On Thursday Sir Edward Grey made a general statement, on
the international situation. If there had been an undue amount of nervousness in the last few months, it had been caused by too much discussion in the European Press. There was no question now likely to cause acute difficulties between Britain and any other European Power. As regards Crete, no one of the four interested Powers had been more forward or backward than the others, and it ought not to be impossible for these Powers and Turkey to find a solution of the Cretan question. As for the Congo; he denied. that the Government had been too cautious in their negotiations with Belgium. This affair might easily cause European complications compared with which those of the last few months would be child's-play. He had been asked to institute a "peaceful blockade," but the Congo River was not Belgian property. It was open to the naviga- tion of the world under Treaty, and we could not blockade it unless we were prepared to go to war. Some commercial questions between Britain and Belgium must be settled by arbitration, but he fully agreed that the issue of the continu- ance of slavery could not be disposed of in this way. The latest reports from the Congo showed that the abuses of forced labour had not diminished. An answer to the last Belgian Note, which was satisfactory as far as general principles were concerned, was being prepared.
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