such an attack. To attack
Germany is neither the direct nor the indirect object of any treaty,
understanding, or combination to which England is now a party, nor
will England make itself a party to anything that has such an object."
This carefully excogitated statement embraced in its Machiavellian
wording neither those "oral conversations" at Reval nor the "innocent
discussions" engaged in by the English and French General
Staffs--discussions which were always revived on occasion of every
political crisis. It was only natural, therefore, that we, since these
relations between the General Staffs of the powers belonging to the
Entente were no secret to us, demanded greater security and a
declaration of neutrality on the part of England before consenting to
enter into any general understanding.

This was all the more necessary in view of the fact that Poincare, the
French President, while the negotiations, commenced by Haldane,
between Berlin and London were being carried on, had undertaken, in
August, 1912, that trip to St. Petersburg, from which he brought back
to France the system of three years' compulsory military service; and
at the same time Hartwig, the Russian Ambassador in Belgrade,
organized that Balkan Conference, the purpose of which was, first, to
break the backbone of Turkey, and, secondly, to serve as a tool for
the overthrow of Austria. The introduction and adoption of the German
military program made it evident to all the world that we had
recognized correctly, and betimes, the dangers which threatened the
peace of the world, and in particular the peace of Germany.
Furthermore, in a conversation with Prince Lichnowski, Lord Haldane
said in so many words that England, in the event of a general war,
would have to place itself on the side of France "in order to prevent
Germany from becoming too powerful." We must not neglect to mention
that during this critical year, as well as in the year 1913,
negotiations were again entered into regarding the carrying out of the
treaty concluded between England and Germany in the days of Caprivi
with respect to an economic penetration of the Portuguese colonies in
East and West Africa. The refusal of Sir Edward Grey to give these
negotiations the secure form of a treaty, which could be laid before
the English Parliament and the German Reichstag, here again shows that
he was desirous of effecting only the appearance of an understanding.
Both he and France were resolved