Balfour - credentials from Victoria

Diplomatic letter of credence (incl. Great Seal of Queen Victoria) presented to author of Balfour Declaration

Awards of Outstanding International Importance to Statesmen and Heroines

Balfour was later Prime Minister from 1902 to 1906, and in 1917 as Foreign Minister issued the famous Balfour Declaration granting the Jews a national home in Palestine. Each year Balfour Day is celebrated by the friends of Israel and mourned by Palestine's Arabs. Balfour is known as the "Father of English Golf", or as the satirical Punch cartoon christened him, "Arthur Golfour".

While Balfour held many offices during his illustrious career, no other Letters Patent to him has ever appeared on the market.

Incl. are full length bigraphies of Balfour, and books about pre-WWI Anglo-German relations, e.g. Holsteins Grosses Nein, the very influential 1925 book by Eugen Fischer. (Friedrich von Holstein was the German statesman most closely associated with this Great No.)

The Great Seal of the Realm or Great Seal of the United Kingdom is a seal that is used to symbolise the monarch's approval of important state documents. Wax is melted in a metal mould or matrix and impressed into a wax figure that is attached by cord or ribbon to documents that the monarch wishes to make official.

Great Seal of the Realm,
reign of Queen Victoria

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Wikipedia on
Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, KG , OM , PC (25 July , 1848 - 19 March 1930 ) was a British Conservative politician and statesman, and the Prime Minister from 1902 to 1905 , a time when his party and government became divided over the issue of tariff reform. Later, as Foreign Secretary , he authored the Balfour Declaration of 1917 , which supported the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine .

Background and early career

Arthur Balfour was born at Whittingehame , and was the eldest son of James Maitland Balfour (1820-1856) of East Lothian , Scotland , and Lady Blanche Gascoyne-Cecil (d. 1872, aged forty-seven). His father was an MP; his mother, a member of the Cecil family descended from Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury , was the daughter of the 2nd Marquess of Salisbury and a sister to the 3rd Marquess , the future Prime Minister. He was the eldest son, the third of eight children, and had four brothers and three sisters. Arthur Balfour was educated at Eton (1861-1866) where he studied with the influential Master William Johnson Cory , and Trinity College, Cambridge (1866-1869), where he received a Second-Class Honours Degree. His younger brother was the renowned Cambridge embryologist Francis Maitland Balfour (1851-1882).
Although he coined the saying, "Nothing matters very much and most things don't matter at all," Balfour was distraught at the early death from typhus in 1875 of his cousin May Lyttleton, whom he had hoped to marry: Balfour remained a bachelor for the rest of his life, his serious intention to marry never renewed. His household was maintained by his (also) unmarried sister Alice. In middle age Balfour had a long friendship with Mary Wemyss, later Countess of Elcho. It is unclear whether the relationship was sexual.
In 1874 he was elected Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Hertford and represented that constituency until 1885. In the spring of 1878 Balfour became Private Secretary to his uncle, Lord Salisbury . In that capacity he accompanied Salisbury (then Foreign Secretary) to the Congress of Berlin and gained his first experience in international politics in connection with the settlement of the Russo-Turkish conflict. At the same time he became known in the world of letters; the academic subtlety and literary achievement of his Defence of Philosophic Doubt (1879) suggested that he might make a reputation for himself as a philosopher.
Balfour divided his time between the political arena and the academy. Released from his duties as private secretary by the general election of 1880, he began to take a more active part in parliamentary affairs. He was for a time politically associated with Lord Randolph Churchill , Sir Henry Drummond Wolff and John Gorst . This quartet became known as the "Fourth Party " and gained notoriety for the leader Lord Randolph Churchill's free criticism of Sir Stafford Northcote , Lord Cross, and other prominent members of the "old gang".

