North of England the financial, commercial and industrial interests were against the war." In such circumstances, said the Russian Ambassador, the "hopes which had been placed upon England might turn out to be deceptive." And it was possible that the expression of Russia's confidence in England might paralyse Grey's action.
The decision to enter into the war was brought about by the breach of Luxemburg and Belgian neutrality. For this reason Iswolski considered the breach (August 2) as "advantageous" for France.
These dates place a greater responsibility upon Sir Edward Grey as an individual than official communications have revealed. These communications reveal that Russia knew earlier than we could possibly know that Grey intended to interfere against us, a fact which reduced the chances of peace, although nobody could know, either in Petrograd or in Paris, whether Grey's policy would remain supreme. Grey did not wish to bring about the European conflagration on any account. When he had the choice of offending France and Russia, with the possibility of losing them as allies for the future, or of risking the war in favourable circumstances, he chose the latter modus operandi.
I am not aware of an agreement or of any action or any statement made by any responsible person which could make it seem even probable that England had planned a war of aggression either for 1914 or for any subsequent date. If this had been the intention of Asquith's cabinet, the Irish question would not have
