The Dominion. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1911. FOREIGN POLICY & MISCHIEF MAKERS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1289, 18 November 1911, Page 4

The Dominion. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1911. FOREIGN POLICY & MISCHIEF MAKERS.

The subject of Anglo-German relations appears to have reached a orucial stage in British political circles, and overy sensible and loyal subject of King George ought to be glad of it. The latest development, the course of which has been outlined in an extremely interesting series of cable messages published this week, has arisen out of tho Anglophobc speeches of members of the Reichstag and the extraordinary action of the Crown Prince in approving the Anglophobo speakers. In the cable messages we have been given an interesting Viennese view of tho genesis of Mr. LloydGeorge's speech of July 21 last (the theory is that the Chancellor's speech was decided upon by tho Government as the only way to obtain, what it had been unavailingly asking for, some precise information as to Germany's object in sending a gunboat to Agadir); and we have i had a glimpse, in the German Foreign Secretary's speech, "of the fidelity with which German diplomacy maintains the Bismarckinn practice of using the press as a Foreign Office tool. We have also bren told that Messrs. Possosnr and Dyles, two of the "Little England" party in the House of Commons, have declared that Britain wats oh tho verge of war. with Germany, in Sojjtcmbor,

last; and another message, mU which we are supposed to rend what over significance seems proper, say; that nt Suva recently the captain oJ the Prometheus refused permissior to the captain of a German cniisci to send important cable messages tc his Government. All of these item; are straws—a few of ten thousant straws—which show the way the wind is blowing; and it appears tc be blowing steadily towards war. Loud Semjokne, who stands higl in the Unionist ranks, has declared in a public! address, that "Englanc had a right to ask for an explana turn in regard to what were- tin aspirations of Germany she tried tc thwart. Either," Loud Sklhorxi added, "100 miieli or too little ha; been said." Lokd Seuioiixe is sup ported by the ultra-Radical Star which is joined by tlie inllnentia Manchester Guardian in protestinr against the Bccrctiye.nrss ol the Gov eminent when it is a question ol foreign affairs. That the- Govern ment recognises the gravity of th< situation, and tho necessity for some comprehensive statement, is cloju from tho terms of his announcement in reply to an inquiry in the llousi of Commons, that Sir Edvaiid Gitin will speak fully next week. Thpresent high tension had its begin ning in Mn. Lloyd-Gkobgk's decmr ation in July, in tho first stages o; the Morocco affair, that Britnii would not allow herself to bo troil cd as of no account in the councili of Europe. The Chancellor has nvei since been raiiconrously purmied bj the German press. We have ainr< then had pacific speeches by Mil M'Kenna, Mr. HaiiDank, and Mu Churchill, in that order, but them have failed utterly to calm tin German press. Nothing could Iμv< been raoro friendly than Mr, Churchill's speech on October 3 in Dundee. He insisted, of course, or British supremacy at sea, but h< insisted also that very soon the daj would come when the mutual do pendencies of the European Powori would ensure peace, and he wai specially emphatic that Britain, sc far as Morocco was concerned would rejoice at overy step of tl« Franco-German negotiations to wards a happy conclusion. The Gor man press was sour and cynical when not violent and offensive, ir its comments. The Krcuz Zcilung. for oxample, although it welcomed the speech, said that "things woulci look better and more peaceable in the 'world if British policy were conducted in the future on a basis of peaceable and friendly feeling towards Germany." _ The Deutsche Tagcszcitung said it was nice oi English Ministers to speak so peaceably and to wish for a GermanFrench understanding after they had made such ardent endeavours to disturb the Franco-German negotiations. "We fear, however," it added, "that the claim advanced by Mn. Churchill to unqualified supremacy on the seas for Great Britain does not support the peaceable wishes of British Ministers." The Post, the ci-devant organ of the Free Conservative party, declared that "all such effusions arc idle phrasemongering, their only object being to throw sand in our eyes once again." The Neneste Nachrichte,n, n, journal representing industrial interests, observed that "if people in England believe that relations with Germany can bo improved with such obvious untruths they are mistaken. The events of the past summer have opened the eyes of all German people, who now see the role England has played, and the mistrust of England felt by the German nation is only strengthened by this Ministerial speech. In a leading article published in several German newspapers, notably the Berlin liorsen Courier and Magdehurgcr Zeituna, the "true character" of Mr. Lloyd-George was exposed. The British Chancellor of the Exchequer, "who once posed as the friend of Scrmany," was shown rattling the sword in order to influence German diplomatists in favour of France. Germany, in short, has made up its mind that Britain is a false and dangerous enemy, and that British statesmen "surpass all other diplomatists in the world in the art of iiypocrisy." The phrase is the Berlin Post's. That is tho fact which is causing the British Radicals so much concern. Knowing nothing, as a rule, )f the sufficiently notorious methods )f German diplomacy, and shutting their eyes to the plain facts of Germany's behaviour and of Germany's commercial and territorial necessities, they are blaming their own Foreign Office for causing all the ironble. It is quite a long time lince the strong ultra-Radical wing 3f the British Liberals, under the guidance of newspapers liko the Daily News and the Nation, began ;o make a dead set at Sin Edward 3rey, These are the people who mcouraged the sedition in India by ncessant sniping at the Government's Indian policy, who have done iheir best to undermine Britain's nithority in Egypt. They are the ionsfcant wonder of Europe and America. Tho complaint of the Man•/tester Guardian respecting the "seirecy" of British foreign polcy, and the demand of tho Star ior a Foreign Affairs Committee, md a "democratised" Foreign OfIce, are- part of a long campaign igainst tho fidelity of Sir Edward jßey to the Salisbury and Lansjowne traditions. Their idea apoears to be that if Sir Edward 3eey is made to do all his diplomicy in the presence of reporters, and ;end copies of all his dispatches and nstructions to the press before they ire forwarded to their addresses, sverything will come right. Make Sritish diplomacy impossible, and British diplomacy will succeed so veil that peace will reign all over ;he world! In one of its numerous irticles (January 14, 1911) in advoacy of "a Standing Committee on foreign Relations," the Nation irgued that in such a "court of first r.stance for sustained and intelligent of foreign policy ssues, "tho independent expert vould make his mark." He would; ind we know the sort of mark ho vould make. He would at nearly ivery point, under the pressure of he sloppy Little England sentiment ;hat made him possible, do the oppo:ite of what is now 'done by Sip. 'Sdvabd Grey and what used to bo lone by Lord Lansdowne. What -.as our "undemocratised" Foreign Dfficedone? _ It has strengthened Britain's position in ev.ery part of he globe and has kept the great European Powers at peace with :ach other since the war of 1870. The nischief-rnaking of the pro-German, inli-Kussian Little Englandcrs will nect with no sympathy from the copies of tltc oversea Dominions, vho, although they are just as gnorant of the secret workings of liplomacy as the British Radicals tre, arc not more so, and differ from hem only in being free from the lisease of mind that makes re. Big S T avy seem a crime, Germany a sim--510 rustic, and Egyptian and Hindu oo - inauy heroes md niartffics.