Service in Lord Salisbury's governments

Lord Salisbury made Balfour President of the Local Government Board in 1885 and later Secretary for Scotland in 1886, with a seat in the cabinet. These offices, while having few opportunities for distinction, served as a sort of apprenticeship for Balfour. In early 1887 Sir Michael Hicks-Beach , the Chief Secretary for Ireland , resigned because of illness and Salisbury appointed his nephew in his place. The selection took the political world by surprise and possibly led to the British phrase "Bob's your uncle!". Balfour surprised his critics by his ruthless enforcement of the Crimes Act, earning the nickname "Bloody Balfour". Balfour's skill for steady administration did much to dispel his reputation as a political lightweight.
In Parliament he resisted any overtures to the Irish Parliamentary Party on Home Rule , and, allied with Joseph Chamberlain 's Liberal Unionists , strongly encouraged Unionist activism in Ireland. Balfour also broadened the basis of material prosperity to the less well off by creating the Congested Districts Board in 1890. It was during this period of 1886-1892 that he sharpened his gift of oratory and gained a reputation as one of the most effective public speakers of the age. Impressive in matter rather than in delivery, his speeches were logical and convincing, and delighted an ever wider audience.
On the death of W.H. Smith in 1891, Balfour became First Lord of the Treasury -- the last one in British history not to have been concurrently Prime Minister as well -- and Leader of the House of Commons . After the fall of the government in 1892 he spent three years as Leader of the Opposition . On the return of the Conservatives to power in 1895, he resumed the leadership of the House. His management of the abortive education proposals of 1896 were thought to show a disinclination for the continuous drudgery of parliamentary management. Yet he had the satisfaction of seeing a bill pass providing Ireland with an improved system of local government, and took an active role in the debates on the various foreign and domestic questions that came before parliament between 1895 to 1900.
During the illness of Lord Salisbury in 1898, and again in Lord Salisbury's absence abroad, Balfour was put in charge of the Foreign Office , and it was his job to conduct the critical negotiations with Russia on the question of railways in North China. As a member of the cabinet responsible for the Transvaal negotiations in 1899, he bore his full share of controversy, and when the war began disastrously, he was the first to realize the need to put the full military strength of the country into the field. His leadership of the House of Commons was marked by considerable firmness in the suppression of obstruction, yet there was a slight revival of the criticisms of 1896. Balfour's inability to get the maximum amount of work out of the House was largely due to the Second Boer War and its sequal, a crisis that absorbed the intellectual energies of the House and the physical resources of the United Kingdom as a whole.

Prime Minister
On Lord Salisbury's resignation on 11 July 1902 , Balfour succeeded him as Prime Minister, with the approval of all sections of the Unionist party. The new Prime Minister came into power practically at the same moment as the coronation of Edward VII and the end of the South African War . For a while no cloud appeared on the horizon. The Liberal party was still disorganized over their attitude towards the Boers. The two chief items of the ministerial parliamentary program were the extension of the new Education Act to London and the Irish Land Purchase Act, by which the British exchequer would advance the capital for enabling tenants in Ireland to buy land. A notable achievement of Balfour's government was the establishment of the Committee on Imperial Defence .
In foreign affairs, Balfour and his foreign secretary, Lord Lansdowne presided over a dramatic improvement in relations with France, culminating in the Entente Cordiale of 1904 . The period also saw the acute crisis of the Russo-Japanese War , when Britain, an ally of the Japanese, came close to war with Russia as a result of the Dogger Banks Incident. On the whole, Balfour left the conduct of foreign policy to Lansdowne, being largely busy himself with domestic problems.
The budget was certain to show a surplus and taxation could be remitted. Yet as events proved, it was the budget that would sow dissension, override all other legislative concerns, and in the end signal the beginning of a new political movement. Charles Thomson Ritchie 's remission of the shilling import-duty on corn led to Joseph Chamberlain 's crusade in favour of tariff reform - these were taxes on imported goods with trade preference given to the Empire, with the threefold goal of protecting British industry from competition, strengthening the British Empire in the face of growing German and American economic power, and providing a source of revenue, other than raising taxes, for the costs of social welfare legislation. As the session proceeded, the rift grew in the Unionist ranks. Tariff Reform proved popular with Unionist supporters, but the threat of higher prices for food imports made the policy an electoral albatross. Hoping to split the difference between the free traders and tariff reformers in his cabinet and party, Balfour came out in favor of retaliatory tariffs -- tariffs designed to punish other powers that had tariffs against British goods, supposedly in the hope of encouraging global free trade.
This was not, however, sufficient for either the free traders or the more extreme tariff reformers in the government. With Balfour's agreement, Chamberlain resigned from the Cabinet in late 1903 to stump the country in favour of Tariff Reform. At the same time, Balfour tried to balance the two factions by accepting the resignation of three free-trading ministers, including Chancellor Ritchie, but the almost simultaneous resignation of the free-trader Duke of Devonshire (who as Lord Hartington had been the Liberal Unionist leader of the 1880s) left Balfour's Cabinet looking weak. By 1905 relatively few Unionist MPs were still free traders (the young Winston Churchill crossed over to the Liberals in 1904 when threatened with deselection at Oldham), but Balfour's long balancing act had drained his authority within the government.
Balfour eventually resigned as Prime Minister in December of 1905, hoping in vain that the Liberal leader Campbell-Bannerman would be unable to form a strong government. These hopes were dashed when Campbell-Bannerman faced down an attempt (the "Relugas Compact") to "kick him upstairs" to the House of Lords. The Conservatives were defeated by the Liberals at the general election the following January (in terms of MPs, a Liberal landslide), with Balfour himself losing his seat at Manchester East . Only 157 Conservatives were returned to the House of Commons, at least two-thirds of them followers of Chamberlain, who briefly chaired the Conservative MPs until Balfour won a safe seat in the City of London .

