A FOREIGN POLICY CRISIS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1296, 27 November 1911, Page 4

A FOREIGN POLICY CRISIS.

f _ Ai.THorGii local politics arc naturally, and rightly, absorbing the attention of the people of this country, they will lie wry dull who will not see a deplorable and disturbing s jjr. nifiraiicc i" Saturday's and to-day's cable messages about Britain's relations with Germany. On Saturday we reported a speech by Jln. John' ]■'. L Unrxxßß at a .meeting of the National Liberal Federation, in which (lie speaker declared his gratitude to the Kaiseii "for using bis inlluenre in the direction of peace." It is easv to imagine the, joy with which this

foolish statement would lie received by the men who squeezed liKWWhsii out of oflice, or the grim smile of Bismarck watching from amongst the shades (he continued power of bis diplomatic 11H boils to delude, the British Jiadicals and lead them inlo playing Germany's game. As we have noted from time to time, it is one of the main objects of the Jiadicals to destroy the popularity and shake the nerve of Sin. UnwAiui Grey, whom they have found nnwill--1 ing to surrender to the .Radical doctrine of .maudlin affection for everything not English and not Imperial, and of hatred for what they call "militarism." It is to Germany's interest to encourage flicse enemies of the SAi,isntniY-LAXsnowKi2 : GiiiiY management of the Foreign Oflice; for Germany knows that the triumph j of the Radicals over the fixed foreign I policy of Britain will make easy the achievement of Germany's design to I dictate to Europe. With the memory lof Delcasse's fall fresh in their minds, French publicists have had no | difficulty in perceiving that the German adventure in Jlorocco was ini tended to break the Anglo-French ' entente. This opinion is stated quite bluntly by the Journal des Dcbats, which also refers contemptuously to ''the present powerful Germanophile efforts of a portion of the Radical press to sacrifice Sir Edward Grey in order to regain Hem vox Kider-i.en'-Waeciiter's good graces." In the opinion of this powerful French newspaper, these _ efforts are ''bound to fail miserably"; and we wish we could feel quite sure that it is right. Sir Edward Grey is to make a statement to-day—the most important statement by a British Minister for several years—and we shall perhaps be able to judge from it how far the Government is likely to go in the direction of conciliating the Radical sentimentalists. The colonies are so completely dependent for safety upon the foreign policy of Britain that they could not look without dread upon the sacrifice of Sir Edward Grey, or of the policy he took over from Lord Lansdowne, to the clamours of the little-navy, peacc-at-any-price party.