On Wednesday, March 28th, the Commons discussed the foreign situation
and Mr. Asquith brought up the question of the German offer. Mr. Bonar Law's throat did not allow him to speak, so Mr. Baldwin answered on behalf of the Government. He contented himself, how- ever, with referring the House to Mr. Ronald McNeill for information about the Rosenberg statement. What Mr. McNeill said was this :—" The proposal now put forward by the German Foreign Secretary was exactly the same as was suggested several months ago by the Secretary of State in a speech at New Haven, U.S.A." Exactly ; but does Mr. McNeill really see no difference between the American Secretary of State saying what he thought Germany ought to do and the German Foreign Minister saying, with the authority of his Cabinet behind him, what Germany is actually prepared to do ? No doubt he does. His attempt to regard them as the same was merely a rather striking instance of what a Minister will say when driven into a tight place at the end of a debate.