Arthur Balfour's Government, July 1902-December 1905

Arthur Balfour - First Lord of the Treasury , Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons
Lord Halsbury - Lord Chancellor
The Duke of Devonshire - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Lords
Aretas Akers-Douglas - Secretary of State for the Home Department
Lord Lansdowne - Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
Joseph Chamberlain - Secretary of State for the Colonies
St John Brodrick - Secretary of State for War
Lord George Hamilton - Secretary of State for India
Lord Selborne - First Lord of the Admiralty
Charles Thomson Ritchie - Chancellor of the Exchequer
Gerald Balfour - President of the Board of Trade
Sir William Hood Walrond - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
Lord Balfour of Burleigh - Secretary for Scotland
George Wyndham - Chief Secretary for Ireland
Walter Hume Long - President of the Local Government Board
Robert William Hanbury - President of the Board of Agriculture
Lord Londonderry - President of the Board of Education
Lord Ashbourne - Lord Chancellor of Ireland
Lord Windsor - First Commissioner of Public Works
Austen Chamberlain - Postmaster-General

Changes

May 1903 - Lord Onslow succeeds R.W. Hanbury at the Board of Agriculture.
September-October 1903 - Lord Londonderry succeeds the Duke of Devonshire as Lord President, while remaining also President of the Board of Education. Lord Lansdowne succeeds Devonshire as Leader of the House of Lords, remaining also Foreign Secretary. Lord Salisbury succeeds Balfour as Lord Privy Seal. Austen Chamberlain succeeds Ritchie at the Exchequer. Chamberlain's successor as Postmaster-General is not in the Cabinet. Alfred Lyttelton succeeds Joseph Chamberlain as Colonial Secretary. St John Brodrick succeeds Lord George Hamilton as Secretary for India. Hugh Arnold-Forster succeeds Brodrick as Secretary for War. Andrew Graham-Murray succeeds Lord Balfour of Burleigh as Secretary for Scotland.
March 1905 - Walter Hume Long succeeds George Wyndham as Irish Secretary. Gerald Balfour succeeds Long at the Local Government Board. Lord Salisbury , remaining Lord Privy Seal, succeeds Balfour at the Board of Trade. Lord Cawdor succeeds Lord Selborne at the Admiralty. Ailwyn Fellowes succeeds Lord Onslow at the Board of Agriculture.

