The German Chancellor complained, as Sir Edward Grey goes on
to point out, that Mr. Asquith in his Guildhall speech did not mention the neutrality of the Scandinavian countries, and drew from the omission the extraordinary con- clusion that Britain has some sinister design upon those countries. The obvious reason for not mentioning any other country but Belgium was that the neutrality of no other country was threatened. If Germany threatened Scandinavian neutrality—the neutrality of Norway and Sweden was guaran- teed by Britain and France in 1855—she would soon dis- cover what our attitude would be. Sir Edward Grey recalls the protests of Britain when Denmark was die. membered in 1863-4 by Prussia. As for the German Chancellor's gibes about British bullying of the Boer Republics and the "recklessly egotistic" policy of Britain in acquiring colonies, Sir Edward Grey points to the astonishing rally of affection on the part of all the British Dominions and Dependencies. Then he remarks on the passage in which the Chancellor claimed credit for not having violated the neutrality of Holland and Switzerland that a virtue which exists only in the absence of temptation is not very much worth vaunting. As for the assertion that the care of freedom is entrusted to the German sword, "the treatment of Belgium is a sufficient answer."
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