We have dealt at length elsewhere with our relations with
Germany in anticipation of the debate which is to take place on Monday. We have not the slightest doubt that Sir Edward Grey will be able to show triumphantly that our foreign policy under his guidance has shown no aggressive or hostile spirit towards Germany. His desire from the moment he took office was, and still is, to be on good terms with Germany. His only proviso has been that good terms with Germany shall not be interpreted to mean abandoning our entente with France and allowing France to be sacrificed in order that our Radicals here may have the pleasure of saying that we know how to turn the other cheek to the smiter and are willing to make sacrifices for the sacred cause of peace—are willing to let somebody else be sacrificed with the hope of buying off German enmity from ourselves. Apart from its intrinsic cowardice and cynicism, that would be a most dangerous policy and one certain to end in our ruin. Translated into action it means that the Powers which stand in the way of that hegemony of Germany which is the dream of her governing spirits would be taken in detail. France would come first and our turn would be next. Therefore on the simple ground of self-preservation, quite apart from any 'ties of honour, we cannot and dare not let France be sacri- ficed. We are not to be bullied into abandoning France either physically through the threat of arms or morally through taunts that we are the enemies of peace.
