Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1911-12-27
ENGLAND WILL
FIGHT GERMANY
British Labor Leader Says Sins Of
British Foreign Office VIII Bring
on Conflict.
BELIEVES WAR INEVITABLE.
Declares Present tsciatious Between
WItIstanuin" assurances.

ana ~ IS more liliH llhtl! u Hlii 'oii''
will be due 10 the sins Of the RritiSl!
Foreign Office. which is made mp oj
men Of aristoratic leaning who have
conducted the counrry's internaii0n-
al policies with utter disregard Of
the British spirit Of Democracy.
This is the view voiced today to
the United Press by j. Ramsay Mac
Donald. leader oil the labor party III
tie House Of Commons. in an inter
yieW in which he throws new light
on the circumstances leading up to
1.-The present delicate Sisuarion be-
tween the Two great powers, and
iuStiiies the campaign now being con
Quoted by himself and his colleagues
Tor the regeneration Of the foreign
Office. Continuing. Macdonald said:
Public opinion in England is not
anti-Gcrmau. however frequently il
may suffer from German scares; Of
fetal opinion is. That shows where
the roads between tie national policy
and thaa foreign policy separate.
Our diplomatic Service is recruit
ed from among the sons of The socie-
It's people. The candidate for pos
ition in the service must have $2,00G
Il year Of his own. must speak with
an approved OXFORD drawl. ana must
be polished in courIly ways so ~ 10
bow properly
You mean thai although the ma
tlon is nominaliy > democracy, lis
=, .e.r. at,,ire ara-s:i!l ceGt"o,!ad, -.
its Hristoc:acy?" Il asked.
"PrecscIy." he answered III
we had Il stronger foreign minister
who had 4 real policy of his own
and united that policy with a big
conception of EnglaDd's place In the
world, it might be different. But
these men arise onlg about once in a
century, and although Sir Edward
Grey is personally very honest, he
lacks the power 20 control his own
Suhordinatcs.
If we had House OF Common con-
troll. we could check these aristo-
cratic officials. But now all the
stupid wise men and stupid wise
newspapers in the country say TO
the stupid wise readers. vino be
lieve them: We must allow our
foreign policy 10 be given to us. We
only pay the bills and find The sol
diers. bu, Il We allow 4 whisper t.
get Out of Whit" Hall before treaties
are signed and irrcyOcahle contracts
are made. then We are committing
a great wrong SO the House Of
Commons knows nothing. except by
gossip until everything is settled and
then the foreign secretary comes
down and tells that it is too late for
profitable criticism and The aristro-
cratic permanent officials laugh in
their sleeves and go on ruling.
Laugh in their sleeves and go on
ruling.
This was well illustrated in the
recent crisis with Germany. 1t is
true that from the ith 10 the 2lst Of
December there was Il mysteriou
silence in Berlin. as far as we were
concerned. but if our foreign Office
had been AT all sympathetic 10 Germ
any il would not have listened TO
little-tattie which it was hearin"
from Paris and perhaps from Mad
rid Il would have sent for The Ger
man ambassador, repeated It's ques-
lions. expressed its fears and reqnes-
ted an answer Immediately What
/ happened instead? Our fcrcigp Of
fee said TO itself Germany is silent;
therefore she is plotting. Germany
has given guarantees. but we can't
trust her And all the time the pee
/ pie were ignorant OF The silly game
tha. was being played by the Depart
ment until Lloyd-George thundered
the Mansion House speech across the
North Sea.
The final form of that speech was
settled by the foreign Office. You can
/ rely upon that being an absolute
fact
do you think al this viii lead to
! war with Germany"
/ If the present policy and the pres
ent men are retained, I am afraid il
will. am reliably informed that
Sir Edward Grey's speech has per