From ‘Chatter About Peace’, The Spectator, 19 June 1915:
THE student of foreign telegrams will not have failed to notice that during the past week there have been a good many hints as to the possibilities of peace, and the willingness of the Germans to end the war on what they consider would be reasonable terms. Especially are we told that in America German emissaries are talking about peace, and of Germany’s readiness to go back to the status quo ante bellum, if only she can in addition obtain, not for herself, of course, but for the world at large, what she terms “the freedom of the seas.” When this apparently innocent proposition, which it is suggested that the American people should join with Germany in forcing upon the British nation, is examined in detail, it will be seen to mean, not the liberty of all parsons to use the seas in peace for their lawful occasions, but nothing more nor less than a scheme for depriving Britain of the command of the sea, which we have so long held and which is absolutely vital to us as an island Power.
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