Later career

After the disaster of 1906 Balfour remained party leader, his position strengthened by Joseph Chamberlain's removal from active politics after his stroke in July 1906, but he was unable to make much headway against the huge Liberal majority in the House of Commons. An early attempt to score a debating triumph over the government, made in Balfour's usual abstruse, theoretical style, saw Campbell-Bannerman respond with: "Enough of this foolery," to the delight of his supporters in the House. Balfour made the controversial decision, with Lord Lansdowne , to use the heavily Unionist House of Lords as an active check on the political program and legislation of the Liberal party in the House of Commons . Numerous pieces of legislation were vetoed or altered by amendments between 1906 and 1909, leading David Lloyd George to remark that the Lords had become "not the watchdog of the Constitution, but Mr. Balfour's poodle." The issue was eventually forced by the Liberals with Lloyd George's so-called People's Budget , provoking the constitutional crisis that eventually led to the Parliament Act of 1911, which replaced the Lords' veto authority with a greatly reduced power to only delay bills for up to two years. After the Unionists had failed to win an electoral mandate at either of the General Elections of 1910 (despite softening the Tariff Reform policy with Balfour's promise of a referendum on food taxes), the Unionist peers split to allow the Parliament Act to pass the House of Lords, in order to prevent a mass-creation of new Liberal peers by the new King, George V. The exhausted Balfour resigned as party leader after the crisis, and was succeeded in late 1911 by Andrew Bonar Law .
Balfour remained an important figure within the party, however, and when the Unionists joined Asquith's coalition government in May 1915, Balfour succeeded Winston Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty . When Asquith's government collapsed in December 1916, Balfour, who seemed for a time a potential successor to the premiership, became Foreign Secretary in Lloyd George's new administration, but was not actually included in the small War Cabinet, and was frequently left out of the inner workings of the government. Balfour's service as Foreign Secretary was most notable for the issuance of the Balfour Declaration of 1917, a letter to Lord Rothschild promising the Jews a "national home" in Palestine , then part of the Ottoman Empire .
Balfour resigned as Foreign Secretary following the Versailles Conference in 1919, but continued on in the government (and the Cabinet after normal peacetime political arrangements resumed) as Lord President of the Council . In 1921-22 he represented the British Empire at the Washington Naval Conference .
In 1922 he, along with most of the Conservative leadership, resigned with Lloyd George's government following the Conservative back-bench revolt against the continuance of the coalition. Bonar Law soon became Prime Minister. In 1922 Balfour was created Earl of Balfour . Like many of the Coalition leaders he did not hold office in the Conservative governments of 1922-4, although as an elder statesman he was consulted by the King in the choice of Baldwin as Bonar Law's successor as Conservative leader in May 1923. When asked by a lady whether "dear George" (the much more experienced Lord Curzon ) would be chosen he replied, referring to Curzon's wealthy wife Grace, "No, dear George will not but he will still have the means of Grace."
Balfour was again not initially included in Stanley Baldwin 's second government in 1924, but in 1925 he once again returned to the Cabinet, serving in place of the late Lord Curzon as Lord President of the Council until the government ended in 1929.
Apart from a number of colds and occasional influenza , Balfour had enjoyed good health until the year 1928. He remained until then a regular tennis player. At the end of that year most of his teeth had to be removed and he began to suffer from the unremitting circulatory trouble which ended his life. Late in January 1929 Balfour was conveyed from Whittingehame to Fisher's Hill, his brother Gerald's home near Woking , Surrey . In the past he had suffered from occasional bouts of phlebitis and by the autumn of 1929 he was immobilized by it. Finally, soon after receiving a visit from his friend Chaim Weizmann , Balfour died at Fisher's Hill on 19 March 1930. At his own request a public funeral was declined and he was buried on 22 March beside members of his family at Whittingehame . Despite the snowy weather, attenders came from far and wide. By special remainder, the title passed to his brother Gerald.
Lord Balfour's estate was probated £76,433 5s. 2d. on August 27 , 1930 .

Writings and academic achievements

Balfour's writings include:
Essays and Addresses (1893).
The Foundations of Belief, being Notes introductory to the Study of Theology (1895).
Questionings on Criticism and Beauty (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1909), based on his 1909 Romanes Lecture .
Theism and Humanism (1915), based on his first series of Gifford Lectures given in 1914 and is still in print. In 1962, Oxford writer C. S. Lewis told Christian Century that Theism and Humanism was one of the ten books that most influenced his thought.
Theism and Thought (1923) based on the second in his Gifford Lectures , which were given in 1922.

