come to blows at once." Well, these are the surface facts of the war; I do not propose to take you further, because I really do not know. I do not know if some great organizer deliberately planned this war. Without evidence I should be loth to lay such a burden on the soul of any man, because, whoever he be, the curse of humanity will pursue him to the end. [Cheers.] Where did we come in? I have been telling you about Austria, Russia, and the rest, but where do we come in? We first came in for peace, and all through the correspondence that led up to the declaration of war you will see that our Government, and, of course, its mouthpiece and skilful agent, Sir Edward Grey, was skilful and energetic and untiring in trying to suggest modes by which peace might be preserved. I do not think that he had a fair chance, because the time was too short, and all the time the armies were being mobilized, and when armies are being mobilized war becomes almost inevitable, but at any rate that was our part in the general contention of Europe—Peace. Our second was this—Honour. [Cheers.] We were parties to a Treaty to which France and the Kingdom of Prussia were also parties, guaranteeing the independence and the integrity of Belgium. [Cheers.] We determined rightly or wrongly, wisely or unwisely, but I think rightly and wisely—[cheers]—that so long as any power remained in the arm of Great Britain she was bound not to go back upon her pledged word to Belgium—[cheers]—and so she determined that if Germany were determined to violate her word Great Britain would not violate hers. Peace and Honour, that was what we stood for. [Cheers.]
Now, suppose it had been possible for us—and I am sure every Government in Britain must always wish for peace—suppose that it had been possible for us to stand aside, at any rate for a moment, and to say that, as Germany does not respect her word, we will not respect ours—suppose we had been able to maintain peace at the price of that degradation, how long should we have been able to maintain it? [Hear, hear.] Even if we had allowed Germany unopposed to violate the Treaty of Belgium, and had stood on one side, how long should we have endured to see the oppression and slaughter of a small but gallant people—[loud cheers]—in defence of their territory, which we had guaranteed to them? Belgium is at this moment a welter of fire and blood and destruction—all wrought by one of the Powers that had sworn to guarantee her. [Cries of "Shame."] How long would the British people
