Page:Paul Samuel Reinsch - Secret Diplomacy, How Far Can It Be Eliminated? - 1922.djvu/97

 == VI. ENTENTE DIPLOMACY ==

As the commitments of the British Government gradually became more and more known the ques- tion arose as to how deeply and extensively Great Britain had been involved in continental affairs. Lord Eosebery, who was uninformed, with the rest of Parliament and the public, as to the actual details, said in a speech at Glasgow in January, 1912:

"This we do know about our foreign policy, that, for good or for evil, we are now embraced in the midst of the Continental system. That I regard as perhaps the gravest fact in the later portion of my life. We are, for good or for evil, involved in a Continental sys- tem, the merits of which I do not pretend to judge, be- cause I do not know enough about it, but which, at any rate, may at any time bring us into conflict with armies numbering millions, and our own forces would hardly be counted in such a war as they stand at present."

Lord Rosebery realized perhaps more fully than most of the leaders of English public life the com- plications adherent to what had already become public knowledge at the time.