He was made LL.D. of the University of Edinburgh in 1881; of the University of St Andrews in 1885; of Cambridge University in 1888; of Dublin and Glasgow Universities in 1891; Lord Rector of St Andrews University in 1886; of Glasgow University in 1890; Chancellor of Edinburgh University in 1891; member of the senate London University in 1888; and DCL of Oxford University in 1891. He was president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1904, and became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1888. He was known from early life as a cultured musician, and became an enthusiastic golf player, having been captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews in 1894-1895. He was president of the Aristotelian Society from 1914 to 1915.

He was also a member of the Society for Psychical Research , a society dedicated to studying psychic and paranormal phenomena , and its president from 1892-1894.

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CONVENTION between Great Britain and Germany regarding Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Timor. Signed 30th August, 1898.

In view of the possibility that Portugal may require financial assistance from some foreign Power or Powers, and in order to obviate the international complications which such a condition of things may produce, and to preserve her integrity and independence, the Undersigned, duly authorised by their respective Sovereigns, have agreed as follows:

1. Whenever either the British or the German Government is of opinion that it is expedient to accede to a request for an advance of money to Portugal on the security of the Customs revenues or other revenues of Mozambique, Angola, and the Portuguese part of the Island of Timor, it shall communicate the fact to the other Government, and the other Government shall have the right to advance a portion of the total sum required.
In the event of the other Government signifying its intention to exercise this right, the two Governments shall consult as to the terms of the two loans, and these loans shall be issued on the security of the Customs revenues of Mozambique, Angola, and Portuguese Timor as near as possible simultaneously. The loans shall bear as near as possible the same proportion to each other as the amounts of the Customs revenues respectively assigned as their security.
The loans shall be issued on terms as favourable to Portugal as the condition of the money market and the security of the loans permit, and shall in other respects be subject as near as possible to similar conditions.

II. Of the Customs revenues, referred to in Article I, those of the Province of Mozambique south of the Zambezi, and of the part of that province lying on the left bank of the Zambezi above its confluence with
the Shire, and those of the portions of the Province of Angola, as hereinafter described, shall be assigned to the British loan. The Customs revenues of the remaining parts of the Provinces of Mozambique and
Angola and the Customs revenues of Portuguese Timor shall be assigned to the German loan.
The portion of the Province of Angola, of which the Customs revenues shall be assigned to the British loan, is comprised within the following limits: the northern frontier shall run from the coast along the 8th parallel of south latitude to the J6th degree of longitude east of Greenwich, thence it shall descend that degree to the 9th parallel of latitude, and shall follow that parallel eastwards as far as the frontier of the Congo Free State. The southern frontier shall start from a point on the coast 5 English miles north of Egito, and shall run thence due east to the eastern frontier of the Province of Angola. The western frontier shall be the sea; the eastern frontier shall be the eastern limit of the Province of Angola.

III. Any Delegates sent by Great Britain or Germany to take note of the collection of the revenues which are the security for their respective loans shall have only rights of inspection, but no rights of administration, .
interference, or control, so long as there is no default in .the payment of interest or sinking fund.

IV. In case of default in the payment of the interest or sinking fund of either loan, the administration of the various custom-houses in the two provinces and in Portuguese Timor shall be handed over by Portugal; those assigned for the German loan to Germany, those assigned for the British loan to Great Britain.

V. It is well understood that all rights, whether British or German, acquired in the provinces affected before the date of this Convention, shall be fully safeguarded, provided they are of a purely private character, and convey neither political rights nor territorial or administrative jurisdiction.
It is also understood that no influence will be used in the future, either by the British or the German Governments, to obtain fresh Concessions, except in those portions of the provinces of which the customs revenues are assigned to their respective loans.

VI. The present Convention shall be ratified, and the ratifications thereof shall be exchanged as soon as possible. The Convention shall come into force immediately after the exchange of ratifications.

In witness whereof the Undersigned, duly authorised, have signed the same, and have affixed thereto their seals.
Done in duplicate, at London, the 30th day of August, 1898.
(L. S.) ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR.
(L. S.) P. HATZFELDT.
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Secret Convention between Great Britain and Germany. Signed 30th August, 1898.

