunity of discussing this matter with the Imperial Chancellor at Homburg. The Chancellor did not disguise the anxiety he felt concerning these contracts, especially as he had just then received a long telegram from the German Ambassador in Tokio advising him to proceed with much caution. I told the Chancellor that he need not study in any way the damage which our company might suffer; that we did not ask that any regard should be paid to our business interests in case these should clash with those of the country, and that, if the Government were of opinion that the interests of the country necessitated the cancelling of the whole agreement, I should be glad to receive instructions from him to that effect. Failing such instructions, of course, I was not entitled to cancel a contract which was in every respect a properly drawn-up legal instrument. At the same time I pointed out to the Chancellor that Germany, if he thought that he had reason to adopt such an attitude, would run the risk of offending both antagonists; for it was but reasonable to expect that, owing to the agitation carried on by the British, no action on Germany's part would cause a change of feeling in Japan, but that it would be a fatal blow to Russia, whose Baltic fleet in that case would simply be unable to reach the Far East.
"From Frankfort I went to Berlin in order to discuss the question of the coal contract with the Foreign Office, which the Chancellor had requested me to do. I had a long conference with Richthofen....
" ... _October 1st, 1904._ Meanwhile our negotiations with the Russian Government have made good progress, and practically the whole of my time is taken up with these transactions, which have given us a very exciting time. They compel me to go to Berlin pretty frequently, as I consider it both fair to the Foreign Office and advisable in our own interests that the former should always be fully informed of all the steps I am taking. Several of our gentlemen are constantly travelling from Hamburg to Petrograd, and conferences of our directors are held nearly every morning, necessitated by the telegrams which arrive from Petrograd practically every day. In order to be in a position to carry out the coal contracts, we have been obliged to charter a large number of steamers, so that at times as many as 80 of these are employed in this Russian transaction. Besides the old express steamers and the _Belgia_ we have now sold to the Russians the _Palatia_ and the _Phoenicia_, as well as nine other boats of our company, including the _Belgravia_, _Assyria_, and _Granada_ (the remaining ones are cargo vessels, mostly taken out of the West Indies service), but as regards these latter, we have reserved to ourselves the right of redemption.... We have successfully accomplished the great task we had undertaken, although, owing to the absence of coaling stations, it was thought next to impossible to convey such a huge squadron as was the Baltic fleet all the way from European to Far Eastern waters. It safely reached its destination, because the previously arranged coaling of the vessels was carried out systematically and without a hitch anywhere, although in some cases it had to be done in open roadsteads. Its inglorious end in the Korea Straits cannot, and does not, diminish the magnitude of the achievement; and the experiences we have gained by successfully carrying out our novel task will surely prove of great value to the Government. This whole coaling business has been a source of considerable profits to our company, although if due regard is paid to the exceptional character of the work and to the unusual risks we had to run, they cannot be called exorbitant."