State for War; and the present Prime Minister [Henry Asquith] who
was then Chancellor of the Exchequer. They authorized that
[answer], on the distinct understanding that it left the hands of
the Government free whenever the crisis arose."

Here the secretary read his reply to the French Ambassador, dated
November 22, 1912, which was to the effect stated. It instanced the
disposition of the French and British fleets at the time as "not
based upon an engagement to cooperate in war," and went on to say

"that, if either Government had grave reason to expect an
unprovoked attack by a third power, or something that threatened
the general peace, it should immediately discuss with the other
whether both governments should act together to prevent
aggression and to preserve peace, and, if so what measures they
would be prepared to take in common."

The secretary said that the present crisis involved Great Britain's
obligations to France in a less formal fashion.

"While we were pledged to give nothing but diplomatic support to
France in the Morocco affairs, we were pledged to do so by a
definite public agreement [the Treaty of April 8, 1904]. But no
Government and no country has less desire to be involved in war
over a dispute with Austria and Serbia than the Government and
the country of France. France is involved in it because of her
obligation of honor under a definite alliance with Russia. It is
only fair to the House to say that that obligation cannot apply
in the same way to us. We are not parties to the Franco-Russian
alliance. We do not even know its terms.

"I now come to what we think the situation requires of us. We
have had a long-standing friendship with France. But how far that
friendship entails obligation, let every man look into his own
heart, and his own feelings, and construe for himself.

"The French coasts are absolutely undefended. The French fleet is
in the Mediterranean, and has for some years been concentrated
there because of the feeling of confidence and friendship which
has existed between the two countries. My own feeling is that if
a foreign fleet, engaged in a war which France had not sought,
and in which she had not been the aggressor, came down the
English Channel and bombarded and battered the undefended coasts
of France, we could