er end. Continental nations engaged in war--all their
populations, all their energies, all their wealth, engaged in a
desperate struggle--they cannot carry on the trade with us that they are
carrying on in times of peace, whether we are parties to the war or
whether we are not. I do not believe for a moment that at the end of
this war, even if we stood aside and remained aside, we should be in a
position, a material position, to use our force decisively to undo what
had happened in the course of the war, to prevent the whole of the west
of Europe opposite to us--if that had been the result of the
war--falling under the domination of a single power, and I am quite sure
that our moral position would be such as to have lost us all respect. I
can only say that I have put the question of Belgium somewhat
hypothetically, because I am not yet sure of all the facts, but, if the
facts turn out to be as they have reached us at present, it is quite
clear that there is an obligation on this country to do its utmost to
prevent the consequences to which those facts will lead if they are
undisputed.

I have read to the House the only engagements that we have yet taken
definitely with regard to the use of force. I think it is due to the
House to say that we have taken no engagement yet with regard to sending
an expeditionary armed force out of the country. Mobilization of the
fleet has taken place; mobilization of the army is taking place; but we
have as yet taken no engagement, because I feel that--in the case of a
European conflagration such as this, unprecedented, with our enormous
responsibilities in India and other parts of the empire, or in countries
in British occupation, with all the unknown factors--we must take very
carefully into consideration the use which we make of sending an
expeditionary force out of the country until we know how we stand. One
thing I would say.

The one bright spot in the whole of this, terrible situation is Ireland.
The general feeling throughout Ireland--and I would like this to be
clearly understood abroad--does not make the Irish question a
consideration which we feel we have now to take into account. I have
told the House how far we have at present gone in commitments and the
conditions which influence our policy, and I have put to the House and
dwelt at length upon how vital is the condition of the neutrality of
Belgium.

What other policy Is there before the House? There is but one way in
wh