We could not entertain
that bargain either.
He then says:
We must preserve our full freedom to act, as circumstances
may seem to us to require.
And he added, I think, in sentences which the House will appreciate:
You should ... add most earnestly that the one way of
maintaining the good relations between England and
Germany is that they should continue to work together to
preserve the peace of Europe.... For that object this
Government will work in that way with all sincerity and
goodwill.
If the peace of Europe can be preserved and the present
crisis safely passed, my own endeavour will be to promote
some arrangement to which Germany could be a party, by
which she could be assured that no aggressive or hostile
policy would be pursued against her or her allies by France,
Russia, and ourselves, jointly or separately. I have
desired this and worked for it--
The statement was never more true--
as far as I could, through the last Balkan crisis, and
Germany having a corresponding object, our relations
sensibly improved. The idea has hitherto been too Utopian
to form the subject of definite proposals, but if this present
crisis, so much more acute than any that Europe has gone
through for generations, be safely passed, I am hopeful
that the relief and reaction which will follow may make
possible some more definite _rapprochement_ between the
Powers than has been possible hitherto.
That document, in my opinion, states clearly, in temperate and
convincing language, the attitude of this Government.
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