Whereas, notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding Convention of this day's date, it may unfortunately not be found possible to maintain the integrity of the African possessions of Portugal south of the Equator, as well as of those in Timor, the Undersigned, duly authorised by their respective Sovereigns, have further agreed as follows:-

1. Great Britain and Germany agree jointly to oppose the intervention of any third Power in the Provinces of Mozambique, Angola and in Portuguese Timor, either by way of loan to Portugal on the security of the revenues of those provinces, or by way of acquisition of territory, by grant, cession, purchase, lease, or otherwise.

II. It is understood that, from the conclusion of the Conventions of this day's date, Great Britain will abstain from advancing any claim of whatsoever kind to the possession, occupation, control, or exercise of political influence in or over those portions of the Portuguese provinces in which the Customs revenues have been assigned to Germany, and that Germany will in like manner abstain from advancing any claim of whatsoever kind to the possession, occupation, control, or exercise of political influence, in or over those portions of those Portuguese provinces in which the Customs revenues have been assigned to Great
Britain.

III. In case Portugal renounces her sovereign rights over Mozambique, Angola, and Portuguese Timor, or loses these territories in any other manner, it is understood that the subjects of, and natives of the Protectorates of, one Contracting Party, together with their goods and ships, and also the produce and the manufactures of its dominions, possessions, Colonies and Protectorates, shall, in such portions of the territories comprised in' the present Convention as may fall to the other Contracting Party, participate in all the prerogatives, exemptions and privileges with regard to trade, commerce, taxation and navigation which are there enjoyed by the subjects of, and natives of the Protectorates of, the other Contracting Party.

IV. With regard to the Vth Article of the Convention of to-day's date, which refers to private rights of British or German subjects in the Provinces of Mozambique, Angola, and Portuguese Timor, it is well
understood between the two Governments that this Article applies, among others, to the so-called Katembe Concession, and, further, that the Government of Great Britain will adopt a friendly attitude in respect
to the confirmation of this Concession by the Portuguese Government in case such a confirmation should be applied for.

V. The present Convention shall be ratified, and the ratifications thereof shall be exchanged as soon as possible. The Convention shall come into force immediately after the exchange of ratifications.

In witness whereof the Undersigned, duly authorised, have signed the same, and have affixed thereto their seals.
Done in duplicate, at London, the 30th day of August, 1898.
(L. S.) ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR.
(L. S.) P. HATZFELDT./
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One page, oblong folio (approx. 400 x 550 mm.), manuscript on vellum, signed "Victoria", with Queen's pendant wax seal (weighs c. 680 grams; diameter of 162 mm.) housed in (made by vendor, 2008) velvet case. Entire set housed in green faux-leather box of issue, 210 x 260 x 80 mm. Dated 26 August 1898.

Draft of Balfour Declaration Sells for $884,000
June 17, 2005
http://www.allbusiness.com/middle-east/israel/450206-1.html
This is the only other clearly important Balfour lot ever to appear on the market.

Wikipedia on
The Balfour Declaration of 1917 (dated 2 November 1917) was a formal statement of policy by the British government stating that "His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."
The declaration was made in a letter from Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Baron Rothschild (Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild), a leader of the British Jewish community, for transmission to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland , a Zionist organization. The letter reflected the position of the British Cabinet , as agreed upon in a meeting on 31 October 1917. It further stated that the declaration is a sign of "sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations."
The statement was issued through the efforts of Chaim Weizmann and Nahum Sokolow , the principal Zionist leaders based in London but, as they had asked for the reconstitution of Palestine as the Jewish national home, the Declaration fell short of Zionist expectations.
The "Balfour Declaration" was later incorporated into the Sevres peace treaty with Turkey and the Mandate for Palestine . The original document is kept at the British Library .

The anniversary of the Declaration, 2 November, is widely commemorated in Israel and among Jews in the Jewish diaspora as Balfour Day.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration_of_1917

The Balfour Declaration

Illustrated London News ,
2 September 1898:

Balfour is known as the "Father of English Golf", or as the satirical Punch cartoon christened him, "Arthur Golfour".

