With regard to our foreign relations, Lord Hartington gave evidence
that there is none of that coolness between England and Germany which the Conservatives delight to suppose and to condemn. This was what he said :—" Our relations with Ger- many are perfectly cordial and perfectly friendly, and in proof of that I may perhaps tell you, what will be a satisfaction to many of you, that even within a very few days we have received. from the German Government an intimation that they are willing to co-operate with us for the protection of their and of our subjects, and of their and our interests in China, in the event of our countrymen or our interests being brought into any peril by the state of the relations between France and China." This passage has been strangely misunderstood to suggest that Germany and England have entered into some quasi-hostile combination against France, which is quite a mistake. Not Germany and England only, but all the neutral States con- cerned commercially with China, have agreed to help each other in protecting subjects of their respective States, from any violence to which the excitement in China might expose them. We conclude that if France should declare a blockade of the Chinese ports, the neutral States would insist,—as they have always insisted in such cases,—that the blockade should be effective, and not merely nominal ; but this certainly is not the primary object of the interchange of friendly assurances, but rather the wish to protect Europeans againbt the dangers of Chinese massacre.
