On 21 November 1899, at a banquet in St. George's Hall, Windsor Castle, Chamberlain reiterated his desire for an agreement between Britain and Germany to Wilhelm II. The Kaiser spoke positively about relations with Britain but added that he did not want to exacerbate relations with Russia, and indicated that Salisbury's traditional strategy of reneging on peacetime commitments made any Anglo-German agreement problematic. Chamberlain, rather than Salisbury whose wife had just died, visited von Bülow at Windsor Castle. Chamberlain argued that Britain, Germany and the USA should combine to check France and Russia, yet von Bülow thought British assistance would be of little use in a war with Russia. Von Bülow suggested that Chamberlain should speak positively of Germany in public. Chamberlain inferred from von Bülow's statement that he would do the same in the Reichstag.