"The Chancellor said he would try. He asked me to consult the experts in London and make a suggestion. I had said, he remarked, that everything was good only on balance, and Germany must for a greater end give up a minor advantage. The new squadron and the new fleet law she must have, but it was a question for the experts, on which he did not pronounce, whether a retardation of greater magnitude than Tirpitz proposed might not be possible. I promised to let him know privately the state of feeling here about the Tirpitz proposals on my return."
The Ministers then endeavored to arrive at a formula, the whole purpose of which was to bring about conditions which would prevent war; to endeavor to get a definition of the duty of neutrality; and, in the event of war, to combine in order to localize the conflict.
After Lord Haldane's return to London, negotiations in search of a formula were continued. Prince Lichnowsky preserved a friendly atmosphere, but the German Government never agreed to conditions which would have safeguarded the neutrality of Belgium or maintained her honorable obligations to our allies. The nearest they got at the eleventh hour was, as Lord Grey said, "far too narrow an engagement for us."
British Official Statement Issued in 1915
The German press in 1915 made certain incorrect allegations regarding the Haldane Mission, whereupon on Aug. 31, 1915, the British Government issued the following official statement:
The Foreign Office Issued the Following Statement Respecting the Anglo-German Negotiations of 1912:
An account of the 1912 Anglo-German negotiations was published in the semi-official Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung last month. This account was misleading, and was no doubt intended to mislead, and made it appear that the British Government had at that time rejected what would be regarded in many quarters as a reasonable offer of friendship from Germany.
In these circumstances it may be as well to publish a statement of the facts compiled from official records here. Early in 1912 the German Chancellor sketched to Lord Haldane the following formula as one which would meet the views of the Imperial Government:
1. The high contracting parties assure each other mutually of their desire of peace and friendship.
2. They will not either of them make or prepare to make any (unprovoked) attack upon the other, or join in any combination or design against the other for purposes of aggression, or become party to any plan or naval or military enterprise alone or in combination with any other power directed to such an end, and declare not to be bound by any such engagement.
3. If either of the high contracting parties become entangled in a war with one or more powers in which it cannot be said to be the aggressor, the other party will at least observe toward the power so entangled a benevolent neutrality, and will use its utmost endeavor for the localization of the conflict. If either of the high contracting parties is forced to go to war by obvious provocation from a third party, they bind themselves to enter into an exchange of views concerning their attitude in such a conflict.
4. The duty of neutrality which arises out of the preceding article has no application in so far as it may not be reconcilable with existing agreements which the high contracting parties have already made.
5. The making of new agreements which render it impossible for either of the parties to observe neutrality toward the other beyond what is provided by the preceding limitation is excluded in conformity with the provisions in Article 2.
6. The high contracting parties declare that they will do all in their power to prevent differences and misunderstandings arising between either of them and other powers.