hostile purposes against any other Power, but, at the same time, we have always made it clear, to quote the words used by Sir Edward Grey as far back as November, 1911—I quote his exact words:—
One does not make new friendships worth having by deserting old ones. New friendships, by all means, let us have; but not at the expense of the ones we have.
[Hear, hear.]
That has been, and I trust will always be, the attitude of those whom the Kaiser in his now notorious proclamation describes as the treacherous English. [Laughter.] We laid down—and I wish to call the attention, not only your attention, but the attention of the whole world, to this, so many false legends are now being invented and circulated—in the following year, in the year 1912, we laid down, in terms carefully approved by the Cabinet and which I will textually quote, what our relations to Germany ought in our view to be. We said, and we communicated this to the German Government—we said: "Britain declares that she will neither make nor join in any unprovoked attack upon Germany. Aggression upon Germany is not the subject, and forms no part of any treaty, understanding, or combination to which Britain is now a party, nor will she become a party to anything which has such an object." [Cheers.] There is nothing ambiguous nor equivocal about that, but, my Lord Mayor, that was not enough for German statesmanship. They wanted us to go farther. They asked us to pledge ourselves absolutely to neutrality in the event of Germany being engaged in war; and this, mind you, at a time when Germany was enormously increasing both her aggressive and defensive resources, and especially upon the sea. They asked us—to put it quite plainly—they asked us for a free hand, so far as we were concerned, if and when they selected the opportunity to overpower and dominate the European world. To such a demand but one answer was possible—[cheers]—and that was the answer we gave. [Renewed cheers.] Nevertheless, we have continued during the last two years, and never more energetically and more successfully than during the Balkan crisis of last year, to work not only for the peace of Europe, but for the creation of a better international atmosphere and a more cordial co-operation between all the Powers. [Cheers.]
