The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-28
ASQuith Is PeSSlnistic
 Oper ' uropedn War Cloud
Premier Warns Germany to Consider Great Brit
 aims Rights
SUPPORTS
 THE GOVERNMENT
Declares Any Attempt to Take Ad- vantage of England's Internal Difficulties Will Be Taken
 as Common Offense


 Difficulties Will Be Taken
 as Common Offense
 London. July 27.-The most pessimistic views regarding the acuteness of the Moroccan crisis were largely confirmed by the prime minister, in the house of com mons today. when, With manner as irn- pressive as his words he read from manuscript. which had been carefully prepared, warning to Germany that Great Britain proposed to stand for what she considered her rights and to maintain the balance of power in Europe.
 Further testimony as to the gravity of the situation is given by the fact that the. prime minister obviously had taken the leader of the opposition into the govern ment's confidence and that MT. Balfour's : declaration was no less firm than MT. As- quiths. The prime ministers statement was eouehed in diplomatic, though not reasspring, language. At the very open ing he said:
 Tt Is obvious that this Moroccan ques- tiop has reached a point at which 1t will become increasingly difficult. embarrass- ing and anxious unless a solution is found"
 Later he said:
 We thought it right from the begin- ming to make clear that. failing of set tlement such as I have indicated we must become an active party in the dis cussion of the situation. That would&he our right as slgnatory to the treaty of Algeceras. as it might be our obligation under the terms of our agreement Of 1901 with France. It might be our duty in defense or British interests directly affect- ed by further developments
 In promising the support of the oppe :. sition to the government. MT. Bali .o,9, said:
 ''lf there are any who supposed that Ys would be wiped of the map Of E,,rons oeeAuse we have our difficulties at home It may be worth while saying that thea. bitterly mistake the temper [ of the Brit sh people and the patriotism h of the on position"
 Great War P0ss ,ible
 Such plain speaking o4n a opest,on fraught with possibilities of a great En- iopean war has not be zen heard in ths British parliament in r many years. The outcome of the situatios h appears to rest almost wholly on Ger amany's shoulders If, as some German pa bers say, Germany has reached the stag Je of national de- Veopment where the necessities of ssar population demand that she branch oi1T into foreign fields and considers this vital to her national interest and imposes con- ditions on France wh ich Great Britain thinks threaten her vital interests. the only result so far as those best informed tee 1t. will be the off threatened and long-averted European ce,nvulsion
 German government officials and tha majority of the German newspapers pro- fess to think that Chancellor Lloyd Georges recent speech of warning was not addressed to Germany. but sort Of general proclamation of principles MT. Asquiths statement leaves no doubt, and was intended plainly to leave none. on that point. While the country has no knowledge of the extent of Germanys first conditions. the prime minister made 1t plain that they were such that Great Britain would not consent to them.
 Nr Balfour strongly hinted at what is the general feeling that Germany thought she could take advantage of the crisis in Great Britain's domestic politics, in the belief that it was absorbing to the country that the people would not pay attention to foreign affairs
 English newspapers are entirely united in supporting the government. They are stuaiously polite in language, but strong ly urge that Germany shall not be per mitted to make any African eXcursion' which would seriously damage Great national interests.
 All the politicians and the public earn sstIy hope that Germany's programme Is not one which Great Britain will consider 
 Not Party to Conversations
 Mir. Asquith said that Great Britain was not party to the conversations pro- ,eeding between France and Germany, put earnestly and sincerely desired to see hem result in an agreement, honorable and satisfactory to all parties. He earn sstlv appealed to the house not to en- ter into the details of the situation at the present moment. The premier said the government had thought it right from the to make it clear. that failing In B satisfactory settlement 1t must be- come an active party to discussion or the situation. A too close analysis now of the cases of the present incident might recriminations. which the minis fer said it was desirable to avoid. The of Morocco bristled with diff cuIties The government claims no pre- dominant position there. and any state nent that they had prejudiced the nego- tiations between France and Germany was A mischievous invention.
 .T propose simply to state to the house what the actual situation Is today. Con- versations are proceeding between France and Germany. We are not parties to these conversations. but it is our desire that they result in settlement honor able and satisfactory to both parties. and which his majesty's government can cor dially say in no way prejudices British in- Lerests.
 We believe that to be quite possi- ble The question of Morocco itself orstles with difficulty. but outside Morocco in any parts of west Africa we should not think of attempting to nterefere in territorial arrangements considered reasonable by those who are most directly interested.
 Any statement that we have so in- lerfered and pretudiced negotiations of France and Germany are mischievious inventions. without the faintest founda- ton in fact. We thought it right from the beginning to make clear that fail- ng of a settlement such as have in Heated we must become an active party in the discussion of the situa- ton. That would be our right as 1t might be our obligation under the terms of our agreement of 1904 with France It might be our duty in de- fense of British interests directly af- fected by further developments
 Situation Understood
 There may have been times when we were not sure how far this was fully I am glad to say that we are quite satisfied that such Is not the case.
 cfa I dn tt1o r,