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_of_Credence
A letter of credence is a formal letter sent by one head of state to another head of state that formally grants diplomatic accreditation to a named individual (usually but not always a diplomat ) to be their ambassador in the country of the head of state receiving the letter. A letter of recall is the opposite, a letter sent from one head of state to another head of state recalling an ambassador, either as a means of diplomatic protest (see letter of protest ) or because the diplomat is being reassigned elsewhere and is being replaced by another envoy .
In parliamentary democracies , heads of state accept or reject letters of credence on the basis of advice (that is, instructions from the government which put the head of state under obligation) from their state's government. In reality, however, they are almost invariably accepted, as both states will have informally discussed the issue prior to the formal ceremony . If a problem were to arise, it would be sorted out in these earlier government to government contacts.
Until a head of state formally accepts a letter of credence, an ambassador-designate does not formally assume diplomatic status, including the possession of diplomatic immunity . In many states, a minister in the government or in cabinet will attend (that is, be present with) the head of state at the actual ceremony, to symbolize the fact that the acceptance or rejection of the letter of credence is on the basis of government advice.

(World-Class Awards to Statesmen and Heroines)

Winner:
Origins Award for Best Pre-20th Century Boardgame, 1986

Designed by: Greg Costikyan

Pax Britannica is a multiplayer game of empire, diplomacy, and global confrontation set in the Victorian era. The Great Powers -- Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Japan, and the United States -- vie throughout the world for the wealth and esteem conferred by vast colonial holdings in the far-flung corners of the earth. Each player maneuvers his military and administrative assets to establish control over the choicest and most strategic areas, keeping a wary eye toward encroaching opponents whose colonial ambitions are every bit as great. Conflict is more often resolved through peaceful negotiation than war; but when national honor is too severely tried, war can occur -- on a scale that threatens to evolve into the War to End All Wars!
From www.costik.com/pb.html

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Prices available upon request.

The first Zionist flag*, introduced at the
2nd Zionist Congress, August 1898, just when Balfour received his Letter of Credence to negotiate with Germany.

Inscription on the Great Seal, Victorian era:
.
VICTORIA DEI GRATIA BRITANNIARUM REGINA FIDEI DEFENSOR
.
(Latin for "Victoria, by the grace of God,
Queen of the Britains, Defender of the Faith").

J.A. Schramek
& Associates

Balfour (standing) with his German interlocutor,
Ambassador Hatzfeldt, London, 1898

None of the recriminatory writings about the ultimate failure of the Anglo-German talks have blamed Balfour. Below are excerpts from an essay on the failure of the negotiations, which seemd to have such promise after getting a good start with the Balfour- Hatzfeldt aggreement in 1898:

The Anglo-German Alliance Talks and the Failure of Amateur Diplomacy
Adam Lajeunesse, University of Calgary

For nearly a century, historians have studied the failure of the Anglo-German alliance talks which took place from 1898 to 1903. The importance of these discussions can hardly be underestimated, as their ultimate failure ended what was perhaps the last great opportunity to reverse the tide of Anglo-German hostility; a hostility which eventually allowed the First World War to take on its global character. Over the previous century historians have analyzed the military and political positions of the two governments, the influence of popular opinion, and the personal dispositions of every principal actor towards the possibility of an agreement. While the dispute over the feasibility of a potential alliance has seemingly been approached from every conceivable angle, there remains today one area which has received scant attention, the nature of the talks themselves.
Historians have written a great deal on the matters actually discussed by the British and German diplomats, but have given less than adequate attention to the manner in which these matters were discussed. Without underestimating the obvious importance of the substance of the Anglo-German discussions, this paper will demonstrate the importance of the fashion in which the two states communicated their interests. The utter failure of Joseph Chamberlain and Hermann von Eckardstein *, the two men responsible for initiating the talks, to bring their respective governments together owed as much to their amateurish diplomacy as to any other factor.
The manner in which Britain and Germany conducted their negotiations failed to communicate either nation’s position properly. Misinterpretation, suspicion, and confusion thus characterized these talks, prevented any productive discourse and ultimately doomed the talks to failure.
It was only with the publication of Baron Hermann von Eckardstein’s memoirs and the German diplomatic documents in the mid 1920s that historians realized the full extent of the alliance talks which had taken place between Britain and Germany between 1898 and 1903....

The Anglo-German alliance talks, which stretched from 1898 to the beginning of 1903 had the potential to bring Britain and Germany together in a way which would have drastically reordered the balance of power in Europe and potentially saved the continent from imploding in 1914.

