The Premier then passed to the subject of the German o-called blockade, saying 'I will have to use some very: plain language did not come as a surprise. The war has been carried on by Germany with a systematic violation of all the conventions and regulations by which international agreement thought to mitigate warfare. She has now taken a further step by organizing an under-sea campaign of piracy and pillage. Can we—here I address myself to the neutral—sit quiet as though we were still under the protection of the rules of civilized warfare? I think we cannot." (Cheers).
Mr. Asquith ridiculed the theory of the German blockade. He asked: "Where is the German Fleet?
Tt has only been seen twice on the sea since the war began. The plain truth is that the German Fleet is not blockading, cannot blockade and never will blockade the English shore." (Cheers).
was no form of economic Pressure to which the Allies did not consider themselves entitled to resort and if neutrals suffered inconvenience the Allies regretted it, but neutrals should remember that phase of the war was not initiated by us. We did not propose to agsarsinate their seamen or to destroy their ships.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.