"I said that all my efforts would be directed to the preservation of peace. History will do me the justice of recognizing that I have unfalteringly pursued this aim. The main support, however, and the foundation of the world's peace is the maintenance of good relations between our two countries. I will, in future also, do all I can to strengthen them, and the wishes of my people are at one with my own in this."
The procession that followed upon the visit to the Guildhall made a special impression on the Emperor. "I was so close to the people," he said afterwards,
"who were assembled in hundreds of thousands, that I could look straight into their eyes, and from the expression on their faces I could see that their reception of the Empress and myself was no artificial welcome but an out-and-out sincere one. That stirred us deeply and gave us great satisfaction. The Empress and I will take back with us recollections of London and England we shall never forget."
While at Windsor the Emperor received a deputation of sixteen members of Oxford University, headed by Lord Curzon, who came to present him with the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws voted him by the University while he was still on his way to England. It was a picturesque scene: the members of the University in their academic robes were surrounded by a brilliant company representing the intellect of the country; and the Emperor, with the doctor's hood over his field-marshal's uniform, was the cynosure of all eyes.
The Emperor's reply to Lord Curzon's address, highly complimentary to the University though it was, was perhaps chiefly remarkable for the expression of his expectations from the Rhodes' Scholarship foundation. "The gift of your great fellow-countryman, Cecil Rhodes," he said,
"affords an opportunity to students, not only from the British colonies, but also from Germany and the United States, to obtain the benefits of an Oxford education. The opportunity afforded to young Germans during their period of study to mix with young Englishmen is one of the most satisfactory results of Rhodes's far-seeing mind. Under the auspices of the Oxford _alma mater_, the young students will have an opportunity of studying the character and qualities of the respective nations, of fostering by this means the spirit of good comradeship, and creating an atmosphere of mutual respect and friendship between the two countries."