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From http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/pi/article/viewFile/1593/1119

What turned out not to be (despite Balfour's best effort)...

World War I trench
strecher-bearers

A hugely important object in the history of Zionism and Anglo-German relations: Letter of Credence, presented by Queen Victoria to acting Foreign Minister Arthur Balfour, empowering him to negotiate on behalf of the U.K. govt. on 26 Aug. 1898.
In these negotiations, he managed to conclude a (partly-secret) agreement with Germany regarding the eventual fate of the declining Portuguese Empire. These talks were part of an effort to explore the feasibility of an Anglo-German alliance, an effort which was eventually wrecked by German blunders; Germany's failure to seize this golden opportunity is wistfully regarded by German scholars as Das Grosse Nein, the Great No which, had it been a Yes, might have turned German history away from WWI, Hitler, and the Holocaust.

* Chamberlain was U.K Secretary of State for the Colonies, and the most vocal British official pushing for alliance with Germany; Hermann von Eckardstein was the chief assistant to Ambassador Hatzfeldt.

HATZFELDT regarded Balfour as a straight shooter

(shown by excerpts from http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/dugdale/chapter3.htm )

GERMAN DIPLOMATIC DOCUMENTS
CHAPTER III
THE ANGLO-GERMAN CONVENTIONS OF AUGUST 30TH, 1898-                               JUNE-SEPTEMBER, 1898

Source: German Diplomatic Documents, 1871-1914, selected and translated by E.T.S. Dugdale, Volume III, "The Growing Antagonism, 1898-1910," (New York: Harper& Brothers, 1930), pp. 27-41.

    German Note.

    On June 6th Count von Tattenbach telegraphed from Lisbon that Luiz de Soveral, the Portuguese Minister in London, had been sent to England with instructions to obtain money by mortgaging the revenues of Mozambique, Angola, and other Portuguese colonies.

    The German Government at once decided to bring pressure so as to be admitted as joint lender to Portugal, and introduced a condition that no other country should be permitted to offer a loan.

    The motives prompting England and Germany in so doing were opposed to each other. The German Government pressed for a speedy conclusion of an agreement forcing a loan secured on Portugal's colonies in the thinly disguised hope of being certainly able to foreclose on the share of them which was to fall to Germany. The British Government, on the other hand, was genuinely anxious for Portugal's finances to recover to the extent of removing all danger of her losing her African possessions. The length of time occupied by the Anglo-German negotiations, and possibly also the fact that measures were in progress for the relief of Portugal's finances contributed towards their recovery. In July, 1899, Count Tattenbach admitted 'that a marked improvement had lately taken place', and 'that a loan under the Anglo-German Agreement was now out of the question'.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

XIV. 316

COUNT HATZFELDT TO THE GERMAN FOREIGN OFFICE, August 8th, 1898

Extract.

As our conversation proceeded, I realised that the Prime Minister wishes at all costs not to appear at Lisbon in the light of an expectant heir, dividing the Portuguese heritage in advance with another; therefore he wishes to limit the published agreement with us to the loan, and to include in an agreement--to be kept secret--all points relating to the future transference of these colonies or their customs administration to England and Germany. . . . Under present circumstances, it is not impossible that France will make an attempt--very unwelcome here--to do a deal with Spain, similar to our intended one with Portugal, regarding Ceuta and the Moorish coast. With this in view we must avoid letting France know of our partition agreement, so enabling her to appeal to it as a precedent.

Although the delay caused by handing over further negotiations to Mr. Balfour is undesirable, yet I think we must consent to it. The last time he represented Lord Salisbury, Mr. Balfour was honest and forthcoming towards us; when we come to discuss the matter with him it will probably be soon evident whether a quicker conclusion is to be expected in this way. Lord Salisbury says that Mr. Balfour will probably start discussing the matter by next Wednesday.

"... twenty sixth day of August in the year of Our Lord
one thousand eight hundred and ninety eight and in the Sixty second year of Our Reign"

"... any other Powers or States
as aforesaid, any treaties...."

"... Our Right Trusty
and Well Beloved Councillor, Arthur James Balfour, Our First Lord of the Treasury, ...."

"... any other Powers and States...."

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